#at least the robot and cgi man look good

[auntiesoka]

i've oficially created a tumblr account bc twitter is dying. same @ and all. i'll be here annoyed at dave filoni for bringing ahsoka tano and the ghost crew to live action and making them look horrible.

[lxnabeetv]

A Marvel Newcomer's Thoughts on Iron Man 2 (2010)

>SPOILERS AHEAD<

Following The Incredible Hulk, this movie felt... kinda lackluster. Not horrible, but not quite as good as I was hoping for. The Senate hearing was somehow both interesting and a snooze-fest, though, to be fair, government processes are usually a snooze-fest. Stark provided some amusing quips, though his ego is still a bit frustrating to watch. The cheerleaders at the Expo were totally unnecessary overall, but their choreography execution was amazing.

Ivan Vanko is a very complex villain. I liked the idea of him more than him, if that makes sense. A crazy Russian guy trying to take down Iron Man was entertaining, and I did enjoy him humbling Stark by showing up in an electric-powered suit. The CGI was amazing in this movie as well. The scenes on the Monaco track were intense. I was intrigued, but not quite as intrigued as I was when watching Hulk.

Hammer, on the other hand... what a self-absorbed prick. I fucking hate that guy. Massive entitled douchebag, deserved to get played by Vanko, etc. The Ex-Wife missile bit was GOLD, though. Rhodey hypes the moment up, missile does nothing, Tony asking if it was a Hammer product... too funny and an absolute gem of a moment.

Fury asking Stark to exit the donut was SENDING ME. That party was insane and I am mad at Tony for not listening to Pepper, when she is clearly just trying to help and do her job. Tony has basically no respect for her, also buying her strawberries that he should know she's allergic to. And Rhodey stealing the suit... how does he get away with that? XD

I was not expecting ScarJo to show up this early as Black Widow, but I absolutely ADORE her. The scene where Happy takes out a guard while she takes out like six was HILARIOUS. I fucking love ScarJo, and Widow is such a fucking badass.

I was not expecting Coulson to take off like that, and the CAPTAIN AMERICA TEASER?? I'm super excited to see Cap, though I absolutely despise playing him in Rivals. The end scene where Coulson found Thor's hammer... I gasped. I LOVE mythology, and am looking forward to watching Thor next from a mythological standpoint.

Also, Tony and Pepper FINALLY kissed. I fucking CALLED IT. She is head over heels, is she not?? I don't think she deserves him cuz Tony lowkey sucks, but he IS very entertaining to watch.

Tony creating the new element would've been a GREAT place to bring back the fire extinguisher robot, and I'm fucking mad they didn't. I loved that lil guy!!

My rating: 6.5 or 7/10. Mid, but entertaining nonetheless. Very good CGI, very intriguing villain, and SCARJO KILLING IT!! This is honestly probably my favorite of the Iron Man movies thus far, making this my second favorite movie I've seen thus far. It felt very long, but that might just be because I have the attention span of a McChicken on fire. Less uncomfy parts than the original, but missing the charm of the fire extinguisher robot being a cutie. At least the smoothie bot got to be a cutie instead.

[thegeminisage]

ok, its time for a QUICK tng update before xm*s proceedings. saturday we did "best of both worlds part ii" and "family" and last night we did "brothers" and "suddenly human."

best of both worlds part ii: I LOOOOOVED THIS EPISODE. mwah. EVERYTHING i wanted. creepy little cyborg implants. brainwashed picard. his beautiful perfect cgi tear (which may or may not have been cgi, this is a point of debate, experts please weigh in). data bravely doing a robot mind meld. 1000000/10 more borg episodes please please PLEASE

can you imagine if the borg has ben in tos btw. what a thought experiment, except for how i quite literally can't think about it or i'll get so excited i'll pass out

did guinan imply she and picard were lovers in this ep...girl you can do better

my one nitpick with william riker was him promoting that lady he hated instead of someone who deserved it, like worf or data. it probably would have given worf ptsd but can you imagine that enterprise having a captain and first officer being gay on the bridge again...wonderful. except this time there would also be deanna <3

"how much do you remember" "everything" AHAHAHAHA GREAT. GOOD. WONDERFUL. anyway

family: extremely unusual episode but i loved it nonetheless. i was really shocked worf's parents were so sweet!!! i fucking loved them. they're like the cutest people on earth i can't believe they raised such a taciturn and stoic guy like worf...

picard's family i wasn't sure about at first until the wrestling match in the mud. sometimes you need to punch a guy and his brother stepped up to the job admirably. i kept thinking he looked like michael caine, which would have been an incredible choice.

WESLEY.....................................................we don't need to talk about it

everyone's accents in this ep were wack. why does picard have a totally different accent from his brother. why is worf's accent different from his parents. ik its not that deep but its making me crrrazzzyyy

brothers: i didnt even get a look at the title of this episode before we started bc vumoo (the shady site im using to watch) doesn't display them but it was SUCH an unexpected pleasure to get a data episode

absolutely scuh-reaming at the ease with which he hijacked an ENTIRE goddamn starship. he's so competent i love that. a real "glad he's on OUR side" moment, not unlike spock commandeering the enterprise in "the menagerie" (rip i wish that had been a better episode).

lore grew on me really fast. i was neutral on him during his last appearance, the meme aside, but in this episode he was really fun and unsettling. brent spiner can do horrible, horrible things with his face

this ep felt a little cut off? i expected another confrontation with lore, a getting back of the chip, or at least some kind of burial or funeral for dr soong, but we just quit like 3/4 through the episode. maybe less time spent on the opening section of the hijack could have fixed this

anyway i love the foil between data and lore...one has support and the other does not...but it doesn't make sense for lore to get the emotions chip because it seems like he already HAS them??

oh yeah and data repeating "i am not less perfect than lore" got funnier EVERY time he did it. little man was really going thru it i was cracking up genuinely <3

suddenly human: this episode was wack

ok, did you guys read face on the milk carton when you were in school? i did when i was way too young to be reading it and it fucked me up real bad and i completely forgot about it until i watched this episode and then i got to unlock that memory in real time

anyway, while it is obviously the correct choice to return a child to their family when they are kidnapped as babies, it is also hugely traumatic for an older child to be ripped away from a loving home* and transplanted with strangers, which those books explore in horrific detail. so the whole episode i found myself going "i KNOW it's bad politics but could they not just CONSIDER leaving him with the only family he's ever known as a possible choice" and then they DID THAT and i wanted to be ill because it was obviously the worst choice in the world

* this is a different scenario than the first tng episode involving kidnapped children, which strongly resembled the residential schools from real life. THIS particular situation, minus the method of kidnapping (during warfare), more closely resembled the crazy cult shit happening in those books, where the kidnapped girl was being raised by people who thought they really were her biological grandparents and weren't bad people and her biological family also weren't bad people. a "no fault" situation EXCEPT FOR HE KIDNAPPENED THAT BABY DURING WARFARE.

anyway this is the second time tng has dropped the ball on this subject so i think from now on they should not do episodes like this anymore. really really really really bad.

NEXT TIME: "remember me" and "legacy"

[delugedecade]

Scooby-Doo (as in the 2002 Movie)

forcefully review as watched by Deluge

spoilers, obviously, but then again, I’m the one watching it for the first time.

We're finally here. The first live action movie.

They start with a rap style Scooby Doo into? Well it is early 2000s

They CGI'd Shaggy's running, lol

Of course, kid friendly movie, magic physics defying skirt on Velma

This factory is pretty skatepark shaped.

You can really hear that Lillard just doesn't have the voice just right yet.

Who the fuck? What the fuck?

Oh she owns the factory.

Fred having fans like this is weird.

All this for not going out with him. cringe

HE SAID THE THING

Damn, starting and already breaking up the band.

Oh yeah, the weed joke.

I just had to search up hydrocolonic....

Velma works at NASA.

Getting the gang back together, one awkward meeting at a time

The origin of black belt Daphne

At least Daphne had some enthusiasm in asking Velma and Fred to join.

That's a really wide middle aisle.

THERE'S A TIKI BAR ON THE PLANE?

Oh boy, Shaggy being interested in something that isn't Scoob or Food? Can't be good

People really are dumb enough to not notice the dog.

Scooby Snacks are vegetarian? Didn't they say it was meaty in Phantosaur?

I stand corrected, Phantosaur called it Meat-Berry Medley. So it is a meat substitute.

Another Weed Joke.

ROWAN ATKINSON!

Scooby really just said no to stranger danger

Some real leaps of logic from you there Daphne

Spooky monster, but also pretty bad cgi

I kinda just realized the voodoo thing might just be voodoo chicken

Mindless Zombie 'Fred Walks in', I feel there's a joke there.

Fred really does sound pretty condescending.

He pulled the himbo card. I think. With the dorky chicks line.

Wow that 'hypno' video was cringe

HE SAID THE THING! ARE YOU CHALLENGING ME!

Okay, it devolved into fart jokes...

Three suspects already, but I do feel like they're red herrings.

Again, Voodoo might just be voodoo chicken.

Daemon Ritus definitely sounds like the main lead.

Though trying to solve a mystery only to be found out sounds like a dumb idea, but i suppose pinning it on someone else is a plan

A flashback? really?

Holy shit Scrappy. HOLY SHIT IT'S GOTTA BE SCRAPPY BEHIND THIS! CHECKOV'S GUN

She's definitely drunk.

ohno there's two of them

Oh no there's three of them

HE SAID THE TITLE!

Slightly comedic CGI

I feel that the coast guard are just there thinking its a joke.

Beyotch, yo they slipped an almost swear

this is pretty wild so far.

Mary Jane is a monster by the looks of it

Nothings beats a man and his dog best friend

Hmmm

Okay yeah this CGI does look pretty bad.

Monster explode in the day

Also, they gave Velma cleavage.

OH BOY BODY SWAP

Good it didn't last too long

Never mind, Voodoo guy isn't making voodoo chicken.

Okay, Emile is bad because he knows Mary Jane's monster form

Okay, this is surprisingly touching

The power of Dance-Fu

God Fred, shut up.

Again, Best Buds between a man and his dog

The subtle hints of the original Scooby Doo Theme

A Robot?

Yep, Scrappy Doo is the villain.

Yeah Daphne Black Belt!

Yeah! Pop Rock Scooby Doo theme!

Yeah take that Scrappy

They really made a moment for each gang to have a special.

Velma finally having her moment Let's go!

