#and also the queens murder is framed as a bad thing SMH

[getupthestairs]

ive come to the conchlusion that nimona 2023 was REALLY overhyped. like, its a nice good film but everyone was talking about it like it was something revolutionary! when its just kinda. a more shallow version of the sea beast

[cuppajj]

For your little Send Me A Character thing and you already know who it is... OVERLORD!!!

you know me so well. and/or it’s not too hard to tell. probably the latter tbh bdhsbdbdbfbddv

Answers below cut!

First impression: Funny thing is that I had two first impressions of Overlord: one before I knew what IDW was, and the other after I did but before I read MTMTE and LSOTW. My very first impression was through a yt video and I was honestly really unimpressed. Like, wow nice character design, that looks so dull and boring! Where are the cool vehicle parts? Smh. I also heard that Overlord was supposed to be this super scary and murderous bot, but I never did research and just thought that that still meant he was probably a boring villain. Like, ANY villain can be touted as super scary and murderous, that doesn’t mean they’re actually good. But after I discovered what IDW was, and read a few things about OL (including fics and comic dubs that helped introduce me to his character), I immediately took everything back. Like OKAY, never mind, this guy sounds AWESOME. As someone who loves villains, I had a feeling he was right up my alley.

Impression now: Gotta be one of, if not my most favorite Transformers villain ever. While I'm unsure if he's in my top five favorite transformers characters, he's definitely in an echelon on his own, unbound by such a simple list. Overlord makes me inexplicably happy. He's a horrible, horrible person, and does horrible, horrible things, but he's fun. He's aside from almost every other TF villain; he doesn't need a sad backstory or heaping dumps of complexity to himself. He practically chose to be irredeemable and henceforth revels in it. Of course he has some things that you can feel bad for, but compared to other TF villains? There's not much. My personal lack of sympathy for him is what makes him all the more enjoyable to follow. Not to mention, he's a lot of fun to draw; I thought his design was lame at first, but it's quickly become one of my favorites. It's also easy and fun to draw, and the color choices are (at least in IDW's case) bright and colorful and fit my personal tastes! Overlord is just someone I love to hate. Every moment with him is as thrilling as it is terrifying. Again: fun. I could honestly break down into a novel on why I like him so much but that's for another day...

Favorite moment: I can't choose but honestly I really liked it when he burst through his restraints on the lost light. Not only was that shot amazing, but his reasoning was token to his character: he could've broken free at any time, but he didn't feel like it until he learned that Megatron was alive. What a freakin DRAMA QUEEN. I also liked his dumb quarrel with Tarn and their back and forth about who Megatron likes more.

Idea for a story: Overlord deserves to be the main villain of SOME transformers media. I have a couple of story ideas myself but since they're actually headcanon-fics, I couldn't get into detail about them here. But one of them is the entirety of Super God Masterforce but remade for the modern day, which I've been thinking of sharing sometime soon... [but also I want a whole spinoff of MTMTE where it's him, Tarn and the DJD, and Deathsaurus's crew lost on the other side of space, and they have to tolerate each other and be a dysfunctional family while they find their way back. Also another story with Overlord as Megan trying to understand wtf human life is like on his mission to be a politician. I have a lot of thoughts as you can see,,,]

Unpopular opinion: I really don't like that southern accent on him. They should've made Patrick Seitz use his Dio voice. TBH my voice claim for him is Tim Curry with like, the slightest of a british accent. So like the lord of darkness from Legend but a little less growly. Also why do people ship Overpan/Overmax it's really uncomfortable...

Favorite relationship: Him and Tarn. They're so chaotic and whiny, and it's fun to watch them bicker like children. Good lord put them in day care

Favorite headcanon: I did like this whole thing for PWT where I explained through a meme why Overlord was worthy of the Unicron matrix like an anti-prime, and I am STILL clinging on to it as part of my personal canon. Also, I feel like if Overlord hadn't gone the way of a gladiator, he would've used his perfect frame and his theatrics to be an actor or someone in whatever the Cybertronian equivalent of the beauty/modeling industry is

[originaljediinjeans]

MCU Rewatch: “Black Panther” (2018)

