#hes no longer a badass he's a tragic character with the sort of backstory that in no way Leaves him a badass

[fruiteggsaladit]

Every once in a while I'll despair a little at finding so little Hina and/or Rui or Koorime content in general and then I'll recall how in a post asking "whatever character you're drawing their fate is yours now", a description of mine of Hina (I think I said "had illegal sex and will die in illegal childbirth (allegedly, in the manga, but yes does die) or by suicide after having said illegal childbirth (allegedly, in the anime)") picqued someone's interest and they wondered what that character was from. I told them and then they never asked me any further abt that (fair, it's a heavy description to hear on the Internet from a stranger and the yyh fandom is terrifying and Hina's presence in the story as "tragic female character willing to die in childbirth" and it being not left to much speculation Why She Was Willing To Do That aside from the expectant "well she's a female character and she was written by a man so it must've been the ye old ideal and self-sacrificing mother trope" are all fine reasons that come to mind) but I'm carrying that affirmation in my heart! I know that if a character's story is just told in an interesting way, they can in fact become interesting through that interpretation, even if at first they were expected to be boring.

[starleska]

The sweeter than honey, King Candy for the ask game?

what a wonderful ask to receive, thank you so much anon 🥺💖 he really is sweeter than honey!! answers for this ask game about King Candy are under the cut 🔥

how i feel about this character: all of you who have been around for a while know that i am in love with King Candy 🥺💖 everything about him is so delightful!! his demeanour, his intelligence, and of course that violent sadistic streak that is so masterfully revealed throughout the course of Wreck It Ralph. he's equal parts smug and demented, a real narcissist who will stop at nothing to feed his own ego...it's just fascinating watching a character so absorbed by himself and his own power. no wonder he's Tumblr Sexyman 😳

honestly WiR is a great movie that i feel is made excellent by the layers which went into making King Candy such a badass villain. his goofiness underpinned by this latent sinister attitude becomes scarier the longer you watch, and it makes the payoff for his big reveal just perfect. let alone the fact that all three of his designs slap!!! those who worked on the movie mentioned that they designed King Candy to be kind of like a mob boss, and Alan Tudyk captured that perfectly in his Mad Hatter/Sopranos-esque voice take. i love his lisp, his manic giggles, his bouncy way of moving and especially his smile...aaaah i'm getting flustered just thinking about him 🥰🥰🥰

all the people i ship romantically with this character: this is a situation where i am a hardcore selfshipper, much like many King Candy fans 😉 power to those of you who do have canon ships with him, i think that's fabulous!! i'm just a little too invested in being romanced (or negged) by King Candy myself to give him up 😉

being a huge dork, a little while ago i developed a Sugar Rush OC for this very silly selfship concept...i've always loved the idea of a character who is a video game modder, someone who is deeply invested in old gaming lore and spends a lot of time hunting cartridges and arcade cabinets. my idea was to have a character in the human world who played on the Sugar Rush game with King Candy in it regularly, only to notice after he gets deleted. they post about King Candy online and are met only with bafflement and people who think they're lying about their experience.

eventually, they end up building their own emulator arcade cabinet, duplicating the data from the original Sugar Rush game and modding themselves into the game as a Sugar Rush Racer: this OC here, Strawberta Fizzbomb. there, they end up fixing the remnants of King Candy's data and speaking to him for the first time...you can imagine how delighted King Candy would be at the prospect of sharing himself through the Internet. even better, having a human from the real world who is at his beck and call, clearly infatuated with him and willing to do whatever he wants with the hacking talents to match? well, it would be a very beneficial situation for him 🥰 i know it's very silly but i'd love to write this out properly...i have some sketches of her and King Candy that i really need to ink;;;

my non-romantic OTP for this character: you know, the villainous characters i love often come with some kind of tragic backstory, some background trauma that led them to become the way they are...Dave the Octopus and Balthazar Bratt come to mind. with that sort of backstory, it makes it a lot easier to think of possible rehabilitation and friendships building even with those they hurt, as they seem to desperately need the affection. but this isn't the case with King Candy!! i personally don't want to see him becoming buddy-buddy with Ralph, Vanellope, the Sugar Rush Racers or any of the other video game characters that aren't villainous, as i love him as a dreadful person. it would certainly be interesting to see some kind of redemption arc for him, but when i'm looking at fan content, the stuff i like the most is when he's being his usual terrible self :3c

my unpopular opinion about this character: my definitive unpopular opinion about King Candy is that i find him far more attractive in his King Candy form than his Turbo form!! absolutely no shade to those who love Turbo and his design, i think you're all very powerful and valid 🥰💖 i'm just a big fan of fruity, queercoded, brightly-dressed characters...a kind of flamboyance is always an eye-catcher. maybe it's because Turbo's design reminds me a bit too much of the Crazy Frog 🤣

one thing i wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: oh goodness, so so much!!! i think that the first Wreck It Ralph is perfect as it is, and wouldn't change a thing. however, my real gripes come with Wreck It Ralph 2, which i've talked about before. although most of my issues came from Knowsmore's potential as a villain and the gap that was left without attempting to fill King Candy's shoes, i would've killed for King Candy to have come back in another form. i think the worldbuilding of Wreck It Ralph is so fun that we fans can have a great time playing in its sandbox, whether that's wanting King Candy to have a total redemption arc and end up best pals with all the original WiR characters...or seeing him come back in a different, much-harder-to-kill form. i'm still holding out my hopes for King Candy to return in the third Wreck It Ralph, but if not...i'm very happy with what we have and how wonderful the fandom is ☺

this was really fun!! thanks so much for suggesting him anon - i am literally always down to gush about King Candy, he is such a delight 🥺💖 everyone, feel free to send in asks about him (or other characters for the ask game)!

[bagadew]

The Great Ace Attorney Playthrough: The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band (Part 2a)

Last Time: A day of terrific highs and crushing lows, as I (Ryunosuke) met Herlock Sholmes The Great Himbo Detective, danced around with him solving crimes, and discussed the secret pet of the Russian teenager next door. Unfortunately this all happened because I (Ryunosuke) have been accused of murdering Kazuma, the best character in the game, whom I doomed by finding hot. Also we didn’t even get to see the Russian teenagers secret pet, so what, I ask you, is the point?

(Quick note before we start, because the investigation parts take me a lot longer, I’m going to break them down into chunks of daily progress. If anyone would like, when I’m finished I’ll link them all together in a masterpost, but this way we should get somewhere (and I won’t spend three hours emailing myself screenshots))

As Biff Strogenov the 1 ton sailor is still guarding the door to cabin number 2, we can’t sneak back inside to look at cute animals investigate Kazuma’s death.

Also Herlock Sholmes has left us so we don’t even have him around to lighten the mood and take our minds off of the fact this games greatest character lies dead on the ground (or wherever they’ve taken the body).

However we do get to go and see my man Hosonaga, who has been investigating this whole time and probably has more information to give us!

(And speaking of Hosonaga, I’ve been doing some thinking, and I’m no longer sold on the TB theory. I think if Hosonaga did have TB he would effectively be a one man bio weapon, and given the amount he interacts with everyone I’m not sure that’s a direction Ace Attorney would want to go in (at least I hope not). However if it’s not TB that, very excitingly for me, leaves something like Cystic Fibrosis as a good option. While Cystic Fibrosis (what I have) itself has only recently started to affect non white people, I believe there is a sister condition with similar symptoms that mainly affects asian people. I’ll look into it further when I next have a checkup.)

(Also just to be clear, I do know that Hosonaga probably has tragic backstory poison cough, but I’ve decided I’m going to just run with this until I’m told otherwise. Get your representation where you can!)

THE FUCK!?!

HOSONAGA WHAT HAPPENED???

Is this like the blood and something that just happens sometimes, or did someone do this to you?

Oh wait one of his little lenses is gone, this was clearly man made!

HE SAID WHAT!!??!!

LOOKS LIKE WE’VE FOUND THE FUCKING KILLER LADS!

Kazuma I’ve already let you die on my watch, please lend me your sword so I don’t make the same mistake twice!

So this is how they outdo Miss Brett huh?

I haven’t even met this man and I’m already setting my phaser to kill.

WHAT ARE YOU, THE NIGHTS OF NI?!!

‘’tis but a scratch’ he says as he looks at me through one and a half eyes as the bruises blossom!

I don’t know if I should consider this man a badass or an idiot!

Also, on a lighter note, he did meet Herlock Sholmes the Himbo Detective, so I can rest easy knowing they’ve canonically interacted

But still, I’m not sure how I’m going to get past this.

This bastard almost certainly killed Kazuma (who we’ve already established is the best) and now he’s started on Hosonaga (who becomes a closer second every time I talk to him).

I am going to rip this man to pieces with my teeth and laugh as I do it

(Editors note: Here I made my tumblr post calling for the captain to catch these hands)

In these trying times let’s just sit for a while and reflect on the new, very important, information we have received. Hosonaga likes ballet.

Thank you Hosonaga, I feel calmed now.

And also, thank you for this autopsy report. You know I always feel slightly weary about trusting these, but since it’s from you...

Dammit now I’m sad again!

So, it looks like someone broke Kazuma’s neck. I’m sort of glad it was something quick, but given Kazuma’s big ol’ sword, I’m confused about how it was done. Though I guess we can eliminate the tiny 15 year old next door from our list of suspects, since I don’t think she’s got the necessary strength.

(Also it’s definitely the captain.)

Well I’m glad of that, but it does mean that whoever killed Kazuma must have crept up behind him and taken him by surprise, otherwise they’d have been struck down by KBS (Kazuma’s Big Sword).

What I don’t understand is how the killer got into our cabin. I’m wondering if it’s one of those things where they were already in the room, but I can’t see anywhere anyone could hide.

So Kazuma was hit on the neck then? I must admit I thought someone had gone at him with their bare hands!

I trust you too Hosonaga!

(You remember that dial that was hovering between Idiot and badass, well guess which way it’s flipped!)

Come on Susato! Trust us too! Believe in me (Ryunosuke)!

... not yet... ok... :(

(Understandable though)

God I wish I could have seen it!

(It’s at times like this I wish I was better at drawing)

Hosonaga: The Susato to Herlock’s Ryunosuke!

Huh?

What’s shoe polish?

The writing on the floor? That’s all I could think it could be?

Ah, the mysterious smudge!

A taste test?

Ok, seriously though, it seems like the mark might have been left by Kazuma’s shoes as they scuffed along the floor. I’m not sure what this tells us, other than that the body was moved, but I think we’d already worked that one out by the fact Kazuma apparently chose to write his final words in Russian!

Farewell Hosonaga...

:(

DON’T TIS BUT A SCRATCH YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS HOSONAGA!

(The dial has spun back to idiot!)

Oh shit...

I’m not even sure what to say or do about this other than feel bad and sad.

Like would it help if I told him I was pretty sure he’d been set up to fail, or would that make him feel worse?

:(

You’ve got a self abusive streak to you, don’t you Hosonaga.

Oh SHIT! HE WAS DRUGGED TOO!!!

Wait a second, I BET EVERYONE ON THE SHIP WAS DRUGGED SO THEY COULD SMUGGLE NIKOLINA ONBOARD!

Except Kazuma because he didn’t like chicken!

I wonder if these two facts are connected, or if whoever killed Kazuma knew what was going on and took advantage of everyone being drugged to commit their murder.

Someone like the captain perhaps?

(And on that note, I’m going to turn in for the night and upload this in the morning)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 13: Wen Ning is here, we’re... um... saved?

-

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 10

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 23-24

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 2

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 2

In this scene, Wei Wuxian clocks that things are getting out of hand with the whole dancing stone goddess situation, so he begins playing the flute (much to Lan Jingyi’s annoyance)

WWX’s goal is, of course, to summon some undeads to throw at the monster and buy time, or maybe if he’s lucky, something that will actually defeat her. Except he instead summons a combination Plot Device, Smoking Gun, and Best Boy.

There he is.

More under the cut.

Everyone recognizes Wen Ning and subsequently freaks out, thinking they’re now fighting two big bads at once. WN meanwhile is hella OP and takes out the Dancing Dame in one blow.

With her gone, the juniors get braver and decide they should have a go at WN for some quick night hunt credit. This doesn’t sit well with WN and he goes into throttling mode.

WWX then tries to think of a tune to calm down his Ghost General, and in the manhua we get this nice flashback (from the character’s perspective - flash forward for us) of the cave scene.

Then WWX begins playing WangXian / WuJi on the flute, which of course summons another Best Boy.

After staring into Lan Wangji’s eyes for a really long time (longer in the special edition I guess? I watched both but honestly my memory’s not what it used to was) 

WN: I’ll just uh.. stand here then, shall I.

Anyway after that, WWX comes to and dismisses WN to whence he came.

But of course, it’s too late - the Ghost General is out of the bag, and JC is now Highly Suspicious - but let’s save that fun time for next scene XD

-

So for me, this scene boils down to three very important elements:

Wei Wuxian being a hot necromancer

We get so many lovely opportunities to watch WWX softly kissing his flute on the lips and having demonic red eyes and just generally being hot and slightly sinister looking. It is important for any adaptation to make the most of this. Let’s see how they do.

-

Donghua:

OMG why am I even comparing anything? 11/10.

-

Drama:

OK I’ll grant he’s doing pretty good there with the hair flying loose and the odd mask, in combination it gives him a sort of shamanic look that is super amazing. Still not as hot as red-eyes up there, but noteworthy. 10/10.

-

Manhua:

TOO pretty, sorry manhua WWX you are far, far too lovely and princely for this scene. I also deduct an additional point for the fact that this is the hottest image I found from this scene, but it’s actually one where he’s trying to think of a relaxing tune, not trying to summon an undead army. 8/10.

-

Wen Ning being an undead badass

The Ghost General is kind of the pivotal character in this scene, not to mention this is his Grand Entrance and he is Best Boy. Also, I Will Not Apologize For My Gratuitous Use Of Capitalization. Now that’s out of the way...

-

Donghua:

There were a couple other shots of WN which included his face, and all of them looked kinda.. constipated, honestly. Like I get that he’s supposed to be suffering and Not Himself, but this is his debut and I just felt like they leaned a bit too heavy on the misery. But right here, he is definitely kicking ass and taking names, and the artistry of this shot is top-notch. I deduct a point for otherwise ham-handedly tragic looking WN, and give it 9/10.

-

Drama:

This strikes a perfect balance for me. The dramatic flowing hair framing the face perfectly. The dark eyes and stone-cold expression, a little sad, but a lot violent. He is so beautiful. 10/10.

