#every time i see these two all I see is a brother-sister relationship offscreen | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

skaald-of-the-hearth-fires · 4 months

Text

Y'all I've always thought it was hilarious what Anet did to warbands.

So. you have Rytlock, who in Edge of Destiny said he had "about a dozen" brothers and sisters each. so including himself, that's 25 in a warband. The wiki says a warband is 6-25 members, so Rytlock was on the high end, and average would probably be 12-18 members.

and then every warband in the game proceeds to have BARELY 6.

you have 5 options to choose from for a sparring partner. Rox's old warband had 6 members (or maybe 7). We've still never met more than one of Rytlock's 'bandmates. Almorra gets one 'bandmate mentioned by name.

most charr in the entire game, including top-ranking tribunes and imperators, are not with their warbands, do not talk about their warbands, do not go places with their warbands. Tribune Bhuer Goreblade shows up with a small handful of 'bandmates in the charr level 10 story.

You do not see groups of 12-18 charr warbands roaming around Ascalon with fascinating life stories and 'bandmate dynamics and mourning the latest one(s) who died, with mementos, with stories about how 'my sparring partner saved my life' and 'this member of the warband whom I know least of all my bandmates would die for me and they proved it last week' and 'Im unhappy with bandmate X but I would kill for them' or 'bandmates Y and Z obviously love each other. wanna join the betting pool?' and the legionnaire who confides in you about their tough decisions of who they're picking to be their second/replacement. All within the same warband.

Not even one warband like this. Much less the multiple that charr culture deserves.

Even in IBS, the, at least half-way, charr-centric story, our main focus warband is Ryland's Steel warband. Who has, predictably, 6 members. And like 10 fresh-faced, unnamed recruits who have 0 history or dynamic with the Main Cast. even the 6 named members, who have vibes and character and a bit of a dynamic, are stupid shallow. (and tbf they didn't have time to explore it much, but really?)

We do not see Bangar's 'bandmates. We do not see Rytlock's 'bandmates. We do not hear anything about Almorra's old 'bandmates. We do not see Ember Doomforge's 'bandmates. We do not see Smodur's 'bandmates. We do not see Malice's 'bandmates. We do not see Efram's 'bandmates.

We see a lot of 'cubs this' (with Rytlock and with Efram), I heard a lot of speculation about 'cubs that' in fandom spaces, we see a lot of 'ohoho relationship/mating drama' (from Rytlock/Crecia and also Almorra/Bangar). We do NOT see ANYTHING about warbands, supposedly the building-blocks of charr society.

Even the charr player's old warband is mostly disbanded/defected to Dominion.

I have yet to see any real warband dynamics in canon.

Even in the books! Rytlock's 24 'bandmates are fair game because they're offscreen. And Anet has consistently refused to show any of them. Even Rytlock's dynamic with Crecia is pretty much just "we're old exes" and never "we grew up together. we fought together. our bonds are deeper than those of biology, than the fact we have a cub. I stabbed you once and you knew I didn't mean it because we are 'bandmates." Sure, Crecia mentions once "ohoho we used to see the ice elementals here as cubs."

But in the books! Sea of Sorrows for instance! iirc the majority of Sykax's warband is unnamed! Ember Doomforge, again, no mentions of warband! Rytlock nor Malice nor Almorra talk about inter-warband relations!

we never see any warbands larger than 6 members.

And this is all because, OBVIOUSLY, who wants to come up with 12-18 whole characters when it's just the one who's relevant to the story? Coming up with 6 is hard enough it only happens in special occasions. which doesn't include the legit actual player character.

(the player character, whose warband is decimated to TWO flaming members (including yourself!!) in the tutorial, and! yay! fun lorebuilding! you get to rebuild the warband. this adds a flaming total of TWO members. now you're at flaming four. FLAMING FANTASTIC. the player-flaming-character gets FOUR 'bandmates. this is atrocious!! and tbf if you compile all the options across all the branches you might end up in the (low end, probably) of 12-18. which is fair!)

but like. I do sympathize. I really do. characters are hard. names especially! which would be the bare minimum yknow. have an 18-member warband with zero dialogue but! they do have names! that wander around Ascalon. not even an event chain just average-sized warband representation PLEASE.

like. I did it myself. I invented a warband and I BARELY got them to 6 members. I had name, gender, profession for each of them. they were minor characters so they didn't even get the development that Ryland's Steel got. names, professions and the vibes from that. I felt so bad for only giving them 6 bc I was reinforcing the stereotype!!

but, so, uhhhh

I have been handed an OC. from a friend. who has given me full creative license to write abt them in my story.

I gave him 23 'bandmates. They all have names and genders. They're split up into who is whose sparring partner and who bunks with whom. That is all.

I also get VibesTM from each member's name. I'm slowly building relationship maps. (mostly just. from character A's PoV, ranking who they are closest with. Then doing it from Character B's PoV. it's WILDLY fascinating.) I have three charr 'bandmates who have their own little niche, they three are besties, they're each other's sparring partners and bunkmates and everybody (main relevant characters at least) knows them as 'those three'. and I know their names. none of the characters I'm writing about know them very well (relative to the rest of the warband ofc. ofc each one would DIE for them and probably knows their struggles and combat strengths and weak points and so on. but I haven't invented any of those yet) and that's all. I don't have a single bit of info about them except that and the vibes of each name. but hey!!!! WARBAND DYNAMICS MY BELOVED!?!!

#charr #warband #ascalon #gw2 charr #gw2 #rytlock brimstone #bangar ruinbringer #almorra soulkeeper #malice swordshadow #bhuer goreblade #ryland steelcatcher #steel warband #rox #crecia stoneglow #efram #I don't remember that guy's last name and I'm about to head to bed sorry

63 notes · View notes

ifwebefriends · 2 years

Text

Gravity Falls Rewatch S1E12 A Tale of Two Stans

Honestly I’m so glad they took an entire episode to address all of Stan’s mysteries, especially after what we learned about him last episode

AWWWWWWW I LOVE BABY STANS ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Stan punches a perfect triangle in the wood oooo spooky

There’s a photo in the intro now with Ford putting away Journal 1!

Stan is just so happy to see his brother again :)

FORD SPEAKING WOOOOOOO LETS GET IT

Ayo new fictional crush acquired???

Me hearing Ford’s voice for the first time at age 13: CAVE JOHNSON FROM PORTAL 2?!?!

If I had a nickel for every character voiced by JK Simmons who has a strong association with portals I’d have two (three?) nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?

Damn Ford got some sick moves get it old man

Dipper and Mabel’s grandparent is named Shermie

“I have a niece and nephew?” BRO 🥺🥺🥺🥺

“I like this kid. She’s weird” :))))

Dipper really embodying the fandom with his “you’re the author of the journals” comment

“You’ve read my journals?” Nah he’s just read the one

Mabel being a good sister and comforting Dipper through this almost-throwing up episode :)

We got the Stanley-Stanford name swap reveal folks!!!!!!

Soos canonically writes fanfic about Grunkle Stan

Stan’s mom was a fake psychic, maybe explaining him seeing through Gideon’s lies?

“Ford had a birth defect leading to him being obsessed with sci-fi and mystery” is so fucking based fr

It looks like Ford picked a fashion style as a kid and STUCK with it, good for him

Stan really was like that even as a kid lmao

I love the baby Stan twins’ relationship

It really was a mistake, Stan really loves his brother and didn’t mean to ruin things for him :(

Baby Shermie!

Stan’s dad is kind of a dick

Why was Ford writing in Journal 1? I thought that one was full?

I want to read Ford’s thesis

Octavia the 8-legged cow was in one of Ford’s books!

Okay so Gravity Falls has just always been like thatTM

Looks like one of Wendy’s relatives helped to build the Mystery Shack!

Dipper fanboying over the journals is something I needed in my life

Ford has some great art skills fr

Baby shapeshifter!

“It was finally a place where I felt at home” ayo…….LGBT-coded??

Ford and McGucket were college buddies!!

McGucket could have been Steve Jobs?!?

Looks like we have relatives to the “get him get him” guy

Ford and Stan were both at places at some point in their lives where they “didn’t need anyone”

The Mystery Shack address is 618 Gopher Road (there’s that number 618 again!)

Stan and Ford didn’t talk for over 10 years since Stan got kicked out :(

“Have you come to steal my eyes?!” Is that what the Society of the Blind Eye was doing at first?!?

“Let’s talk this through, okay?” Stan still cares, he always has 🥺🥺🥺🥺

“I’ve been around the world” I want to know how many countries Stan has been to

I want to know how Gideon found Journal 2

Stan’s tattoo is actually a burn mark!!!!

Stanley was sleeping in the Carpet Diem room!!!!

Young Lazy Susan and how her eye got lazy!

Young Blubs!

Young “get him get him” guy!

The cash register reads “6.18”

Early version of Dipper’s hat!

Ford really channeling that Cave Johnson spirit for that scene where he shooed out the feds

Soos and Wendy offscreen friendship!!

Loved Stan and Ford’s last interaction before they got all mean and bitter

Mabel worrying about the future! :(

Great episode!! One of my favorites!

I AM VERY VERY NORMAL ABOUT GRUNKLE FORD OKAY????????

#bubbles rewatches gravity falls #gravity falls #a tale of two stans #grunkle ford

13 notes · View notes

bollywood143114 · 1 year

Text

Once Aishwarya Rai left the house to have a relationship with Salman, she ruined everything in one night

Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai love storyAishwarya Rai and Salman Khan's love story) is one of those stories of the Bollywood industry, whose stories were famous even yesterday, are still famous today and will become a topic of discussion among people in the days to come. Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai's romance blossomed in the 90s, but never reached the brink of marriage. We gave our hearts Salman Aishwarya's love story started with Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan's break up on the streets of Mumbai. There was an uproar over this and strong accusations were made against each other. How Salman fell in love with Aishwarya These were the days when Salman Khan's career was skyrocketing and Aishwarya Rai entered the Bollywood industry by winning the title of Miss World. At that time, one day an article appeared in a film magazine, where it was said that Salman Khan was madly in love with actress Somi Ali and even talked about marrying her, but during those days Salman's eyes fell on Aishwarya. I gave my heart to Aishwarya at first sight. Leaving Somi, Salman's heart fell on Aishwarya In fact, Somi revealed this in an interview. He said that his and Salman's relationship broke up because of Aishwarya. After that, the love story of Salman and Aishwarya is seen in the corridors of Bollywood every day. It was also said that Salman did the film because of Aishwarya. emotion I refused to work. Because the makers offered him the role of Aishwarya's brother, which Salman didn't like and Chandrachud Singh did the role. Aishwarya and Salman left home in love Both Salman and Aishwarya were at the height of their careers at this time. With the flash of stardom, Aishwarya and Salman's closeness also grew. At that time, Salman wanted to do a film with Aishwarya. In such a situation, he recommended the producers to cast Aishwarya as the lead actress. Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed by Salman We gave our hearts I cast Aishwarya. Salman Khan and Aishwarya's pairing in this film was loved by people not only onscreen but also offscreen, now both are being supported together. The chemistry of the two was caught on media cameras. Sometimes articles about both of them have been published in newspapers. But despite all this, Aishwarya's parents did not accept this relationship at all. He also advises Aishwarya to stay away from Salman, but neither Salman nor Aishwarya listens… Not only that, but both get angry and leave the house. When Salman threatened Aishwarya After some time both started dating each other. During this time Salman also proposed marriage to Aishwarya, but seeing her career, Aishwarya did not agree to get married immediately. Enraged by this, Salman reaches Aishwarya's house in the middle of the night, but Aish doesn't open the door… After that, an angry Salman Khan bangs on the door all night and threatens to jump from the 19th floor. Aishwarya did not bow down to Salman's anger and did not listen to a single word of Salman. Aishwarya was scared to see this form of Salman Khan. After that, her relationship with Salman broke up and the distance gradually increased. Bitterness also increases between the two when their relationship ends. There was also a time when Aishwarya's father filed a police case against Salman Khan. In terms of bravery, younger sister Asfi is ahead of Urfi, you will be surprised when you see the picture DISCLAIMER Thanks For Visit Our Site www.bollywoodofindia.com . We’ve taken all measures to insure that the information handed in this composition and on our social media platform is believable, vindicated and sourced from other Big media Houses. For any feedback or complaint, reach out to us at [email protected] Read the full article

0 notes

waitimcomingtoo · 4 years

Text

Oh My God, They Were Roommates

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Synopsis: You’re tired of denying your relationship in every interview, but Tom insists on keeping it a secret. Lucky for you, he’s terrible at keeping secrets

Masterlist

Secretly dating Tom Holland was not an easy job. You were his on and offscreen girlfriend, no people naturally wanted you to be together in real life. Towards the beginning of your relationship, you both agreed to keep it private. You’d managed to deny relationship rumors for over a year until you discovered something:

You and Tom were really really bad at keeping it a secret.

Far too many times, you’d do or say something that confirmed your relationship. And far too many times, you’d have to go on twitter to say it was a joke and that you and Tom were just friends. You hated lying to your fans about the nature of your relationship, and Tom wasn’t fond of it either. You didn’t want to lie anymore. You were ready for the world to know. And yet, the worst secret keeper in Hollywood was determined to keep it a secret.

It all started with social media.

You had stirred up rumors that you and Tom were dating when you dyed your hair red after being cast as MJ and posted a photo of it, captioning it “Face it tiger…”. Tom couldn’t help himself from commenting “I hit the jackpot.” The Spider-Man and MJ reference did not go over people’s heads and the rumors were born.

“This would be such a cute way to confirm our relation.” You smiled as your scrolled through the comments of your picture. “We should tell them.”

“Not yet, darling. I’m not ready for the world to know.” Tom said, much to your disappointment.

