#his design is so cool and that scene in general is amazing

[aethersflood]

FINAL FANTASY 16 EIKONS RANKED BY TUMBLR (x) #6 -RAMUH, THE WARDEN OF THUNDER

"The Warden of Thunder, whose power most lately awakened within Cidolfus Telamon. Dominants of the Eikon most often emerge among descendants of the Motes of Thunder, a tribe who once dwelled in the lands of central Ash—lands that the Kingdom of Waloed now lays claim to. Mayhap in part due to the tribe's comparatively advanced learning, Ramuh is associated with wisdom and judgment to this day."

[milgram-tournament]

MILGRAM Best Song Tournament, Round 2, Match 2 BRING IT ON vs. THIS IS HOW TO BE IN LOVE WITH YOU

Propaganda for both options under the cut!

Propaganda for BRING IT ON:

"Reasons why Bring it On should win:

- Just by starting the song, the instrumentals are BANGER. Like his more rock style is very cool, even better than After Pain’s more mellow style - Arthur’s voice (Futa’s va) had bills due because have you HEARD his singing?? His raspier voice fits Futa so well - It feels so explosive and like a call to action in a sense, which very much matches Futa’s mentality during trial 1. He also wasn’t playing victim like a CERTAIN girl… (jk, love you mu!) - SAA HAJIMEYOU USOTSUKI KARIDA - UNDEAD HEROOOI YES SLAY KING HIS HIGH NOTE HERE IS HEAVENLY - His scream at the end. Oh my god. HE LITERALLY ATE THIS NOTE. AFTER PAIN COULD NEVER. BRING IT ON FTW 🔥🔥🔥" - His range goes WAAAAAY higher than Mu. She would end up like PHG if she even tried hitting any of his high notes in the last chorus /j

---

- The vocals are amazing, those growls are so well done - You’re able to get Fuuta’s crime and motive pretty succinctly, only based on the visuals - But it still leaves a lot up to interpretation, like how he only attacked once in the final fight scene. It lead to some cool theories. - On that note, the game aspects are so cool!! Especially when paired with him going after people online, just good synergy with awesome style! - Fuuta’s scared face after he realizes what he did. The great contrast of other foes simply being knocked out then being met with blood splatter. - The tempo of the song changing with his mood is a really good touch as well. Make the song more chaotic which highlights his character traits well

---

"propaganda for bring it on: the music FUCKS it genuinely slaps so hard listening to it. song style is incredible its perfect for fuutas personality and gamer vibes. also the way the mv frames everything as a game? the only time real blood and real gore happens being when killcheroy dies? the little details of all the usernames, the different monster designs, the generally distorted feel of everything being too lighthearted?

okay i could go on about the mv for hours but lets not. aside from that: the FEEL of the song!!! the vocals!!!! it really feels like fuuta putting his whole heart into it, into this point of view that both blows problems out of proportion and minimises them, and DEEPLY fucking up. my darling little hypocrite gamer boy twitter user. he makes his witch hunt genuinely sound like something that could sweep people up into it. also the instruments goddddd. the guitar and synth the bass and the drums the DRUMS. im relistening to it to write this propaganda and it keeps making me headbang when i should be writing. if you arent headbanging to bring it on you are LYING.

the way the lyrics are written is wonderful too!!!! they feel so brash and brave and powerful and like. cocky about it. and it fits PERFECTLY. its gets someone swept up into it and it FUCKS. vote bring it on im serious. lets go!! a victory march!! dan da dan!!"

Propaganda for TIHTBILWY:

okay so like the thing im most in love with: the VOCALS!!!! this song has an absolutely AMAZING singer and AMAZING vocals!!!! the way the conversational talk-singing lines still feel so musical!!!! the cute cute cuteeeee mahiru voice!!!! it brings you so much energy!!!! its a song sung with so much love!!!! mahirus va brings such an amazing feel to the song with such amazing talk-singing!!!! its very skillfully done and it happens in i love you too!! mahiru songs r the QUEENS of musical talk singing

the silly phone call bit. kurururu~!

the little vocal flourish and the way her voice raises up like an excited exclamation in the final prechorus!! daijoubu nante kirai DA!

its such a fast song but everything flows so well!!!! it makes it feel so bright and cheery and peppy!!

the instrumental is so underrated just LISTEN to that catchy bass line thats so pretty in the verses!!!! no for real even if u dont vote this is how to be in love with you go listen to the bass line in the verses it works to move both the song and the listener forward at mahirus sweeping breakneck pace. and the cute keyboard sounding and synth instruments!!!! its SUCH a danceable song!!!! i cant listen to it without bopping along in my seat

the way the ominous bits are subtly hidden? it all sounds so cute but there are just these Things that she sings that are really kind of concerning and unhealthy when she sings them!! and the veiled desperation to be in her relationship- listening to that and the cheery tone and breakneck, quick song pace, it really does represent mahiru SO well. she throws in all these little bits that just go noooo teehee the relationships just fine!! when it REALLY isnt

i would listen to mahiru talk for hours

the MV!!!!!! HER FASHION SENSE THE MAGAZINE STYLE!!!! the magazine style especially works so well with her character!!!! its so cute and stunning and just looking at it you have a blast. also her birdcage!!!! her birdcage and the bright orange and the pink bars!!!! the way everything desaturates and becomes more sickly looking when she wakes up at the end!!!! its such a happy carefully curated and designed dream and then it drains away!!!! also god all her outfits are stunning. mahiru call me

the way she sings "overheat de~!" cutest thing in the WORLD.

the little faces she makes!!!! godddd shes so expressive

actually the whole songs so expressive!!!! shes putting her all into it!!!! her words have so much expression in them!!!! once more praising mahirus va the way her voice can soften and become bright or subtly desperate so quickly is MASTERFUL control of expression when singing and its so underrated. join me in being insane over miho okasaki delivers her lines. shes such a perfect mahiru.

funniest es cover. hands down. funniest es cover.

this is how to be in love with you is FREE serotonin!!!! free energy right there!!!! this is how to be in love with you sweep!!!!!

---

-The song is so cheerful!! I always feel like dancing and singing when this one comes up in my playlists!! Absolute banger, mood definer, kicking sadness in the shin with those high-heels and then hitting its face with a cute purse -THE HIGH-HEELS STEPPING TO THE BEAT OF THE MUSIC IN THAT ONE SCENE (0:50). SIMPLY ICONIC. NO ONE DID IT LIKE HER. -👠💅👝👗 -She is slaying. Look at her outfits. She put so much effort there. She gave it her all. Absolutely serving. -SUKITTE KIMOCHI WAKATTA TSUMORI? NARA KONO MAMA FUTARI O-VA-HI-TO- DE -The storyline of the mv MAKES SENSE and you can form a COHESIVE TIMELINE OF EVENTS (unlike other unspecified contestants' mvs you know 🙄) -look at herr 🥺 she beby 🥺 all she did was love too much 🥺 we all love mappi don't we 🥺 she deserved more let her win this pleease 🥺 -No medical malpractice happened in the making of this mv 👍

---

I care so much about This is How To Be In Love With You- it's visuals are brilliant in the ways it conveys its themes and narrative. I'm never normal Ever about the "Love as marketing" symbolism that is brought in by the use of magazines. It's a lovely upbeat song but the Horrors are Always Lurking under it, the breakup Ritual line is my Favorite Line cause its so horrifying but its said so casually and its so good oh its so good-

[adobe-outdesign]

Kung Fu Panda 4 Thoughts/Liveblog Thing

Just caught this at the theater for a grand total of five whole dollars, so I thought I'd do some quick opinions while it's fresh.