Oooooh, He almost swore

I forgot this was by James Gunn

Painful going down. and about to be painful going out.

This was filmed in Queensland? Nice

Yeah, not bad. Really did feel like all the pieces of the mystery fit well while still keeping the intrigue.

9/10

@submissiveking99 @tokufan400 @freeusemuses @asexxxualauthor

[chirpbudgie]

teehee. got inspired by “tragedy in the beholder” and whatnot. gidget meets perry :-)

cws: body horror, mindfuck, alluded character death, whatever the hell perrys got goin on

He remembers reading about the “uncanny valley” once. The brain is programmed to feel uneasy when it sees human faces that aren’t quite right. Bad CGI or humanoid robots and so on. It’s there for survival, apparently, like how some bad diseases are transferred through dead bodies. Therefore, aversion to dead body means no disease.

So when the door opens and a man walks in, Gidget knows why he wants to run and hide on instinct alone. The way it walks and smiles—god, that smile—sets off alarm bells left and right. And then it comes closer, eyes locked on him with no good intentions.

His body has already made the decision to cry for him. But it doesn’t alleviate any of the growing horror at this Not-A-Man, Not-Stanley, Not-His-Bee, as his fate seems to seal itself. And he doesn’t know what his fate is going to be, but at this rate it is not good. So another response bubbles up, almost unfamiliar because he never uses it, never needs to use it.

“Ah-ah-ah!” They waggle a finger and crouch down to his level.

And suddenly Gidget can’t scream.

“You-re an interesting one!” The lips don’t move in sync with its voice, don’t even pretend to match, and neither does its patchwork voice. The face curves unnaturally around the smile, almost like stretched textures, and this close he realizes that they don’t even breathe. Gidget presses himself harder against the wall but the other face only gets even closer.

He’s forced to look into its eyes at this proximity and he has the sensation of falling and falling and falling, like in a dream. But he’s falling forward, sucked into an uncaring abyss with a thousand screens like the Mind Control Facility. But as he looks around he doesn’t remember a single image, only the growing horror and revulsion and cries for help. Cries from people, people of varying shapes and sizes and depths and the amount of themselves left is varying too. If he could move he could reach a hand out and maybe brush another. Could yank a fragment out, save what hasn’t been completely picked clean and let them develop back into something again. And they all beg him to, to at least try, when he can’t even save himself as he tumbles in.

Its voice seeps into his head, unbearably cheery. We like you. You’re like a little lamb, crying out as you go, yet laying on the alter when asked. No true struggle, unlike the others. A nice little treat, all conflict but no desire to hurt. We’ll savor you later, OK?

And suddenly the void recedes, untying itself and leaving holes in his mind like a hook in the lip of a fish. Gidget shudders and squeezes his eyes shut. He couldn’t blink that whole time and his head feels like an overheating computer. He holds his breath, listening to the Not-Stanley leave, to the unsteady tip-tiptap of its shoes against the floor clipping and colliding in unpredictable patterns.

And the door shuts, finally, he truly sobs with relief and residual terror. He tries to relax against the wall but it’s not perfectly comfortable.

When he tries to shift he realizes he’s glued in place.

[jasonsutekh]

Love and Monsters (2020)

In a post-apocalyptic world of cold-blooded mutations, one young man attempts to find the girl he once fell in love with.

Much of the basic premise is relatable but also glittered with relatable realism about how dangerous and stupid the journey is. The characters were also amusing and likealbe enough that they were easy to invest in almost throughout. All of the CGI looked pretty good, even though it wasn’t exactly iconic.

It was a little too difficult to invest in the relationship considering we got to see so little of it and it was too juvenile and heterosexual for a modern audience. If you’re going to redo the Maze Runner franchise in one movie then you’d better at least make it gayer than was permitted when that queer romance was grossly overlooked.

Easily the best element was the main actor who carried the drama easily while being adorably vulnerable while being awesome when needed and also taking his shirt off, albeit far too briefly. There was also a cool dog which was fun, although it doesn’t quite count as a character. It was, however, nice that not all the creatures were inherently evil so it reflected actual nature better.

Honestly, it felt completely bizarre that someone could travel so far in a world where there are so few sexual options and still be rejected, especially when the protagonist is by far the cutest person in the apocalypse, it’s not even close. The robot didn’t last long enough since she was the best comic relief and also one of the most sinister aspects, it would have been ok to go back with a power source and save her.

5/10 -Can’t find a better example of average-

[cha-ra-nui]

2024 Retrospective

Part 5: Western media with one anime chameo

And I might as well talk about “Arcane” first, since that's the most recent one. Going into season one, no one expected this to be one of the best seasons of television ever made. And the problem season two had was that it now had to live up to that. It didn’t. If season one is a 10/10 season, then this was 9.5. Its pacing is too fast, but that is really its only issue. The storylines themselves are great, they just needed a bit more time to breathe. It’s only a slight fumble, and if season one hadn’t set the expectations unreasonably high, I doubt people would mind as much. Fortiche also seems perfectly aware of that, and considering this is their first show I’m expecting their future work not to have this issue anymore. It also helped that the animation quality was utterly insane. This is one of the best-looking animated works I’ve ever seen, feature films included, and I can’t praise the artists working on this enough.

Also yeah, the entire Arcane soundtrack goes way too hard, what else is new?

In other news, Riot Games still makes absolutely kick ass music videos. I would’ve preferred a more interesting art style for “Still Here”, but the season trailers seem bound to that pseudo-realistic videogame cutscene CGI. At least this is about as good as a cutscene can look, and it gets stronger with every segment. Besides, the song and animation work beautifully together, we get to see Kindred in a cinematic, and both her and wolf are absolutely gorgeous. They even gave Ashe some fucking clothes. Their worlds song “Heavy is the Crown” is also pretty good. The animation looks great, only problem being that so much focus is put on the band and not the players these videos are supposed to be about. I get it, you got Linkin Park to make an animated video for, but man, give T1 their flowers. Faker might not need them anymore, but the other members sure deserved their moment too. And why pick those champions to represent them, I’m sure there were more iconic picks for Keria than Thresh? We also got the entire back half of Helluva Boss’ second season this year, and I’m mostly happy with what we got. “Full Moon” could’ve used a more significant A-plot; the episode is 80% filler followed by the most significant scene in the entire season, that’s just not great structuring. And I’m not a fan of how needlessly contrived and rushed “Mastermind” was. But overall, I still enjoyed this season. It hits higher highs and lower lows than season one, but as long as the highs it hits are “2 Minutes Notice” I can live with that. And I despise the hatedom this show attracts. Hazbin Hotel too for that matter. The KPop fandom is less toxic than whatever is happening in these show’s tags.

There were a couple of good movies this year too.

The Mononoke movie was finally available on streaming just before the year ended, and its utterly gorgeous. It’s a real shame that no theatre in my area showed it.

But I did catch five films in cinemas this year and liked all of them.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” was a lot more fun than I expected it to be, and it was nice to watch a superhero movie on the big screen in 2024 and actually enjoy it. The last time I watched a MCU movie was also the first time I wanted to walk out of a cinema, so hey, it’s nice that at least Deadpool is still capable of being entertaining.

Then there was Dreamworks’ “The Wild Robot”, a movie I couldn’t wait to see from the day the first trailer dropped. And I’m glad to report that it is good. Visually stunning for sure, and emotionally impactful the way all the best Dreamworks movies are. It’s not as great as I wanted it to be, but I still loved every second of it and have high hopes for the sequel. Maybe Dreamworks is actually back, and “Puss In Boots” wasn’t just a fluke hit.

“Arthur The Great” was the first of two movies I went to see with my family, and it’s a sweet, heartwarming, little film about a dog crossing a jungle to find a home. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel, but it’s well made for what it is. It’s also based on the type of true story that sounds too outlandish to be real but somehow is. Would recommend to anyone who likes dogs and is looking for an easy watch to kill an afternoon.

The other movie meanwhile is trying to reinvent the wheel, and it’s neither sweet nor heartwarming nor entertaining nor an easy watch. “The Zone Of Interest” is a case study in how effective sound design can be, and it’s utterly haunting and incredibly hard to stomach. I forced myself through it because I was interested in its sound design specifically, and because I feel like remembering this specific chapter of history is my duty as a German citizen. I felt sick during its entire runtime. This is the type of movie I think everyone should know because it’s important, but not one that is easy to recommend because it is such a hard watch.

And then of course there was “Dune Part 2”. I stopped reading the books somewhere two thirds through “God Emperor Of Dune” because it was just getting uncomfortably weird and convoluted, but even so, and even as a dedicated fantasy fan who never liked sci-fi, I’d list “Dune” and “Dune Messiah” among my favorite books of all time. They are incredible. There were some changes made to the last third of the first book in Denis Villeneuve’s second “Dune” film, but none of them detracted from the experience. This team knew exactly what needed to change to make this behemoth of a nerd bible work on screen, and the movie is excellent. This is what it must have felt like to watch “The Lord Of The Rings” in cinema, a monumental achievement for its genre that will not be measured up to anytime soon, if ever again. The one thing that worries me though is that the changes they made will affect the story of “Dune Messiah”, an adaption of which they’re already working on as of writing. Because I loved this book for many reasons that would not translate well to film. It’s a book were barely anything actually happens, but where a sense of looming doom permeates every page, it’s a brilliant exercise in paranoia. “Dune Messiah” is a character study presented as a tragedy, and I sincerely hope Hollywood allows it to stay that way. Because the ending of this book is probably my favorite part of this entire series, and I would hate to see it changed to appease a movie going public.

[sinnerbeam]

Okay Its the end of the year and i wanna do a rec list, Let's Go! (May contain spoillers)

Cool things I watched and played in 2024

(I won't be listing any content warnings for these, please look those up if you need to)

Also probably people have played alot of these already, but they're so good i just wanted to talk about them a little.

Games

1000x Resist :

Do you like visual novels? Do you like revolutions? Do you like intergenerational trauma? This game is nominally about a kinda sci-fi, post-apocalyptic society but its actually about way, way more than that and you should play it if you like cool storytelling.

Also i think there's a different (less confusing) map on the steam workshop pages.

Sorry We're Closed

I love this game, its silent hill but cunty. 💅 The art style is gorgeous, the combat is cool, the characters are amazing, and theres a hot demonic they/them you can maybe date if you want. Also the boss music is awesome. (Also there's at least 3 they/thems in this game!!!! I love!!!! )

Signalis

Cards on the table this one was too scary for me to finish, so i watched the rest on Laila Dyer's letsplay. The music is gorgeous, there's queer robots on a space mining facility. It's amazing queer horror.

