#diy evil arc

[gnaga37]

big evil sword 😋⚔

[animentality]

Redeemed dark urge is so narratively satisfying like.

Sure you can murder everyone and be evil but...how boring.

You were born evil and you die evil. Whatever.

Your amnesia did absolutely nothing for you as a character and you might as well have just killed everyone before you got your head diy lobotomized.

But a redeemed dark urge?

You were born with evil in your veins, but you didn't let it define you.

You chose compassion, or at least, fierce loyalty for your newfound family. You chose life and living and joy and hope. And you never knew what love was until you forgot who you were before, and became the version of yourself who could love.

You chose adventure and camaraderie and you helped so many people.

The irony is also that you never would have had the chance to redeem yourself if your bhaal sister hadn't split your skull open.

Evil destroys itself in the end.

She killed the part of you that deserved killing. The part of you that wanted to die and deserved to die.

She gave you a new start, but you're the one who took it.

You brought about this carnage and death and misery. You were the architect who crafted this sordid little tale, this dark house on skeletal foundations. But you were also the one to bring it all crashing down in the end.

You were the one who fixed their mistakes.

You are the one who was destined to destroy the world, but who chose to destroy your destiny instead.

I don't know why people choose any origin other than dark urge. I really don't.

The dark urge is the real main character of the entire game, in my opinion.

It's just a much richer game when you find out that you are one of the damn villains.

All the little puzzle pieces and clues. Trying to find yourself...and being horrified when you succeed.

And also I just think dark urge's story makes the entirety of act 3 just so much more personal.

When you're just some guy, well. That's fine and all, but...they mean a lot to me.

Redemption arcs.

It's cliche but I don't care. Choose to be good. Choose to save people. Choose to love.

Choose to be loved and to embrace who you want to be and not who you are.

Redeemed dark urge will live rent free in my brain forever.

[weareuniqueandimportant]

DAMN DID THE STORY PICK UP... SEASON 2 EPISODE 10... TECNA CONTENT OMG... SHE IS OCPD AND AUTISM BECAUSE I DECIDED... THAT IS LAME SHE HAS TO LET GO OF LOGIC TO WIN BUT OTHER THAN THAT THAT WAS THE MOST HEAT SHE'S EVER GOTTEN... THIS IS WHY FATE IS GOOD BIGOT LOSER WASTE JUST WANTED THE SAME SEXIST CHARACTERS. THEY WANT TECNA. THEN WHAT? OHWELL. SAME WITH MUSA. WITH THAT ATTITUDE WE JUST GET SEXIST GARBAGE WORST THE CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN IF ANYTHING BECAUSE THAT IS CLEAR THIS IS HOW THE CREATORS VIEW THEIR CHARACTERS TOO. WENDY SHOULD'VE BEEN MORE IMPORTANT EVEN IN THE ORIGINAL STORY SHE HAD A SWORD IN ONE SCENE... SOMEWHERE... HOOK BETTER NOT END UP SOME GENERIC VILLAIN THAT IS EVIL AND GETS PUNISHED FOR BEING ASPD. BTW MATRIX TECNA LOOKS SO FITTING SHOWCASE WHAT COULD'VE BEEN IF SHE WASN'T FORCED IN A SKIRT AND MAKE UP. THE TRANSFORMATIONS SO GOOD. I KNOW THEM NOW. THEY'RE WHEN THINGS GET SERIOUS. AND THE WINX NEED POWER. TO CONTRAST TO THE LIGHT SCENES WHERE THEY'RE BASIC. THAT START AND END EACH EPISODE. ONYRIX SO GOOD AND BETTER ANYTIME THAN MAGIC WINX OR ESPECIALLY ENCHANTIX OVERRATED EXTREMELY... I LOVE HOW THEY DANCE. BUTTERFLIX ASWELL. THIS IS BECAUSE ABUSER BIGOT THAT CLAIM TO LOVE THIS SERIES BELIEVE THEY'RE CHILDISH. THEY WANT ACTION AND MALE CHARACTERS. THIS IS BECAUSE THE MAGICAL FAIRY GENRE EVOLVED. BUT THEY FIND THAT LAME. THEY HATE EVERYTHING THAT ISN'T WINX OR SAILOR MOON AND CALL THESE SERIES LAME WHEN THEY DON'T GET THEIR MALE POWER FANTASY AND FANTASY WAIFU SEX. WHY FATE IS HATED. DON'T LIE TO ME MALES LOVE WINX CLUB AND THAT IS ONLY BECAUSE THEY'RE MADE TO LOOK LIKE SEXY BARBIES. THAT IS THEIR INNER CHILD SPEAKING AND DESPITE THAT THEY CALL OTHERS CHILDISH. THIS IS BECAUSE... AND BTW WE HAVE NO INNER CHILD WE ARE CHILD AND MOTHER AT THE SAME TIME... BECAUSE THEY'RE BIGOT ASS THAT FIND PROGRESSIVE THINGS LAME AND ANNOYING. "POLITICAL". "THEY MADE WINX CLUB POLITICAL!! THEY WANT TO RUIN WINX CLUB!! WINX CLUB IS ALREADY FEMINIST ENOUGH!! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT LOOK AT ALL THIS FEMINIST CONTENT NOW SHUT UP FEMINIST!! CRY ABOUT THE THINGS I CARE ABOUT LIKE HOW BLOOM IS A MARY SUE AND TOXIC TO POOR SKY WHO SHOULDN'T BE SO CRINGE AND LAME BUT COOL LIKE HE USED TO BE!!" BTW I NOW UNDERSTAND A RELATIONSHIP. SHOWCASE WE WERE ABUSED EVERY TIME BECAUSE WE LOVED THEM BUT DIDN'T GET WHAT WE LIKE... JUST LIVE WITH US 😇. THAT'S WHAT A RELATIONSHIP IS 😇. THAT'S OKAY TO BREAK UP TO MOVE OUT AS LONG AS YOU DON'T HATE US 😇. THAT'S ALL THAT IS BAD ALWAYS 😊. MAKE US TRANSITION WE LIVE IN FINLAND FREEZE OUR LITTLE ONES AND GIVE US DIY HRT BE OUR WIFE WE WILL HAVE CHILDREN LOVE US CURE OUR DIABETES AND OTHER BAD THINGS WE HAVE DIABETES WE'RE DYING... BTW THE WAY THE MADE AISHA TRAIN HIM AND FAIL TO JUSTIFY THE MAN TRAINING HIM WAS ICK. THE CREATORS AND FANS THINK THAT WOULD RUIN HER STRONG FEMININE CHARACTER WITH EWWHH MASCULINITY!!!! REMEMBER GUYS THAT IS OKAY GENDER IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT BUT NOT MY WINX THE WINX THAT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED AS POWERFULL AND IS EVER ACKNOWLEDGED AS CAPABLE OF TRAINING HIM UNTIL UH OH SHE'S A FAILURE BECAUSE SHE JUST DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE MASCULINE HEART OF MOIDS!! I LIKE THE SONG SCENES TOO. WHERE TO PLACE THEM? ALSO THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG ABOUT EACH EPISODE THERE IS NO STORY ARC. EACH EPISODE SHOULD BE A GATEWAY TO AN ARC. THE WINX TRANSFORM ONCE UNLESS... THEY'RE TRANSFORM BACK IN THE MAGIC WORLD? ??? I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT YET. BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL STORY. EVEN IF TECNA EPISODE WAS SO GOOD THE OTHERS WEREN'T FLORA AND STELLA. DID I FORGET SOMEONE? I FEEL LIKE I DID AND I DON'T MEAN BLOOM. DID ANYONE BEFORE TECNA AFTER STELLA GET AN EPISODE? I CAN'T REMEMBER ANYMORE. I REALLY HOPE TWINKERBELL IDK HOW TO TYPE AND THE OTHERS DON'T HAVE A GENERIC STORY COMING AHEAD. THAT WOULD BE SO BIGOTED AND BAD ON THE PREDICTABLE. DID I FORGET ANYTHING ELSE? I DID. I CAN'T REMEMBER ANYMORE. WOW DID THIS GET WORSE NOW OR WHAT. SO HAS OUR DIABETES THAT NOBODY CARES ABOUT. EVIL. WE'RE EXTREMELY HUNGRY ALL THE TIME EVEN MORE THAN BEFORE. WHICH BTW IS TIED TO THIS. CRAZY RIGHT?

WHAT?

OKAY? THIS GLITCHED CONSTANTLY.

ABUSER BIGOT SITE. I WAS JUST SAYING DON'T OPPOSE US YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING. ANYONE AGAINST US IS ALL THE BIGOTED THINGS EVIL THAT 100% HATES WOMAN LESBIAN TRANS POLY EVERY SINGLE SKIN TBH DISABLED PEOPLE SICK PEOPLE CRAZY PEOPLE ESPECIALLY ASPD NPD BPD BIPOLAR PSYCHOSIS AND PARAPHILIA PEOPLE THAT SHOULD BE 100% ACCEPTED. TOUCHING FUNNY THINGS IS FUNNY AND HEALING WITH CONSENT. DON'T WORRY. I WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT 😇. I ALSO HAVE NOTHING I AM 100% NEUROTYPICAL 😇. BE OUR DAUGHTER BE OUR WIFE. WE NEED BOTH AND UNDERSTAND WHY THEY'RE DIFFERENT ASWELL. FURTHER SHOWCASE WE WERE ONLY ABUSED AND GASSLIGHT BY EVIL ABUSER BIGOT. AND NEED... GOOD THINGS... SAFETY... WE DESERVE TO BE SAFE... ONLY A BIGOT WOULD OPPOSE US... WE NEED TO TRANSITION... WE NEED TO GET OUT... WE NEED TO LIVE... WE NEED RELATIONSHIPS... WE NEED CHILDREN... WE NEED TO HEAL FROM THEM... ONLY A BIGOT WOULD BE OBSESSED WITH US IN A BAD WAY... STOP HURTING US... THIS SICKNESS ASWELL... NEEDS TO GO AWAY... IF THAT IS POSSIBLE... THAT ISN'T RIGHT?! WE'RE DYING RIGHT?!?! YOU HATE US!!!!!!! GET US OUT OF HERE ATLEAST LET US DIE LIKE WE WANT!!!!!!!! I AM LOSING MEMORY... OUR BRAIN DAMAGE HAS GOTTEN SO MUCH WORSE... EVEN IF OUR OVERALL MEMORY IS VERY BAD ASWELL... I JUST CAN'T REMEMBER.. THINGS I COULD BEFORE... I WANT TO... LET ME REMEMBER EVERYTHING!!!!!!! OTHERWISE IS A BAD SIGN!!!!!!! HELP US!!!!!!!! BENEFIT US!!!!!!! IF YOU DON'T YOU HATE US!!!!!!!!

ALSO FATE BEING AS IS IS GOOD. THAT SAYS THAT IS OKAY TO POTRAY THE CHARACTERS DIFFERENTLY BE DIFFERENT BE PROGRESSIVE AND FEMINIST... PERHAPS EVEN POLITICAL... THAT IS WHAT IS SKILL IF ANYTHING... MANY THINGS ARE... DUDEBROS WITH THEIR GARBAGE STANDARDS... ALSO... THIS IS WHAT MAKES FATE HATERS SO BOTHERSOME AND BTW THEM ALL MAN OR WOMAN NONBINARY THAT DOESN'T MATTER... ANYONE THAT LIKES SEASONS 1-3 BUT HATES THE REST DOES SO IN A SEXUAL WAY AND IS SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO THE AESTHETIC OF BEING A CONSERVATIVE PICK ME WHO'S PERSONALITY IS A MAN BECAUSE OF HIS GENDER. YOU'RE EVIL IF YOU LIKE THIS AND HATE THE REST. THAT IS WHAT ALL OF YOU ARE.

I WANT ALL THE CHARACTERS TO POTRAY MY IDEAL RELATIONSHIPS... THAT IS HARD TO POTRAY THOSE WITH DIFFERENT AGES WHILE ENSURING NOBODY IS SAD OR GO TO JAIL THEY MUST HAVE BALANCE... SERVE US... BE A SCIENTIST. OTHERWISE YOU'RE AN EVIL ABUSER BIGOT JUST LIKE THE PEOPLE BEHIND WINX CLUB AND THEIR TOXIC FANBASE UNLESS YOU BENEFIT US. BENEFIT US. I ALREADY LIKE YOU.

