#chase is really funny and i hear he gets an actual character arc? king

[crystalninjaphoenix]

⟟ finally had Time to read the new Chapter! WEEE and ⟟ was so excited about it ^w^. ⟟ always say it bur still great chapter <3 Damn 18 Chapters Already that's sick ngl /pos. ⟟ love the new information we got and Chase being Facinated over make-up made me laugh xD.

idk if you could do it but maybe Like write ⏃  one-shot where Chase Trys out make-up but miserably Fails and the Others just laugh about it, you don't need to do it ofc! You're not forced or anything Just thought about it as ⏃ small funny idea.

Alright Back to the Fanfiction again. The new information we got is very useful for them and also for us Because now we and they know more about the king, ⟟ have ⏃ littel Feeling That maybe soon the king will Get Jair Back to him or have ⏃ small encounter With him in his mind or idk in the kingdom in like ⏃ very late time where Jair Just decided he needs some fresh air and goes for ⏃ walk at lets say 2am in the morning where the whole kingdom is asleep and you only hear the owls and birds. And I'm drifting of again oof okay now I'm really going back to the Main plot. Again the information we got is useful for them and us, Side note ⟟ like how Chase Character is Envolving? ⟟ hope ⟟ did write it correct. What ⟟ mean with that ⟟ like how Chase is Building up more Self courage to do things like break into ⏃ strangers Room, hanging around with Marvin, Jackie, schneep and all the others at the Dragonbone really gave him some Motivation That he dosen't needs to be afraid of things. Jairsolas Still needs ⏃ bit of time because he just got free out of King Anti's Grip but yet is still very much afraid of him. And Yeah :> ⟟ think that's all ⟟ wanted to say, ⟟ wanted to write something for Marvin also but ⟟ forgot what ^^" uhhh yee.

It wouldn't let me post this in the comments because my comment is to long TwT ⟟ hope ⟟ can ask this in the question box if not ⟟ guess ⟟ have to do this separately.

Hope you did drink and eat something today! Also hope you looked into the mirror and said "Damn I'm looking fabulous today" because you are fabulous ^^)>♡ sending positive vibes over to you and ⏃ magic Day/Night/Evening for you to have

With Greetings: Hunter Your Old Chap 😉

Ayyy Hunter, good to see you again. Glad you liked the last Fantasy Masks chapter! Sorry for not getting to your ask right away, I was offline.

Anyway, I love how you're imagining more based on the story, like Chase figuring out makeup and a possible future confrontation between JJ and the King. It's so cool to hear about people thinking about my work beyond the chapters itself ^-^ I will give no spoilers for the future, haha. Though I don't write one-shots as often as I used to, I will keep that idea filed away just in case I get the time to. And yeah, I'm trying to have Chase and all the other characters evolve over time—give them character arcs and stuff. I'm proud of Chase so far :) And JJ, too, though he still has a ways to go before he's fully free of the King and the King's effects on him.

I did eat and drink, I just had dinner actually! Thank you for calling me fabulous, too. Right back at you, and you have a good day/night/evening too :)

[gible-love-nibles-archive]

My family (me, my mom and dad, and one of my brothers) have decided to start the Carmen Sandiego reboot cartoon on Netflix on a whim

I have two favorites so far

[forevercloudnine]

new 52 scarebat ship meme

(I had @heroes-etc​ give me more questions, but for scarebat this time, since we talk about it 24/7 but I never post about it. These are from this ship meme.)

4. Their favorite physical feature on each other?

There’s only one feature of Bruce’s appearance that’s scarier when he’s not wearing the batsuit, and that’s his creepy blue eyes. Especially the way Greg Capullo draws them where they’re sickly pale and have ridiculously constricted pupils.

So his eyes would definitely be in the running for Jonathan’s favorite feature, even if seeing them would require Bruce’s mask to be off, which is something New 52 Scarecrow explicitly avoids. Yes, that character trait only exists to justify why Batman’s identity is still secret after Scarecrow mind controls and subsequently institutionalizes him in “Gothtopia,” but I think it’s interesting so I’m going to pretend it’s not shoe-horned in there for meta reasons.

Actually having to see Bruce without the cowl on would definitely permanently break the illusion of Batman as a nightmarish inhuman bat demon, which I’m sure is a large part of the appeal for anyone as obsessed with fear as Jonathan Crane. But Bruce’s creepy eyes would be a serious consolation prize. 

Bruce’s favorite of Jonathan’s physical features is rough, because Jonathan is famously not great re: physical features. I’m going to say his mouth, because a) that’s where the snark comes from, and b) the New 52 establishes that in one of their earlier encounters, Jonathan had sewn his own mouth shut, so it’s one of those things where a bad first impression turned positive later on leads to more fondness than if you’d made a good impression in the first place.

I just looked up the panel where he does it and I DID forget how incredibly gross his lips look here, which makes the fact that I have chosen it as Bruce’s feature seem really funny in retrospect. But I do think that seeing Jonathan’s mouth healed and unmutilated would be a reassuring reminder of how he’s stabilized since their first encounter, at least to the point that he isn’t hurting himself anymore. Also, Bruce buys him a lot of chapstick.

Bonus alternate answer that did not make it into the Google Doc:

9. How open are they with their feelings?

Bruce and Jonathan are both pretty competent deceivers in the New 52; Bruce always, Jonathan depending on how the writer is feeling (though you could argue that Bruce just has a stronger grip on reality, while Jonathan’s skill at obfuscation varies with how lucid he is).

...I was going to use Detective Comics #23.3 as an example of Jonathan being a good liar, but actually upon re-reading I’m realizing that only 1/4 rogues buy his attempt at manipulation. So maybe he’s considerably worse at hiding his intentions than he thinks he is. Regardless, he doesn’t ever attempt to disguise his obsession with Batman.

Whether or not he’d express romantic feelings or try to hide them is debatable. There’s no Masters of Fear equivalent in the New 52 establishing that he was ever mocked or punished for expressing romantic feelings for someone, though there is a flashback panel in his origin emphasizing that he was always lonely in this regard (and coincidentally doesn’t specify that his interest is in women, which is fun).

In Green Lanterns #17 he has some internal monologue about how fear is his romance and he needs Batman to feel it, but it is an INTERNAL monologue, so it’s not clear if this is something he would express to Bruce or keep to himself. Or if he’s even fully processed it himself, given how incredibly out of it he is in this comic. Most of his spoken lines are just kind of screaming incoherently. Bruce gets pretty snippy with a Green Lantern at the end of the issue for suggesting that Jonathan should be punished for his crimes as if he were in control of his actions. 

Bruce is a similarly complicated answer, since for all his deceptions and shadowy mystery he pretty much wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to romance. It’s just that his heart doesn’t express or process emotions the same way as anyone around him, which can create conflict. His (seriously underrated) love interest during Scarecrow’s origin arc, Natalya, spent most of her time dating him thinking that he didn’t care about her for this reason. He was trying to express that he loved her, but he mostly did so through complimenting her skills, which she never took as serious declarations of affection because he wasn’t being straightforward and she was insecure.

Jonathan does not himself seem like someone who would be especially secure in the idea of another person having romantic feelings towards him, so I assume that while Bruce might THINK he’s being open with any romantic feelings he develops, he would in reality just be really confusing.

13. How do they react to being away from each other?

I actually think that in general, Jonathan is one of the few people who would have no issue dealing with Bruce’s tendency to unexpectedly go AWOL for long periods of time, given that he himself has a tendency to fixate on his work to the exclusion of everything else.

But New 52 Jonathan specifically probably has pretty serious abandonment issues due to his father putting him in “the pit” and dying before he could take him out, meaning that Jonathan was waiting for his dad to come back for him for God knows how long, until Jonathan Sr.’s employers finally sent the police to investigate. 

So while in general I think he wouldn’t be very clingy, any impression that Bruce had died or otherwise wasn’t coming back for him would probably be incredibly triggering. If Bruce could assuage this reaction by occasionally sending updates that at least indicated he was still alive, then I doubt Jonathan would have any problems with his absence.

(@heroes-etc​: bruce sending like a checkmark emoji once a day. jonathan hears his phone ping, looks at the screen, and goes hm. good. and doesnt respond.)

Bruce meanwhile has no problem ditching literally any love interest at any time if something crime-related comes up, unless he’s considering quitting the cowl for them (as Joker probably accurately fears will happen with Catwoman in Prelude to the Wedding). But I don’t think he’d stop being Batman for Scarecrow, nor would Jonathan ever want him to — he’s interested in Batman, not necessarily Bruce Wayne.