-

Manhua:

The red aura is kinda cool. The SFX bother me a bit, though there are the chains and they do make noise, so I’m not sure if they really should bother me... mostly though I am sad that manhua WN looks ... so sad. He has every right to, with his tragic backstory and all, but I want to see him being a killing machine right now. A touch of sadness, OK, but the hair over the face, the pathetic expression, the slouched posture.. it’s too much. 6/10.

The Pining

You know I had to go there. I couldn’t not. This is the first moment LWJ dares to believe he’s really found his Wei Ying, and it is beautiful. 

-

Donghua:

Donghua LWJ is scary here. I am legit worried about WWX at this point if I don’t know what’s going on. This doesn’t make me feel happy. On the other hand, with LWJ’s reputation for fighting and his tragic backstory (everybody’s got one!) it’s not surprising that he would look scary - it’s pretty realistic. But eh... I still don’t quite feel like it fits him as a character. 7/10.

-

Drama:

Drama LWJ is, as we know, The Most Beautiful (no canon-based refutations of this are allowed), but he’s still kinda scary as well. However, he’s not scary in a “will he break WWX’s wrist?” kind of way so much as a “uh oh he looks way too smart to be fooled, WWX is in trouble!” kind of way. This is acceptable. Also, the tenderness and longing is very much there in his expression along with the astute don’t-mess-with-me look. 12/10.

-

Manhua:

I have to admit this one leaves me cold. They’re going through all the right motions of a BL couple, gazing into the eyes, the hand grasp, the sparkles (or ash or snow or whatever that is floating around in the foreground) but it feels very hollow right here, as do most of the other panels of this meeting. 5/10.

So our totals are: donghua, 27. drama, 32. manhua, 19.

My personal fav: the drama. This is another face-based (versus action-based) scene for me, and the actors in CQL nail it. I dearly love red-eyed donghua WWX, but he can’t make up for stone-cold badass CQL WN or soft and yearning CQL LWJ.

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[whimsyverse]

Family #1: The Dolans

(this is a re-upload as I made some major changes to my mod situation, specifically the CC traits I'm using...nearly all of the traits from here on out will be from Chingyu's trait pack, just for simplicity's sake)

After a long delay of straightening out my many (many, many) mods and just generally fighting with my lack of motivation to do...things...I've finally placed my first family: the Dolans! Pictures above (left to right) are: Vincent, Donovan, Lucinda, and Lillian.

You may recognize Vincent, at least, from my first Whimsyverse project...that'll be an ongoing theme, of course, since I'm remaking all of these characters again. This time, though, instead of making them all adults, I'll be defaulting most of my major characters to teenagers for no real specific reason besides that it feels like I'm starting at the beginning of their stories. Also it's more work for me to make all of their families and I

am nothing if not a masochist...

Family Bio: Donovan Dolan is a dangerous and brilliant criminal for hire, performing everything from high-profile heists to hitman-style assassinations dispassionately for the highest bidder. However, this was not the case when he first met Lillian, an aspiring model, and their whirlwind romance ended with them married and Lillian pregnant with twins. While establishing himself as one of the most dangerous men alive, the twins Vincent and Lillian were growing up with their gentle and loving mother, who all but gave up her own aspirations to raise them. Vincent and Lillian resent their absentee and dangerous father for how he neglects his family, and for his part, it is clear that Donovan expects at least one of them to continue in his footsteps...though which one has yet to be decided.

Vincent Dolan

Meta Bio: Vincent is my version of that character we all make around high school/early college - the hyper-competent badass that’s just there to be awesome and to let us write super cool scenes. He was super cool and good at everything and had a tragic backstory and was super emo and edgy and graargh! However, as I grew, Vincent stuck with me and became a character I reused many, many times over, and as I became more competent of a storyteller (I said more competent!), he grew too. He remained the hyper-competent badass he started as (a bit of self-indulgence on my part, perhaps), but the tragedy of his backstory and the psychology of him wrestling with his trauma became more pronounced in how I wrote him. He was no longer just a bad-ass, he was a more complex character who, despite appearing to be unaffected by everything around him, was really hyper-repressed to a dangerous degree. I started writing him less as that hyper-competent Gary Stu and more as a normal man (or boy) who simply didn’t know how to express himself or process the trauma of his past - in which he watches his father kill his mother and threaten to kill his twin sister - without letting the pain that comes naturally to that trauma overwhelm him. So he simply shuts it all out. At the same time, he has drilled into his head (thanks, again, to his father) that he simply isn’t good enough. This no longer manifests as a sort of infantile, impotent angst, but rather a silent drive to always do better at everything he does - an intense focus that earned him the very fitting title “a model of intense apathy” from my friend. But one of the most fun parts of the character isn’t writing him being exceptional at everything (I actually enjoy emphasizing that he is not good at everything...anything that requires a modicum of creativity or personal expression is utterly beyond him), it’s watching him, with the help of people around him, discover the young man that he could have been. I recently wrote him smiling for the first time and it was very sweet.

Age: Teenager Gender: Cis Male Sexuality: Asexual Aspiration: Renaissance Sim Lifestyle: Energetic Walk Style: Tough Style: Basic

Degree: N/A Career: N/A Skills: Fitness (4); Logic (3)

Likes: Color Purple, Color Black Dislikes: Comedy; Mischief

Traits: Reserved; Alexithymia; Scary; Unfunny; Over-Achiever; Mentally Gifted; Shameless; Unique Appearance; Slower Romance Gain; Physically Gifted; Brave; Needs No One; Carefree; Heat Acclimation; Slower Friendship Gain; Seldom Sleepy; Cold Acclimation; Quick Learner

Donovan Dolan

Meta Bio: Donovan has never been especially well-defined, and as such, this will be a pretty short bio. He only ever really existed as a vessel to drive Vincent’s trauma. He’s gone from being a petty thug to a master criminal to a dangerous madman. But I tend to enjoy playing him more as a sort of mirror into what Vincent could become - a hyper-competent, dangerous psychopath - a term I use more or less literally here, to emphasize his utter lack of empathy/sympathy. Like many psychopaths, he appears, outwardly, to be extremely well-adjusted, even charming and charismatic, but without the ability to relate to others. He is highly focused on his job, whatever that may be at the time.

Age: Adult Gender: Cis Male Sexuality: Straight Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy Lifestyle: Workaholic Walk Style: Tough Style: Basic

Career: Criminal (The Boss) Skills: Charisma (8); Fitness (8); Handiness (6); Logic (8); Mischief (10); Persuasion (4); Rock Climbing (5); Skiing (5)

Likes: Retro Music; Fitness; Rock Climbing; Dislikes: Video Games; Comedy; Backyard Music; Winter Holiday Music; New Age Music; Summer Strut Music; Tween Pop Music; Lullabies Radio Music

Traits: (*deep breath*) Abusive, Bad-Natured, Brilliant, Psychopath, Well-Balanced, Mentally Gifted, Argumentative, Emotional Control, Good Manners, Insensitive, Faster Relationship Gain, Physically Gifted, Socially Gifted, In the Know, Influential Individual, Mastermind, Natural Leader, Faster Friendship Gain, Over-Achiever, Connections, Brave, Carefree, Fortune Sim, Cold Acclimation, Savant, Great Kisser, Entrepreneurial, Shameless, Needs No One, Heat Acclimation, Hardly Hungry, Business Savvy, Alluring, Career-Minded, Dastardly, High Metabolism,

Lucinda Dolan

Meta Bio: Lucinda is even less defined than Donovan, usually. Once again, she exists simply to die and provide fuel for Vincent’s tragedy. She is usually described as being exceptionally kind and gentle, the opposite of her husband, and having made a strong impression on Vincent and Lillian during their childhoods. For the Sims version, I liked to imagine her as being full of life and energy and happiness. She leans a bit more into creative endeavors, which neither of her children took after. She still lives for her children, though, and the decision to give up her dreams as a model was her own...she wanted to be a parent more than she wanted anything else.

Age: Adult Gender: Cis Female Sexuality: Bisexual Aspiration: Super Parent Lifestyle: Close-Knit Walk Style: Feminine Style: Basic

Degree: Drama Career: N/A Skills: Acting (3); Charisma (4); Comedy (2); Dancing (4); Fitness (2); Painting (2); Parenting (6); Piano (4); Singing (5); Wellness (2)

Likes: Alternative Music; Singer Songwriter Music; Pop Music; Easy Listening Music; Americana Music; Color Black; Color Purple; Dancing; Painting; Piano; Singing Dislikes: Baking; Cooking; Mischief

Traits: Emotional; High-Spirited; Tender; Light-Hearted; Family Oriented; Role Model; Mediator; Kindness Ambassador; Responsible; Beloved; Incredibly Friendly; Good Manners; Emotional Control; Compassionate; Family Sim; Domestic; Gregarious

Lillian Dolan

Meta Bio: Unsurprisingly, Lillian, like her parents, has never been extremely well-defined, but I have had her appear occasionally in stories - I just never really cemented what kind of character she was. In the past, she was the polar opposite of Vincent: energetic, cheerful, impetuous. Other times she took more after their mother and was more quietly calm and confident. In this case, I decided to make her sort of a high-strung workaholic who doesn’t really know how to relate to people, mostly because that’s how she was in one of her more recent appearances. So hey, maybe that’s now her canon personality!

Age: Teenager Gender: Cis Female Sexuality: Bisexual Aspiration: Figuring it Out Lifestyle: Coffee Fanatic; Workaholic Walk Style: Normal Style: Preppy

Degree: N/A Career: Lifeguard Skills: Logic (4); Persuasion (2); Research and Debate (5); Rock Climbing (2); Writing (3)

Likes: Wellness; Research and Debate; Rock Climbing; Fitness; Writing; Color Black; Color Purple Dislikes: Video Gaming; Comedy; Mischief; Cooking; Baking; Dancing; Color Pink

Traits: Serious; Generalized Anxiety Disorder; Smart; Avoidant; Knowledge Sim; Top Notch Toddler; Physically Gifted; Mentally Gifted; Over-Achiever; Seldom Sleepy; Speed Reader; Independent; Learning about Life; Career-Minded; Quick Learner

[tomorrowsdrama]

I watched the first three episodes of Tale of the Nine Tailed and...I like it but I’m not obsessed with it like I thought I would be. I left the first episode feeling “meh,” the second feeling “Ok I guess,” and the third feeling “all right it’s finally getting interesting.” So maybe by next episode, I’ll fall in love? I just wanna preface this by saying that this is not a hate post! These are clearly just my very objective/biased/personal opinions that have no effect on how others may feel about the drama.

I think the main issue about this drama so far for me is that I don’t feel much chemistry between Lee Dong Wook and Jo Bo Ah which is surprising because I thought they looked fine together in the gifs I’d seen before I started watching. It feels very....I don’t know how to describe it. Everything background story/plot/set up wise about their characters should theoretically make me eat out of the otp’s hands like a starving fiend but I’m kind of just left with “cool story bro, but where’s the actual emotional resonance?” I think this is mostly a result of the lacking chemistry that I feel. I know right now they don’t have romantic feelings for each other and are at the bickering phase, but we’ve all seen the whole bickering “enemies” to lovers trope. There should be plenty of chemistry even at this stage. But to me, there’s not much oomph/heat when they bicker. At most, it just feels kind of akin to siblings annoying each other.

And to me, the crux of this whole drama is Lee Yeon’s undying love for Ah Eum that has endured hundreds of years and caused him to break immortal god world rules and give up his station as a mountain god. So when the heart of the story is the epic romance, it’s kind of hard for me to love the drama when I don’t feel any romantic chemistry. The set up/tragic backstory can only do so much for me. Eventually, I will need to also feel and believe in Yeon’s love. I think maybe it’s also because LDW is turning up the smolder/pining to like level 11 every time he looks at Ji Ah/Ah Eum and Jo Bo Ah isn’t quite at the same level. But again, that might just be because we’re not at that stage in the drama where she likes Yeon back so it makes sense for her not to look at Yeon with such intensity.

Acting wise, LDW is fine AND FINE. Thank god he’s looking good and not playing a morally reprehensible serial killer so I can thirst in peace (here’s looking at you Strangers from Hell). His red hair does not actually look that bad in action. Surprisingly, his early 2000s hot topic raver girl furry boot hair as a mountain god did not look that bad either. It must have helped that I was watching on a tv from afar and not wearing my nearsighted glasses lol. But yeah, acting. He’s fine. Nothing to complain about.

Jo Bo Ah is ok in the role to me. I haven’t really seen her act before this so I didn’t really have any impressions/expectations one way or another. I think as I watched more episodes, she started to feel more settled into her role. I don’t want to say her acting leaves me cold, but there’s a little something left to be desired. The best way to describe it is that I don’t think she’s bad, but I’m also not wowed. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I think part of it has to do with the writing of the character. I can see how some people may find her a bit “too badass” (whatever the hell that means) or even a bit Mary Sue-ish. The drama so far has a habit of putting her in a precarious situation and then reveal that AH-HAH it was actually all according to her plan and she knew about the bad guy’s intentions so she actually planned ahead and pre-empted it. See e.g. the episode where she knew the schoolgirl was the culprit, she was secretly filming the fisherman who threatened her, etc. I think it’s meant to show us that she’s clever, street smart, and a bit jaded/untrusting but the execution is a bit hamfisted and forced. Because it happens so often, it makes us (or at least me) feel “oh wow another ploy she predicted and foiled” instead of “damn she’s so badass.” But I suppose the drama writer did kind of subvert our/Ji Ah’s expectations in episode 3 where she got tricked by the old shaman lady with the tea. I will say though, it is a very nice change to see a smart and competent female lead. I just wish it was executed in a way that didn’t feel as forced.

Kim Bum as Lee Rang is...please don’t figuratively egg me...I am not impressed by the character or his acting choices. *ducks for cover*. Right now it’s just a lot of smirky smirky, look at all my perfectly white and aligned teeth as I get really close to you and make some sort of threat/taunt, smirky smirky, ok bye now. Also, he takes joy in killing people and seeing them suffer. How am I supposed to feel for him when that’s all I’m shown so far? Based on spoilers for future episodes, it seems that I may become a bit more sympathetic towards his character. However, as of right now, I DO NOT LIKE.

Anyway, this was longer than I intended and may come off as me being a hater. But like I said, I actually like the drama. I just think there are areas for improvement. I will be more than happy to be proven wrong by the drama.

Also, seeing all the nature spirits and mountain god stuff made me want to re-watch Natsume Yuujinchou and Inuyasha.