“Okay. No, I get it.” You gave him a small smile and kissed his cheek, dropping the subject.

A few weeks later, you sent out a tweet that read, “Tom just hit a pothole so hard that he’s American now.”, leaving fans to wonder why you were together on your day off.

“They caught us. They know we’re on a date.” You said from the passenger seat.

“Friends can hang out on days off. That doesn’t mean we’re a couple.” Tom replied and you looked over at him.

“But we are a couple.” You reminded him, a little hurt at his phrasing.

“They don’t need to know that. I wouldn’t even respond to it. Don’t feed the flame.” Tom shrugged and shot you a smile. You faked a smile back and nodded.

“You’re right. I won’t respond.” You put your phone down and looked out the window, hoping he couldn’t sense your disappointment.

Then, it escalated to interviews.

“Does your friendship ever interfere with shooting the romantic scenes? Like, were you ever shooting a cuddling scene or a date scene where you were grossed out because you had to do romantic things with your friend?” The interviewer asked. You couldn’t help but laugh at the irony.

“Was it weird to do romantic things with my friend Tom? That’s a great question.” You said and Tom laughed from beside you, also seeing the irony. “It was pretty weird since we are such good friends.”

“The best of friends.” Tom egged on.

“Definitely.” You gave an over exaggerated nod. “He’s like family to me.”

“Like brother and sister.” Tom added and you burst out laughing. Tom laughed at your reaction and suddenly, you’re both hunched over laughing while the interviewer watched with a confused smile.

“I don’t think it was weird.” You said after you calmed down. “I have such a respect for Tom and I really admire his work as an actor, and I assume he feels the same for me-“

“More or less.” Tom joked.

“-so it wasn’t too bad.” You finished and elbowed him slightly.

“Was the first time you kissed awkward?” The interviewer asked.

“In the movie or-“ Tom began, forgetting the rest of the world didn’t know that you’d have a first kiss as Peter and MJ and a first kiss as a couple.

“No, it wasn’t awkward.” You quickly cut him off before he blew your cover. “At the end of the day, we’re both professionals and it’s just kissing. We do it all the time now.”

“Sometimes off screen. And that’s not a joke.” Tom brought up. “Especially during filming, I would sometimes forget we weren’t actually together and I’d walk into a room and kiss her.”

You smiled at the memory, remembering all the stolen kisses before you’d made it official.

“How did everyone else react?” The interviewer asked.

“They acted like it was completely normal.” You answered.

“Because for us, it was.” Tom shrugged.

“I will say, it did get complicated kissing you when were were shooting our reunion scene in Endgame because I had to be careful of your balls.” You said.

“What?” Tom nearly gasped. You realized how it sounded and slapped a hand over your mouth.

“Motion sensor balls. The little white motion sensor balls.” You quickly explained. “Oh my God. I meant the balls on the motion caption suit.”

“I was about to say.” Tom laughed at your accident innuendo.

“Ask the next question, please.” You pleaded to get out of the awkward moment.

“So did you guys meet through this movie?” The interviewer saved you.

“Yes. We met while filming Infinity War when no one had any idea our characters were going to date.” You answered confidently to redeem yourself.

“We were always paired together for junkets and she gradually became my best friend. Sorry Haz.” Tom apologized to the camera.

“It’s great that you guys were able to click. Your chemistry in the movie is really outstanding.” The interviewer complimented. “I’m sure that’s due to the friendship you’ve built off screen.”

“Yeah, I mean it always helps to be friends with your scene partner. And when we would have to spend hours in a prop bed together, cuddling and kissing while they got the perfect shot, it made us even closer. And as for the chemistry, I guess it kinda happened naturally.” You smiled shyly.

“Here’s a clip from the upcoming film.” The interview said to the camera. A scene from Far From Home played where Peter and MJ awkwardly yet adorably flirting with each other on the London Bridge. You couldn’t help but lovingly watch Tom as the clip played, overly proud of his job in the film.

“We do have great chemistry.” Tom nodded after the clip played. “We should date.” He added and you laughed.

“The fans would love that. I’m sure you’ve seen the campaigns online for you two to get together.” The interviewer remarked.

“We’ve seen it. Or at least, I have. Have you?” You asked Tom.

“I started the campaign.” Tom deadpanned.

“Oh, okay.” You nodded causally. You both kept a straight face for as long as you could before you burst into laughter. You curled into Toms side and laughed until your sides hurt.

“So is this really just a friendship? Nothing more?” The interviewer asked skeptically.

“No. We’re just really good friends.” Tom said firmly. You smile slowly faded and you gave a curt nod. For the rest of the interview, you were in autopilot. Every time you thought Tom was ready to tell the world, he hit you with the “just friends” line. It wasn’t him calling you “friend” that hurt you. It was him saying “just”. Every time he said it, he chipped into your heart. It hurt you to hear him play your relationship off as “just” anything.

At the next interview with Jimmy Kimmel, you had a bigger slip than usual.

“I love the pants Tom.” Jimmy complimented a few minutes into the interview. “But I do miss you in the Spiderman suit.”

“Oh, thank you.” Tom smiled and smoothed out his grey patterned pants. “My girlfriend picked them out.” He said causally. His eyes widened and you did your best to keep a neutral expression.

“Girlfriend?” Jimmy asked with a cheeky smile.

“Oh, Uh, yeah. I’ve been seeing someone for a while now. I wasn’t supposed to let that slip so no one tell her.” Tom grimaced before looking into the camera. “Sorry, baby. She is really good at fashion though. She picked out most of my outfits for the press tour.”

“Well I have to say, your girlfriend has great taste.” Jimmy said.

“Thank you.” You answered, then cleared your throat to cover up the slip up. Tom caught your mistake and stifled a laugh.

“What was that, Y/n?” Tom asked coyly, knowing full well what you had accidentally said.

“I said she’s gonna kill you.” You lied through a smile.

“You’ve met her?” Jimmy asked you and you thought quickly on your feet.

“Oh yes. I know her very well.” You nodded. It wasn’t a total lie. You knew yourself pretty well.

“So you guys are friends?” Jimmy continued.

“No. I cannot stand that girl.” You laughed and Tom rolled his eyes. If he wasn’t gonna admit that his girlfriend was you, you were gonna have some fun.

“Here we go.” Tom sighed and the audience laughed.

“Why not?” Jimmy inquired.

“Because all she does is talk about herself.” You said. Tom laughed the irony and you giggled yourself.

“Well what about you? Do you have a boyfriend?” Jimmy asked.

“I do have a boyfriend but he’s the worst.” You confirmed. Tom gave you a half cracked smile.

“What?” He asked, practically daring you to go on.

“Why do you say that?” Jimmy laughed.

“He can’t keep a secret to save his life.” You shrugged. “Except the one. He’s really good at keeping one.”

Tom knew exactly what you were doing and he couldn’t even blame you. He didn’t say anything, but patted your knee and left his hand there.

“So he’s like Tom then?” Jimmy said. “Tom, you’ve become infamous in Hollywood as being loose lipped.”

“He is not loose lipped, his lips are very nice.” You defended and Tom smiled shyly. “He just gets too excited and lets things slip.”

“Like you during that one scene.” Tom spoke up. You knew what he was talking about and your face reddened.

“Stop.” You warned.

“What did she let slip?” Jimmy wondered.

“Oh My God. This story is so embarrassing.” You whined as you covered your face in your hands. Tom laughed at your discomfort and took your hand.

“We were shooting the “steamy”, as one night call it, scene in the film and she was supposed to say “Peter”, you know my characters name, in like a breathy voice.” Tom explained.

“I’d like to preface that this was an accident.” You cut in.

“So we’re shooting the scene and right in my ear she goes “Tom…I mean Peter”. But the whole thing comes out in like a moan and I thought it was the funniest thing ever.” Tom told the story.

“It was so embarrassing! The whole crew heard.” You groaned while Tom and the audience laughed at your expense.

You and Tom walked into your shared hotel room after the interview and allowed yourselves to relax. While you were setting your purse down on the bed, Tom came behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist. You leaned into his embrace and smiled.

“That went a lot better than I thought. If people think we’re dating other people, they’ll stop asking us if we’re together. This will totally throw them off.” Tom said and he kissed your temple. Your smile dropped as you turned around in his arms.

“Or, we could use this as an opportunity to tell them the truth about us. They know you have a girlfriend. Why not tell them that girlfriend is me?” You asked.

“Because my fans will come at you with a fiery vengeance. It’s better if they think you’re just my best friend. Trust me, darling, you don’t want them to know it’s you.” Tom tilted your chin up to look at him.

“And trust me, Tom, I do.” You said, and left his embrace.

The next day, you pretended like nothing happened for the sake of all the junkets you had to get through. You could tell Tom was sorry from the guilty looks he kept giving you, but you wouldn’t look back at him.

“What’s the best part of the press tour?” The interviewer asked.

“Getting to spend all day with my best friend.” You laud the word on thick as you wrapped your arms around Toms neck and covered his cheek in kisses. He got your point and let you do it as his way of apologizing. The interviewer laughed along, knowing the effect your actions would have on the fans.

“It’s great that you two are best friends. Is this press tour similar to the Homecoming one where you had to spend all day with Robert?” Tom was asked.

“That was a lot different. Robert has more of a godfather role in my life. I can go to him for advice, but I can’t play table tennis with him at three am in the hotel lobby like I can with Y/n.” Tom answered. You were warmed back up to him and gave him a gentle smile.

“And what’s your relationship with him like?” The interviewer asked you.

“He’s like my dad. He used to carry bandaids around just because I got hurt so much on set.” You replied.

“I remember that. He was always prepared. I went to Robert once when I was sick and he hooked me up to this crazy machine. I was super scared but it’s Robert Downey Jr., so I wasn’t gonna say no.” Tom chimed in.

“He makes Marvel lower your paycheck every time you say no to him.” You joked.

“Exactly. So I let him hook me up to it and it totally cured me. I was better in 15 minutes.” Tom continued.

“Aw. That’s so funny to think of Robert playing doctor on set. I guess your relationship with him is similar to Tony’s relationship with Peter?” The interview asked Tom.

“Definitely, definitely. Minus the fighting crime together and dying in his arms, obviously.” Tom replied.

“Mr. Junior, I don’t feel so good.” You cut in with a laugh. Tom and the interviewer stopped and looked at you.

“What?” Tom asked with a growing smile.

“I said Mr. Junior, I don’t feel so good. Like Mr. Stark I don’t feel so good.” You explained. You looked at Tom in confusion as he and the interviewer shared a look.

“What?” Tom repeated.

“Because you said your relationship was similar so I said-“ You began.

“No, I heard what you said.” Tom cut you off. “Who’s Mr. Junior?”

“Robert.” You replied, still confused why everyone was making a big deal.

“It’s Mr. Downey.” Tom said and began to laugh.

“Why would it be Mr. Downey? You wouldn’t be Mr. Stanley. It’s the last name. Mr. Junior.” You said again, feeling yourself growing frustrated.

“Yes, and his last name is Downey. My middle name is Stanley.” Tom explained.

You sat in silence for a moment, contemplating what Tom was saying.

“Did you think his last name was Junior?” Tom broke the silence.

“No?” You said as more of a question than a statement.

“Have you seriously thought Roberts last name was Junior this entire time?” The interviewer asked, also laughing at you.

“I thought Downey was his middle name!” You shrieked.

“What?!” Tom asked and burst into laughter. You felt your face redden as the crew laughed at you as well.

“I thought he was Robert Downey Junior!” You said each name separately. “I thought he just used his full name like Neil Patrick Harris.”

“No.” Tom said in exasperation. “His fathers also named Robert so he’s Robert Downey Jr.”

“But he goes by RDJ! That implies that the “J” is a part of his initials.” You exclaimed.

“I cannot believe we’re having this conversation right now.” Tom said as he wiped a happy tear from his eye.

“How did you think I feel?” You asked.

“I can’t handle this. You’re so ridiculous.” Tom choked out through his laughter. “I love you.” You restrained yourself from telling him you loved him back, knowing you couldn’t possibly make it sound platonic.

“Aw.” The interviewer gushed. “You two are such cute friends.”

“Yeah.” You gave a tight lipped smile. “Friends.”

As the press tour neared its end, your ability to keep the secret worsened.

Tom gave you a quick kiss on the lips before the cameras started rolling. The interviewer almost caught it, but you pulled away quickly before he could.

“What is that?” Tom asked as you bite into something orange sometime during the junket.

“A carrot.” You shrugged as your chewed.

“Where did you get carrots?” Tom laughed in confusion.

“The snack table outside.” You replied as you ate another one.

“There’s a snack table? Oh, that’s why you tasted like peppers.” He realized. Neither of you realized what he said but the interviewer raised an eyebrow.

“You know I can’t resist some peppy boys.” You told him. “That better be cut out.” You warned the camera.

“You say that every interview.” Tom pointed out.

“It feels warranted every interview.” You giggled. “You know I debated stealing some of the pineapple from the snack table to take home?”

“Of course you did. You and your smoothies.” Tom rolled his eyes.

“I love smoothies! Is that a crime?” You turned in your seat to ask him.

“Yes! You drink a smoothie every morning and then get hungry twenty minutes later. You guys, she does not eat enough.” Tom said to the camera.

“It’s better than you and your thirty jars of jelly in the refrigerator because someone can’t go a day without toast.” You shot back.

“Oh, do you guys live together?” The interviewer asked in surprise.

You and Tom blinked in surprise at accidentally revealing that fact.

“Uhh, yeah. We’re um…” You started.

“Roommates.” Tom said quickly. “I live in the UK but I work mainly in the States, so I live with Y/n when I’m here.”

“Roommates? How cute.” The interviewer smiled.

“Just adorable.” You mumbled.