Non-spoiler opinion: It was Okay(TM), but the movies were considerably stronger as a trilogy. It's worth seeing one (1) time if you're a KFP fan (and really, who isn't), but I wouldn't bother paying full price for it or anything

SPOILERS FOR ALL 4 MOVIES UNDER THE CUT:

A list of things that slap:

The animation is stunning and fast-paced. Really loved the use of Chinese-style paint brush strokes to accentuate the action

Also I'll talk about the 5 later but I also really liked the animation change when describing where they are—all KFP movies have at least one animation shift and I'm glad this one kept up with it

Some of the fight scenes were super good, I liked the one that uses the tilting bar on a cliff in particular

(side note: the Missing Link did something similar, just on a ship. Go watch the Missing Link)

The Chameleon served straight cunt the entire time she was on screen and I kind of loved (almost) everything about her. Character design was incredible, voice was perfect, palace design was amazing, abilities were sick

Also the way she rides up chilling in a golden tree branch of all things? Fellas, we have no choice but to stan

Also I just appreciate the choice to both do a female villain for a change and to get a reptile in here after having only mammals and one (1) bird as villains previously

Speaking of character design there were a few really good ones in there, like a pangolin that moves Sonic the Hedgehog-style, a cool looking female boar, and a bunch of Komodo dragon henchmen. Good stuff

The jokes were a very mixed bag for me, some hit and some didn't. I will say that Zhen just going "that's great for you" in response to Shifu stating he's a red panda got me for some reason

If anyone hurts Po's gay dads I'm killing everyone in this room and then myself

Jack Black's cover of Baby One (1) More Time is unironically better than the original

A list of things that Do Not Slap:

Pacing/Plot:

This movie lacked a color scheme? KFP 1 was blue (also some gold), KFP 2 was red, KFP 3 was green. These colors weren't subtle either, there are entire scenes in each movie drenched in these colors and it was really obviously missing here

The whole first half the movie feels really breathless and too fast-paced. Apparently it was a studio mandate to have it not go over an hour and a half which is A) stupid and B) hurts the pacing

As much as I love Po's two gay dads we REALLY should not have been wasting time on their journey when the runtime is so tight

Also them tagging along felt off? Mr. Ping was worried sick about Po in KFP 2 but he doesn't tag alone because obviously he needs to let his son have his space. It's more in-character with Li Shan but it doesn't come across like he's talking Mr. Ping into it or something

In general there are so many plot points in this movie that feel under-developed. You could've made an entire movie out of the previous villains returning, Zhen and the Chameleon's relationship (see below), etc.

Po's Character:

People not knowing Po is the dragon warrior is weird, I'm pretty sure he would've been more well known than that

The entire thing with Po needing to give up his role as the Dragon Warrior doesn't really make sense? The Dragon Warrior is literally a made-up title. There's no need to have a Dragon Warrior because there is no such thing technically, it's why Oogway denied Tai Lung the title and then waited years and years to give it to Po. Like it's not a role that needs to be passed down, that's missing the entire point of the Everything

Also Po's only been like Dragon Warrior for a few years? I don't think we're ever given a time scale but it wasn't that long

The jokes about Shifu and Po having trouble with inner peace/mediating feels off given that was the entire plot of the second movie

It felt like Po regressed a bit character wise. He acts like he has no idea how to be a teacher in this movie but he already was a teacher by the end of the third, that was the entire point??

Also he seemed like he was more gullible in this movie but I could be wrong

Why is Po so impressed with Juniper city. He literally spent most of KFP 2 in Gongmen hello?? I think(?) Juniper is bigger but he shouldn't be acting like he has no idea what a city is

Zhen/Chameleon:

Zhen's character design doesn't match anything else, which is weird because most of the new characters in this film keep the distinct style in some form or another

Her wanted poster shows her with the bold markings KFP is known for and it looks SO much better

The plot twist with Zhen working for the villain was so obvious I did not realize it was supposed to be a twist at first

Also, the entire thing with Zhen was entirely unneeded? The Chameleon could've just just stood up and announced her plan to take over and Po would've shown up on her doorstep with the staff

I guess the idea is that Po needed to hand over the staff willingly for it to work? But if that's the case the Chameleon could've just impersonated Tigress or something and gotten it that way in like 1/3 of the time

Originally she was supposed to have kidnapped Shifu which would've been a much better plot point as it would've given Po extra motivation

The other problem with treating Zhen as a plot twist is that it hampers the relationship she has with the Chameleon effectively being her mom, which is FASCINATING. They had some really interesting chemistry together (the whole "stand up straight" thing as one example) and I could've seen it as a Mother Gospel from Tangled kind of deal, but we barely get any interaction between the two and it's like AAAAAAA

Fanfic writers fix this shit. I believe in you

I'll have to chew on it more but my pacing thought would actually be to start with Po finding out about the Chameleon's "take over everything" plan very early due to Shifu's kidnapping. He breaks into the lair like at the 1/3 mark or earlier and he meets Zhen inside which then leads into why she's doing what she's doing and the mother angle, etc etc blah blah

The Chameleon needed to just straight-up murder someone, comically shoving them down the stairs isn't good enough. I know stairs are Po's greatest enemy but I don't think that applies to everyone

Shen was allowed to stab someone on-screen so I think the Chameleon should be a allowed to strangle someone or something. as a treat

If violence was the concern just keep it off-screen like Master Rhino's death in KFP 2

The shapeshifter turning into a giant monster trope is overrated and I'm glad it was just used briefly here and not even for her defeat

Also the Chameleon's thing with her being rejected from Kung Fu because she's too small makes no sense b/c Mantis, which I'm pretty sure everyone's pointed out already. She does say "lowly" I think but was she ever poor? Could make a very interested parallel to Zhen if that was the case but it was never brought up again

I've heard some argue body image parallels w/ Po in KFP 1 but if that was the intent it's not explored, like, at all, which is a shame because it could've been an interesting angle

Also If they wanted a better excuse related to body image just say she was too frail instead of too small. I haven't owned chameleons but I've heard from people who have that they are very frail and very hard to keep alive, which would be a much better reason to turn her away

Cameos:

Yes I'm devoting an entire section to five second cameos don't judge me

I have mixed feelings on the Five not being present (save for the end cameos). On the one hand they are sorely missed but on the other hand they would've just made the plot bloat even worse

Lack of speaking was also bothersome. Part of me is glad they weren't recast with cheaper VAs because it's disrespectful to interchange them, but on the other hand that might've been better than just not having them speak and not paying anyone anyway

Tai Lung had all the best lines and was also the best used out of all the cameos, even if it would've been nice to have him on screen for longer. Also if they stuck with Shifu being kidnapped those two could've had some much-needed dialogue

Side note, while I don't think it contradicts anything from KFP 3 the spirit world having only kung fu masters in it feels off? It makes it seem so small and limited

Kai being there is weird. He's like. dead dead. Deader than dead. I guess you could argue that you can't kill something that's already dead but there's nothing even acknowledging this

Trying to take Shen's kung fu is really weird because the entire point of the fight with Master Rhino in KFP 2 is that he is not? a master?? like he's GOOD but he's not amazing, like if a master is like a 10/10 he's like an 8/10.

"The Chameleon has the powers of all my old nemesises!" WHAT'S SHEN'S POWER EXACTLY. HIS ONLY POWERS ARE GUN AND MOMMY/DADDY ISSUES

She does summon him way later than Tai Lung and Kai so maybe she was just camp spawning every single person she could think of regardless of skill level? she also uses his wings at one point so maybe she just wanted those, I don't think(?) there were other birds summoned

Though speaking of which she claimed she was using his wings but very clearly wasn't? not only were they black but they were raggedy and lacked the five longer feathers on the tips

Also Shen's model was super off, it looked way too fluffy and like an entire row of eyespots were missing from the edge of the train (which might have been a clipping error? unsure) it's been said the new models were made out of glue and popsical sticks and I believe it

Tai Lung has a habit of just like Grabbing anyone that's smaller than him and it amuses me

It's honestly really weird that everyone would just agree to go back into the spirit world willingly?

Like I think it works for Tai Lung because he's a noble person who just goes into a disassociative state and commits atrocities. Like I think he'd be willing to accept his death

Also it checks out for Shen because he killed himself and given his "dead belong in the past" mentality I can't imagine him wanting to stick around, he'd probably think it was unnatural

But Kai?? Kai was FURIOUS at being dragged back into the spirit world at the end of 3, like hell he'd just go quietly

Also I can see Tai Lung maybe respecting Po enough to bow to him but everyone else is pushing it unless they have therapists in the spirit world. Po offered Shen some nice advice at the end of KFP 2 and his response was to kill himself on the spot, I don't think him or Kai would be bowing

All of them were definitely in the middle of a mahjong match and were experiencing the equivalent of being woken up in the middle of a nap so they were just going along with things

Chameleon: I'm going to steal your kung fu

Everyone:

Misc:

I did like some of the more subtle callbacks. Stuff like Po seeing his reflection in the blade the way Shifu did or the "I can't even beat you to the stairs" scene were nice and not overly overt or in-your-face

If Po actively refers to himself as the "Kung Fu Panda" one more time I'm going to end it all

anyway that was not supposed to be a 12 page essay but it's too late now, goodbye

[bestanimatedmovie]

Choose your favorite!

