#SHE'D MAKE AN AMAZING ANTAGONIST!!!

[relmint]

Watched "Monkey King: The Volcano" and I enjoyed it so much!

Some screenshots I took of my fav scenes below the cut!

The Trigram furnace looked, sick. Wukong is just sitting there....menacingly.

Also Wukong being a King (as always)

Zhu Bajie looks so cute and CUDDLY AHAHAHA

Them smiling <33 Sha Wujing is the only one with a normal smile <333 The rest of them r deranged <3333

Bajie as Marshal Tianpeng I loved his outfit here he looks so regal GOD POP OFFFFFF ( Bajie appreciation segment time <3)

That ends the Bajie segment <33

DBK being scary and intimidating

PRINCESS IRON FANNNN!!! SHE LOOKED SO PRETTY HERE UGHH

Wukong with the golden eye shadow

and that's all folks!

[korkorali]

I think the worst bit for me about all Those Sorts (you know the type) of fics is that they always take Della extremely out of character in order to make her the 'antagonist.'

And that sucks because it's just not necessary! It's the worst because you can have Della & Louie angst where Della's the 'antagonist,' and it's in-character.

You just have to have Louie be wrong in the end (kind of).

The reason why Della and Louie clash in Timephoon and Glomtales! isn't because Della 'disapproves of scheming in entirety' or something, it's because she's done the same goddamn thing as him.

(And side note- Timephoon is honestly an amazing piece of storytelling, because it allows us to see Della's thought process for taking the Spear of Selene by showing us Louie doing pretty much the same thing.)

She's been through it all before, and she knows how it ends.

And that fucking terrifies her! The idea that one of her kids is making the same mistakes as her, could go through the same thing as she did, and she's the only one who can see it, is terrifying.

The way to start out a story like this is simple; have an adventure go wrong. Not in a deadly way, not in a way that's caused by Louie (at least, not that anyone but him notices), not in a way that costs anyone their life- but in a way that causes them to lose the treasure. The adventure is a failure, and they have to come back empty handed, like New Gods on the Block.

Maybe some people get hurt, maybe it's vaguely Louie's fault (and even then- it'd be better if it wasn't even his fault, it's just his brain connecting patterns where there aren't any), but the most important part is that they don't get the treasure, and it's like- one of those ones that can only be found once every hundred years or something.

Louie feels responsible (I mean all of the kids do, but as it'd be a Louie story he'd be the one focused on) and upset that they want to all that trouble and don't have anything to show for it, so he tries to figure out some way to go on the adventure again.

Turns out, after a bit of research, there is a way to get to the treasure again! Louie brings it to Scrooge's attention excitedly- but Scrooge turns it down. Says it's too dangerous, that they're not doing it, end of story.

...Not end of story- everyone's still obviously miserable. So Louie decides that 'okay, if it's 'too dangerous,' then I'll just go in secret. It'll be fine, Scrooge is just overreacting.'

So he starts trying to put a plan into place to get the treasure in secret- but Della, somehow, seems to know what he's doing (hint: it's because she knows what she'd do if she was in Louie's shoes). And is consistently getting in his way.

And there you go- a perfect setup to have Della consistently and purposefully stepping on Louie's toes, getting in his way, trying to stop him from doing things, and it's even in-character! It'd probably start out with the two acting like everything's perfectly hunky-dory, even though both of them know that the other knows that they know that the other knows why they did this one thing.

As plans get deeper, it'd escalate to Della trying to actively call Louie out, but he always manages to just barely weasel his way out of it, and eventually commence his plan.

It obviously goes wrong. But Della's there to help. And finally she'd actually explain why the fuck she's been something of a thorn in his side for the past few weeks, why it seems like she knows what he's thinking: because she does.

Because she's been through the same thing.

Because she fucked up, and left her stranded on the moon for ten years, and she does not want that for her kid. (And of course everything could've been solved if she'd just sat down and talked to Louie about that at the onset, but it's Della- she only likes to bring up the moon when it's funny. She would've thought 'nah it's fine, I can handle this, I don't need to bare my soul, I shouldn't burden anyone with that' without realizing that oh yeah, no, that's the exact same thought process she doesn't want Louie to think)

And of course they'd argue, because it'd be a high-stress situation and neither of them would have the composure to pretend that everything's alright and they haven't been sniping at each other for the past week or so, and eventually it'd finally come up; eventually, they'd finally bring up that they thought the exact same thing when Louie did this, when Louie took the Timetub, when Della took the Spear.

'...And if anything goes wrong, at least I'm the only one who'll get hurt.' (Because you cannot tell me that that was not the last thought running through both of their heads when they took the timetub/Spear of Selene, you cannot convince me that they didn't think they were doing right by their families in that moment, that they hadn't done their due diligence and minimized risk down to one person.)

And Louie wouldn't understand, because he did the right thing. He minimized risk, he made sure nobody else would get hurt. But that's wrong- because if he got hurt, then Della (Donald, Scrooge, their family, her kids) would get hurt too. That they could fly into a vacuum all they wanted, but at the end of the day, they still didn't exist in one.

Eventually, they'd get out of there and abandon the mission again. Maybe they'd succeed, but probably not. But that's not important- what'd be important is that they were both safe and alive and okay.

There- a Della & Louie thing, extremely angsty, well Della as the 'antagonist,' and it's all in-character. Easy.

[qsycomplainsalot]

So I watched Furiosa

Furiosa Road: a Star Wars Story. It wasn't likely to live up to Fury Road, and it didn't. It would have been a tall order. While it was well worth paying to see in theaters, I was still a little disappointed; I'm going to explain why, without spoilers, and then after a very visible cut I'll comment on a few specific things in the movie.

First of all it felt long, but not two hours long so I guess it speaks to its quality. Going through the cast, everyone did a good job, although I wasn't blown away by the on screen chemistry of Anya Taylor-Joy and Tom Burke. More on that later. Chris Hemsworth as the overarching antagonist is this movie's standout performance, in a way that I'm somewhat conflicted about. More on that later too.

Overall it feels as if, after making Fury Road a trim and thrilling movie, the creatives behind it strung together all the piles of amazing ideas they had left on the cutting room floor into another complete movie, but not a very cohesive story with a beginning middle and end with enough connective tissue to captivate an audience. There's no shortage of props, costumes, characters, stunts and just straight up visuals, although the music is not up to the standards set by Fury Road. What's really missing is a tight knit script.

I'd say watch it if you like the franchise, otherwise I'd just wait for it to release on small screens.

My biggest complaint with this movie is that it's split between two relationships, between Hemsworth as Dementus or Tom Burke as Jack with Furiosa, when really with how it's paced it could barely afford one. I am just completely confused by people saying Jack and Furiosa's relationship was the highlight of the movie, it was vague, bland, and Jack died before I could really care about him. All this relationship did was explain how Furiosa became so good at driving a war rig, despite the fact that by this point in the movie she'd fended for herself just fine, presumably using what she'd been taught by the vuvuzela tribe. Likewise Dementus as a character is extremely simple, in a good way, and is the a better representation of time passing in the movie than literal text onscreen telling you it's been fifteen years or some such. It's on the nose, but Chris Hemsworth is acting his heart out and it's always a joy to see him on screen. He's spiraling his way through the movie in a perfect exemple of what Furiosa must avoid becoming. So knowing that, the main plot should be about Furiosa having to lose her way home (the star map tattoo on her arm, which we know she lose by Fury Road) and choose to stay at the Citadel to kill him, setting up a bitter ending where she's gained nothing and is stuck killing more people instead of letting go of revenge and going home. Unfortunately Furiosa: the video game: the movie very much lives in the shadow of its 2015 sequel, and so the plot is split further to set that up. I've talked about how it hurts the pacing and how much screentime the other characters could have gotten, but I think it actually greatly diminished the ending. The end of Furiosa has her catch up to Dementus, bind him and beat him up, asking him to give her her childhood and mother back, only for Dementus to refuse to play along in anyway. He tells her that revenge achieves nothing, that he knows from personal experience and that she can kill him however she wants, that he doesn't particularly care. I don't do it justice it's a pretty good end to his arc this movie. Instead of Furiosa killing him there and then and validating that speech for a cohesive theme to the movie (keeping the hope stuff for Fury Road where it works), the history man voiceover tells us that although the true end of Dementus is disputed, Furiosa told him the truth, that she kept him alive with a peach tree growing out of his dick ?? And then she brings the peach to Immortan's wives in the Citadel, and then the credits are interspersed with shots from Fury Road. I can excuse the impossibility of keeping someone alive while a tree is growing on them for the sake of Mad Max movies very much being wasteland fairy tales, but I think directly linking Furiosa: Road One with Fury Road like that is both pointless and very hamfisted, on top of being a big disappointment when it comes to Dementus' character. Like the guy was clearly fucked up from losing his daughters just kill him and be done with it. Anyway yeah I don't think I'll rewatch this movie nearly as often as I rewatch Fury Road. Shoutout to the Octoboss though, he's the Most Valuable Sidecharacter of this movie.