You dropped your purse on the hotel bed that night and put you hands on your hips. Without even looking at you, Tom could sense you anger. He sheepishly looked up at you and gave you a weak grin.

“I’m sorry?” He offered.

“For what?” You demanded.

“I don’t know. You haven’t told me yet.” He said.

“Roommates? You told him we were roommates?” You asked, not bothering to mask the hurt in your voice.

“Well why else would we live together?” Tom defended his answer.

“I don’t know, maybe because we’ve been in a committed relationship for over a year.” You grumbled. Tom heard the frustration in your voice and and put a gentle hand on your arm.

“But they don’t know that, darling.” He said softly.

“But I want them too. You keep pushing back telling our fans. You said we’d tell them before the press tour.” You said, feelings tears rise to your eyes.

“Yes, but then I realized all the interviews would focus on our relationship and not the movie.” Tom reminded you. “We needed to promote the movie.”

“No one needs to promote Marvel movies! They’re Marvel movies!” You exclaimed.

“I don’t understand why you’re so upset over this, sweetheart. We agreed not to tell our fans.” Tom tried to talk you down.

“We agreed not to tell our fans right away. It’s been a year Tom. Do you not want them to know?” You sighed.

“I like my privacy, love. I don’t want the world intruding on us. I love you too much to share.” Tom cupped your face in his hands but you looked away.

“You say you love me, but tell the world I’m nothing but a best friend.” You said sadly. “Or worse, a roommate.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, angel. I’m sorry.” Tom apologized. You dropped the subject and went to bed without another word. You were cold towards Tom all the next day until your interview that night, the last of the press tour.

The media frenzy of rumors came to an end during a game of Charades on Jimmy Fallon. You were on Jimmy’s team, leaving Tom and Benedict as your opponents. You shot flirty banter back and forth all game until finally, your team won.

“Haha.” You pointed a jeering finger at Tom as you got off the couch and approaching him. He had his bottom lip between his teeth as he watched you with pure joy. “Just like the War of 1812, the British lost-“ You couldn’t finish your burn because Tom had pulled you into a kiss.

“Sorry, darling. You looked so cute up there. I couldn’t resist.” He mumbled against your lips.

“Wait, are you two together?” Jimmy asked, interrupting the moment. He was looking back and forth between you and Tom and the camera. You realized that the moment occurred on live television and suddenly felt shyer than you ever had before.

Tom looked at you, allowing you to be the one to confirm it after wanting too for so long. You looked into the camera and smirked.

“Truth is…I am dating Tom Holland.” You said in true Tony Stark fashion. The audience irrupted into applause and you couldn’t stop your smile from breaking through. Tom looked at you fondly and pulled you into a hug.

“You didn’t have to do that.” You mumbled against his chest.

“Yes I did.” He whispered into your ear. “love my privacy, but I love you more.”

Tag List 🏷

@maybemona @foreverxholland @writing-for-hours-on-end @lavender-writer @captainmandeestudent17 @whatareyouhidingpeter @takenbyheartstrings @ultrunning @imyourliquor-youremypoison @theolwebshooter @andreasworlsboring101 @guksmyfav @waiting-to-be-myself @letsloveimagines @ho-ho-holland @peterparkoure @a-villain-vying-for-attention @m19friend @justcallmehitgirl @averyfosterthoughts @jackiehollanderr @tiny-friggin-human @celestial-skylines @loveat2am @mara-twins @iamaunicorn4704 @delicately-important-trash @mjspxrker @spideygirl2003 @the-crazy-fanfictionist @kii-mii @maryjanee23 @spacebitch2 @vgiselle @geeksareunique

#tom holland x reader #tom holland x yn #tom holland x you #tom holland x actress!reader #tom holland fluff #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland imagine #marvel #peter parker x reader #spiderman #peter parker imagine #fic rec

3K notes · View notes

radiosandrecordings · 4 years

Text

I love TTRPGs as a storytelling medium. Not even for anything inherent to the gameplay of it, more just for the way in which they force people to tell stories and create characters. Because what I think TTRPGs like TAZ and RQG and Skyjacks do best is character, and character interaction.

Because built in to a TTRPG is a concept that I adore: That there is no one singular protagonist.

Because every is not acting, not reading off a prewritten script someone else wrote. They are embodying a character. They are writing as they go. They are leading their own narrative and view themselves as the main character because only they truly know how their character works. If an actor reads a script they get the words on the page, but in a TTRPG the player is forced to construct the whole character in their head, their motivations and backstory and hundreds of things that will never make it into the show but inform the decisions that character makes. It’s beautiful.

I’m going to take Skyjacks specifically as an example because I think it exemplifies most what I mean what I say ‘Every character is a protagonist’. In Skyjacks, the four player characters are: A nonbinary amnesiac fallen angel as old as time who may or may not have killed god, a 200 year old changeling, a teenage doctor turned necromancer who ran away to be a sky pirate, and a fifteen year old boy who has godlike abilities and can sometimes see the future.

In literally any other story type it would be too much to have all of them in one show. They’re all ridiculous, over the top characters that could carry a seven book series with themselves as the protagonists on those small premises alone, not to mention the things they go through and how they change throughout the series. But here it works!! Somehow!! And Skyjacks is one of the few shows I cannot choose a favourite in (RQG mentioned above being another) and it’s because of this! It’s because every character is a protagonist in their own right and it’s absolutely captivating! They’re all given equal storytime (There’s an exception but it’s a spoiler but Skyjacks fans know it was justified) wheras in a scripted piece, save something with two narrators or something, you’d normally be confined to one person who is The Big Fancy Protagonist. Take another popular podcast, The Magnus Archives. I love it! But there’s few characters I’d want to hear narrate the story other than the protagonist of it. With Skyjacks I could spend hours being told about each of them. But somehow they work cohesively. You’re never bored because in separate scenes they all stand up on their own and create compelling stories. But together? They thrive.

And that’s the other thing I love. TTRPGs are the richest genre I’ve found in terms of the term ‘Found Family’. A group of characters (sometimes involving literal family, see The Taako Twins and many others) all brought together by an outside force and forming an unbreakable bond due to how their experiences have forced them to care about each other. They are family through choice. This is often due to simply A) TTRPGs often feel more personal than just reading off lines and acting, so understandably there’s less romance (or less intense romance) than in other things as the players, or a player and DM, don’t really want to spend time flirting with each other in characters that can often be viewed as extensions of themselves, especially because the players are often Friends Who Would Find It Weird, or siblings (Gable (PC) and Hildred (NPC) get their romance in Skyjacks but it’s just small humerus flirting and a kiss described by the DM, and in TAZ Taako (PC) and Kravitz (NPC played by the player’s brother) also have a romance, but it largely happens offscreen or through narration, not RP).

And thus there is this lack of romance. Romance is so often shoehorned into media to show how Deep and Meaningful a character’s connection to another is and TTRPG’s, foregoing this, have the chance to explore these beautiful and complex relationships between characters without the constrictions of ‘they’re doing it for romantic love’ in there. Zolf and Sasha have this kind of half brother-sister, half father-daughter relationship in RQG and I adore it and I feel like in the hands of any other genre it would have turned into ‘and then they get together because this is a story and this is how those end’. But it doesn’t and I’m so grateful it doesn’t because god I love exploring actual in depth, layered and beautiful dynamics that aren’t just romance.

I also think TTRPGs often fall into these found family dynamics because they know they have to rely on character interaction and RP to make a good podcast. It’s an audio medium (Or video, but then it’s just the players holding up lil miniatures on a map) and as much as a fight in a TTRPG might be fun to play, it’s boring for a listener if not done well. So TTRPG podcasts have to create characters who are interesting to hear interact with each other. They are, as I said, all the protagonist at all times, because they’re all present. Not including times an actor can’t appear for an episode or something, there are no times the characters are not with each other. Sure there are side quests, and splitting the party, but they always gravitate towards each other. There’s no New Protagonist introduced for a new arc besides NPCs and they take a backseat usually (with exceptions like TAZ, which is STILL found family within those NPCs!). No protagonist gets left behind or killed off for pure shock value (and if they die, they’re placed by another, equally important PC). Your characters are your driving, central force because they are the story tellers and the world bends around them are their choices. There is no risk of them being forced into a plot that doesn’t fit the character because whatever the character does is what that character acts like because they are being crafted in real time from the only person that knows how to properly play them.

This is long and rambles, but in summary: I love TTRPGS and the way they bring people together to tell a collaborative story. I think they are one of the best forms of storytelling because it is not just built off of one person’s experience and their ideas but of a whole group, usually friends who know and love each other and find fun in the creation of the story. I think that might be a large part of why it’s resonating with the current youth too. It is a storytelling medium that is so unique to itself and just... Incredibly beautiful

#My Post #this ones for you rowan #Skyjacks #Rusty Quill Gaming #Since I use them as refs specifically

190 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

F9 Ending Is a Game Changer

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains F9 spoilers.

Family. It’s the mantra by which Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto has lived his life for nine movies, and it’s long been the handy slogan for the Fast and Furious franchise, too. But perhaps fittingly for an installment which sees director Justin Lin step back behind the camera, the theme of one’s chosen family has never been more pronounced.

What it means to be in Dom’s “mi familia” is central to F9. After all, this is the film where we learn Dom and his dear sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) have another sibling who they never speak of: John Cena’s morally ambiguous Jakob. As becomes clear over the course of the film, Brian might’ve been the brother Dom chose, but that was only after choosing to disown his actual little brother. But it’s kind of a funny story about the past: it can come roaring back at you like a Mustang flying beneath a military jet.

Hence when the F9 ending comes around, all those inner conflicts come bubbling to the surface. Indeed, the actual narrative stakes of the finale are almost an afterthought.

How Family Wins

The basic mechanics of the ending are fairly simple. Jakob and his oily business partner, poor little rich boy Otto (Thue Ersted Rasmussen), have successfully stolen access to Ares, a digital weapon operated from a satellite that gives its owners control over every operating system in the world. Or as Ludacris’ Tej points out, “Ares is the God War; if Jakob gets his hands on this, he’ll be the God of Damn Near Everything.” Once its upload is complete, Jakob and Otto will more or less be able to hold the whole world hostage.

The actual folks who save the day, then, are really Tej and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) who ride a rocket-powered Pontiac Fiero into space. By driving the car straight through the satellite, they prevent Otto from gaining control of the whole world’s digital space. But back on earth, he’s already cut Jakob out at this point, making a new deal with his brief prisoner Cipher (Charlize Theron). Which on a certain level you have to respect since she burned Otto harder than a thousand mean tweets with that “You’re Yoda” line.

By teaming with Cipher, the silver spoon prick sets Jakob up to die. Instead Dom’s little brother forms a new alliance with his long lost siblings, and together they bring down Otto’s truck and Cipher’s drone-controlled plane.

Why Dom Is Furious

More important than the plot mechanics of space travel and digital MacGuffins, however, is the relationship between Dom and Jakob. Established with total straight faced sincerity in the opening credits, Dom and Jakob’s backstory rewrites the very first The Fast and the Furious movie where we were told Dom went to prison for beating near to death the man responsible for his father’s racing crash. As we now discover through flashback, that was a lie that Dom only wishes was the truth. While the man who got wrenched might have helped cause their father to crash, Papa was set up to lose the race due to Jakob sabotaging the vehicle.

This is the dirty secret which caused Dom to banish Jakob from his sight after he got out of prison, and it is why Jakob remade himself into… well, John Cena. He wanted to be his own man and a greater alpha than his big brother could ever dream of becoming. Dom Toretto, the ultimate paterfamilias, pushed his actual flesh and blood away and has been attempting to replace him ever since.

It’s an interesting retcon which gives Toretto’s “Family” a little more depth and also sets Cena up to be a franchise mainstay, presumably replacing the unmentionable Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), whose offscreen beef with certain co-stars makes a return unlikely. Because, of course, Jakob really didn’t try to kill his father; it was Dom’s misunderstanding because their Dad asked Jakob to help him throw the race. And through the compassionate influence of Mia, Jakob discovers he really still wants to be Dom’s little bro.

It’s a nice sentiment, although it plays an interesting contrast to another major subplot in F9. Much of the film is rightly about bringing justice to Han (Sung Kang), who died in Fast & Furious 6/Tokyo Drift (the timeline is complicated). Yet his murderer was forgiven and accepted as a member of the family in The Fate of the Furious.

The Han of It All

In F9 it’s revealed that Han faked his death to protect a young orphan named Elle (Anna Sawai) in Tokyo. Nonetheless, the man Dom thought killed another surrogate brother was invited to the family barbecue in the last movie. Jakob did not kill anyone in Dom’s new family… but he did try to hurt Elle, whose blood held the Ares access codes. He certainly kidnapped her and threatened an extended member of the family. It’s also unclear if Jakob played a role in shooting down the plane Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) was on before the movie started, but he did work with Cipher at the time—the woman who also killed the mother of Dom’s child.

We of course don’t know if Mr. Nobody is alive or dead, but he was a close enough associate to Dom’s kin that they wanted to investigate his disappearance and save him if they could. In other words, Jakob is only a few degrees removed from Jason Statham’s villainous Shaw who was so quickly forgiven. But then, I suppose that’s why we never learn Mr. Nobody’s fate; nor is Jakob quite yet at the stage of being at the family cookout. That can come later, as there are at least two more mainline Fast and Furious movies in the works.

In the meantime, the film closes on Dom once again at the grill. Trej and Roman have returned from space after spending weeks on the International Space Station. It’s left ambiguous how there was enough food or oxygen for their unplanned visit, and how this wasn’t a global incident. (Also would international governments see them as heroes for stopping a terrorist like Cipher? And if so, would that not be a front page story around the world?) Whatever, they’re back from orbit and are now chilling in East LA with Dom.