Time to fly!

Vote in the other polls!

What fans say:

How To Train Your Dragon:

The message was just nice. I have a lot of nostalgia for it. I used to be a huge dragon nerd as a kid and dragons just weren't that prevalent in media here, especially not as friendly figures. I still love HTTYD and it's sequels nowadays.

It was one of my favorite movies as a kid and one of the few movies I watched that wasn't a barbie movie, it's just really cool.

Best movie featuring dragons period. The pure wish fulfillment fantasy of having a highly intelligent fantasy creature companion that can fly and doesn’t mind being ridden like a horse, therefore also the best execution of the dragon rider trope in all of fiction. Extremely funny, adding to the comedy is the fact that only adults have Scottish accents and all the teens have an American accent. So good that even its tv show follow up was decent by extension. The bit where Hiccup is trying to earn Toothless' trust and they start to work together changed me on a fundamental level.

I LOVE IT SO MUCHSHJKBSKHGDK I have a bone dysplasia which causes some bones to be a little bit more hollow and whenever I would feel a pain in my top back, 8 year old me was like ''woah I'm growing wings its my time to fly like toothless'' lol and it was always a dream of mine to fly. Weirdly enough I could relate to toothless because the "not being able to fly but you should be" felt like an allegory to a lot of my life! It gave me hope when he WAS able to after the help of others + the care he always needed + that mechanic wing thing made me feel like with the right ''recipe'' could help me get better too. My favourite scene is the first flight!! I love the animation for it, it makes me feel like im flying through the clouds too! The soundtrack is amazing too, I still cry to the songs.

I could write an entire essay about how much I love this movie, it truly is one of the best films ever made to me. Utterly flawless on both a technical level and a story-telling level. Not to mention the score oh my GOD the score of this movie changed my life. There are too many scenes that are so impactful, but the Forbidden Friendship scene has to be one of the best. Test Drive too.

This is literally my favorite movie of all time. This movie got me through the worst times in my life. It’s about love and friendship and all that lovely goopy stuff and it’s also fucking gorgeous.

THE cinematic masterpiece of our generation. On god.

This movie is an absolute masterpiece, the animation is pretty, the score is perfect, the relationship between Toothless and Hiccup is so sweet, Toothless is absolutely adorable. Definitely one of DreamWork's best films.

It's a beautifully animated movie about an unconventional viking boy named Hiccup finding his place in a world where dragons and vikings are constantly at odds, and how he changes the world around him. The dragon designs are unique and beautiful, and the vikings are larger than life and match the exaggerated setting.

Who on Tumblr DOESN'T want a dragon best friend I ask you. I would kill to have what Hiccup & Toothless have.

It does a brilliant job balancing tropes in a way that subverts and plays into them. There is so much in it for both adults and kids, it doesn't look like other animated films, it feels more grounded and in that realism it becomes so beautiful. The friendship in the film feels very real despite one of the characters being unable to talk! Forbidden Friendship scene is, in my opinion, the greatest scene in the history of cinema. The music, the lighting, the cinematography, the pacing, the emotions, it is practically perfect in every way. I could go on but I think ya get it.

God this movie defined my childhood and it's still so good when I rewatch it now. I'm guessing you'll have had this submitted a good few times bc it goddamn deserves it but. Hiccup is so relatable and !! dragons !! big cute dragons whose animation models are based on cats!! based fr

I have many fond childhood memories of this movie and in particular I loved how my cousin would "talk" for Toothless (cousin was babysitting us when we first watched the movie). Another thing is The SCORE. The music is iconic and awe inspiring to this day. That first time when Hiccup and Toothless fly together and it Works and the score absolutely goes HARD, I loose my breath every time. It's great. Also have you seen Toothless he's an adorable dragon and a badass, what's not to love?

Makes me cry every time because Hiccup and Toothless are such good friends and they love each other and end up as two halves of a boy dragon soulmate sandwich also the music is extremely good who doesn’t like dragons anyway.

It's the story of a beautiful friendship forming between a boy who doesn't fit in and a dragon who is the last of his kind. It's so cute. And it shows positive representation of disability, Hiccup and Toothless become disabled in ways that meaningfully parallel each other. Hiccup makes a prosthetic tail fin! And Toothless is just so cute!

The sound track is amazing

Honestly everything is phenomenal. It has a good use of comedy and an excellent story and character development. There are also countless beautiful and awe-inspiring scenes supported by an amazing score.

Up:

It is a very emotional movie about an old man learning to still enjoy life even though his wife died.

Such a beautiful film about loss

[ridiasfangirlings]

What makes Yata and Saruhiko so good for each other, romantically and platonically?

The two of them were designed as parallels to each other and I think a lot of that is why they work so well together, both as friends and romantically. A lot of these kinda blur together between both platonic and romantic but just in general as partners, I think the fact that they manage to be different and yet have similarities makes their dynamic work. For example, Yata being loud and impulsive and not the smartest, compared to Fushimi being generally more analytical and cool-headed — Fushimi makes the plans and Yata carries them out. You can see this in LSW with the jungle surprise party (even though they fail, but they had no way of knowing at the time that they were up against a King), Fushimi is the one coordinating things while Yata is the person on the ground. They’re basically a good team in this way, where one can cover for the other’s weakness. They both have a similar sense of stubbornness and not wanting to lose which leads them to work well together, they’re very attuned to each other’s movements and style. Even after being apart for so long they still manage to work together perfectly in ROK to take down Sukuna, they don’t need to even discuss their plan because even in this situation they both know how the other fights (compared to the earlier fight at the beginning of the season, where Fushimi in particular is not even trying to be in sync with Yata, and I think the fight at the end shows that even after all that time Fushimi absolutely could have teamed up perfectly with Yata if he’d been willing to let himself do it).

Emotionally I think they also work well even though they’ve had communication issues, because again there’s a lot of covering for each other’s ‘weaknesses,’ so to speak. Fushimi is intellectually mature where Yata’s not that bright but emotionally Yata’s considerably more mature (not without his problems, of course, but we see throughout the series how he’s growing in that aspect) while Fushimi has the emotional maturity of a kitchen knife. That Yata’s so honest and wears his emotions on his sleeve is I think something that works really well with Fushimi particularly in a romantic aspect, because Fushimi is not at all versed in reading things on an emotional level that aren’t said and I think he’d struggle with a partner who doesn’t show affection strongly because Fushimi can’t help but read lack of affection as rejection. That Yata is very clear and open with his feelings is something Fushimi needs, even in middle school I think Fushimi himself would never want to admit just how much good it did him that Yata would touch him casually, and of course he’s always been clear about that ‘look at me with shining eyes.’ On the opposite side while Yata does struggle to understand Fushimi it’s something he’s willing to work on because Yata’s a stubborn person who won’t give up on someone he loves, Yata knows that Fushimi has prickly parts of his personality but Yata also knows that Fushimi is amazing so he has a lot more tolerance than I think many people would have when it comes to Fushimi being sharp-tongued or gloomy.

Similarly Yata’s bright personality compared to Fushimi’s gloomy one works in their favor. I think having Fushimi there to help balance him keeps Yata from becoming overbearing at times — contrast Yata’s experience with the Yata Team in middle school, where Yata is dragging them around even though they don’t like him, versus how he talks to Fushimi, I think he’s able to keep himself in check more around Fushimi because if he does start running off to do what he wants Fushimi will click his tongue and basically pull Yata back down. For Fushimi, I think it helps that Yata’s so willing to go with Fushimi’s flow and fill silences on his own, not expecting anything from Fushimi other than what Fushimi wants to give. In Side Red there’s the whole scene at the amusement park where Fushimi ends up next to Mikoto and is all uncomfortable and awkward, feeling like he has to say something and hating it because Fushimi can’t stand not knowing what this person wants from him or what’s expected of him. But Yata’s always nothing but clear when it comes to that sort of thing, if the two of them were sitting together Yata’s perfectly willing to keep the conversation going on his own while waiting for Fushimi to chime in with something Yata knows will be amazing. The two of them are just clearly so comfortable together when they’re not at odds, like despite their differences they both fit together perfectly.