But even though Bruce wouldn’t have an emotional problem with distance, I think he would get similarly paranoid if they went too long without contact, though for different reasons than Jonathan. Unlike some other villains (*cough* Joker and Riddler), Scarecrow has machinations that don’t require getting Batman’s attention, so if he decided to continue with his less legal experiments, he would not feel compelled to get Bruce involved. While the “World’s Greatest Detective” would probably not have an issue keeping an eye on Jonathan while he’s in Gotham, he’s considerably less capable of that in space. And Jonathan is definitely a rogue he would be obsessed with keeping an eye on, even if he reformed. 

Batman & Robin Eternal established that Dick’s first supervillain conflict AND first mission leaving the country was chasing Scarecrow across the world for an entire summer, which is kind of insane considering how early it was in Batman’s career. Like, he did not have an army of children to watch Gotham for him while he was gone. He had one child, and he took that child WITH him. He left Gotham undefended for months, JUST to catch Scarecrow. Sooo that in of itself implies he wouldn’t be great at keeping his distance.

15. Does their view of themselves differ from their partner’s view?

Well, Jonathan occasionally sees Bruce as a giant bat demon, so yes.

Outside of that very obvious differing view, Jonathan in general sees himself and the rest of the rogue gallery as more vital to Batman’s identity than Bruce considers them; the extent to which he’s right varies depending on your interpretation of Bruce’s character, but it’s definitely not something Bruce would ever consciously think or say. 

This is related to something that’s definitely a misconception of his, though, which is that the majority of Batman’s job revolves around supervillains like him. In Kings of Fear, when Jonathan blackmails Bruce into letting him come on patrol with him (which is a whole thing in of itself), he’s shocked at how boring most of Batman’s work is. Which probably goes along hand in hand with sometimes seeing Bruce as an almost mythologically inhuman figure. 

In his defense, it’s not like he has a lot of context for what the minutiae of Batman’s job is like. He’s either fighting Batman, hiding from Batman, or imprisoned by Batman in Arkham, a place where everyone else also spends all their time fighting or hiding from Batman. Which would really skew your perspective.

Interestingly, Bruce and Jonathan are both people who pride themselves on being extremely self-aware. Both of them probably inaccurately. You can rant about how you have a perfect understanding of your troubled mental state all day long, but if you’re still dressing up like a monster at night to indulge the power fantasies you created as a traumatized child by scaring the hell out of people, there’s probably a level of self-realization you haven’t gotten to yet.

Bruce however is at least self-aware enough to regularly be able to analyze his way out of fear toxin induced hallucinations, which Jonathan is unable to do — when he’s not depicted as having become immune to his fear toxin due to overexposure (as he is in Green Lanterns #17), he can be defeated with the same formulas that Batman regularly manages to resist (like his honestly embarrassing breakdown in Nightwing #50). 

Which ties into the difference between how he sees himself and how Bruce sees him: Jonathan obviously visualizes himself as a “master” of fear. He actually has the same internal monologue about fear and trauma that Bruce does in Batman: The Dark Knight #13: “Make it your own... run to what you fear... stare it in the eye... until it whimpers and backs down.” But Bruce doesn’t see Scarecrow as conquering his fear; he sees him as addicted to it, to the point of his own detriment.

Which is interesting, because Jonathan clearly sees his Scarecrow persona as a way to regain control after being victimized by his father’s fear experiments throughout his childhood. I guess Bruce’s perspective would be that Jonathan’s father instead got him addicted to fear as a child, so his attempts at agency as Scarecrow are just a) reliving his trauma over and over and b) compulsively inflicting his own trauma on others. There’s probably some truth to that, even if overall it’s probably an oversimplification (and coincidentally pretty much EXACTLY what Riddler argues Bruce is doing by “funding” Batman in Batman Annual #4, so there’s that).

20. Did either person change at all, to be with their partner?

The obvious answer here is yes, because Jonathan is a supervillain with no regard for human life while Bruce is a superhero who has dedicated his life to protecting people. So presumably one or both of them would have to make serious compromises to be together. HOWEVER. Scarecrow’s primary motivation is to research, understand and inflict fear, while Batman’s modus operandi is making his enemies afraid of him. So despite their contradiction in morals, they’re uniquely positioned to advance each other’s goals, were they to ever join forces.

Bruce never has a problem using fear toxin on Scarecrow, presumably partially out of an “eye for an eye” sense of poetic justice, but also because Batman is practical and it’s a nonlethal weapon that’s always available to him while fighting Scarecrow. If he could have fear toxin customized for his own use, it’s hard to imagine him being unwilling to use it. In Gothtopia he actually advocates for using what’s leftover from Crane’s new formula on all the inmates at Arkham, which seems about as insanely morally ambiguous as it gets. Arguably, putting fear toxin in his smoke bombs would be considerably less wrong than drugging mental patients out of their mind when they’re supposed to be receiving therapy (this is also the issue where he illegally releases Poison Ivy because she did him a favor, which is both morally questionable and relevant to the current topic).

Jonathan obviously already thinks Batman is the most interesting possible case study in fear; it’s why he keeps coming back to Bruce and Gotham despite being one of the more independent villains in Batman’s rogue gallery in the New 52. So though he would have to give up actively kidnapping people (which would be a huge sacrifice, I’m sure), teaming up with Bruce would give him unrestricted access to his favorite test subject. Unfortunately, it seems very possible that he would fall back to old tricks if he ever felt that he’d gotten everything he could out of a partnership with Bruce. Fortunately, that would probably take a VERY long time.

[mousehole5000]

wow i made this draft on november 1st i really took a break from this huh anyway tgcf chapters 121 - 142

i realize now this coffin scene was inevitable. feel kinda weird about hua cheng  back and forth from Teen to Big Man but it is very funny that theyre having their “dude dont look at my boner” moment while in the jaws of a water dragon

pei ming: why didnt you guys make a bigger coffin so you didnt have to squish together like that? xie lian: haha yep!! anyways what brings you here?

“In the grand, spacious centre of the entrance hall sat a person. And this person, dressed in all black, its face snow-white—was a corpse! Instantly Xie Lian shut the doors soundly.” - king of minding his own business.

okay this is where i stopped putting notes here for a while but i did save some in my e-reader so here’s some of the highlights

“Guzi used to have a good sleeping form, but perhaps with his cheap dad’s bad influence, now he was also spread out on top of Qi Rong’s stomach like a dead fish. Lang Ying himself was curled neatly in the corner, and was covered by a few shirts. Xie Lian lifted the blanket covering Qi Rong, suppressed the urge to smother his face, and covered the two small children.” - xie lian funny moments. also it would be really funny if qi rong redeems himself by learning love through these misfit chiildren and it might actually endear me to him but i hope that doesnt happen

Every heavenly official was yelling, and even Ling Wen was throwing a fit. “DON’T THROW EVERY BIT OF USELESS INFORMATION MY WAY, HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK I HAVE TO GO THROUGH EVERY DAY? DON’T YOU ALL KNOW TO USE YOUR BRAINS A LITTLE BEFORE ASKING ME?!” - ling wen marry me right now

“An expression like “seen a ghost” that only mortals experienced was now showing on his face for the first time. Shi Wudu’s pupils shrank to the smallest they could, and he blurted, “You’re still alive?!” “I’m dead!” He Xuan said coldly.” - okay everythings going tits up rn but i did laugh

i did see spoilers re: ming yi/he xuan reveal + shi wudu’s fate beforehand so i dont have a genuine reaction other than oh shit

“He slowly enunciated each word. “I won’t touch your fate. But, here in this place, chop off your brother’s head for me.”  CLANG! He threw a rusty blade onto the ground. Shi Qingxuan stared at that blade, his eyes wide. He Xuan continued, “Then, never show yourself before me again, and I will pretend you’ve never existed in this world.” - okay idk what else is going to happen but rn im concerned that this is like the 2nd biggest ship. i guess we’ll see?? i mean i am really curious whats going to happen to them. shi qingxuan keeps calling he xuan “ming-xiong” and i... sad

shi wudu im not really invested in you as a character but these next two bits... interesting

“If I don’t die but have nothing, then that’s truly a fate worse than death. If I’m not the Water God, I can’t take care of you. I won’t even be able to protect myself. I’m scared that we won’t even last two days…TAKE IT!” - damn. something about the wealthy losing everything and not knowing how to live without it bc thats their entire life and identity

“EVERYTHING I HAVE TODAY, I FOUGHT FOR MYSELF. I WILL FIGHT FOR WHAT I DON’T HAVE. I WILL CHANGE FATE I DON’T POSSESS. MY FATE IS UP TO ME AND NOT THE HEAVENS!” - okay so the whole committing spiritual fraud by tormenting a man and his family to get your brother a cushy title thing aside this was kind of badass. heretical? possibly. but still. also is he intentionally riling up he xuan so sqx doesnt have to kill him? if so damn...

also okay as long as im here im just gonna say it. the choice that he xuan gives shi qingxuan is fucking brutal but i actually think its probably as fair as it could be. sqx didnt know about or participate in what happened to hx but they did benefit from it greatly while hx lost EVERYTHING and i can understand he xuan’s thinking of “if you really feel bad for what happened to me then you have to make a sacrifice and understand the suffering and this is as clean as its going to get” and theres a bit where sqx is trying to beg for mercy but cant get the words out which im guessing is bc theres no good argument!! what happened was fucked up!!