Another Crab's Treasure

I really enjoyed Aggro Crab's first game (Going Under) so i was excited for this, and it's genuinely so cute. It's sort of a souls-like (but with GREAT accessibility options, so if 'hard games' aren't your thing, fret not. You can give crab a 1-hit-KO gun) where you play as Kril, the hermit crab who can try on different shells and use them as weapons! It's really inventive, and the story is really sweet. Really worth giving it a go!

Honourable mentions:

Chants of Senaar - awesome linguistics game!

Umurangi Generation - anti-colonial photo taking game! Killer OST.

How fish is made - short, didn't realise it was made by the Mouthwashing folk until like last week. It's really cool! Arty.

We ❤️ Katamari: Reroll- what can i say, i love katamari.

Dawntrail - i loved the story, its really cool, I love Lamaty'i, she is my special princess babygirl, also it took me until now to realise that... ffxiv is a visual novel. With occasional dungeons. (Also I hope the next patches aren't going to be about ... redeeming Sphene? They might not be, but... let's not do that)

Films:

I Saw the TV Glow- if your trans you should watch this. If you want really thoughtful queer psychological horror, you should watch it. It's been months and I'm still thinking about it. 🏳️‍⚧️

Monkey Man - fuck, i love Dev Patel. He's so good in this. Super violent 👍👍👍💪💪💪

Love Lies Bleeding - Would Kirsten Stewart inject steroids into my butt if I asked nicely, do you think... 💪💪💪💪💪💪❤️❤️❤️ Filled the muscle quota for the year. Please look up content warnings for this one 🙏

Challengers- Trent Reznor soundtrack 🙏🙏🙏 Gay Sexy Tennis 🎾

Honourable mentions:

Hackers - great OST, gay sexy hacking 🖥 👨‍💻

The Fall - i understand now why I've been seeing these gifs on tumblr for years now.

Bend It Like Beckham - i really liked it! Its very early 2000s, dont let the 'they don't get togehter in the end' put you off.

Videodrome- what if your whole torso was a vagina, and you could hide videotapes in it. Bonus points for unexpected Debbie Harry. Not sure this is actually a recommendation.

Sonic 3 - perfect movie, no notes. Shadow has a motorbike and a gun. (Better action sequences than ive seen in a cgi heavy movie in years)

Wicked - :) 💚💖

[reviewsclown]

Star Wars Episode VI; Return of the Jedi 1983

A second death star, I hope this doesn't set a trend for future movies vis a vis 'another death star'. Anyways, Jabba the Hutt and his band of freaks, skin colored tentacle man and gomorrean guards, a twi'lek is there. Jabba looks much better as a puppet and not a CGI edit inserted after the fact. Speaking of why's there a bunch of CGI aliens that look like dogshit that are here to sing a song and, look sexy? it's unclear. 5 million years of porn from the sexy green twi'lek. Anyways awesome rescue mission where everyone sneaks in, poor Han kind of, blind and weak from the freezing. 5 million more years of porn from slave bikini Leia. The Rancor was cool, they made a lot of toys of that thing. Whats the point of showing the fat white guy that owned the Rancor being sad about it's death, does that add anything to the plot or themes, the sand barges are cool, just an iconic vehicle in a way, the Sarlaac is also cool and iconic, and suffers from needless added CGI that, doesn't really make it ugly it just wasn't needed whatsoever. Boba Fett falls in a hole and for the next 40 years people make media related about him, even though he did literally nothing of note. Palpatine and Yoda continue being parallels it seems, but as palpatine becomes more present in the story, living on the death star, yoda leaves the story dying of old age, also I guess all jedi can dissappear when they die? I thought that was an Obi-Wan special but Yoda does it too, so maybe it's a thing about being powerful? Unclear, I think it's never elaborated on. Admiral Ackbar is cool, what a good costume it is, the rebel bases are always a neat collection of characters. Cool stealth mission with a stolen shuttle into the death star 2 where Luke and Vader can definitely sense each other through their newtype familial connection. I've always been a fan of the scout trooper designs and their sick-ass speeder bikes. Ewoks are weird little guys, teddy bears with creepy faces that have a tribal society and worship c3po like some kinda cargo cult, and eating the main characters. Anyways, this scene with Luke and Vader talking is very cool I think, redemption arcs are happening, palpatine's neat but not that much of a character, just an evil guy, and he doesn't need like 5 movies that give him depth, but can't win them all. Was it cruel to have the ewoks fight in a war they couldn't understand as led by their god-king c3po. This movie dedicated to the brave mujahideen ewoks. Parallels in Vader and Lukes fight, his hand got cut off… and it was a robot hand… just like Lukes hand…… also force lightning is awesome. very funny that Vader just picks up palpatine and throws him down a hole. In a marvelous showing of good ideas when the empire dies they show a bunch of planets we've never seen in the original trilogy that were added later. and also replacing redeemed vader force ghost with that guy that killed a bunch of kids, odd choice. But overall the celebration is a pretty good ending.

The edits in this show really well again how much better the puppets are than the CGI, way better Jabba than the first movie, way better all aliens than the first movie. it works for the ships they don't need to look super good, or at least it's less noticeable. Really good sword-fights in this movie much like the second one, they're sort of leaning into the flippy bullshit of the prequels? But it's not at that level yet they only do like 2 flips.

Final Review: Damn that was a good as hell movie, if you haven't seen the original trilogy, you really should sometime.

[morlock-holmes]

@lynettethemadscientist

"I think the issue with AI art is less the “theft” aspect and more the laziness. I could use an AI program to help me write a niche fanfic. Or I could write it myself, which would require time and effort. It would require me to build skills and have dedication. These are all good things that I *should* be striving for, rather than taking the easy way out. Functionally, using AI programs for creative projects is the same as buying a Hostess cake instead of learning how to bake"

When you say "Write it myself" what do you mean? Type it into a computer? Type it on a typewriter? Write it all out by hand? How would you publish it, would you upload it to AO3? Carefully write the whole thing out in black letter caligraphy? Once you write the first copy would you use mechanical reproduction like a scanner and printer or would you only allow hand copies?

Mind, there's no "right" answer here.

I remember taking a comic book course at the local community college about 15 years ago and one of the students asked about using zip-a-tone.

You know how a bunch of manga uses grayscale:

source

When printed, each of those grays is actually a pattern of tiny dots, which are so small that they create the impression of a large block of gray.

Nowadays, and fifteen-years-ago-a-days, you could just scan your art, and use photoshop's fill tool to make those tones.

But prior to the invention of computer image editing software, artists would buy large sheets of what were essentially tape covered in tiny dots, use an xacto knife to cut them manually into the shape of the artwork, and physically paste them on top of their ink drawings.

One of the students wanted to do that instead of using photoshop, and the teacher went,

"Man, I can't stop you but I hated that stuff, it was awkward to use and stuck to the wrong things and all the little scrap bits would get everywhere. I remember I'd get in the shower and find pieces stuck to my pubes."

Artists are always reaching back. Why do CGI when I could photograph everything on 32mm film and use an optical printer to make the special effects.

Well, because it's really difficult and awkward, and that's your trade-off.

The thing about the ubiquity of computers is that they are draining the physicality out of the art production process. Zipatone, film cameras, pen and ink, caligraphy, gold leaf, sculpture, optical process shots, cutting film with a razor, shooting ink and paint drawings on an oxberry, these are radically different as physical processes; duplicating any of them on the computer consists mainly in using a mouse, a keyboard, and a wacom tablet.

This is not a trivial difference.

Probably Marshall McLuhan would have said something about it.

Text is exponentially easier to produce than imagery. While I was at work today I composed a little scene in my head:

"The strange girl puts her fingers to her lips and lets out a shrill whistle. Suddenly I see a speck in the sky, rapidly growing. It's traveling so fast I can barely make out what it might be.

I've only just had time to brace myself when it crashes into the street in front of me. It's huge, twenty or thirty feet tall, a kind of humanoid robot, or vehicle. It's feet appear to be made out of two monster trucks. Rather than a head, it has what looks to be a long gun, reminiscent of a tank or artillery piece. It has hands, but the fingers of the left one terminate in whirring drill bits, and the fingers of the right terminate in spinning buzzsaws. They make an ungodly racket as the hulking thing slowly steps out of the crater it made when it landed."

It took me about, oh, two minutes to write that description of my OC (It's a Warmain shard, if you play Nobilis) and I am extremely confident that this prose at least reaches the level of "workmanlike". It's good enough. Nobody is going to read it and then make fun of my stylistic choices on youtube. If you read it in a light novel you wouldn't stop and think about how amateurish it was.

Making a workmanlike drawing of the same scene would take me literally days, and I'm not sure that I could do it.

On the other hand, I typed this prompt into the Microsoft CoPilot thing that they put on my roommate's computer.

Hi, can you generate an image, shot from a low angle, of a giant robot standing in the middle of a city and towering over a human figure. The robot is green, has monster trucks for feet, and a tank turret instead of a head. The fingers on the left hand have drills on the end and the fingers on the right hand have buzzsaws on them.

After about 20 seconds it produced several images. Here's the best:

You will notice that it is wildly off from my prompt; of the eight images I generated this is the only one that put truck cabs on the feet. They are the wrong kind of trucks; they appear to be more like cargo trucks than monster trucks, but this guy has Vehicle Voltron/Dairugger feet, that's a non-negotiable detail.

Anyway, that aside, it is also workmanlike in a way that I would find extremely difficult to reproduce even after years spent bashing my head against visual art with little improvement.

One of the big questions is what happens when these tools begin to improve their responsiveness to prompting? Stablediffusion is less user-friendly and I'm much too tired to get it working properly, but it looks like it could come significantly closer to what I actually described, particularly with some inpainting work.

In the dada spirit I decided to make a prompt from looking at the next few posts on my dash and feeding excerpted phrases chosen at random into an AI image generating model...

And then doing it several more times because a certain word you will probably be able to guess swamped basically everything else in the prompt in a way that I found rather boring.

Here is the most successful image, in my opinion:

This, according to many people, is theft. I would challenge anybody to determine, simply from this image, first of all the exact wording of the prompt, and second of all, which visual artists I "stole" from.