Summary: *Deep thematic discussion,* “lol that thing is cute,” “I love Shuri”, “wait a minute, I’m white, am I the bad guy?” *Shameless Killmonger shaming* *Bucky angst* “Seriously what is up in Wakanda?” *more deep thematic discussion* “look at this and this random cute stuff” *more Bucky angst* “White Gary Stu is an important character, in this essay I will--” *tries not to get into discussing racial issues that I know nothing about* *fails*

Actually, Okoye and W’kabi already DO have a kid: it’s the rhino!!!!! XD

Young T’challa in the prologue asking his father about the story of how Wakanda came to be and why they hide from the outside world--that is a kid trying to understand why the world is the way it is. And that is something that T’challa is still trying to grasp when we fast forward to present day. Even then, T’challa’s experiences in Civil War have already opened his eyes to the struggles in the outside world and the suffering of innocent people.

King T’chaka is VERY imposing in that flashback scene

The issue of Bucky Barnes is palpable in the subtext of the conversation between Nakia, Okoye, and T’challa when they bring Everett back with them from Korea, if nowhere else in the film. Anyone seeing BP for the first time after CACW would be aware of the context. Obviously Barnes is not a concern to them at the moment because he is on cryo and has one arm. Okoye probably had an easier time swallowing T’challa wanting to help Bucky because he was a fugitive who would not be safer anywhere else and he was framed for a crime he did not commit, aka killing the previous king. She might have thought it was fair, in fact, for T’challa to make reprimands for attempting to murder the poor thing.  Everett Ross is a white man also but in completely different circumstances that Okoye very pointedly outlines: he is a foreign intel operative, and if they let him live and leave Wakanda then he will tell the rest of the world what they saw there (unless the Wakandans have some kind of brainwashing tech of their own--maybe they’re too humane for that but why wouldn’t they? Or just leave Everett unconscious in Shuri’s lab until he recovers and then when he’s ready take him outside the border and leave him there to wake up). Okoye is basically saying, “Look, T’challa, Barnes was one thing, helping this guy is a terrible idea because he is more likely to betray us if we let him live.” But to Nakia and T’challa it makes no difference: Everett is a human being, if they have the means and resources to help Everett recover then they should help. Is a person’s life really worth less than an entire country’s safety? Shuri’s jibe “another broken white boy” serves to burst the bubble of that tension.

No, seriously, T’challa put the kimoyo bead into Everett’s wound and offered to take him to Wakanda and Okoye’s face was like WHAT

I’m just gonna call him Everett to differentiate him from Thunderbolt Ross. Maybe Everett the Leveret.

Okoye doesn’t care who she kills. She serves her country and whoever in her mind is legally the king. Anyone who is a threat to the throne that she is sworn to protect she will kill--”Without question.” It’s not that she doesn’t value life, but she values her oath as a member of the Dora Millaje. Her country, her people, her monarch: those are her priorities. 

But would she have been happy afterward about if if she had been forced to kill her own husband? Clearly she was conflicted about working for Killmonger, and as soon as she found a loophole she broke ranks and took all the Dora Millaje with her. She does not want to support a monarch who will cause Wakanda to commit needless bloodshed in the rest of the world. The other Dora Millaje saw how ruthlessly Killmonger murdered Zuri and then threw T’challa off the waterfall: they are not here for it.

If the new king of Wakanda wants to get into international relief, then Okoye will stand by her king. 

*smh* T’challa and Nakia flirting on the job. I’m not saying they shouldn’t do it. By all means, continue.

Just putting this out there: a film or mini-series about Nakia or Wakanda’s foreign operatives would be pretty sweet

Also, it’s nice to see Lupita N’yongo and Andy Serkis in roles that aren’t motion-captured. They are both incredible actors and having them did so much for this film.

The assault and robbery at the museum in London must have taken at least weeks of planning. 

I like how Queen Ramona wears a full-length gown with a fuller skirt to T’challa’s coronation. It’s still African in decoration but it’s a little more “European” than what everyone else is wearing. I guess in Wakanda the queen has the luxury of wearing a dress with that kind of skirt. 

Dealing with the loss of close family members is a theme throughout the film. The main Wakandan characters put aside their grief for King T’chaka for T’challa’s coronation, and I assume it was healing for T’challa to see his father again on the ancestral plain. But learning about his father’s covered mistakes shakes his perception of what his father was and how he ruled--how all the kings and queens before him ruled. And he has to address his grief again. T’challa decides that the best way forward for himself and his county is to change how Wakanda does things with the outside world. 