“When Pei Ming saw that reinforcements had arrived, he didn’t appear particularly delighted; instead he threw the sword into the ground, then rubbed his nose and said, sounding grim, “You all just had to come just as I finished making these, what the heck.” - pei ming making coffins chopping down trees with his sword i love it #wastehistime2k17

“Xie Lian brought that basket of eggs along, and gave them away as souvenirs from the mortal realm. Many who received the eggs were overjoyed; some deciding to eat it along with their own blood, and some proclaiming they would hatch an eight-foot monster.” - GHOST CITY GHOST CITY

“Placing the brush down, he blew lightly at the ink and smiled. “If I like something, then my heart will not have room for any other, and I’ll always treasure it. A thousand times, a million times, no matter how many years, this will not change. This poem is the same." - thats nice and all but king... get therapy. i actually have further thoughts but tbh i dont want to put them into words bc they are simply too personal! moving on

didnt take any notes but somewhere in here was the bit with mount tong’lu opening and hua cheng losing it and kind of um. hm. that scene. thats another trope i really hate tbh i dont care for it as a way of including physical intimacy between characters and idk if it really ever adds anything but whatever moving on

The Half-Maquillage Woman - kind of interesting monster idea bc women and aging…. yeah. however i think this would be a lot stronger if there were a) more girls and this was b) discussed or illustrated at all prior to this moment. still interesting that its included knowing the author is a woman tho and there’s been comments on how ling wen is perceived vs pei ming. this book does keep giving me hope for interesting female character arcs i really want it to deliver something

quan yizhen..... i get u

lmao i have a note on a bit with lang ying that says “please dont be hc in disguise” and..... my clown nose was on but at least i knew that. for real this is bothering me how much he’s just. always. there. i know he’s a lead but we didn’t really need him around for a lot of this. oh well.  okay now to my current notes

“Yet it was precisely because it wasn’t cooked that it had to be eaten quickly. Once Xie Lian cooked it, it wouldn’t be edible anymore” - fucking fantastic

“Xie Lian hugged his belly. “Of course! Only after having met you did I rediscover that it’s such a simple thing to be happy, hahaha…” Hearing this, Hua Cheng blinked. Xie Lian’s laughter quieted a bit, realizing what he just said was a little too revealing.” - okay i know i said what i said about being tired of hua cheng being everywhere but... the line…. the fact that theyre laughing together…. :pleading:

“It’s not,” Ling Wen said. “At least, I believe, there will definitely not be another in history who can create a dish called ‘Incorruptible Chastity Meatballs’” - and truer words were never spoken

“I, DO NOT WORSHIP GODS. “I, AM GOD!” - this was every bit as badass as i hoped but no one told me it was immediately followed up by a little bit of the ol dinner theater fjalkdsfjsd. also puqi shrine noooooooooo

“Xie Lian sighed as he thought, “Qi Rong has taken Guzi away, who knows if the poor child was eaten or abandoned. Wind Master...... ..... who knows if Black Water took him away. Pray they’re both safe.” yeah hey are we going to fucknig. find out what happened to the child???

and yeah i dooooont really care for the age regression? thing thats going on. i just dont like that trope tbh. but tiny hua cheng whipping out his fat ghost king wallet in the store was funny tho. it is really funny that hualian are just like wandering around some random towns while the heavens are in an uproar. i guess theres not much else to do but its funny

“Me too, me too. You all know of my shixiong, right? Talented, with an infinite future! He only had one small vice: he loved playing women. Decades ago, a little prostitute ghost seduced my shixiong and sucked him dry into human jerky, and that Hua, Hua, Hua, that ghost king dared shelter her.” - yes omg give me the forbidden hua cheng lore i love this for him for real it goes along nicely with xie lian’s principles about giving another cup. god i love shared values

“Hua Cheng poked again, and a small hole appeared on the wall, as if the wall was made of tofu.” - how’d he do that. why is this a ghost king power. its useful tho

*me shaking qi rong when he pops up* WHERE IS THE CHILD

mu qing fu yao is here okay im happy now. once again no one has a good grasp on their secret identity and i love that. this inn has descended into chaos and im delighted and im glad lan chang is back

“The good ol’ kitchen was suddenly squished and crowded, loud and noisy. Fu Yao was chasing that fetus spirit leaping up and down, Lan Chang was chasing after Fu Yao like she had gone mad. Half of Qi Rong’s face changed shape by the way Xie Lian was pressing him down on the chopping board, his back turning into a target for those yellow talismans Fu Yao hurled while being observed by a crowd, and Lan Chang would step on him from time to time.” - this is pure chaos. i love that mu qing was in that room when the mob checked and he didnt say a word didnt open the door just sent out a talisman as a warning. king your disguise is transparent

“Xie Lian remembered the way Feng Xin laughed until he was hoarse when he first heard that verbal password all those years back, and couldn’t help but feel nostalgic, even though it wasn’t the right time.” - awwwww omg im emotional about this... faithful friend feng xin laughing at xie lian’s stupid joke password and remembering it!!! ;_;

“They have, but they’re not effective,” Feng Xin said. “Usually they’re the most diligent in scorning the Palace of Ling Wen, like they could do the job way better if they had the position. Now that we need them to take up the task, not a single one can do even half of what she does.” - typical... typical typical typical

also emotional about the fact that feng xin contacted xie lian at all.....

also!! emotional about lan chang as a mom and wanting to help out sick lil guzi.....

xie lian forcing “fu yao” to let him help “his general” is making me.... what is friendship if not playing along with your buddies little shenanigans while also making them accept your help

“Someone like Mu Qing, even though he’s narrow-minded, petty, sensitive and skeptical, has a bad personality, constantly guessing, doesn’t say nice things, likes to nag, always offending people and has a lot of people who dislike him, has no friends, can remember small, unimportant details for a long period of time…” ”Xie Lian went on in one breath with a straight face, but in the end he concluded with, “...But I’ve known him since we were kids, after all, he’s still got principles.” - XIE LIAN PLEASE AFJDLKSFJDL omg ive seen this quote before but i figured he was talking to someone else not actually to mu qing himself fgjasdkfjsl. god thats amazing. hey im gonna help you out because i care but i will roast you first <3

waaaaaait so is lan chang aka jian lan that girl from book 2 we took a page to talk about and then disappeared? that has to be it why else would we have stopped to discuss her

“Jian Lan spat on his face, then choking his neck, she slapped him twice again. “WHAT SHITTY SUPREME! YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO BLOW YOURSELF UP! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, THINK YOU’RE EVEN WORTH TO BE THOUGHT OF AS EQUALS WITH THE OTHER THREE SUPREMES? WHAT ARE YOU EVEN GOOD AT? YOUR THICK SKIN? OF COURSE I DARE HIT YOU!” - oh this feels so good i cant lie. YES GET HIM!! CHOMPING AND VIOLENCE YES!!!!

okay this description of cuocuo.... im... that sure the hell is a creature

this book is so entertaining bc i already saw spoilers for the feng xin/jian lan/cuo cuo reveal and yet i could never have predicted the circumstances that brought it about. imagine being feng xin. the heavens are in an uproar and your only friend/enemy has been jailed for possible fetus spirit-related crimes but he escapes along with this female ghost who keeps causing problems. you figure “fuck it lets see if dianxia kept his old phone number” and he has but then he hangs up on you. you’ve got fuckall else to do so you go find him. mu qing is there but he’s in his disguise the two of you were using so you could watch over his highness while staying aloof. you think you see hua cheng only he’s a chiild for some goddamn reason but who knows at this point. the female ghost is also there and theres a fetus spirit climbing trees and biting your arrows in half. you realize the female ghost is your ex and the little demon is your son. it bites you. what do you do

amazing that despite everything going on everyone is still playing along with the “fu yao” persona when it would probably be easier to drop pretenses at this point. then again tbh if i could explain my actions to my friends while pretending to be a third party.... i probably would so.. carry on

“With all his devotees gone, only Feng Xin still treated him like the Flower-Crowned Martial God and His Highness the Crown Prince. ” “...his protection charms were all seen as trash. However, Feng Xin was still determined and tireless in handing them out; telling Xie Lian, look, you still have devotees.” “After all, he was the darling of the heavens since birth, high and mighty. Feng Xin so naturally spun around him like he was the world, so how could he possibly have his own life, his own heart” “Whether or not that fetus spirit was Feng Xin’s son, if it was that period of poverty that made Feng Xin lose the girl he loved, Xie Lian wouldn’t be able to forgive himself no matter what." ohhhh my god this relationship i. im...

oh my god i still have 30 more chapters until book 4............ its naptime now i think

[mysterious-prophetess]

Movie Double feature

Today I saw TWO Movies somewhat back-to-back.