[thewolfisawake]

Advent Calendar RP Meme

Day Eight: A Character I Only Got to Play for a Short-Lived Amount of Time

I’ve had a lot of RP experimentation quite a while ago. Mainly because a friend had asked for more canon characters. And I just didn’t find too many of them interesting or had enough of an idea of how to build up their backstories from scratch. But still I tried and one of these attempts was Ash Dragonblade from the game DragonFable.

I technically tried twice with him since he originally was on a multi-muse blog that was supposed to be basically the next gen of adventurers. But I ended up deleting it as I just didn’t ever get a muse for any of them. Except Ash. So I ended up giving him his own. 

Ash, canonically, is a sort of adventurer-in-training. He doesn’t have some grandiose nor tragic backstory. And he’s a kid that’s trying but he’s also very much a novice in the ways of being a hero. But he has the dreams and the heart so he kind of is like that little brother sort of guy. 

I actually had fun playing Ash as he’s a bit of a departure of my normal muse range (if the lack of wild backstory wasn’t a hint to you). I stuck with the lack of notable backstory as it’s really his present that starts shaping him. He’s not brave but he isn’t a coward. He tries to be virtuous but he’s also still a kid and prone to shenanigans. So it is a bit of a balancing act with him that actually has me giggling while typing his response. Ash kind of ends up the straight man in the comedy duo, just pointing out the craziness of the situation and how crazy it is to just go along with it. 

I kind of wished I got to do some timeskip shenanigans. Yes, there is a timeskip. Where I get Ash like no longer wet behind the ears and a legitimate hero. He seems a bit more serious, canonically, but still very much well-meaning and putting himself out there as an adventurer. I think it would end up with him being like typical hero shenanigans and getting a chance to hang around the hero character (who are other RPers) that had been missing. And now it’s hard to reconcile the ‘kid brother’ kind of guy and this ‘becoming a badass’ guy when it comes to Ash. And Ash has to go from being starstruck and believing the Hero is this invincible badass to learning that the Hero is just a person too with shit going on in their incredibly unusual lives. Fun times

 I also kind of wished to write a bit more with his bond with his ‘princess.’ Like Ash’s dream is to be knight and he was stuck on this idea he needed a princess to protect to become this knight. I explained this as to be like an official knight, he either has to be certified badass or have noble blood. Ash has neither. So he feels like his best shot is this little loophole. And after a lot of failures...he kind of end up bumbling his way into being the knight for avatar of light’s daughter...whoops. But like they didn’t get off to a great start and while they are very in sync in present, it is still a time. 

As for why I stopped, well, juggling multiple blogs wasn’t easy and really, Ash didn’t catch on as much in the RP community for Artix Entertainment. And this isn’t blame on the community, they’re all chill and nice. It’s just a really niche game series and so the amount of people around isn’t all that big. So I kind of retired him eventually. But I still enjoy Ash for what he is and I think playing made me enjoy him more in the actual game. 

[klanced]

here are all my dnd episode hot takes bc i love it so much

I’m guessing that, besides being the team’s mascot/furry, Lance also functions as a tracker of sorts. 

His posture (squatting on the ground), the fact that he looks like he’s holding something (like mayhaps a scooped up bit of dirt), the way he’s looking over his shoulder as he gives the team his Opinion, the way they all seem decidedly unimpressed at his deductions considering he only sniffed dirt- Fantasy Tracker™, Babey!

Anyway, going off that, it looks like the party is trying to track something (a monster? Lotor’s character? Keith’s?).

I bet Pidge’s armor makes her super top-heavy. If she fell over, she’d look like a turtle on its back.

Also I can’t get over her CHICKEN ARMS and her BIGASS double-bladed axe like. She really is going all out huh.

I’m also digging the fact that Shiro is wearing a full-on black cloak in the middle of a somewhat sunny forest while hanging with his crew. King of wishing he stayed home! King of withdrawing from others!

I’m already in love with this episode like this is DEFINITELY going to be one of my top five favorite episodes. I feel it in my nerd loving bones.

I sincerely hope that whatever their riding is some big scary monster that scared the pants off everyone except for Allura, who immediately befriended it. Bonus points if there’s a scene where she rubs its tummy.

Maybe it’s some personification/manifestation of the White Lion? Idk, I never finished Season 5 so I don’t really know what’s up with Allura and the White Lion, but this could be a reference to that ep.

I saw a post where someone said that could be Keith’s character which is hilarious and I fully endorse.

... Y’know what? I bet whatever the team is tracking in the first pic ends up being the animal they’re riding in the second.

This is your daily reminder that I am a BIG lesbian who is in LOVE with Allura! 

LIKE HELLO? THE PURPLE BODYSUIT? FLAWLESS. THE HAIR? CURLED AND FLOWING. HER EARS? POINTER THAN HER ARROWS, AND TWICE AS DEADLY. LEGOLAS SAW HER OUT OF THE CORNER OF HIS EYE AND IMMEDIATELY WENT HOME.

I love her.

But seriously, just LOOK at her. She woke up that morning and she decided that yes, actually, she IS going to be That Bitch™! She’s winning the award for best dressed, and she damn well knows it.

I’m also still not over that one curled bang like UGH. YES. And the purple theme she’s rocking?? The way they almost match her pastel glowing marks? Her arrow feathers???? Cupid lined up the shot at my heart, and Her aim was true!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t Allura’s eyes a bit bluer than normal??? Are these.... Fantasy Contacts™?

This is pure speculation, but in my opinion it looks like Allura’s character isn’t a princess. Her armory is fancy, but she lacks Allura’s usual “crown” (it’s not really a crown, but I can’t find the proper word for it lol). Which is interesting! And if true, would confirm some of my meta on Allura lol.

........... I just realized that Hunk isn’t actually bald at the top of his head, but is instead wearing a green hat. And you know what? I’ll take the Rock Lee look over the monk bowl cut any day.

He still looks like Doctor Strange took a vacation in the Earth Kingdom, but y’know what? We still stan. I mean, the beard alone is absolutely legendary, so quite frankly? Hunk’s outfit may be weird as hell, but he still looks good. Case closed! Legends only!

Hunk’s collar is popped because he’s too busy mmmmmmmmmmblockin out the haters.

His belly button is glowing. Absolute legends only.

Also what the hell, Hunk’s sideburns look so good??? His Fantasy Barber™ is a god????? Like OOF, that cut? That fade? Can he please call his barber and ask them to fix Kuron’s hair?? Lol.

Hunk lookes like he’s playing as some kind of monk/sage class, which really tickles my fancy because Hunk as a defensive magic user is (Allura voice) absolutely divine. I mean, just look at that staff! He could either heal you or hurt you with that borderline club, let’s leave it at that.

The longer I stare at his beard the more unbelievable it gets. How did he cultivate such a majestic lock of hair? He has absolutely no facial except for this single 1″ by 1″ square. Hunk is incredibly powerful.

Voltron really wants me dead, huh. Like, they want to loot my wallet from my cold dead corpse and spend my last two dollars at Starbucks. That’s the only explanation for... this.

He looks like if Kaden from Fire Emblem Fates had a baby with Odd from Code Lyoko and that baby raided the closet of Mako from Legend of Korra.

If he has a tail, I will go full on nuclear winter, mark my fucking words.

If his ears so much as TWITCH I will really lose it I am not joking. Voltron has gone TOO FAR, and I will be the one to end it.

Okay I might be imagining things but in the picture on the left, it looks like Lance still has a right earlobe/right ear, so uh. What’s up with that. Does Lance just have four goddamn ears. Are his furry ears fake? Oh my god, is Lance faking being furry kin?

If he has claws tho, I can accept that because that’s cool as hell. I’ll also tolerate Lance having sharp canines, but only if he’s constantly biting his tongue lol.

Lance is wearing quite a bit of jewelry for someone whose clothes look like shit which begs the question of how... he has them. 

If Voltron makes Lance’s dnd character a thief we riot.

Also his facial markings look like Krolia’s which is either a funny coincidence, OR the dnd episode takes place after Keith reunites with the team and introduces them to Krolia, and Lance’s markings are inspired by hers. Which is cute.

I honestly cannot tell if she’s wearing a furry cape or if that’s just her hair, but either way I’m loving it. You go, you fierce little warrior you!

I JUST NOTICED THAT HER SHOULDERS ARE AS BROAD/BROADER THAN HUNK’S NOW GHSKDGHDJGSDGDS

I mentioned this in a different post but I genuinely thought Pidge was going to be a rogue or some sort of magic user, so DPS/Tank Pidge has completely blindsided me and I’m loving every second of it.

Pidge doesn’t roleplay based on her actual self and personality. No, she’s creating Fantasy Pidge™ for a Fantasy World™ which means living out every wild dream she’s ever had!!! She’s chaotic neutral bitch and LOVING it.

She has a DOUBLE-BLADED AXE and it it’s not at least 3/4 her size then what, pray tell, is the point. I want Pidge to heft her axe around like it’s nothing, and then when she puts it down it literally shakes the ground. That’s the ultimate power move.

Lance being a goddamn furry PROVES the existence of other Fantasy Races™ so fingers crossed that Pidge decides to play a dwarven character to explain why she’s so short ghdkjsghdkjs

Pidge looks so happy in the second pic. This really is the best day of her life. 

(ZOOMS IN ON THE SECOND PICTURE) YO IS THAT A CROWN???? 👀👀

Okay but seriously, if Shiro’s character is a prince/king I will EXPLODE!!!! Let Shiro make a dnd character with an unnecessarily tragic and dramatic backstory!! Let Shiro roleplay as a prince on a mission to avenge his fallen kingdom and free his people!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That would also explain why Shiro is constantly wearing a black cloak and hiding his beautiful, perfect face. Because he’s on the run and has to stay undercover, bitch!

NGL, I’m a lesbian but I stared at the second picture of Shiro for a good ten seconds. Mostly because Shiro’s hair looks really, really good, and it’s a balm to my eyes after season 4 and 5.

Also, I just realized, his crown/coronet/WHATEVER is in the same place/represents his tuft of white hair! You can see this most clearly in the first pic :3c That’s so cute!

I’ll admit, I’m a little disappointed because at first, I thought Shiro was wielding a gigantic two-handed sword, which is absolutely badass and kickass. However, on closer examination I can see what looks to be a shield strapped to Shiro’s back (apparently over the cloak, which is weird lol), so Shiro most likely wields a so-called “one-handed” sword.

I won’t lie, for a hot second I thought Shiro might be wielding a club or something because I couldn’t see a sword hilt, but if you look at the left picture really closely, you can see what looks to be a black sword hilt. I did some googling, because swords are cool, and I’d guess Shiro’s sword is based off a knightly sword.

[apex-aureate]

'Lo fellow Howler! Welcome! Can you tell us something about your faves? Btw, if u feel like talking about the RR trilogy you can find me at darrowsrising (like Darrow's Rising).💖

Heya! Always happy to talk about these sad, sad children, but it’s so hard to choose definite faves when they’re all so g o o d

So, in no particular order, here’s my top few:

1. Darrow of Lykos 

Like I said in my introduction post, I know he’s a bit of a basic pick, but still. First impression while reading RR was that Darrow is a more mature and realistic take on a typical YA protagonist. He wasn’t some spunky kid- he was a man, with responsibilities and a life. It was honestly refreshing to read about a person who had a good head on their shoulders and who didn’t immediately take to the lofty ideals of revolution. Right off the bat, his arrogance and recklessness were on full display, giving him relatable, humanizing flaws that didn’t stem from a tragic backstory and couldn’t be cured with a rousing speech or two. In fact, they aren’t really cured at all- the bravery and showmanship of his actions is often exactly what the SoA need at any given point, and it’s been really awesome to watch him recognize that about himself, harness the more negative and harmful aspects of his personality, and eventually put them to good use. He’s got so much more depth to him than a ‘tough guy with a heart of gold’ type too- Like he’s just out for blood at one point, but them his worldview is tossed around about a hundred times and he doesn’t know what to believe about the world anymore because he’s overwhelmed by the sheer size and complexity of it all. It’s such a real feeling that isn’t usually the focus of fiction like this agh

Oh, and I love that he makes mistakes ALL THE TIME. His plans don’t always work out. He kills some people he really shouldn’t have, spares some people who didn’t deserve it. He learns a lot over the course of the Institute, the Agustus-Bellona war, and the Rising through lessons that don’t feel cheap or unearned. He’s simple yet smart, deeply flawed yet totally badass, and he grows into a man worth respecting. Love ‘im.

2. Sevro Au Barca 

Another popular boyo but hey, what can you do? At first I didn’t like good ‘ol Goblin. Vulgar characters aren’t usually very high on my list and I was pretty enthralled with what a cinnamon bun Julian (RIP) was to pay attention to that weirdo upon initial meeting. I was convinced he would fill the minor antagonist role for a while (though that role went to Titus pretty early on).

Then, he saved Darrow and Cassius from the lake and we got a better look at him. Gotta say, once the Howlers got started properly, I really began to get attached to the guy. He wasn’t pretty, but the sheer earnestness and trueness of his character and his loyalty to Darrow was unseen amongst the Golds met within the Institute or in the days after. Unlike Cassius or some of the other members of House Mars, Sevro was never after power, wasn’t full of himself or deluded into believing the superiority or honorableness of his color. He was just him- gross and vulgar and crazy for all the world to see. He didn’t really become one of my favorites until Golden Son though, when Darrow realized that Sevro had figured out who he really was, and had still accepted him wholeheartedly and without judgment. I mean, damn. I cried real tears there. 10/10 best friend anyone could ever ask for.

(And he got more of an independent part in MS so that’s a win)

3. The Jackal 

 Oooohhhh man, the Jackal. I’ve already said he terrifies me.

The build up to him in the first book was so well done I-

And the scene where he cuts his hand off-

Oh and the small acts of ruthlessness and cruelty littered throughout Golden Son-

I mean I’ve seen a fair share of INTJ villains before but he’s just so brilliantly done like wow. I can’t figure out exactly what to say about him but he’s definitely one of my favorite literary villains of all time.

4. Roque Au Fabii  (Forgive me)

 Okay hear me out on this one. Of course I was angry with him in the end. He killed thousands of people in the name of pride (personal, cultural, and racial) and betrayed the friends he had fought side by side with for years on largely irrational and emotional grounds. Unlike Tactus, he didn’t show in inch of shame for any of it when the end came.