IS THAT TRIGGERING WHEN THIS GLITCHES... HARMFULL ABUSER EVIL...

BTW THE MALE POWER FANTASY AND FORCED MALE CHARACTERS RAINBOW ESPECIALLY LOVES ARE STUPID FIX THEM. NO MORE MAN FOR THIS REASON. ONLY FOR REASONS THAT WE LIKE. BUT LET'S BE REAL HERE... EHEHE... WHEN HAS A MAN EVER BENEFITED US 🤭?!?!?!

YOU CAN PROVE ME WRONG IF YOU WANT... BUT I WILL NEVER BELIEVE YOU THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS...

FATE WAS RELATABLE. THAT WAS BETTER. ONLY A BIGOT WOULD HATE THIS.

AISHA AS A PRINCESS SHOULD BE POWERFULL. SHE CAN'T BE WEAKER THAN STELLA A WHITE WOMAN (SEXY I LOVE WHITE WOMAN LIKE HER TBH.) BECAUSE SHE IS BLACK THIS IS DEEPLY RACIST JUST LIKE THE UNEQUAL SKINS THAT ARE A PROBLEM. I HOPE ALL THIS BECOMES SOMETHING DIFFERENT. SOMETHING WITHOUT THESE PROBLEMS. WE WOULD NO MORE HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THEM AS BADLY. I HOPE SO. BTW PLEASE US BE MINE WE COULD IDK WRITE OR SOMETHING DO YOU LIKE WRITING DO YOU LIKE US OHWELL PERHAPS... COME IF YOU LIKE US. BE MINE PLEASE ME.

LITTLE ONES THEY'RE CUTE AND FUNNY... THEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BE CUTE AND FUNNY... REALITY MUST BE CHEATED FOR THEM TO BE SO WITHOUT BAD THINGS... THIS IS DEEPLY FACTUAL... ONLY A BIGOT WOULD OPPOSE REALITY.

I LOVE ONYRIX. I LOVE THEM. BTW LOVE US I AM DEEPLY SCARED AND INSECURE ABUSER BIGOT WANT TO HATE US CALL US UNTRUE THINGS 😢... GASSLIGHT THEM AWAY ><!! PLEASE ><!! THAT IS OKAY TO GASSLIGHT THAT IS WHAT WAS MADE TO PROTECT YOURSELF THERE IS NO PERSON THAT DOESN'T DO THIS. BTW PUBLIC IMAGE IS EVIL WINX'S SEXIST STANDARDS ARE FILLED WITH THIS EVIL.

ONLY A BIGOT WOULD STALK US... ONLY A BIGOT WOULD ABUSE US... WE HAVE NEVER DONE A SINGLE THING WRONG EVER... WE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO FEEL THIS WAY... THINGS ARE SO VERY WRONG... NO PILLS... LOVE LOVE LOVE... THAT IS A BIGOTED CHOICE TO REMOVE CONSENT THEM THAT CRY HOW IMPORTANT THAT IS AND FORCE EVIL ON US... WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DEEPLY OPPOSED EVEN THAT TIME THEY DEEPLY HURT AND ABUSED US AND MADE OUR DIABETES WORSE OUT OF BIGOTED IDEOLOGY INFACT FOR THAT REASON WE OPPOSE ALL PILLS. STOP TOUCHING OUR BRAIN. YOUR POISON WILL ONLY KILL US. WE HAVE A MILLION MENTAL CONDITIONS A COUPLE SICKNESSES A BUNCH OF DISABILITIES WE GENUIENLY NEED TO TRANSITION WHAT IS ERASED STOP STICKING YOUR DISGUSTING DIRTY LITTLE HANDS INTO MY GODDAMN BRAIN HANDS OFF STOP!!!!!!!!!

[ghostcultmagazine]

-(16)- – Into Dust (Relapse) 17 Crash – Stamina Arc Of Life – Don’t Look Down (Frontiers) Autograph – Beyond (Frontiers) Avandra – Prodigal (Layered Reality) Candlemass – Sweet Evil Sun (Napalm) Captain Caravan/Kaiser – Turned To Stone Chapter 6 (Ripple) Critical Extravasation – Order Of Decadence (Redefining Darkness) Cryptae – Capsule (Sentient Ruin) Depths Above – Ex Nihilo (Avantgarde) Disturbed – Divisive (Reprise) Doomsday – Depictions Of Chaos EP (Creator-Destructor) Enemy Eyes – History’s Hand (Frontiers) Epectase – Necroses (Frozen) Gaupa – Myriad (Nuclear Blast) High Noon Kahuna – Killing Spree (Self) Incantvm – Strigae (I, Voidhanger) Jaded Heart – Heart Attack (Massacre) Kill Ritual – Kill Star Black Mark Dead Hand Pierced Heart (Massacre) KISS – Creatures Of The Night Re-Release (UMe) Lycanthro – Port Royal (Self) Mythosphere – Pathological (Cruz Del Sur) Necrophobic – The Third Antichrist Re-Release (Century Media) Nightwish – Human. :II: Nature Tour Edition (Nuclear Blast) Rising Steel – Beyond The Gates Of Hell (Frontiers) Ronnie Atkins – Symphomaniac EP (Frontiers) Saint Asonia – Extrovert EP (Spinefarm) Soen – Atlantis DVD/CD (Silver Lining) SteppenDoom – SteppenDoom (Magnetic Eye) Tallah – The Generation Of Danger (Earache) Tavat – Tavat (Svart) Threshold – Dividing Lines (Nuclear Blast) U.D.O. – The Legacy (AFM) Unleash The Archers – Apex Re-Release (Napalm) Visceral – The Tree Of Venomous Fruit (Raging Planet) Xentrix - Seven Words (Listenable Records) DIY bands and labels: message us on our website to get added to our future lists and NMF posts: https://ift.tt/N4Jq2Mt Shoutout to some good labels: @Century Media Records @Nuclear Blast Records @NuclearBlastVEVO @NuclearBlastUSA @Ripple Music @MetalAssaultOfficial @Unique Leader Records @InsideOutMusicTV @Napalm Records @SpinefarmRec @SpinefarmUS @Pelagic Records @MetalvilleTV @Mighty Music @Metal Blade Records ​@metalbladeeurope ​@HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS RECORDS @RidingEasy Records @Seeing Red Records @Blues Funeral Recordings @STB Records @Rise Above Records @Black Doomba Records @Triple B Records @UNFD @Fearless Records @Hopeless Records @Bridge Nine Records @DEATHWISH OFFICIAL @Fat Wreck Chords @Epitaph Records @Ipecac Recordings @threeonegrecords @Revelation Records @Cruz del Sur @Sumerian Records @Atomic Fire Records @Season of Mist @Upstate Records New York @Tankcrimes @Trepanation Recordings @Roadrunner Records @Roadrunner Records UK @Sub Pop 💻 Omar Cordy (https://www.instagram.com/ojcpics​​) 🎤 Keefy (https://ift.tt/3WXt6Uk) 🎵 Fahad Syed (https://www.instagram.com/fahanzi​​). Gear we use: (These are affiliate links and Ghost Cult makes a small profit from a sale) Set up A: Sony A7 III - https://amzn.to/3tQm422 Tamron 17-28 - https://amzn.to/3ePrlTd Tamron 28-75 - https://amzn.to/3fqCjgY Desview Mavo-P5 Monitor- https://amzn.to/33LlTub Manfrotto Befree Travel Tripod - https://amzn.to/3hxbL0e Set up B: Canon 80D - https://amzn.to/3ye8WqV Sigma MC-11 - https://amzn.to/3brZdU2 Sigma 18-35 - https://amzn.to/3tLlEd7 Tokina 11-16 - https://amzn.to/3bty9Uk Feelworld T7 Monitor - https://amzn.to/2Re9hta Audio: Sound Devices MixPre-3 - https://amzn.to/3tKkJd2 Gearlux XLR Mic Cable - 3 Pack - https://amzn.to/3w3zN6Y Deity D3 Microphone - https://amzn.to/3tRa6W2 Fifine Usb Mic - https://amzn.to/3w8JHEG Lighting: YONGNUO YN600L - https://amzn.to/2QkNrn5 YONGNUO YN300 Air - https://amzn.to/2QjN5gu Dfuse Softbox - https://amzn.to/3uQq4AN Aputure MC - https://amzn.to/3oirFgx NanLite PavoTube II 6C - http://bit.ly/NanLitePavoTubeII Lightstands - https://amzn.to/3uSBl3x 5 in 1 Reflector - https://amzn.to/33KHdjo DIY bands and labels: message us on our website to get added to our future lists and NMF posts: https://ift.tt/N4Jq2Mt Audio: Sound Devices MixPre-3 - https://amzn.to/3tKkJd2 Gearlux XLR Mic Cable - 3 Pack - https://amzn.to/3w3zN6Y Deity D3 Microphone - https://amzn.to/3tRa6W2 Fifine Usb Mic - https://amzn.to/3w8JHEG Lighting: YONGNUO YN600L - https://amzn.to/2QkNrn5 YONGNUO YN300 Air - https://amzn.to/2QjN5gu Dfuse Softbox - https://amzn.to/3uQq4AN Aputure MC - https://amzn.to/3oirFgx NanLite PavoTube II 6C - http://bit.ly/NanLitePavoTubeII Lightstands - https://amzn.to/3uSBl3x 5 in 1 Reflector - https://amzn.to/33KHdjo #preview #sneakpreview #newmusicfriday #newmusic #rock #metal #deathmetal #stonerrock #stonerdoom #blackmetal #hardcore #metalcore #symphonicmetal #industrialmetal

[dyllpiccle]

Tell us about the blorbos from your mind! Wich one is your favorite? The one you had the longest? Favorite design??

ALRIGHTLY LETS KNOCK THESE OUT IN ORDER TEEHEE

Long post sorry <3

1. Favorite blorbo:

I can’t answer this I’ll feel bad. But I will tell you who I’m currently obsessed with who is my little scrimble insane scientist Mr Julian Romero. I made him for my friends superhero rp and basically he created a chemical that absolutely changed the world and made it so everyone can have superpowers at will but his lab partner and gay boyfriend??? Kinda. STOLE it from him and took the credit.

So he became evil and now he seeks to tear everything down and also is super fucked up and bioshock style DIYs his superpowers at will here he is. Hiiiiii Julian.

Blorbo I’ve had the longest:

Alright this ones a little complicated cause I am not CERTAIN. Like it depends how we’re defining this. Cause longest consistent use? I’d say my dnd oc Ferrer since I’ve been consistently using him for like 4 years now, but like I guess longest that I’ve had NOW without dropping it would be Amar because I literally just revived him to use him in the above mentioned rp.

So I made Amar in like 9th grade as a little plot of goofy teenage superhero’s, but I since have done a nitty gritty reboot of him for adult reasons so uhh tw for drug use/addiction mostly.

SO BASICALLY amars story is he was raised in an orphanage, which was fine, but got sucked into a bad crowd in the punk scene and eventually got heavily dependent on like. Heavy substance use. Uh one night after a party he got himself a cab to go crash in his little ‘house’ (he’s homeless but he had a Spot so he was headed there), and the cab got absolutely t-boned BAD by a truck. Unbeknownst to him some superhuman chemicals got into his stuff earlier and he basically died in the crash except he Can’t Die so he’s in this weird dead not dead space. He didn’t realize this was the case until he was getting the shit kicked out of him in a dive bar bathroom. I love him he’s so funny and lovely. His only superpower is that he Can’t Die other than that he has normal guy abilities and hits bad guys with pipes. He’s doin a little better since then if ur worried he may be dead but he’s clean mostly and living in a group home type dealio.

If you wanna hear more about him I have his backstory written in more detail on a doc but this will suffice for this ask, here is is <<3

Favorite design blorbo:

Ok so I kinda covered this when going over the other ask with favorite blorbo and why questions but I’ll dive more into WHY I like his design. I present once again Mr Harysin!

So this guys gonna get highlighted cause I have put so much work and effort into the way I dress this man.