[naarlar]

quick edit: I assumed it was obvious but apparently I need to be clear: I don’t hate hades 2 (I’m actually quite excited for it). I know it’s in early access and that all this criticism/analysis could be out of date or wrong by the time the game is done. I am just a person with too much time on my hands wanting to discuss some initial thoughts I’ve had with the game so far (especially since at the same time I’m also replaying hades 1)

look I’m sorry I’m doom posting a little about hades 2 I swear I don’t hate it or anything (honestly I hope I’m proven wrong) but I am a little concerned about some things, here are the top ones in my head:

Hot spring scenes are kinda weird. There I said it. “Oh back in Ancient Greece people bathed together all the time” Artemis literally has killed men for accidentally (not even on purpose) peeping at her and her huntresses. That spring scene with Odysseus is so weird. Like he knew her back when she was a wee baby. Pretty sure Nemesis did too. Like ://////

Speaking of Odysseus, sue me maybe I’ve been listening to too much Epic the Musical (context this musical does not portray Odysseus as a cheater) but Odysseus being so disconnected from Penelope and Telemachus is so disappointing. Like I get it, my man is a bit of a manwhore but like… everything he did in the Odyssey was to get back to them. Especially since you can make a solid argument that his “cheating” in the Odyssey with Circe and Calypso can be considered rape as both women had immense power over him as goddesses and essentially threatened to hurt him/his men if he disobeyed. Sooooooo yeah Odysseus’ characterization seems kind of flat? Like no where near as good as Achilles’ (lowkey I am also terrified the reason they wrote Penelope out of the plot was to make fan service between Melinoë and Odysseus and with the hot spring scene I am so scared right now)

I mentioned it in a previous post so I won’t rant too long but I feel Mel’s lack of proper motivation throughout her fight against Chronos is weird? Like she doesn’t know anyone from the house of hades. She even says as much to Hecate that she hardly knows them and sees her as her mother. Which isn’t a bad thing necessarily, maybe part of Mel’s story is about learning to see herself as more than a weapon in this fight. But like… the problem is that she doesn’t have a personal motivation to the fight against Chronos… which is like the core point of the game???

Some of the art design is weird. Yes we are in early access so this can be explained later but some of the designs are weird. Chaos (don’t get me wrong they look AMAZING and beautiful) doesn’t look like Primordial Chaos, they look like some guy? And yeah sure there are some theories as to why but it still takes away from the sheer presence Chaos had in the previous game. Chronos straight up looks like an Egyptian god not Greek.

A lot of the relationships and story is rather straightforward and could do with more nuance. It’s all just “death to Chronos” and that’s it essentially. For example, with Meg and Zag their relationship was complex (a bit toxic) and interesting. Meg had reasons to be upset with Zag and Zag had to push forward regardless so he can find his mom. With Nem and Mel in contrast it just seems like Nem is really salty that Mel gets to go down and kill Chronos and… that’s kinda pathetic? It takes away from her badassery cause this grown ass goddess is literally complaining to a young goddess about something beyond her control. and Nem says some messed up things to Mel too. And in general I feel it’s like this (with Odysseus too, nowhere near the relationship Achilles and Zag had) is the case with the other relationships too (except Hecate and Mel, that is super wholesome and cute :3)

Eris is a cool character but her curses are such a stupid mechanic and it honestly feels like it is a way to make first time perfect runs almost impossible which is stupid because why would you design your game around the rare select few people that will speed run it??

Overall I am well aware I am being rather critical and over analyzing an early access version of the game, so I am going to keep an open mind. However I do stand by my thought that the game so far at least in my opinion isn’t completely living up to its predecessor, at least from a story perspective.

[directdogman]

hello there dog!!! firstly, i just want too say im incredibly proud too see how far you have come, dialtown is so special too me, and for not only that game to be so loved, but also for you too be so involved in the community, is amazing keep up the great work! i do have a question, i am working on a theory pertaining to my favorite characters gingi/milton, and if i may, i have a couple questions about him specifically, if you don't mind of course :) 1. what made you come up with the design/personality of gingi?

2. what are your personal feelings/thoughts on gingi? are you satisficed with them as a character? or are there anything you wish you could change now? 3. this is a wierd one but, gingi generally does not really care what he looks like/what others think, so im really curious why hes so meticulous with making his phone/type head, and if he is so bent up about it, why not try to get someone like Oliver to make him a more proper one? instead of replacing the rotten flesh over and over

4. idk if you can answer this one, but i dont think it can hurt to try...was gingi around, before callum lost his mind?

if you cant answer this, then i have another, what flower would best represent gingi?

Milton question:

ok so....did Callum just straight up cheat on his Marla with Milt?...or am i mistaking something? what i read on the wiki says that milton and Callum had a romantic...fling?

2. did norm know milt? where they friends?

3. does mingus know at least some of the extent of miltons involvement with callum?

4. are there any plans with milton? he seems like such a cool character with crazy potential

that's my questions done, again thank you if you answer! and if not, thank you for making a truly special game, cant wait too see more gingi and dialtown in the future

1)Design for Gingi was primarily based on Frankenstein's aesthetic applied to a the chupacabra. Personality was largely ripped from quite a few unpublished stories/ideas I had before making DT. There's a few protagonists in other things I'd written as potential new game/story ideas that are eerily like Gingi.

2)I'm really really happy with Gingi as a character and I wouldn't change anything that I've established. I like how Gingi starts the game and changes by the end because it's pretty vast, but also not a complete change (and it happens very very gradually.)

TBH, outside of Gingi's interactions in DT, the fandom doesn't really know anything concrete about Gingi due to Gingi's poor memory. Until Gingi formed real human relationships, there was nothing to anchor to, just fragmented and barely remembered individual interactions. Honestly, the bigger picture is really interesting and I'm very happy with Gingi as a protagonist and I'd love to make sequels to DT as I've had concrete ideas for where the character would get up to in potential sequels for years now!

3)Gingi's flesh-head is a bit of a mystery. Gingi doesn't have the same adverse reaction to rotting things that most people do, but does have a general chip in its shoulder about being judged as lesser by others. Gingi (generally) does not make efforts to change its appearance to be seen as less repulsive by others, as we can plainly see from the fact Gingi often forgets (or refuses) to wear clothes.

4)I have all the main character date of births written down, so I could tell you Gingi's exact age... but it's more fun if I don't.

FOR MILT:

1)I'm not really sure why the wiki says that. There's no canon materials that state that Crown + Milt had an affair together. I think someone just read between the lines and stated their hunch as a fact.

2)Norm and Milt met but didn't know each other well. There was a cut mention of Milt in Norm's dialogue, but after a lot of head-scratching, felt the topic was too forced. Norm wouldn't have volunteered the information unless it was relevant to the scene and Gingi would not have asked.

3)Mingus knows about Milt, though not intimately. The only person alive during Mingus' lifetime who could've talked about Milt to her was her grandmother Marla, who was a husk of a person for Mingus' whole life (and in particular, talking about Milt would've hurt too much for her given their closeness.) Mingus knows about Milt from her obsessive study of her paw paw's presidency, but not much more than any historian/social studies teacher would. A lot of information I'd consider very important about Milt was never put to paper.

4)I'm not 100% sure why the fandom likes him as much as they do, given how little of him the fandom has seen (and how little information there is about him out there so far.) I just wanted a few references to him included in canon so I could potentially reveal more about him one day without fans wondering how this SUPER important character had never been mentioned. It's incredibly likely that I'll show more of Milt in future DT stuff due to how instrumental he was in Crown's decision-making + rise to power. There would be no practical way to expand on Crown without discussing Milt more.