But I was completely in love with him in the first two books. He would have easily been my #1 pick if I’d been asked this about a week ago. I guess it’s the archetype he falls into as a poet, or the genuine friendship and wise, heartfelt advice he offers to counter Darrow’s driven, tunnel-vision attitude. Heck, he was even really sympathetic through most of Golden Son- from his perspective, it actually did look like Darrow was being a terrible, negligent person who took others for granted and was completely willing to sacrifice his friends in an arbitrary quest for power.

And, like Darrow, I did feel for him as he died even after he had betrayed them all for despicable cause. I know I should, but I just can’t muster up the hate a lot of other people seem to have for him. It’s not just the misunderstood artsy type that’s getting me here either- I just felt like he could’ve been better. He was a good man- among the best of the golds. And yet just like you’d expect of a Gold, he fell prey to the inevitable flaws of those at the top. Pride, entitlement, and a resistance to change all lead to his bittersweet demise. I have more thoughts on him, but I think i’ll sit on it a while longer before I really go off so don’t judge these half baked rambles as a real opinion on the matter lol

5. Eo of Lykos 

 Underrated af. I think a lot of people write her off as exactly what Darrow described her as in RR. More of a motivation, or some lost dream that was to be worshiped and held on a pedestal for the rest of the series than a standalone character. But she was as much a character as anyone else- she had real flaws and made irresponsible, selfish choices to stay true to what she believed in. She wasn’t an angel, and she didn’t end up coming back from the Vale or whatever to tell Darrow how proud she was or to stay faithful to her for life. Like Sevro, she was just a person living authentically and fearlessly for what felt inside, regardless of consequence. I can appreciate that sort of thing, especially in a female character. It’s also really interesting to have gone back and reread her chapters as Darrow’s view of his late wife develops throughout the series. You start to see past his unreliable narration of Eo’s perfection and recognize the girl behind the song.

Ye. That’s probably too many characters to count as Faves, and I haven’t even talked about Cassius yet, but I just had to say a piece about each because I have zero self control. Thanks for asking, by the way!!

[themagnificentartofshipping]

Im planning on rewatching Once Upon a Time, mostly to watch Emma and Hook fall in love again. Also just to help me realize when exactly I stopped liking certain characters and what has changed in the way i see things now with the series being basically completely over and it being a few years. I might make posts about it, I’m not sure. I’m going to on this, have the opinions i have now prior to rewatching. That will be under the cut because you might not care and some of it is reference for me.

Season 1:Its a great opening for the show. I really enjoyed Regina as the villain and her and Emma’s antagonistic dynamic was great. Emma learning about Henry and their blossoming relationship was the cutest and so great. I also loved the friendship between Emma and Mary Margaret. Had some great quotes. Loved the introduction to the characters and how they are connected to each other. I WILL NEVER GET OVER GRAHAM’S DEATH!!!! It hurt me so much and Regina’s reasoning for killing him was such bullshit. The curse breaking was pretty great. The duality between the Enchanted Forest stories and the Storybrooke ones was very well done and well balanced which i missed in later seasons.

Season 2: I loved this season mostly cause we meet Hook but also because it just continues the storyline nicely. Seeing everyone deal with the aftermath of the curse breaking was good. Emma and the Charmings awkwardly trying to figure out how to do the family thing was endearing. I still liked Regina’s character, the conflict she had in this season made sense and I liked it. Cora was very interesting in this season. Seeing Rumple’s actual reason for using the curse(finding his son) was nice. I got to see more Bae which I liked. Backstory and flashbacks were used well. Seeing Emma’s past was great. The addition of characters in this season felt organic and just fit really well. And Mulan is a queen, i love her so much. Emma being in the enchanted forest. Great set up for the next season and Neverland. I love Belle so seeing more of her was great. I also enjoy the development Hook has from his introduction til the end of this season and his willing to give up revenge to save Henry/help Emma. As much as I hate Neal, I think his addition to this season was necessary to Emma’s storyline as well as Rumple’s and even Hook’s to a degree. So even though he sucks, his character was able to show us different sides and dynamics of other characters that I thought was important. Even though I wish certain things involving him were handled in better ways.

Season 3: This is my favourite season. Both 3A and 3B are amazing. Neverland is great, Everyone trying to work together to save Henry is great. Sassy Hook and Sassy Regina, amazing. Emma taking charge is great. Hook’s belief in Emma. More of Hook’s backstory. That fucking kiss. Hook’s secret. Emma using her magic. Meeting Tink. “I hoping you were dead” Peter Pan was a cool villain. Regina and Rumple’s evil shit not meshing with the Charmings. Hook saving David. Neverland was kind of my life. I’m gonna say it is around the time that I start to have some issues with Snow. I also didnt love that both David and Snow were pushing Emma towards Neal but, I believe they likely didnt know the whole story. Rumple killing himself to kill Pan was fucking epic. Pan being in Henry’s body was a boss twist. Emma and Hook’s goodbye. Mulan being into women, yay!! Her heart being broken boo!!! Belle and Ariel teaming up was chill, I think this season had Belle’s hero flashback and that was great, but I honestly don’t remember when that happened. 3B was amazing. Hook believing Emma was his true love, him going to find her. Zelena was a good villain. Also the Cora flashback was fucking crazy. Neal was an idiot in this season but, whatever. Hook and Henry bonding. Hook’s regret for what he did to Belle and Ariel. Regina and Tink flashback was into it. Outlaw Queen loved. Liked that David and Snow had another baby, didnt like the name. Regina suddenly getting light magic was weird and not totally into. Loved Zelena/Regina showdowns though. The finale was the greatest thing ever. Like everything about it was great. “Someday I’ll stop chasing this woman” “I’d go to the end of the world for her, or time” “We both know i’m his type” Past!hook scene. When they kidnap Marion. When Emma deprived Hook of his dashing rescue. The ball!!! Watching Emma watch her parents meet. David and Hook’s talk. “You traded your ship for me?” “Aye” That fucking kiss!!! Rumple and Belle’s vows were amazing even though there wedding upset me. Like I was really pissed cause this mofo was lying to her again. Regina not getting to be happy w/ Robin sucked but, her bitching to Emma about it was trash. And i forget about how adorable Roland is.

Season 4: I like 4A like alot actually. I know a lot of people aren’t a fan of the frozen arc, but I like it. I love Elsa in this. She has a really great friendship with Emma and I like that their friendship isn't over complicated with connections to her family. Elsa also helps Emma accept her magic which I love and she understands that part of Emma in way no one else does. I kind of wish Elsa could have been on longer so Emma could continue to have her own friendships. I enjoy Emma trying to learn how to control her magic. I dont love Ingrid as a villain but I like her backstory well enough and I like how her involvement gives us a look into Emma’s past/childhood. Killian and Emma trying to have a relationship after the whole epic kiss thing is nice. There date is amazeballs. They are like really in love and become committed to making it work through this season and I love that. I’m not a huge fan of Snow through either half of this season, I felt like she was the person who saw the worst in Emma both presently and in the past. I find it really telling that in 4B we see that she is the one to see the vision of evil!Emma. I think this is the season I stop liking Regina cause her angst is kind of dumb and she’s very pity me about it. I love Belle at the end of 4A when she sends Rumple away, I think it is a very empowering moment where she stands up for herself and is able to stand up to her abuser. I like how 4A has a nice intro to Lily through the things we’ve seen of Emma’s past. 4B I liked significantly less then 4A. The season really putting Snowing in a bad light particularly Snow and I believe it definitely highlights the fact that David’s relationship with Emma is closer and healthier then the one Snow has with Emma. The fact that they gave Emma potential for darkness to another kid is super fucked up. I actually find this whole concept kind of dumb, like I don’t think it was a good storyline, it just dumb. Killian trying to make amends with Belle and succeeding til the point that they are friends is great. Rumple scheming to get Belle back is awful. I find Operation Mongoose pretty awful like I feel that Regina blaming the universe for her not getting a happy ending with Robin is dumb. I think that this idea that a villain can’t get a happy ending might be true when you are still a villain but it isn’t true if you are a reformed villain case in point being Killian his relationship with Emma is great this season and he is an actually villain who has and continued to have a really good redemption arc. So the fact that Regina isnt getting a happy ending and her line of thought is along the lines of the actual villains of this season proves she hasnt had a real redemption arc no matter what the characters in universe seem to believe. I do like Maleficent and Regina friendship. Cruella being a villain with no tragic backstory was refreshing. The introduction of the author was cool. Zelena pretending to be Marion was so fucked up and the fact that she got pregnant means that Robin was sexually assaulted(he consented to sleeping with Marion, not Zelena). I liked Lily being involved but I hate that she was never mentioned again. Henry become the author was pretty great. I really liked how the apprentice was all over this season leading to Merlin's involvement next season. Emma sacrifice herself was an intense moment.

Season 5A: I didnt like this season, I believe it was an okay idea but executed poorly. I loved Merlin and liked Camelot and evil!King Arthur was interesting. Violet and Henry were cute and I loved seeing Henry’s first relationship. Emma and Hook’s thoughts on a future together were nice. Getting to see Mulan and Ruby again was great. I thought Merida came out of nowhere and i didn’t think she had a reason to be there so, I didn't love her. Belle giving Rumple another chance upset me. Emma made grave errors in judgement but she did do everything for love, so I felt conflicted. Dark hook was sort of entertaining. Emma killing Killian was heartbreaking.Her threatening Gold was badass. Gold lying to Belle again was fucking annoying. Emma going to the underworld to save her mans was great.

Season 5B: I have issues with this Arc on many levels. One being I like greek mythology and because of that I hate when Hades is portrayed as like super evil when he’s really not, he’s stern and stubborn but not evil. He tends not to actually torture people there are other people in the underworld to do that and that only really happens in Tartarus where only the worst of the worst go and though he implements punishments he tends not to be the one who created them, that tends to be the gods that the people in Tartarus actually messed with. So they vastly misrepresented him and I was not a fan of that. And as cute as Zelena and Hades might have been Hades is married and is the only god who doesnt really cheat on his wife so I’m not overtly a fan of that. If we discard everything that is wrong about Hades and the underworld there are other issues I have with this season. Regina is just pretty awful in this season. She tries to force Robin to forgive Zelena as well as let her see his kid when this woman raped him. She also treats Emma like crap like she’s a super hypocrite, the way Regina treats Emma when Hook dies and the way she expects Emma to treat her after Robin dies is ridiculous. Robin’s death is also fucking awful. And Regina blaming Zelena pisses me off but whatever. I thought Liam was kind of dick. And Rumple was even more garbage then I expected. I loved getting to see Milah and I found the flashbacks really good. I enjoy that even with Rumple trying to cause Milah and Emma to hate each other they didn’t. I’m really pissed that Rumple made it impossible for Milah to move on. I wish there was more Milah. Seeing James was fun, like it was hilarious. Cruella and James as a couple was pretty great. Emma and Killian being confirmed true love was amazing. OTP of the gods!!! Emma’s family was very supportive of her. Ruby and Mulan being in an episode was nice and I liked that we had a true love kiss between two women but I would have loved for the first LGBTQ couple on the show to have Mulan be apart of it because I want her to have love so bad. Also I’d rather it be two characters I care about then One character I care about ,Ruby and a character that we barely know, Dorothy. Henry trying to destroy magic was dumb, I understand why he tried, it was just misguided though. He also needs to stop hero worshipping Neal. King Arthur running the underworld is boss. I don’t remember much from the finale other then the destroy magic thing and i know that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was introduced.

Season 6: Wasnt great. I liked Emma and Hook moving in together and the wedding. The musical episode was good. Belle choosing to leave Rumple and having the support of her friends specifically Killian was very moving and empowering. It felt like she was finally done with Rumple which was great and why her getting back with Rumple at the end of the season was so heartbreaking for me. Hyde actually being the good one was cool. Regina using the serum was awful and stupid and I hated it, it was just her trying to take the easy way out of redemption. The wish universe was awful and truthfully nothing in it actually made sense like the timeline has to have totally change for Emma to have met Neal in a universe where the curse didn't occur. Wish!Robin ending up with the Evil half of Regina was ironic and hilarious. The flashbacks were used a lot to add unnecessary drama particular the Hook ones. I found the black fairy to be a let down in terms of villains, especially after basically having the evil queen as the villain. She was also basically Rumple and Regina as one villain but with a lot less character depth to make me care in anyway. Rumple being a saviour was awful and didn't make sense. Belle not getting to raise Gideon sucked. Gideon over all was annoying and I think the writers wanted me to sympathize with him and I just didn't. All the added characters happened way too fast and there was just a bunch of characters that were forgotten.

[underthebluerain]

Watched Thor: Ragnarok yesterday. Some of it I liked, some of it I loved, most of it was a mess, some of it I hated. The things I loved made me really emotional and saved it from being a wholly bad experience. The things I hated are the reason I am really glad I didn’t spend money on it.

Fair warning, this "review” is as messy and disjointed as the film. Also long.

-The moment the movie started with Thor’s monologue it was clear it was 100% off tone with the Thor universe. Like what.

-The first woman we saw in Thor was Jane Foster doing scientific research. The first women we see in Ragnarok are two unnamed fanservice extras who are presumably skurge’s conquests and are there for the guy to show off to, with barely any lines, no important role and (I think) never seen again. Just a thought.

-I will admit, I did fid some moments funny and genuinely enjoyed them. Others were just ridiculous, a sign they completely ignored the kind of story and especially characters they were showing. And the moments that should’ve been dramatic but that were played in a funny way, even worse. Like Thor and Loki’s reunion. Thor thought he was dead, again. Honestly. Take away all the emotional depth why don’t you. (Yeah I still laughed but it was a Robbed Angst Moment).

-Not to be That Guy but... Loki’s in-universe The Dark World play has Lady Sif and the Warriors Three in a bigger role than they had in it (since they are present at Svartalfheim) and also has Jane in it so 1) it’s keeping both Sif and Jane UNLIKE THIS MOVIE and 2) how shitty is that the in-play acknowledges these characters and the film proper doesn’t. I am so tired of Marvel’s self-referential “haha let’s lampshade the fact that the women are missing but not actually do anything to remedy it!” also unashamedly used in AOU and Antman.

-The bit they showed us about the play I liked in general though, it had plenty of Bro Feels. And Odin!Loki mouthing “I didn’t do it for him” lol but also aww. Also interesting that Sif and the W3 were included (just like in his deleted TDW imagining. He really wants Thor’s friends to like him damn) worried about him and Sif was sent to get help...?? They are not helping me forget about sifki tbh

-Also I shouldn’t be surprised that something serious like Loki’s origins was mentioned only to be funny but like... what?? He seriously decided to let everyone know?? Really?? And is this play seriously how he decided to do it?? When was this?? Was everyone chill with it?? When did he become cool with it?? 