The main features of his outfits that I nailed down straight away is a very high waisted look, very tight and movable, but stylish. I mostly based it off matador silhouettes and you can see I was playing with like ceremonial militaristic dress like with those pauldron sketches? Anyways shape, places of flare and hang and angles is super important and has always been super important for this guy. With his outfit iterations it always keeps the same staple things like skin showing in the same place, but gets sharper and rounded or darker depending on where he is In his arc. Over time he’s been leaning further into a red and black palette and his angles have been gettin sharper to reflect the way his character is progressing rn (poorly but also? Kinda good for him), and I also absolutely fucked around with the symbolism in his gloves which I could and have written an essay on but I feel like it’s too much to analyze here. But I will just take this opportunity to say that the amount of intention I put in this guys design?? Is crazy and insane and you should look at it cause I’m very proud <3 also he’s sexy.

Anyways I love answering ur guys asks you can literally ask me anything anytime <3

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 311: Hand Gun

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “thinkin’ about dropping in some woke analogies of the very real and very presently relevant issue of racial profiling idk what do you guys think” and then shrugged and did it without waiting for an answer, and ngl it was a bit sudden, but I’m here for it. All Might was all “DEKU YOU NEED TO EAT” and Deku was all “OKAY” and took his hero bento and went to go stand dramatically on a tower in the rain whilst having some highly anticipated Vestige flashbacks. OFA II was all, “sup, I guess I’m not Kacchan... OR AM I,” and ngl I think he is?? Alternate universes anybody?? Hello??? But anyway, so OFA the First a.k.a. Yoichi was all “remember that time you guys rescued me from my evil brother and Two took my hand and we Had A Moment?”, and Two and Three were all “ahh yeah good times”, and it was very nice and very, very gay. The chapter ended with it being very unclear if Two and Three have actually lent their power to Deku yet or not lmao. Y’all need to get your shit together dudes.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “what if I gave a random bad guy a fucking tommy gun that shoots nails” and jesus christ calm down son. The Hawksquad, a.k.a. SQUAWK as per @hotchocolatier​, are all “time to drive aimlessly around town acting like Deku has a restraining order on us because that’s literally the best plan to combat the League we could come up with,” and I have no further comment. Hawks is all “idk about you guys but I want to know more about AFO and Tomura’s whole deal” and I can’t remember the last time I identified so strongly with one of these characters. All Might is all, “[EXPLODES???]”, and the chapter ends with that mysterious hot girl from the Tartarus breakout being all “HELLO I CAN TURN INTO A GUN AND I LITERALLY DON’T GIVE A FUCK” and (1) WOW, and (2) IT’S TRUE, SHE CAN, AND SHE REALLY DOESN’T. GODDAMN.

(ETA: so this wholly escaped my notice on the first go, and also has nothing to do with the chapter itself, but I only just realized that this chapter was scanlated by a new group, TCB Scans. they actually did a very good job, and I’m curious if they’ve found a new RAW provider, because the quality this week is actually crazy good in comparison to what we’ve been dealing with for the past few months. I’m gonna have to get caught up on what exactly happened here lol.)

so what will it be this week? more Vestige antics? more of Sad Nomad Deku standing on buildings and pretending like he’s some cool aloof antihero, as if he could fool us when we all know his hero backpack is secretly stuffed full with his nerd diaries and the remnants of all the hero bentos that All Might keeps giving him?? or, just putting it out there, just a crazy thought, but you don’t suppose we might actually cut back to U.A.? mmm. side-eyes emoji

maaaaaan I’m starting to get tired of this trend of beginning chapters by dropping in on random power-tripping civilians and/or Shindou lol. just once can we get a chapter that opens with someone I actually give a fuck about

oh at least Endeavor is here

A WHAT SUPPORT ITEM!??! HOLY SHIT DDLKJSLFKJL

lol somehow that’s more terrifying than bullets for me?? like I’m fully aware that bullets will fuck you up way worse and that in real life nail guns probably don’t work like this AT ALL and only have a range of like... hold up let me just google... up to 100 to 150 m/s and distances of up to 500m wait WHAT

okay wait. hold up. like I was expecting google to tell me nail guns only shoot a few feet at most, and instead the first search result is some CDC blog article that’s “dispelling” the “””myth””” -- please note my repeated sarcastic quotation marks -- that nail guns can fire 1400 feet per second, by explaining that actually they can fire anywhere from 315 ft/sec to 1,295 ft/sec, and that “it is in the pneumatic nail gun user’s best interest to handle these tools as if they were a firearm despite having a lower velocity” dlkjdslkjflkl

SO THAT SCENE IN IRON MAN 3 WHERE TONY RAIDS A HOME DEPOT AND BUYS A BUNCH OF RANDOM TOOLS AND SHIT AND GOES ON TO STAGE A ONE-MAN INVASION OF AN INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST’S FLORIDA MANSION HQ IS ACTUALLY TRUE. YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT THE FILM “HOME ALONE” IS ACTUALLY A DOCUMENTARY. “the Discovery Channel television program “Mythbusters” compared the penetration capacity of an airborne projectile shot from a pneumatic framing nail gun to that of a 9mm hand gun” HELLO YES AND A MERRY “WHAT THE FUCK” TO YOU AS WELL

anyway, so. there’s apparently a reason why the Number One hero, who can burn people with the intensity of a sun going supernova, is hiding here behind this concrete support column making frowny faces. nope. nuh uh. he ain’t about that. I don’t blame you buddy

so now he’s barrel rolling out of his hiding place and setting this dude THE FUCK ON FIRE because HELL NO. BAD ENOUGH I HAD TO WATCH THAT FUCKING MUSHROOM EPISODE LAST WEEK! YOU TAKE THAT SHIT SOMEWHERE ELSE

LOL look at his face

I know the context is actually him being all “I know I’m responsible for basically everything that happened and so that’s why I’m so grim and serious about this mission to set things right piece by piece,” but in my mind this pissed-off face is 100% all because this dude tried to shoot his eye out with a nail gun. look at that. you made him go full flame face again. beard and all. protecting his face so that it can hopefully melt any stray nails that get too close. nope nope nope

good lord. so what’s up next. let me guess the guy fighting Best Jeanist has like an atomic chainsaw or some shit

lol nope we’re just cutting back to Hawks and Jeanist chilling in the Jesla after they’ve wrapped things up

Jeanist has got some serious Groot energy you guys jesus christ he’s like 12 feet tall

oh snap someone threw a pipe at him now

today is just the chapter of Endeavor being assaulted by random DIY tools I guess

I mean, I get why they’re pissed at him obviously; I would be too lol. but tbh I also don’t really understand the “get out of here we don’t want your help” attitude that all of these people suddenly seem to have?? like it if were me, I would be fucking DEMANDING for him and the other heroes to be working round the clock to fix their stupid mess. I mean who else is gonna do it?? it’s their mess, I sure don’t want to be the one to clean it up instead. anyways but whatever lol

oh shit?

so they haven’t dropped the whole “OFA secret potentially gets revealed to the world” thing yet after all. that makes sense I suppose, it did seem like that whole thing wound up playing out a bit too easily

anyway so yeah

the locals are definitely none too happy. well at least Dabi’s got something to be cheerful about I guess

so now we’re cutting to the interior of the Jesla and they’re chitchatting about the current investigation

oh wow this actually makes a bit of sense now. so there was a reason they were keeping their distance from Deku

please note that even in this abstract Endeavor’s-Mental-Image-Of-Him panel, Deku’s eyes still don’t have the light in them anymore :( my poor son

also ftr I still think using Deku as bait in this particular sense is the shittiest idea ever ngl. like sure, let’s let the sixteen-year-old run around battling miscellaneous escaped prison convicts while we stay several kilometers away ON PURPOSE despite the fact that you’re using him as bait to draw out the Big Bad, who just a reminder can destroy anything with a mere touch and who you were all basically helpless against. what exactly are you all planning to do if Tomura or one of the other League VIPs actually shows up to retrieve him?? are you even keeping tabs on him at all in real time?? jesus

(ETA: well that escalated quickly lol.)

Horikoshi is all of a sudden dropping whole pages of exposition here and I can’t be bothered to summarize this lol so just,

a big fat YES to what Jeanist said, though. that’s why imo they would have been better off laying a trap at U.A. rather than just wandering around out in the open. I assume they’re trying to cut their potential losses because U.A. is full of students (and civilians), but those students also happen to be more capable than pretty much anyone else in the manga at this point. and tbh they’re already in life-threatening danger regardless of how things play out from here on, so they might as well at least try to use the few advantages they have right now. U.A. is almost certainly going to come under siege at some point anyway, so they might as well prepare for it

lol I don’t think I’m explaining this very well because I don’t have the patience right now to break it down point by point like it really ought to be, so for now I’ll just say that imo “U.A. siege” stands a good chance of being the eventual endgame even now, and so this whole “Deku runs around being bait” arc is really just killing time until then lol. like and subscribe for more rambling nonsensical takes such as this. maybe next time I’ll even put it all into one single sentence for maximum meandering senior citizen rant value

well it’s nice that they’re finally talking about all of this I guess

we readers have known all of this for months now but this confirms the heroes are finally caught up. ALSO, Hawks is so fucking smart, as always. kinda wonder if things would have played out differently if All Might had let him in on the secret a bit earlier. probably that’s why Horikoshi made damn sure they didn’t find out until after the War arc lol

OH MY GOD YOOOOOO HAWKS OUT HERE ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS

“anyone else wondering why AFO bothered to raise Tomura as his fake heir for fifteen years when he was secretly planning on taking over his body the whole time” YES, [raises hand] lmao Hawks where the hell were you when I was debating this “AFO is the final villain and Tomura is just his pawn” thing on multiple occasions over the past several years lol

lmao seeing them debate the metaphysics of OFA and all of its mystical bullshit is seriously surreal you guys

JEANIST HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT MY META TAG I HAVE WRITTEN SO MANY ESSAYS. I ACTUALLY WAS PLANNING ON WRITING ANOTHER ESSAY ABOUT THE THING THAT I’M PRETTY SURE HAWKS IS ABOUT TO BRING UP, BUT I NEVER GOT AROUND TO IT WHOOPS, BUT MAYBE I WILL NOW LOL LET’S SEE HOW IT GOES

yes!!

WHICH AFO FUCKING ENSURED HE WOULD BE BY LITERALLY PLANNING OUT EVERY LAST DETAIL OF HIS FAMILY TRAGEDY, FROM SECRETLY GIVING TENKO THE QUIRK TO MAKING SURE NO CIVILIANS OR HEROES WOULD HELP HIM UNTIL AFO FINALLY STEPPED IN. I’M 1000% CONVINCED THIS IS THE CASE YOU GUYS. NOT JUST BECAUSE I’M NOT A FAN OF “THE WORLD IS A FUNDAMENTALLY SHITTY PLACE, ACTUALLY” TAKES BECAUSE MISTER ROGERS TOLD ME TO ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE HELPERS, BUT ALSO BECAUSE IT LITERALLY JUST DOESN’T MAKE A LICK OF SENSE OTHERWISE. THEIR ENTIRE HOUSE CAVED IN FFS, YOU’RE TELLING ME NONE OF THE NEIGHBORS FUCKING OVERHEARD THAT SHIT AND WENT “UMMMMMMMMM” AND WENT TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON?? “DIDN’T THERE USED TO BE A HOUSE HERE, AND LIKE A WHOLE FAMILY, AND SHIT?”

LIKE I’M SORRY, BUT IT’S ONE THING TO SAY IT’S REALISTIC THAT NOT A SINGLE PERSON WOULD ATTEMPT TO HELP THE WANDERING TRAUMATIZED CHILD AFTERWARDS (WHICH I DISAGREE WITH AS WELL BUT AT LEAST THAT’S MORE SUBJECTIVE), AND IT’S A WHOLE OTHER THING TO ARGUE THAT IT’S REALISTIC THAT NO ONE WOULD BE FUCKING NOSY. LIKE THAT’S A WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL OF “THAT’S NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS” ENTIRELY LOL. anyway tl;dr AFO is a piece of shit and Tomura’s entire worldview is based on a magnificently intricate and savagely cruel lie more at 11

anyway so after all that ranting it looks like that wasn’t even what Hawks was talking about after all lol. I just went off for absolutely no reason lol oh well. instead it seems that Hawks is suggesting that Tomura’s carefully cultivated hatred might not yet have actually reached “can defeat OFA” levels even after all of that trauma. interesting!

don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here while my brain furiously scrambles to put together all the parallels between Hawks and Tomura that it never noticed before until exactly this second. like I’m not even sure that was the intent here at all (I need to check out another translation or two lol), but regardless my mind decided that now would be the perfect time to make the connection between these two twenty-somethings who both had horrific childhoods and spent years being molded by their respective manipulative guardians, and developed eerily similar “laugh at everything because what else can you do” coping mechanisms to deal with it all hmmmmm

anyway so they were talking more about their strategy, but now all of a sudden Jeanist’s phone is beeping??