And as food is put on the table, everyone waits for the one person whose chair remains empty. While the movie has the good grace not to CGI Paul Walker’s face into another scene, the unseen driver running late to the dinner is of course Brian. At least in this universe, the reunion is whole.

… And if you stay for the post-credits Han may yet truly bury the hatchet with the family’s most controversial member: Jason Statham. But that’s another story for another time.

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

The post F9 Ending Is a Game Changer appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3xSTkrJ

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

4 notes · View notes

unwiltingblossom · 5 years

Text

Hey there. Sasusaku may know me, but Zutara probably doesn’t. I’m not in the ATLA fandom, but I have observed enough to notice something that intrigues me about Zutara, aside from the fact I’d totally board the ship if I were foolish enough to watch a show knowing I was going to fail (actually, consider me proto-Zutara I guess because I think I liked it in the movie. Maybe I liked Kataang. Maybe I liked both. Can’t remember. moving on.)

I think it’s interesting that somewhat unintentionally Sasusaku and Zutara illustrate pretty clearly the difference between Japanese fandom and western fandom, in a way that Sasusaku already shows to a lesser degree.

There’s a bunch of fundamental differences in these two ships, I’m aware, but at their core, I feel they’re much the same. Call it ‘same energy’, if you will. Yet in one story they end up together and the writer keeps adding more things to insist that they are, and in the other one they end up apart and the writers keep trying to delegitimize the pair more and more.

In Sasusaku’s case, not only do they marry and have a child, the writer has stated that he always intended them to be together, and given various interviews and novels and mini comics for them.

In Zutara’s case, the writers seem to contradict themselves claiming they didn’t plan it, and that while it’s interesting, they mock anyone who actually thinks it would be a good idea or would happen, claiming their relationship would be unhealthy and unhappy.

Now this is interesting, because there are parallels with how fandom reacted to Sasusaku (and if ATLA ever got released in Japan I’d be curious how the fandom reacted to Zutara). In Japan, Sasusaku has always been one of the, if not the, top ships. Mostly what beats it out is slash, because fujoshi are gonna fujosh. Fans love it, went crazy for its ending, and loved all the scenes it got leading up, joking about them getting married and such offscreen.

In the west, however, while Sasusaku is still super popular, it gets a LOT of pushback. People like to insult it, insist it’s abusive and horrible, claim that Sasuke and Sakura could never be happy, and that anyone who honestly thinks they should be together should never get into a relationship for their own safety, because they’re romanticizing abusive relationships and will be hurt.

Sure sounds familiar, right?

Well, I’ll do you one better. Because you’ll see often the complaint that “I wish Sakura had just been strong and realized she didn’t need a man, becoming an independent etc” or “This is really harmful to Sakura’s character, because it forces her to abandon the things she loves and live subservient to Sasuke as some wife”

These are, almost without exception, lies. What they’re almost always saying is actually “I wish she would have grown up past Sasuke and married instead (Naruto/Lee/Kakashi/Sai/a girl), but if she couldn’t do that, then at LEAST she should have been alone!” they just cut off the first part because it reveals their bias.

And frankly, there’s a lot of parallel between Narusaku, who had a childhood crush on Sakura because a part of him thought she’d give him the recognition he needed and becomes the sage of six paths hero who saves the world from war in the end, and...well. Kataang. Which basically seems to have been a puppy crush on the first girl he met, that he nurtured into love over years as he became the Avatar hero who saved the world from war in the end. Both have a brother/sister or mother/kid relationship with the female in question through their quest (Sakura treats Naruto much like an annoying little brother and Naruto + Minato both recognize Sakura as ‘like his mother’, and Katara has a very motherly relationship with Aang most of the time until they start kissing)

Most importantly, I feel there’s a lot of parallels to be found in Sasusaku and Zutara.

Sasusaku runs on a baseline of Sasuke being extremely hostile and cold to everyone, refusing to let anyone in, and Sakura reaching out to him and through his defenses over and over despite this. She is the first person that he admits the reason for his behavior to -before Naruto or anyone else, he begins to explain to her that his brother killed everyone - and they have a mutual respect. Sasuke acknowledges her skills and smarts, and considers her to be the one light in his life, the ‘spring breeze’ and ‘the one who filled his lonely existence with love’. Despite this, he betrays her and everyone else, choosing his revenge over his happiness, but even through the many years of isolation and hatred, his response to Sakura always has a softness that isn’t there for anyone else. He saves her when he doesn’t need to, he listens to and responds to her before anyone else, and he even offers to let her go with him on his quest. Yes, it’s because she’s a healer who can replace Karin, but do you really think he couldn’t have used Naruto at his side, the other one the village rejected and turned against, who might want revenge? Juugo and Suigetsu aren’t healers, but he keeps them anyway because they’re useful. Sakura is the only person in the Leaf he offers to join him.

Anyway. Although they’re enemies most of the story, her love for him endures and she keeps trying to reach out to him. Every once in a while he responds, catching her when she falls, caring about her harm. The eventual nexus of their relationship is after his final battle with Naruto - which he puts her to sleep during, because she jumped in the way and almost got killed last time, and he doesn’t want her to do so this time - is her kneeling over him laying on his back, healing him, crying. He apologizes until she finally accepts his apology, and canonically this is the moment he realizes he loves her (though it’s much longer before he acts on this in a real way).

I won’t presume to fully summarize Zutara, because I am but an observer. However, I do know that they begin as enemies, that she is able to break through his cold shell with her kindness and compassion, so that he opens up to her about things he either never does to anyone else, or doesn’t to anyone else for a long time. I do know that he betrays her trust, and that they don’t truly mend fences for a long time because of their antagonistic relationship and betrayed trust. I also know that one of their later moments involves a scene where Zuko is on his back and she’s kneeling over him in tears, and he thanks her.

Plenty of details are different, but there’s all sorts of similar themes, notes, and visual parallels. Zuko’s appearance during later episodes looks very similar to Sasuke’s appearance after his duckbutt hair stage, Sakura’s color scheme is usually red and Sasuke’s is blue, and of course Katara is blue while Zuko is red. Sakura is a healer (I can’t think of anything water related, no), and Sasuke uses fire (when it’s not illusions or lightning). You can definitely make a convincing argument to say these relationships are pretty close to the same thing portrayed in different media with a different story shaping their behavior.

So then, why is it that one of them ended up together and has a happy family life and is considered to be the ‘good end’, while the other one didn’t end up together and is considered to be the ‘bad end’ were they to get together?

Why also did Kataang get together and become the ‘perfect’ couple that everyone should have seen coming and agree with, but Narusaku was nothing more than jokes to tease the audience with occasionally and was completely sunk multiple times in canon before they both married other people?

Well...I think it’s a difference of cultural sensibilities directly affecting the outcome of the same story.

In the west, essentially, the woman is the ‘prize’ for the hero at the end of the journey. If he finishes his homework and saves the day, his reward is the woman he’s been pining after for ages. It doesn’t matter whether she openly wants him or not, there will be little ‘checkpoints’ through the story where you see that secretly she does want him as he gets better and ‘more heroic’, so anything he does in trying to woo her is ‘acceptable effort’, essentially. And more importantly, the person who has love needs to ‘deserve’ that love. The heroine has to get with a ‘good’ person like the hero because the antihero isn’t ‘good enough’ for her. He’s the ‘bad boy’ that she flirts with but then grows out of so she can marry the nice guy instead. And it’s this to an extreme. If she marries the ‘bad boy’, then she’s consigning herself to a lifetime of abuse or unhappiness, because she can’t be happy with someone who isn’t as good as her. This is tripled if they have an antagonistic relationship, like if they’re at war with each other and have been enemies. (this doesn’t work in reverse. A bad girl can marry a good guy if she sufficiently redeems herself and goes good, because men can’t be abused in this cultural standard) Instead, the antihero generally ends up with a woman of similar morals if he marries - another bad girl turned good, another rogue figure, something like that. That’s because it’s what he deserves and in turn what she deserves.

Weirdly enough, it works in reverse for attractiveness - hot women marry down, but not hot men. But that’s neither here nor there right now. The point is, you can see how on this scale the ending NEEDS to be by western standards Kataang, Maiko, Narusaku, Sasukarin. The tarnished and dark man MUST marry the tarnished woman of ‘inferior morals’, while the good and pure hero MUST marry the heroine, because she must be his prize for his heroism and success, and he is the only one worthy of her goodness, therefore the only one who can make her happy.

In Japan, it’s just not really like that. The hero doesn’t need to get the girl in the end as his reward, and in fact it’s often the girl who gets the man she’s always wanted by the end of the story. This is because ‘patience and dedication’ is seen as more praiseworthy and deserving of reward. Because the heroine stuck with the love she had even when that person wasn’t ‘deserving’ of it yet, her love should blossom and be returned to her. Much more focus is on enduring and quietly continuing onward in spite of difficulty, basically. Orihime must get Ichigo because she loved him from the beginning. Same with Naru and Keitaro, Hinata and Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, Juvia and Grey. They ‘make their love choose them’ instead. In fact, who the man wants is sometimes just played off as a joke, such as in Black Clover where Asta is determined to marry a nun while there’s a princess not-so-secretly swooning over him. It’s not hard to guess how that story is going to end.

Anyway, because the qualifications of what makes an ‘acceptable romance target’ differs in Japan, worrying about whether the girl is ‘good enough’ or the man is ‘good enough’ for the romance is less important, only whether they’re dedicated or patient enough.

It’s not saying one is better than the other, whether using the man as the prize or the woman as the prize is the correct way of writing it - and there are exceptions, plenty of Naruto’s couples are written just because they go well together, there’s western stories where the girl gets the bad boy after he’s redeemed himself and it’s fine - but the differences are there to be seen.

And, weirdly enough, I think is what ultimately determined the different endings between Naruto and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

#zutara #sasusaku #naruto #atla #fandoms #ooc #long post #meta

313 notes · View notes

bigskydreaming · 5 years

Text

Young Justice Season Three spoilers

YJ Producers: We have a Muslim superhero this season, look how great she is and how progressive we are!

Actual YJ episodes: Okay so Muslim superhero might be a bit of a stretch since well, if you wanna get technical, she’s actually a sentient piece of alien technology whose soul went into the body of a dead Muslim girl when her original alien tech got smushed. But even though she continually insists that she is not Gabrielle Daou, the Muslim girl whose body this was originally, and that’s the entire reason she chose a new name for herself, she is a completely different person aka a non Muslim, not even human person - she still wears a hijab! Totally counts!

YJ Producers: We always wanted to portray LGBTQ+ superheroes, we’ve actually had one the whole time and you just didn’t know it because mean old Cartoon Network wouldn’t let us show it, now that we’re on our own we can and will be showing LGBTQ+ characters this season!

Actual YJ episodes thirteen episodes into the season: Error 404 Content Not Found

YJ Producers: We’re finally gonna include Cyborg! Victor Stone is in the house, we love and appreciate that character so much, we really wanted to wait until we could do his story justice!

Actual YJ episodes: So see, after getting gruesomely almost-deaded after a huge blowout fight in which we showed Vic has a lot of rage cuz Black Teenage Boys Are Just Like That, that was all aimed at his dad for not showing any interest in his life and for never showing his son he cared until now cuz Black Dads Are Just Like That, well okay, yeah that sucks, but what happened NEXT is really cool - so his dad saved his life, right? Even if it was by using alien tech that every single person he came in contact with kept telling him wasn’t like normal tech, it was sentient and thus yes COULD be bad, which was further demonstrated through the fact that said life-saving tech kept like...hijacking Vic’s own body and turning him into a rage-monster that we could totally show being a Stereotype of Black Teenage Boy Aggression as he remorselessly hunted a terrified Violet but it wasn’t his fault, he was totally powerless to control his own actions cuz of the Evil Alien Tech in his body and like wait, whats bad about that, I forget the question??? Oh right! But stop WORRYING, its all good, see, as long as he stayed around Violet and never went too far from her ever, the woman of color had magic rage-pacifying skills that existed solely to calm down the Stereotypical Angry Black Teen when he couldn’t control himself because Reasons. LOL WHY ARE YOU UPSET, WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT, THIS IS A GOOD VICTOR STORY, ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED???

YJ Producers: We love and value our characters of color and would never hurt them, we’ve actually taken steps to make sure of that!

Actual YJ Episodes: Violet and Vic are both practically unkillable, see? As proof, watch us violently murder Violet in every single episode in new and creatively gruesome ways, with bonus Vic near-death experiences that allow us to show him just utterly wrecked in ways we’ve never shown a single white character, even in this season when we’re all about showing off how much creative freedom we have now without CENSORSHIP!

YJ Producers: This season is also going to focus on the stress and mental health issues that go along with life as a superhero, and who better to demonstrate this by suffering from superhero-related PTSD than Jefferson Pierce? The guy whose divorce already showed the stress and relationship issues that go along with life as a superhero (since all our white heroes in relationships are still going strong)!

Actual YJ Episodes: Oh, nothing say about this one huh, PUNK? That’s right, we actually did exactly what we said we’d do, see? Just look at how much time we spend talking about how traumatized Jefferson is and how miserable he is after killing a kid, and that’s nothing we’ve ever done (or would ever do - SHH THEY DONT NEED TO KNOW THAT) to a white hero! PLUS, like, he’s definitely getting better though, thanks to the support of the much younger character he’s surrounded by, instead of y’know, turning to his established friends and colleagues his own age for support! AND AND AND don’t forget about his growing relationship with the white doctor lady who is definitely NOT super creepy and NOT likely to betray him and break his heart and/or force him to make painful decisions when choosing between her and the kids he’s vowed to protect at some climactic point later in the season that all of that is super clearly not building towards!

YJ Producers: And don’t forget about Jaime Reyes and Virgil Hawkins and Mal Duncan and Raquel and Karen! They’re all still here too!