There's a much bigger picture that the fandom hasn't seen much of that Milt is very important to, though it isn't often relevant to the modern day events of DT. Understanding Milt isn't important to understand DT itself, but is to understand both Crown and exactly how the world (and by extension, Dialtown itself) ended up exactly the way it did. And with time, I will discuss that some more.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Feelings on HTTYD 2

So I just finished watching httyd 2 with a friend and I thought it was great! Not as good as the first one but I enjoyed myself. I had some issues with the movie so let me summarize what I liked and did not like about it.

What I Liked

Hicctooth - Toothless and Hiccup continue to be amazing together. Such a great friendship bond and they were so cute! The moments where Toothless was fed up with Hiccup were gold.

Stoick - This man was such a badass in this movie! Great fight scenes and his rescue of Valka and sacrifice for Hiccup were so well done. His bromance with Gobber was A+ and I love how he has developed as a father. He seemed even more protective of Hiccup in this movie compared to the first movie. It was actually kind of sweet. Also, his romantic dance with Valka was such a joy to see. Seeing Hiccup happy to see his parents together made me so happy too.

The villain - Drago was pretty entertaining as a villain. I wouldn't call him the best but I thought his design was cool. I think he was a decent villain to challenge Hiccup's naivity.

Toothless and Stormfly - These two had such fun scenes together. I smiled whenever they interacted. So cute! I just really liked Stormfly in this movie, such a good girl. Her bond with Eret was cute.

Toothless and Cloudjumper - These two were so funny. Cloudjumper had annoyed big brother vibes going on lol.

Music - Once again, the music captivated me in this movie. I love the HTTYD movie end credits songs! It makes me feel nostalgic.

Character designs - Liked most of the character designs. Hiccup looked good of course and Snotlout surprisingly looked great too. I liked the greying beard on Stoick.

Eret - I felt so bad for poor Eret. I think he was an interesting addition to the cast.

Friendship of the teens - I liked the interactions among the 6 teens/young adults. I wish the whole love triangle thing was less cringe though.

What I Did Not Like or Felt Neutral About

Hiccstrid - I have seen from Hiccstrid shippers on Tumblr that the second movie is the basis for their love of the ship. And at the end of the movie, I was struggling to understand why? I liked the initial Hiccstrid cliff scene for the most part but the ship was basically irrelevant for the rest of the movie. If you take out Hiccstrid, nothing changes really. There was hardly anything interesting about this ship. Felt so generic. And honestly, this ship feels very one-sided. It's all about Hiccup but what about Astrid? What does she get from this relationship besides the clout of being a future chieftess? And Hiccup's tendency to rush off into danger?

Astrid - Not sure if I liked Astrid's design in this movie. But more importantly, I was disappointed by Astrid's character. My friend agreed with me that Astrid was just there. Her only purpose in this movie seemed to be to give Hiccup his mandatory pep talk and to anger Drago to prematurely attack. When Astrid kept yapping about Hiccup's greatness, I swear I was dying on the inside. Astrid was important in the first movie but httyd 2 solidified her status as a pretty love interest character. Her dragon Stormfly seemed to have more going on in this movie. Astrid was just meh. All she is now is just Hiccup's girlfriend.

Valka - Maybe if I watched the movie without knowing about Valka, maybe I would be more neutral about her. But I don't like her. She's a deadbeat mom. Her reasons for abandoning Hiccup were so flimsy. Stoick, for all his flaws, was learning to be a better dad and I am so sad that Stoick will not get to see Hiccup grow as a man. Valka does not deserve the privilege that's for sure. I must also say that she did a crap job at advocating for peace. Sure, argue for peace while your village is under attack! Makes SO much sense. What made her believe dragons were good anyway?? I wish Valka was the movie villain. Or at least an antagonist.

Toothless - For the most part, I enjoyed Toothless' interactions with Hiccup. But he seemed way too playful sometimes? I don't think he should have been so relaxed with Valka since she attacked them. I miss the Toothless who was aggressive with strangers. Also, I find it strange that Toothless did not know how to expand his spines. He's a wild animal and wild animals should have instincts about these things. Finally, as cool as that super saiyan rage mode was at the end, I still want to know where this power came from.

Ruffnut - I hate how Ruffnut looks. She was pretty in the first movie and she also looks pretty in the ROB show. I don't know why her older design has to look like this. She looked especially repulsive when she was hitting on Eret. I kept asking myself why the scriptwriters did this? Why make her look so gross??

Hiccup's inner conflict - I thought the introduction of Hiccup's mom felt way too forced. The whole spiel about not knowing who he is because he does not know his mom made me so confused. In the first movie, Hiccup hardly cared about Valka. There was not even a throwaway line like 'No one in Berk gets me...but maybe mom would if she were here'. Why the sudden interest??? I also think Hiccup's struggle with his free spirit desire was poorly handled. Plus, I don't understand why Hiccup got the idea that his job was to be a peacekeeper?? Peacekeeper for who?? We don't even meet other tribes! I am sure this attitude is addressed in the shows but it makes little sense to me. How do you go from making peace with dragons to being a peacekeeper of the archipelago? And what leadership did Hiccup showcase to Valka for him to deserve the 'heart of a chief' line??

These are my main takeaways! Despite the shortcomings, I did like the movie. Sigh, now it's time for Hidden World.

[ginnvngagap]

watching the Little Mermaid live action remake, and I'm gonna make it your problem

oooh, shiny scales, I love it

Ariel's breathtaking, I love how her hair flows in the water

her sisters are also gorgeous and their designs are amazing

CGI sea creatures look realistic but still manage to be all magical and shxt, nice

Ursula's not a drag queen (a crime tbh), but her design is so coooool

aaah, Ariel's voice (I don't watch trailers, this is my first time hearing it)

Eric has a personality?!

they gave an actual reason as to why Ariel would be attracted to Eric aside from teenage girl hormones go brrr for pretty boy

oooh, they did the cliff thing

Eric has an I want song now and his voice is heavenly

did... did they just add generational trauma to the mermaid family? great addition, I approve (yes, I've seen the prequel)

had to Google Sebastian's accent, it's Jamaican, I love it, I think it suits him

so many pretty sea creatures dancing, oooh, jellyfish

why the fxck do they swim like that?

Poor Unfortunate Souls slaps, Ursula's voice is aaaah (very eloquent)

huh, Ariel still sings in her head (good decision imo, it would've been such a waste)

Ariel doesn't like high heels and corsets, completely understandable tbh

ooof, her meeting the prince and not being able to speak was so much more devastating with the added thought singing, my baby heart, noooo 😭

apparently Ursula put a spell on Ariel that made her forget her objective of kisskissfallinlove and I don't know how I feel about that (in hindsight it makes sense, this Ariel would've totally jumped Eric's bones, lmao)

Scuttle and Sebastian's banter is fxcking hysterical

roll credits, lmao

oooh, Eric has a stuff room too

Grimsby is best boi

Ariel breaks for goats but not humans, we stan

Anakin would flip his shxt if he saw this dance scene

aaaw, Ariel taught Eric her name

Shalalalalala... You Gotta Kiss The Girl~🎶

Ursula's growly voice 😩👌

I love how Ursula's appearance on shore feels even more sinister than in the animated movie

is... is Scuttle rapping? and she has mad flow?! SEBASTIAN TOO!? also it's actual genius how Scuttle's rap sounds how you'd expect a bird rapping

human Ursula's uuuh... huuuh... 🥵

Grimsbyyy you naughty boi

she's also fxcking terrifying, holy fxckaroni

Eric's waaay too chill about Ariel turning into a mermaid right in his arms, lmao

loving the ominous ink cloud

tentacle raaave

Triton's baaack, baby 👑

I love his character design btw, that clamshell armor is so cool and shiny ✨

mermaid dad sad 🥺😭

the send-off definitely didn't make me cry, shutup

neither did Howard Ashman's name in the credits

[dbandbanart]

Hi there! I just wanted to pop in and say that your art is really lovely! Your Wrightworth baby William is adorable—I love that his design calls back to a younger Edgeworth, especially with the bow at his collar. And also that his hair is a clear combination of his parents, but with Wright's color (and Edgeworth's eyes!). Also your design for Detective Hart is so cool! I could easily picture him being a real character in the AA universe, especially in the later games. He reminds me of Agent Lang in the pieces where he's comfortable, but of Edgeworth in scenes where he is more stern/sober/concerned. I love that they pursue the roles of judge/detective—it keeps them in the same space/setting as Wrightworth, but with a new dynamic and perspective.