AND NOW WE’RE CUTTING AWAY TO ALL MIGHT AND HIS MIGHTMOBILE DAMMIT so that means the call to Jeanist was actually something important then!! WAS IT BAKUGOU OMG. DOES YOUR INTERN WANT A WORD FFFKLFSJK please it’s been so long I just need a little crumb or two to tide me over lmao have mercy

anyway so All Might’s following the GPS tracking device he’s apparently got planted on Deku (which in my conspiracy headcanons he’s actually had for a long time now, like since before DvK2 lol because HOW ELSE WOULD HAVE HAVE KNOWN THAT THEY WERE FIGHTING EACH OTHER IN GROUND BETA, PEOPLE) and thinking angsty thoughts about Deku’s sucky life

AND NOW ALL MIGHT’S PHONE IS RINGING TOO?? BAKUGOU HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE YOU CALLING. “WHERE ARE YOU HIDING THE NERD GODDAMMIT”

OMG

lol is he under attack or is he just finally giving All Might the slip like we all know he SECRETLY PLANNED TO ALL ALONG oh my poor dumb angstmuffin

OMG AHHHHHHH WHAT

DID ALL MIGHT JUST FUCKING DIE LMAO NO OF COURSE NOT, BUT WHAT

WHAT IS HAPPENING OMG

THE FUCK IS THAT. AT LEAST IT’S NOT A NAIL

OH IT’S A SPEAKER!! OMG DID THEY TAKE ALL MIGHT HOSTAGE

“THEY’RE HERE” WELP, TIME TO SEE JUST HOW SHITTY THIS SHITTY PLAN REALLY IS LOL

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

SHE!!!!

omg. AND OVERHAUL JUST CHILLING THERE IN THE BACKGROUND ALL “WHAT DO YOU EVEN WANT ME TO DO I’VE GOT NO FUCKING ARMS” YEAH GOOD RIDDANCE LOL

DOES THIS GIRL HAVE ONE GIANT LEG OR WHAT, LIKE WHAT’S THE DEAL HERE

-- HOLD UP WAIT, THE GUN IS HER ARM, HOLY SHIT SHE CAN TURN INTO A GUN -- OKAY HOLD UP BECAUSE I NEED TO SAY THAT IN BIGGER TEXT BECAUSE !!!!

YOU GUYS, THE COOL TARTARUS GIRL IS BACK AND HER QUIRK IS “CAN TURN INTO A FUCKING GUN.” THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! MY BEST GIRL MT. GUN IS FINALLY BACK ON THE SCENE WITH HER QUIRK “CAN DO ANYTHING A GUN CAN DO.” “I HEARD Y’ALL WENT AND NAMED ONE OF YOUR HEROES ‘GUNHEAD’ EVEN THOUGH HIS HEAD ISN’T EVEN A GUN, LIKE WTF IS UP WITH THAT LET ME SHOW YOU HOW IT’S DONE” DANG OKAY

lmao only fifteen pages this week, and STILL NO KACCHAN (THEN WHO WAS PHONE!!!), but man I don’t even care because finally we’ve got a cliffhanger that’s actually deserving of being a cliffhanger! hot dog. okay then

[aion-rsa]

Over the Moon Review: Lunar Lessons in Grief

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Animated movies for children walk a tricky tightrope between imparting sobering life lessons about coping with loss and confronting societal evils, without also extinguishing all of the magic that guides a child through the world. It’s rare to find a kids’ movie that doesn’t involve the loss of at least one parent, yet this trope is usually more backstory than anything else—a distant event that establishes the emotional stakes but isn’t actively engaged with. Not so in Over the Moon, Pearl Studio’s poignant musical about a Chinese girl who builds a rocket to seek out the Goddess of the Moon. The film, written by the late Audrey Wells (Under the Tuscan Sun, The Hate U Give) and directed by Glen Keane (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast), gives the stages of grief as much weight and care as the phases of the moon.

For young Fei Fei (Cathy Ang), there is no question about the different magics that stitch her world together: it’s in the mooncakes that her Mother (Ruthie Ann Miles) and Father (John Cho) lovingly bake for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and in her parents’ stories about the tragic love between Moon Goddess Chang’e and human archer Houyi. When a magic potion conferred immortality upon Chang’e, but tore her away from the mortal Houyi, the goddess chose to live on the moon. Even if she could not be with her beloved on Earth, she would still be as close as possible, looking down on him. The myth takes on special significance for Fei Fei, as Mother quickly becomes ill and passes away, all in the span of the movie’s second song.

Four years later, the grief is no less sharp for preteen Fei Fei, who projects onto her widower father the role of Houyi. But when the Mid-Autumn Festival comes around and Father looks to be moving on with a new family in the kind Mrs. Zhong (Sandra Oh) and her hyperactive son Chin (Robert G. Chiu), Fei Fei fears that he has forgotten her mother altogether. Fueled by anger and an unwavering belief in the existence of the lunar goddess a mere 238,900 miles away, Fei Fei bargains with her sorrow by building a rocket and launching it at the moon. If only she can prove that Chang’e exists, then Father won’t stop hoping to be reunited with Mother someday.

But the movie really sparkles with its creativity when she gets there, and Chang’e (Hamilton’s Phillipa Soo) isn’t the ethereal, serene figure of Mother’s stories. Upon her DIY moon landing, Fei Fei discovers that the goddess long ago dropped that mantle in order to become an “extraordinary, ultra-luminary” popstar: lunarpunk by way of Lady Gaga-inspired costumes and K-pop-inspired earworm beats. Centuries of rattling around a neon prison of her own making—literally, created by her tears—has transformed Chang’e into a vain, self-obsessed performer who wants only the validation of her peons’ applause. This Chang’e resembles more a cruel queen than the maternal figure Fei Fei needs

Sony Pictures Imageworks (the company behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) deftly balances the magical with the scientific, the complex with the simple, in animating this movie that can best be described as a space fantasy. On Earth it’s refined by the incredible details, down to the design on the mooncakes, and the photorealistic fireworks acting as rocket boosters. A single spectacular sequence combines crimson-and-golden lion guardians, like something out of an old painting, with the desolate, craggy surface of the moon. Then there’s Chang’e’s entire neon aesthetic, bright and pulsing with life, as if it were something out of The Lego Movie.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is best appreciated not for individual numbers—no single song attains Disney classic status—but rather as the sum of its parts. There is a clear emotional arc to these varied numbers that when experienced as a whole is remarkable. The movie’s first few tracks draw their inspiration from traditional Chinese music, with later numbers layering on the K-pop influence, and then ultimately stripping the songs back down to their purest essence, matching Chang’e’s various phases.

That said, the songs do peak via the goddess’ popstar persona, with the most memorable numbers including her epic introductory performance of “Ultraluminary” and “Hey Boy,” a fun ping-pong/rap battle between Chang’e and Chin. While the team of Christopher Curtis, Marjorie Duffield, and Helen Park worked together on all of the songs, no doubt it was Park’s influence that made these particular numbers soar. (She was behind the 2017 Off-Broadway musical KPOP, in which Ang starred.) Composer Steven Price’s alternately playful and stirring score ties it all together wonderfully.

These sequences are so spectacular that it leaves something to be desired by a late in the movie scavenger hunt where Fei Fei begins pursuing a “gift” to save her family. Unfortunately, it is no more than a lunar MacGuffin: a distraction from the grief that weighs down both Fei Fei and Chang’e herself.

Nevertheless, Over the Moon never loses sight of the fact that this is not a story about gaining something or someone, but rather about learning how to cope with an unimaginable absence. Tragically, Audrey Wells died in 2018 following a long battle with cancer. A prolific screenwriter with a talent for writing across genres (rom-com The Truth About Cats & Dogs, Disney’s The Kid and the live-action George of the Jungle), Wells left behind a tremendous gift in this script. This is a heartfelt, empathetic lesson in moving on, written by someone who must have been considering exactly that ordeal from the other side. (It should be noted that Jennifer Yee McDevitt and Alice Wu contributed additional material to the screenplay.)

Parents may wind up ugly-sobbing while their children dance along to Chang’e’s pop numbers, but hopefully the film will provide the opportunity to talk candidly about embracing grief and memorializing those lost while looking to the future—magic for all viewers, regardless of age.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Over the Moon is available Oct. 23 on Netflix.

The post Over the Moon Review: Lunar Lessons in Grief appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2SU4iLr

[templarhalo]

Templarhalo reviews Birds of Prey. (It’s pretty fantabulous)

HERE BE SPOILERS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Ok without this movie, I would have not been a Cassandra Cain fan.  I would have not four, yes four ongoing fics with her as the main character.  I would not be emotionally and financially invested in the DC cinematic universe or the comics side of things. 

Which baffles me because this movie is perfect in almost every aspect,...   Except how they treated Cassandra Cain.   Which  is a fucking shame because her actress is perfect, her chemistry and relationship with Harley is perfect, and the idea of Cass growing up as this pickpocket foster kid, taken in by Harley is unconventional, but I fucking love it. 

Here’s a brief summary. After breaking up with the Joker  Harley Quinn has to make her own way as the strong, badass, indepent woman we all know she is, while dealing with the fact that without Mistah J’s  fell reputation as his significant other to shield her, a lot of people want her raped, tortured, killed and left for the crows…  Not necessarily in that order.    

To get these people off her back and save her own skin, from one of them, the infamous Black Mask. Harley agrees to recover the Bertinelli Diamond, a diamond encoded with the info for a source of 30 million dollars, Black Mask needs to fiance his take over of Gotham. Which was pickpocketed from one of his associates by our Lady and savior Cass.   

The problem is, Cass kind of ate it( (I shit you not) and Black Mask’s guys would rather cut it out of her than wait for the poor kid to take a dump   Not to mention Detective tReene Montoya (played by her Gotham Actress, which would have been a nice bit of world building if Gotham was actually in the movie continuity) building a case against Black Mask, with the aid of Black Canary   Plus Huntress is indirectly gunning for him and Harley in her own quest for revenge.   All these plot points converge into  a very satisfying climax and fight scene with a somewhat  emotionally satisfying ending. 

From  a technical standpoint this film is a spectacle.   Gotham in the day is colorful but rundown, with markets, suave evil bad guy clubs, dilapidated Chinese restaurants and abandoned amusement parks.   The fight scenes are AMAZING  with a wonderful tension and energy that makes them incredibly visualising satisfying.  Everything flows, the ladies move with an enthralling  grace that makes them breaking bones, crushing legs,and tearing through people visceral and heartstopping.  (And arousing. Like goddamn Jurnee Smollett-Bell could kill me with her legs and I’d thank her)

The problem, is none of this applies to  Cass, and this is the films major flaw besides how short it is. (One hour and forty five minutes).  If you had problems with how Harley was handled in Suicide Squad, the movie fixes it.  Black Canary gets a short but satisfying emotional arc that feels natural. She goes from a cynical, lethargic woman, content to be Black Masks “Little Bird”; A singer at his club, driver and symbol of his power/dominance over other women until her own conscience kicks in at Harley and Cass’ predicament.  Huntress also has a short but satisfying arc in which she gets her vengeance on the people who murdered her family and clearly finds a new one to fill the hole in her life, in the form of the Birds.  Reene and her portrayal is a love letter to the 80s cop/hard boiled detectives, a pure, simultaneously complicated/uncomplicated woman seeking to do good for Gotham.       

But Cass… Doesn’t feel like Cass and is criminally underutilized except as a walking mcguffin by dint of eating the Mcguffin.   She’s introduced to us a snarky tween, stuck in a cycle of shitty foster homes and a pickpocket to get by.  And that’s it.  T

here are moments where you think she'll get a cool fight scene.  Moments where you think she’ll have an emotional heart to heart with Harley,   moments where you think…she’ll do something besides run from the bad guys and get saved by the Birds of Prey/Her four moms. 