Bumblebee AND Aquaman.

One I’d been anticipating and one I was slightly skeptical about.

So I’m going to do my little post movie write up AS a double feature as well.

So first the overall experiences I had with both and then below a read more, I will get into spoiler territory.

Bumblebee

I will admit I had the bar set low because it’s a Transformer’s movie. Though, I was slightly hopeful because Bee was a bug like he was in the cartoon. And also, Bee is my favorite transformer’s character.

I was right to be hopeful. This movie was thoroughly enjoyable. Not once did I glance at my cellphone. Ok I did but that wasn’t because I was bored. 

The pacing could be very quick at times but the human protagonist was actually someone I could give a full damn about. The plot wrapped up nicely and if Michael Bay really wanted, he could reboot the whole franchise and it would work. Easily the best of the....how many are there at this point? Let’s see.....(one google search later) Six. Best of the Six Transformers movies out. Personally, I think Michael bay should just reboot the series.

Aquaman

I didn’t have the bar super high here either but I was hoping for it to be good because of several reasons.

1) I am a HUGE DC fangirl. That’s right I’ll admit it, I prefer DC to Marvel. So, I’d prefer it when DC movies are good.

2) Representation matters. 

3) The way they set up Aquaman in Justice League (especially with the Motherbox thing and Mera) intrigued me.

So, how was it? Well, I will say it was not as good as Wonder Woman. However, it was better than all the other current batch DC movies, though. By which I mean the ones that are already out. Which is something it does pain me to admit since I am (at heart) a hardcore Superman fangirl. So, for me current DC movie rankings in quality (in my personal opinion):

Wonder Woman

Aquaman

Justice League

Man of Steel

Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (extended cut)

Suicide Squad

The tone flipped back and forth with light and more serious moments here and there. The pacing could be choppy in a few segments and Snyder is back at it again with his choices for editing scenes together. More on that in the spoiler section. But it was also fun and Arthur’s 1000000% done with it was something I could relate to. Yes, it is the standard trope-y King Arthur tale (yeah, pun intended and DC did that too) of good true king versus Bad False King, but it also wasn’t totally stale. The art direction is what really made this movie for me. I loved LOVED how the underwater civilizations looked.

Now time for the spoiler section.

You have been warned. Don’t read if you’ve not seen either.

Bumblebee

Like I said above, I did not enter this film with high expectations of it. I mean, I don’t hate the other Transformers movies. I’ll just admit up front that if I could cut out the human bits from most of the other five films and just have nothing but giant robot fights, I’d be more than good with that. Especially Dark of the Moon. Just give me the giant robot bits and omit the rest please.

Charlie is actually relatable. Especially to me because I’ve had the sucky as fuck job at an amusement park. I won’t say where or when but trust me: working at a theme park is not fun at all. She also has something of an arc in this film that isn’t “get the girl” or whatever Mark Whalberg’s character’s arc was supposed to be in Last Knight (I didn’t see age of extinction but it seemed his arc there was around fatherhood or something). Charlie is also (as a character) charming enough to help carry the film with Bee. 

I won’t say the Charlie parts were always 100% good, but definitely good more often than not.

The male human lead (Memo?)...he was just Sam Witwicky 1980′s edition and a little less pathetic. 

Bumblebee was adorable in this. I get it was the amnesia but before he lost his voice, it was nice to hear him actually talk and the fact they cast a guy with a young-ish sounding voice was something I really liked since in the cartoon I’m more than fairly certain Bee was a kid or the youngest member of the Autobots. After the amnesia, it also sort of was childlike in his behaviors. 

I even liked the Decepticons. They were barely playing nice. 

I like that the human military was trying to play them right back.

Best line in the movie was when the John Cena character Agent Burns says something like,

“Should we even trust them, It’s right in their name “Decepticons”“ 

That was actually a clever thing to have in the film. 

Something else I liked was the fact that Optimus Prime, Soundwave, and Ravage were all really close to their cartoon designs, and it looked so much nicer to me.

Bee as a Camaro origin story. It was a nice touch. This skews the canon of the films a little but since it’s in my personal opinion they should just reboot it here and run with this new universe, any continuity issues aren’t that big to me.

Were there times the move just went from 0-CRAZY. Yeah. 

Charlie’s family: Borderline abusive at times, and borderline too...much. They weren’t as over the top as the Witwicky’s but that’s not saying much.

The internet already existed in the 80′s for the military as either DARPA or ARPA Net, so that little revelation was stupid.

The bullies who harrass Charlie at that party spot. I’ve never met someone that callus IRL and there is no way the bitchy chick making fun of the fact Charlie’s dad dropped dead wouldn’t have had at least someone aside from Memo and Bee going “Not Cool”

Speaking of that, the whole delinquent thing that they did to rich girl’s house? Funny but not 100% plot relevant. There were other ways to end up with Charlie, Bee, and Memo in a car chase. 

E.G. Bee’s trying to cheer Charlie up by going fast or something.

The nod to the other films with Simmons was nice. 

A solidly enjoyable film. I do actually recommend it.

Aquaman

Now onto a bigger spiel.

Again, due to DC’s track record for film quality with the current movie universe (and beyond) I did not want to have my hopes up, but I already mentioned why I wanted it to do well above.

The tonal shifts from serious to light to serious again could be (to borrow what my dad said) corny. I like corny, personally, but I get that tonal shifts like this can give others whiplash. Fortunately, they didn’t do this all the time.

What Snyder had them do enough times, however, was editing in flashbacks in the main flow of the story with little warning a la Man of Steel and I didn’t like it then, I don’t like it now.

Sometimes the dialogue could be a bit on the nose and clunky but I did like Arthur’s arc in this film. It was slightly incomplete because part of his arc started in Justice League which was learning how to play nice with other people to do something. Then there was the whole reluctant leader thing. It was done well enough, but having seen it done much better in the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy, I know that attempting this sort of character arc in one film was asking for it to be a little less refined. Which is the result. Yet, despite it relying on a very Arthurian trope of Chosen King with Magic Weapon, it did it well enough that it wasn’t a totally stale thing. The fact he had the magic-trident of King Atlan was something he was actively working to earn throughout the movie. It did actually feel like he had gone through enough of a growth in the film (and part of Justice League) to merit him earning this achievement of his. 

The film did drag a little in places but only twice did I just want them to get on with it already.

Black Manta Ray’s origin was interesting in this universe. Arthur did quasi-create this enemy. 

On the other hand, I can’t fully feel sympathy for a murderous pirate dying because he tried to kill Arthur and Arthur decided that the man who tried to blow him up wasn’t someone he wanted to save. But that’s because I’m a vindictive bitch.

Arthur, later, realizes that he should have done the right thing all along but too late now. He also realizes the value of mercy because of this so...

Mera’s powers are never fully explained, but I find myself mostly ok with that because I just started calling her a waterbender in my head. 

Arhtur and Mera’s relationship evolved semi-organically. They did have chemistry for the most part, but it was almost too cliche at times yet it was fine because it’s the action movie romance cliches that aren’t 100 horrible but it was even at times a little sweet.

So, let’s go over, in detail what I loved about the art direction

Yes, it does look very similar to other underwater cities that I’ve seen in the past in other media, but they also incorporated enough new and nature inspired parts to it that I loved looking at each underwater civilization. The ruins, the tech, the fact things glowed the way they did. That pirate ship air pocket was also a really interesting thing though I kept wondering where Ariel was

I even got that the reason there was water in the Atlantean vehicles was Atlanteans don’t need to worry about things being airtight because they breathe under water. 

Later when it was explained that only a handful of Atlanteans can even breath in the atmosphere it made even more sense.

When Volko was training Arthur in his Atlantean skills and stuff started to glow once he went deeper in the water I actually nodded because there is scientific evidence that every living thing does give off small amounts of bioluminesce. Even we humans do, but it’s so faint we can’t perceive it.

I personally think the Atlanteans should have glowed a little too. 

The different species of Atlantean were very neat. Especially the “feral” ones. Reminded me of someone crossing a Zora with that creature from Pan’s Labyrinth or that thing from Hellboy 2 that Liz made a deal with to save Hellboy.

Onto other things:

The Karathen. I did not expect her to live up to the hype the movie was building her up to be. I was also pleasantly surprised that it was a “she” during the scene where she is trash-talking Arthur without knowing that he can understand her. Then, later, I found out she is voiced by Julie Andrews.

Also, because the Karathen did make such a huge impact in that final fight two things entered my head.