I've been up on and off all night with a fever, and being able to scroll through your blog has made it much less stressful, so I just wanted to say thanks and tell you that your work is amazing! Hope you have a great day. :)

oh my god! thank you for such wonderful words. You give me incredible support and motivation to keep painting. I really appreciate your support! Thank you so much again!

Yes I tried to embody both of his parents in this baby heh Of course his bow around his neck is a reference to Miles the baby's appearance. And the brooch in the centre of that bow is a reference to Franziska. At least that's what I was thinking. I'm very glad the original detective character is generating interest. It's my first stand-alone character. He has a bit of a back story and a couple of possible conflicts with the judge. But I'm a little shy about posting it.

Again, I want to thank you and also wish you a speedy recovery. I'm very happy if I could make you a little better

*Wrightworth baby - AU *  

[floof-ghostie]

casually leans on wall and hands you a microphone. how was the spiderverse experience i want all the deets (ive already watched it dw about spoilers👍🏾)

Ohhhh Strap in we're gonna be here for a while (Imma do this in point form for this, because so many thoughts, no energy for real paragraphs

Okay the animation. THE ANIMATION MEDIUMS. So many cool methods. I loved the colour changes in Gwen's universe. HOBIE'S ENTIRE THING, THE WAY HE'S ANIMATED OMG

Mumbattan is such a cool city, I love mashing irl cities to make one cool megacity so much it's such a lil fave worldbuilding thing of mine

Pavitr is so great, I love him, idek how to talk about him I just like him a lot. Him and his gf make such a cute pair too!

Also him saying "I don't use product, just coconut oil, prayer, and good genetics". I love him

The chai tea scene. God he's so great

THe character design is amazing and sososososo cool!! I love that we see the characters change (Gwen's hair growing longer and pinker, Miles' growth spurt, Peter B.'s bathrobe, MAYDAY's LIL SPIDER HAT THAT MJ PROLLY MADE FOR HER).

I love Pravitr's costume glowup. Thank you to whoever arranged for that.

Also, Hobie??? His lace coded boots?? His locs??? HIS FUCKING PIERCINGSSS??? HOW HE COMPARED A FUCKING VOID TO CAPITALISM??? Him taking a liking to Mayday, and straight up SHOWING MILES HOW TO GET OUT OF THE FORCE FIELD WITH A LIL SMIRK?!!! I need him. Need his gender. I love his anarchist ass.

His design really calls back to the punk scene in England, and I love the way he reminds me of old newspapers

Speaking of Hobie, holy shit that guy was flirting with Miles. I know what you are (pls Hobie do u like enbies?)

"I hate the AM, I hate the PM (prime minister probably, idk for sure) AND I HATE LABELS" I love you

Daniel Kaluuya, thank you for your service.

Also Hobie and Gwen make such a funny friendship. But I don't ship them.

The themes of growing up, and Miles' parents being worried about Miles and the people he's with...I nearly cried in the theatre, and I don't normally cry during stuff.

You can just tell that black people were making the big decisions for this movie. Aaron and Rio asking Miles why he took the braids out. Jeff and Rio being like "On time means 5 minutes early", I felt so at home watching this movie. I'm not even from Brooklyn but I just felt so at home at all the interactions Miles had with his neighbors. Even the random storeowner.

Like ppl were speaking aave, using patois, Hobie's accent. And none of that was played for laughs (except for Hobie's lingo but that's a little different bc he's British)

I love how Miles' Ganke is so different from Peter Parker's Ganke. It's such a fun detail how Miles' Ganke was like "I'm not gonna be your guy in the chair".

I love that despite the general "Canon" for Spider Man, there are some differences! I love those intricate details!

And the way the lady in the office was so hasty to force the narrative of them "struggling" when that really wasn't the case? Hit real close to home. I just love the Davis-Morales family

I love the way that the Spot isn't like a general "mildly bad" villain like I originally assumed. I really thought he'd be kind of a "setup" villain, or something that they'd have to clean up and THEN Miles would take care of Miguel and them.

I especially love the way that The Spot is someone from the first movie, who we don't even know until his backstory is brought up.

His voice is also perfect too. He sounds like a complete loser.

Miguel O'Hara. Meet me outside, I just wanna talk

No For real though, he talks a lot of shit about Miles being "The Original anomaly" when his ass needs to inject himself with some kinda spider-fluid to maintain his powers??? Mind you, he tried to force himself into a reality that wasn't his.

This guy is just an A-class hater. What do you have against Miles, honestly???

On the subject of the Spider Verse I think it's so cool how there were so many callbacks to the original canon of Spiderman! I loved seeing the og live action Spider Men in the film too!

And the easter eggs! I couldn't keep up with them all!

Also, wtf was Childish Gambino there. I mean I'm not mad, I actually found Miles' staring at him really funny

I love Issa Rae's voice! But Jessica, queen, please don't fight, you is PREGNANT

Also idk why but for some reason I thought Jessica and Miguel were married in the beginning. Not completely sure.

Gwen being like "Can you adopt me?" when first meeting Jessica...She's so real

Also Gwen is so sososososo so so trans. It's so great

THE ENDING FUCKING DESTROYED ME ARE YOU KIDDING???? 42-Miles being the Prowler?? I'M NOT OKAY BUT I'M SO EXCITED to see what happens!!

But in all seriousness, all the feelings in the movie talked about and the the things left unresolved for the next movie is just. You can tell this was such a labour of love and all the animators were so happy and excited to work on it. I cannot wait for Beyond the Spider Verse!! I'm still buzzing!!

[picapicamagpie]

Sing Marine Life!

I’ll deal with you at the end.

As promised, here’s the follow up post including the marine animals! We don’t see many in the film, so I’ve broken it down by each species.

Squid

I love these guys. They don’t do much, but they look cool. The most notable thing about them is their bioluminescence, which is indeed a trait some real squid have, though not to this degree. Based off their size, bioluminescence, and spotted patterns, I believe these are firefly squid. The bioluminescence is very inaccurate in Sing, but it’s probably exaggerated for dramatic effect and it’s totally fair because the scenes they’re in look amazing. In real life, only the spots on the squid light up and they are only blue, I don’t believe they can change the colour.

Something worth pointing out is that the anatomy of the squid in Sing is completely wrong. And I mean royally messed up. Squid have a mouth that is more like a beak, no lips, certainly no teeth, and it’s located in the middle of the tentacles. The eyes are also further down the body, basically on the tentacles too. What Illumination has done is use the mantle as the squid’s face, when that’s actually their body. It’s the equivalent of putting Buster’s face on his torso. Soooooo something happened to the Sing squid to completely rearrange their bodies and essentially swap the locations of their head and body. Wild.

Shrimp

This is fairly accurate because some crustaceans can survive on regular air for a short time and don’t need to be constantly submerged. Like the squid, these guys have been given a more mammalian body type and can even wear clothes. I don’t know the specific species of shrimp because my God, they all looked the same to me. There’s also this concept art crab who is just chilling about on land. He’d either be dead in a few hours or Sing crabs can now live on land. But I won’t explore it much as it’s not something that’s actually appeared in the films so it’s not canon.

Whale

He doesn’t appear very much, but he’s there. We don’t see enough of him to determine his species but he wears a neat hat. I have nothing else to say about him. Why is Buster in the sky

Fish

Again, super brief appearance and oh my God this screenshot was so hard to get?! I had to load up the film and grab it myself because no one cares about these fish at all. It’s too blurry to tell what species they are, and again, not much to say on them.

Walrus

I have beef with this walrus because his design interrupted the old, more realistic style of Sing. He really cemented the feeling to me that Sing 2 is no longer using the “rules” set by Sing 1. I remember first seeing him and thinking how odd and out of place he looked. While I thought he was a funny character, his design just bothered me so much, something about him felt so off. The sheer audacity of this man to walk on two feet and basically look like a big ape. Generally, Sing was quite realistic with its body types. Ok except the squids. Although technically four legged, walruses and seals have flippers and such a unique way of moving that I really kinda expected Sing to stick to this, or at least make them more hunched over or do something to make them a bit more real, instead of the weird “walrus head on gorilla body” design we got.