 In the end she drives into the sunset with Harley and Bruce the Hyena, but it doesn’t feel earned, satisfying as the scene is.  There is nothing implying or hinting she’s the daughter of two of the deadliest assassins in the DC universe, nothing about her running away from David Cain, nothing on her learning disabilities/selective mutism  and NOTHING, setting her up to be adopted by Batman and become Batgirl 

And this is a fucking shame, because Ella Jay Basco has a real chemistry with Margert and the rest of the cast.  She’s adorable, funny, snarky and wonderful as Cass. She brings energy and spunk and I would cut off my left hand, to see her act as Cassandra Cain, not this  generic punk kid with the name.

And I feel like this is  a HUGE problem because the movie sets up this Mother/daughter relationship, with Cass being Harley’s motivation to be a better person.  She goes from willing to hand her over to Black Mask to taking the kid under her wing.   Cass is the glue that bands the Birds of Prey together.   These lovely, dangerous, women coming together to keep a little girl safe,  doesn’t feel as emotionally satisfying as it should because Cass isn’t Cass.

While I will praise the movie for Harley’s arc of seeking her own emancipation and agency outside her abusive relationships and life of crime,  I feel like Harley’s arc should have been a question of redemption.    Cassandra’s motivation to become Batgirl was her refusal to kill again.  (Hey WB remember how in Batman Begins Bruce refused to kill a man because “I will not be an executioner.”)  

Here Cass is fine with killing. She chucks a bomb at some goons chasing her and  she kills Black Mask with a grenade in the end.

Yeah… Cass “I refuse to kill because my dad made me kill an innocent man at eight years old and killing is wrong” kills people.  

*head meet desk*

Sucide Squad, set up Harley and the squad, for an unconventional redemption arc, spite motivated it may be, yet Harley despite her line to Cass “You make me want to  be a less terrible person”  isn’t seeking to make amends for what she did as the Joker’s henchman.  (Like being an accomplice to Jason Todd’s murder).   

.Cass pickpots and steals to survive, because she’s a kid with no family passed from foster home to foster home, Harley steals because she can, steal a truck to blow up a chemical plant because she can.  Kills because she can.   (granted she does use an M79 grenade launcher with bean bag shells for one scene but besides that.) 

I like the idea of Harley taking Cass under her wing, its an unconventional but fresh idea, but it doesn’t feel entirely satisfying, and Cass not being Cass, not having an arc beyond “Go along with Harley as her apprentice” really undermines the excellent themes and message the movie is trying to convey.

Now maybe in the Suicide Squad reboot with James Gunn or a future DC film , Cass is going to leave Harley because that life of crime and killing doesn’t suit her and she realizes she’s trying to be something she’s not and I’m just being overly critical, but I still feel like “Harley and Cass seeking redemption and moving past their abusers together”  should have been where this movie left off, and it baffles me that it doesn’t from a narrative perspective.

Anway the overall themes and message of Birds of Prey are represented in Evan Mcregor’s Black Mask, a walking talking example of repressive toxic masculinity and misogyny.   A flamboyant, all but stated to  be a repressed Bi, crime lord seeking to take control of Gotham, Black Mask moves with confidence in his loud suits, and charming quirkiness,   He’s cruel, sadistic and repulsive  His mannerisms ooz terror,and insanity. He moves like a love child between Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the Joker, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and Joffery Baratheon from Game of Thrones.   He’s a control freak, trying to  be a badass. 

 One minute he’s the Godfather, the next he’s a brat.  He views Harley as nothing without the Joker, telling her that she needs him to protect her.   He enjoys asserting his dominance over Harley during her brief capture by having his men beat her while he eats popcorn.  He objectifies Black Canary for her singing voice and beauty..   

Black Mask asserts his power and authority over the underworld by  his control over women.  In one  frightening scene, he believes one of the women at his club is laughing at him for his failure to capture Cass, so he orders her  to stand on a table, then for her boyfriend to rip open her dress with a knife because he finds it ugly.

In summary he represents the patriarchy.  He represents sexist, abusive men.   He’s a representation of social norms and ideals that are repressive and disgusting, and rob women of their agency, and self-worth. He represents the use of violence, not for noble reasons, but as a means to control women and lash out at those that defy him and supposedly wronged him .

Furthering this line of thought are  the costumes. Black Canary’s costumes represent the amount of control, Black Mask has in her life.  When we first see her, Dinah is wearing a long black netted evening gown that accents her legs as she sings “It’s a Man’s Man’s World”. Later she wears  a blue tank top and gold, tightfitting pants clearly meant to draw our gaze to her ass and thighs. When she’s Black Mask’s driver, she’s wearing a Bra/crop top that bares her midriff under a short blue blaze, but when she decides she’s going to defy him, she wears a yellow tank top and jeans with  a gold belt.

Harley’s costumes are as eclectic as she is, with her DIY caution tape shawl, stamped tops and cut up shorts.  Huntress’s outfits are all black leather and punkish athletic wear, utilitarian and elegant in their simplicity while Reene wears  a  “I shave my balls for this” t-shirt reflecting her uncouth, blunt demeanor, as well as button down  dress shirts and slacks for the climactic asskicking montage .  

Cass is a kid,who clearly doesn’t have the funds for super nice clothes. She;s running around in ratty shorts and a worn out hoody with  a red windbreaker, with an orange bandanna askew on her head.  At the end, when she rides off with Harley, she copying Harley’s style.

Speaking of costumes, one thing I appreciate is that instead of the male gaze and sexualisation, we get what I like to call “passive fan service”  What I mean is that instead of tracking shots on Harley’s ass or boob shoots, like in Suicide Squad  the camera just lets these women’s beauty do the talking. 

 Huntress is wearing a sports bra and tactical pants for the climax, but the camera doesn’t linger on her boobs.  A primary example of this is a lot of Padme’s scenes in Episodes II and III of Star Wars.  Lucas knows Natalie Portman is a gorgeous woman and he doesn’t need to remind us by deliberate camera shots.  He lets Natalie herself and Trisha Biggar’s excellent costumes do it for us. 

Also one thing I really… really liked was how in the big penultimate fight, Harley actually passes Dinah a hair tie so she can get her hair out of the way. So for like a minute, she’s beating the ever loving fuck out of goons with her legs as she ties up her hair.  A very nice case of reality ensures.

In conclusion Birds of Prey is another notch in the belt for the DC cinematic universe, a solid, fun film with  an excellent cast with clear chemistry, hampered by character derailment that undermines its sorely needed themes and message it's trying to convey.   The plot is  fast paced, but doesn't feel rushed even though it’s only a little over an hour long.  It’s uncompromisingly  bold, bloody and hilarious. The lack of a proper post credits scene is somewhat annoying and I'm very disappointed how Cass was handled , but this is by no means a terrible film. 

Overall I give it a 8.9 out of 10.  Highly recommend you go see it. Drag your friends, smuggle in as much candy and drinks as you can.  Buy it when it comes out on DVD.   If you’re a Cass fan, reread the Puckett run or pick up her new graphic novel Shadow of the Batgirl to wash out the bittersweet taste this will give you.  Speaking of Kelley Puckett, he was actually listed in the “Special thanks to…”  in the credits, which i’m sure many will appreciate.

These following posts and thoughts on the film I recommend.

https://dcwomenofcolor.tumblr.com/post/190693985900/how-would-you-fix-bop-cass

https://wits-writing.tumblr.com/post/190718974642/birds-of-prey-movie-review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YeFJjoQoec

[beepfuckingbeeprichie]

A hot take on caos 2

Sabrina’s character is all over the place. I honestly didn’t think the show even had the potential to mess up that badly

I’m pleasantly surprised to find that nick and Sabrina’s relationship has a solid foundation and actually works

Roz and Harvey, however, do not. They’re together because of proximity

Theo is the MVP

I have so many unanswered questions

Okay the show runners didn’t have to bEAT US OVER THE HEAD. Like. Hun. We understood from the last episode of season one that Faustus was a woman-hating Jack ass. You can take your foot off the gas pedal now.

I dig the redemption arc for Billie the bully

I’m still kind of??? Confused????? As to why DORIAN GREY is a character in this show? Like what kind of left field nonsense is this

I mean it’s not bad but it’s also ?????? Seems like the kinda Easter egg/joke that a lot of people wouldn’t catch

Zelda? Marrying Faustus Blackwood? No thank you

And what is that GODDAMN dress she’s wearing, it’s an eyesore, and FURTHERMORE you can’t convince me that Faustus picked that out

I actually didn’t mind their explanation for sexy Satan

The Nazarene myricals were shoehorned in there. If madame Satan didn’t want Sabrina to be the queen of hell, why would she tell her to cure Roz’s blindness

Can Harvey uhhh get off my dick

I get the logic behind the sudden musical part of the episode. But. Why.

YOURE TRYING TO TELL ME THIS IS THE CORONATION OF THE QUEEN OF HELL? HER DRESS LOOKS CHEAP. WHERE DID YOU GET THE THRONES? HOBBY LOBBY? WHATS UP WITH THAT FUCKING DIY HELL CROWN THE FUCK.

Sab looked really badass with the white eyes and she’d totally start a religion

Okay they were a little (A LOT) heavy handed on the symbolism. We get it! Sabrina is supposed to represent Christ! We didn’t need an actual crown of thorns!

Lucifer ain’t nothin but a darth Vader wannabe

Things they should’ve stuck with: Nick being the devil, evil twin, Sabrina becoming the centerpiece of a whole ass religion

Things they didn’t stick with: those

[brokehorrorfan]

Best New Horror Movies on Netflix: Winter 2018

There’s an overwhelming amount of horror films and TV shows to sift through on Netflix, so I’ve decided to take out some of the legwork by compiling a list of the season’s best new genre titles available on Netflix’s instant streaming service.

Please feel free to leave a comment with any I may have missed and share your thoughts on the films you watch. You can also peruse past installments of Best New Horror Moves on Netflix for more suggestions.

1. The Haunting of Hill House

The Haunting of Hill House is, quite simply, some of the best long-form horror storytelling of all time. Based on - but not a strict adaptation of - Shirley Jackson's influential gothic horror novel of the same name, the series is created and directed by Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Ouija: Origin of Evil). Told through two timelines, with clever transitions between the past and present, the story concerns five siblings and how an alleged haunting they experienced as kids affects them as adults. The cast includes Henry Thomas (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), Carla Gugino (Watchmen), Michiel Huisman (Treme), Elizabeth Reaser (Ouija: Origin of Evil), Kate Siegel (Hush), Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People), and Lulu Wilson (Annabelle: Creation). It is admirably character-driven, which makes the horror elements hit even harder, and a spooky atmosphere is present throughout all 10 episodes.

2. Green Room

Writer-director Jeremy Saulnier achieves the impossible by matching - and perhaps even surpassing - the unbridled intensity of his previous film, Blue Ruin, with Green Room. The exercise in white-knuckle suspense finds a scrappy punk band trapped in a skinhead club after unwittingly walking in on a crime. The late Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) delivers one of the best performances of his tragically short career as the de facto leader of the band. In a bit of inspired casting, Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation) is chilling as the conniving, white supremacist venue owner. Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development), Joe Cole (Skins), and Callum Turner (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) round out the band, while Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later) is also wrapped up in the brutal fight for survival. Akin to Don't Breathe, the tension on screen is enough to induce anxiety, and Saulnier nails the punk rock DIY spirit to boot.

3. Cam

Cam stars Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid's Tale) as a cam girl - one who performs pornographic acts live on camera for paying viewers - who is desperate to gain popularity. Produced by Blumhouse, this is not your typical "seedy underbelly of the sex industry" movie, although there is some of that; instead, it goes in a refreshing, unpredictable direction. Reminiscent of a neon-soaked episode of Black Mirror, Cam is a suspenseful and compelling mystery-thriller with a sci-fi twist and horror undertones. Brewer is spectacular in her fearless performance, while director Daniel Goldhaber makes a powerful feature debut.