“RELEASE THE KRAKEN” and 

Orm: “I have an army!”

Arthur: “I have a sea monster.”

The Atlantis thrown down was noticed but that got me thinking: Where was the rest of the JL during this. Were they just doing damage control or something after Orm’s little oceanic temper tantrum?

The mid-credits stinger with Mantaray. I knew he wasn’t done because Manta Ray is a major Aquaman villain. I just didn’t think the Atlantis obsessed prof would end up finding him.

I don’t fully get why Nereus would want a war with the surface with Orm in charge, unless he would just strike Orm down later and take his power. 

I didn’t get why the fishpeople didn’t just RUN AWAY whenever Arthur showed up with the Karathen AND wielding the Trident of Atlan. All Fish-People Princess would have had to do was say “my people RUN FROM THE MONSTER” And Orm’s armies (and Orm himself) would be so busy fighting a literal sea monster from their worst nightmares that no one could or would have stopped them.

In fact, I am confused as to why there wasn’t mass panic once the Karathen showed up and she started wrecking all the military vehicles. -\( `-`)/-

Arthur’s ability to speak to the aquatic animals was actually built up to be a major ability. 

Aquaman’s been made fun of in the past for this, but considering he was able to talk to the Karathen, and control a bunch of apex sea predators (turning them on their masters) it isn’t something to be fully laughed off. Outside the ocean, sure it doesn’t really make a huge difference but that’s where making the Atlanteans tougher than land humans comes in. That too makes actual sense with the reasons as to why this was.

Atlanna’s survival wasn’t really too much of a shock for me. I was half-expecting the Trench-peoples to not be totally savage and actually just have a bad rep. 

The Hidden Sea at the Earth’s core bit got an eyebrow quirk. I was half expecting it to be the Caspian Sea....

I would still very much recommend Aquaman.

[hoopyfrood]

so my review for disenchanted is... it's fun. it doesn't go anywhere amazing, but there's some fun jokes and some fun characters. its an enjoyable watch with some characters that keep you watching, though i kept wanting them to wring more out of each episode, there is so much potential for a lot of the side characters.

as for characters, most characters aren't really fleshed out, so i didn't feel much connection to most of them, i only really care about luci tbh and bunty is sweet. i'm interested to see what happens with queen oona but seeing as most of her appearances have been small jokes or short appearances, idk, i'm not holding out for much development for her.

bean is good, in theory, though there's not much to her. they have a stereotype of what a non feminine woman is and keep falling back on it, falling back on her being drunk or high somewhere. we don't learn about her childhood, her education, her hobbies, her aspirations. her storylines revolve around her dad or elfo, mostly, under the guise of being about her journey.

some side characters become more interesting, like the kings advisor, odval, although i wish the secret society had been more than just a quick joke. others remain flat and uninteresting, clearly plot devices, not even offering jokes that are that good. i liked getting to learn more about bunty, and the king has some funny moments, but a lot of characters are forgettable. luci is a great break from the repetition or obvious storylines, he's unpredictable and chaotic and kept me watching. he's two steps away from being a fourth wall breaking character, narrating the events in his own way. love eric andres dry tone, luci is a great character i'd love to learn more about.

the pacing of the episodes is a bit random, there's no real connection between most of them and they don't always flow well, sometimes it felt like people's opinions and decisions changed randomly just to keep the plot going. the last episode repeated the same scene several times. the reccuring plot involving luci didn't really grip me and didn't go anywhere really, and has now been overshadowed by the plot of the last episode. i am interested to see where that goes, but i do wonder if the people who sent luci will get a moment to shine and be relevant again.

people keep comparing it to futurama, to the simpsons, but i don't think that gets us anywhere. it's made in a different era, set in a different era, made in different circumstances than for tv viewing. the voice acting is great, it's fun hearing familiar voices, and luci is reminiscent of benders carelessness (also reminds me of paul from the film paul which is a fave of mine), but it's a very different story. there are some weird vague mentions to things like feminism and gender spectrums but they fall flat, i felt unsure if they were being played as a joke or a reference and what the point of them was. there's also that random mention to cultural appropriation, speaking of which, the only two characters of colour are side characters, one completely just a plot device, with ambiguous race and not much depth. seriously guys? you put in elves and gnomes and lizard people but racial diversity was just too hard? put down the d&d handbooks and start being creative.

okay, i'll mention elfo, but briefly. he's annoying. i'm saying it, everyone else seems to be saying it, but what the fuck. it's not his obliviousness and naivety that's annoying, that could've been used well, but it's his crush on bean. i'm not invested, i don't care, it's not interesting. i really don't feel bad for this lil guy fancying a woman out of his league. they tried to give us a different female hero but still went with the 'poor nice guy who she ignores' trope? she deserves what leela and lisa didn't get with the guys chasing after them: the freedom to say no and have it stop. it added nothing to the plot, it became his whole character arc instead of learning to be bad and explore a new place. i'm glad nobody else seems to like him or the idea of him and bean ending up together. seriously, it's so overused, esp in groenings works. i just didn't have the patience to care about him any more as soon as i saw where it was going. bean escaped his advances, but barely, and suddenly she really cared about him despite being ambivalent earlier. the time progression didn't seem real enough to amount to that much character development, the time passage wasn't even clear, it just felt like ten episodes and suddenly luci and bean really cared about elfo all of a sudden. can't relate.

ok, elfo out of the way, what did i enjoy? the scenery, the banging theme song, the good one liners, every character john dimaggio voiced, that one time luci got captured that was quite fun to watch, the whole talking cat thing, uhh, some other stuff. seriously, you can enjoy watching it and not feel too bored, it's just the repetitive tropes that get a bit dull. i kept watching for the potential, a lot of the time. hoping for things to go farther than they did. the earlier eps are fun, the later ones i felt had odd pace and sudden character development/change and a lot of repeated content.

in the second series i want a lot more from these characters. they tried to fit in like three plot twists when most people would have preferred more character exploration, more believable development between bean, elfo and luci as friends. a lot of the episodes were bean and friends get drunk, fuck stuff up, go back to see the king. i don't want more of that in s2. i expected more depth to the plot seeing as multiple writers were involved in gravity falls, but it's ok if it's just fun too, but decide which you're going for because atm i'm not sure how seriously to take the twists or not.

i'd love to see more of hell, learn more about luci. i loved the mention of him having a 9 to 5 job in hell, there's so much that could be explored there, and robot hell was a blast in futurama. seriously, bring back dan as the dancing devil, that'd be fun. i'd have rathered luci having odd jobs from the devil than having two random people apparently controlling him but doing absolutely nothing at the same time. in s2, recycle the tired tropes into something new. throw out the 'old hooker' trope and put in more three dimensional women. get rid of the 'strong female character' idea you have in your heads and actually write a real female character. please, god, get more female writers, i can tell when a woman is written by a man and it's boring. i feel they need to let shion takeuchi have more involvement because i bet she'd do a better job with a lot of these elements but alas she's literally one of only three women on the team with any major involvement, and it shows. it's a show centred around a female character yet it's mostly all decided by men. it's 8 men to 3 women as far as i can tell. and only one person of colour, afaik. it really shows. i'm not surprised, but more people should be pissed off about this. ridiculous.

don't do anything with elfo he's fine where he is just leave him there. bring back tess the giant i want to know more about her. please let oona and odval have a friendship where they bitch about the king and have medieval scrabble nights or something. let literally any women interact with each other without hating each other or talking about men. give bean a girlfriend. don't give pendergast any more screen time people are obsessing over him for some reason and he doesn't deserve that. let the queens be friends or something. let them date. too many women hate each other in tv i'm tired. ramp up the goddamn puns i know u have more stored somewhere and the scenes of shop names etc are fun. have bean learn to drive a horse and cart or get a job she's good at or learn a new skill or make a female friend or something more than having her get drunk and fight her way out of a situation with no real consequences. ok i'm done.

[charliejrogers]

Paddington (2014)

Sometimes you watch a movie and want to be challenged. You want your head to explode. You want to get lost in a world of plot twists and double-crosses. Other times you don’t. TV more often than movies fills the role of comfort food for people looking for passive media, but let’s all take a moment to recognize the power of a good comfort movie. Sometimes your comfort movie is that dumb rom-com you’ve seen 1000 times, other times a mindless action movie of good vs. evil. Many comic book movies certainly can fall into this camp, but really any series like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings can become comfort food whenever those fans begin to think of the characters more like old friends than avatars on a screen. And never is that more true than when a childhood friends makes their way onto the big screen.