Frankly, I find the idea that the above image inherently constitutes "theft", but that fanart and collage do not inherently constitute theft, just facially absurd.

Second, most of these software are artistically muddled; a semi-random string of words produces a homogenized product heavily weighted towards certain words. Certain parts of a prompt will tend to burn so bright that they blot out everything else about your prompt.

For science, and further demonstration of my point, the other images are below the cut.

[darklordsauron]

Last things about ROP (before the final episode(s))

Not gonna lie, I expected a lot worse. It is still awful in my opinion (because I am a die hard book fan, not a racist or sexist idiot) but, there are some qualities to the show that is not bad.

It is over-dramatic when it should not be. When Arondir was taken to be a slave for the orcs and they try to escape this one elf dies. The show goes into slow motion, the music becomes tragic ect. but we have known this character for a few scenes in two episodes where he barely talks. They had no reason to make this scene so dramatic as I had no feeling towards this character. Whether he died or lived means nothing to me. If they killed Arondir however, I would have been shocked and his death would have added more drama to the show that actually adds weight (character development wise) to the characters.

The amount of clichés in this show is nauseating. Nori, Bronwyn, Arondir and Galadriel are tropes you can find in every fantasy series. Nori- The chosen one who nobody really understands, Bronwyn- The hardworking single mother who cares about everything and everyone while still being stern, Arondir- The stoic warrior who has a soft spot for only one woman and Galadriel- The war hardened warrior who cannot think of anything anymore except revenge but they learn to be more understanding. Tropes that can make anybody yawn in other words. I will not be discussing Bridie Sisson's character as that will just open can of worms.

There are a few characters in this show that gives it their all and they are my favorite. For example Disa and Durin, the best characters. They are energetic and delights to have on screen. I wish we had a show just about them. Adar is so cool and I want him to murder everyone, if they make him Sauron, the witch-king, a nazgul I will have no complaints (I am fairly certain he is just going to be an OC but still, he is just so cool he can be anything). Tar-Miriel has this royal and snobbish attitude I adore as well as Celebrimbor (man may not look the part but he plays a Fëanorian so damn well).

The dialogue in ROP is robotic and sometimes just plain weird. Galadriel's OC brother (why did she need an OC brother in the first place, she has enough already) says this weird quote about rocks and ships and it is supposed to thought provoking but, I was sitting there like- '...huh?!' My friend who actually likes this show even said that that line was stupid. Also, when the humans help Galadriel when she was swimming back to Middle Earth, they call her a liar after she said something that cannot be a lie or the truth. The writing does get better as the show goes on but, the robotic-ness of the dialogue stays.

The VFX and CGI are bloody, drop dead gorgeous. They deserve an award for the set designs/best special effects or something because the locations and sets of this show are masterpieces.

Sadly the same cannot be said for the wardrobes... They suck, the material is cheap and they do not fit the characters in any good way. There is a strange phenomenon with this show; sometimes a character comes out wearing something that actually looks nice and cool but, the rest of the characters wear clothes I believe they found in the darkest vaults of Amazon. I have seen cosplayers with better wardrobes.

The props are competent and some look awesome! I would buy a few of these and hang them up on my wall because they are beautiful to say the least.

This show did not meet my bad expectations but, it also does not fall into the good category. Perhaps season 2 will bring it some redemption? (Fingers crossed it does).

For fun, here are my top 5 favorite and most hated characters-

Favorite

Disa

Durin

Elrond

Adar

Tar-Miriel or Gil-Galad

Hated

Nori

Arondir

Theo

Bronwyn

Galadriel

That is all I have to say. All in all not a completely bad show but definitely not worthy of Tolkien.

4/10

[the-desolated-quill]

WandaVision: ‘Subverting’ Good Television - Quill’s Scribbles

(Spoilers for the first five episodes)

Hey everyone! Well... it’s been a while, hasn’t it? The last time I wrote a proper review or Scribble, people still thought the COVID crisis would be over within a month. The poor saps. But I thought that as a special way to mark this year’s Valentines Day, we could take a closer look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s shittiest power couple in their new Disney+ show WandaVision.

The first of many MCU spin-off shows that nobody asked for, broadcast exclusively on Disney’s totally unnecessary streaming platform, WandaVision is about everybody’s favourite whitewashed Nazi experiment and her red sexbot boyfriend as they try to fit into a suburban sitcom neighbourhood without arousing suspicion.

Yes, you read that correctly. The MCU has a sitcom now. My life is now complete.

Sarcasm aside, I was legitimately curious about WandaVision because of its unusual setting. And considering one of my most common criticisms of the MCU is its total lack of creativity, anything that’s even a little bit subversive is bound to attract my attention. Of course ‘subversive’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘good.’ I could hand you a canvas smeared with my own shit and call it subversive. That doesn’t necessarily make it good art. And that’s exactly what WandaVision is. A canvas smeared with shit.

So lets split this critical analysis/review/angry bitter rant into two distinct chapters. The first focusing on the plot and setting, and the second focusing on the characters. Okay? Okay.

Chapter 1: Bewitched

Critics seem to be utterly enamoured with the whole sitcom gimmick, and it is a gimmick. As far as I can tell from the episodes I’ve seen, the sitcom setting serves no real purpose whatsoever other than to make the show ‘quirky.’ Which I wouldn’t mind, believe it or not, if the show was actually funny. There’s just one problem. It’s not.

Now in some ways describing why a sitcom doesn’t work is often futile because comedy is largely subjective. What I find funny, you won’t necessarily find funny and vice versa. With WandaVision, however, I won’t have that problem. I can demonstrate to you precisely why WandaVision, objectively, isn’t funny. And it all comes down to one simple thing. The stakes. Or rather the complete and total absence of stakes.

The show makes it very clear from the beginning that none of what we’re seeing is real. The cheesy theme song, the era appropriate special effects (mostly. It’s actually very inconsistent), the joke commercials, and, in the case of the first two episodes, which are in black and white, the appearance of red lights and objects in Scarlet Witch’s general vicinity. (Gee, what a mystery this is).

Basically Wanda has brought Vision back from the dead and created this sitcom world for them to inhabit. I’ll explain the stupidity of this in Chapter 2. The point is none of this is real, and that has a negative effect on the comedy because the very nature of comedy is suffering. Take the plot of the first episode. Wanda and Vision have to prepare a dinner to impress Vision’s boss. If they fail, Vision could lose his job and the couple could be exposed as superheroes. If this were a normal sitcom, it would work. The stakes are clear and it would be satisfying to see the two struggle and overcome the odds. But here, we know it’s not real. If it’s not real, it means there’s no stakes. If there’s no stakes, it means there’s no suffering. If there’s no suffering, there’s no comedy.

It would be one thing if the unfunny sitcom stuff lasted for like the first ten minutes or so before making way for the actual plot, but it doesn’t. Oh no. It doesn’t even last for the first episode. Out of the five episodes I’ve watched, four of them are almost entirely about these unfunny, objectively flawed sitcom homages, each set in a different time period. The fifties, the sixties, and so on. And what’s worse is that nothing that happens in them is plot-relevant. That gets relegated to the last five minutes of an episode. So you’re forced to sit through twenty five minutes of boring slapstick and puns in order to catch even a whiff of actual story. Which begs the question... who is this for exactly? It can’t be entertaining to Marvel fans, who have to slog through all this pointless shit so they can figure out what the fuck is going on. Comedy fans may get a kick out of the sitcom pastiche at first, but after four episodes, surely the joke would wear thin. So why is it in here? Clearly someone in the writer’s room absolutely fell in love with the idea of doing a Marvel sitcom, but nobody put in any time or effort to figure out how it would work in context.

I cannot stress enough how bad the plotting of this series is. As I said, the vast majority of a thirty minute episode is about shitty sitcom plots that aren’t funny and don’t have any impact on the story, only to then tease you with a crumb of actual plot in order to keep you coming back for the next instalment. Admittedly it’s an effective strategy. I was more than ready to quit after Episode 2 until that beekeeper showed up out of the sewer (don’t ask. It’s not important). WandaVision essentially follows the Steven Moffat school of bad writing. String your audience along with the promise that things might get more interesting later on and that all the bullshit that came before will retroactively make sense by the end. Except, as demonstrated with BBC’s Sherlock, that doesn’t work. And even if it did, it wouldn’t justify wasting the audience’s fucking time. And that’s what the majority of WandaVision is. A waste of time.

The only episode that doesn’t follow the sitcom format is the fourth episode. Instead it basically exists to explain all the shit that happened before. The shit that the audience, frankly, are smart enough to figure out for themselves. Wanda created the sitcom world as a way of coping with the loss of Vision, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, we got it. Thanks. It doesn’t advance the plot or anything. It’s just a massive info-dump. But by far the lowest point was when Darcy (by far the most annoying character in the first Thor film and is just as obnoxious here) was sat in front of the TV, watching the sitcom and asking the same questions we were. Not even attempting to look for answers. Just reiterating what the audience is thinking. Like this is an episode of fucking Gogglebox.

In the end it becomes apparent why the series is structured the way that it is. It’s to hoodwink people into subscribing to Disney’s stupid streaming service. If you think about it, there was no reason for WandaVision to be a TV series other than to lure gullible fans in with a piece-meal story buried in a mountain of crap. This isn’t a TV show. It’s what is cynically known in the world of big business executives as ‘content.’ They’re not interested in entertaining the audience. Instead they crave ‘engagement’, which isn’t the same thing. Watching WandaVision is like staring into the void, waiting for something to happen, while Disney charge you for the privilege.

Chapter 2: I Love Lucy

So the plot sucks balls. What about the characters? Surely if Wanda and Vision are likeable at least, it’ll give us something to cling onto.

Well as I was watching the first episode, it suddenly hit me that I couldn’t remember anything that happened to them in previous films. I knew Vision died, but other than that, I couldn’t tell you significant plot details or their personalities or anything. Not a great start.

See, up until now, Vision and Scarlet Witch have been little more than background characters. So already there’s an uphill struggle to get us invested in their relationship, especially considering we haven’t actually seen that relationship develop. In Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Scarlet Witch is killing people because she’s pissed off about Tony Stark killing people (you work that one out) until all of a sudden she stops and joins the good guys because the script said so. Vision meanwhile is introduced as a convenient deus ex machina to beat Ultron and gets no real personality other than he’s a robot. Captain America: Civil War comes the closest to giving Wanda a story and personality of her own as it’s her actions that cause the Sokovia Accords to come into effect, but she never gets any real growth or payoff as the film is heavily focused on Cap and Iron Man’s penis measuring contest. And as for Vision, all he does in the film is accidentally cripple War Machine. No real character or arc there as such. And then we have Avengers: Infinity War, where Wanda and Vision are now sporadically in love and on the run until that pesky Josh Brolin, looking like a CGI cross between Joss Whedon and a grumpy grape, comes along and rips out Vision’s Infinity Stone to power up his golden glove of doom, and the film treats this like a tragic moment, except... it isn’t. Because we haven’t really had the time to properly get to know these characters and see their romance blossom. So instead it just comes off as hollow and forced.

WandaVision has the exact same problem. Apparently Wanda was so distraught about Vision’s death that she broke into a SWORD base, stole his corpse, brought it back from the dead... somehow, and then enslaved an entire town of people to create an idyllic lifestyle for her and her hubby while broadcasting it as a sitcom to the outside world... for some reason. Putting aside the dubious morality of it all, it’s impossible to really sympathise with Wanda or her supposed grief because we’ve barely spent any time with her. Had the Marvel movies taken the time to properly explore the characters and show us their relationship grow and develop, this might have had more emotional resonance. But no, it just happens. In one film they barely speak to each other and in the next they’re a couple. No effort to explore how they feel about each other or any of the problems that may arise trying to date a robot. It just happens and we’re just supposed to care. Well I’m sorry, but I don’t care. You’re going to have to try a little bit harder than that I’m afraid. What’s worse is that, thanks to the whole fake sitcom thing, it’s impossible to really become invested in Wanda and her plight because the show has to constantly keep us at arms length at all times in order to keep up the pretence that this bullshit is somehow mysterious.

Looking through the WandaVision tag, it amuses me how many people say that she’s acting out of character. And yeah, her actions are a bit of a head scratcher. Why would an Eastern European’s ideal life be an American sitcom? Why a sitcom? Why kidnap an entire town? Why keep changing the decade? None of it makes sense, but you’re wrong for thinking that Wanda is behaving out of character for the simple reason that Wanda has never actually had a character. In fact, ironically, Wanda mind controlling an entire town and forcing them to do her bidding is probably the one consistent thing about her as she did this in Age Of Ultron. In interviews, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany described how they used actors like Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick Van Dyke as influences, which is really funny because they’re straight up admitting they don’t have characters and even now they’re still not playing the characters, instead emulating the work of far better actors.

As I was watching the show, it became abundantly clear that not only do Marvel not have the faintest idea what they wanted to do with these characters, but they also straight up don’t give a shit about these characters. Wanda in particular has had a rough time under the tyrannical regime of the House of Mouse. First they cast Elizabeth Olsen, a white woman, to play a Romani character, then systematically erasing her Jewish roots, even going so far as to put a cross in her bedroom in Civil War, and now the character is being butchered even more by forcing her into an American sitcom housewife role that she apparently willingly chose for herself, which is laughable. I mean say what you like about Magneto in the X-Men films, at least they actually depicted his Jewish culture. At least they recognised his Jewish background was important (though not important enough to cast a Jewish actor apparently). Wanda’s steady cultural erasure over the years is incredibly insidious and judging by Olsen’s comments in interviews, where she called Wanda’s comic book outfit a quote ‘gypsy thing’ unquote, it seems nobody has an ounce of fucking respect for the character or the culture she’s supposed to be representing. (and to all those kissing her arse saying it was a slip of the tongue, she has been repeatedly called out for using the slur in the past, so at this point I’d describe her behaviour as wilful ignorance)

If you want further proof of how much Marvel doesn’t seem to care about Wanda, look no further than her brother Pietro, aka Quicksilver. At the end of Episode 5, Wanda brings Pietro back from the dead, except it’s not Pietro. It’s Peter Maximoff, the Quicksilver from the X-Men films played by Peter Evans, who coincidentally is not Jewish or Romani either. So Quicksilver has the dubious honour of not only being whitewashed three times, but also twice within the same franchise. But should we really be surprised at this point? It’s Marvel after all. The same company that whitewashed the Ancient One in Doctor Yellowface and claimed it wasn’t racist because Tilda Swinton is ‘Celtic’. But now I’m going off topic. My point is that this isn’t a simple case of recasting an actor like Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as the Hulk. WandaVision actually acknowledges the recast in-universe, which makes no sense. Why would Wanda bring back her brother, only to make him look like a different person? We the audience may be familiar with this version of Quicksilver, but she isn’t. That would be like me bringing my Grandad back to life and making him look like Ian McKellen. He’d be perfectly charming, I’m sure, but he wouldn’t be my Grandad. 

If Marvel really cared about the characters or narrative consistency, they would have brought Aaron Taylor Johnson back. Instead, now they have absorbed 20th Century Fox into the hellish Disney abyss, they use X-Men’s Quicksilver as a means to keep viewers from switching off and so that people will write stupid articles and think pieces about whether the rest of the X-Men will show up in the MCU. It’s like dangling your keys in front of a toddler’s face to distract them from the rotting corpse of a raccoon lying face down in the corner of the room.

And it’s here where I decided to stop watching the show because fuck Disney.

Epilogue: One Foot In The Grave

You know, I am sick and tired of the so called ‘professional’ critics bending over backwards to praise these god awful films and shows when it’s so clear to anyone with a functioning brain cell how bad they truly are. WandaVision is without a doubt one of the most cynically produced and poorly structured TV shows I’ve ever seen. Its riffs on classic sitcoms are pointless and self-indulgent, the writing is terrible, the characters are unlikable and unsympathetic, and it’s entirely emblematic of what the entire MCU has become of late. And it’s only going to get worse as Disney drowns us with more ‘content’ to keep the plebs ‘engaged’. In short; pathetic.

[mk-wizard]

Big Hero 6 The Series: It could have been better

Hello, friends. Today, I will be analyzing a TV series based on a movie that I fell in love with for its colourful themes, deep plot, compelling characters, great CGI and memorable messages. Before I get into it, I want to take a moment to say that I have quit doing videos. They are too big of a pain in the petunia to make and I write better than I speak, so I will stick to writing essays, reviews and more. Anyway, onto the analysis.

All I can say about Big Hero 6 the series is that it had a great concept, it presented some great ideas and tried hard to be a cartoon of the times, but it could have and should have been a lot better. The show’s downfall all centers around trying too hard to be kid friendly which makes the shame sting all the more because Big Hero 6 was already kid friendly even with its dark themes, sharp edges and intelligent writing. If anything, even the brightest kid friendly cartoons (Steven Universe, She-Ra, etc.) had those things and actually benefitted from them. By needlessly trying too hard, character development got scrapped, the edges were all smoothed out, storytelling was subpar, the humour was too silly and the executive meddling in the end produced a dismal final season. However, I don’t want this analysis to be one lengthy negative rant about how awful the series was because in its defense, awful is an unfair word. It did have potential and ideas which are worth carrying over to a reboot that I hope will be done someday in the future. Also, we should root for a reboot because Big Hero 6 would not be the first story that needs it before striking gold. Just look at how many times Spider-Man was rebooted in film before MCU found the version that worked. Anyway, I will list all the things in Big Hero 6 that could have been better in my opinion;

1- Go easy on the laughs and be more generous with the action. - I love adding comedy to my own writing because I think a good sense of humour makes everything better, but Big Hero 6 is not a stand up comedy routine. It is a superhero story where we expect action, suspense and life or death situations that are to be taken seriously first. The comedy should be for relief and with the right timing. Also, the chibi cutscenes and having characters act like fools aren’t funny. Ren and Stimpy are the exception not the standard and their way of making you laugh doesn’t fit an action series. In a show as big as Big Hero 6, real life physics and danger matters.

2- Make the villains menacing and gritty. - I admit that after having a movie villain like Yokai who was the stuff of nightmares, it is going to be a challenging act to follow, but it was obvious that the writers were trying especially with some villains who could have easily gone into some dark relatable territory. For example, Mr. Sparkles (the gentleman in the photo above) embodies social media and Internet personalities. Right off the bat, you have a long list of things which embody the dark side of that like scams, fraud, using social media to dox or harass, driving people to suicide, online predators, the Internet personalities being very depressed people in real life, and much more horrifying things. When you stop and look at it, Mr. Sparkles even looks like the Joker which hints how dark and scary he could have been if the stops were removed. The same goes for enemies like Hardlight who embodies online gaming, Liv with cloning, Obake an amoral and insane scientist, and Trina and Noodle Burger Boy (more on him later) being evil robots. Globby especially should have been painted and written in much darker colours rather being played off for laughs because he has many parallels with Clay Face. The only two villains who I can say were supposed to be campy, charming and comical were Baron Von Steamer and Supersonic Sue because they were a satire of the Adam West style villains.

The rest of them needed to be dark and threatening including Mr. Sparkles. In fact, I would love a rebooted version of Mr. Sparkles who gives me the heebie-jeebies. Going back to Noodle Burger Boy, I must confess that I was actually excited when I heard that he was going to be the main villain of the final season because I thought he was going to fulfill his master’s final wish and as a reminder, Noodle Burger Boy was based on a super robot for military purposes.

It would have been fantastic if Noodle Burger Boy was upgraded into a full military war machine with a new threatening look. For that, I think all of the villains deserve to be rebooted and have their full potential unlocked for better or for worse.

3- A show about geniuses merits genius level art quality. - I am usually forgiving towards art styles, but in the case of Big Hero 6, the oversimplified style with minimal details and lack of textures did not suit the show. The characters blend in with the background which makes them look flat and the special effects were extremely dulled down. I also know for a fact that Disney can do a lot better than this because I saw how superbly Tangled the Series was drawn.

You can see and almost feel the difference in quality, the number of layers and level of detail between the two styles. I think there was no excuse Big Hero 6 was not done in the same style and at the same level if not better as Tangled.

3- Don’t dumb down or flanderize amazing characters. - I absolutely detest it when characters are flanderized because it makes them one dimensional and grating. For example, Go Go is tough as nails and extremely calm, but she is not cold or hesitant towards helping her friends. She doesn’t require very special episodes for us to know that. If anything, the movie version of Go Go reminded me a lot of Garnet in how she deconstructed the broody character. She isn’t cold or emotionless. Just calm and mature. Another good example was how Honey Lemon was rewritten to be overly positive to the point of toxicity, naïve and oblivious with a juvenile obsession with stickers. Then you have poor Fred who was rewritten to be an incompetent fool. The spark that makes Big Hero 6 shine is that they are a team of geniuses meaning they are all intelligent. Even Fred is genius in his own way just not a scientific one. He has a vivid imagination, he is resourceful and can get himself out of tight spots. Please, don’t turn characters into dummies especially if their intelligence is a part of them. It doesn’t make them better or funnier. It ruins them.

4- Tadashi needs closure and honour. - I am all for Hiro making peace with the loss of his brother, but Tadashi is to the Big Hero 6 team what Uncle Ben was to Spider-Man. His loss was the catalyst if not the reason. He should never be forgotten. Moreover, there was never any true closure to him especially with the possibility that he may still be alive up in the air. After all, like Callaghan, his body was never found and it turned out that Callaghan was still alive.

With that said, who is to say that Tadashi was not secretly still alive and just hiding or being hidden? This is something that Disney really needed to clear up if not for the fans, then at least as a service to such an important character. Never just forget about them.

5- The format can only be episodic with a deep plots, continuity and character development. - Random episodes with a mere monster of the day is an outdated format which doesn’t fit Big Hero 6′s modern and bright setting. In seasons 1 and 2, when the episodes were plot heavy with character development, the series shined brightest. It also helped move the story along, but with the final season, plot was removed, closure was abandoned or poorly written if any was given, and characters were disallowed from growing. A good example at how plot and character development could have made this series and its characters better was the relationship between Hiro and Megan. Would it have truly survived or would they have broken up?

Would Richardson Mole have eventually lost interest in his obsession with besting and bullying Fred or would his obsession consume him compelling him to become a super villain? I do see quite a few similarities between Mole and Reverse Flash.

Then you have Karmi who is in my opinion, the biggest wild card of the bunch. She was intentionally introduced as an arrogant, prickly and unlikable yet complex character who rivaled Hiro bitterly.

Yet had a huge crush on his alter ego and as time went on, started to grow up and even form a friendship with Hiro. What would have happened further down the road with her? Would she have become a super hero herself? Or maybe even another love interest for Hiro kind of like how Black Cat is for Spider-Man?

Is Obake really gone?

What does the future hold Diana (Liv’s clone), Liv herself or the Sycorax the genetics company?

Is Alistair Krei going to become an ally to Big Hero 6 or an antagonist? There is also the issue at how little we know about the other Big Hero 6 characters other than Fred, Hiro and Baymax. What are Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Go Go’s backstories? These questions matter and while not every mystery can be solved, leaving none of them solved is lazy writing.

6- Executives, kindly stay out of the writing and any other part of the creative process. - I’m sorry, execs, but there is no nice way to say it. History itself proves that every time executives got involved in the creative process of any media, it got worse not better. Leave the writing to the creative team and the execs should only handle the legal stuff. Please. We understand that TV is a business, but writing itself is not. It is an art which you just don’t have a talent for. Let the creative people do their thing with the freedom necessary and you do your thing, deal? Deal.

7- Focus on Hiro and Baymax. - The are the main characters so keep them at the heart of the series no matter what happens around them. That is all I can say.

And that sums up all the things that could have made Big Hero 6 the series better, but this is all just my opinion. What is yours?

PS: I am well aware that the Big Hero 6 series is being retconned because a new series called Baymax is in the works as well as the long awaited sequel to the first movie. I am looking forward to both with an open mind. PPS: I also am aware that some people liked this show the way it was including the art style and I am cool with that. An analysis for art that includes cartoons is never right or wrong. It is solely based on opinion. I may have thought this series could have been better, but there are people who make arguments that it could have been worse.

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

My new thoughts on Transformers Dark of the Moon

I have rewatched the full film after a long time. It’s been many minutes since then. Even though the film is eleven years old. But I want to warn ahead that I will mention there will be spoilers in this. But they will be under the keep reading option. This won’t be a full-on review. But a bunch of rambles in separate parts and...how would’ve changed the film. This is all just my opinion.

If you just want to hear my quick thoughts on the film. Here’s what I want to say.

I genuinely liked it...I still like it. Even though there are things I think could’ve changed. But I actually liked this film. This is maybe my favorite Bayformers film. But I still like the first one a lot.

That I recall a nice friend of mine from years ago, Cure4, a guy who did fake movie posters, and did review some movies. But he’s sadly gone from the internet. If I can recall what he said right...I agree with him that Dark of the Moon should’ve been the sequel that the 2007 film should’ve had. And I feel like this was the last Transformers film Michael Bay at least tried. Particularly with the fact this would’ve been his last...until shit changed.

Moving on.

-

- I’d just want to say that I think this film has the best CGI in the franchise. I’m being serious. The special effects and everything else are so good. It doesn’t feel cheap (Which sounds rude of me sorry). And I thought Revenge of the Fallen still had good effects. But this takes the cake along with the original 2007 film.

It just looks so real and professional.  The robots, the destruction, and many other things. It looks really damn good. And strangely...beautiful eye candy in a sense.

- The score from Steve Jablonsky is maybe my favorite in the Bayformers pentalogy. Along with the score from the 2007 film. This man always fuckin delivers. Honestly, all of the scores for these films are so good.

- This may sound strange but considering the runtime...I think the pacing is pretty fine. It’s long enough for the story it needs to be told, and it works for the film. 

- I honestly think out of all of the villains in the Bayformers pentalogy, Sentinel Prime is the best villain right to Megatron in the 2007 film. And an added bonus is that he’s voiced by Leonard Nimoy. Who voiced Galvatron in the 1986 Transformers film. He does a fantastic job.

Don’t worry, I’ll get into more of the criticisms. But I wanted to say some positive stuff first.

- Let me tell you this. I don’t hate Sam Witwicky as a character. But I think I’m more frustrated in a sense with him.

To be honest, I can understand his struggles with him and his arc. The whole job thing, and I get he wants to matter. But I think a problem with his character is that...again, I get he’s pissed, he’s frustrated with his place in life. But I feel like his character should’ve been more likable. While he does get better in the film. Maybe that’s the point. 

I feel like the problem with his character is that I guess he’s inconsistent. Or that he just seems...too rude at times. Which sounds so strange. Because this will lead into the next part. While I find his freakout with his car funny. This dude...he’s a mixed bag. But maybe that’s the point. 

Including I will admit, couldn’t he...treat Bumblebee more like a person or so? Sam is a weird mixed bag for me. Despite at times he does get better.

- Let me make this clear. I am aware of the situation with Megan Fox and they didn’t have time to rewrite Carly’s job...and the fact that Mikeala’s character arc is...kind of ruined when you hear she just dumped Sam and a new girlfriend comes into the picture. I do have an idea that...would’ve made more sense of her departure...but it’s fucking dark. And it would’ve been disrespectful to Megan. 

- I just want to admit this. I don’t care about Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s acting. I actually really didn’t mind Carly as a character. But here’s my problem.

She is supportive, and the fact she deals with Sam. Even when he’s frustrated. She has a good reason to be upset when Sam starts working with the Autobots again because her brother in the military died. She’s a genuinely likable person. And I feel like girl...why are you with this guy? Or the fact he’s acting...rude recently. And a part of me feels like I would rather have her as the main character, which may sound strange.

I will admit, I love her scene with Megatron. I actually like that. She has some major balls doing that. 

Again, I didn’t mind her character. But I was just wondering with how Sam was acting. The fact she is able to deal with him in that time...I’m talking a lot about the human characters, I know.

- I really liked the scenes with Optimus and Sentinel. But I wished there were more scenes or one more before Sentinel’s betrayal. Because it feels short and that could’ve been developed more.

- Soundwave is brilliant, despite being so underused. I do agree and wished he had some blue on him. Because I’m one of the many that feels like the Decepticons could’ve used more color. Because the silver/white thing just...he blends with others. Also, a reference to G1. Just making him blue. And there should’ve been more of him.

I remember being genuinely surprised when the Mercades transformed. Because I was literally expecting him to be an SUV like in the Dark of the Moon video game.

But I think what’s great about Soundwave is despite his short screentime. I love the fact that he’s been spying on the characters the whole time, and he was Carly’s vehicle. While not like the cassette player in G1. Soundwave as an espionage specialist is used in this, and I just wished we saw more of him. I think it’s just the idea of him working with Dylan that will always stick with me and that twist. Because I actually wasn’t expecting it. Despite Michael Bay tried so hard to keep that a secret.

- Before seeing this film again. I’ll just admit this. Patrick Dempsey’s role as Dylan Gould was the one that stood out to me the most. And I think that’s mainly because my memory of his performance seemed...more cartoonish. Yet still leaving a strong impression on me. That scene sticks with me.

My memory of Dylan as a character compared to how he was in the movie. The idea that despite he appears like a totally chill and cool boss. This guy is a big douchebag and him just fucking losing it over the course of the film. But it’s handled, more maturely than how I remembered it. More so the idea that despite he tries justifying in what he’s doing. The idea he secretly doesn’t care and likes what he’s doing. But that’s not part of the story.

But I do like him as a villain. Despite the...lore for these films is...difficult and the tie-in comics tried their best to make them work. But I think it’s maybe due to my head canons and shit in my head that made me think of his character as an even worse person. Like him being with Soundwave, and all that.

Yet I do think it’s still human, but still douchey that he tries to justify being on the “Winning side” so he can live and that he “Inherited” Soundwave. I do like the foreshadowing when he’s first introduced that he says he puts his bets on the winning side or something. It’s a small piece of dialogue. But it’s said there.

- You know, I am annoyed by the fact during behind the scenes with Wheeljack becoming Que...Que is fine...but still...

- You know, even as a kid, I am saddened we didn’t get any big stuff with Starscream later in these films. I remember being a kid and feeling like Starscream not betraying Megatron in this film was bothersome...because this would’ve been the “Last film”...but...yeah.

At least he had “Reign of Starscream” and I fucking love Charlie Alder as Starscream. He’s perfect as his voice. But even though he’s kissing Megatron’s ass to likely save his own ass. It’s still annoying we didn’t any big role for him. Which makes seeing his death...kind of annoying.

Even though I think it was badass of Sam to straight up jump onto Starscream’s face and stab a bomb into his other eye. A part of me feels like Starscream should’ve survived, but then you wonder what else would happen if they did that...I seriously feel like Starscream should’ve been seen in command more before Megatron was revived.

- Shockwave...

Listen, I love his design. But his portrayal in this film...is bothersome. It’s mainly because of the fact Shockwave is such a more “Logical” type of character. A scienist basically. Whether in the original Marvel comics he would betray Megatron because he believed it would be more logical if he was leader. Or that he was a loyal follower of Megatron who would do experiments on Autobots in Fall of Cybertron. Or even his Animated adaptation...

Shockwave acts more like a...somewhat mindless brute. I don’t mind him being as powerful as Megatron. But it’s so weird, and I remember being hyped hearing he was the main villain.

But the fact he lacks any screentime, and he acts more like a “Big CGI monster” than his own character. It also sucks this dude had a lot of promos on him. But again, it sucks. And I like his design. It would’ve been better if he was Lugnut. But then you would have to change his design and the driller worm may not be there. Yet I think Bay wouldn’t care looking into recent Transformers lore.

And yes, I’m aware of comic book tie-ins for the films. It’s still bothersome. In a way, it’s like how Lizzie was treated in Rampage 2018. But for Rampage, that worked with the story they were telling.

I’m rambling, Shockwave in this film is cool until you remember the cool shit he can do in other media. And you feel disappointed that used the most “Logical” of all the Decepticons.

- The ending...the fact the ending was changed because the studio did not want the adaptations ending the same as the movie...and Bay was pissed at the leaks. That he ordered an executive order to have no tie-ins or adaptations for the next two films...

And we got an ending that...really shows something dark with Optimus’s character. I would’ve preferred the original ending where Megatron and Optimus teamed up against Sentinel. And the fact they talked gave them more depth. Especially Megatron as a character.

I will admit, if they wanted to go with both endings in a way. Or a way that doesn’t showcase...Optimus...being so extreme. They could’ve had Megatron be the one who killed a begging Sentinel, with Optimus watches in horror at what happens. Giving Megatron something more note-worthy in the movie and giving Optimus more of a reason to kill Megatron.

But...I prefer the original ending. 

- I have a lot to say. You know...this is just a fan part here...I’m still disappointed that Bay doesn’t like the Dinobots, and they weren’t in the original trilogy.

Despite the fact these films don’t take continuity seriously or try certain shit...this is a fan suggestion...

I fucking wished the Dinobots were extra Autobots that were hidden along with Sentinel, and them going against him. Or even replace the Wreckers. That doesn’t make sense. But I just feel like with the epic set pieces in Chicago. It would’ve been perfect to put the Dinobots in there wrecking shit.

But I still love the irony that two of the smallest Autobots are the ones that took down a ship...

Still would’ve loved a Dinobot charge into Chicago. But I’m reminded that I recall being disappointed that Unicron wouldn’t be the next big villain in the third film. But I think it was for the best they didn’t do that. And considering how they treated his character or...what they were going to do with him.

- Last two updates because I forgot to mention these. Simmons is funny. I’m sorry, to me, he still is. I also like Dutch too.

- Okay, this is something that’s been on my mind for a long while. Because this movie is somewhat of a loose adaptation of “The Ultimate Doom” or more so, this story was inspired by it. I tried looking up any sort of logic about this.

If Cybertron in this movie was still that close to Earth? Wouldn’t there be drastic weather changes? Such as tornados, tidal waves, and earthquakes if I recall right? Would that happen if something like that were to happen in reality? 

But honestly...for some reason I would trust the cartoon much more. Because Ehren Kruger and Michael Bay sometimes don’t care about logic. Look, I’m no scientist, but I feel like there would be consequences if a planet like Cybertron was close to Earth. Yet, it wasn’t there for days or however how long. This is something that really makes me think.

- Final update, my apologies. I did question if I should talk about this. If it really mattered, because I had forgotten about it. As a Decepticon fan. I appreciate this film being a “The Decepticons Strike Back” kind of thing. The idea they almost win and using this old plan...but I think it depends on how you look at it considering the lore from the last two films.

-

I think I’ll just mention some shit I want to talk about. Watching this film, there needed to be more stuff of Optimus and Sentinel, even some more footage of the Decepticons. Including things like the Wreckers completing freeing Optimus, and the Autobots being taken prisoners. Because some of that shit is offscreen. I feel like characters like Dino/Mirage weren’t needed.

And I feel like with the parallel with Optimus & Sentinel to Sam and Dylan. I feel like to make the twist with Dylan could’ve been stronger if we got a bit more of Dylan before that. Maybe Sam could’ve accepted that job offer by Dylan. Instead of that job interview crap they were doing. Basically, take out John Malkovich’s character, yet you could retain elements of that place...and maybe when Sam is trying to get Carly out of that party and Sam decides to be rude and “Quits” which gets Dylan to stop fucking around and be honest about who he really is.

I didn’t want to change a majority of the story. Also, make Sam...less bothersome...and I feel like this dark idea I had long ago concerning Mikeala. I feel it doesn’t make sense that she just dumps him after everything they had gone through. I feel like what would’ve been better to explain her exit from the story was that a Decepticon killed her...yet I feel like that would’ve been like a middle finger to Megan. And it just feels...weird.

It’s like if you did the death of Gwen Stacy. But you only mention it. 

I think I’ve rambled long enough. I have been writing this for I think nearly or well...two hours.

Edit update basically my rewrite would involve Sam and Dylan being pretty alright with each other. But after Sentinel’s betrayal, Sam is just not having it, he’s not hiding his feelings about Dylan. Which leads into that twist. Something to kind of mirror Optimus and Sentinel’s relationship. But it’s not the same.

Also, like I said on Twitter. I think Sam should’ve gotten a similar gun like Cade got in Age of Extinction. While not the same and maybe not as strong. But Sam deserved something like that after all the shit he’s been through.

[dying-suffering-french-stalkers]

Finally watching Goodbye Partner!  I’m watching the dub, but I have the subs on so I can read the date/location popups and signs, so I’m getting a bit of dialogue comparison.  I’ll probably go back and watch a few scenes with the original audio as well (Kiyoshi Kobayashi my beloved).

Here begins the liveblog, but all in one post and under a cut so it’s not as insufferable:

Starting strong with a heist escape sequence as per usual!  As far as openings go, it’s hard to go wrong with that.

Oh, hello, literal actual Chopin courtesy of a timeskip/flashback.

What are these RWBY-ass CGI piano hands??  Y’all warned me and you were not kidding.  Traditional rotoscoping would never hurt me in this way.

CUSTODY_OF_CHILD.JPG

Lupin playing in those see-through inflatable “hamster” balls skdfjskjdflsl

Intricate Rituals.  Jiglup gunplay confirmed

Epcar’s delivery here was so much more aggressive than Kobayashi’s.

“Area 61, Colorado” just say Cheyenne Mountain

EDWARD ZNOWDEN

Fujiko really is terrible with kids

Listen, I love a good Dutch angle, but I’m starting to feel like I should set up a CinemaSins counter at this point.  I’m glad to have some shot variety but there are other compositions, you know.

Motorcycle Jigen returns!!

Loving this little Morricone shoutout, which I unfortunately cannot seem to find on YouTube.

[strangled Goemon voice] “MISTAKE.”

God. GOD. Tony Oliver’s delivery in the betrayal scene is so good.  Lupin is clearly not buying it at all and is quite willing to play along with whatever the hell this is - until Jigen shoots him right in the heart.  That’s going to hurt a lot more than literally when he wakes up, though 1) given that the movie’s barely begun, I’m guessing he’s still not completely buying it (rightfully so) and is gonna look into this and 2) unfortunately this franchise isn’t known for actually digging into all the delicious angst and implications it likes to sling around.  Cowards.

Also, I like that Lupin seems to be wearing a navy shirt and pink tie like he had in early Part 2 instead of the blue shirt/yellow tie he has in the other Red Jacket movies.  Not sure why that’s what they went with but I’m down.

Okay, I went back and watched the betrayal scene in Japanese and OOF, it hits DIFFERENT to hear Kiyoshi Kobayashi deliver those lines.  He’s so utterly casual about it and it’s all the more angsty since he’s, y’know, a million years old, so here his Jigen sounds much more tired/resigned compared to Epcar’s brasher gunman.

The way that the shots focus on not only Jigen, but also Fujiko when the boss asks about the betrayal...nice.  Fujiko doesn’t know for sure if Jigen killed Lupin, but I imagine such a possibility would shake her at least a little - not just because she cares for that silly monkey man, but because that partnership has been a surprising constant in her life.  If even that could finally crumble, her natural cynicism is about to get a whole lot deeper.  Morbidly, she wants to know if Jigen had the balls to do it.  It’d be a hell of a lot more kindred spirit between them than she ever expected if so.  It’s a shame this plot wasn’t used in a Koike movie; it would’ve been great to see the deliberate parallel/foil from TWCFM continue.

“Why don’t we talk about your future?” the boss says as Jigen’s whole demeanor screams What future?  Even though Lupin isn’t dead and Jigen has his reasons for why he did this, Jigen hardly expects forgiveness after all this.  Lupin may be alive but Jigen has just killed the best thing he ever had and he can never get that back (except he can, because movie and long-running franchise, but y’know, Watsonian vs. Doylist).

The Dark Crystal (1982)

HATSUNE MIKU???  ACTUAL HATSUNE MIKU????? (just her voice but aksdjfkajsdkfjaklsjdfljasjdflajsdf)

Ohhhh, the Lupin & Clarisse / Jigen & the kid’s mom (still haven’t heard her name lmao) parallel was just uncalled for, my heart

Let Jigen wear burgundy more often

...Mr. Epcar, I love and respect you, but is it too much to ask that you vary your inflection a little more?  Where’s the PATHOS?

Slightly cried instantly, “The Wendy lady lives.”  Then Peter knelt beside her and found his button.  You remember she had put it on a chain that she wore round her neck.  “See,” he said, “the arrow struck against this. It is the kiss I gave her.  It has saved her life.”

BLACK JACKET

Burgundy suit + round glasses Goemon!!!

There’s no way Pops is getting his job back after this one

Goemon: [turns his usual hot girl swordsmanship up to 11]

Lupin: Well mark me down as scared AND horny! dot jpeg

Again with the CGI hand crimes.

Wow he straight-up said Jigen was cheating on him

Ah, see, that “waste of oxygen”/“huge mistake” bit of dialogue is the kind of inflection I like to hear.

WarGames (1983)

It took me entirely too long to realize the president was supposed to look like H.illary.

Goemon: [slices open a door for Fujiko]

Fujiko: “Oh, you.” <3

This is all very action-heavy and surprisingly decent for a Lupin film so far, but uh. why is Jigen once again a side character in his own movie?

Ayyyy, nice reference to Zantetsuken’s composition from Part 1.  Still insane that they melted down three awesome swords to make a different sword though.

Goemon snarks back to robots confirmed.  Not that Lupin would ever be stupid enough to buy an Al3xa/etc. but can you IMAGINE

JAZZ PIANIST FUJIKO!  Fujiko having actual interests and hobbies!!!

Comrade Emilka

TRIPLE PARALLEL WITH JIGEN & ALISA NOW

They just?? left Jigen in the middle of the desert after the absolute minimum discussion of All That????  That’s...on-brand actually but give me the angst this plot device deserved >:(

Michelle Ruff I would die for you

This variation on the main theme is my favorite.  I’ve probably listened to it about a thousand times at this point but I finally got to hear it in context.

Welp, that was one of the better Lupin movies I’ve seen, but I do wish they’d done more with the whole Jigen betrayal thing that ended up being more of a subplot.  Thank goodness for fics that do the work.

Edit: “There are about four different plots going on at once in this movie, and they forgot to focus on the one that’s in the actual title.” - @theimpossiblescheme

[ships-bynoa]

The Titans are almost back, bitches. aka 3x06

Guys, literally every time the titans are together-or even paired up-the episode gets ten times better, but in 6 episodes there is simply not enough Kory and Gar. I can easily forget that when I’m basking in the episode they are in, especially when they’re giving us family dynamics.

Kory:

“You’re not mad that I left. You’re mad I came back.” Kory’s face tells us Blackfire is right on the money, and who would know her better than her sister?

So, Kory, oh boy. Our girl is on edge. She is slowly unraveling and is super vulnerable and raw with Kom around and little sister is going to exploit it and her guilt, which I think she’s carrying a lot of. So far their dynamic has been fascinating because there’s so much to read between them and so many accusations being flung back and forth, from both. From Kory; you sense guilt and even contempt and from Kom there’s envy and resentment, but also there’s a sense of idealization for her older sister, too, which of course, with younger siblings, there always is an element of that. And as an older sibling, there is always an unspoken and sometimes spoken responsibility placed on them for their younger siblings. Parents often don’t realize it, but they can create a lot of tension within siblingships by assigning roles.

They remember home and family very differently, which is often the case, too. Kom was often thrown in the pit and to that, Kory attributes her sister’s constant rebellion as the reason, and yet, Kory herself was a bit of a rule breaker, sleeping with her guard, Fiddei.

Kory was being suffocated by the laws and customs of her home planet; one could say she rebelled by going on a mission, to escape her duties. Home did neither of them any favors because while one rebelled because she did not fit in, the one who did fit in was dying inside, surrounded by little robots and becoming one herself. Being told what to eat, wear and who to love or be friends with is yikes.

I was thinking Kom began her game of manipulation in the bunker, but she really started before that when she sent Fiddei to bring Kory home when she probably intended to kill him all along. After all she would’ve castrated him if she’d had the chance to for sleeping with Kory in the first place. Shortly after Fiddei’s death, Kory flamed out. No powers. Emotionally wrung out from the news her family was dead and now the culprit is here. These two know each other very well and know exactly how to get underneath each other’s skin. Right now Kom is getting underneath Kory’s and our girl is losing patience fast. 

I’m wondering when exactly Dick will tune into Kory’s anxiety-ridden state and step in to support.

Ultimately, I just want to see what truly happened to the girls on their planet and how we have the versions we have now. Like, Kory said to Rachel, “No one is born good or bad, we are defined by our choices.” I get the feeling Kory has given Kom so many chances to make a different choice and has become disillusioned, meanwhile Kom believes nothing she does will give her the respect she feels she deserves anyway, so she may as well blow shit up, figuratively and literally. At least then she’ll have Kory’s attention.

Gar: 

Gar losing it on Dick was so cathartic and yet he could’ve gone much further, considering Dick abandoned him last season to go jail and hallucinate Bruce. It ultimately led to Gar (and Conner) being kidnapped and experimented on by Mercy. It’s actually all the adults fault this happened, but as the leader promoting his family everywhere he goes, he needs to keep his eye on the ball. He would know if he spent five minutes at home with them that Gar is struggling. Last season Gar was #OperationSaveTitans and this season he’s #ThisFamilyIsDying. He’s doing what the adults should be doing, or at least leading the charge on it. He’s the glue, but who will hold him together?

He’s carrying too much emotional responsibility and Dick’s dismissal, because he is fully locked into Gotham and being Batman, makes me mad. Get your head in the game, Grayson. Gotham is going to eat your family while you retread the nostalgic steps of your past.

We all know Dick’s not good at expressing himself emotionally, though he’s usually forced to express something when talking to or being confronted by Kory, so I was proud of him for giving Gar the floor to speak. I just wish Gar spoke about himself, but then again, he needs more time and consistent offers to be heard. I’m happy Dick followed up the conversation up with a bonding/training session. There was definitely pride in Dick’s face because Gar really has come a long way in this group, but he needs MORE SCREEN TIME. I’d like to see the two of them out in the field together the way we’ve seen Kory this season with Gar and Conner. 

I wonder if Gar losing control is the start of all his trauma bubbling up to the surface, will being in Gotham, hunting down a friend be too much?

As a side, has the CGI tiger face gotten worse?

Kom (and Conner):

First thing’s first, what music are we thinking Kom listens to? Probably the kind of music she can break your tailbone to, like, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and Jay Z, or Prince, Jimmy Hendrix, Stevie Nicks and Led Zeppelin? Rihanna?

Kom is absolutely a villain this season and if she isn’t, what a waste that’ll be. A mastermind at mind games (see, her picking up the chess piece), who is going to drum up Kory’s paranoia and anxiety around her being there. Trying to kill her suspicion by guilt tripping her while simultaneously being a do good-er to the group, feigning interest in helping the Titans to earn her way in, a tip from our boy, Conner.

She says she wants acceptance and I believe that’s absolutely true, but she doesn’t know how to get that without using power, so she’ll continue to covet acceptance through and with power because according to Kory, she’s always been a climber. Add to that, being born the cursed child and the only royal member born without the gift of fire, something that differentiates them from the common folk, being too frail to participate in the same games as Kory, having a speech therapist be her only friend while being the object of ridicule and you have a villain origin story nicely set up.

I really enjoyed Conner and Kom’s exchange. The boy lit up when he spoke about seeing his family happy and it made me light up. He’s so genuine and has a big heart and Kom is going to take advantage of it, that’s not to say she won’t develop real feelings for him, but she can like him and still use him.

Conner’s “you have to earn your way into the family,” is perhaps an internal and personal struggle he has from sharing blood with Luthor. I think it may come from an insecure place because he was made a titan as soon as he woke up and no one questioned it, but as he’s only half of superman, he’s constantly trying to prove his usefulness for good, which losing Hank has rocked, leaving him vulnerable to Kom’s recognition for his otherness. Their otherness.

She gave us insight into her mind, but also she has likely seized an opportunity to use the vulnerability against Conner and to her favor by making him her kindred. Outcasts. Will she gain influence over him? He’s still young and learning, and trusting, too.

Her interest in him felt layered, ignoring the ugly customs of sex servants, she was also observing Kory’s relationships and ranking them in her sister’s life. Her being able to determine who may have Kory’s interest (which Kory gave away with her vulnerable display of worry over Dick’s welfare in front of Kom) will surely come into play at some point, right? After all, Kom did kill Kory’s last lover/royal guard. This may be me projecting. LOL.

Romantically, I’m waiting to see how they play it before I decide if I like it or not, but so far, they have a nice chemistry. Friendly.

Dick (and Barbara) :

What a lovable dumb ass. 

I was so happy Kory lost it on him and called him on his lone ranger shit, at least when it’s her, even when he’s being an idiot, he’s still listening. “Let’s go.” and I thought it was hilarious that he tried explaining himself, but when Gar called him out, he got all huffy with, “Excuse me, young man.”

Gar asking Kory not to have words with Barbara over Dick getting shot was so funny because Dick’s face seemed to ask the same when she asked how it happened. We love a protective Kory. I’ll be looking at him when it’s his turn to reciprocate.

I don’t like him dismissing their concerns about his personal safety and how it affects them, it’s like he’s learned nothing after running off alone to battle Trigon, or rather has unlearned his lessons of S2. I’d like to see some more permanent emotional growth from him by this season’s end. In his current state, he’s not an exuding leader. He can’t be when he’s still wrapped up in Bruce and all things Gotham. He’s not tuned into Kory’s anxiety, or Conner’s grief and insecurity, or Gar’s emotional burden. 

He’s started making it up to him, but he has much to do in taking Gar’s concerns and emotional needs seriously.

I’m not even going to try and work out the timeline between Barbara and Dick and Dick and old Titans in San Fran and S1. But it doesn’t bode well that Dick’s dream with Barbara ended in a nightmare. 

I wish they’d never did the whole Dick and Dawn relationship in S2 because they’re basically repeating some of the beats in showing us how they don’t work as a couple, only his relationship with Babs makes a lot more sense even though I don't care. Dick has unfinished business with that relationship, Bruce and Gotham and I can only hope he’s wrapped it up for good by this season’s end. I want to see relaxed, smiling and happy Dick in THE PRESENT. I still Babs will be the one to notice and point out Dick's feelings for Kory.

Barbara (outside of Dick) is being downplayed a little, no? Dismissing Dick’s suspicions about Jason when he arrived, showing no knowledge of Jason’s visits to Crane and then taking the bait and moving Crane after he got a light beat down. A commissioner who was also a very capable vigilante is tricked by a recording and goes to meet “Bruce” on her own. I really enjoyed that she could hold her own and the fight scene was really good, but it was a bit baffling that she fell for that ruse. So far, she’s not entirely good at her job.

Dick’s a distraction in his own right and her feelings clearly get in the way, which is why she keeps asking him to leave the precinct and Gotham; because she’s pining a fantasy and he’s ruining it. Lastly, I really like the way Savannah plays Barbara.

Why’d they do that to Tim?? :(

Overall, it was a better episode and I enjoyed it more than latter episodes, but they’re not quite there yet for me. I’m  still waiting for Team Titans.