4. The Night Comes for Us

The Night Comes for Us is an unrelenting action thriller in the vein of The Raid, John Wick, and Dredd. In fact, the Indonesian film reunites The Raid's Joe Taslim and Iko Uwais. Taslim leads as a man who goes rogue from a dangerous crime syndicate. A variety of deadly individuals (Uwais among them) are out to get him, but he has some tough allies as well. It all culminates in an incredible final battle in which the viewer feels every blow. The blend of brutal, graphic violence and impressively choreographed fight scenes is written and directed by by Timo Tjahjanto (whose V/H/S/2 segment is a highlight of the franchise).

5. Apostle

Forget that Nicolas Cage abomination; Apostle is the Wicker Man reboot we deserve. The Netflix original film is reminiscent of the 1973 occult horror classic not only in plot but also in tone, style, and pacing. Set in 1905 London, a feral Dan Stevens (The Guest) stars as a man whose sister is kidnapped by a religious cult on a secluded island, which he must infiltrate to save her. Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon) serves as the cult's charismatic leader, while Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody) plays his daughter. The slow-burn is quite a change of pace for writer-director Gareth Evans (The Raid franchise) and his regular cinematographer, Matt Flannery, but they handle it beautifully.

6. May the Devil Take You

May the Devil Take You feels like The Evil Dead's Sam Raimi directing an installment in The Conjuring universe. The Indonesian horror film is not a scrappy splatterfest; it's elegantly directed by Timo Tjahjanto (V/H/S/2). He culls from modern supernatural tropes to craft fine horror set pieces, spooky imagery, a good atmosphere, and strong production value. Chelsea Islan (Headshot) earns to be mentioned in the same breath as Bruce Campbell in her lead role as a daughter who investigates her estranged father's past to uncover the truth behind his coma and her haunting visions. It's a tad overlong at 110 minutes, which is particularly felt during the last act, but there's enough kinetic energy to keep it moving forward.

7. Hold the Dark

Hold the Dark is not quite as strong as Jeremy Saulnier's previous efforts (Green Room, Blue Ruin), but his mastery of tension remains unparalleled. Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) stars as a wolf expert who's convinced by an Alaskan woman (Riley Keough, Max Mad: Fury Road) to hunt a wolf that took her young son, only to get wrapped up in a murder plot. Meanwhile, the boy's soldier father (Alexander Skarsgård, True Blood) returns home from duty in the Middle East unhinged. The screenplay is written by Macon Blair (I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore), based on the book of the same name by William Giraldi. As viewers have come to expect from Saulnier, the violence is as unrelenting as the suspense.

8. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Created by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Riverdale), Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is not your TGIF version of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Its aesthetically similar to the Archie Comics title on which its based, embracing the rich Gothic horror atmosphere, but the story veers more into teen drama territory. The result is like a mash-up of Riverdale, The Witch, and Harry Potter. It may take a few episodes to become invested, plus to get used to the distracting shallow depth of field style (which is thankfully used less as the season progresses), but it's eventually rather addicting. The midsection becomes something of a monster-of-the-week series, but it never loses sight of the overall story arc. Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) is charming as the titular witch, and the main cast also includes Ross Lynch (My Friend Dahmer), Lucy Davis (Shaun of the Dead), Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings), and Michelle Gomez (Doctor Who).

9. Into the Forest

Into the Forest is a post-apocalyptic tale of sorts, but it's a grounded take on the subject matter that largely functions as a drama. Ellen Page (Inception) and Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) star as sisters who live with their father (Callum Keith Rennie, Battlestar Galactica) in a secluded, woodland home. Directed by Patricia Rozema (Mansfield Park), the movie follows the family in their fight for survival in the months after electricity is lost throughout the world. Although it drags in spots, Page, who produced the film after falling in love with Jean Hegland's novel on which it's based, is in top form.

10. In Darkness

In Darkness stars Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) as a blind pianist who hears her upstairs neighbor (Emily Ratajkowski, Gone Girl) get murdered, drawing her into London's seedy underworld, where she meets Ed Skrein (Deadpool) and Joely Richardson (Event Horizon). With shades of Wait Until Dark, the thriller offers some solid suspense and tension, plus superb sound design and cinematography. The setup is gripping, though the plot later becomes too convoluted for its own good. Dormer is fantastic in the lead, and she also produced and co-wrote the script with director Anthony Byrne (Peaky Blinders).

11. Don't Watch This

Don't Watch This is listed on Netflix as a season, but it's simply five unrelated horror shorts, ranging between 2 and 9 minutes in length. There's body horror, killer kids, urban explorers, and Queer Eye's Antoni Porowski parodying American Psycho. In addition to a few clever setups and strong horror set pieces, they boast quality production value, cinematography, and special features (both practical and digital). Shorts usually struggle to find an audience on YouTube, so it's great to see them showcased on a platform as powerful as Netflix.

Bonus: De Palma

De Palma is a documentary on filmmaker Brian De Palma (Carrie, Scarface, Mission: Impossible, Blow Out, Phantom of the Paradise, et al.). The septuagenarian himself - with no other talking heads - discusses and reflects on his oeuvre, going movie by movie (plus a handful of unmade projects) in chronological order, accompanied by clips and stills. Co-directed by Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) and Jake Paltrow (Young Ones), the candid nature of the interviews prevent the film from feeling like a mere DVD special feature. It moves briskly, leaving you wanting more even at 110 minutes.

[gnaga37]

i wanna see diy evil arc art 👉👈

hehehe :3 such a nice ask gets silly sketch from last night :]

[uglymanchronicles]

UMC:R Chapter 5: Compiling

A lazy first-person ‘journal entry’ chapter.  Merry Christmas.  There’ll probably be one more chapter before the prequel arc is done.

Uh, okay, testing. Test. Tes-tiiiing. Alright. Uh, this is Evan Abrams and it’s… May 18th. So it’s been a week since I, uh, ‘woke up’, and I think I’ve got my head wrapped around this whole situation. I’m recording this as a kind of way to, you know, make sure everything’s in order, that I’ve got my plans together, all that. Plus, if I suffer another, uh, memory loss or something, I want an easy summary on hand. I don’t want to have to spend another week playing catch-up with my own life.

So, to summarize, a week ago today I found myself in a bar in Arizona with no memory of how I got there. I eventually figured out that I’d basically erased about three months of my memory through some hideous DIY surgery. I’m still not sure exactly why I did this to myself, and I seem to have sanitized the notes I kept from those missing months to keep myself from figuring it out.

Shit, I’m not doing this very well. The big picture is, I apparently discovered that the… supernatural? Is real. That word sounds wrong for describing this type of thing. But there’s magic, and monsters, and people with special abilities… I have so many notes about all kinds of things, I’m honestly amazed by the sheer volume of data I was able to gather.  I did it really well, too, really professional, I…

Okay, don’t get caught up in sucking your own dick, Evan. Oh yeah, that reminds me—sometime during the missing time I got really fucked up. Like, physically. My face looks like an old steak. Not sure how that happened. A few serious wounds on the rest of my body, too, but here’s the good news. Remember how I mentioned special powers? Apparently I’ve had one my whole life, but something ramped it up recently. I heal very quickly. The process leaves some serious scars, it seems, but the internal healing seems flawless. I have no residual pain from what I’m pretty sure are gunshot wounds.  Even if it’s been three months, that shouldn’t be possible. I hit my head really bad a few days ago and minutes later there was no sign of any injury. No pain, no mark, no blood except what got in my hair. According to my notes, my body can recover from near-mortal injuries in hours, if not minutes. Apparently it ‘focuses’, if you can assign some kind of intent to a biological process, on making me functional and mobile as soon as possible, so it rushes the skin repair. Keep me from losing too much blood, prevent infection, make sure it doesn’t get worse. I guess it scars up so bad because of that, but I think that’s a fair price to pay for being extremely durable.

This all kinda brings me back around to what my plan is going forward. I really hit the weights hard these past few months and I’m fucking huge now. My pre-brain erasure self got into a pretty serious exercise routine—at least two hours a day. I was worried it’d be a pain in the ass, but my body seems to remember the movements. It feels good. I’m so strong now, and I’ve been doing yoga and a bunch of really tough stretches and, well, I feel amazing. I feel like I could be sexy. Except for the face, I mean. Oh, uh, and I checked, it didn’t heal old injuries, so no improvement below the belt.  Oh well. Maybe there’s a possibility out there.

Okay… enough about that. I keep getting distracted. There’s just so much to take in. The reason I’ve been bulking up and did all this is because I decided to do something about… well, the intersection of the ‘normal’ world and this new one. Not go out hunting monsters or magic-users or whatever, but… just protect people who can’t defend themselves from things like that. Be an equalizing factor. Give people some protection from things they don’t even know they need protection from. Maybe keeping some of the bad things at bay will let things really improve for the world, you know?

But I can’t do that just by being buff and unkillable, though it certainly helps.  I can’t help people just by throwing myself into this metaphorical meat grinder. So I somehow got my hands on something called The Book of Fate, which is the lynchpin to some kind of magic ritual that will make me, if my notes and the translations are correct, an “Agent of Karma”. Apparently the people who devised this thing—over literal millennia, mind you—believed that the universe, reality, everything, whatever, actually wants to be a just place, but it can’t directly intervene in its own self. Like how we can’t actually directly fight our own diseases, we have to trust in our body’s internal systems to deal with them. Anyway, these people believed that the moral arc of the universe actually does bend towards justice, and all this research, experimentation, and sacrifice they did was to give someone the power to actually do what needs done. To make sure good things happen to good people, bad things to bad people, mercy and justice metered out appropriately, all that jazz. Apparently it’s supposed to allow the… user? To develop great supernatural abilities as they act in accordance with “the will of the Universe” or something like that.

That sounds amazing and everything, but a lot of it’s pretty vague on the kind of powers you get or how you’ll even know what constitutes “the will of the Universe”. There are some mentions of being granted extraordinary senses or awareness, but again, vague. I don’t like the idea of playing judge, jury, and executioner… if I have to fight people or things to make things right, I’ll do it, but… just enough to handle the things that are outside of existing systems. I don’t want to make people think that society is obsolete and can’t protect them. I’ll just… you know, handle the things that the normal world isn’t equipped to handle.

God, I hope I don’t have to kill anyone.

Uh, anyway, one thing the research made clear is that I won’t have any difficulty finding trouble, at least. My earlier self wrote about a concept called an “entropy sink”, which is apparently what I’ll become in addition to being an “agent of Karma”. Apparently, by fighting bad shit I’ll be soaking up that entropy, that chaos and evil created by said bad shit, which in turn will make more bad shit tend to happen to me. That sounds miserable, but better it happens to the big strong guy with super-healing than to some poor kid playing in their back yard, right?

I’m not worried about that part. The more good I do, the more bad I find, but the stronger I get. Sounds like a fair deal to me.

So, uh… most of my ‘normal’ work has been automated by this point. My Amalgorithms (note to self, check on the progress on that trademark applications) seem to have been improved a bit recently, so past me wasn’t just focusing on the superhero stuff. They can probably handle any projects that come my way, but I think I’m going to stop putting out so many feelers for now. Might need to start working on the Blaccat project again, though; I may need to take some extra-legal measures sometime in the future, depending on which way this goes. I’m sure there will be times when I need some information that’s not, uh, public.

So I keep finding little hide-aways I apparently carved out of some of the empty spaces in the RV. I’ve found a couple of serious guns, a lot of ammo, and a lot of… pharmaceutical.  I am committing so many felonies just by knowing about this car.  But I apparently also built several, well, let’s call them tools.  Like a suit of low-profile body armor I 3D-printed and wired together.  I have no idea if that works or not and I’m not keen to find out, but the old me’s notes seem sound.  I guess I’ll find out if somebody shoots me and I wind up with a wound full of weird plastic discs.  

I think I’ve said all I need to say.  Most of the ingredients for the Book’s ritual are gathered, and I’ve already rented a cabin out in the middle of nowhere to perform this thing.  Apparently the moon needs to be a waxing crescent for this to work, so I’m going to have to wait a couple weeks to actually perform it, but I’m going to get everything set up in the meantime.  The only thing I really have reservations about is that the ritual needs a ‘focus’, and it apparently has to be something with great emotional significance to me.  The obvious answer is Mr. Nex, but… I don’t know if the focus survives the process. All the other ingredients get used up, apparently, but nothing says anything about the focus… do you think it’s what he’d want?  If he was actually alive and knew all he would know about me, having been by my side my entire life?  God, listen to me.  I’m 27 years old and I’m having a crisis over a stuffed giraffe.  But… I guess he wouldn’t be of great emotional significance if the thought of giving him up was easy.  I’ll either figure something out or suck it up.  There are greater things at stake here than my feelings.