To start with, walruses are insanely heavy and huge. A male gets up to 12ft long. To put it into perspective, a walrus standing up would be roughly the same height as an elephant. Mason really should be as tall as Meena but he’s like, 2 Busters.

Real life walruses could never stand on their rear flippers because of their sheer size, and because flippers are not legs. They’re too large and heavy for their adapted limbs to support. That’s why they do that weird flopping about thing that walruses and seals do. So it’s not a case of just making them stand on two legs like every other animal. However now that I’ve looked at him a bit more, Mason is a lot smaller than he “should” be, which makes me think maybe Sing walruses evolved quite differently. They’re much smaller, lighter, and thus able to stand. Maybe also their rear flippers never reached the stage of being super short and small, and are some sort of weird leg/flipper middle stage rather than just being flippers.

Ok Mason, you’re not as bad as I thought you were. But I still don’t like your design.

Also according to the Wiki there’s seals in some advert somewhere but I can’t find it. I’d love to see if they are designed the same as Mason so please if anyone can find it, let me know!

Here’s the canon “rules” I can gather for aquatic animals:

🐳 Honestly there aren’t any

🐳 ok ok, they generally only wear accessories rather than proper clothes but some do also wear full outfits (shrimp)

🐳 They still need water to survive and it hints that there’s an aquatic biome for them to live and work in, with regular cities having waterways as a method of transportation for them. I like this idea and hope it’s explored more

🐳 Bioluminescence can do whatever you want it to do as long as it looks nice, but it’s still limited to animals who have it in real life (which is basically just some fish and invertebrates)

🐳 Some, like the whales and fish, are essentially just the same as real life ones. Others, like squid and shrimp, are more mammalian now. Somewhere, evolution went wild and completely changed the body design of squid completely, reversing their heads and torsos

🐳 Walruses are smaller than they are in real life, and now able to support their bodies on two… flippers? They are much, much more humanoid now and are incredibly different to their real life counterparts

My main take away from this is that mammalian body types have become the norm in the Sing universe. Take (almost) any real animal, make it sort of humanoid, and it’ll belong in Sing. I reckon it’s some kind of convergent evolution thing where animals end up looking similar.

[milgram-tournament]

MILGRAM Best Song Tournament, Round 1, Match 2 BRING IT ON vs. AFTER PAIN

Propaganda for both options under the cut!

Propaganda for BRING IT ON:

"Reasons why Bring it On should win:

- Just by starting the song, the instrumentals are BANGER. Like his more rock style is very cool, even better than After Pain’s more mellow style - Arthur’s voice (Futa’s va) had bills due because have you HEARD his singing?? His raspier voice fits Futa so well - It feels so explosive and like a call to action in a sense, which very much matches Futa’s mentality during trial 1. He also wasn’t playing victim like a CERTAIN girl… (jk, love you mu!) - SAA HAJIMEYOU USOTSUKI KARIDA - UNDEAD HEROOOI YES SLAY KING HIS HIGH NOTE HERE IS HEAVENLY - His scream at the end. Oh my god. HE LITERALLY ATE THIS NOTE. AFTER PAIN COULD NEVER. BRING IT ON FTW 🔥🔥🔥" - His range goes WAAAAAY higher than Mu. She would end up like PHG if she even tried hitting any of his high notes in the last chorus /j

---

- The vocals are amazing, those growls are so well done - You’re able to get Fuuta’s crime and motive pretty succinctly, only based on the visuals - But it still leaves a lot up to interpretation, like how he only attacked once in the final fight scene. It lead to some cool theories. - On that note, the game aspects are so cool!! Especially when paired with him going after people online, just good synergy with awesome style! - Fuuta’s scared face after he realizes what he did. The great contrast of other foes simply being knocked out then being met with blood splatter. - The tempo of the song changing with his mood is a really good touch as well. Make the song more chaotic which highlights his character traits well

---

"propaganda for bring it on: the music FUCKS it genuinely slaps so hard listening to it. song style is incredible its perfect for fuutas personality and gamer vibes. also the way the mv frames everything as a game? the only time real blood and real gore happens being when killcheroy dies? the little details of all the usernames, the different monster designs, the generally distorted feel of everything being too lighthearted?

okay i could go on about the mv for hours but lets not. aside from that: the FEEL of the song!!! the vocals!!!! it really feels like fuuta putting his whole heart into it, into this point of view that both blows problems out of proportion and minimises them, and DEEPLY fucking up. my darling little hypocrite gamer boy twitter user. he makes his witch hunt genuinely sound like something that could sweep people up into it. also the instruments goddddd. the guitar and synth the bass and the drums the DRUMS. im relistening to it to write this propaganda and it keeps making me headbang when i should be writing. if you arent headbanging to bring it on you are LYING.

the way the lyrics are written is wonderful too!!!! they feel so brash and brave and powerful and like. cocky about it. and it fits PERFECTLY. its gets someone swept up into it and it FUCKS. vote bring it on im serious. lets go!! a victory march!! dan da dan!!"

Propaganda for AFTER PAIN:

"so here is why people should vote for AFTER PAIN !!"

Muu's vocals. Need I say more?

The bridge to it is absolutely wonderfully done, the way she softens her vocals to an almost creepy point is incredible

during the final chorus you can hear the desperation in her voice and it’s very well portrayed

The coloring in this music video were phenomenal

The overlapping vocals at the end of the song just have a really really nice effect

Its just a pure banger

In some parts of the song there’s the sound of a clock ticking in the background used as a sort of beatline… GENIUS??

Its just a banger

even with what we found out about Muu in her second trial, After Pain on its own portrayed bullying in a very realisitc and artistic way (from someone who deals with it regularly)

---

"After pain propoganda: She just girlbossed too close to the sun and happened to be holding a knife at the time"

---

"Gosh everything about After Pain... How can you NOT like it? It's literally such a good song and is very singable. The instrumentation is absolutely amazing and I've listened to it on loop so much."

[starsha-stardust]

things I loved abt Wish pt. 2

This Wish. It's a pretty good song and the hook is one of the best in all of disney.

The end credits song. It's so beautiful and showing all the Disney characters was so sweet. Rlly emphasizes how this film was made as a love letter to Disney fans.

The facial expressions of the characters. A lot of Disney films are great at this but especially this one. There was this shot of Asha after the king is done singing his villain song, where she looks shocked, scared, and sad all at once in the span of a second. The king is also so expressive in not only his face but body movements at all times.

That forest scene. The glowing colors in the dim forest were absolutely stunning. Same with Magnifico's villain song. This film had so many visually stunning scenes which is harder to do with mostly CGI animation. Yet ppl say this film was bland looking?!

That chase scene where seemingly Magnifico chases Asha on his horse. It made my heart race, I was scared she would be caught. Scenes like this feel like classic fairytale scenes and I loved it.

How menacing Magnifico was after Asha questioned him. There are more menacing villains than him, but there haven't been for yearrrrss. When he forced her to sit at that ceremony and gave her that smirk I was so enraged. When he showed up at her house It felt like he wanted to kill her. How he acted towards the end of his villain song was chilling. He was genuinely scary and threatening in many scenes.

Magnifico and Asha's voice acting. Come on now. They were so fantastic. Chris Pine was perfect in his role and Asha's voice was so unique and amazing.

How Asha might just be the most caring and selfless character since Esmeralda and Mulan. The way she'd tear up just looking at the wishes showed how much she cared. She kept putting herself in danger just to get the people's wishes back. There's this scene at the end where Magnifico slams her on the ground yet she still attempts to reach for Star. The way I'd notice tears in her eyes in the most subtle scenes. I kind of rolled my eyes when at the start of the film she said her flaw was she cared too much, but honestly, the rest of the movie convinced me of it.

The premise of the movie, having to do with wishes as tangible objects. It's actually very unique and fascinating. And of course it ties in well to Disneys history.

The movie posters for Wish. Some have said they look generic but I think they just look elegant and like a storybook cover. The storybook aesthetics and low-key character choices of this movie were also very cool to me.

The kingdom of Rosas. It's beautiful. Especially the kings castle. Again, a world straight out of a storybook.

The king and queens designs. So elegant yet powerful. Love the white color choice and what it represents. Is Magnifico the first villain to wear mostly white?

The representation, from the main character being a POC in a predominantly white country, to the people all being immigrants. to Dahlia being visibly disabled and it not being made into some thing. If Asha becomes a princess she will become the first biracial one. ❤️

[ithappensoffstage]

r&g report

I had the privilege of seeing rosencrantz & guildenstern are dead with billy boyd and dominic monaghan on march 5! a few people asked for my thoughts after, so here's a sort of stream of consciousness report that may or may not be comprehensive depending on what you're looking for out of said theatre report

anyway I do genuinely believe boydmonaghan are literally the only people who can and should ever play r&g

to start off I will say that this was my first time seeing r&g staged -- I've previously just read it A LOT -- so I can't make comparisons to other productions. I am also a lifetime fan of theatre and have been somewhat involved, but do lack some technical knowledge, so apologies if I can't cover some aspects accurately!

most important of course, boydmonaghan were stellar. their comfort and familiarity with one another is amazing to witness. of course it's staged, but none of their movements come across as anything other than two old friends. they move together like dance partners; there's really no other way to put it. when you put on a show with someone you're so intimate with, it just comes through in the physicality in ways that aren't replicable with people meeting just for one production. watching them as r&g just feels like you're watching them hanging out. they anticipate each other's movements beautifully, lean into each other naturally, play off each other with such comfortable rapport that you feel like you're watching childhood friends goofing off from your corner of the party.

and the RAPPORT I mean wow. damn. if you're familiar with r&g -- the question game scene? holy shit. breathtaking quickness. they are rapid-fire, on each other's heels in the vein of the best comedies. for everyone who knows my tastes of course, they have * the * hawkbeej dynamic. (I almost cried watching because I kept thinking of my beloved url namesake fic.)

great pacing, great chemistry. even when they're sitting still you can still feel the intimacy between them in just how they arrange themselves. lots of staging to reflect mirroring, lots of staging to reflect the thematic element of identity (sorry, I'm rosencrantz; he's guildenstern), etc. great costuming choice -- billy wears green except his blue waistcoat; dom wear blue but for his green waistcoat.

their deliveries were nothing short of spectacular. that of course wraps into pacing and chemistry as mentioned above. but I do feel it's worth mentioning again that they're both so good at speaking their lines. they have such rhythm with each other. and of course that's going to happen--they have a podcast, theyre incredibly close friends, but it's so great to see in a setting with predetermined script, predetermined runtime. again, youre watching two friends who are off their minds at a party really Go Through It.

boydmonaghan aside, I had some general issues with the production. they had quite regular sound errors, and made some sound design choices with music and vocal warping/autotune that were not to my taste. there was a cool echo element utilized that I liked a lot. as I mentioned I don't know other productions so I don't know if this is standard practice, but for this one it was quite fun. coin echoing, echoing around the stage when they shouted into the wings to give you that sense of being trapped. when they spoke to the audience space, it felt enormous, and as if they were speaking to you specifically. I just got so distracted by the mic problems and weird autotune.

the autotune moments were exclusive to the hamlet scenes. that brings me to the other actors. the player himself was magnetic. phenomenal. so much presence. emcee cabaret presence. great stuff. hamlet? so lacking imo. he played hamlet very angry and masculine, which is a choice I guess, but not how I like to see hamlet done. it did make some of the intersectional scenes a little jarring; which, I know is not entirely without reason, but it just wasn't my ideal way to play it.

other than the question scene, one of my favorite scenes in the original text of r&g is when they're talking about leaving the stage, and they continue to make excuses not to. "i think he went this way / maybe that way / why don't you come with me it'll be safer / we should try this direction / oh we should actually wait in case he comes back here." the director did skip this dialogue, which I think gives the indication of less agency for r&g. a little less participation, a little more of things happening to them. which is fine. I have no feelings either way of a better way to do it, but that is just the sense I got of it.

the stage is very small, the set is very cramped. lots of overt use of trapped imagery. theyre often crowded into specific space, sitting very close. when they make space, they make SPACE, indicating periods of disagreement. pretty basic staging for this, I'd assume.

outside staging, very cool lighting, although I am generally against scenes with "party lighting." again, not sure what typical lighting is the scenes with the players that got that, but I could have left it out. similarly, we got a scene with "rock" lighting, and I just thought it was too on the nose / in bad taste. arguable how meta you need meta/absurdist work to be ofc but that decision wasn't for me.

the other lighting choices were great. it starts SO dark. I had lower balcony seating and have great vision, but the start spotlight was so soft the two of them were damn fuzzy for me at the beginning. they gradually get more light in the spotlight, and then it expands. there was a great sunrise moment where they turned the Big Warm Light on the audience and it truly felt like a sunrise over me. the final "rosenc--? guilden--? now you see me / now you don't" from billy was beautifully performed. the lights split the stage into two distinct chambers, truly separating r&g for the first time despite any previous physical distance. I did get a little choked up.

(the final hamlet scene that follows jarred me from the emotion a bit because the horatio actor didn't even try at an accent ToT and it was just weirdly red-lit and they came in with the autotune for the Big End of Speech). and I wish they hadn't made it so Intense and Dramatic because they of course we get our time loop / back to the start / they start on "heads!" and it's such a hold-your-breath type moment. boydmonaghan are good enough that it brought me back but damn. (horatio actor please don't skip vocal lessons again.)

and yeah then I skipped stage door because it made me a little uncomfortable and I went home!

I was very lucky to go and I took my lovely wife (who liked it very much despite only having seen hamlet the day before lol). anyway if you can go I highly recommend! I am even considering pulling a @thealogie and going to see if I can scoop some last-minute box office tickets one of my remaining days here.

ask box is of course open for any questions <3

quick edit: I will say, sincerely, the r&g audience was one of the worst audiences I’ve been in. none of these people knew what the fuck was going on. I wanted to eject them all from their seats into the city skyline and have the theatre to myself (+ wife). literally constantly “what” “what is going on” “huh” from around us. go away. mutuals please come see this show so I can sit with you and not next to someone trying to have a y/n when they look at the audience.

edit 2: I think I mentioned but I did have lower balcony seating. I could see well! I think I might have preferred to be a bit closer just for the microexpressions I probably missed, but I would echo others in saying there really were no *bad * seats at all.

edit 3: stage door is out front to the left of the main doors if you're interested. I personally was not (I already have something signed by billy/have met him multiple times, and would prefer to meet dom at a comic con setting because that makes me more comfortable than stage door).

[jadethest0ne]

OMG did you see the TMNT Mutant Mayhem trailer yet?? If not, please let us know your thoughts after you see it!! The turts are so skrunkly in it!!

I did the day it came out! And I yelled a lot about it to some friends haha! I'll just reiterate some of those ramblings here! And I'll include some of the screenshots I took with the details that I liked!

Also, yes, the turtles are indeed, very skrunkly XD

Spoilers and screenshots below

The main thing that caught my eye, other than the character designs, was the animation

Look how they did the motion blurs! It's like little scribbles, that's so fun!

Even the glow on certain things are little wobbly lines and scribbles. Little moving glow-lines! It's such an imaginative way to show lighting!

The smear frames are similarly scribbly, too! And you can see the textures of all the lines! They're like marker or crayon

The lighting in these frames are amazing! Like in the first one it looks glowy and messes with the color palette, but the second one looks almost cold and has stark lights and shadows! It's got a pretty defined color palette, but seems to know when to break it for certain moods and scenarios

And then there's this cool detail I liked, of red streaks following Raph's eyes as he whips around in this shot

I can't really show this in images, but I enjoyed all the little movement details! Like how Mikey kinda tries to move the watermelon higher on his fingers while he waits for Raph to throw a ninja star at it. Or Leo instantly scrunching up when Raph finally throws the star. The way Mikey jumps/grabs onto Donnie to see his phone. The shifts in expressions and how they look at/react to each other during the "ooze" scene. Or just the general shifts between expressions. Good shit right there!

And I'm gonna end this on a bunch of expressions that I enjoyed :3

At every turn this movie is giving me something more to be hyped about. First it was the designs, then it was the blurbs during interviews on how they want to portray the characters/arcs, and now it's this gorgeous and unique animation! I am very excited for this version of the turtles! I know what I'm doing August 4th!