-Was Jotun!Loki called a blue icicle or did I hallucinate that

-Literally the only mention of Jane is of how she dumped Thor and him saying he dumped her instead. Besides Jane being missing, several reasons why this is shitty: 1) again, only one mention of her in the entire film 2) the only mention has her referred to only insofar as her relationship or lack thereof with Thor goes 3) Thor wouldn’t be trying to save face regarding the breakup, he’d just be sad about it 4) it isn’t a good enough reason to have her missing, fuck you.

-Thor to Strange: “Who are you and why should I care” lmao same

-Hela being Odin’s daughter is so out of left field. The backstory regarding her helping Odin win the realm even more so. What?? Just what??

-On the other hand, nice to see the fishiness about Odin and Asgard’s treatment of other realms acknowledged as shitty. But they still had Odin’s only scenes  being good to his sons...?

-I am conflicted about Hela’s design because on the one hand I am gay and find it sexy but on the other I kind of resent they gave her the Black Skintight Catsuit™ of Sexy Female Characters.

-The W3 didn’t deserve those sudden deaths and Thor didn’t deserve to not find out about them.

-I SO loved Thor and Loki’s interactions. I'VE MISSED THEM SO MUCH

-The mural with the family was nice. I didn’t like how frigga was depicted lower than her husband (and this even though she’s taller...) and looking at him/the ground while the men are looking forward, but it does make sense given Asgard’s sexism (as established in other movies, because apparently now they have an all-women army. Ok then why was Sif being the only female warrior a big deal?? Answer: this movie doesn’t give a shit about continuity)

-So... Odin was ashamed of how he got the realm... but he still made a hugeass mural about it??

-I do like hearing Odin get called out. also Odin manipulated history, who else isn’t surprised?

-Again with the humour being used to reference a tragic past event: Loki’s apparently telling the Sakaar gang (whom he barely knows) about how he let go of the Bifrost. As if it’s a funny anecdote. They all laugh. What.

-Just let Hulk stay there and rot Thor

-Hulk is an asshole, I didn’t need more reasons to hate him but they gave them to me

-They didn’t just made an AOU reference they actually had the gall to show me ooc!nat and fucking brutasha AGAIN EW EW EW WHY FUCK aaand I officially hate Taika Waititi. I am SO glad I didn’t go see this movie in a theatre can you imagine giving more money to be traumatised with the same shit again omg

-Lmao they literally threw in a line in just to give Banner more degrees than Jane, Phd’s actually, so his are more important right? The male ego truly is astounding

-I thought we’d see more of Valkyrie’s backstory and her grudge against Hela, but at least we got something. Also her name wasn’t revealed?? Was it in the credits? She is cool though. I liked that her introduction was not at all dignified (falling off the ship bc she’s drunk? lol. Wasn’t expecting it tbh) but she got her dignity back. I’ve seen it mentioned that her story of “badass warrior leaves after traumatic battle and becomes jaded drunk who pretends not to care about anything but eventually finds it in herself to come back and fight for what’s right” is a story usually reserved for men and it’s great that she got it.

-I feel so defeated that Asgard had to be destroyed.

-The rock alien was quite funny.

-Thor has literally lost his home, his girlfriend, his mother, his father, several of his friends (not that anyone told him) and his fucking eye give this boy a fucking break

-Thank god Thor didn’t end up believing Loki was dead again bc I would’ve gone there and killed him myself tbh

-I think one of my main problems with the film is that I actually enjoyed the adventure, some of the humour and few emotional moments, but it ignored and/or glossed over so much that was important that it’s not as gut-wrenching as its predecessors. To sum up: this movie was a good fic, but not a good enough Thor movie, you get me? Especially given how this is probably the very last Thor movie.

-Even without watching the Infinity Wars trailer it’s obvious Loki’s taken the Tesseract you little shit. I hope Thor knows and is like “take it out let’s see what we do with it hmm?”

-Fuck, I really enjoyed Loki and Thor’s relationship in this movie. On the one hand, the movie robbed them of several emotional moments (Thor finding out Loki’s alive, their reunion, a longer confrontation), but on the other the humour gave them several great scenes of sibling banter and backstory that I loved so much (even if some of it didn’t make sense like the snake anecdote: cute, funny but nonsensical). And despite the movie’s light tone not fitting with the other films’, I... feel like it did kinda fit their relationship here? The film made it work. I still wish we’d gotten more emotional scenes and arguing and angst, but I did like to see that it’s been quite some time since their grievances and that has sort of caused them to cool over a bit, so things are calmer, lighter. And that allows Loki to act less like a “I’m gonna betray you” (which is still there, but he doesn’t play it up so much), and above all allows Thor to say, “look, this has been fucked up for a few years, I don’t think trying to stay together will work”. Which I think is both sincere and reverse psychology. Sincere because Thor has been through a lot of pain and he knows Loki has too, so he doesn’t think he can handle having Loki there but not being able to trust him, and if Loki wants out he’s not gonna force him to stay. And reverse psychology because he’s hoping so bad that he’ll want to stay, that he’ll choose to. Freely. And he knows that the only way he will make a free choice is if he thinks Thor has made his and that it’s to stop pursuing him. I AM EMOTIONAL

-AND LOKI DID COME BACK TO HELP AND THOR FUCKING BELIEVED HE WOULD OKAY

- “IF YOU WERE REALLY HERE I MIGHT HUG YOU” “I’M HERE” GFHXKCJDLKLXKS

-WHAT THE FUCK WHERE IS MY HUG

-AND THEY DID END THE MOVIE TOGETHER SIDE BY SIDE WITH THOR AS KING AND LOKI AS ADVISOR AND GOING TO EARTH AND FACING WHATEVER DANGER IS COMING TOGETHER AND I AM VERY EMOTIONAL OKAY

[unabashedrebel]

“?” (Reading the replies to this ask across Tumblr has been intriguing.)

Oh gosh, like his entire story has been reworked in one way or another. Basically if a thread dies or I no longer talk to a partner I'll tweek things to make it more cohesive and deligate friends to an NPC role when he speaks about them- so far hasn't blown up in my face, but I do do it sparingly. Like for example his military career on Moonguard was extended so he served longer then a year- stuff like that.But there's one massive retcon that always comes to mind when people ask me this: his backstory. Originally Kirollis was never going to be this badass assassin with a heart of gold. Originally he was a street rat, hung out in the Row, hit on everything, didn't have a coin to his name, no skills in combat, said outrageous things for laughs. That was the character concept.But- as I continued to RP him and flesh him out (I left him really bare bones for a while) my GM at the time wanted to put me up to an officer position- mainly on OOC accolades like event management, knowing everyone, always trying to create RP, etc etc. But my character didn't fit the role. So we got into this training RP that never quite took off.At the same time I'd also watched this movie The Number 23 and it details a man who goes through such intense grief that he literally blocked his past from his memory and lived normal life as someone else. I really loved the concept, and I had a lot of fun playing Kiro so the wheels started turning. Classically, I love adding tragedy to a character. I love seeing a hero with a dark past, or playing tropes only to reveal later they were a farce. That was sort of what I worked with when 'recreating'.So I had two objectives- work this concept into his story and give him a better place to come from while also giving him some maturity to sort of lead things. Now, the guild fell apart but I had spent like months working on this concept of a family of assassins. I really like Ancient Greece so I worked in this spartan-culture practice, worked out the grief in the form of a deceased wife and baby, and put on his big sort of tragic moments in saying he killed his parents to avenge his late family- which they murdered.The thing about all that was is I wrote myself into a hole. I needed a very strong mind mage to sort of break this seal to the new story, but I never quite found one till a year later. So I had all this story and this plot I really wanted to work with aaaaaaand I had to wait forever to sort of put it in play. But it was nice, in hindsight. I got to explore the character more and fine tune his story to what I wanted it to be. I think it worked out well in the end :)Thanks @brian-wellson !

[atamascolily]

I've been catching up on the MCU films (well, let's be honest, most of them) in preparation for Spiderman: Homecoming, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, all of which I am excited about after watching numerous tumblr gifs.  (Thanks, tumblr!) I was inspired by a Vox article ranking the films by quality, so I watched them out of order, which was actually quite interesting in a very meta way. I'd seen the original Iron Man, and some of my friends in college had filled me in on the intricate details of the Marvel universe back in the mid-2000s, so I had a pretty basic idea of the situation with HYDRA, SHIELD, Nick Fury, etc, etc, and could just jump right into the middle of the action without needing too much more context.

So here are my off the cuff thoughts:

Captain America: the Winter Soldier:

My favorite movie of all of them (so far, anyway) and the one I watched first - no regrets! Has everything I want in an MCU movie - great action sequence, a decent but not overwhelming number of characters, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson and Natasha Romanoff starring in their own movie, plus a gripping plot and great action sequences. Nick Fury proves he is a total badass, with Maria Hill not far behind. Also, I'll confess a soft spot because the movie is mostly set in DC, which I am more familiar with than New York. The Smithsonian scenes were ON POINT.

Oh, and I totally ship Romanogers after watching this film. Not sorry at all. I know the writers are actually trying to ship him with Sharon Carter, but I'm really not a fan. I mean, it's just a little creepy that she's Peggy's niece, and even though he didn't know that when they first met and flirted and got to know each other a bit - I still find that a bit too much Replacement Goldfish for me. While it's tragic that Peggy aged and Steve didn't and she doesn't really remember him, eventually Steve is going to have to move on. Sharon is a lot like Peggy, but so is Natasha - at least in terms of badass competence - and I love the working dynamic between Steve and Natasha - they know each other well, they trust each other, they have each other's backs, and I love their casual banter. Also, I'm a sucker for Contrasting Opposite pairings - and the morally ambiguous former Russian sleeper agent Black Widow with the honorable, square Captain America is full of it.

The deep irony is that Black Widow is canonically with Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier in the comics, neither of which is ever even remotely hinted at in these movies. But that's okay because I really don't ship those pairings! Yay, movie continuity... because let's face it, sometimes the comics are really weird.

Major thing I would change: NO MORE MALE GAZE SHOTS OF NATASHA, OKAY?

The Avengers:

Surprisingly, not a huge fan, despite rave reviews from Vox and others. I can't even put my finger on what it is, exactly, but things just feel "off" to me here. Maybe it's the Joss Whedon touch? Because that scene with a shoeless Natasha taking out Russian mobsters while tied to a chair really just screamed Joss Whedon to me. Although I did enjoy the look on Phil Coulson's face when she puts him on "hold".

Also, Phil Coulson was a badass and I'm sorry they killed him off (though apparently Nick Fury brings him back to life in the TV series because Nick Fury doesn't believe in death? It's the sort of thing Nick Fury would do.) Nick Fury and Maria Hill continue to be badasses. Surprisingly, I find Loki somewhat tedious and Thor charming when I really expected it to be the other way around. I enjoy watching Bruce and Tony exchange science banter, but I'm really not into the Hulk. And while Tony Stark continues to be the king of sarcastic wit - to the point where I refer to him as "Tony Snark" - and I'm normally a big fan of that (and I enjoyed the original Iron Man when it originally came out), I'm somehow no longer interested in watching the antics of an egoistic billionaire playboy who makes crazy science weapons and then is surprised when bad people use them, especially compared to Captain America.

I do like the Chitauri giant fish weapons and how organic they are but Thanos and the rest of the Chitauri stuff just feels over the top.

I did love the post-credits scene at the Shawarma joint, though; definitely more than Tony's post-battle shawarma ravings in the film proper.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Probably could have skipped this one, but I enjoyed learning more about Captain America's backstory, even if it wasn't really necessary. Peggy Carter is such a badass, and it really make the events of The Winter Soldier all the more tragic when you watch Steve with Peggy and Bucky, and learn that SHIELD has been infiltrated by HYDRA from the get-go. Also, I thought I was going to hate Howard Stark because his son is frequently a jerk, but he was surprisingly endearing. Red Skull is kinda annoying, and having Captain America stuck in the cryofreeze unit.... wasn't really explained.... but I did love the awakening scene in New York at the end. Nick Fury continues to be a badass.  

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Still didn't like this as much as a lot of people seem to (probably the Joss Whedon thing?) - while lots of individual pieces were good, the movie felt weird as a whole thing. Watching Steve and the Avengers take on a European HYDRA base was an interesting callback to the 1940s with Steve and the Howling Commandos - probably the happiest time we see with Steve in the post-SHIELD era, honestly, and right before it all goes to hell. Tony Stark's "yay" as he opened the secret door was fun, although I don't think Wanda (I feel weird calling her "Scarlet Witch") could have snuck up on him and kick-started the plot if he hadn't taken off his suit for no obvious reason.

I hate Tony's decorating skills - all the modern uncomfortable furniture and clear glass - and fancy dress parties full of rich people. Loved the drinking and banter about Mjollnir and Thor's reaction to Captain America being able to move it just a bit. Glad all of Cap's surviving friends from the 1940s showed up, though - warms my heart.  

NOT a fan of the plot shipping Natasha and Bruce together. I like them individually, hate them together. But I was really happy to see Hawkeye has a family and a real life outside of the Avengers he never told anyone about - and his family knows about what he does and supports him. Hawkeye gets a lot of crap from people both in and out of the films, but I think he's one of the more stable and balanced characters, and frankly, by my standards, one of the most successful and happiest ones. Go Hawkeye! You've got your priorities straight.

My favorite action moment is Black Widow using Captain America's shield for a minute in the Seoul action scenes before tossing it back to Captain America, hands down. Why doesn't this sort of double-teaming happen more often?

Also, I like how Thor just decides to leave to follow a vision, is bad at fitting in with the human world, and does his own thing in bringing Vision to life, AND at the end going off to figure out the whole Infinity Stone business. I'm still confused by all the Asgardian references, but not sure I really want to watch the Thor movies to figure it out, so I rely mostly on my knowledge of Norse mythology, which actually gets you most of the way there.

I love Hawkeye and Wanda's relationship - it confirms my feeling that Hawkeye is a mature adult. Also, I enjoy the way that Vision just casually swings Thor's hammer... and everyone is suprised and then decides not to wonder about his ultimate allegiance... and a delighted Thor has someone to discuss his hammer with.... and Vision is just a few notes shy of Uncanny Valley territory (and could be downright creepy if he didn't have JARVIS's voice).

Best part of the movie for me is the end scene at the new Avengers headquarters - thankfully they've moved out of New York! - with Steve and Natasha training the new crew of Avengers, because shipping.  