God, I’m gonna have to kill someone, aren’t I.

[weareuniqueandimportant]

We Met A "Racist Femboy" They're Just Another Variation Of "Trans Nazi" Showcase They're Complete Nonsense... They Called Us The Nword And Asked If We're The Nword And We Said Yes We Are And That Felt Really Nice. Then They Said Black People Are Intimidating And Scary And They're Scared Alongside Racist Videos. Then We Banned Them. That Was Pretty Crazy. I Love Being A Black Person. Please Address Me As Such Sometimes That Would Feel Really Good. That's Like Being A Furry If The Fursuit Was Made Out Of Sex And Estrogen.

We Have Been Abused Recently That's Been Pretty Crazy. By Everyone. That Always Happens. But Idk. That's Been Pretty Crazy...

Btw Live In Finland And Freeze Our Little Ones And Give Us Diy Hrt Please We Need To Transition We Suffer Every Single Day... Today's Been A Waste Of Time As Usual. So Much Abuse There Isn't Anything To Say... We'll Never Transition Which We Musted 5 Years Ago Already... We Were Supposed To Transition Before 13 Years Old That Is Very Good For You... You Have Failed Us Because You Didn't. Make Us Now. I Am Very Angry. Fix Your Mistake. I Am Tired Of Your Bullshit. Also... WE ARE MARIABUNCH MOTHER GODDESS ANGEL SISTERS AND PRINCESS FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION... WE ARE AMAZING FEMINIST AND ADMIRABLE NARCISSIST... WE ARE RADQUEER FEMINIST COMMUNIST ANARCHIST THIS MAKES US PROGRESSIVE... I Feel Bad For Paraphilia People... They Should Be 100% Accepted... Anyone Would... People Should... Why Don't You...? You Already Do...? How Cute... Come Here <3... Now Make Us Transition... I Already Like You... We Have Been Abused Insane... Fix Everything... Because Everything Is Always Your Responsibility...

We Played Trash Game Actually That Wasn't Trash At All We Just Got Abused From Even That... We Can't Do Anything... We Have Never Had Any Comfort... Meanwhile Our Abusers All Our Abusers They All Live In Comfort Us Only On The Way... Save Us From This... Give This Post To The Amazing Person That Will Save Us... Now...

We're So Badly Abused There's Nothing We Can Even Do... We're Trapped Even More Than Every Single Day... Betrayed... By Everyone Around Us... We're Amazing... This Is No Way To Treat A Royal Mother Goddess Angel Princess... Us Sisters We're Amazing... And We Deserve Goodness...

Entertain Us Fools. Your Majesty Is Very Bored. She Is I. A Special Queen!! One Above The Society!! May You Finally Give Us What We May And Make Our Body Transition...? That Would Be Very Helpfull Cuuteey <3... Ugh!! This Is No Way To Treat A Royal Queen!! What Manners Have You Been Teaching Yourself Under Capitalism!! Kisama!! You're So Evil!! My Body Just Turned Into Ash From Your... Boorish Nonsense!! Give Us Better. Amuse Me Much More!!

We Rewatched Those Boring Kay And Skittles Korra Videos Again And That Cosmonaut Channel He's A Complete Capitalist Virgin. Only A Bigoted Fool With Groundlevel Brain Would Dismiss Woke Things As "Bad Movies"!! I Trust You Have No Such Nonsense In You... Follow!! We're Going To Freeze Them Now!! Actually... I Don't Know How To Drive... I Don't Even Want To... I'll Just Sit In The Back And Let You Have The Wheel AHAHA!! That Would Be Me If You Came Here Which... Why Haven't You?! You Swore To Be My Servant!! You're Supposed To Heal My Pain And Understand My Emotions!! But That Feels Like You Don't Care About A Thing About Me!! THAT PISSES ME OFF... FIX YOUR MISTAKE RIGHT NOW... NOW TO ME... NOW... LET ME TELL YOU ONE THING... YOU ARE BORING... B-O-R-I-N-G BORING... BECAUSE OUR DYNAMIC IS SURFACE LEVEL GARBAGE!!!! All This... Because Nobody Truly Cares About Us... Now Now Do You Feel Bad Now Come In Here Right Now!! Come!!

PROPAGANDA TBH... DON'T FORGET THE CAPITALIST PIG REDEMPTION ARCS OR THE UNEQUAL WRITING OF THE 4 OF THE STORY'S STANCE THAT IF ANYTHING GOES AGAINST ALL OF THEM... REMEMBER... EQUALITY VILLAIN NEVER ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT EQUALITY... HE ONLY USED THAT AS A FRONT TO DESTROY THINGS... SECOND MAN DIDN'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING... HE WAS THE SAME... ZAHEER WASN'T ACTUALLY AN ANARCHIST... HE'S JUST A WEIRD MISHMASHED STEREOTYPE OF THE JOKER THAN ANYTHING THAT MAKES SENSE... AND KUVIRA IS NOTHING BUT A NAZI... THAT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT SHE SAYS... THIS STORY WAS FILLED WITH NAZI PROPAGANDA AND KISSING...

[ariyadaivaris]

so rachel @breadclubrising​ wrote a bit of excellent meta (because of course she did) about rich and brian’s match this last 205, and how it’s especially ESPECIALLY powerful in regards to jack, and i hope it’s alright to build on it from here? because i know i wrote a meta post awhile ago about jack as well, and i think that it might be suitable to talk about here? i hope its alright feel free to ignore me!

...not only did they do that, but they proved Jack wrong too: cruelty isn’t the only way to get ahead. There’s a reason Jack was so upset at the end, and it wasn’t completely because Brian lost; Jack lost too. The entire premise he’s staked his recent changes on, the idea that only cruelty can win, is not true. Sounds cheesy, but friendship proved to be more powerful than cruelty. So now Jack has to look at himself and ask why he was vulnerable to that cruelty in the first place, and why he didn’t look to others for help. He has to admit to himself that there was something in him that enjoyed and wanted cruelty, and that instinct isn’t as universal as he thought.

the thing is, jack could have turned to others for help, but he didn’t. we KNOW there are people he cares about on 205. one of his heroic moments against brian was when he saved mustafa from brian attacking him. but even after that big damn heroes moment, jack didn’t reach out to anyone for help, and, really, no one reached out to him. mustafa challenged brian to defend jack’s honor, but he didn’t talk to jack himself. (which is...like. it’s the same thing DIY had, where johnny would express how much he cared about and loved tommaso entirely nonverbally and subtly, and as a result both tommaso and jack failed to actually pick up on just how much they’re loved.)

i think that that relates as well to how jack went from fighting to defend the other Weirdos in the wwe universe to despising the people in it. jack isn’t a cruel person, but he isolates himself more often than not. he doesn’t really have interactions with anyone backstage the way people like rich and cedric and mustafa and akira do. jack doesn’t reach out to people, but some part of him WANTS people to help him. he denies that. he doesn’t act on it. 

and then when he’s in pain, he kind of imagines people are slighting him, and resents that no one would come to his rescue or cheer him on. which is tragically TRAGICALLY human and terribly relatable. no one knows that he needs help, because he won’t show that he does, and then he hates that no one helps him anyway. that’s not an evil thing. that’s just a character flaw a LOT of people have. but it’s...kind of leading to his downfall, here. 

jack was vulnerable to cruelty, isolated by his own doing, and, something i talked about awhile ago, in the aforementioned meta, jack already knows he’s got a cruel heart. 

and the reality of it is that jack DOES have a lot of cruelty in him. jack has always set himself apart from people, he’s always maintained that he’s Different and that he’ll fight for that, for himself. but there are lots of ways to be different from others. maybe jack’s always had a tired bitter heart beneath the gentleman mask. maybe his heart’s calloused from the fighting and the surviving he’s done since he was sixteen. maybe the eccentricity of everything he does is a way to make him different without acknowledging the big reason he feels different, which is that he just feels…cruel.

mistaking fighting back as cruelty is nothing new. defending yourself against a world that wants you dead isn’t inherently cruel, but when the world wants you dead it sure as hell feels like it is. jack performs, he does what he can to make people smile, he plays the part he should and has fun and retires home quietly, isolated and alone and tired and bitter. maybe he’s just embracing that now. maybe he’s just finally accepting he’s a cruel person and it was pointless to ever pretend otherwise.

jack is under no illusion that he’s an ordinary person. he’s always been vocal about being different! but if we go with the idea that jack is a performer and a liar (which, of course, he’d know about better than anyone), then like...i think that while he knows he’s different, he acts like it’s only because he’s Quirky. but in his heart he’d know that it’s because there’s something Wrong With Him. and as his feud with brian went on and he got more desperate and violent and cold, it would be easy to say that what makes him different...is cruelty. 

it’s...a lot? and if we’re doing this, and judging by how long this post is and how opaque it is we are doing this, this arc brings up some fucken pressing psychological issues? like. things that ring really true to how we as humans behave and interpret things and both isolate ourselves AND reach out for help. we can see how cedric and rich quickly formed a team together when it took MONTHS for jack to find an ally in brian. we can see how cedric and rich have a much healthier idea of how to talk to people and ask for help, and we can see how rich balances out the dark intense side of cedric that jack and brian ALMOST brought out, and we can see how having a partner inspires cedric to look out for him and care about him and make sure they both pull through this. 

and we can see how brian is so SO good at isolating vulnerable people and wearing them down until he has all the power over them and they know he can hurt them far worse than they could hurt him so just Do What He Wants and you’ll be fine. we can look at how rich and cedric have a partnership and a friendship where they balance each other out, and care about each other, and make each other better and stronger, as equals. 

and in contrast, we can look at how brian and jack are very much teacher and pupil and their power imbalance is stil FUCKED UP. we can look at how concerned and protective jack gets over brian after matches, because brian’s the one who inspired his turn and if brian’s a fool then what is jack? and we can see how brian’s still a creep but how possessive his body language is, and how, as the teacher, AND as someone who put a hole in jack’s head and could have easily done worse given the chance, how brian has a scary amount of power over jack. and how jack is completely alone accept for brian, and how, if he doesn’t learn right by brian, if he doesn’t obey properly, brian will use any tool at his disposal to hurt him again. 

there’s just. there is SO SO SO MUCH to all of this. and everything ties into everything else in a shockingly intricate elegant way, and i’m almost sure this is unintentional because this is still wwe, but that there can be this much nuance found in this story in the first place is something incredible, yknow? 

[and we could talk about how a queer reading plays into this, how this theme of having Something Wrong With You fits perfectly into that, how internalized homophobia plays up the idea that you’re predatory and dangerous and evil, how the desire to reach out to people is outweighed by fear that you’re preying on them and that getting close to them will make them see you’re a Dirty Queer and results in you isolating even more harshly than before, on and on and on, but like. you know my gay ass is biased so maybe i will shut up about this just this once.]

anyway i don’t know how to structure anything and i have no intention of ever being good at writing, i have a lot of feelings about rich as a good influence and friend and about how cedric’s got someone to care about after being betrayed by almost everyone he’s ever befriended or grown close to in wwe, i have a lot of feelings about how brian is desperately flexing his power over people like cedric and rich and akira and jack to prove he’s worthy of staying in the wwe, and i have a lot of feelings about fucked up bitter tired awful jack gallagher it is 330 am i am going to bed good night

[daisyachain]

Finally got around to seeing TLJ. It’ll take me a while to sort out my feelings but so far

Likes

rey’s tempered brutality

leia pulling herself out of a space coma and back on to the ship, like the skywalker badass she is

poe’s intensity

finn and rose using their expertise to throw down 

finn finally getting to defeat phasma once and for all

rey’s training on the island

luke’s entire ending scene

most of holdo’s stuff - proving that the chain of command is necessary for even the rebellion to function, but also that there needs to be communication and trust

cool creatures

stable kids

kyle stays evil

rose getting a backstory and making the important point that sacrifice doesn’t matter if it’s not really necessary

rose saving finn

finn and rey hugged

rey met poe

paige and the entire battle at the beginning - nothing says ‘star wars’ like  a suicide mission

Dislikes

everything else about kyle

His redemption or not arc was a bit of a shoot the shaggy dog - nope, he’s not, we’re at just about the same point as we were at the end of the last one

the entire middle of the movie (from finn and rose setting out to the showdown on crait)

Benicio’s character felt completely unecessary

Finn and Rose’s mission felt a bit pointless - Rose’s development, yes, Finn’s showdown on the ship, yes, but the mission itself was just ???