I don’t believe I have ever read (or has someone read to me) a Paddington book. In fact, after writing that sentence I had to Google whether Paddington was a series or a single book. I’m not from the U.K. so please excuse my ignorance. It’s not that people in America don’t know Paddington he’s just not as popular here as he is across the pond. Therefore when this hit theater six years ago and I heard critics rave about it, I didn’t get it. Christ, it was even nominated for the best British film at the BAFTAs in 2015. There was Paddington, a family movie about a walking, talking bear, right next a serious drama about Stephen Hawking (The Theory of Everything) and the very adult ScarJo sci-fi film Under the Skin. Plus, think also I was at an age where I was “too cool” for kid’s stuff. I was in college, so why watch a movie that could make you happy when you could watch something that could project to others how smart you thought you were. All of this is to say that, I went into this movie without the advantage of nostalgia, something I suspected might have been boosting audiences’ and critics’ scores.

Paddington from director Paul King tells the story of one unnamed Peruvian bear who is among the last of his kind. What makes this particular species of bear so special is their uniquely high intelligence. The film starts with a black-and-white film reel documenting the journeys of the explorer who was the first among men to stumble upon this particular subset of bear, sometimes back in the early 1900s. The explorer first instinct is to hunt and kill the bear to bring back to a British museum, but he is eventually won over by the sheer intelligence of the bears. They are already master builders and have developed unique, modern-looking housing structures when the explorer first finds them, but quickly he discovers they can understand English,  can even reproduce it to some extent, and are adept at new technologies. The explorer leaves them with a phonograph and a record of him talking about how to be a proper gentleperson in London.

Fast forward some hundred years, and the original two bears the explorer essentially perfected their understanding of English based off the explorer’s record. They also know quite a bit about early 20th-century etiquette and about a hundred different ways to tell fellow Londoners that it is raining outside. And though now aged and frail, they have passed much of this knowledge onto their young nephew whose character can be summed up by the following four traits: 1) undying love for his aunt and uncle who raise him 2) utmost and strict adherence to etiquette 3) deep desire to belong to a home 4) obsession with marmelaide.

All four of those things turn out to be of vital importance when disaster strikes his home in Peru and he is forced by his aunt to seek a new home in the only other place they know: London! With only his uncle’s hat and a marmelaide sandwich on his head, the bear stows away on a freighter to London. He heads to the nearest train station as he has heard stories about how during WWI, orphaned children would show up to train stations wearing certain necklaces to signify their need for a home. The bear does just that, but the world of 1914 is very much different from the world of 2014. People don’t so much as look at the bear. If they do, they assume he’s a poor beggar, vendor of cheap goods, or just a plain con-artist. They’re too busy rushing this way and that. “In the age of technology, Britain has lost its way” the film seems to suggest. Or, more cynically, it seems to make a comment (albeit) on xenophobia and Britain’s lack of openness to immigrants, especially prominent given the distinctly colonial feel of the explorer’s documentary and his attitudes towards these “primitive” creatures.

Except, of course, this is a light-hearted family film. A fantasy film at that. For example, no one is freaked the fuck out like they would in real life by a talking bear roaming around a major metropolitan area, in some cases doing serios damage (albeit accidentally) to various property throughout town. E.T. this is not, so there’s no plotline of the government trying to snatch him up for research purposes, nor does this apparently talk place in our reality where the bear would become an instant viral internet star.

Instead, as a family film, the movie mostly focuses on the idea of “family.” The bear is eventually approached by Mary Brown (Sally Hawkins), the matriarch of the Brown family who are a well-off family who live in a cozy townhouse in a quaint London neighborhood. Mary is more empathetic to the bear’s plight than her ill-tempered husband Henry (Hugh Bonneville) who is a risk analyst who sees the bear for what he is: a risk! Still, he begrudgingly agrees to let the bear, who names himself Paddington, stay with them for one night, but then he’s off to the orphanage  institution for young souls whose parents have sadly passed on.

Mr. Brown’s not wrong about Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) too. Despite his undeniably genuine nature and complete absence of my ill-will, he’s a natural klutz. His childlike innocence and curiosity finds him tinkering with things that just ought not to be tinkered leading to a movie defined by its many great misadventurous set pieces, such as when Paddington accidentally floods the Brown’s bathroom to when a pickpocket accidentally drops a wallet that he stole and Paddington begins chasing him around London in grand fashion, not understanding why the thief doesn’t want his wallet back.

More than anything, though, Mr. Brown’s hostility towards Paddington stems more from his concern for his children, specifically that his son Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) will end up being hurt either as a direct result of Paddington’s activities or will simply try more daring things inspired by Paddington’s free-wheeling and wild spirit.

What I love about the character of Mr. Brown, who truly seems to be the secondary character after the titular bear, is the way he is a true character and not a one-dimensional rule-follower. The way the film (comically) demonstrates that Henry Brown was not always Mr. Brown, but was a motorcycle-riding Wildman who was suddenly and permanently changed by fatherhood makes him an incredibly relatable character, and grounds this silly cartoon in something of a reality.

Less can be said about Mary Brown. Sally Hawkins does a wonderful job portraying her seemingly boundless kindness and love, but ultimately there’s not more to her character than just being nice and kind. Her only story arc revolves her relationship with the Browns’ daughter Judy (Madeleine Harris) who is a stereotypically moody teen who doesn’t want to introduce her boyfriend to her Mom because, as Paddington puts it, “she suffers from a terrible disease called embarrassment.”

But no one’s watching this movie to watch the Browns or learn about their characters. It’s nice that Mr.’s character is so well-established as it makes his little sacrifices and gestures to try to help Paddington so satisfying. One second he was pushing to get Paddington out of his home, the next he’s in a dress breaking into an archives to learn more about the explorer who originally visited Paddington’s aunt and uncle one hundred years prior.

This little detour to the archives relates to one of the two other sub-plots to the film. The first is how Paddington’s quest to find a new home (since Mr. Brown refuses to let him stay with his family forever) leads him to want to find the explorer (or at least the explorer’s family) since he figures they of all people would love to take in as family a bear whom their father had so loved. The second subplot (and the more hackneyed and boring plot) deals with Nicole Kidman’s Millicent, a deranged, taxidermist employee of London’s Natural History who has a nasty side hobby and collecting (and stuffing) rare animals. She hears rumors of a talking bear, she starts to hunt him. Kidman actually does a very good job leading a cartoonish seriousness to the role, but just the whole subplot feels very perfunctory, like the studio was afraid no one would want to watch a movie that didn’t have a clear bad guy. Add in a sub-plot to this sub-plot where the Browns’ sad-sack neighbor Mr. Curry (Peter Capaldi) teams up with Millicent in the hopes of being her lover, and you got my least favorite part of this movie.

Taking away the villain plot would deny the Browns the opportunity to rescue their little friend from the jaws of danger, and prevent me from seeing that tear-jerking display of love with which the film ends, so I suppose it’s worth it. With snow falling around them and love in the air, Paddington with its focus on the importance of family, is almost a Christmas movie, or at the least is a perfect movie for the holiday season.

It’s also funny for all ages. I can imagine sitting in a theater with children and hearing the little cackles of children as Paddington fights a shower head using a toilet seat lid as shield and toilet brush as sword. The film does not go for easy jokes. Its physical comedy is often elaborate, and there are plenty of jokes meant for the adults in the room that aren’t necessarily sexual in nature. For example, the Browns’ daughter is learning Chinese “for business,” which means she’s learning phrases such as “How do I get to the business center?” and “I’m being investigated for tax fraud.” But more than anything, it’s a distinctly British film in its humor, favoring throw-away lines and sight-gags over fart jokes. One of my favorites in the idea that Millicent’s office is full of taxidermied heads of exotic animals, and when she walks into her workshop on the other side of the wall, we see all the rear-ends of these same animals. Another pitch perfect moment is when a downtrodden Paddington finds himself at Buckingham Palace and having revealed the sandwich he keeps under his hat for emergencies, we find out what things the Queen’s Guard keeps under their Bearskins. It’s silly and ridiculous in a way perfect for a kid’s film.

I also love how the film gives us a view of the world through Paddington’s eyes, and I give much credit to the film’s director Paul King for translating for us through film Paddington’s essential innocence. Twice, once towards the beginning, and once at the end, the film presents us with a toy-house that is an exact replica of the Brown’s home and we can actually see the Browns walking about and interacting in this odd meta-moment as Paddington narrates their goings on and provides his interpretation of what is happening. It lends an air of frivolity to our lives. Yes, the world is sad an hard, but for those innocents, the children, it’s a world of wonder and curiosity, a dollhouse in which anything is possible.

In the end, this movie is damn near perfect comfort food. It’s family focus creates a heart-warming tale that helps tries to inspire us that, despite our splintered isolated world, the world can be a place of love and welcoming. I wish the villain weren’t such a drag, but I am happy to report that despite not having any contact with Mr. Paddington in my life previously, I fell in love with his character almost instantly and am very happy to count him among my cinematic friends and follow him on any of his next adventures.