Captain America: Civil War:

Liked it much better than both the Avengers movies, probably because Joss Whedon wasn't involved. Despite the Sharon/Steve kiss, there's nothing in here canonically that messes with my preferred Romanogers pairing in the long run. I like how Natasha tries to talk sense into both of them (though she fails, which is really not her fault). Too bad Peggy Carter dies and isn't able to talk sense into Tony and Steve and get the government off their backs because you know she would have if she could have. Also, Black Panther and the Wakandans are awesome, T'Challa does the mature adult thing at the end, and watching Peter Parker geek out with Tony Stark makes me like Tony so much better than I previously have, despite the fact that I think he acts like an idiot even though I agree with most of his basic points in the film.

Great action sequences, throughout the film, especially the Berlin chase sequence and the airport battle. Not so into Iron Man vs. Captain America, honestly. Watching Wanda grow is great; Hawkeye gets some great lines and actions; the ending is bittersweet but hopeful. Apparently, Tony broke up with Pepper, which makes everybody sad except for me, who was kind of "meh" about the pairing anyway. Watching Tony flirt with May was hilarious although I don't ship it - just shows Tony's still got a bit of the playboy in him (or maybe that was just a ruse so he could talk to Peter alone? Either way, funny).

Really sad about War Machine, though... glad he survived. Love Falcon and Redwing, watching the opening scene in "Lagos" (really, it was filmed in Georgia). Also glad the whole "Winter Soldiers" business turned out to be a red herring and the real plot was actually something else. Though it breaks my heart that Howard Stark recognized Bucky and calls him out by name.... only to die at Bucky's hands a moment later. So tragic. I didn't catch the name of the villain, but apparently, his name was Zemo - doesn't really matter, his plan was brilliant. Also not clear: who filmed that footage of Bucky murdering the Starks and why?

I think Vision may have a point about the number of enhanced humans increasing the possibility of catastrophe. Though, to be fair, Loki probably would have conquered the earth unchecked if the Avengers hadn't been there, and that just opened the doors for more weird shit to keep occurring. Though Vision may not know about all of the crazy HYDRA plots that went down PRIOR to Tony Stark becoming Iron Man when he made that comment.... or does he? Hard to know what Vision does and doesn't know.  

Mixed feelings on Martin Freeman as Everett Ross - maybe he'll be better in Black Panther, but in this movie, I can't really figure out what his deal is (and didn't catch his name until reading the wiki afterwards). On the other hand, Benedict Cumberbatch is in the MCU universe as Dr. Strange, which means at some point they'll probably have an in-universe meeting, which pleases me on some deep level since I enjoyed their dynamic together in Sherlock.

Also, the Avengers headquarters is actually the Porsche headquarters in Georgia and I cannot take it seriously now that I know this.

Other movies:

-Probably not going to watch the first two Thor movies, might be persuaded to watch Ragnarok depending on fan reactions and the overall quality of tumblr gifs. Since tumblr gifs are what inspired me to watch the mcu films in the first place, it seems only appropriate. Likewise with Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel.   - I'm probably not going to watch Ant-Man or The Incredible Hulk either. I'll probably watch the scenes with Black Widow/Natasha in Iron Man 2 and skip the rest of the movie. Likewise, going to skip Iron Man 3 because Tony Stark is only bearable if he has someone to counter him, and I'm pretty sure that's not the case in that movie. -On the fence about Doctor Strange - probably will watch it, but it's not a high priority right now. -Guardians of the Galaxy - these are supposed to be good, and will probably be helpful context for Infinity Wars, BUT Chris Pratt is not my favorite actors and I'm not really interested in the side characters enough for it to be worth it. (I did enjoy Jurassic World, but I was in it way more for the dinosaurs, although his raptor training / racing raptors on motorcycles through a jungle was just crazy enough to be awesome - and also since it was on the DVD cover, I knew exactly what I was signing up for. I HATE how that movie treats Claire, and the inevitable romance between her and Chris Pratt's character... so I'll say I enjoyed Jurassic World in spite of Chris Pratt and not because of him. Don't hate the dude, just not interested in his movies or the style of humor that seems to run through the Guardians movies.) If I find their appearances in Infinity Wars to be good, I'll consider watching them.

Predictions for Infinity Wars:

-Cliffhanger ending to Part One, with all/most of main characters dead/dying as in Tony's vision back in Age of Ultron. -Vision gets the yellow infinity stone ripped out of his head and dies, at least until they can figure out how to bring him back to life -Iron Man's heroic sacrifice, since apparently Robert Downey Jr is getting tired of playing Tony Stark in these movies and is looking for a way out. Someone else will take over the suit eventually, though.

I think Steve Rogers might die, too, but I'm really not happy about this. Gamora, Peter Parker and many of the next Gen Avengers will probably survive, since Marvel will want to make more movies after all this is over. I think Black Panther will be one of them.

I'm secretly hoping that we get a reference at the beginning of Infinity War that Natasha was helping Steve bust into the Rift and get everybody out. Because that's exactly the sort of thing they'd do together. There's so much going on in Infinity War, though, and so many characters, I'd understand if it wasn't included. But it would be a nice nod if they did.

[janedrewfinally]

Sparkles! Dancing! Fight sequences! Which were also dancing! Not Really Japanese History! Shrine maidens! Sparkles! More dancing! In other words, “Wind over Yamatai-koku,” aka my first chance to see a live Takarazuka performance, followed by the revue “Sante!” (I cannot get this keyboard to do proper accent marks; sorry). (Several versions of this post were basically incoherent flailing) Now, the thing is, my Japanese language skills are… minimal. So I knew going in that this was not going to be something where, um, the intricacies of the plot would go completely over my head. So this is not so much a review as my impressions. But that’s okay, because I have a long history of watching things in languages that I don’t really understand and managing by virtue of keen observational skills, genre-saviness, and flat-out making stuff up!

Me (as the show starts): Okay, I’m seeing why people say to bring opera glasses, because I have awesome visibility but from very far away. Main Character Takehiko (played by Asumi Rio): *enters dramatically, dressed in white and blue with a long coat* Other assorted characters: *also enter dramatically, in white and beiges and some blues* All characters: *introductory singing and dancing* Other group of characters: *dash in dramatically, dressed in black with red accents, and start brandishing weapons* Me: Gosh, however will the audience be able to keep track of who the bad guys are?

Fortunately, the Taka-Wiki page has the official show summary, which is how I knew that we’re dealing with the kingdoms of Yamatai-koku (the good guys) and Kuna-koku (the bad guys). Takehiko, who is a warrior for Yamatai-kou, then goes into flashback mode… Young Takehiko: *runs from Kuna-koku warriors in a forest* Elderly Mentor Character, Clearly a Martial Arts Badass: Small child, why are you running away? Young Takehiko: *hides some more* Warriors from Kuna-Koku: *enter and attempt to fight Elderly Mentor Character* Elderly Mentor Character: Like that’s going to work; you didn’t even bring the main bad guy with you!

After defeating the warriors, the Elderly Mentor Character gets Young Takehiko to share his tragic backstory (his parents were murdered), and Young Takehiko asks to be made his apprentice.

We then get… sort of a training montage? It’s Young Takehiko trying to sneak up on his mentor with a fighting staff, indicating that some training has happened, except it doesn’t work, so, you know, not a LOT of training has happened.

Then there was more training/staff-fighting, and a quite clever shift out of flashback mode by virtue of having Young Takehiko go partly off-stage, so you just see the end of the staff, and then Regular Takehiko comes out.

Elderly Mentor Character: As part of my sage life advice, let me introduce you to Chekov’s Ordeal of Sticking Your Hand Into a Pot of Boiling Water or Possibly Snakes. Congratulations; your training is now complete! Let me give you this sword, and send you off to practice. I’m sure that I’ll be fine; it’s only three more days until I retire. Warriors from Kuna-Koku: *show up again for… some reason?* Elderly Mentor Character: Drat, I see that you’ve brought the main bad guy this time. *dies*

Takehiko, of course, is Distraught to find his murdered mentor, and dashes off into the woods. Meanwhile, a young woman named Mana is being escorted by warriors of Yamatai-koku, because she is either a) going to be trained as a miko, b) the super-special young woman who is/hears the “voice of the kami,” c) both? Basically it means that periodically she falls over into a spotlight and spouts off prophetic stuff, which is doubtless appropriately poetic. Of course, the bad guys show up and kill her escort, and Takehiko (who is still Distraught) runs in in time to injure and/or kill assorted bad guys who are not the main bad guy and rescue Mana. They have a Meet Cute interlude in the woods, she gives him one of her necklaces (it’s magatama, so it’s clearly a Meaningful Necklace- and no, I could not even slightly see that from the stage; it’s in the promotional pictures).

Then the rest of her escort (or another escort?) shows up, and she explains the situation, and they are So Enthused at Takehiko’s clear leading role status that they basically drag him off to make him a member of the Proud and Skillful Warriors of Yamatai-koku, including Mute Karate Guy, Leader Guy, and Spunky Arrow Girl (who doesn’t like Takehiko at all, in the sense that she yells at him a lot but can’t stop thinking about his hair).

Takehiko is super-enthused to have friends! I am super-enthused to recognize the word “nakama”! Yay!

Umm.. some amount of time passes, because Mana is one of the shrine maidens, under the head shrine priestess- there is ritual singing and graceful dancing and invocations, until the head priestess staggers (she is meant to be much older), and then recovers to name Mana as her successor (as near as I could figure, Mana was brought to the main shrine because she has/is the “voice of the kami,” but this seems to be the first time that it’s been clear that she’s supposed to become the new head priestess).

Mana: I will become the head priestess, and change my name to Himiko, because that’s the name of a major ruler/priestess in the earliest Chinese accounts of Japan! Lots of other kings (?): *politics, politics, politics* That One King Who Is Clearly Evil Because His Outfit Is Fanciest: I don’t like this new head priestess, because of Reasons.

One of the reasons is, I think, that Mana/Himiko is not from within the court; another is that there was an Evil Miko who got passed over, who is.. either the daughter of a different king and involved with the Clearly Evil King, or is the daughter of the Clearly Evil King (I think it was supposed to be the first option).

Takehiko: *sees Himiko in full voice-of-the-kami/head priestess regalia*: Wait.. that’s the girl I had the Meet Cute with! This is NOT what I thought she meant by us meeting again! I am lowercase-“d” distraught! His nakama: Shhh! Don’t let on that you know the head priestess; there are Rules about this! Elsewhere: *the main general of the bad guys plots to figure out a way to completely take over Yamatai-koku, supported by his king- and some really awesome scene changes, by the way; very impressive*

At this point, the plot consists of:

1) Takehiko is still in love with Mana, who is the new head priestess and therefore untouchable/unavailable. 2) That One King and the Evil Miko are plotting to get rid of Himiko. 3) The kingdom next door still wants to conquer Yamatai-koku.

At one point, I think that the village maidens (not to be confused with the shrine maidens) straight-up invented sake, and there was a big celebration.

It gets attacked by the kingdom next door, obviously.

Having realized that Takehiko is pining for the head priestess, the Evil Miko pretends that Himiko had sent for him, in order to set the two of them up with Standard Accusations of Lost Honor/Virtue. They do get to have an emotional reunion and a lovely duet first, so there’s that?

Council of Kings: *sings angrily about the state of things today, when head priestesses can just sing duets with handsome young men and expect there will not be dire consequences*

(I think that one of the things that’s also going on is that Takehiko’s position is also affected by the fact that he also wasn’t originally local, but I’m not 100% on that)

Council of Kings: We demand that you prove that you are not guilty through the use of Chekov’s Ordeal of Sticking Your Hand into a Pot of Boiling Water or Possibly Snakes! Takehiko: … seriously? Well, okay, then!

He passes the ordeal, but then!!!! Himiko is ordered to channel the voice of the kami… and can’t!

Council of Kings: *more angry singing* (with a side of confusion, because it’s really weird that Takehiko passed the ordeal, but Himiko no longer gets prophetic)

Evil Miko: *goes to the bad guys in the kingdom next door and tells them about Himiko, hoping to be rewarded* Bad guys: *lock up Evil Miko, and plan to attack* Evil Miko: I don’t understand how my cunning plan failed…

Takehiko goes to talk to Himiko/Mana, saying that since she no longer has/is the voice of the kami, there’s no reason they can’t run away together! More duets! Of course, as they are heading out, she falls over poetically into the spotlight and sounds a warning about the imminent attack.

I… think that the kings either aren’t there, or aren’t listening to a disgraced head priestess, or are too far away?? Anyway, Takehiko heads out to fend off the attack on his own (heroically), but ends up taking his nakama with him.

Um. They all die? So that’s a thing that happens.

The final duel between Takehiko and the main guy amongst the bad guys ends dramatically, with Takehiko being wounded, and the bad guy taking longer to collapse (but then he totally dies… um… I am not sure what happens to the other kingdom or the king or… welll, the war?).

Takehiko seems like he’s dead, but then!!! The spirits of his assorted nakama appear in spotlights and give him a pep talk.

Meanwhile, the Council of Kings is still skeptical about Himiko’s actually having her abilities back, even when Takehiko shows up.

Himiko: I predict an eclipse! Council of Kings: We are very skeptical and don’t believe you and WHY IS THE SKY ALL DARK WHERE DID THE SUN GO?

(I am PRETTY SURE that the swirly lights and other effects were meant to be an eclipse)

Everybody panics about the eclipse, until finally light starts appearing again.

Himiko and Takehiko meet for a final scene in the woods, where… um… I think that the general tenor of the dialoge was that they know they can’t run away together, because they have responsibilities, but then they ended by dancing together in a swirl of cherry blossom petals, so I don’t know if he was leaving, or he was staying, or what exactly the ending note was).

The review, “Sante,” was all about wine and the dreams you have when drinking in Paris (or the dreams you have about Paris while drinking)- it was tons of fun! Can totally see the reasons for being down on the ground floor, because there was a lot of “and now we are going to dance in the aisles,” and the first row had the plastic wine glasses that Asumi Rio actually went and clinked her glass with during one number.

I’m not quite sure if all Takarazuka reviews are required to have at least one number where everybody has those crazy flamenco costume sleeve ruffles (side note: has Takarazuka ever performed “Cuban Pete,” because, that would be amaaaazing), but that was in there…. also a super-cute French chefs number, and a really emotional vocal solo about lost love (side note again: has Takarazuka ever performed “I Won’t Send Roses”?).

Then there was a climactic number that was either an epic battle between the forces of Good and Evil, or an epic battle between the forces of Riesling and Burgundy (the winner seemed to be Asumi Rio playing the role of a very flamboyantly pink Moscato?).