[mdhwrites]

Considering you've criticized Owl House for trying to give Amity and Hunter abusive homelives for explaining their antagonistic behaviors initially and praise Amphibia for not trying to give Sasha having bad parents for her behavior, what do you think of how Zuko's redemption on Avatar the Last Airbender? Considering they also do the redeemed person had a terrible homelife with him having an abusive father in Ozai, what did you think of how they did Zuko?

Zuko is AMAZING. The big difference between TOH and Avatar with this arc is easy too: Avatar doesn't use it as an excuse and they don't brush it off. It's merely where everything began for Zuko and changing from that point is HARD.

Zuko always had a choice. He could always give up the quest for the Avatar and live a peaceful life. Even Iroh is pushing this from literally episode 1. It is Zuko's choice to chase the concept of honor that his father and his culture pushed on him. We feel that scar on his face by his determination. We feel the priorities of the fire nation by him constantly trying to prove himself. By trying to go alone to prove he's strong or do what he thinks will bring him honor.

It takes an ENTIRE BOOK for Zuko to start even questioning this stuff. We understand the weight of his decision to cut his hair and try to just live peacefully with Iroh because we saw the struggle he had to even consider giving up the warpath. It's not even easy for him then as he still wants to resort to the old ways and constantly has it reinforced what those old ways cost. The fear it put in people. The pain his culture has brought. It constantly reinforces the question that Zuko eventually has to answer: Is the Fire Nation's definition, and by extension his father's, of honor actually honorable? Is it the definition he wants to live by.

And then arguably we get the most important part of his arc... His 'victory'. He gets that parade back home. He gets everything he has wanted for so long. The only price he has to pay is that he will never have any other definition of honor than the Fire Nation's. And that is no longer a definition he desires and so despite having love, family, stability, etc. like that, he leaves to do good, even if he himself knows that it will be hard because he is so trained and used to being bad.

The length, dedication, questioning and cost of his arc are all deeply compelling. The show doesn't hold back on the fact that he was genuinely a member of the fire nation and what that meant.

Besides their first appearances... When do Amity or Hunter feel like a product of the Isles or their parents? Amity admittedly gets ONE more with Covention but that's it. Both of them very, VERY quickly give up on even the concept of being villains (Hunter at the START of his second major appearance, before anything has coerced him to think otherwise, is already rebelling against Belos teaching by looking into wild magic) and what is the price and actual arc of turning good for them? How difficult is it for them to actually get away from the lessons instilled upon them?

I already mentioned Hunter but Amity first brings up her parents in Understanding Willow where she talks about them controlling her friends and the like... And then immediately embraces Willow back into her fold as if her parents won't care. Two episodes later, she will destroy her ENTIRE friend group that her parents put onto her. Then, her NEXT APPEARANCE after that has her parents make their first proper appearance and... Then Amity, in an episode she's barely in, rejects them outright because Luz is pretty. It's not that she condemns their morals, how they look upon life, etc. like that. It's just "Hey, I'm being selfish too because I want my own friends." Which with how she entirely ignores actually trying to reconnect with Willow for half a season comes across much more like it's purely because Luz was going to die. Either Gus or Willow and she wouldn't give a damn. She'd get to console Luz then! Because Luz is all it took for Amity to change, it came easily, and it's all she cares about afterwards.

She NEVER loses it like Zuko does during the first part of Avatar's finale because Zuko actually cares about something. He is going to push back on them because he didn't change for Aang or Katara, he changed for himself. He is still the same person with that diehard fire in him that isn't gone just because he's a good guy now.

Hunter has a lot similar complaints but with much more of the severe need to address his moral issues. After all... How many witches did Hunter murder as the Golden Guard? Or led to their execution? It makes Amity's active choice to bully Willow for YEARS when she didn't need to seem almost quaint but both facts are swept under the rug just as easily. It's why one could claim the Golden Guard is not the same character as Hunter because they both require severely contexts to FUNCTION.

But we cannot do that. Hunter did take away people's rights. He did hunt them down. He was a member of the Emperor's Coven. He held its beliefs as fact... And we never see them question those beliefs. The closest is Hollow Mind where he spends the entire time telling Luz she's wrong, even as facts are presented in his face until proof that Belos will kill him is presented to him. At which point, the decision isn't "I don't believe in your ideals and regime, I'm going to rebel" like Zuko's but instead "Oh fuck, I'm going to DIE if I don't turn good." In fact, it's the opposite case for Zuko because the boy was effectively guaranteed to live a cushy life if he DIDN'T turn good.

And so once again, we have another turn to good that happens too easily, too quickly and mostly selfishly AT BEST. Even when Hunter fights of Belos' possession, it's all about how it's nice to have friends and have fun rather than, you know, it being wrong to persecute an entire class of people just because you don't like them. In neither case do the characters act like they've actually changed or learned anything. They were just flipped to good and that's that.

I also might not be so butthurt about it if not for the amount of TIME this stuff takes and how TOH itself takes itself so seriously so often. It obviously wants to have these arcs be a good deal and is willing to spend an exorbitant amount of time on them, to the point where they start causing Luz to not have time to spend with characters like King or Eda, and yet they're also not exploring anything. They're not saying anything. It's just... There. On the most shallow level.

So yeah, if I haven't made it clear: I don't dislike the trope of bad parents leading to bad children who are eventually redeemed (in general, I think there are VERY few tropes that are inherently bad). There's a lot that can be done with it and it is a good explanation for how a young person can be so angry. You just, you know, actually have to do something with it instead of using only the surface level elements and expecting to be rewarded for it. Worse yet if you try to pretend that it took literally agency from the character when they clearly weren't actually that indoctrinated to have a lack of free will or so much fear as to not consider any other option.

And no, I don't blame the shortening. By Eclipse Lake for Hunter, and WELL before S1 even finished for Amity, both characters were obviously already 80% of the way to good people, if not already there for Amity. The show just had no patience and no willingness to explore its own concept and that ALWAYS sucks. It's the worst part of the writing for My Adventures With Superman too. *sigh*

So yeah, don't scapegoat, actually explore your concepts and don't erase your characters during their redemptions. Then maybe you can try to claim to have a character as good as Zuko.

======+++++======

Grain of salt here: Some of this is second hand because honestly, a rewatch of Avatar doesn't sound like a bad idea. It's been a while to put it mildly BUT just the structure of Zuko's arc is infinitely better than how most people do redemption arcs honestly so I think the thoughts still stand despite that.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[officer-achilles]

Do they marijuana? : Wolf 359 Edition

Eiffel

+ He wishes he could. He tried once in high school and had a complete paranoid break from reality. Kept him away from the stuff for years. He rarely ever gets high now, but every time he does he suffers from acute paranoia and a rapid heartbeat. Will really only do it if he's around close friends, but even then he's a lightweight and will start blabbering about nonsense within the hour if he isn't dealing with thoughts of his imminent death.

Minkowski

+ Does not use marijuana. But does use CBD lotion to help aid sore muscles and may use low dosage CBD gummies to help her fall asleep. If she used anything with THC she'd end up singing every musical theatre song she could remember- then she'd probably start sobbing about how much she loves her friends.

Hera

+ Cannot smoke due to being a computer. If she could though... she would be blazing. She probably has Maxwell write in a temporary code that mimics the sensations of being high. And the entire time she's high Hera is just a giggling, playful mess who flirts with everyone- which means everyone.

Hilbert

+ The only time this man has tried weed is when he was doing research on it- and was encouraged to try it to get a 'real understanding' of what he was working with. Unfortunately for everyone, a high Dr. Hilbert is somehow even less fun and upbeat than usual Dr. Hilbert. He just goes into a catatonic fugue state while high and then once it wears off he goes straight back to work.

Lovelace

+ Yes. She weeds. What are you? A cop?

Keppler

+ In his own words he's 'tried everything once' and by that he does mean everything. If he had to rank weed as a substance he's taken he'd rate it a healthy B tier, better than bath salts- not as fun as magic mushrooms. He expected more from it.

Jacobi

+ Unlike Keppler, Jacobi has not tried everything, but he does appreciate good kush. Probably does it via bong for the vibes but would prefer to just take an edible and watch shitty action movies with Maxwell once it hits. Only does it when he has complete free time, unwilling to do his job while impaired due to its effects.

Maxwell

+ Takes edibles with Jacobi from time to time and has created a code for Hera that mimics the effects of weed so they can get high together (and cyber kiss). When she isn't being an amazing coder and the most morally upright member of SI-5 she is probably hitting the pen and then roaming around her local Best Buy staring at the electronics. Or she's dragging Jacobi around the Pet Smart to stare at the fish. She also enjoys a good homemade edible and is probably one of the only people on the Hephaestus who can actually tell you what each strain of weed means.