Actual YJ Episodes: We’ve definitely forgotten that Jaime Reyes and Virgil Hawkins and Mal Duncan and Raquel and Karen are all still here too.

YJ Producers: Major life events have happened to these heroes offscreen in the time we’ve been away from them, stuff that’s really shaped who they are and who they’ve become by now. All this stuff really matters, its how we’re different from other shows, we don’t pretend these characters stop existing the second they’re off your screens! Looks, Barbara Gordon is in a wheelchair! She’s Oracle now!

Actual YJ Episodes: Why would we bother to explain when or how this happened with even a single line of dialogue when The Killing Joke exists and is available on our streaming service? You sound dumb.

YJ Producers: Kaldur is our proof of how important our characters are to our over-all universe, look how far he’s come! He’s not Aqualad anymore, he’s AquaMAN, he’s one of the co-chairs of the Justice League, right up there with Wonder Woman who he definitely doesn’t need to turn to for approval or oversight of his actual decisions!

Actual YJ Episodes: We’re pretty sure we covered all this in the two minutes of screen time Kaldur’s had all season!

YJ Producers: Look, bottom line, this season, being away from Cartoon Network really allowed us to stretch our wings and flex creatively, we’re doing a lot of stuff with this story that just wouldn’t have been possible before, when we were on a network like CN and had overseers restricting our every move! This season gets a lot darker, a lot more mature, a lot more everything cuz freedom of speech baby! That’s what its all about!

Actual YJ Episodes: In support of our thesis, watch us up the graphically violent content of every single episode and kill lots of people instead of just cartoonishly knocking them out and carting them away to jail! That’s it, that’s everything we wanted to do that CN wouldn’t let us, that now we have total freedom to prove in a myriad of ways! What do you mean, what about *looks at smudged writing on hand* LGB - look we can’t be expected to read what that says when we have graphic violence to depict, fuck yeah!

YJ Producers: Besides, in happier news, its not all doom and gloom this season! Connor and M’Gann got engaged! Now that we’ve completely moved past all the stuff M’Gann did in S2 and don’t consider it worth mentioning, Superboy and Miss Martian are back together, and SB is totally gonna marry the woman who betrayed him in the one highly specific way that goes back to the very source of every trust issue he has and reason he has so many walls pushing people away!

Actual YJ Episodes: Yeah this is definitely happening. Suck my dick, Connor fans and fans who relate to and identify with SB and his story and think its maybe just not the healthiest to wave a wand and go “Happily ever after!” With, y’know, the guy whose greatest canon fear and paranoia is the sanctity of his mind being violated and being unable to trust that his own thoughts are really his and not just being spoon fed to him in a pod at Project Cadmus or by his telepathic girlfriend when she doesn’t like his opinion or his criticism of her actions and just doesn’t want to fight about it anymore. Look, she said she was sorry, get over it. What more do you want? For Connor to move on and have a healthy romantic relationship with someone who he doesn’t ever have to wonder if his trust in her and second chance is real and valid and not just her making him say and do what she wanted, like the way she definitely has before? For him and M’Gann to rebuild their trust over time, gradually, as friends, with the understanding they can be close again but romantic intimacy between them specifically probably isn’t in the best interests of the guy who will always have to wonder now if his thoughts are really his, no matter whether or not that’s true? Yeah, no, that sounds like a lot of work tbh, and really, we just like Miss Martian and Superboy together, they’re just cute, you know? Sides, we killed Wally and we don’t actually wanna talk about why Barbara’s paralyzed now and like, focus on her as a character, so what other longterm pairings do we really have? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THESE ARE ALL OUR OWN CHOICES AND IF WE WANT BETTER FOUNDATIONS FOR OUR CHARACTER DYNAMICS WE SHOULD MAKE BETTER CHOICES? UGH GET OFF MY BALLS, MAN.

YJ Producers: We’ve got Terra this season, and we’re doing some really cool, brand new things there.

Actual YJ Episodes: Slade’s Apprentice arc from Teen Titans the show and The Judas Contract in the comics, but really aren’t they the same thing? If you think about it, is it even possible to do that in a new way? Look, its not like we could do anything MORE original than that, like what, did you want us to have Tara genuinely be the good and loving sister she was when she reunited with her brother and expressed how traumatized she was by the things she did when she was supposedly being mind-controlled, actually invested in saving other trafficked meta-kids from being used and hurt the way she had been? Like, the way it seemed she was being written before we revealed it was a fake-out and she was actually working for Slade exactly like those other times we swore we were gonna be more original than that? Ugh why are you so unrealistic, dude, you have such weird expectations.

Me: Like dear YJ, you’ve still got me watching, because like a) I’m weak and I need this, b) nostalgia, c) Dick, Artemis, Connor, Jefferson and the chance of Jason and also Violet, Brion and Vic are all still enjoyable as characters even though your treatment of them and your narrative choices are all extremely suspect and also craptastic and also I really wanna punch you for a lot of this.

But goddamn, this was NOT your best work, and after years of waiting only to get this? Like.....so not crash, dudes. Not even a little bit.

#young justice spoilers

112 notes · View notes

snarktheater · 6 years

Text

Shadowhunters — Episode 2x12

You know, the more I delve into this show, the less I feel like it even deserves the snark treatment. I mean, look at this episode. It's…okay. Spoiler warning? Nah, it's just a statement of my opinion, I guess it's fine.

But yeah. This episode…it's fine. And in hindsight, while the show is flawed, it's…fine. It's not great, but definitely not bad enough to be worth this. So sometimes I'm like…why even bother? I mean, I can't even claim that snarking it is the only way I'll take the time to watch, since…you know. It's been a few months and season 3 is almost upon us. Again. Oops.

Existential crisis in the intro of my own posts aside, I'm going to finish this season at least, but I will have to do some soul searching eventually regarding season 3. And maybe it's just because this episode was all right and I'm just second-guessing myself for no good reason. That is very possible.

We left off our heroes with Magnus and Valentine having been body-swapped by the Greater Demon Azazel. That's not just to fuck with the heroes, mind you: Azazel wants the Mortal Cup too, and he wants Valentine to get it for him, which he can't do from a cell at the Institute.

Valentine, meanwhile, is freaking out about being in the body of a warlock, because racism, and if you think this won't actually impact the plot beyond one scene at the start…well, you're right. I guess hypocrisy is already part of his character, since he uses demons and magic even as he despises them, but this is on a whole new level, considering he's flinging spells like he's been doing it his whole life by the end of the episode. As you do, I guess.

But for now he's struggling to even Portal, let alone get the Cup. I mean, he also says the Cup is protected and he couldn't get to it as a Downworlder, but I'm not sure if he's lying to Azazel or genuine about that. Mostly because it never comes to that.

That's enough about Valentine for now. Let's check on our heroes. By which I mean Clary and Simon in bed, which is totally a visual I needed. Thanks, show. I'll skip over the banter and cut to the chase: Clary hasn't told Simon that Jace isn't her brother, while Simon hasn't told her that Raphael is blackmailing him for being a Daylighter. So, you know, healthy relationship stuff right there!

Clary's called away to deal with Azazel, and Simon…well, he's mostly stuck in his subplot this episode, as he tends to do for a surprisingly huge part of this show, now that I think about it. I wonder if someone, somewhere, is making a Simon-less cut of this show, and how much of the central plot would actually change, but I'd wager it's not that much.

Regardless, I'll get to his subplot first, because it's shorter that way. Isabelle's come back from the depths of addiction with Sebastian's help (of course), and so he asks her for help dealing with Raphael.

"I heard you guys were kinda seeing each other and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me out doing that thing you're really good at, you know, making a man bend to your every will."

One: that's a really fucked-up thing to say. I mean, it's horribly reductive of Isabelle's character and strength, especially since she hasn't really manipulated many people with sex in the show, all things considered. Plus, it erases Raphael's asexuality, which I'll remind you is textual in the show. I guess you could say Simon doesn't know, but Isabelle does and doesn't react.

Two: that also sounds like Simon wants to use sex to manipulate Raphael himself, and you know what? Why not.

Anyway, Isabelle tells him about the venom addiction, but she has another plan: to go visit Rosa Santiago, Raphael's sister (and therefore an old lady in a retirement home). Isabelle has Simon take a picture of her as counter-blackmail, because here's no way this could go wrong, right?

So it goes wrong, and Raphael Portals to the Jade Wolf (where Simon and Isabelle are celebrating victory) in the middle of the day to kill him. Because Raphael's also incredibly stupid, I guess. Sure, Luke's pack is a little understaffed right now, but again: broad daylight, and Raphael came with two vampires and a warlock. So he's easily chased off, but not before the other vampires see Simon in sunlight and figure out he's a Daylighter. On the plus side, that means things are actually moving there, so…yay?

Oh, also, before the attack, Isabelle told Simon about Jace and Clary not being related, so of course, at the end of the episode he confronts her. It doesn't go anywhere, but it does give us a moment of Simon being pissy about the whole thing (and I don't mean about her hiding it, that's a legit problem; I mean he's instantly jealous again), in case I'd forgotten why I don't like Simon.

I will also mention that Isabelle and Simon get another scene, where they're out at night after the whole debacle. And if you thought they'd run into vampires and we'd find out word has already spread about Simon…well, no, it's here mostly for ship tease, because Rosa thought they were a couple.

"Hey don't worry about Jace not being Clary's brother. Rosa's right, you're a catch."

Subtle.

But I still like this scene, because Simon tells her his mom's also recovering from addiction (I think alcoholism?) and tells her she should go to meetings, and she agrees to do it. I mean, this addiction subplot has been…a problem, but I'll take the silver lining. And the acknowledgment that she's not 100% back to normal.

Okay, with that bit of pointlessness out of the way, back to the actual plot. For once in their lives, our heroes did the right thing and warned everyone that Azazel was loose, and Imogen Herondale is even smart enough to wait until the crisis is over before considering punishment for even summoning him in the first place.

"To catch the Greater Demon you summoned to the Institute, defying all protocol—and common sense?"

I mean, she does get a rightful amount of sass, but still. I like her much better than her season 1 incarnation—or her book counterpart. If/when she dies I might feel sad about it, too.

Isabelle, who as I already mentioned is much better regarding her addiction, convinced Sebastian to come along to the Institute (or…"convinced", I guess I should say, because…come on, of course he wanted to become part of the group). And since he just so happens to be an expert in Greater Demons, he provides them with all the information they need on Azazel's weakpoint. Which is just…a spot on his spine, while in human form. If you think this is boring, you're right. If you think this means the show's already tired of Azazel, you're also right.

See, Alec doesn't fully trust Sebastian (and rightfully so, but we're not supposed to know that, guys). So he goes to Magnus for help tracking down Azazel. Of course, it's actually Valentine, and also, Azazel's actually there to force Valentine to give him the Cup, so Alec shoots him…right in the weak spot, banishing him back to whatever Hell dimension he's from. That's…maybe ten minutes into the episode, by the way.

So what's the rest of our plot about? Well, the body-swapping issue. See, Valentine did apparently trust Azazel to return him to his body (or at least a Shadowhunter body, Azazel's wording seemed to hint at the latter) and even tried to stop Alec from banishing him. But now that he's gone…well, we gotta find another solution. And to compound the whole issue, Magnus (in Valentine's body) is being tortured for information he doesn't have, no one believes his claim to be Magnus Bane, and Imogen decides partway through the episode to have him executed because she'll never manage to get the Cup's location out of him.

And I don't know how I feel about that last part. I mean, it's probably her prerogative as Inquisitor, but you'd think the Clave would want someone as high profile as Valentine to at least show up in Alicante as a prisoner, if only for the optics of it? Plus, it seems she acknowledges that torture won't work (and therefore, that she's aware it doesn't always work), but then…why torture him at all? And why skip straight to execution? If you know torture is unreliable, why not use other methods?

Sadly, these are all ethical issues the show will not address today.

Well, anyway. Magnus does manage to tell Alec stuff about their offscreen relationship history that makes Alec wonder if he might be telling the truth. If you think this will matter, you are wrong, by the way.

Because meanwhile, Valentine has Dorothea teach him magic, claiming to have lost his memories during the fight with Azazel. Dorothea sounds dubious of it, and even notices that he sounds and acts like Valentine, but she still teaches him, so…chuck that up as another weird point that won't be addressed, I guess.

With magic, Valentine takes Jace hostage, and offers to trade him for his freedom (and his body back). So, as I said, Alec realizing Magnus is really Valentine and vice versa goes nowhere, because he plays along the Inquisitor's plan until the very last minute, and even then, he only changes his mind because Valentine makes his move, not…you know, because of love or trust in Magnus or anything silly like that.

Before I proceed, I guess I should mention the other subplot in this episode. Remember how Clary's sun rune failed against Azazel? Yeah, apparently this is a thing and she can't use her fancy special runes anymore. So when, post-Alec banishing Azazel, Imogen asks to test Jace and Clary's abilities, she agrees, going against Jace's advice to never trust the Clace. That test, by the way, is pointless, safe for this eventually-ironic exchange between Jace and Clary:

"Can't be easy being a Herondale." "Oh, yeah. Must be tough being like Shadowhunter royalty. All this power, prestige."

What is relevant is that after that (and Clary still failing to use her runes), Sebastian comes for a one-on-one with Clary, telling her her problem might be emotional, since she lost her mother and then "lost" her brother when it turned out Jace isn't her brother, and therefore she has no family left. It's…a weird statement, but it's made by a villain, so I'm going to assume he's correct and manipulating Clary.

Okay, now that you're caught up on that, back to our hostage situation. One, Imogen agrees to a rescue, because Valentine reveals that Jace is her grandson, which he proves by…showing her he took the Herondale family ring off of Céline Herondale's corpse. Who was…only a Herondale by marriage, and doesn't really prove that Jace is her son, but whatever, we'll roll with it because we all know he's telling the truth, for a change.

So they let Magnus (in Valentine's body) go to Magnus's flat, where the real Valentine is waiting with Jace. Alec, Clary and Sebastian are secretly following—Sebastian being there at Clary's insistance, because I guess the Institute had no other Shadowhunter to spare and all these extras we keep seeing are just the maintenance crew or something.

Anyway, Valentine (still in Magnus's body and with Magnus's magic) turns on the wards that protect Magnus's flat, so they can't get in to capture him / prevent him to escape / get Magnus and Jace back. So it's up to Clary and her special runes to break through…which she only manages after Sebastian pushes her to embrace her feeling of grief over her mom's death and "losing" Jace. Which…I guess is something she really did feel grief over? She literally starts crying, then angry-drawing her rune, and it works.

And it's…a weird moment. What is Sebastian's point here? Is this some kind of Dark Side of the Force, "embrace your emotions to be stronger" deal? Is there some other plan going on, like he's trying to make her feel grief over having no family left so that she'll love him more once he reveals he's her brother? I don't know.

Meanwhile, Magnus and Valentine trade bodies again with a spell in Latin that's…close, but still wrong.

"Relite animus nostrus in earum corpora."

"animus nostrus" is singular, and I'm not entirely sure how Latin handles the distributive, but I would have used he plural. And even if the singular is correct here, then "corpora" is plural and you need to change that. Either way, one of them is wrong.

"Relite" feels like it should be a verb based on "ire" to mean "to go back", but…no, you were thinking of redire, which in the imperative should be "redite". Of course the imperative is also wrong, since imperative doesn't work with the third person, so you should have gone with the subjunctive (this is even what happens in English, by the way, you wouldn't say "our souls, go back to our own bodies", you'd say "let our souls go back to our own bodies"), so…redeat/redeant? Depending on whether it is singular or plural.

"Earum" means, literally "of these [people, feminine]". So for starters, you wanted to go "eorum" since they're men. Unless Harry Shum was botching the pronunciation, I mean. Then there's the fact that it's badly used. Yes, using the demonstrative in the genitive case as a third person possessive is, when the possessor is not the subject of the sentence, is the right way to go (so instead of saying "his/her/their", you say "of him/her/them"). The problem here is that…the possessor is not third person. I mean, it's right there, two words earlier: "nostrus". Our. Because you're the ones speaking this, and also the ones who own the bodies. Now, I guess they were going for something along the lines of "our own", which I'm honestly not sure how to express in Latin, but am certain this isn't it.

Yes, I just did that. I'm that petty. And bored. Cut me some slack. You should know what to expect on this blog by now.

Anyway, they get their bodies back, the gang comes in before Valentine can escape, and Valentine is locked up again. This episode does feel pretty pointless when you look at it like that: all it did was undo the cliffhanger from the last episode. And get Sebastian into the Institute, which is non-negligible.

I will say that I appreciate the wrap-up this episode features, though. Alec apologizes to Magnus for the torture he underwent. I don't think Alec did any of it himself—the worst he got was yelling at Magnus for…saying he was Magnus—but since Alec did almost stand by while he was executed, an apology is the least Magnus deserves.

And I've gotta wonder why it is that this season keeps putting Alec in the bad spot here. Because it does. And I guess it's progress to making Magnus do tons of shitty things to Alec, but this…isn't really an improvement for their relationship as a singular entity.

Speaking of apologies, Sebastian also apologizes if he upset Clary by making her embrace grief and whatnot. She's fine with it, because it restored her rune ability and she was feeling pointless without it. No, really, she said that earlier. He also asks her out to dinner, and so for the first time in my life, I'm glad that Clary is currently dating Simon, because that means she turns him down. Dodged that bullet. For now.

And finally, we end the episode on Imogen accepting Jace as her grandson.

"Now I know where that bold defiance of yours comes from. You're just like your father."

The guy who betrayed everything you and your family stood for and joined an extremist cult where he was killed? Yeah, that's not as big a compliment as the show seems to think.

But yeah, she tells him he has a family now, and a pretty noble one at that. So, again, we'll ignore Stephen and also Imogen herself, who I'm pretty sure tried to kill Isabelle last season and now almost killed Magnus. Not to mention, wanted to kill Valentine, because fuck due process or even letting others try to get valuable intelligence out of him.

"Now, my boy, you are about to find out what it means to be a Herondale."

Well, when you put it like that, it almost sounds ominous.

And that's the episode. And yeah, I've ranted a lot more than I thought myself capable, but I still stand by my stance from earlier.

Sure, it didn't accomplish much, although we did get progress on the Simon front. And it didn't fall for obvious pitfalls with the bodyswapping plot (I was especially worried they'd have some kind of sexual interaction between Alec and not-Magnus, which thankfully didn't happen), so I'll call that a win? Or at least, not a loss.

Also: special shout-out to Harry Shum Jr, who was absolutely spectacular as Valentine in Magnus's body. Because I'm sure my opinion matters a lot to him.

#You Are Not Your Own #Jamie Gorenberg #Bille Woodruff #shadowhunters #Todd Slavkin #Darren Swimmer #mcg #series #TV series #review #reviews #series review #series reviews #the shadowhunter chronicles #cassandra clare #st: shadowhunters s2

4 notes · View notes

sheikah · 7 years

Text

Episode 5 Spoiler Stuff/Scripts

(Thanks to @cheesekimbapshyshyshy for sending me the links as I was headed to bed so I could see this before I’m too busy at work tomorrow!)

Hey guys! Stuff for episode 5 dropped tonight. It’s PDF files so I typed up the Jonerys parts as you’ve asked me to do in the past to avoid spoilers for the rest. I will put them below the cut.

Before I do that I just want to say that I see some major inconsistencies and red flags in these. But they seem to be from the same place as the episode 4 ones, so we can trust them with a grain of salt. Remember that since the episode 4 ones changed a bit by the time the episode was finished, these will too.

There’s some things I don’t really like and I’m sure you’ll feel the same. But I am going to bed after posting this so I will give better commentary or answer questions when I get off work later tonight.

Obviously, major spoilers ahead.

Exterior--Blackwater River Battlefield--Day

Tyrion walks alongside the ravaged loot train. He sees the Dothraki herding the captive officers and soldiers (including a bloodied Randyll and Dickon Tarly) toward Dany and Drogon.

Dany announces to her captives that now is the moment they’ve all been waiting for: bend the knee, or die. Drogon growls and most of the captives drop to one knee. There are a few holdouts, though – among them are Lord Randyll and a nervous Dickon who’s taking his cue from his father. Echoing Cersei’s propaganda, Randyll says he isn’t serving a foreign woman with an army of foreign savages. Dany corrects Randyll: she’s the rightful queen of Westeros. Tyrin can see Dany’s temper rising, and points out that Randyll fought for her father and handed the ururper Robert his only defeat; perhaps Dany could show mercy. But Randyll couldn’t give a shit about her mercy. He simply echoes Ned’s line from S1: “I’m a soldier. I learned how to die a long time ago.”

Very well. If this lord of Horn Hill won’t serve her, it’s time for a new lord of Horn Hill. Dany and Tyrion turn to Dickon. Tyrion urges the kid to be reasonable. He had a shitty tyrant for a father, too.

“Don’t die to prove your father’s point.”

Dickon looks to his father, and we see that a part of Lord Randyll wants his son to bend the knee and be spared. But Dickon is his father’s son. He steels himself and stays on his feet. If this is the end of House Tarly, so be it.

In an aside with Dany, Tyrion advocates against executing Dickon with him. He’s just a dumb kid with a shitty father; nothing a few months of prison won’t cure. If Dany starts snuffing out entire ancient family lines like the Tarlys, the lords of Westeros will never support her. Dany doesn’t much care; when it’s their turn, those lords will also bend the knee or die. Tyrion wants to press his case further but Dany has heard enough. All her advisers warned her to be cautious and she doesn’t listen.

Now she’s finally won a victory. She didn’t come to Westeros to plead for the Seven Kingdoms. She came her to conquer them. Tyrion cannot push harder without publicly undermining his queen. His only choice is to stand by and watch. At Dany’s command, Drogon incinerates Lord Ranyll and his heir.

After they’re burned, all the other holdouts promptly bend the knee. Say what you will about Dany’s methods. She gets things done.

Exterior—Dragonstone—Day

Camera shot of a dragon’s wing, as Drogon brings Dany back to Dragonstone. Dany does not notice the additional boat in the harbor below her, nor the lone figure on its deck too far away to make out.

On deck, Jorah looks up and sees Dany and Drogon. Holy shit that kid had grown up. He steels himself for the reunion.

On land, Jon watches Dany and Drogon wheeling in the sky, approaching their Dragonstone landing pad. Behind him, Rhaegal leaps down to meet his mother and brother, landing too close to Jon. Viserion joins him. They notice Jon, and meet is gaze.

The two dragons close in on Jon, trying to decide what to make of him: friend? Foe? Meal? Jon stands his ground, staring into Rhaegal’s eye. Rhaegal appears to be leaning toward the latter. But Drogon lands with Dany on his back and the other dragons make way for him as he approaches Jon and leans in to sniff him.

Every nerve in Jon’s body screams to run, but instead he sticks out his hand, and touches the creature’s muzzle.

Drogon decides Jon is Ok. A look from Drogon breaks each of his brothers around to the same opinion.

Impressed, Dany dismounts. You didn’t run.”

“Didn’t think I’d get very far.”

This leads into a scene with Dany and Jon. On screen or off screen, she gives him a censored version of the events on the Kingsroad, leaving out the part about roasting the Tarlys. She only tells him that many former Lannister loyalists lined up behind their rightful Queen, hint hint. Half-joking, Dany points out that, for one, she has dragons. Let’s be honest, if this whole Army of the Dead is as flammable as they say, whoever has the fire-breathing dragons should probably be Queen. Jon laughs. He doesn’t think the throne should go to the person with the most dragons, necessarily. Why not? She wants to know. Dragons are magic. People like magic. A big part of the reason the named Jon King in the North was because he was magic. Jon protests; that wasn’t the reason. But Dany keeps needling him. “Admit it. People like you because you’re magic.” “I’m not magic. “You are! Rising from the dead is magic, and you rose from the dead. Lots of people saw me walk from the flames unburned. More than once, actually. But this ‘rising from the dead’ . . . was a very private affair.”

Jon offers to show her the scares. She sure wouldn’t mind seeing them—but she doesn’t take the bait. It’s cold out. She wouldn’t want him to get sick.

Jon calls her “Dany,” without any of her numerous titles. And she’s a little taken aback, but also likes it. “No one’s ever called me that before. “I’m sorry, it’s just . . . well, Daenerys is a mouthful.”

Eventually, the conversation goes to a more serious place. He asks her point black if she believes him about the Army of the Dead, and the danger they represent. She can tell he’s honest, apparently to a fault.

In turn, she asks Jon if he trusts her to do what she says she’s going to do with regards to the people of Westeros. He says he does. They’re both people who actually care about helping and protecting people who don’t share their blood, people they don’t even know. They’ve both acted on this impulse, more than once. That’s a lot less common than magic.

“Jon asks, “Is this where you ask me to bend the knee again?”

She smiles and shakes her head. She’s not going to ask him to bend the knee. Not just now.

And up the beach comes Jorah, seeing Dany with yet another handsome fellow who’s not Jorah.

They have a brief reunion, in which it is established that Jorah is cured. And maybe she shows her trust in him by hugging him despite the fact that he recently had fantasy leprosy.

Interior—Dragonstone—Audience Chamber—Day

Tyrion has told Varys what Dany did to the Tarlys. A Targaryen burning people alive—it troubles both men. Tyrion has not discussed the event at any length with Dany since it occurred, but they both decide he has to, when the time is right. They’re both realpolitik guys. They understand that a certain amount of ruthlessness is necessary to win the throne. But they’re hoping for Caesar-level ruthlessness, not Caligula-level.

They are interrupted by a raven, who lands on the window ledge with a scroll tied to its leg.

Interior—Dragonstone—Map Room—Day

Dany’s Small Council meeting. Jon has the abovementioned raven scroll in hand, staring at it, trying to take on board all its implications.

Jorah is there as well. Rather than going into a bunch of dull introductions and reintroductions, we get the flavor of his complex relationship to Tyrion and Jon in the course of their interactions, assuming that their initial meetings happened offscreen. The matter at hand: the dead are marching on the Wall. Now. As reported by Jon’s little brother, who is alive, and apparently very different from the boy Jon left behind at Winterfell.

Where does Dany stand on this ante-upping of the Northern threat? She is torn. Her position on the Northern threat has evolved in sync with her relationship to Jon. But they can’t march North and leave the Riverlands, the Reach, and the North exposed to Lannister aggression. Dany would be willing to put her imperial ambitions on hold, but not to abandon them entirely and abdicate to Cersei. She wants to face the Northern threat, but she can only do so if he opponent is willing to do the same. So, she asks Tyrion: would Cersei ever be willing to do this?

Tyrion homes in on the central problem: Cersei doesn’t believe in the Northern threat. She never has. If they want her to take it seriously, they have to convince her it exists in the first place. She needs to see it with her own eyes. Jon doesn’t understand how they could possibly show Cersei the Army of the Dead.

Tyrion points out that they don’t need to show her the whole army. Just one of them. Bring one of the wights down South. He knows his sister better than anyone here. That’s their only hope of convincing her.

This makes sense to Dany. Jorah volunteers to lead this mission North of the Wall. Dany doesn’t like the idea of losing Jorah after he just returned to her, but Jon says Tormund will help him with the wildlings who are at Eastwatch.

And so will Jon.

Dany does not like this idea and neither does Davos. Jon is the only commander here who’s fought the Army of the Dead before, and they’ll need him once the true war starts. Beyond that, he’s the King in the North, chosen by the lords of the North. A king should not go on a commando mission. Jon points out that this is exactly why he needs to go: he has dealt with them before. Jon’s and Dany’s argument has the undertone of a woman trying to keep her man from venturing into harm’s way, a fact not lost on Jorah or Tyrion. She tries to order him; he reminds her that, per their conversation on the beach, she said she wouldn’t ask him to bend the knee yet.

The reason his people have banded together behind him is that he’s never asked them to do something he wouldn’t do himself.

Jon brings Davos around to his way of seeing things, even as Davos bemoans his own fate as the Hand of a King who seems hell-bent on killing himself. Eventually, Dany realizes that Jon is going no matter she says, and she can’t help but respect him for it.

Varys points out that any evidence they find will be useless unless Cersei grants them an audience in the first place, and is somehow prevented from murdering them all during said audience. Tyrion knows this, and he has a proposition: he needs to arrange a meeting with his brother Jaime, the only person to whom his sister will listen. Dany is a bit suspicious: he wants to go back to King’s Landing and see his brother again? The one who led the attack on Highgarden, killed one of their prime allies and stole the food they needed for their armies? Tyrion tells her that “want” isn’t quite the right word; it’s as likely as not that Jaime will split him in half on sight. But it’s the only way he can see to make this happen.

Davos says he can smuggle Tyrion into King’s Landing easily but if the gold cloaks recognize the most famous dwarf in the world, well, Davos isn’t much of a fighter. Dany asks what happens if this whole plan fails.

“We hope a hundred thousand dead men don’t come to slaughter us until we’re done slaughtering each other.”

Interior—Dragonstone—Jon’s Chamber—Day

Jon is getting ready to go. Davos enters with Gendry. Davos has told Gendry not to tell anyone his parentage, but the Gendry takes a risk, steps forward, and says, “Hi, I’m Robert Baratheon’s son.” Davos isn’t thrilled that he just said this, but it gives Gendry a great moment to talk to Jon Snow about having a similar life experience. For Gendry: If this is the side I’m going to be on, I shouldn’t be afraid to say something. He thinks Jon will understand his background.

Gendry’s true parentage would actually matter to the people at Dragonstone. After all, with stannis dead, who is now Lord Baratheon? Who is lord of Storm’s End? For Jon, the bastard son of Ned Stark, meting the bastard son of his father’s best friend would be a big deal.

Jon and Gendry need to start talking to each other, and Gendry volunteers for the mission. Once he understands the importance of what they’re doing, he doesn’t want to be sitting on the sidelines.

Exterior—Dragonstone—Beach?

Jon, Jorah and some men prepare to go, loading the ship with food, the new dragonglass weapons, cold weather gear, etc. Tyrion and Jorah share a nice farewell. Dany says good to Jorah as Davos says goodbye to Jon.

Gendry apologizes to Davos, but his father wouldn’t stay behind and Gendry is his father’s son. Davos understands, even though he considers himself a kind of father to Gendry. The two embrace. Gendry set off for The Wall years ago. Maybe this time he’ll finally make it.

Jon is preparing to leave on the mission north. Dany, Tyrion, and Davos are present as well; two rulers and their Hands. Jon and Dany have to say a private goodbye in a public space. Tyrion has planted the seeds of the summit in Jaime’s mind. Jaime is going to do what he can to get Cersei to agree to it. Even in the best-case scenario, Cersei is a fickle and unpredictable woman; they need to be ready to head south as soon as possible if Cersei agrees to meet.

If this all works out, they may just stand a chance against the coming threat. If not . . . well, Dany won’t have to worry about the King in the North anymore. Dany hopes it works. If it doesn’t, Jon asks them all to try to convince Cersei anyway. He doesn’t matter, his life doesn’t matter, this is all that matters. Dany is moved by his selflessness.

Off they all go.

All of the above parts were from the script, here. The parts below are from the preliminary outline, here.

Jon is on the beach and sees Drogon approaching. Rhaegal and Viserion land next to him. Drogon then lands as well as Jon gets closer and closer to him. Dany climbs off and is impressed he didn’t run. Jon tells her he didn’t think he’d get very far if he had. He watches her watching her dragons and wishes that he could keep looking at her and forget about the world events weighing on his shoulders. She lets him know what happened at the battle.

Dany then sees Dothraki approaching accompanied by Jorah Mormont, now wearing new clothes. Jorah tells her he found a cure at the Citadel. She introduces him to Jon and accepts his offer to return to her service. She then embraces Jorah, the first time she has touched him in years.

Varys and Tyrion sit on the steps leading up to the throne, discussin Tyrion’s concerns that while he is Dany’s hand, he isn’t her head. They agree she’s not her father but that she’ll need the proper counsel so she doesn’t turn into him. Varys says that she’s young and impulsive but now Tyrion needs to find a way to make her listen to him.

Jon receives a raven scroll from Bran telling him that the Army of the Dead are marching towards Eastwatch. Their skepticism is apparent, Jon is surprised Bran is alive, but they believe what he’s saying. They eventually come to an agreement that they need to show Cersei that the Army of the Dead is real and in order to do so they just need to show her one soldier. Jon tells them it’s possible since the first wight he ever saw was brought into Castle Black on its own before it turned. All they have to do is bring one wigh soldier into King’s Landing to convince Cersei of the truth. Tyrion points out that she’s just a suffered a major defeat losing thousands of men—if there was ever a time to get her to agree to a truce, it’s now. Jon tells them he’s going to be the one to go to get the soldier. Dany tries to talk him out of it . . . the others pick up on the undertones of what’s really going on there.

On the beach, Jon’s shop is about to leave and Dany tells Jon that she admires what he’s doing. It’s reckless and foolish but she admires it. Jon walks away, climbing into the skiff with Jorah. Davos, Gendry, and the Stark men. Tyrion watches Dany watching Jon. Jorah turns to look back at Dany but Jon never does.

Alright so that’s it, guys. Obviously some weird things.

As far as Dany’s early scenes at the battle. I don’t love that Dickon had to be burned after the writers took steps in 7.04 to paint Dickon as a sympathetic figure. But if given the chance and urged to bend the knee he still refused, I guess he sealed his own fate.

I also don’t really like that Tyrion and Varys discussed Dany behind her back after the conversation Dany had with Varys in 7.02. But I am glad that the writing makes it a point to mention that both Tyrion and Varys agree she isn’t her father.

I don’t like this conversation about Jon being “magic.” First of all, it sounds absurd. My fanfic is better than this????

Secondly, how does Dany know Jon died? They have not discussed this yet up until now but this script implies that they have.

The conversation about him being resurrected like her walking through fire sounds very weird to me. As does her “half-joking” assertion that the person with the most dragons can be queen. That’s a sort of OOC attitude from Dany.

I like the idea of Dany and Jon flirting and joking. Love it, in fact. I like the idea of Jon offering to show her his abs (lol). But not like this. Not like this. I hope this has been rewritten.

In the preliminary outline I linked above, they have Arya’s fight with Brienne in this episode instead of 7.04 so I guess a lot has changed. I am hoping the weird “magic” conversation is one of those things that got revamped.

I also don’t love Dany “censoring” the battle for Jon. I would prefer that they be up front with one another, but I understand why she is being more reserved until they know each other better, I guess. Still, the outline says she “tells him what happens” while the script says she tells him but censors it. I guess we have to wait and see!

I do like the parts in the outline about Jon gazing at Dany on Drogon and wishing he could stay like that watching her forever.

I love that Dany doesn’t ask him to bend the knee again. I love that she makes it clear she doesn’t want him to leave to go North and that she thinks he is brave.

But overall this has a strange feeling to it and I imagine the finished product will be quite different. I hope it will.

Anyway, hope this is interesting to you guys. I sleep now :)

#jonerys #jon x dany #got spoilers #ep5 spoilers #leak spoilers

119 notes · View notes

jellybi · 7 years

Text

Let’s Rate Demando!

Personality: ★ ★ ★ Demando’s a weird one in that he does not express his personality as much through dialogue as behavior. He actually says very little that isn’t related to his mission or his obsession with Sailor Moon. His scenes with his allies -- even Saphir! -- are flat and impersonal, more often than not. What I get from his behavior though is that he’s arrogant and myopic, obsessed not only with himself and his mission but with a very narrow band of those interests that allows him to completely sabotage them without noticing (sitting back, smug and oblivious, while Wiseman sacrifices his allies and plots behind his back. Alienating Usagi immediately when literally all he would’ve had to do to gain her support and warmth was have an earnest conversation with her about his goals). He’s also obsessed with the idea that he must use POWER rather than persuasion to get the things he wants. It’s not executed well, but it all comes together into a reasonably coherent picture of a person. Three stars.

Style: ★ ★ I almost like Demando’s look, but it doesn’t quite work for me. He is supposed to have a Glamorous Rich Guy thing going on, so he’s got long hair, a fancy coat, spooky earrings, a throne he kicks back in swishing wine. Okay, sure. But it’s all just a liiiittle bit off. His hair looks like he’s halfway through growing it out to some target length, like it’s stuck in an unflattering in between stage. His coat jacket and his sleeves fall to exactly the same length, creating this awkward line bisecting his all-white suit that makes his arms look stubby. The wine thing gets overused to the point where it’s more of a lazy filler motif than something dramatic and character-establishing. And he needs gloves. I don’t know why, he just does. Every time I see his stupid wiggly hands in that death scene I’m like “why don’t you have gloves? This look needs gloves.” I do like the whole gang’s spooky earrings, though. Go go team spooky earrings!

Backstory: ★ ★ ★ Demando has some backstory notes in common with Saphir -- also, the flashback we do get is about Demando more than it is about Saphir. How his dream got distorted (It kinda started out a little distorted.) I definitely... have some questions, though. Like who was Demando pre-brainwashing? Was he a distinctly better person or did he just smile at his brother occasionally back then rather than musing aloud about how okay he is with sacrificing him to the cause? He still thought it was a good idea to CONQUER THE EARTH to get a flower garden, so that’s a sign that some of the problems with his mindset came pre-installed. I also really want to know how many people are living on Nemesis and like, do they have kind of an ‘evil culture’ of backstabbing and untrustworthiness or whatever. What happened to them after the story? Did they get peacefully welcomed back to present or future earth or just forgotten? We’ll never know! Maybe the Ayakashi Sisters helped sort it out offscreen.

Hero Relationships: ★ ★ ★ I poked fun at it, but I actually kind of liked Usagi almost effortlessly talking Demando out of his opposition to the people of earth. Cheap? Maybe. Poor writing? Oh, yeah. But after having to watch him sit there imperiously in his throne, blowing off Saphir’s warnings and protests and soaking up Wiseman’s halfassed excuses for an entire arc, MAN IT WAS SATISFYING to have Usagi point out the obvious and have Demando go “oh shit, you’re right! I’ve been wrong about literally everything!” It’s also really satisfying to have that happen after watching him so obsessed with Usagi’s outward appearance that he’s been trying to stifle her mind and will in order to 'own’ her -- the moment she overcomes his power to do that, she delivers a truth bomb that turns his world upside down and probably could have saved him from himself if he hadn’t put so much effort into keeping her from speaking or being a person around him. Sort of a whiff of justice to that.

Villain Relationships: ★ ★ I really did enjoy how broken up he was about Saphir, and that there were shades of his reaction that were what I’d wanted to see from Kunzite after Zoi. But beyond some dramatic facial expressions in two of his episodes, a creepy face petting in that one scene, and that wonderful little ‘truce’ moment after Saphir died, I really would not otherwise know that Demando is Saphir’s brother. I think that’s sort of the point -- that he’s grown so distant it’s ambiguous if he WOULD care if Saphir died. But also yuck, there is nothing there to watch or care about. Ditto his indifference to Esmeraude’s devotion. Having a person not react to stuff is not interesting, even if you’re doing it to make a point.

Likeable/Love to Hate: ★ ★ ★ ★ I had a lot of fun putting words into Demando’s mouth in his final episodes -- he’s a very frustrating character, and so I’m going to give him points under Love to Hate. He is so close to being an archetype I would enjoy, but then fails in just about every way possible. I liked him a lot more when I was younger and could fill in the blanks with character traits that rounded him out and made him more interesting or sympathetic.

Resolution: ★ ★ ★ I do really like that his resolution was a callback to the Issues he had prior to his final episode. Conceptually, I enjoyed what they were doing with him sort of needing to shut up, switch off his magic eye, and just listen to Usagi for a second, and that doing this CHANGED EVERYTHING for him. I liked that he explicitly sacrificed himself for Usagi, and that he actually fought against Wiseman in the end instead of getting taken in by yet more nonsense and then either blasted to oblivion or set up to fail in a fight against Usagi, In many ways, though, Demando’s death was a mess. The turnaround with Usagi is rushed and comedically easy, and the fight and death scene are awkwardly animated to the point of giving me mild secondhand embarrassment to watch them. Four stars for what the scene wanted to be, but three stars for what it actually was.

Overall: ★ ★ Uh... I don’t know, I’m really sort of bummed out about not really liking the Black Moon Clan folks at all until their death episodes. I think that means that most of what I liked back in the day came from projecting my own ideas onto the characters, or getting ideas from the dub’s artistic liberties.

#jellybi watches sailor moon #jellybi rates villains

7 notes · View notes

truthbeetoldmedia · 5 years

Text

Brooklyn Nine-Nine 6x05 “A Tale of Two Bandits” Review

It appears that everyone’s favourite bandit has returned to Brooklyn...or has he?

A car thief with Doug Judy’s MO has appeared on the streets, but when Terry and Jake call his mother (because of course Jake has her number, although she still knows him as “Mangy Carl”) to check on the whereabouts of her supposedly law-abiding son, they find out that Doug Judy is dead.

Jake’s grief at the loss of his self-admitted best friend is short-lived; he barely has time to show up at the funeral, meet Doug’s sister, Trudy Judy, and sing an at-first heartfelt and then cringeworthy tribute before the Pontiac Bandit himself appears and gets Jake and Terry to meet him in a back room before anyone else sees him alive.

It turns out Doug (after six years, he and Jake are finally on a first name basis) faked his own death to get away from an arms dealer, Stefano Lucas, who wants to kill him. While Jake is overjoyed to be reunited with Doug again (their reunion carries the same cheesy romantic vibe as their farewell in last year’s Pontiac Bandit episode), Terry is understandably suspicious. After all, if Doug Judy is still alive, then he could very well be the car thief they’re looking for.

To date, all of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s episode of this nature have followed a predictable outline: someone is suspicious of Doug Judy’s honesty (in order, this has been Rosa, Jake, Jake again, Holt, Rosa again, and now Terry); Doug Judy convinces them he can be trusted or they convince themselves that he can’t possibly outsmart them again; Doug Judy does successfully outsmart them, and Jake his left heartbroken until their next reunion, when all is forgiven.

One has to wonder how sustainable such a formula is for a show like this where, yes, Jake can be a bit naive but he’s still a really good cop. How many times can Doug Judy throw him under the bus before Jake gives up on him entirely? In seasons past, as Doug and Jake’s relationship has gone from being frenemies to a full-blown best-friendship, the show has done a good job of threading this needle. In the Season 4 episode, Doug does help Jake and Holt take down his brother, before escaping because he doesn’t want to go to jail; and in Season 5, Doug is genuinely remorseful for almost losing Jake his job, returning the diamonds he stole so that Jake could hand them over to the police department.

This episode does a good job of making fun of the show’s tendency to rely on carbon-copy plotlines when it comes to the Pontiac Bandit, as Jake starts to forget which event happened when (diamonds vs cruise vs giggle pig). It also switches up the formula a bit, bringing in new players in the form of Terry, who hasn’t met Doug Judy yet, and Doug Judy’s sister, Trudy Judy.

For the most part, this episode follows the formula of the very first Pontiac Bandit episode, with Jake even harking back to the old “a thousand pushups” promise he made Rosa (except Terry ups the ante to “a hundred thousand pushups” because a thousand would be too easy for him). Contrary to Terry’s suspicions, the car thief they’re attempting to track down isn’t Doug Judy at all — it’s his sister, Trudy Judy. (If I’m saying Trudy Judy a lot, it’s because I love the name.)

When called in for questioning, Trudy claims that she was just trying to pay off her student loans, and that she made a mistake. In order to get a reduced sentence, she offers to help them catch a bigger fish: Stefano Lucas. (Sound familiar?)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, if you’re following along with the earlier script, Trudy betrays them, using an explosion as a diversion to escape while the NYPD converges on Lucas. She calls her brother from her getaway car to explain her motives to him (crime is fun and she doesn’t want to go to jail, in short), even using one of his lines from the Season 1 episode: “I’m in the wind.”

After six years, it’s nice to see Doug Judy turn out to be the person Jake always believed he was — and get a taste of his own medicine. It begs the question though: presuming Brooklyn Nine-Nine gets renewed for a seventh season (🤞), where does the story of the Pontiac Bandit go from here? Now that he’s finally proven his worth, it’d be hard for him to go back to his scorpion ways. And paralleling this season’s instalment so much with the first one is certainly a nice way to bring the whole story full circle.

That being said, if, from this point on, Jake and Doug team up once a year to take down a criminal in increasingly wacky ways, I would definitely be on board with that.

Meanwhile, Shaw’s, the precinct’s “cop bar”, is in danger of being overrun by the FDNY, after their own bar burnt down. The two departments that are always at war with each other decide to settle ownership of the bar in a mature and professional way: by having a drinking contest.

The rules are simple:

Every drink must be finished to completion before the next one can be ordered;

Vomiters get disqualified;

Whichever group has the biggest tab at the end of the night wins.

It seems that at least once a year we get an episode where the primary purpose is to watch the characters get drunk. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it’s fun, and provides a good excuse to write characters outside their norm without it being out of character. Drunk Rosa especially is a treat, although I’ll always be partial to 3-drink Amy, or “Amy Dance Pants.” (I’m a little sad that 8-drink Amy, who’s an equestrian, and 9-drink Amy, who speaks French, have only ever appeared offscreen, though.)

Holt leaves the bar early in the evening, after calling Shaw’s a mediocre bar that serves no wine except “Charbonnay” from Delaware (when I first watched the episode without subtitles I thought they said “Shaw-bonnay” so…that’s a missed opportunity for the writers) and proclaiming the contest a waste of time. But later on in the night, when the cops are losing and nearly all of them have been disqualified due to vomiting, Holt returns to save the day.

Turns out that Rosa had drunkenly called him and left 17 voicemails (somehow it makes sense that Rosa is a needy drunk), but what really got to Holt was Rosa’s assertion, after she thought she’d hung up, that Holt doesn’t actually care about them.

But of course Holt cares about them, very much; he cares about them more than his own pride and dignity and more than his desire for a good bottle of wine. To prove how much he cares, he drinks three bottles of “Charbonnay” to get the Nine-Nine within shouting distance of the firefighters, and, as the final minute of the contest ticks down, manages to chug a fourth bottle in record time, which pushes the cops over the top.

Originally I thought that Jake and Terry, maybe with Doug Judy in tow, would show up at the bar at the end to help the precinct win — but I’m also always here for Captain Holt showing just how much he loves his squad.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.

Sam’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝.5

#Brooklyn Nine-Nine #A Tale of Two Bandits #The Pontiac Bandit

0 notes

aion-rsa · 4 years

Text

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Stars Talk Growing Up With Zombies

https://ift.tt/34hIA9c

To a certain generation of TV-watchers, zombies are an inevitability. AMC’s The Walking Dead, based on Robert Kirkman’s comics of the same name, first premiered a decade ago. It was quickly followed up by its spinoff cousin Fear the Walking Dead and other zombie shows like Z Nation, iZombie, and Daybreak.

Now the latest zombie effort in The Walking Dead universe, The Walking Dead: World Beyond is set to pay homage to the zombie-watching youth, let’s call them Generation Z (that’s not taken already, right?). World Beyond is a coming-of-age tale about a group of four teenagers who must find themselves amid the zombie apocalypse. Alexa Mansour and Aliyah Royale lead the quartet as the fundamentally different but unshakably close sister duo: Hope and Iris Bennett.

Just like their characters, Mansour and Royale have grown up with The Walking Dead universe as an unavoidable fact of life.

“They would have ‘Freaky Friday’ nights on AMC, and I would watch all the scary movies with my dad. So when Walking Dead came out, I became obsessed and then the nightmares started and I had to stop,” Mansour says.

Hope and Iris, however, aren’t afforded the opportunity to stop watching The Walking Dead universe as they’re deep into it. Alongside Elton Ortiz (Nicolas Cantu) and Silas Plaskett (Hal Sumpston), the pair take off from their relatively safe Campus Colony home in Nebraska to travel the walker-filled country in search of their long-lost father.

We caught up with Royale and Mansour to talk about that journey, what it means to be a part of the Walking Dead franchise, and why walkers are now called “empties.”

A big theme of this show is experiencing the world through the eyes of young people who barely remember a world without zombies in it. With that in mind, do you guys remember a world before The Walking Dead? How old were you when the series premiered and what has your history with it been like?

Aliyah Royale: It was actually something that my two older brothers were obsessed with. That Christmas, the calendar that they got was The Walking Dead themed. They followed the show the whole way through, so to find out that their little sister is now on it has been insane. I grew up knowing that there is this incredible show with these creatures that just terrify everyone, but that actually has an incredible storyline as well. But I was always too afraid to watch it! Walkers freak me out.

Alexa Mansour: I was a little older, I think I might have been like 12 or 13 years old, and I watched it the second that it came out. They would have ‘Freaky Friday’ nights on AMC, and I would watch all the scary movies with my dad. So when Walking Dead came out, I became obsessed and then the nightmares started and I had to stop. I would look forward to seeing Walking Dead at Universal Studios Horror Nights every single year, I was obsessed with it.

Aliyah Royale: That was the one I avoided, the one maze!

What’s it feel like to be a part of this enormous franchise now?

Alexa Mansour: Crazy. It’s just like, it has such a loyal fan base. This show is so many people’s worlds. Even when we were at New York Comic Con and they’re asking us questions about stuff that we wouldn’t even know. They’d read the comics religiously and all this stuff, and they’re so loyal to this show that it’s like, man, I really don’t want to disappoint any of these people.

Aliyah Royale: Yeah, you’re definitely walking into a fan base that is already so invested, at least 10 years worth of invested, in these stories, plus what the comic books gave us. So, I remember just walking onto that stage at New York Comic Con and being overwhelmed by the love in the room and the excitement. I think there was just this hope that was like, we are starting a new story. We’re starting a new chapter with these new characters. It’s also the hope of finding what happens with Rick, what do these three rings on the helicopter mean? Our show just gives so many answers to these people and giving them that opportunity is really awesome.

You guys play sisters on the show. What was it like when you first met each other, and how do you go about building up chemistry?

Alexa Mansour: I didn’t know if she was going to be my sister. I met her at the very, very, very last audition where I had to read with all the possible Iris’s. The person I thought that booked the show was not her, and I was not excited about the person because she was being very mean at the casting. But then I get to Virginia and I see Aliyah. Aliyah calls me, she’s like, ‘hey, I’m your sister!’

Aliyah Royale: She was like, “thank God!” We both have this witty, sarcastic nature to us, this language that only we speak, especially when everybody else is involved or around us. You can just tell that the relationship is so genuine. That relationship is there onscreen and offscreen.

One thing that your showrunner, Matthew (Negrete), mentioned was that he sees that one of the big themes of the show being trauma and how people overcome it, how do you play with that a bit with your characters? How are they working to overcome their traumas?

Alexa Mansour: I think Hope definitely tries to overcome her trauma by not even thinking about it. She masks all of her inner guilt and inner shame with rebelling against everyone and everything, just constantly getting in trouble. It isn’t until later in the season and throughout the season that she actually starts to try and face it head on and forgive herself for everything that’s happened.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Review (Spoiler Free)

By Ron Hogan

Aliyah Royale: “The night the sky fell”, which is what we call the official moment of the apocalypse hitting, we did not know what we were doing. We were kids. We were what, like five, six? But a lot of things happened that night. Hope and Iris lost people that meant everything to them. I think from that moment, whereas Hope is like, “You know what? eff this, I’m living for me now,” Iris came out of that experience more like, “I was afraid and that night I just lived in fear. For the rest of my life, I am going to make up for that by being everything I can to whoever needs me to be.” That’s who Iris was in this college campus community that they started to live in. It isn’t until she decides to go on the road with her sister and figure out who we actually want to be, and not just who we were forced to be after that night, that we turned into some really bad-ass young adult women. Watching that journey is really incredible.

Speaking of that journey – you guys start off in Nebraska, in Omaha, and then head off on an actual physical journey across the United States. I imagine that means you worked outside a lot. What’s that like filming out in the elements? And are you ever surprised how much Virginia can resemble the rest of the country, depending on where they’re traveling?

Aliyah Royale: Virginia is a special beast. I remember it was like 107 degrees, and it’s raining, and there is lightning in the sky. I’m like, “wait a minute, since when does summer have lightning storms?” Only in the South could I have seen something like that. It was crazy, especially being in those leather jackets, they’re very heavy and keeping our weapons on us. It was insane. Virginia is different.

Alexa Mansour: We got to the point that we tried to put on cooling vests that you would have to charge and fill up. If you didn’t do it long enough, then all they did was make even hotter because they had nothing cold in them. Then having boots and stuff and you’re trying to run through dirt. You got things chasing you, and you have like 50 pounds worth of bags on you. It was crazy. Then by the time we wrapped, it was what, like 10 degrees?

Aliyah Royale: Yeah, the day would start in the hundreds and by nightfall we’d be in the twenties.

Another interesting aspect of this show is that AMC has already announced that it’s going for two seasons, 10 episodes each. What is it like working on a show that you know has an expiration date for them? How does it inform your performances?

Aliyah Royale: For me it doesn’t. I still take the character day by day, episode by episode. I’m not looking forward in terms of “I hope Iris becomes this or hope her story ends like this.” No, moment by moment I’m playing this person and I want to live as that person. All I’m here for is to enjoy the ride. Playing this character has been the opportunity of a lifetime, however long or short I get to do it. It’s a blessing regardless.

Alexa Mansour: Yeah, it’s been so incredible to be a part of a production like this. I think regardless of whether it’s two seasons, 10 seasons, one season, half the season, we’re going to give it our all and do the best that we can.

What are you most excited for people to see once this season premieres?

Aliyah Royale: I love the “empties” (zombies) on our show. They get very creative with the way that they’ve decayed. There are these empties in Boston covered in all this moss. They’ve got nature growing all over them and they’re still sitting in these seats that they were in the night the sky fell. It looks so cool, 10 years later, this is how they’ve developed. They’re still slightly slowly moving. You can see their eyes moving, but they can’t actually move because of all the nature that’s entangling them in these seats. Just the way that our special effects team went to work on these empties, it’s next level.

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

Alexa Mansour: The empties were insane. I remember getting freaked out a couple of times by seeing how realistic they looked. But this show proves how tough kids can be. I’m so excited for people to see how badass this whole team of kids is because we’re so used to seeing the adults on the show.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond premieres at 10 p.m. ET, Oct. 4 on AMC.

The post The Walking Dead: World Beyond Stars Talk Growing Up With Zombies appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2ScOSS5

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

0 notes