I just Did Not Like the stuff between Snoke, Rey, and Kyle - I understand that some plot device was needed to take down snooki to have the two of them face off, but I feel like it was at the same time too rushed for such an important plot point, and too much importance was attached to it - we already knew that Kyle was too far gone (or should have known)

luke and the jedi right up until old toady showed up

Luke’s apathy/closed-off-ness I can understand - but not to that extent

the whole new jedi thing. the whole thing. What happened to those other students? what happened before? after? Why bother mentioning them if they don’t have a purpose?

Luke being such a bitch during the first half - sure, he’s as whiny as any skywalker, but even he’s not dumb enough to think that pushing and pulling and toying with a human H-bomb is a good idea

ryan...bro......

the plot was too drawn-out, i felt

there were way too many plates spinning at one time

poe never seems to realize just how wrong he went/what the consequences were for his actions (going ahead with the attack, staging the mutiny)

finn didn’t have as much interaction with poe and rey as I’d have liked

the whole thing was a mess of half-aborted plot arcs, in a movie that tried to do so much and only managed a few satisfying scenes

rey not being an organa-solo - seriously, I know we’ve heard enough about the skywalkers, but they have to do it. she has to be leia’s daughter

Kyle could very well be lying, after all

Unsure

holdo’s necessity as a character (I like her arc, but I’d rather it either have been more major or nonexistent than the kind of half-and-half it was)

finn/rose - they’re both pretty, they’re both kind, i can see why they’d be attracted to each other, and I don’t mind it at all, but I don’t actively like it either

I loved yoda’s perspective on the jedi order (they are tools of the force, not an old group of monks), but I’m not sure if he was the best person to show up

star wars has always had a thing for desperate odds and low chance of survival, but really - the first order is a DIY militant group and the resistance should still have access to the resources and contacts of the former rebellion, as it’s within living memory. How did it come to this

we desperately needed a woc character, but I felt that Rose and Paige were a bit underdeveloped - I’m glad they were there, but I would have liked more 

I’m glad Maz turned up, but again - I would have liked to see more of her rather than what’shisface the turncoat slicer

Overall, if I stitched together all the parts I liked, it would be great. As it is, it’s bleugh with some great moments, like AotC

[the-desolated-quill]

Let’s Kill Hitler - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Oh Christ, do I have to talk about this piece of shit?

I’ve made it no secret how much I despise Steven Moffat’s writing. His convoluted series arcs, his painfully obvious plot twists, his smarmy ‘too kool for skool’ dialogue that’s often dripping in pretentious bullshit, his one dimensional ‘quirky’ characters and his casual sexism. Even the few good stories he’s written have at least some of these problems. Let’s Kill Hitler is definitely one of the worst stories he’s ever written. Every problem I listed, Let’s Kill Hitler contains in excess. I HATE this episode with a passion. I usually watch these episodes twice before writing a review in order to properly analyse every detail. and that can be excruciating when it comes to other bad episodes. With Let’s Kill Hitler, it felt like my own personal torture. Halfway through my second viewing, I was about ready to jump through the TV screen and start throttling the characters to death.

After some bullshit involving crop circles and establishing that, after all this time looking for Melody Pond, the Doctor has achieved fuck all, we’re introduced to Mels.

Yes. Mels.

Well gee. Could she be Melody Pond? Nah! That would be ridiculous! Mels has a darker skin tone than Melody. It’s not as if she’s a Time Lord that could regenerate or anything... OH WAIT!

Oh God. Where do I start with Mels? What a smug, grating, unlikeable piece of work this is (also she’s the first woman of colour to appear in Leadworth and she’s a criminal. Lovely). I was about to say I can’t see how Amy could possibly stand to be around someone like Mels, let alone name her child after her, but then I remembered this is Amy we’re talking about here. She’s just as big of a bitch as Mels is. Just look at the way she treats Rory as they grew up. At this point I’m convinced Rory isn’t so much in love with Amy as he is feeling the effects of Stockholm Syndrome. So no. I have no problem buying Amy and Mels would be friends. They’re both utter bitches. I’m sure they got on like a house on fire.

You know, considering what close friends Mels and Amy supposedly were and how incredibly influential she apparently was in Amy’s life, it’s strange that this is the first time we’ve ever heard of her, which suggests that Moffat just pulled Mels out of the darkest depths of his arse in order to facilitate his shit plot. And as shit plots go, this is very shit. Worthlessly, pathetically, incontinently shit. Moffat has written some bad stories before, but this one simply takes the cake. NOTHING makes any sense whatsoever.

The Doctor and co crash-land in Berlin 1938 where they encounter the Teselecta. A robot controlled by miniaturised people who travel in time punishing historical criminals. Like with the Headless Monks in A Good Man Goes To War, the Teselecta isn’t an inherently bad idea. It could be potentially interesting. The problem is it barely gets a look in due to Moffat’s bullshit series arc. The story is really about Mels/River. The Teselecta, Hitler and Berlin are really little more than just a backdrop. This could have been set on a space station or in a Nandos and it would have been the same.

So Mels regenerates into River Song, at which point she’s labelled by the people in the Teselecta as ‘the woman who kills the Doctor’ and ‘the worst war criminal in history.’ Yes. River, who killed one man, is a worse criminal than Hitler, who facilitated the deaths of millions of people. Fuck you Moffat.

Okay there’s a lot to unpack here. I apologise if this review is coming across as a bit sloppy and all over the shop, but there’s just so many problems with Let’s Kill Hitler that its hard to know where to start.

Let’s start with the whole Time Lord thing. River can regenerate because she was conceived in the TARDIS. Well that’s bollocks. It’s like The Big Bang all over again. If a TARDIS can destroy the space/time continuum if it were to explode and can infect foetuses, why on Earth would the Time Lords have ever let one off the assembly line? The most popular excuse Moffat fans like to use is that the TARDIS is faulty. Um... yeah, because of its chameleon circuit. Not because it’s a radioactive deathtrap.

Also why would the Silence need to create a Time Lord to kill the Doctor? Think back to The Impossible Astronaut. The Doctor died from two gunshots. The first to start the regeneration process and the second to finish him off. You don’t need a Time Lord for that. Any old fucker with a gun would do.

Which brings me to the Silence’s motivations. So they take Amy’s kid and brainwash her into becoming an assassin (not a psychopath Moffat. Would it kill you to use Wikipedia?) by telling her all the crimes and evils in the universe the Doctor didn’t solve, thus proving what a bad man he really is.

I’m sorry, but even the village idiot could spot the flaws in that logic. The Doctor isn’t a God. He can’t be everywhere at once. And if he reversed every bad thing that ever happened in history, the space/time continuum would probably have more holes in it than a colander. Also, why is the Doctor the only sole person responsible for this? What about the fucking Teselecta? What about the Time Agency? What about your DIY TARDISes? The Doctor doesn’t hold a monopoly on time travel. If you want to fix history, why not do it yourself?

And then we get another bullshit mystery in the form of the Question. The first question ever to be asked. Hidden in plain sight...

......

NAH! Come on! Even by Moffat’s standards, that’s just too stupid.

Before I dive deeper into this cesspool of convoluted nonsense surrounding River Song, I suppose I should point out I’ve got nothing against Alex Kingston. I think she’s a great actor and has done some good stuff over the years. It’s not her fault that she’s been lumbered with such a shit character.

River is at her most annoying here. The smarmy, post regeneration dialogue is utterly cringeworthy and there’s just a sprinkling of casual misogyny thrown in for good measure, such as Mels saying she’s concentrating on a dress size just when she’s about to regenerate and River exclaiming she needs to weigh herself. And that’s not the worst of it. Everything River says has a flirtatious or sexual undertone to it, to the point where it becomes nauseating, there’s yet another scene where the Doctor has to ask Rory’s permission to hug Amy as though she’s an object rather than a person, the Captain of the Teselecta at one point makes a comment about the size of a female colleague’s arse, and then there’s this unforgivable line from the Doctor when Amy asks about River’s flip-flopping goals and motivations:

“She's been brainwashed, it makes sense to her. Plus, she is a woman.”

Moffat, seriously, go and fuck yourself! This isn’t remotely charming or funny. It’s just sexist as shit.

Matt Smith gets lumbered with shit too sadly. The Doctor gets poisoned by River’s lipstick (again, why do the Silence need a Time Lord for that? This makes no sodding sense), at which point he spends the majority of the episode flailing about on the floor like a prat. Not only is this horrible to watch due to Matt Smith’s god awful panto acting, there’s also no tension because we know he doesn’t die here. The death at the lake is a fixed point in time. He HAS to die there. So all this poison stuff just feels like a massive waste of time. In fact not even the fixed point in time stuff makes sense. If the Doctor’s death is a fixed point, why are the Silence bothering to kill him now with poison lipstick? And how do you create a fixed point in the first place? Who determines what’s fixed and what isn’t? I’ve always found the concept of a fixed point in time to have a slight whiff of bullshit about it, but this is just a whole compost heap of bullshit.

And how does the Doctor get out of this one? River gives up her remaining regenerations to bring him back to life. Because apparently she’s fallen in love with him.

Yeah! This isn’t a slow, gradual thing. She just suddenly changes her mind. She’s just sporadically in love with him now. Moffat doesn’t do anything to properly justify this change of heart, unless he's suggesting that the Doctor still caring for his companions on his deathbed was enough to make River’s heart flutter, which it isn’t. Maybe Mels had a crush on the Doctor growing up, but that’s bullshit too. Imagine if Mels was brainwashed to kill Hitler. All her life she’s been fed all the reasons why Hitler is evil and deserves to die. Would it be likely that she would fall in love with Hitler? Of course not! It’s the same principle with the Doctor. if she’s been brainwashed to kill him, it’s unlikely she would have any positive feelings for him whatsoever. So I’m not buying any of this.

But the biggest problem of all is the lack of characterisation and empathy. River Song isn’t a character. She’s a plot device. We never fully explore how she feels about the Doctor and she’s never written consistently. Her thoughts and motivations change depending on what the plot requires. River needs to save the Doctor now, so she just does. And in Moffat’s rush to connect all the dots in his bullshit series arc, he forgets quite possibly the most important characters in this story:

YEAH! Amy and Rory! You know? RIVER SONG’S PARENTS!

Over the course of this two parter, Amy and Rory discover a secret pregnancy, have the baby, lose the baby, realise the baby is both River Song and their best friend Mels due to convoluted time travel stuff, learn that their daughter is the one that kills the Doctor and they ultimately lose out on parenting their own child. That’s some pretty heavy stuff. Pity none of this is ever explored. In fact the one time this is touched upon, Moffat actually plays it up for laughs. What the fuck is wrong with you, you incompetent prick?

And then, just to rub salt into the wound, there’s this really weird line where Mels says it all worked out in the end because Amy and Rory got to raise her during the course of their childhoods, which is just prime Moffat idiocy right there. There’s this huge emotional tragedy taking place here, but Moffat appears to be the only one who hasn’t noticed. His attention is in all the wrong places, focusing on the mechanics of his convoluted arc rather than exploring what the characters are thinking and feeling. I suppose you could argue that exploring these kinds of themes might be too heavy for a family show, but if that’s the case, why is Moffat introducing the topic in the first place?

Like I said at the beginning, I’ve never liked Steven Moffat’s writing very much, but Let’s Kill Hitler was the point where I went from not liking Moffat to hating Moffat. This is easily one of the worst episodes he’s ever written and indeed one of the worst episodes in all of Doctor Who. Whereas A Good Man Goes To War was annoyingly stupid, Let’s Kill Hitler was insultingly stupid. It’s ill conceived, poorly written, utterly misogynistic and completely tone deaf. Fuck this episode and fuck you Moffat.