Cutter

+ He carries with him a pack of cigarettes, a pack of cigars, and some extremely expensive joints at all times- so he always has something to offer to people he interacts with. Cutter has tried weed and does it from time to time but 90% of its effects on him are placebo- as all the cyber-enhancements and plastic injected into him make the weed lose its potency. He takes a singular hit of the bong while in a business suit to impress an investor he's talking to and then claims he's greening out to Rachel not longer after. OR he takes several hits in a row and acts exactly the same as he always does, just with more intense eye contact and a slightly wider smile.

Pryce

+ No. Marijuana is bad. She would never. She actively judges people who use it- even if it's legal.

Rachel Young

+ Ambivalent to weed. Will only hit a joint if someone offers it to her, but has no direct desire to use weed on her own. When she's high she acts exactly the same but more overtly flirtatious to attractive women. She also becomes even more overtly antagonistic to men she dislikes (such as Keppler).

Lambert

+ This seems like an obvious no right? Wrong. He does do it. Only where it's legal though. Only when he's not working. He doesn't get particularly high, mainly sticking to edibles that have low THC and high CBD- but he will still take edibles. This is mainly to combat his high anxiety levels, and he read an article somewhere once about it offering other health benefits. He refuses to do it with others however, finding it a bit uncouth. He definitely internalized all the DARE seminars he endured as a child so he feels vaguely guilty every time he uses weed and he WILL judge others who use it or are in public while visibly high.

Fourier

+ Not really. She might have hit the bong in college, but that's about it. She just wasn't super into it.

Hui

+ Yes. Next question.

Fisher

+ Not really, same as Fourier. He just wasn't a fan personally. He plays the straight man for his friends who get high though- he is a fantastic trip sitter.

[magicalhideoutengineer]

Newt & Tina: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Eddie Redmayne: What was kind of wonderful about what J.K. Rowling's written is that the way in which they met, they're almost antagonists to begin with. It's definitely not love at first sight.

Katherine Waterston: There's something. I mean, he catches my eye right away and I'm instantly suspicious of him.

Eddie Redmayne: Suspicion. Attraction.

Katherine Waterston: It's a fine line. Yeah, so, I mean, obviously that's an indication of my amazing instincts as an Auror, but also I think you do it with attraction. You notice right away something about someone, but they are not aware of it, but it's nice that the audience gets to be able to watch it from that perspective, knowing that these people will...

- Entertainment Weekly

Katherine Waterston: It’s wonderful how, throughout the film, they reveal little bits of their past and certainly reveal a great deal of their character to each other. As things are when you first meet someone, you get a very general sense of who they are. My sense of who Newt is at the beginning is that he’s dangerous and untrustworthy, and kind of cute, too. Part of what I love about Tina is she's flawed and often doesn't achieve what she is pursuing or things don't work out for her [like] she hopes. But she is good at her job and the moment she sees Newt she knows something is going on, even though she doesn't exactly know what. And that, to me, was the first clue that she's not a total disaster.

- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Movie-Making News & The Case of Beasts: Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Katherine Waterstob: One of my favourite messages of the film: that there's so much more to people than initially meets the eye. I think it's one of the great discoveries in the film, at least for Tina as she gets to know Newt. At the beginning, he's not very engaged; he's prickly; he really wishes she'd probably fuzz off. She thinks he's got an interest in a ridiculous subject, and one that's dangerous and a nuisance. But it's through getting to know him better that she comes to understand what these creatures really mean and what they can be. And through seeing his relationship with the creatures, she comes to see there's so much more to him than just the prickly, standoffish and disinterested outsider she meets at the beginning of the film.

- HMV

Eddie Redmayne: Certainly at the beginning of the film when he meets Katherine's character, there's a great antagonism between them, and they're both quite sort of knotty characters. We sort of know that ultimately those two in the Potter lore get together, and there's this sort of central build of these two people who are outsiders finding each other.

- Entertainment Weekly

Eddie Redmayne: One of the things I loved about this script when I first read it is, I think JK Rowling had always seen it as telling a larger story, but the film is it's own thing. Actually the relationships that you see arrive in the film, they stand together as one sort of whole piece. But What I love is that the relationship starts kind of...

Katherine Waterston: Combative.

Eddie Redmayne: Yeah, it's not love at first sight put it that way. Maybe there's a bit chemistry at first sight, but it's quite combative. But what was lovely was to play a slow build, to be able to play this kind of — these characters are thrown into a world, this quartet together. They're all outsiders in some ways, and yet they have really heroic qualities within them. So it's kind of lovely for us to not rush that and be able to play it slow.

Katherine Waterston: You know that eventually you know these two people end up together. So you can see and look for when they start to notice each other, you know what I mean? Because you're in on it in a way that I think is really fun. I feel like there's a lot in this movie of us kind of like, oh, that tragic stuff where you look at someone and they're not looking at you, and then you look away and then they look at you. So there's like all of that sort of stuff going on.

- Entertainment Weekly

Katherine Waterston: I think the biggest distinction is actually the way witches and wizards interact with the muggles, or as we call them "No-Majs" in America, because we're forbidden to engage with them at all. We were persecuted during the very real Salem Witch Trials and went into hiding. There's just a lot more secrecy aroud witchcraft in America. When Newt shows up, he's very casual about things we are very, very strict about.

Eddie Redmayne: I feel like Newt doesn't really care about rules that much anyway.

Katherine Waterston: No, he doesnt. It's quite shocking to me.

Eddie Redmayne: It really irks her.Katherine Waterston: It stresses me out a bit, but also I find him really charming and engaging. So you know...

- Entertainment Weekly Binge Dec 07 2016

Katherine Waterston: With Newt and his case, the main problem is that it's a lot easier for witches and wizards to hide from the No-Maj world than to hide magical creatures, especially ones that are on the loose in the community. So that's the number one threat. It would be disatrous. They plough things over, they break things, they could harm people. For most of the film, Tina is just imagining the worst-case scenario. In Amercian, as it's established in the film, we've been taught that magical creatures is a bad thing. We should not have them at all, not in America and certainly not on the loose. She's almost panicked to get them back. In her interaction with the beasts as the're tracked down and recovered, Tina galves a better appreciation for Newt. So when push comes to shove, she again abandons the rule book and helps someone in trouble.

- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Movie-Making News

David Yates: She had done something really bad. Like Newt, she is a wee bit of an outsider.'

- Inside the Magic: The Making of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Katherine Waterston: Her relationship with Newt? I think if you're peculiar, it's nice to meet other peculiar people. Whether it's romantic or not, it's lonely when you feel like you're the only peculiar person out there. I think Newt and Tina are both kinda offbeat and have a lot of qualities that have often been attributed to geeks. I don't really think of them as geeks, just a little bit unusual.

- Yahoo UK

Katherine Waterson: There’s pieces of it that are very true to life, the cultural clash, we use different words, we have different ways of engaging, she’s an New Yorker, she’s kind of loud and aggressive.

Eddie Redmayne: He’s an introvert. He hates people.

Katherine Waterston: Yeah, and polite. Maybe not polite. There’s a different way of interacting that you certainly notice, Iike I notice goning from New York, as I'm from New York, to England to shoot the movie and sometimes there's a real...

Eddie Redmayn: Even in press, there are things. Sometimes I'll say a word and Katherine will be like, "What does that mean?" Or I'll say the other way around.Katherine Waterston: I'll have to translate it or the other way. Yeah, so, there was so much that I think that JK Rowling noticed about the differences and the cultures that she used in the story. But then at the same time, there are these beautiful parallels between Newt and Tina, and I think once they get to know each other better, they notice the similarities, and the connection there builds. But at the beginning, I think all they see is differences.

- Netease

Katherine Waterston: I think she felt more like a fish put of water in the first film, and I think maybe she and Newt recognised the similarity in one another. They both were in a situation where things weren't quite familiar or right for them.

- SFX Magazine

Katherine Waterston: Actually this is a point of connection between Newt and Tina is that they both had an aspect of their lives that really makes sense to them that in which they are highly functional, and then these other aspects of their lives are not so much. She also struggles with communication. She was orphaned as a child and had to take on a lot of responsibility at home, and as a result, didn't really socialise and develop like the average teenager might. So there are these aspects of her that are a bit stunted, but like all JK Rowling characters, utimately, whatever the guards are, whatever the barriers are, she has this huge heart.

- Kermodeandmayo

Katherine Waterston: What was great at the beginning, you see this slight clash of cultures. He's the outsider in New York. It's her town. She says things he doesn't understand, like No-Maj. He doesn't know what she's talking about. And they started off having this combative relationship. And I think they probably think that they are quite different from one another, but as they get to know each other, they see that there's a lot of points of connection that they had actually quite a lot in common, that they are both really passionate about their work, that they are both a little bit awkward in social interactions. That part of their lives has been sort of neglected and underdeveloped. And they both have a tenderness to them and big-heartedness to them that is quite covered by the way that they present themselves to the world. So it's fun to find the moment where they recognise each other.  

- Tencent

Eddie Redmayne: They're both really passionate people. Newt is absolutely, he's sort of slightly awkward amongst sort of human beings and wizards, but with his creatures he's like hugely passionate, and similarly Tina is pretty formidable at what she does. She's fallen from fame at the beginning of the film, but she is deeply, deeply sort of obssessed with her work in a brilliant way.

Katherine Waterston: Yeah, actually in our world, we both kind of come alive, and in the rest of the world, we haven't quite figure out how to be complete people. Also what's so nice about that is that there's so much room for us, I think, as actors, for us to grow. I think these characters will, when push comes to shove, I'm imagining in the future films, be challenged to rise more to occasions and stuff and I think it'll be really fun to, you know, it's more interesting and exciting to see someone who doesn't know if they're gonna able to pull something off and attempted and than someone who's like, "That's right and no problem. I got this." There's no tension there. So I think there'll be lots of fun. Feats ahead.

- Entertainment Weekly

Katherine Waterston: She has good instincts. She knows she has a lot of potential, but can't seem to convince people of it. I think Newt sees that potential in her. That's a lot of what falling in love is, you feel someone else recognizing what you have to offer. As the relationship evolves, she sees what’s motivating him and why he is the way he is. They are both very passionate about what they do. They are both a little stunted, not very good at expressing themselves. And then you start to see the reason why they have become that way. He’s very isolated in his work. She’s become the parent to her sister, Queenie, because they lost their parents when they were young. So they’re these two people who really haven’t had much time to have a good time. In contrast to Jacob and Queenie who are much freer, and it’s in that contrast that you see how trapped they are. The moments where a little bit of who they really are gets to come out, it’s really exciting. And as the film goes on, that starts to happen more and more.

- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Movie-Making News & The Case of Beasts: Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Katherine Waterston: I think what you see there are two characters who are confronted with their own social limitations. That the areas in their lives where they really thrive. If he’s with his animals, he’s confident and he knows just what to do. And although we don’t really see her thriving at work in this film, at work – that’s the place where the world makes sense to her. It’s what she’s poured all of her energy into in her life. In a sense, by mistake they’ve missed out on developing the parts of themselves that would allow them to just simply enjoy a dinner. I think in that moment they’re both confronted with their own inadequacies and their shyness, so they’re recognizing something similar in one another, but also totally too limited to do anything about the fact that they’re realizing that they’re similar. Then it’s almost made more embarrassing by the fact that the two people right next to them have no difficulty in this area. But, I think that the whole quartet tells a story of oddballs coming together and feel understood by one another. The same thing is happening for both couples in that moment. The ones that are having an easy time talking are finding that they have things in common and a connection, and the ones that are struggling are also finding a connection in that moment.

- Snitchseeker

Katherine Waterston: I think they really kind of are actually kindred spirits. They recognize a similarity in the other. He has an area of his life that makes sense to him when he's with his creatures, and that's the safe place in the world he understands. In the broader world, it's challenging in many ways. Human interactions are challenging. Tina, her work makes sense to her. That's the world in which she thrives, and beyond that interpersonal relationships are quite difficult. You see it when Queenie and Jacob are at the dinner table in the first one. I always thought that scene told so much about these two. Just with the little quick glances and stuff, they were observing a great deal about the trap they are both in a little bit in human interactions, while these other two are so freely engaging with each other, but that's a comfort for them, and I also think I really don't have to act. It's a wonderful gift. Tina loves his relationship to the creatures and I, Katherine, I think it's so beautiful to watch Eddie work with them in the way he does. I feel like that's something that's very easy to perform, but that I think makes her feel like, "This is a really, really special wizard."

- FilmsNow Bloopers & Extras

Katherine Waterston: Part of what causes the wonderful connection to happen in the first film is that they recognise that similarity in each other. She also has a world that makes sense to her, and the greater world is a challenge and those personal relationships, she just doesn't... I think a little bit differently. She just maybe hasn't allowed herself that. There hasn't been time for that part in her life, because she's had a responsibility to care for her sister and focus on her work. But also that's the kind of thing people say when they're like justifying being single or something.

- Wizarding World

Katherine Waterston: When I first read the script, I really loved her journey that at the beginning she's really uneducated about fantastical beasts and maybe even a little bigoted and judgemental of what she doesn't fully understand and through the process of being exposed to them and seeing what they are through Eddie's eyes, she comes to a greater understanding and I loved that journey and that growth.

- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Interview

Katherine Waterston: And I love Tina because – and I think we can all relate to this. She’s very complicated. She has that aspect where you can feel incredibly confident in yourself, but also be filled with self-doubt and insecurity. She’s got all this hope for herself, but every time she tries to do something right, it goes wrong. So she’s wondering if she is as hopeless as other people perceive her to be. She’s living with that question when Eddie’s character comes along. He lets her try magic and it galvanises her. It can be lonely being an oddball until you find other oddballs. Their friendship is not a mere byproduct of the extreme set of circumstances they go through together; it is their common experience as outsiders that draws them to one another.

- Hot Press

Katherine Waterston: Tina is a very serious, hard-working, also awkward, damaged person. They share some traits. Both are very passionate about their work and thrive in that enviroment, but are little stunted developmentally in other ways. What I loved about Tina was that she loves her work. She's so proud of it and has a sense that she has great potential as a witch, as an Auror, but also at the same exact time, harbours a real anxiety and fear that she won't reach her potential, that she isn't good enough, and so I love that kind of internal struggle she has. It is when she too bonds together with these other three... It's kind of strength in numbers thing. They, especially Newt, I think, starts to encourage her to performe magic more than she's been doing recently because she's been demoted at work and she starts to kind of get her groove back because of that support.

- Filmsnow Movie Bloopers & Extras

Katherine Waterston: It just occurred to me now that both Newt and Tina are kind of rebels. He got kicked of Hogwarts at the beginning of the film. She is been demoted at work, so she's like a career gal without a career when you first meet her and is sort of struggling between both, feeling courageous, outgoing and confident and also vulnerable and insecure, so she's a bit of jumble. It is through joining together with, well, particulary Newt, but with the main four, or the other three I should say, that she kind of gets her groove back.

- MoviemaniacsDE

Katherine Waterston: Yeah, I mean it's one of the lovely things that I think Newt and Tina have in common is that both are really passionate about their work and their interests. It's where they kind of come alive. So for her, to have the place where she's most comfortable taken from her is very uncomfortable for her. So she wants to be a great Auror, but she also really wants to get back in the swing of things, because that's where she feels the best. She's really striving to kind of undo the damage she's done, but she has so much heart, and sometimes there are situations that compelled her to maybe bend or break the rules, even though all she wants is to get back in good graces at work. So she's kind of got this internal struggle going on there. But what's also amazing in the couse of the film is that because... I think that Newt sees her potential and kind of encourages her to get back into doing some pretty badass witchcraft.

- Entertainment Weekly Binge Dec 07 2016

Eddie Redmayne: With Katherine's character, it is sort of a slow-build connection. these two people, who are outsiders yet passionate people, begins to glimpse things in one another.

- Inside the Magic: The Making of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Eddie Redmayne: It was one of the things that I loved – the idiosyncrasies within these characters, as you say. Tina was someone that presents as incredibly strong, and yet she has the fragility as well. And similarly, Newt has a seeming awkwardness and shyness, and a complete incapacity to relate to other people. One gets a sense that that stems from some sort of damage. It's also because he is someone who has grown up with these creatures, so he has great empathy for them. And he's his own person. J.K. Rowling writes about these characters who all appear to be misunderstood or outsiders in some way, but when they find each other, they bring qualities out in each other. Both Newt and Tina have a certain pre-judgmental notion, and yet when they really look and listen, I feel that they see each other.

- HMV

Eddie Redmayne: He does have a vulnerability but it's not like he's striving for a connection with humans. At the beginning of the film, he's very happy in himself. He's seemingly completely content in his skin, but it's only when he realises that he can have a connection, that he sort of begins to fall for Tina. He connects with Tina and it's very slow burn but it's been wonderful to play. They start as antagonists, finding each other deeply frustrating, but by the end there's a kind of sense of something.

- Yahoo UK

Katherine Waterston: I don’t think it’s too theatrical a notion that Newt and Tina could bond so quickly, because a lot happens. When you’re thrown together with someone in a high-stakes environment, you tend to feel quite close to them even after a little bit of time. Sometimes you know someone for three days and it’s amazing and you think, “Hey I actually know you. You don’t, ladies! You don’t know them yet, but you can feel like you do.

- Wizarding World

Katherine Waterston: As Tina gets to know Newt, she sees more of him when she sees him interact with the animals because at first she does see him as uncomfortabe and guarded, but she's not seeing him interacting with the creatures, and I think it's part of where the love story begins at least for her is when she sees him the side that he kind of hides from other humans and it's very moving to her. 

- Adorocinema

Katherine Waterston: She really has a journey there to understand so much that she's never explored before. She took her job very seriously and she has great pride in being a part of MACUSA, but there's also a bigger world out there. There might be something a little bit narrow-minded about her—her perspective in the beginning of the film. This is why diversity is a good thing and understanding other cultures is an important thing. As she gets to know Eddie's character, she also comes to understand there's lots of different kinds of points of view about things that she had sort of been a little bit more rigid about... rigid-minded about before.

- KUTV

Katherine Waterston: My character in the beginning of the film, has been raised and taught to fear the other in the case of the fantastic beasts. And through education and through understanding and being exposed to it…Eddie Redmayne: And empathy.Katherine Waterston: Yeah, and being presented with a different perspective on it, she comes to understand that there's no reason for her to fear what she's been taught to fear. So those messages have a solution in them, too, which I think is fucking useful.

- Mugglenet

Katherine Waterston: In another interview I was talking about Tina's journey: she has a fear of the other, she's been educated to fear these magical creatures, and through exposure to them and exposure to a person who has a different perspective on them, her perspective changes. There's hope for growth so long as we open ourselves up to it.

- Leaky Cauldron

Eddie Redmayne: At the beginning, I think Newt has sort of no interest in Jacob. He's just about getting the creatures back. But there's one moment early on when Newt takes him down into the case and Newt doesn't take many people down, if anyone down to the case and he shows Jacob the Occamy, the little and he watches the way. Because these creatures are hated by the wizarding world. Everyone hates these creatures. He watches the way that Jacob looks at this creature and he suddenly sees someone who sees what he sees. And I think that's the first moment that Newt kind of falls a bit for Jacob and I love that progression. And similarly with Tina, when she comes down later and begins to understand these creatures for what they are and I think he can put his defense down a bit.

- Star

David Yates: There's another scene where Alison and Katherine, in the case, sing the Ilvermorny song, the school song. I asked Alison would she write it, and she wrote this beautiful Ilvermorny school song. And they sing it together and the two boys, Jacob and Newt, they sit there and they watch. And as the girls perform this song, this ode to Ilvermorny, they slowly fall in love.

- Slashfilm

Eddie Redmayne: In order to surprise him, Newt has to appear entirely relaxed and unpredictable, but the Demiguise knows him; he already has a sense of what he’s going to do. So Newt encourages Tina to just be casual. That it’s going to be up to her to catch the Demiguise, because he knows less about her. I think that not only is Newt trying to find the Demiguise, but subconsciously he’s beginning to enjoy the proximity with Tina.

- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Movie-Making News

Katherine Waterston: Perhaps my favorite day on set was a scene with Tina and Newt on a dock. We were on location in an enormous hanger originally used to build zeppelins. It’s the biggest single storey building I’ve ever seen in my life, and had this incredible energy to it. We only shot a few takes of that scene, but that was one of my best memories. It was just one of those days that felt electric.

- Female First

Katherine Waterston: I loved the scene between us at the end of the movie. Because we’ve been doing all these action and stunts and working with the magical creatures, and this was just a very simple scene, two actors just communicating together, and we shot it with two cameras as well. So it was like sometimes you shoot one side and then the other, but we were really in the moment together. So what you see in the movie isn’t cut together between like many hours of shooting. It’s kind of more in real time. That felt magical.

- Tencent

Eddie Redmayne: What do I enjoy most about the work? It's the tiny moments when things feel real and they happen very, very rarely. You're very lucky if it you have one in an entire job and it happened for me on this job when, in the last scene between Tina and Newt, when they're leaving to go away, she wishes him and says, "Good luck on the book." And then she says the title of the book, 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.' Newt can't believe that someone's seen him, and in that moment, whenever Katherine said that, I got goosebumps. I was like got the tingles, "Wow!" Like being seen. And It's a weird moment. You can't really quite describe it and that's why you never talk about it in acting, but it's like something feels true for a minute or a second, and you don't feel like you're putting it on. It's just a natural reaction that happens to you.

- Snitchseeker

David Yates: In the course of the story Tina and Newt have this unrequited, quite tender, quite funny journey together.

- Inside the Magic: The Making of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Katherine Waterston: I suppose in the beginning of the first film, she's a survivor and she sort of developed a kind of hardness in order to get by in the world and I think when she encounters Newt, it does soften her in a way.

- Cinemark Argentina

Eddie Redmayne: One of the things I love about Newt is that he's completely his own person. He's learned to be content with that - or he thinks he's content with it. In the last movie, he connected with the [principal] trio, and particularly with Tina, who saw elements in him which other people had never seen. Probably one of the only other people in his life who had seen that was Dumbledore.

- SFX Magazine

Eddie Redmayne: In the last movie, getting to meet Queenie and Jacob, and particularly Tina, like his heart has been opened. So his world has always been his creatures and his case, and through meeting Tina, his heart's kind of exploded, and so I would say he is out for being much more open

- iQIYI

Eddie Redmayne: What is it that he doesn't like about Tina? I think Tina is an extraordinary character. She is formidable, she is vulnerable, she is incredibly caring, she sort of looked after her sister in this extraordinary way despite a tricky upbringing. Even though she's created in the first film this sort of exoskeleton through damage, he can see into her and I think it's just a magnetic connection between them.

- FilmsNow Bloopers & Extras

[somanyfuckedupiftruebooks]

Mag 24

First of all, amazing opening to the statement. Thank you Leannne, you're a treasure. Secondly, it's weird that she seems to be basically immune to the Stranger, considering her family history. She doesn't necessarily have to take after her grandfather, but still, you'd think she'd have some reaction to clowns other than indifference.

Haha, I get it, he was a 'strange' man who played 'strange' music. Very funny Jonny.

I wonder what his plan was here. The statement implies that Grandpa Nick's death wasn't a shock, and yet he made no plans regarding the contents of the loft. Did he think his granddaughter would keep it locked forever? Or did he want her to find it, and maybe take over as organist? Then why lock the basement at all? If it was to keep Nikola inside, why not warn her that it was up there?

I knew Nikola took her father's surname, but I didn't realise she'd taken her other father's first name! That's oddly endearing... or it would be, if not for the larger implications of a Stranger taking someone's name.

Okay, so Nick was part of the circus and obviously had some kind of relationship with Nikola. Why did he lock it away inside of his loft? Because it killed Gregor Orsinov? Seems that like that happened a long time ago, though. Maybe the lock was a relatively recent thing, only installed after Nick got too sick to care for himself and Leanne moved in? Prior to growing too unwell, Nick might have just been chillin' with Nikola, playing sick beats on the calliope and letting it rip people's jaws off whenever it wanted. The lock could have been to keep Leaane out, not to keep Nikola in. But he left Leanne the house, clown and calliope included...

I dont know. There's unanswered questions here.

Okay, nope, 'thick layer of dust'. Nick hasn't been up here for a loooong time. He definitely just locked Nikola away, with seemingly no plans for what to do when she eventually got out. Maybe he got sick of the #circuslife and thought that if he just left her alone for long enough she would either die or stop pretending to be alive.

Okay, this might just be my automatonophobic ass, but I swear to god if I found this in my house I would immediately burn it. Maybe that would be a bad decision, but I figure I already fucked up by opening the locked room and releasing the spirits of the broken dolls, may as well destroy them all immediately before they have a chance to come alive while I'm sleeping.

It's probably been evident from my commentary thus far, but I subscribe to the theory that this clown doll is Nikola, in one of it's many forms. Which makes it hilaroous that the first introduction we get to one of the primary antagonists of the series is a doll that is immediately called ugly and almost thrown out as garbage.

Omg hi queen!!! It's so nice to meet you!!! Though in hindsight, I really wish your first on-tape appearance hadn't been in a Stranger statement...

But still, iconic to have your first line of dialogue be both interrupting and correcting the Archivist. Get his ass.

🥺 They were friends. He praised her, and they joked around with each other at work.

[nomsfaultau]

(Potentially (does it even have the right to be called that anymore?)) Daily ask №10

Relationships edition!

Which two characters have the closest relationship between the crew?

What relationship dynamic do you wish you got the chance to use in fault or the chance to use more it often?

What duo/trio do you think didn't get much screentime but you personally really like the idea or vibe of?

What relationship between side characters is your favourite?

What relationship dynamic would make absolutely no sense in the context of the fic but would be absolutely amazing nonetheless? (Ex. A duo that would be great and heartbreaking as enemies but would never become enemies due to the plot)

Also, not a question and not even related to the theme, but I would really like to hug everyone in the main crew + Ranboo (assuming they're not a pile of ashes and a skull) please

Spoilers and mistakes, as always!

1.Tommy and Tubbo not even close. Which is funny since they've known each other the least amount of time, but they sorta latched onto each other to survive trauma and are insuperable now. After so, so long of total isolation, Tommy having a friend who can literally always be with him is like a dream. It's almost impossible to ever feel abandoned. And for Tubbo, they can see a lot of the awful things that are happening in the Foundation, and Tommy was like the one source of comfort they could see. He taught them how to survive and fight and live. At this point, the only way each knows how to care about themselves is through caring for the other. It's not perhaps ideal but it does work better than any other of their disastrous coping mechanisms.

2. I adore me a dark Phil. Not that scp Philza isn't a rough character, but he isn't a full on antagonist like he is in Mandatory Family Reunion or Lord!. One of my favorite dynamics of all time is insanely overpowered villain father and his kidnapped, seething, and suicidal hero kid, but while echoed in Fault it doesn't really get there.

3. The relationships between all of the main five get pretty heavily explored for the most part. I guess The Blade and Wilbur's dynamic gets the least focus out of all 10 possible duos? But eh. I do really like Philza and Kristin but I knew absolutely nothing about her when I first started Fault. I don't really see a way she'd fit in unfortunately. Which is a shame because Phil being a wifeguy is a lot of fun, and Kristin is so sassy and sweet.

4. My favorite side character relationship is unpublished and deep in spoilers alas. Most other side characters are pretty tied up how they relate to the protags, so we're digging deep for this one. Slimecicle/Charlie and Maureen (a guard he posesses) is actually a fascinating dynamic to me for all they have like maybe two scenes. It reveals interesting new shades to how the Foundation functions, since even teritiary characters bring new perspectives to the situation. I love the contrast between their POVs, with Maureen struggling to protect her coworkers versus Charlie's surprisingly sharp rebuttal about the Foundation destroying innocence and lives, or the contrast between Charlie's jocularity versus Maureen's mortal terror.

And mixing body horror with stupid puns is just fun!

"I’ve just dapped [Maureen] up!” At [Lawrence's] utter bewilderment, Charlie kindly explained, covering his faux mouth with his hands and stage whispering. “It means I’ve slipped between her muscles and am piloting her like a skin mecha. Like Pacific Rim! But it’s Pacific Skin!” Charlie paused. “Skin like in coagulation, not meat. Actually it works on both levels..."

5. I got this...one au. That I've stopped poking because frankly it goes to places darker than I prefer, and as a rule I don't actually ship minecraft guys save for like if they married, so it's just NEVER going in Fault. Not that this is a real ship, more like a toxic nucular bomb, but I find it interesting soooo... Philza/Webb. Who is the Foundation worker who shows Phil fun videos of his kids being tortured, who destroys him in the amnestic arc, who Philza fantasizes about torturing often, so like, yikes am I right.

The dynamic itself would be Philza selling his self respect and getting in a relationship with Webb in order to manipulate him into getting better treatment for his kids. He starts like coughing up blood about it but hey anything for his Collected right? And on Webb's end he doesn't even think Philza is a person, knows the Foundation will probably kill him if it's suspected (or if it doesn't make it easier to control Philza), literally already has a husband and daughter, and has lost so many friends and almost his own life to Philza.

They both hate each other so much but hate themselves even more.

It's horrific from pretty much every angle which is why I like it, since I don't write ships i write tragedies. I have a post about it, because there's a lot of humor in the crack pair too. But it's also so cursed I am not touching it.

ANd yes!! all the hugs!*

*assuming no power problems

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

Okay!! So that was Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episodes 1 and 2!! Honestly a great premiere :D

This is just gonna be a little review and summary, not too long but with plenty of me freaking out :).

First of all: AAAAHHHHHHHH GREGORY AND JANINE YOU IDIOTSSS-

As someone who also has trouble trusting the district I feel for Barbara, and I'm kind of hesitant about Janine's switch/internship xd. I would not be surprised if they offer her a full time job and she has to choose (though obviously she'd choose teaching. She better anyway xD). But I am really glad she's making a difference :)! Honestly, everything changes when you have admin or district on your side. Also, she's definitely gonna struggle to adjust and get everything when she gets back xd, and even some before then, but I think she'll start getting close with people again :).

WHOOO MELISSA AND GARY ARE BROKEN UP!! I will say that even if I want someone who's more aligned with what she wants, I do feel bad because I just want her to be happy x'd. He really should've gotten that it was a never thing though - like, dude, she told you lol. I'm glad she was firm about it though - it was totally in character and even though it's not a surprise for her it's surprising to see on TV, and I'm really proud of her :') <3. I hope they both find someone for them, because he's sweet :').

Also the cameos were ICONIC as always lol xD. Idk who they are but you can just Feel a cameo's importance lol. Also I'm loving the addition of the school district people's they have a cool vibe against the teachers and such (Ava, Mr. Johnson, yk). Not antagonistic, just kind of contrasting. Also I love that they didn't question the camera people at all lol. I know they know it's happening, but they questioned nothing, and we love that xD.

Also we didn't see much of Jacob but I love him <3. Jsyk.

Mr. Johnson was ICONIC as always, we love to see it xD. Him telling about his life is always amazing lol, and we (they, we only got some) got the whole story this time xD. Slay.

Them getting Ava back was the funniest thing xD. I feel bad Gregory had to, I guess flaunt himself, but I think it'll still be less from Ava in the future. Also the song getting Ava back was absolutely iconic xD. On a more serious and narrative note, I like how it was already setting up Janine's rift with this storyline. She knew the answer the whole time even, but she wasn't there a part of it really at all. She wasn't even there for the victorious final moment :'/ xd. Which works, and it makes sense, but it still sucks lol xd. Anyway, it's gonna hurt as a storyline overall, but they're doing a really great job with it! Especially the fact that they don't dislike her for her decision, they're just distant. They rarely see each other (expect maybe Jacob and Janine - which by the way I needed more bestieism for them but I'm glad we got some xD), just like with her kids. Also her kids just sitting there kinda down and not caring/noticing that she's there is heartbreaking 😭. I know the feeling of losing your teacher at the beginning of the year and having them gone for half of it, if in a different way, and it really just sucks. Even though I was older than in second grade for that lol.

Also relating to Gregory and Janine: I am glad he respected her space, and continued to, but I think it's also kind of because he's avoiding the situation. It's awkward and it sucks and when that's how it is maybe you don't wanna reach out anyway, even if you miss them. I don't know. But they are idiots, and I do love them 😭 xD ❤️🥰. My idiots <3. I'm sure everything will work out in the end :).

Also Barbara with the makeup - you know what, good for her :D. Slay girlie, I'm happy you're happy :))! I'm also happy she's happy with her daily self though lol. Also the cosmetologist was really chill and I'm glad she wasn't mean :D.

I think it was a really good decision to make this an hour long episode. To catch up with what we've missed due to the delayed start and the in universe delay. Which, by the way, the reason in universe for the delay being that the camera crew got robbed is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS to me xDD. Iconic lol. Poor them though xdd. Anyway, having a bit of a preview of it all, shaking it up, and then showing us what actually happened instead of just dropping us in the middle of nowhere was really nice. I think it would be cool to see some more flashbacks throughout the season (not whole or half episodes again, just bits and pieces - maybe just cutaways), but who knows if we will lol. Anyway, having plenty of time to be in the past, get things sorted but still have their own storylines, and then jump back into the present without a week long break was really nice :D. Gave us some familiarity, some different stuff, and was a large amount of content for a big draw for getting people back into the show after a long break :). Really good! I think they made the best decision they good with the layout like this and I'm so excited to see the rest of the season :D 🥰🥰!!

Turns out I did have plenty to say, lol xD. As I kind of suspected. But yeah!! I really liked the premiere and I think that everybody got some good focus, even if others got the main amount. Abbott's really good about that :). The show, I mean, lol. Anyway!

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I LOVE THIS SHOW SO FREAKING MUCH AND I'M SO GLAD IT'S BACK!!!

It's just so nice to see this amazing show that's mostly positive and uplifting but still funny and just relax for a while :'D. Also I love all my babeys (the characters) so much and I'm so glad to have them back :')) ❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰😭❤️🥰.

I absolutely LOVED the premiere. I'm so excited for the next episode and the rest of the season :DD!!!

Bye guys, love you all 🥰🥰!

[luveline]

Hi lovely! I just wanted to tell you that you really remind me of a friend I had ten years ago. I met her while I was in a psychiatric hospital because of my depression and she was just so lovely. She'd had a rough life, just a lot of worst case scenarios one after the other, like for example - she had just beat cancer a year prior. She was really dealt a rough hand, but she never let that stop her from being so incredibly sweet. She was a really loving individual. We'd hold hands and nap together, even though we weren't allowed in each other's rooms and she'd stroke my hair and call me all these sweet nicknames and she just really cared a lot. I got into my first ever physical fight because of her. Her hair wasn't very long yet, after chemo, and when one of the guys noticed that she didn't like people touching it, he did just that. Just to be an asshole I guess. It escalated and soon he was dragging her by her hair and the nurses somehow didn't hear all of us shouting at him, so I grabbed him by the hair. I was trying to get his hand out without hurting her, so I was just clawing at his hand and his face and he elbowed me in the nose. I also got into multiple verbal fights with the nurses about how they were treating the other patients. One of my roommates had hallucinations in the dark, so the deal was that we could leave the hallway light on and the door open. But there was a shift change in the middle of the night and the new nurse came to turn the light off. I woke up to my friend crying because the nurse wouldn't listen to her. In the end I got her to agree to leave the light on, but that definitely had me in an antagonist state of mind for the rest of my stay. The nurses were neglectful at best and actively making things harder at worst.

Anyways, sorry about that unnecessary tangent.

I don't know what happened to my friend, she was discharged before me and had to go back to living with her abusive father and we lost contact after a few months. But she really made me a more open and loving and brave person. You honestly have that same energy.

aw I’m honoured you’d think that way of me! Genuinely!! She sounds absolutely incredible and you sound just as amazing and loving and sweet!! I hope you’re doing well❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[gornackeaterofworlds]

Know that I am gently batting you around for being amazing!

How about number 37 and 10 for any oc or oc’s of your choosing! ^W^

Know that I am consuming you whole in one big bite btw

10. If your character is an antagonist or something of the like, do they self-justify their actions? If so, how?

Marvel OCs:

Eva: She doesn't necessarily cross that territory once the lab holding her prisoner dissipated, but during training she did anything it took to make them happy, crossing any lines. When first brought into the program she'd refused, and so they found that if they hurt Evan, they could convince her to do what they wanted. So that's how she justifies any deed she feels guilty about throughout her life, that it's for Evan, to protect Evan, she gets to shuck the blame of the choice if it's for Evan.

Evan: He is a lot more intentionally morally grey than Eva. He was a terrified little boy before, but after learning about his dimension(9591), seeing Eva cause so much pain for his sake, spending years as a prisoner, he gets a very nihilistic streak. His mindset is that everything he does is just for his own survival, his own gain, and while it causes a little guilt, he rationalizes his actions with "it's worse for people in my/other dimension(s), so people here shouldn't complain." Refusing to allow empathy helps also.

TMNT OCs:

Anni: Huge antagonistic streak, but she swears nothing is her fault! It's all for a purpose, for the end goal! Illegal activities galore. Her defense? "The government sucks anyway." Emotional manipulation? "I simply had to, it's the only way to do/get [object]!" I don't think I made it very clear in my fic, and part of that was intentional, but she's a very manipulative, sly person. Though I'm taking a break, in one of the two posted chapters she manipulates Donnie into getting his phone number and getting to come over another day. Also outright coerces April into seeing the turtles, but that's worded more obviously. Barely thinks about the repercussions of these things until later, and it leads to deconstructing her child abuse.

Millie: It's all her traumatic past, promise!! Not a very big bad girl side, most of her "antagonistic" actions are more like lies by omission. Hiding things. Stealing. Doesn't like to burden others, especially her friends, with things that are so petty in comparison to their issues. Also slightly manipulative, but more of a "pulling very small specific strings to get the reaction she wants" way, like Anni's smaller manipulations. Rationalizes by playing dumb/ignoring it or just thinking that it's very small, inconsequential, but also doesn't want to haunt them.

37. What does your character want to change about themselves?

Marvel OCs:

Eva: Pre-main battle, slightly guiltily wishes she wasn't a mutant. Though for her, it's more about "if I wasn't special, I wouldn't have been brought to this dimension, and Evan wouldn't have gotten hurt because of me." Post-main battle, there's not a lot she'd change. Still holds onto that past sentiment, but in regards to the deceased 616 Eva instead of Evan. During this arc, she tries a lot of things and explores herself a lot, so there's a lot of self-love there.

Evan: Doesn't want to be a mutant, and this is very consistent throughout his life. He never goes back to 9591, but he's heard about it from other dimension-travelers and from Eva, who visited one time(and was veeery careful not to use her powers there). Terrified every day that the curse of that dimension will still affect him, so he's very hesitant to use his powers. Thankfully it doesn't affect his looks, so he can pretend, but because he's stuck by Eva's side, he's a little forced to use his powers on the team(though that ends after the main battle, since she's in the hospital, he kinda does whatever he wants and really likes being an average person)

TMNT OCs:

Anni: Her childhood her childhood her childhood. PLAGUED by "what if I was a normal civilian". Without getting into spoilers, she does eventually tone down the international criminal persona, even brokering a deal to go into witness protection while staying in New York(it helps that her main partner in crime(literally), her father, is dead)

Millie: Kinda...everything? In most iterations of Millie I've made, like for Rise, she doubles as a spidersona, and in those iterations she wishes she had been a normal human so she could've died with the rest of her dimension(she's a little stuck wandering the multiverse to find a dimension where the Krang lose..) In the iterations where she's typically not spiderman, like Bay, she'd probably change her looks or entire lifestyle to be prettier or more interesting. I'll admit she's a self insert bc I'm cringe shush. And that's what I'd change, so it applies to her as well.

[jojotichakorn]

OK, I read your tags on that DA2-esque gif set and now I want to know! What do you think Top Hawke would be like?

what an excellent question that will be understood by two and a half people in total jgkdfjgfdjgfdkg no but it will be fun for me to answer so i'm not complaining

credit where credit is due, anon and i only thought of this because of this amazing gifset by the wonderful @sparklyeyedhimbo

i know we've only had one episode, but i honestly think top is as shallow as a fucking puddle and what we've already seen of his slightly more hidden manipulations is as deep as he gets. personality-wise, i think he would be chuckles (aka humorous) - i think he'd be very charming and sarcastic, always scheming but rarely directly aggressive. and speaking of being indirect, he also gives me double-wielding rogue vibes all the way - a backstabber both literally and metaphorically.

in terms of the party, i reckon he'd have a pretty antagonistic relationship with all of them, to various degrees. don't get me wrong, this man can act extremely appealing to literally anyone he'd like to fuck, but the thing about the da2 party is i think each of them has been through so much shit that they are not naive enough to fall for any of it. i'm not sure if we know top's sexuality atm, but out of all da2 companions, the only person who could potentially fuck top would be isabela, and she would do it because she would know exactly who he is as a person and not because she is oblivious to it.

speaking of isabela, i stand by what i said in the tags - she would think he's occasionally funny and extremely alluring. but, as i said, at the end of the day she'd see right through him, so it would be a line between understanding his selfishness and his way of thinking and simultaneously keeping to herself because of the very same thing. anyone who befriended or romanced izzy knows that creating that deep connection with her implies loyalty to her and certain... if not sacrifices then difficult choices that make hawke's life harder because they are trying to help her. that's not something top would do in a million years. i am honestly a bit on the fence on whether she would even return with the relic at the end of act 2, but if she does, top would give her over to the arishok without blinking an eye.

it's kind of hard to make varric disapprove of any hawke, to be completely honest, and i think top would actually be pretty chill with him, because he's a funny guy. and he's helpful. but when push comes to shove, top would still be a dick, and the whole bartrand / red lirium situation would be dealt with in the worst way possible, which would strain their relationship quite a bit.

bethany is a sweet little girl and she loves her sibling dearly, to the point that i believe it's literally impossible to max out a rivalry with her in game no matter what you do. but since top seems like a very "ends justify the means" guy and his ends are very selfish, he'd do some things bethany wouldn't be a fan of. i don't think top would really care about the mage / templar conflict, but he would be choosing the routes that save his own skin first and foremost, which are rarely the pro-mage routes, and that would definitely sour his relationship with bethany.

merrill, i reckon, would have a very distant relationship with top and would probably just try to stay away from him as often as possible. aveline and sebastian (along with andraste on his crotch) would be very *clutches the pearls* about him and would dislike him severely. however, i don't think anyone would hate top as much as fenris and anders. his special brand of selfishness, over-confidence, and bravado is something both of them would hate in ways more similar than they could ever admit.

in general, i think top would always choose what's best for him. he wouldn't ask a lot of questions about who it would otherwise benefit or why, who it could hurt, etc. he would help, but only if you paid him. he would lie and he would cheat, if that served him better in the moment, and he would be honest and direct, if that was the choice that would lead to him coming out on top (pun intended). he wouldn't care about what's right or what's good, he would very much only care about himself.

this kind of makes it a bit harder to make out what his final decision in terms of the conflict would be, because - unless a hawke vehemently supports templars throughout the whole game, which top would not do, or a hawke is a mage, which top wouldn't be - there isn't really anything personal that one would gain in siding with either. at that point, it is simply a moral choice. with a very easy answer, obviously supporting mages is the only right choice, but it's easy for people who actually care about doing the right thing, which top obviously doesn't give a shit about. but at the end of the day, i think h would side with the mages, if not for any reason other than him enjoying chaos and having a deep-rooted value of freedom.

so yes, that's the general vibe i'm getting from Top Hawke jgkldfjgklfdjkgl. thank you so much for asking, this was fun!!

[luminouslumity]

Liveblog for Watching and Dreaming!

Okay, last episode. Here we go.

Oh, okay! So we're starting with drama right off the bat then! Great!

TITAN!

STRINGBEAN!

Oh God, poor Luz!

Poor Eda, but I've honestly really missed Lilith as an antagonist, even if it's only a dream in this case.

Okay, and now King is going to be traumatized! Wonderful!

Okay, ouch! This scene with Hunter hurts even more than the others!

Still horrified, but love the call-back to S1.

Aww! Reunion!

Rai Rai! I can't! It's just a shame this isn't the real Raine!

Oh, no... Belos, leave King alone!

This is so sad on so many levels! It's one thing to have an antagonistic chaos being, it's another if that chaos being just genuinely doesn't understand the repercussions of their actions! And of course he wouldn't, he's a child!

Raine, yes! Try and break free!

I'm really liking the action here!

Oh, so we're just gonna get the "try to get through to him" talk now, then. Okay.

The Archivists? Lore? Oh my god!

This poor baby!

GO, RAINE!

Oh, don't tell me that heart belongs to...

And it does! As if you couldn't get any more gruesome, Belos!

AMITY! YAY! And hearing her call Lilith Miss Lilith really makes me wish more than ever that we actually saw them interact beyond Covention.

Aww, more call-backs.

Dana, don't tempt us! But yes, please, I'd give anything for an Eda school days spin-off!

I hate Belos, but man I love his new monster design! It actually kinda reminds me of Garon from Fire Emblem Fates!

Yes, Collector! Go, little guy!

Wait, no! Collector! There are exceptions! That being said, the reactions from Luz, Eda, and King are hilarious!

LUZ, NO!

CAMILA! I'm not even joking when I say I literally started to cry at the same time she did!

YES! AVENGE HER!

Oh, the In-Between Realm!

I knew she'd be fine, but oh god, all of them are going to need therapy once all this is over!

King's dad!?

KING'S DAD! And I love his design!

Aww! He sounds so sweet!

WHY!?

Well, at least we get pretty animation out of this.

GOODBYE, KING'S DAD!

Again, poor Camila!

Glyphs! Yay!

NO, NOT HIM TOO!

NO!

LUZ! AND SHE LOOKS SO GOOD!

Aw, they're all fighting alongside each other! This is awesome!

I've missed you, red foliage!

Wow!

Again, this animation is amazing!

Raine! And she's whistling the song! Ugh, I can't!

Aww, Raeda nuzzlies!

More fluid animation!

YES, SHE SAID IT! SHE SAID THE THING!

BYE-BYE, BELOS!

Oh, fork you, man! How dare you even try and play the "I was possessed" card!

Okay, this is horrifying. Still, death by rain? How delightfully ironic!

Even now, he still refuses to see himself as a villain.

YEAH! STOMP ON HIM!

Aww, King! And of course the message would be a pun!

Aww, more reunions!

DADRIUS CONFIRMED!

Seriously, everything about this voiceover is great! Sucks that Luz can't do magic anymore, though. And I'm glad the Collector will at least be keeping in touch.

Aww, Hunter has a new palisman!

TIMESKIP! NICE!

Aw, the University of Wild Magic!

Amity looks so good! They all do, but Amity's is my favorite! Lilith too, actually!

King-ceñera! So sweet! And disgusting, but it's the thought that counts. And glyphs have returned! Cool!

A removal spell! Awesome!

BYYYYYEEE!

That was such a perfect note to end it on! Thank you for everything, Owl Crew! And I know we'll apparently be getting something related to the Azura series eventually (no idea if it's still going to happen or not though), but even if it's just books or graphic novels, here's hoping we can get more from this show in the future!

[fanstuffrantings]

Spoilers for dragon age absolution under the cut

So I really enjoyed the series, I liked them including the queer characters they did, really was happy with how tevinter was shown to be. Also I loved Miriam and her companions that are sticking with her for season 2.

I was very happy the gave little to no information on the inquisitor so that the fandom could place their own character in that roll and have it not ruffle feathers.

They really shattered our heart with the Hira reveal and distracted us with a Roland and Locklan kiss which made me momentarily forget my pain. Fairbank was a nice addition as well and seeing him in action was nice while it lasted.

I'm interested to see what becomes of Tassia, I was hoping she'd maybe break off from the imperium and she definitely almost did but ultimately her becoming a newer antagonistic force is still fun.

I didn't care for Rezaren and honestly wasn't able to gage that he was affected by the circilum because I figured tevinter magisters who willingly own slaves are just like that.

The animation was amazing, loved the character designs. And the final Meredith reveal made me exclaim a little. When they said the crimson knight and kirkwall I thought it would be her but wasn't sure. Very hyped for season 2 though and wondering if any of these guys will appear in dreadwolf.

Last note: the appearances of the advisors did make me scream. They looked fantastic.

Either way would recommend to dragon age fans.

[the-rodent-gentleman]

Sheriff Hassan x Camila Noceda

Yeah, you read that right. More under the cut.

This is based off of essentially a crossover AU where Hassan and Ali moved to Gravesfield instead of Crockett Island after the death of Hassan's wife.

Honestly, this idea came about from the sheer amount of similarities Hassan and Camila have:

people of color who lost their spouses to a terminal illness (even moved someplace else as a result)

have regularly been treated like crap by others for being "different"

struggle to connect with their ostracized children but wind up only pushing them away without meaning to

are characters that star in stories that play heavily with horror elements as well as Christian imagery, not to mention feature religious zealots as the main antagonists

are put through the emotional wringer as parents forced to watch as their children are taken from them in one way or another (Hassan watching Ali get "converted" and Camila watching as Luz literally disappears in "Yesterday's Lie")

Like, imagine these two meeting in one of the PTA meetings and they bond over their shared distaste for whoever is the local menace at these meetings, cracking quiet jokes the whole time.

Camila would admire Hassan's strong sense of will and dedication, although personally she'd feel he could stand to be a little gentler sometimes, especially towards his son.

Meanwhile, Hassan would appreciate Camila's kindness and open-mindedness, but think she needs to be more assertive, especially where her daughter's involved.

(Side note: I see Luz and Ali having a "best available friends" sort of relationship - think Mae and Bea from NITW - considering Luz's struggle to make friends at the start of TOH and Ali's desperation to fit in during MM.)

Damn it, now I wanna do a oneshot with these two. Maybe even a series of vignettes.

Extra Facts:

I picked an image of the Jama Masjid (the world's largest mosque by the way) in India for the top left corner since I headcanon Hassan being ethnically Indian.

As for the boxing gloves in the middle left image, I headcanon that Hassan picked "Ali" for his son's name because he's a huge boxing fan, particularly of Muhammad Ali. On a semi-related note, I also like to imagine Hassan would have become a boxer if he hadn't gone into law enforcement. Just strikes me as the type.

Playlist

“Simple and Clean” (Marrzaan Remix)

“Let Somebody Love You” by Leona Lewis

“Golden Lady” by Stevie Wonder

“He Heals Me” by India Arie

“Amazing” by Mystery Skulls

“Another Star” by Stevie Wonder

“Rock With You” by Michael Jackson

“Kiss Me” by Rameses B

“A Place All My Own” by David Helpling

“Our Time Has Come” (Movie Version) from Cats Don’t Dance

[boroughshq]

SHERRI LOWE ( CARLSON YOUNG ) is looking for their (1 of 2) COWORKERS AT STARDUST/DYNAMOS. they should be 25-33ish and look like VICTORIA JUSTICE, CAMILA MENDES, SUKI WATERHOUSE, ABIGAIL COWEN, UTP you DO NOT need to contact the player (@withbitterness) before applying.

TYPE OF CONNECTION: professional / platonic / antagonistic

DESCRIPTION: These are the muses Sherri’s co-workers at Stardust! Stardust is a Manhattan-based diner that is based on the real Ellen’s Stardust, just dropping the Ellen's. Stardust is notable for it’s singing waitstaff, in which the staff typically (though not always) consists of past or current Broadway performers that sing showtunes/hits to the patrons throughout the day. The shop is known for it's singning, its 50s decor, and it's dessert menu, typically having long lines all year round as patrons clamor to say they've gone to Stardust. Sherri's been working on/off at the diner since 2017.

This connect calls for 2 of Sherri's co-workers. I like to think that Sherri and these 2 co-workers complete a trio at work, where they regularly do a schtick acting like Stardust's very own Donna and the Dynamos (a la mamma mia), often singing songs like "Mamma Mia' and "Super Trouper" together at the diner. It started as a one-off, but it was so popular that they've gone viral on tiktok for it, and now regularly perform as the trio when all three of them are on shift together. Sherri is obviously going to be Donna (she'd settle for nothing less), but these two muses make up her Tanya & Rosie for the trio.

Tanya: Available!

Rosie: xochitl reyes.

While I think it'd be so much fun if this trio were best work friends, I also think it'd be equally fun if they hated each other or had some form of petty rivalry, making their trio-requirements more dreadful than amazing (maybe they fight over their roles in the trio, or are often auditioning for the same roles outside of work, or generally Do Not get along - anything goes!). Or even if their personal relationships laid somewhere in the middle between those two extremes! We can plot that out later! Any personality or dynamic potential can work here!

Suggested Faceclaims: UTP, but some of my faves for suggestions are Riley Keough, Suki Waterhouse, Victoria Justice, Camila Mendes, Madelaine Petsch, Lili Reinhart, Sarah Jeffery, Ashley Park, Sabrina Carpenter, Renee Rapp, Vanessa Morgan, Abigail Cowen, Cierra Ramirez, Hailee Steinfeld, Zoe Kravitz, Shay Mitchell, Dakota Johnson, and Sofia Carson!