Cast: *proceeds to do a dramatic number involving those stairs* Me: How is that nobody ever messes up on the stairs? I would totally fall down if I even tried. Asumi Rio: *immediately almost misses a move on the steps* Me: ACK NO FORGET I SAID ANYTHING NO QUESTIONS HERE Afterwards, I had to dash to the train station (and also I was not quite sure where the grand exit location was, which I probably should have sussed out earlier if I wanted to stick around for any of that.

[kcaruth]

Movie Mania: Top 15 of 2016

The first month of 2017 is nearly over, so what better time to release my best of 2016 list? What started out as a pretty sparse year for film quickly turned into one that churned out hit after hit. We can only hope that 2017 matches or exceeds the level of quality films that the last few months of 2016 produced.

This is the first time I have ever published a best of list, so I am excited to jump into it. My hope is that this list will shine a spotlight on some of the lesser-known films of the year and pique your interest in some of the bigger films that you may have missed. Read ahead confident that there will be no spoilers.

Honorable Mentions

Hidden Figures

What’s not to like about this endearing, educational biographical drama? Based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly, this film follows the story of three African-American mathematicians who work at NASA in the 1960s, when racial segregation was sadly still prevalent. Taraji P. Henson as Katherine G. Johnson and Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan are outstanding and bring so much energy and personality to the screen. Whereas this film could have been bogged down by complex mathematics and literal rocket science, Theodore Melfi expertly directs the film so that it is fast-paced and accessible, and while he acknowledges the racial prejudice of the time, he does not let it dilute his main story. Melfi and Allison Schroeder’s screenplay delivers witty and memorable dialogue throughout the film that feels natural to the characters.

Hans Zimmer returns to another space-related film to compose the score, but Pharrell Williams’ music really takes center stage. “Runnin’,” “I See a Victory,” and “Crave” are all great bets for your music playlist. Best of all, this film teaches audiences about historical figures that they would be hard-fought to discover in standard history textbooks, making it a film that should be shown in school classrooms throughout the country. While not really a negative, the film does slow down when the three women leave NASA after a long workday and return home to their families. As a biographical drama, the film is responsible for showing us different parts of these extraordinary women’s lives, but you are left waiting for them to go back to breaking barriers at NASA.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Ah, my beloved Star Wars. How I wish this film could have actually made it onto my list! I will be the first to admit that I am biased as a Star Wars fan, so that may be why this film even gets an honorable mention nod. When Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens came out in December 2015, I saw it on opening night and three or four times after that before it left theaters. By contrast, I saw Rogue One on opening night and have not seen it since. No one can accuse me of not being excited for Rogue One, and I tempered my expectations by avoiding any and all reviews before seeing the film. I even read the canon Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno to learn about the backstories of Orson Krennic and the Erso Family before seeing the film.

Without spoiling anything, the weakest facet of Rogue One is its lack of character depth and development. I did not really care about most of the rebels in the film; in fact, there were a couple of parts where I was actually cheering for the Empire! I will say that Alan Tudyk was great as K-2SO with his dark comedic humor and Donnie Yen was a badass as the blind Chirrut Imwe, but when the droid has the most personality out of the bunch, you have done something wrong.

On the other hand, the cinematography proves to be Rogue One’s strength. Never before, not even in the original trilogy, have we truly experienced what it feels like to be a world occupied and controlled by the Empire; Rogue One does an amazing job showing the reach and power of the dreadful Empire. New planets like the tropical world of Scarif look beautiful. Additionally, Rogue One includes the first true space battle we have seen in a Star Wars film since the beginning of Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. It is a sight to behold, and the new ships and tactics used by the Rebellion are quite the thrill. Director Gareth Edwards does a great job with the space battle; it never feels too cluttered or hard to follow with choppy editing. Finally, who can forget THAT scene in the last ten minutes of the film?

I appreciate the novel approaches and risks the creators of Rogue One took. I enjoyed the references to other canon material like the animated television show Star Wars Rebels for fans like me who have cared to invest in them. However, this film has proved to me that Star Wars needs strong, fully-developed characters to succeed. It makes me wonder what Rogue One looked like before those infamous re-shoots.

Game of Thrones: “The Winds of Winter”

I know, I know. This pick is not a film; it is a television episode. That is why it is only listed among the honorable mentions. Let’s face it, though. Game of Thrones is practically a ten-hour film each season. The quality, scope, and budget of many of the episodes easily surpass those of several films. While “Battle of the Bastards” was outstanding in its own right, “The Winds of Winter” is my pick for the best episode of season six. The season six finale delivers on so many fronts for long-time viewers of the show after what can be argued was a very up-and-down season, and it is rich with emotion, suspense, and superb acting. What fan of the show did not get goosebumps and/or tear up when that music swelled up in the final scene of the season, and wasn’t that “Light of the Seven” piano piece at the beginning of the episode so chilling? I cannot really say more without treading into spoiler territory, so do yourself a favor and go watch (or re-watch) this masterful episode of television.

#15: Deadpool

Can we all extend a big thank you to Ryan Reynolds? His enthusiasm and dedication to the character of Deadpool may have been the sole reason this film was made. Thank goodness that test footage was “leaked” to the public! This Deadpool is a far cry from that unspeakable depiction in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. (Who thought it was a good idea to sew the Merc with a Mouth’s mouth shut?) From the opening credits, this film promises that it is self-aware and ready to break the fourth wall, true to its titular character. Deadpool embraces its R rating and runs with it. The crass humor and the no holds barred action scenes are great fun, and Deadpool’s interactions with Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Colossus supply some rib-busting laughs. (Deadpool at Xavier’s Mansion: “It’s funny how there’s only ever two of you. It’s almost like the studio couldn’t afford another X-Man.”) At a time in cinema where comic book films are a constant, Deadpool brings a refreshing breath of fresh air to the genre.

#14: Manchester by the Sea

Warning: This film is very sad and heavy. However, writer and director Kenneth Longergan manages to infuse some genuinely comedic moments in the film’s bleak landscape that somewhat lighten the mood when necessary. Lucas Hedges delivers as teenager Patrick Chandler, and this may be Casey Affleck’s best work yet as Patrick’s uncle, Lee Chandler. I went into this film with a very faint idea of what it was about, and I think that is the best way to approach it if you are going to see it. My two biggest complaints with this film are the Oscar-bait score and the ending. The score, in my opinion, detracts and distracts from the film, and the ending is one of those where it just abruptly cuts off. The film was on the longer side in terms of run time, though, so I guess I was sort of grateful for the ending too.

#13: Jackie

You can tell Natalie Portman poured her heart and soul into this film, and I am hopeful that she will be awarded for it with an Oscar. It is overwhelmingly evident that she spent countless hours studying and perfecting Jackie Kennedy’s accent and mannerisms, and her hard work pays off. When you are watching this film, you see Jackie Kennedy, not Natalie Portman. Whereas this biographical drama could have leaned on other historical figures and really tapped into the utter tragedy of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, director Pablo Larrain lets Jackie stand on her own and carry the film. Mica Levi’s score really surprised me and deserves some award nods. “Intro” is entrancingly eerie and haunting, sticking with you even after the film is over. As the award-winning musical Hamilton teaches us, history is all about who lives, who dies, and who tells our story. Jackie focuses on Jackie Kennedy’s intense dedication and foresight in the midst of tragedy to shape the way JFK’s story is told and how he will be remembered in history.

#12: The Founder

Set aside a few bucks for a milkshake and a burger after this film. Just trust me on that. The Founder tells the story of Ray Kroc and the establishment of the McDonald’s fast food empire. I did not know the history of McDonald’s, so this film was not only entertaining, but educational for me. Michael Keaton fully embraces the role of Kroc, taking on his (to borrow another line from Hamilton) “never satisfied” attitude on life. As he bullies his way to the top, we also see the tragic downfall of the endearing Richard and Maurice McDonald, played by Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch, whose portrayal of the brothers turns out to be the film’s strongest feature. As Matt Zoller Seitz from RogerEbert.com puts it, “[The Founder] is an ad that becomes a warning before circling around and becoming another, darker kind of advertisement, and one of the most intriguing and surprising things about The Founder is that, in the end, it seems vaguely ashamed of itself for letting this happen.”

#11: Moana

2016 was the year of the animated film, and we have hit the first one on my list. With Moana, Disney continues to showcase its amazing progress in animation; the islands and the water in Moana look so life-like. Moana brings viewers a welcome surprise in that there is absolutely no romance in this film, taking it a step further than even Frozen. Moana is all about ancestry, culture, family, and finding your calling in life. It is also extremely touching; do not be surprised if you find yourself unconsciously crying throughout the film. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the genius creator of Hamilton, and Opetaia Foa’i come together to create an incredible soundtrack full of soaring, vibrant songs like “We Know the Way” or Moana’s (Auli’i Cravalho) anthem “How Far I’ll Go.” Jermaine Clement’s “Shiny” is one of the best villain songs Disney has produced in a long time, and “You’re Welcome” perfectly embodies the character of Maui as well as his voice actor, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. For all that it does well, Moana can afford to have a very, very basic plot, but if it would have improved on that front, it may have found itself higher on my list.

#10: Arrival

Director Denis Villeneuve delivers another critically-acclaimed film with Arrival. Based on Ted Chiang’s short story “Story of Your Life,” this science fiction film explores the untouched aspects of the genre, choosing to investigate communication instead of destruction. In the film, the spacecraft of extraterrestrials known as heptapods appear scattered across different parts of Earth. Renowned linguist Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams, is called upon to attempt to communicate with the heptapods by learning how to read and write their language alongside physicist Ian Donnelly, played by Jeremy Renner. The cinematography by Bradford Young is truly breathtaking throughout the film. Combined with Johann Johannsson’s beautiful, otherworldly score (see “First Encounter” and “Heptapod B”) and subtle “show don’t tell” acting, this cinematography creates heart-pounding, white knuckle suspense that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I was totally onboard with this film until the last ten or fifteen minutes. A certain plot twist is revealed that I can see as one that splits the audience in half on the matter, and the quality of the dialogue goes way downhill all of a sudden. By no means did it ruin the film for me, but it just made me love it a little less. As long as you do not go into this film expecting Independence Day-style science fiction action and are ready to put your thinking cap on, you should enjoy the experience.

#9: Patriots Day

Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg were busy in 2016! After producing Deepwater Horizon, they return to produce a film about another disaster in recent American history, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Some may question if this film is too soon, but rest assured that it treats its source material with respect. While Mark Wahlberg is usually the standout actor in Peter Berg’s recent films, everyone shines in Patriots Day. J.K. Simmons, John Goodman, and Kevin Bacon are all great, and I was left wishing they had taken even a little more screen time from Wahlberg. On a dramatic level, this thriller leaves you at the edge of your seat. I could feel the suspense and anticipation throughout my sold-out theater, and I could hear the sobs and sniffling of many.

I did not feel that this film delved into exploitative thriller territory, but I cannot speak for the people of Boston and those who experienced the tragedy firsthand. The Boston Globe’s Ty Burr, however, can. He says in his review, “It’s professionally made, slickly heartfelt, and is offered up as an act of civic healing. At best, it’s unnecessary. At worst, it’s vaguely insulting.” Again, having only experienced the bombing thousands of miles away from television news media reports, I have to disagree with Burr’s assertion that this film is unnecessary. It is genuinely moving on an emotional level, and it reinforces the ideas that good always wins and that Americans will stand united in the face of terrorism.

#8: Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War is essentially Avengers 2.5. Following the success of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Russo brothers return to direct Civil War. Everything since the first Iron Man has been building up to this film. Although it does indeed have its flaws, the good far outweighs the bad here. While it is labeled as a Captain America film, the Russo brothers smartly give Robert Downey, Jr. plenty to work with in his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man. This may be, in fact, the best Downey, Jr. has been in the Marvel franchise since the first Iron Man. Surprisingly filled with emotional depth, the character development in Civil War is outstanding considering the cornucopia of characters in the film. Not only does the film continue to develop its veteran playmakers, but it also does a great job introducing brand new characters to the universe. Another positive of this film is that it imposes real, lasting consequences on the actions of our heroes. Bygones are not bygones by the end of this film. In the end, Civil War delivers on its promise of pitting Avenger against Avenger. Although punches are obviously being pulled in the airport battle, it is still an entertaining sequence that showcases each individual character. Now can we please stop focusing on Bucky moving forward with Captain America?

#7: Kubo and the Two Strings

Darn you, McConaissance! If it were not for Matthew McConaughey, this film may have ended up higher on my list. McConaughey is by no means bad in his role, but he just seems out of place in this film. Aside from that, it is hard to find any serious faults with this film without getting overly nitpicky. Kubo and the Two Strings is an aesthetically beautiful work of art with its 3D stop-motion. The voice acting is some of the best of the year: Art Parkinson as the adventurous and imaginative Kubo, Charlize Theron as the sickly but loving mother of Kubo and the grumpy but protective Monkey, Rooney Mara as the creepy Sisters, and Ralph Fiennes as Raiden the sinister Moon King all fully embrace their roles and add layers upon layers to the characters with the simplest of voice inflections. The score is also top notch, transporting you directly into the story. Kubo and the Two Strings is an adventure filled with humor, darkness, love, melancholy, and inspiration that completely absorbs its viewers.

#6: Zootopia

It was practically a toss-up between Kubo and the Two Strings and Zootopia, but Zootopia won out in the end because of its thoughtful, timely themes of discrimination and social stereotypes and how well the film handles them. The voice acting is on point, with such talent as Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons, Idris Elba, and Alan Tudyk. The animation is gorgeous, and the sprawling urban Zootopia is fleshed out and full of character. Whereas Moana has a very simple plot, Zootopia offers a couple of unexpected twists. The stereotypes that the animals fit into work perfectly, and the film really makes you care about its main characters. Full of humor and Easter eggs, this film celebrating diversity will make you want to go back for repeat viewings, all the while perpetually humming Shakira’s “Try Everything.”

#5: Sing Street

Sing Street was a huge surprise for me. It was nowhere on my radar of films to see. I just happened to come across it while scrolling through Netflix, and boy am I glad I decided to watch it! At its core, Sing Street is about a teenage boy who starts a band to impress a girl and get her to like him. “Eh, seen it before,” you say? Maybe, but not as well done as this. Set in Dublin in the 1980s, this film is a feel-good musical comedy-drama where every single song is outstanding with a charismatic Irish cast and huge heart that is not only about getting the girl, but also friendship, brotherhood, and pursuing dreams. Sing Street knows what it wants to be and embraces it without turning into a musical fantasy, leaving viewers full of irresistible optimism and humming its catchy tunes while looking up Duran Duran songs at the end of the film.