I don’t really like Shuri’s upgraded suit for T’challa. The purple nano-energy is kind of unsettling, or maybe I just don’t like how it looks against the black. I also don’t like how it tears up whatever clothes T’challa is wearing. But I understand why she did it.

On that note, Shuri is a princess, and that is WHY she has the time to do whatever she wants, and I just think it’s fun that she used her time to further her education during her teen years and go into technology research. It’s kind of like how modern royalty are advocates for the arts and certain pasttimes, but on the next level.

Apparently, some of Shuri’s technological advances (esp. the trains in the vibranium mine) have been pretty recent.

Also, Shuri is a multi-tasker, and she’s probably always working on six or seven projects at a time. And she’s not afraid to do more. She starts on one, puts it aside to work on another, and while she switches between tasks she thinks about how to do the others. This girl is...way ahead of everyone. Especially me. But I’d love to be friends with her. IDK how to make her not see that I’m just another “colonizer” but I’ll figure it out.

“Shuri calling people “GENIUS!” when they get on her nerves. 

She’s territorial about her lab.

Another point about Shuri: other Wakandans’ kimoyo beads might have a certain set of functions, but Shuri probably programmed hers to sync to everything she touches

My dad commented while watching that the potion that strips away the power of the heart-shaped herb is “nasty stuff.” No shucks, Sherlock. 

Gosh, I hate Killmonger. He is so smug, he is so condescending to everyone he meets. He is so convinced that he’s right that when he first enters the throne room he acts like he’s already won the challenge and become the king. He only wants to build a “Wakandan Empire” to satisfy his own angst--how much does he even care about his “brothers and sisters”? He is convinced that every person in the world is his enemy. EVERY. PERSON. Including me. Including T’challa. Including the aunt and cousin he’s never met. Including the white guy in the fridge he doesn’t know about. Erik is next-level messed up. He’s just the worst.

(I’m white--am I supposed to take the discourse that “white people are evil” personally?) 

“Hey Auntie.” Every time I hear that line I want to break through the fourth wall and slap him.

I mean, only a really heartless person would not feel sorry for the trauma that Erik went through when he lost his dad. And deep down, I sympathize with Killmonger’s anger, and I have such a rigid way of thinking that I admit that I am tempted to wonder about righting the world’s wrongs with violent means. Is he right that white colonizers ruined the world for Africans? Yes. But no, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves the whole world blind and toothless.” Punishing the “class” of people who have “wronged” the “oppressed” only furthers the cycle of pain and suffering. And pain and suffering are not limited by wealth and status and nationality. Solving the world’s problems isn’t about putting others down, it is about pulling people up and letting them heal. That is why T’challa’s strategy of international outreach is the right one. 

Which is why the post-credit scene with Bucky is actually relevant to the film as a whole: he was the first person in need that T’challa and Shuri were able to give to. T’challa choosing to help Bucky paved the way for  deciding to share Wakanda’s resources with the less fortunate in the world. 

(I’m saying that to myself like I’m angry that Bucky is there at all. It’s called having a mental illness that wants to destroy the things I care about the most. Like there’s this demon in my brain that wants to agree with the extremists who think that Bucky and Everett were “valued” more than Killmonger. Killmonger let himself die because he had the same outlook that all white people are scum and refused to open himself to the possibility that he was wrong--unlike T’challa.)  

“This movie vilifies African-Americans and puts native Africans on a pedestal.” SCREW THAT CRAP. Killmonger was as much a victim as he was a villain. And T’challa and his entire country got called out for not helping other people of African descent across the world. Gosh *rrrgh* 

Having the heir to the throne available to be challenged by the heirs of the other tribal leaders was part of the inter-tribal agreement of how to govern Wakanda. It’s supposed to make it “fair” to the different groups, including the Jabari. That probably implies that the tribal council members are interrelated to each other and the royal family since the monarch has been chosen from different ruling families and they would have intermarried to keep their status--the fact that T’challa has an on and off relationship with the daughter of the River Tribe chief kind of validates that theory. Which tribes were Ramona and T’chaka part of? I’m curious.

I’m not sure how much contact the Jabari have with the rest of Wakanda but I’ll bet M’baku enjoys sending the reigning monarch passive-aggressive letters or something like that. 

I am a huge fan of T’challa’s black robe that he wears on his first day as king.

I really hope the heart-shaped herb grows in the wild

(I wonder if average Wakandans have access to the heart-shaped herb, maybe for medicinal uses)

It is interesting how falling asleep into the trance from the heart-shaped herb is depicted as having flashbacks to the death of the new king’s predecessor/father. It’s kind of like falling asleep IRL and your subconscious slowly takes over.

T’challa dragging M’baku to the edge of the waterfall during their fight was a gutsy move. But I still think T’challa is a Hufflepuff.

T’challa does not like to compromise. It’s kind of unsettling to watch him talking to Everett in their first two scenes: it’s like T’challa thinks he is dictating actual reality while Everett still insists on what is real. 

Yeah, Everett, I hate 80s music too. Klaue probably listens to some real garbage.

I hate that they had to kill off such a great villain and he was being so villainous, but I think the screenwriters felt like that was the only way the Wakandans would let Killmonger into their country, War Dog tattoo or not.

I am just...really soft for the border tribe rhinos, okay?

I’m not sure how much Ulysses Klaue is pretending to be crazy and how much he’s been actually off his rocker since Ultron tore off his arm but after this viewing I’m pretty sure it’s mostly pretending. It is convincing, though.

Did W’kabi ever get counseling after his parents’ deaths?

...actually, does Wakanda even HAVE psychotherapy/counseling like the rest of the world does? Or do they count on technology and medicines to fix all our mental health and emotional problems? You’d think they would have counseling. You’d think they have everything we have except better, but what if they don’t? You’d think that could have been an option for Bucky, except he was so afraid of being triggered by his own shadow. 

I have, like, a lot of questions just about how things are done in Wakanda in general

Like they have access to foreign films and the rest of the world’s internet. The world just can’t tap into them. They see us but we can’t see them. Wakandans know what the outside world is like but they don’t bother about getting on the same page.

T’challa and Shuri are a great team, I want to see them in action together more in the future

I like the jacket that Okoye wears in Korea

In all fairness, Everett Ross is used to being the man in charge, and T’challa is a challenge to his authority. From T’challa’s perspective, he is rude and abrasive, but that’s why he does what he does. Even though T’challa is the king of another country, that doesn’t change anything in Everett’s playbook. Everett acts the way he was trained: he tries to speak up because it’s his job to inform people about his interpretation of the situation, he helps out Okoye and Nakia during the car chase but that’s because he’s after Klaue too so he might as well. He volunteers to help overthrow Killmonger--”hey, you’re going to need all the help you can get”--because he knows as well as the others that if Killmonger can carry out his plan then it could create a global catastrophe. His background info on Erik Stevens informs T’challa and company that Killmonger was not a good person, nor did he have good intentions being in Wakanda.

I don’t really like how Shuri kind of puts Everett down: “broken white boy”, “colonizer,” “I know everything about you plus I’m smarter than you so you do as I tell you because you’re a stupid outsider”. I get it, it’s supposed to be justice for hundreds of years of white people treating Africans like this. So me being white, naturally, it makes me uncomfortable. But I don’t see why it’s nice, even if it is cute. It’s like she’s treating him like a pet hamster, or a rabbit or a hare...a baby hare...a leveret.

How am I supposed to know that Shuri doesn’t see Bucky Barnes as just another fun science project? Or just a favor she’s doing for her brother? That’s my jealousy talking, but I think those are questions worth asking.

I’m glad that Shuri recognizes Everett’s skill as a pilot. But she barely explains to him what he’s supposed to do when they arrive in the laboratory--and then she and Nakia hurry off to change into their battle costumes (and Shuri does her hair and makeup, too). Did they not go over the plan in detail and explain things to the noob beforehand?

Zuri had a lot of survivor’s guilt. I don’t blame him but it’s still really sad. You didn’t have to do that, sir.

Even if the Jabari did eat white people, Everett Ross would be just a snack to them.

I kind of like the casual button-up outfit that Everett wears for most of his Wakanda scenes. I think that’s the sort of thing I’d like to see Bucky wearing while he’s in Wakanda

My mom says that in the scene where we see T’challa reenter the throne room she saw M’Baku in there. Really? Was Everett Ross there too? 

M’baku is a much nicer person than we give him credit for being. But he really is kind of a drama queen. An he’s just rude. He’s cool but like, come on, man. 

Seriously, when he teases Everett about eating him, Ramona, Nakia, and Shuri all give M’baku a look like, “Dude, he’s with us, not now. This isn’t helping.” : /

I’m definitely sticking around for the Black Panther sequel to see how M’baku and W’kabi continue to complicate or uncomplicate things for T’challa

I love how T’challa was shown taking the time processing the news that his father had killed his uncle and how Nakia was helping him through it. It’s like Ryan Coogler understood something that the writers and directors of Captain Marvel did not...

The Queen Mother doesn’t do much in the film but she shines in the scene where she administers the herb to her son. She knows the ritual, she knows how to prepare the herb, she knows just what to do.

“We may be creating a bigger monster with M’baku.” I just LOVE that line. When I was in college I went to the English symposium, and I went to a panel on Frankenstein. One of the papers discussed the relationship between the creator and the creation, and one of the examples the author used was Iron Man 2 and the relationship between Tony Stark and the “monster” that his father created. And the theme runs through the entire MCU and here Ramona Says the Thing Out Loud and it’s amazing.

Golly, that must’ve been a fun hike, up steep trails and slippery ice to Jabariland with a white guy who has no idea what’s going on and thinks he needs to be in charge. While you’re suffering from the fact that your son/brother/ex is most likely dead. Were any of the ladies tempted to just push him off a cliff? Well, I’m glad they didn’t because that wouldn’t have helped their cause.

OR MAYBE: Everett, because he is a nice person, helps the ladies climb up the steep, secret mountain trails safely, he lets them lead the way because clearly he doesn’t know his way around; he and Shuri help Ramona out because she is older, even with Wakandan treatments for aging joints and arthritis she’s still a little stiff, and Ramona tells him “Thank you” and looks him in the eyes when she does so. He catches Nakia when she slips on ice, “Thank you, but I am sure I can take care of myself.” “I know you can, ma’am. Just watch your step.” Everett wishes he and the others had better hiking gear and warm coats instead of just blankets. Shuri and Nakia catch Everett when he falls at least twice: he’s still recovering from his gunshot wound, and the altitude is getting to him. Everett and the three women don’t talk that much while they are hiking, they hold hands and pull each other up while going up the steeper trails. Getting up the mountain takes a team effort and Everett is a part of it.

Nakia; “You know, Okoye wanted to just leave you to die.”    Everett: “That’s comforting.”

Of course I get the symbolism of Killmonger and T’challa fighting in the vibranium mine--that mine is literally everything that Wakanda is built on. 

“Please stay--I know a way you can still fulfill your calling.” Nakia is like, okay, I’m not sure I believe you, lemme just kiss you.” T’challa is so soft I can’t even.

It is so cool that there are so many female lead characters that are powerful and influential. AND they’re warriors, how cool is that? I respect Nakia, Shuri, and Okoye so much. I might have more in common with them than I realize. More likely, they’re the ideal I should work for. Goes to show how badly I need a sequel.

The reason I like Black Panther so much is because I am white and this film gave me a way to empathize with the black experience. One of the superpowers of fiction is to be a medium to help us discover empathy for others.

It’s like what T’challa says to Steve Rogers in the Civil War mid-credit scene: his dad and the man framed for murdering his dad were both victims of a greater evil. Skin color, wealth, political status--there is nothing that makes that commonality invalid. And T’challa knew that he and his long-lost cousin Erik had a lot in common in spite of a lifetime of not knowing about his existence.

Every character in this film has a story that is beautifully told and I am here for every single one. (Maybe not so much Killmonger and Klaue)

If it’s not too much to ask, though, please be kind to Everett Ross, he is doing his best. He didn’t have to help T’challa take back his country, but it was his job anyway and he knew what T’challa and Nakia and Shuri were up against. (Plus they needed a gosh-darn pilot). T’challa, Nakia, and Shuri refusing his assistance because he was an ignorant outsider would have defeated the entire point of the the story. He is a better person for his experience in Wakanda, and the world is a better place for T’challa having saved his life at all. Everett is, at the very least, a role model for stepping up.

Everett also reminds me of a smol and determined epaulette shark--but then again, he’s played by the same actor who played Bilbo Baggins. 

I GUESS some feedback on this post would be helpful. There are some parts where I need to be more blunt about my perspective in order to express my thoughts. Also my feelings about Bucky are kind of not in a good place right now.