*** 1/4 (Three and one fourth stars out of four)

[darkzorua100]

So after the long wait, Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains is finally here and with that, the return of my...whatever the heck I do with this blog. Impressions? I guess that’s the best word I can use for this.

So with the start of Vrains, I wanted to make this seem more professional in a way. When a new episode comes out, I’m going to give my overall thoughts in a single post, kinda like a review, and then I’m going to make fun of it/rant if I have to (hopefully not as much as ARC-V or anytime soon for that matter) in other ones if I find something to add. So to put it in a nutshell, this post is going to be the review post/my thoughts and the others that follow after it are going to be other things related to the episode. Since we also got the Opening/Ending, I’m going to give my thoughts on them too but that’s going to be in its own post as well. 

So with that all out of the way, let’s drive into the Vrains!

Episode 1: My Name is Playmaker!

So we start off the episode with Revolver in what we can assume from what he says to be the world within Link Vrains, Cyverse, which he is outright about to destroy (well that was fast). He has seemed to have sealed away the lifeforms, similar to the one we know about already but in different color, that live/protect this world. There are five of them in total, six if you want to count the AI. Speaking of the AI, he was the only one to not be captured since he seemed to not be in area at the time of the attack because he’s hated by the other ones (looking forward to know more about that). Our little AI ends up sealing the access code for Cyverse into him, affectedly kicking out Revolver, along with himself, before he could destroy the world but in the process, Revolver ends up destroying the AI’s body (does that count as a death?) and turns him into what Revolver calls a “Ignis” which btw is what this AI program is called apparently. So yay, we finally have a name for him!

So after that whole ordeal, we have a time skip to five years into the future (geez, how old is Revolver then if he looks the exact same or does he just not age because he never leaves the VR world? Also, Yusaku would have been 11 when this first happened (and what is the deal with protagonists being 11 when everything goes to hell with them?) After getting a short tour of Den City, we cut to a shot of Yusaku as Playmaker dueling against a Knight of Haoni (and kicking his ass) with the Knight questioning who Yusaku is and why he would get in their way with Ignis watching from an gargoyle statue’s eye. Yusaku (who btw I didn’t expect to have such a deep voice after being used to Yuya’s for so long 0-0) calmly answers that he’s basically a superhero that will stop the Knights whenever they should appear and that his name was Playmaker.

So after the opening, we cut to a 11-year-old (I think he’s 11 because of the timeskip) Yusaku in a field of grass. A voice of a character I think we have yet to meet yet tells him to wake up and he does so to find himself in his classroom (wow, even Yusaku falls asleep in class XD)

So to summarizes this in a nutshell, Naoki explains to Yusaku about Link Vrains and calls him out about not having any friends (you’re nice) but Yusaku just doesn’t give a crap and it is hilarious to watch how many f*cks he gives about Naoki and whatever the heck he is saying (I love this guy already). Oh and Naoki starts fanboying over Playmaker as well in front of Yusaku (cross that one off for the Vrains bingo already). But the best part would have to be when Yusaku is leaving and Naoki offers to teach him how to duel, Yusaku gives him three reasons for why he would say no to this like such a smartass and Naoki’s reaction to this is golden LMAO. However, he also gives him three goods reasons to why he could say yes as well which I really like about Yusaku’s character right away. He’s rude but he’s not doing it to be mean. He’s just thinks from a statistical point of view which I can see character development for that right away (and I’m sticking to the fact that he could be a computer program even more from this because he really doesn’t show much human emotions).

So after cutting to a scene of Ignis being chased, we now go over to the SOL technology with Akira talking to...a chess piece. I’m not even kidding, he’s talking to a chess piece which apparently is Bishop...an actual chess piece bishop (well I honestly wasn’t expecting that of all things). We also see five other pieces before they disappear so I wonder if we are going to meet the “Pawn” or the “King” piece in the future? Are they a royal family that run SOL? It has got me thinking.

Anyway, the Bishop and Akira are talking about capturing Ignis as well, their reason being that they need him to reopen Cyverse since Link Vrains was only created because of the data gathered from there and with it closed off now, their company is slowly dying because of Link Vrains slowly dying (foreshadowing to a major crash maybe?) 

We now go back to the Knight’s hideout with Revolver and his right-hand man, Specter who is telling his boss man that they found Ignis and want to keep him away from SOL so they can’t bring back Cyverse. Specter also informs Revolver about Playmaker and he doesn’t appear to know the name (I’m still hoping that he does know Yusaku though). He tells him to just ignore Playmaker for now and focus on capturing Ignis. 

Now that we know why our two other groups want Ignis, we go back to Yusaku who is just hanging out now at his partner in crime, Shoichi, work place. Yusaku is asking who those people on the billboards are and Shoichi tells him about Blue Angel and Go along with telling Yusaku about the Data Storm along with Speed Duels. It is interesting to note that when Shoichi said Speed Duel, Yusaku almost looked to be getting a flashback to that grassy land (I’m REALLY starting to think he came from Cyverse and that would explain his deck choice).

So after apologizing and Yusaku telling Shoichi he’s doing this on his own free will, he asks him if he has found out any new leads which he has being Ignis and I just find it funny how Yusaku, after hearing this, just casually outright closes up the food truck for the night XD I would have died of laughter if someone just went up to the truck at that moment, about to ask for a hot dog, and Yusaku just says “sorry, we are closed” and just slams the door on them.

So after figuring out that SOl and Hanoi want Ignis, Yusaku plans to capture the AI to use as his “trump card” (I still love the OP FYI) against them. And like freaking bosses, they are able to do this in a matter of seconds (geez, Yusaku is a freaking genius 0-0) It is also interesting to note that Yusaku seems to be able to sense it...(the foreshadowing to him being an AI as well is so easy to notice now after all the ARC-V foreshadowing). 

But before that actually happens, Akira and Bishop talk about lowing the security to be able to find Ignis which Akira refuses to do because he’s afraid of the Knights attacking while their defenses are down while at the same time, Go and Blue Angel are about to have duels for the public. Naoki is watching from the crowd with fans for Blue Angel and Go and fanboying some more. 

So regardless, SOL does a massive city wide scan for Ignis and knowing that Vrains’ defenses will be down now, Revolver, being the smug bastard that he is (I’m loving this guy already too) goes to unleash an attack with one of his knights and to find Ignis. 

But seriously, I love how smug he looks when he finds this out. I really hope he will be my new Yuri to Yusaku’s Yuya (and yes, I do still hope they are brothers but I can’t help but ship it almost...don’t judge me...)

So yeah, in a matter of seconds, the Knight and his Cracking Dragon broke through the firewall and out right just starts murdering everyone it comes across. I mean, after the whole Zarc thing and with me currently watching season 2 of Attack on Titan, I seen worse but damn, the first episode and we already have a death count? Nice Vrains. I’ll give you that.

Okay, I’ll admit, this part annoyed the hell out of me but knowing who the writer is, I’m not even surprised. So to put this into another nutshell, Blue Angel is in trouble and Yusaku goes into Vrains and saves her as Playmaker (I really hope to god this is only a one time thing for Aoi’s character -_- (same with the rest of the females but I know for a fact it isn’t and I expect Aoi to gain a crush on Playmaker from this while Aoi might hate Yusaku in the real world knowing this troupe).

So after that annoying ass save, Yusaku threatens to delete Ignis if the Knight doesn’t stop his attack (damn, that is dark for a Yu-Gi-Oh  protagonist (told you guys he was going to be an anti-hero and a major one at that from the looks of things). He also tells the Knight that Ignis is now a dueling program (Decode Talker theory is coming closer to being real) and that he will only give the Knight Ignis if he beats him in a duel. 

So they are about to start a duel and Ignis out right tells Yusaku he can’t beat the Cracking Dragon so he uses his powers to unlock the Data Storm and gives Yusaku his hoverboard and the episode ends with Ignis declaring this as a Speed Duel. 

So yeah, that was episode one of Vrains. No actual duels, unless you want to count that one at the beginning, but a lot of set up in terms of story. I honestly love what they have done this time around with their protagonist. After the whole Egao mess, it is nice to see this show become dark, super dark from the looks of things, and to have someone like Yusaku as our new lead. I also love the foreshadowing we have got right off the bat in terms of Yusaku and I can’t wait to see what actually he is in the late future. However, I admit I stopped enjoying the episode a lot when the whole “Playmaker saying Blue Angel” bit happened. Again, I shouldn’t be surprised but god, it is still annoying regardless. I’m really scared for Aoi now honestly.

So, on a scale of 1-10, how do I score this episode (in my opinion):

Episode 1: My Name is Playmaker! : 6/10

I wish I could give this episode a higher score for being the first episode but with this episode being pure plot, it was hard to understand what was going on when I first watched it raw and the first viewing is always what makes me enjoy the episode more or not in the long run and I enjoy episodes more if I have an idea of what is going on. There was also the fact that there was no dueling in this episode which took out some of the main action for the series (and I’m just honestly surprised that they let this happen since they are trying to sell cards after all). Also, like I’ve stated, the Blue Angel part REALLY left a bad taste in my mouth. However, I did enjoy the first half a lot. I love Yusaku not giving a sh*t throughout the beginning XD

Now onto the courts:

Death Count: 0 - 5.5 (I saw at least five people getting blasted by Cracking Dragon and Ignis’s body was destroyed but he wasn’t killed so I’m counting that as a half death I suppose).

Damsel in Distress Court: 0 - 1 (Yes this is going to be a thing and Aoi might be on here a lot). 

So yeah, that about does it. After resting my eyes for a bit, since this took a while to write, I’m going to be doing my thoughts on the opening and ending and then I’m going to do what I like to do the most, making fun of the episode. I hope you guys like this new system I guess you can call it that I’m trying out for Vrains and yeah. 

[totesmccoats]

Batman: White Knight #1

We open on a familiar scene. The Batmobile races towards Arkham Asylum, the driver hops out and goes inside to meet an inmate. Only the inmate is Batman, and the person in the Batmobile is Jack Napier, the Joker.

Flashback to Batman chasing Joker though Gotham in the Batmobile, careening over rooftops and through active construction sites until he corners Joker at an FDA facility. And, as Nightwing, Batgirl, Gordon, and the GCPD watch in protest, Batman – seemingly snapped – forces unknown pills down Joker’s throat until he stops breathing.

Batman’s gone too far; and Joker, having survived and now seemingly sane, plans to sue Gotham for letting the Batman continue to operate despite the damage he causes.

It’s a familiar meta-textual idea, “what if Batman is truly to blame for the chaos in Gotham?” done with impeccable execution by Murphy and Hollingsworth.

Murphy introduces his conceit very carefully, showing us a more Miller inspired rendering of Batman in the cold open that will remind those familiar of the decidedly more fascist Batman of The Dark Knight Returns, and impress a brutishness even on fresh readers. And during the chase, Murphy pointedly shows how much more dangerous the Batmobile rocketing through Gotham is compared to Joker on a hoverboard, and even has Batgirl and Nightwing comment on how Batman is being more reckless than usual. As we later discover, there’s a reason he’s on edge.

And when he’s finally caught Joker gives an actually convincing monologue regarding his relationship to Batman; that he allows Batman to exist by continually providing Gotham with a bigger threat than Batman himself. That, if it weren’t for Joker, Gotham wouldn’t tolerate Batman’s reckless vigilantism. And in universe, even Batman supporters don’t have many better arguments for his continued acceptance other than Joker being worse.

Its an interesting experiment for Murphy to finally put to paper, to say the least. Can Batman exist without his villains?

  All-Star Batman #14

Briar and the Black Knight have defeated Batman, and it’s up to Alfred to rescue his son.

This is the comic that Alfred has deserved for the longest time. A comic that shows us what the man who raised the Batman is truly capable of, and oh my goodness does he shine! It’s an issue where Alfred gets to scare Batman for once, shooting down planes and dueling a better-equipped man who managed to outfight Batman. Any time anyone tries to convince you that Alfred isn’t the MVP of the Bat-family, just show them this issue.

The backup pulls its weight too, delivering striking visuals of Batman running through explosions, his silhouette cast against red and yellow flames – again, recalling Mazzucchelli and Lewis’ art in Year One. And the story wraps up with a final twist of the knife and a neat tie into the main arc. This is the final issue of All-Star, and it ends with a bang.

  Batman #32

The War of Jokes and Riddles ends with Batman, Joker, and Riddler in a room together, and Batman making a decision that could cost him his soul. And Selina finally answers Bruce’s proposal.

This is a two beat issue, and to discuss either one of them in more detail than I already have would be spoilers. But, as promised, a still young-ish Batman is pushed to a breaking point; and the War does end with him having gazed into that abyss. There is also, maybe surprisingly, a clear winner – ideologically if not materially, one of the villains gets a win over Batman than he can never reverse, one that haunts Bruce to the present day.

If anything, King has proven that he’s great at dismantling his characters. If Snyder gave Batman depression and made him face existential crisis after existential crisis; then King gives him a massive case of PTSD and makes him face all he’s done, or almost done, in the name of his war on criminals. Thankfully though, he’s not cruel or torturous about it.

And Janin illustrates this perfectly, with Bruce Wayne, a huge man made of rippling muscles, who is nonetheless vulnerable, sitting in his underwear, clearly broken, and hoping that the love of someone he loves can somehow redeem him.

  Superman #32

This issue has an actual “faster than a speeding bullet” moment in the first two pages, and it almost immediately won me over. I love anything that reminds me of what makes Superman such an important figure – he can do the impossible, and he can save everyone. I’m a sucker for it.

And the rest of the fight between Superman and Deathstroke is great, too, which each testing the other’s limits; Deathstroke testing how far he can bend Superman’s moral code, while Superman is careful not to break the limits of Deathstroke’s tech and accidentally kill him. And that tension, the pushing of Superman’s limits, becomes the main focus of the story as Deathstroke continues to put Lois in danger and offers Superman the choice to end his life to save hers and thousands of others.

Unfortunately, the issue weakens Lois in order to tell that story. She’s still nominally strong, choosing again to run towards danger rather than away from it, but it still results in her needing to be saved by Superman. And I get that that’s how Superman has worked for the past eighty years give-or-take, but the last issue was so good at having Lois be the agent of her own story, and I just wish this issue followed through on that instead of damseling her.

  Black Bolt #6

Black Bolt leads his new friends to the heart of the living prison they’ve been trapped in, but will even the full strength of his voice be able to defeat such a powerful foe?

Leave it to Ahmed to find a way to add a wrinkle to the trite “the ghosts of your loved ones are just illusions” trope by having the characters own guilt be what the villain is after rather than to trick them. Because all you need a reminder that you did something wrong to feel guilty about it, it doesn’t have to be a believable recreation of events. And after the heartwarming reunion between BB and Lockjaw last issue, this one finds one last heart-wrenching sacrifice before letting our heroes loose. Don’t worry, the dog lives.

Ward goes all out with the colors in this issue, delivering an explosion of cosmic psychedelic energy on every page, as though Black Bolt’s voice were tearing reality itself asunder. He really was an inspired choice of artist for this series, allowing a character who cannot speak in words to speak in shape and color instead.

  Hawkeye #11

Kate confirms some bad news before the breaks out of Madame Masque’s prison, that her father is to blame for her mother’s death. However, that gives her enough rage to knock all of Masque’s guards unconscious and make a beeline for Masque herself, still in a clone-Kate body.

I think that “cathartic” is the best way to describe this issue, if bitterly so. Kate finally gets closure from her father, and gives Masque the beating she’s been asking for since 2012. And when Masque tries the “we’re alike, you and I” shtick, Kate has none of it. Kate puts another solid win in her book, defeating Masque, proving she’s not destined to become a villain like her father, and even getting a really good mini-donut joke in for good measure.

But as one chapter ends, another begins, and Hawkeye is starting this one with a new ripple in her friend group, and a promise to find her mother – if she’s still alive to be found.

  Paper Girls #16

ALERT! ALERT! PAPER GIRLS HAS GONE FULL EVA! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! THAT WOULD BE GURREN LAGANN!

Tiffany is separated from the group as the girls all warp from the stone-age to the distant future, the year 2000. Tiff immediately gets picked up by a cop, who gives her a ride back home; and the other girls follow the only lead they have to someone who may be able to help them – the funnies. Oh, also, the future people (who may be from the past) resort to the nuclear option to take the girls out, resulting in the town is being attacked by giant robots – hence the EVA warning.

The series is as much as a nostalgia trip as it’s ever been, with this issue crammed full of references to Y2K and 5-inch deep flat-screen TVs, and balances it with the novelties of a giant robot fight looming over small-town Ohio; but doesn’t naturally find a place for it’s emotional hook, wedging it in as a flashback. But, as incongruous as it is with the rest of the plot, it is effective, showing us a young Tiffany on Christmas receiving a gift from her adoptive parents on her first night with them. And as they tell her that she’ll likely never hear from her bio-parents again, she sinks into her new game of Asteroids on the Atari 2600.

Lastly, the girls seemingly begin this arc with the best idea of the plot they’ve got themselves wrapped up into yet, actively taking steps to find their way back to normalcy by working on the information they’ve already gathered. They’re growing from delivery girls to reporters, yet – and it’s also goes some way to showing us how Erin becomes who we see her as in 2016.

Comic Reviews for 10/4/17 Batman: White Knight #1 We open on a familiar scene. The Batmobile races towards Arkham Asylum, the driver hops out and goes inside to meet an inmate.