#4: Hell or High Water

I could not say it any more eloquently than Mason Walker did, so I will just start by leaving what he said about this film, all thanks to the exemplary cinematography of Giles Nuttgens: “Plenty of films pretend to take place in small-town Texas, but many of those versions resemble my home state about as much as the ‘barbecue’ joint I visited in New York resembled barbecue. But this wild Neo-Western gets it right. Here is a rural Texas I recognize, where the Aggie Game’s always on, the Shiner is within arm’s reach, and the customers and wait staff play out their familiar interactions like a social-norms square-dance.” In reality, the filming took place in New Mexico, but that is close enough so we will give it a pass, right?

Hell or High Water follows two brothers, played by Chris Pine and Ben Foster, who carry out a series of bank robberies to save their family ranch, all the while being hunted by two Texas Rangers, played by Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham. Foregoing mindless gunfights, Hell or High Water stuns with its complex characters and well-paced narrative. Director David Mackenzie deftly mixes scenes dripping with suspense with scenes full of lighthearted Texan humor. Taylor Sheridan’s screenplay includes some brilliantly written dialogue that especially comes through during the final scene of the film on the porch. The stupendous acting, particularly by Jeff Bridges as the Texas Ranger on the brink of retirement, brings it all together in this heartfelt heist film.

#3: Hacksaw Ridge

This was another toss-up between Hell or High Water and Hacksaw Ridge, but Andrew Garfield’s Oscar-worthy acting helped Hacksaw Ridge edge it out. Hacksaw Ridge is based on the true story of Garfield’s Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor. With Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson makes a triumphant return to the director’s chair for the first time since 2006 when he released Apocalypto. Gibson boldly and fearlessly tackles this film on the level of both a large scale war drama as well as a concentrated character study. Like few other directors can do, Gibson seamlessly transitions from some of the most graphically violent scenes you will ever see on screen to endearingly tender, touching emotional scenes.

Before we get to Garfield, Vince Vaughn deserves his own round of applause. When people think of Vaughn, they probably think of films like Wedding Crashers or Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. In Hacksaw Ridge, Vaughn proves he can handle a serious dramatic role when he is dialed in. Hugo Weaving also delivers a great performance as Doss’ father, a troubled World War I veteran. In the end, though, this is far and away Garfield’s film. From playing a comic book hero to a real life hero, Garfield’s career sure has blossomed. With Doss’ story, Garfield has such wealth of inspiration to draw from. From his simple life growing up in Virginia to the cacophony of war while serving as a combat medic at Hacksaw Ridge, Garfield plays every scene perfectly. At the beginning of the film, you might wonder if Garfield’s southern accent is going to detract from the film, but he is so committed to it that it ends up working.

Doss’ steadfast Seventh-day Adventist faith is certainly present in the film, but it never gets preachy or hits you over the head with it. It is actually very important that it was included because it was such a central part of who Doss was. Gibson does go a tad overboard with the religious imagery, especially with the themes of baptism and ascension, but that is a central part of Gibson’s trademarked directorial style. Hacksaw Ridge is an inspiring war film whose main character never even picks up a rifle, much less fires one, offering a different way to envision courage.

#2: The Edge of Seventeen

Never have I ever seen a more accurate portrayal of life as a high schooler. I will flat out say it: this film blew me away. I remember walking out of the theater so happy and extremely proud of everyone involved with the film. For her directorial debut, Kelly Fremon Craig hits it out of the park. Do not pass this film up as just another coming-of-age dramedy because it is so much more than that. This film will have you laughing, this film will have you crying, this film will have you cringing at the all-too-relatable awkwardness, and sometimes this film will have you doing all three at the same time. In short, it touches on every single emotion, but never in a sappy or undeserved way. Craig not only directed the film, but she also produced and wrote it. The sharp dialogue sounds exactly like something that would come from the mouth of a high schooler in 2016.

The acting is terrific all around. Hayden Szeto masterfully emulates myself in high school as Erwin Kim. Woody Harrelson nails it in his role as a high school teacher and confidant. Kyra Sedgwick expertly assumes the challenges of being a mother to teenage children. Blake Jenner surprises with his subtle acting as Darian. Last but certainly not least, Hailee Steinfeld proves she is the real deal as 17-year-old Nadine, the film’s main character. Perhaps even more impressive than her line delivery is Steinfeld’s ability to act with her body language doing most of the heavy lifting. The Edge of Seventeen forgoes the teen tropes from John Hughes movies in favor of fully developed, three-dimensional characters who emotionally grow right before our very eyes. It has its hilarious moments, but it is not afraid to heavily tap into reality and maturely handle the really serious situations that teens may face today. Male or female, young people and parents alike will be able to relate to this film on a deeply personal level.

#1: La La Land

I never considered musicals to be one of my favorite genres, which makes it all the more noteworthy that La La Land lands at the top of my list for 2016. I was beyond impressed with director Damien Chazelle’s work with 2014’s Whiplash, a film about the destructive cost of single-mindedly pursuing one’s dream. La La Land adopts a much more positive spin on this message as it follows Mia, an aspiring actress played by Emma Stone trying to make it in Hollywood, and Sebastian, a jazz pianist played by Ryan Gosling with the dream of reviving jazz and opening up his own jazz club. The impressively stunning opening scene of the film, which I won’t spoil here, had me smiling from ear to ear, and I could feel the entire theater straining from holding back their rapturous applause.

From that opening scene on, Linus Sandgren’s cinematography prowess is on full display, allowing the camera to become just as much a part of the choreography as the actors on screen. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s chemistry is unrivaled by anything else you will see on screen from 2016, making the relationship between their characters feel real and honest, and their dedication to their roles is palatable. The set design and costumes, two aspects of films that do not get paid nearly enough attention, are remarkable in La La Land. The vibrant colors and the smog-less skyline of Los Angeles create fantastical imagery that fit in with the grand dreams of the film’s two main characters. Chazelle’s writing is composed of snappy dialogue that is full of heart and honesty.

I sometimes find that the song and dance part of musicals distract from the plot of the film, but, credit to Chazelle’s writing and Justin Hurwitz’s music, La La Land’s musical numbers work as a cohesive unit with the plot and even elevate it. Hurwitz’s music is impressive instrumentally and dazzling with its creative, insightful, and thought-provoking lyrics. Hurwitz’s ability to shift gears throughout the film is praiseworthy. One moment, he is powering through the upbeat “Another Day of Sun.” The next he is revving it up again for the equally catchy “Someone in the Crowd,” but even within that song he slows things down to a point where the audience can soak it all in before picking the pace right back up. “Mia & Sebastian’s Theme” and “Planetarium” take the audience on a whimsical adventure. “Herman’s Habit” is jazz at its finest. In “A Lovely Night,” Hurwitz channels classic Hollywood duet material. With “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” Hurwitz and Stone make you wish you had a box of Kleenex handy. As the film approaches its bittersweet ending, Hurwitz flawlessly sums the entire film up musically in “Epilogue.” La La Land is a technical masterpiece, and its record seven Golden Globe wins prove it. Thank goodness Whiplash succeeded so that Chazelle could bring us this powerfully intimate masterwork.

  I think it is important that I list all of the films I can remember seeing with a 2016 release date (37 in total) so that you have an idea of what the competition was like.

 ·         Jane Got a Gun

·         Deadpool

·         Zootopia

·         Midnight Special

·         Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

·         Captain America: Civil War

·         The Jungle Book

·         X-Men: Apocalypse

·         The Lobster

·         Alice Through the Looking Glass

·         Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

·         Finding Dory

·         Star Trek Beyond

·         Suicide Squad

·         Kubo and the Two Strings

·         Hell or High Water

·         Sully

·         The Magnificent Seven

·         Deepwater Horizon

·         Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

·         The Accountant

·         Doctor Strange

·         Hacksaw Ridge

·         Arrival

·         Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

·         Sing Street

·         The Edge of Seventeen

·         Manchester by the Sea

·         Moana

·         Jackie

·         La La Land

·         Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

·         Hidden Figures

·         The Founder

·         Patriots Day

·         A Monster Calls

·         Silence

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 4/10/19

Akashic Records of Bastard Magica Instructor, Vol. 6 | By Hitsuji Tarou, Tsunemi Aosa and Kurone Mishima | Seven Seas – I was sort of hoping that Rumia would do something other than hang around and get saved, but alas. Most of the character work in this goes to Re=L, whose past turns out to be not quite her own, and the brother she’s so devoted to also turns out to be not what he seems. It’s filled with tragedy and manipulation, but fortunately Glenn is able to see her through it. And thus we move on to the next arc, which seems to be introducing a dead past love for Glenn… who happens to be a dead ringer for Sisti! Who is pretending Glenn is the man she’s going to marry. This remains middle-of-the-road manga, but it’s still interesting enough to make me get the next book. – Sean Gaffney

Berserk: Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1 | By Kentaro Miura | Dark Horse – Due to the price point, Dark Horse’s deluxe treatment of Berserk will likely appeal most to already established fans of the series (a group to which I belong), but it is a striking release nonetheless. The first deluxe omnibus collects the first three volumes of the manga in a single, massive, hardcover tome with a large trim size that showcases Miura’s artwork. There isn’t really any new or added content, although the covers of the individual volumes are included as color pages. It’s been a while since I’ve read Berserk from the beginning. The initial chapters feel a little directionless at times, nothing more than an excuse to have an astonishingly badass swordsman with a mysterious but obviously tragic backstory taking out demons, but soon the manga builds and coalesces into something truly epic. What remains constant is that Berserk is a violent, brutal, horrifying, and frequently disturbing dark fantasy. – Ash Brown

My Hero Academia, Vol. 18 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – This is definitely a manga of two halves. The first is serious as can be—we have a major hero death, Mirio does NOT magically get his powers back, and Eri is saved but traumatized. Our main cast are changed as well… Ochaco now wants to save people as a main goal, and Kirishima also notes he’s shaken up. Fortunately for the reader, we have the back half of the manga, which introduces the REAL Camie (whom Toga had impersonated) and has the Remedial Hero License Exam… which involves winning over a class of spoiled kindergarten brats. It’s pretty hilarious all round, with some great gags and also showing us that Bakugo CAN learn and grow as well. An excellent volume of an outstanding series. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia: School Briefs, Vol. 1: Parents’ Day | By Kohei Horikoshi and Anri Yoshi | VIZ Media – The things the cretinous Mineta says in this prose spinoff are so vile that they eclipse the things he says and does in the manga/anime, and that’s really saying something. I appreciate the reactions from some classmates, like Tokoyami glaring at him with “utter contempt” and Kaminari getting a chance to show that his own horniness has limits, but I must remind the author… Mineta didn’t have to get this much of the spotlight, you know? Anyway, Parents’ Day is at hand (which makes for some drama at the end of the volume) but first several of the boys rescue a girl at an amusement park while three of the girls go to a supermarket. The latter story was promising until was revealed that the shoplifter they caught had crapped himself. So puerile. I wanted to like this but in the end it just pissed me off. – Michelle Smith

My Monster Secret, Vol. 15 | By Eiji Masuda | Seven Seas – This mostly expands on the new plot twists from last time. Shiho is still trying to find a way to avoid fate, which doesn’t work, but she, Mikan and Nagisa all reveal their secrets to each other at the same time, which is probably the funniest scene in the book, and leads to a lot of “yeah, so, most of us are supernatural in some way” scene. There’s also a summer beach chapters, which leads (chanks to Akane) our main couple getting left behind and stranded. They grow closer, there’s a kiss…. and then there’s a bite. Now it’s time for Akane to point out that biting for vampires isn’t just kissing, it’s a lot more serious. And finally, a reminder—again—that Youko is a vampire. Are we finally going to dark places? – Sean Gaffney

Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu, Vol. 3 | By Natsuya Semikawa and Virginia Nitouhei | Udon Entertainment – The “cute food manga” is still there, but things get a lot more dramatic in this third volume. We actually get some backstory for Shinobu, the heir to a restaurateur who is fleeing and arranged marriage, and Nobuyuki, her restaurant’s cook who had just quit. In the fantasy world, the asshole villain from last time is back, and trying to get the izakaya shut down—and its owners executed—for the beer they’re selling, as it’s actually lager, which is illegal in this world. This is one of those “every minor character who had loved their food comes together to help” plots that I really love, and it makes this volume the best of the series to date. – Sean Gaffney

That Blue Sky Feeling, Vol. 2 | By Okura and Coma Hashii | Viz Media – Noshiro may be a giant bundle of extrovert, but that’s not always a good thing, as this volume demonstrates. Whether Noshiro is gay or not is still up in the air—certainly Sanada thinks he’s straight—but his attempts to solve Sanada’s problems just lead to more problems, as Ayumi and Sanada cannot go back to what they were before, and underclassman Makoto (who has a giant crush on Noshiro) is another spanner in the works. Noshiro has to be reminded that “Oh, he’s gay!” is not just something you can say in a modern Japanese high-school environment… and Sanada has to be shown that it’s not the end of the world. Still surprisingly sweet. – Sean Gaffney

UQ Holder, Vol. 16 | By Ken Akamatsu | Kodansha Comics – After a Vol. 15 that I gave a full review to as it wrapped up Negima properly, we’re back to the actual main cast of UQ Holder, who have been shown how to abuse time travel by Negi and company and are now abusing that for their own ends. It’s a good philosophical argument held here—we can’t save everyone vs. can we just let everyone die? We also get some insight into Jinbei and Gengoro and what kind of immortality they have, as well as the type of person they are—though honestly, Akamatsu tends to lean towards “battle crazy” a whole lot. One other thing I want to note is that, now that UQ Holder comes out in a monthly magazine rather than weekly, and the chapters are longer, it’s much better paced. – Sean Gaffney

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 17 | By Mizuho Kusanagi | VIZ Media – A new arc begins in this volume, as the five-tribe council agrees to war with South Kai in order to reclaim Kin Province, lost in a previous war. Yona and company have befriended a kid from Kai and, after helping him get back home, witness firsthand the atrocities committed by the Kai soldiers after their defeat by Kohka. Meanwhile, several of the dragons have fallen ill and there is ominous talk (and, later, a bonus story about) what happens to the existing dragon when a new one is born. They decide to hide the fact that they are short-lived from Yona, and it’s perhaps because this put the idea of their demise into my head that I completely fell for a fakeout that ensues. I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the mysterious Zeno, and continue to love this series very much. – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown