#honestly this is a really good villains lineup

[galactic-empire-incorrect-quotes]

[star-rie]

episode dedicated to merthur kiss that happened in s2 in my merlin fix-it au:

episode starts with a villain laughing evilly in the background, plotting the downfall of uther pendragon, using his newest magic-imbued deviceTM. intro rolls and it cuts to merthur banter, and uther announcing that there will be another tourney this year, the one with the horses and archery.

(merthur in the training field)

Merlin: Why are nobles so obsessed with tournaments??? Aren't you guys tired of it? We JUST had one last month (thinking about the chores he had to do)

Arthur: I don't know what you're talking about Merlin. You’re insufferable, stop being such a loser

Merlin: oh I'M the insufferable one?? have you seen yourself in the mirror???

Arthur: May I remind you that insulting royalty equals to spending the night in the dungeons???

Merlin: And yet you never sentenced me, not even once 😄

Arthur: 😁…it's such a shame, archery isn't my strong suit

Merlin: I know, you really suck at it, but what can I say Prince Arthur? you got to spare one of your talents for us country bumpkins, you can't have it ALL sire

(a squire interrupts their conversation)

Squire: excuse me sire? can you show me how to use the bow?

Merlin: go ahead arthur show him how it's done (know how much arthur sucks at archery, thinking: arthur will embarassed himself)

Arthur: (not falling for it)...why don't you show them instead merlin??

Merlin: wait what?

Arthur: oh i heard how much you've been dying to show your ways with the bow, go ahead!! this is your chance!! (took the bow from the squire's hand and shove it into merlin's hands)

Merlin: oh nonoonononono, i'm not-

Squire: Merlin can do archery??

Merlin: NO!, Arthur: YES! (at the same time, they look at each other)

Arthur: yes.

they banter for a very LONG time before Merlin gave up and demonstrate it for the squire, and to arthur's surprise Merlin is actually VERY good at it. the squire thanks him and merlin returns to arthur

Arthur:

Merlin: ????? what???

Arthur: i never knew you're proficient in archery

Merlin: i'm not??

Arthur: oh yes you are Merlin! Stop being so modest!

Merlin: (scoffs) i don't know what you're talking about

Arthur: (rolled his eyes, his face lit up) i know merlin! why don't you join the tournament!

Merlin: what.

Arthur: 😁😁 you should! it's open for everyone this year! maybe it will stop you from complaining about every tourney that’s conducted on camelot!

Merlin: stop being ridiculous

Arthur: I think it's brilliant! look i'll even be your personal trainer!

Merlin: Arthur, never in a million years would i sign up in an archery tournament

Merlin: YOUR SIGNED ME UP FOR THE ARCHERY TOURNAMENT???? (in arthur's chambers now, shoving a scroll of parchment into his face)

Arthur: (took the parchment) interesting lineups this year, no worries Merlin! i'll take care of you 😁

Merlin (already pale): you got to be kidding me

Arthur: oh relax! worse case you're just going to lose at the selection, then you can go back to polishing my armor 😉

Merlin: 😊

montage of arthur personally training merlin. it timeskips to the selection round. Merlin is in a tent dressing himself up

Merlin: (very nervous, mumbling to himself) oh my gosh, oh my gosh, what if something goes wrong, ohh nooo what am i going to do...

Arthur: (scaring him from behind) stop being a nervous wreck merlin!

(merlin actually jumps, arthur took pity on him and pulls him up, brushing off dirt out of his gears)

Arthur: (notice that merlin didn't even put the gear correctly) honestly merlin, can't you even do anything right??? (start fixing his gear)

(Merlin is nervous, still staring at the floor)

Arthur: (putting a hand on his shoulder) Merlin

Merlin: (looks nervously at him)

Arthur: (serious) you know, no matter what happens, i'm always here for you. you have my full support merlin, even gwen and morgana and gaius. if someone made fun of you, i will send them straight to the dungeons

Merlin: (a little less nervous now knowing that arthur is supporting him) thank you...

Merlin enters the selection ground, with the entire court watching him. He focuses on his target, feeling his surroundings with his magic, and it actually hits. gwen cheered at him from the crowd. gaius and morgana gave him a smile. uther was impressed. arthur beams at him from the royal chair, so proud with him.

it was break time and merlin saw the a participant doing very suspicious stuff (it's our weekly villain), he tries to follow him but arthur surprises him from behind

Arthur: you did it!! (putting an arm over his shoulder, ruffling merlin's hair)

Merlin: ow!! arthur!! (smiling bashfully)

Arthur: that was incredible! who knew you could be so good at archery! while riding a horse no less!!!

Merlin: oh stop it...(still smiling while trying to find the villain, arthur notices)

Arthur: is there a problem...?

Merlin: Hm??? oh no no...

Arthur: (looks at the direction he was looking at, notices a scrawny men) was there something particular about that guy...?

Merlin: what guy?

Arthur: that guy (points at the guy)

Merlin: i uh...no it's nothing (smiles at him)

Arthur: (not buying it) Merlin he is not the weekly sorcerer trying to kill my father right?

Merlin: (haven't even concluded that far) what?? no!! (actually considering) could be????

Arthur: (internally: merlin is on his bs again) could be???

Merlin: i don't know!!! I was right about the troll!!

Arthur: lady catrina

Merlin: RIGHT!!!

Arthur: (doesn't actually believe the guy is evil) tell you what merlin, you can continue to participate in the tournament, while i stalk after this guy

Merlin: WHAT??

Arthur: Merlin as your personal trainer i don't think now is the right time to snoop on other participants

Merlin: Arthur, for all we know, he could actually be evil!

Arthur: (patting him in the back, laughing haughtily) don't worry merlin!! he's not evil!!

Merlin: but-

they were interupted by gwen hugging him, and morgana congratulating him. merlin stops worrying about the participant. time skips to scenes where merlin keeps training for the tournament, while arthur snoops around this 'evil participant'

arthur thinks its a joke, doesn't ACTUALLY think that he's evil, and snoops around for fun. until he actually brings out his magic-device thingy and arthur went straight to merlin

(in the camp when the first round about to begin)

arthur: you're right he's absolutely evil

merlin: knew it

arthur: i will tell my father!

merlin: (stops him) arthur, we don't have proof

arthur: i'll just order a search on his room

merlin: you need to be more careful than that

arthur: fine then merlin, what do you suggest?

merlin: right after the first round, i'll help you

arthur: alright then, good luck out there (double checking merlin's gear, and merlin DID mess up the gear on his arm, arthur fixes it for him)

merlin: okay (gulps)

merlin went through the first round. but before arthur can reach him, the evil sorcerer went to him first

villain-of-the-week: congratulations on passing the first round

merlin: thanks… (suspicious but can't let it show. merlin accidentally stare at his necklace and was enchanted by it)

villain-of-the-week: i trust that we will be good rivals in the future?

merlin: (smiles) why of course

the villain leaves, arthur goes to him

arthur: that nasty scumbag, what does he want merlin?

merlin: (still smiling)

arthur: merlin??

merlin: (blinks) who?

arthur: the bloke merlin!! the evil sorcerer!

merlin: (confused) arthur, he's not evil, he's very nice actually, i hope he wins…

arthur: something is very wrong here...

merlin: he's a very pleasant guy arthur, you should learn to be like him

arthur tries to get merlin out of the daze, but merlin is just not having it. arthur eventually gave up, and tries to warn the others but they are enchanted too, the villain tries to enchant him but he avoided him. only he and morgana was left unaffected

arthur: he enchanted the entire court!

morgana: tell me about it, gwen has been fawning non-stop. it's driving me a little insane actually

the days goes by as morgana and arthur tries to stop the villain, but everyone is just complying to him. and arthur notices that the villain is always closing on his manservant. one time arthur notices him and merlin in the yard

villain: i wanted to congratulate you

merlin: that's very kind of you

merlin has been passing through the rounds, they are now in the semi-finals, merlin wasn't planning on winning this far but the enchantment made him feel obligated to this villain, he's planning to give up to him once they are in the finals

villain: i trust that the prince is very proud of his servant

merlin: he is…

villain: (gets closer to him) you are a very talented man indeed, i wonder what else you can do…maybe you can…show me in private…?

merlin: oh...i don't know...i’m not-

arthur: (already putting an arm over merlin's shoulder) what he meant to say was you should leave

merlin: oh arthur he's just-

arthur: leave.

villain: (bows) sire (leaving)

merlin: what was that about??

arthur: he was going to hurt you

merlin: nonsense! (batting away arthur’s arm) why are you being so dramatic arthur??

arthur: (a bit frustrated that his efforts are failing for the last few days) oh i’m dramatic!? I’m not dramatic at all merlin!

Merlin: (pissed off at arthur) i don’t know what you want anymore arthur! You signed me up on this tournament when i didn’t want to! And now that i’m actually winning, you don’t want me to talk to other competitors?

Arthur: no-

Merlin: (a bit of merlin’s pent-up emotions bleeds, fueled by the enchantment) do you actually have ever think about anyone other than yourself?! Merlin this, merlin that, do you know how bloody exhausting it is to be your servant?! Have you actually considered what i want Arthur? You are an asshole! A gigantic stuck up git that won’t care about anyone other than yourself!!And when i’m actually winning you can’t even cheer me on? Do you actually care about me or i’m just another accessory to you? You don’t even train me anymore!!

Arthur realizes that he has been neglecting merlin in the past few days, in favor of catching the villain. Skipping their practices, ignoring him on the tournament. And he never got his consent to enter him into the tournament

Arthur: i-

Merlin: no arthur! Screw you! (Storms off)

arthur mulls over merlin’s words while trying to catch the villain with morgana. The final tournament rolled around and when merlin and the villain is going to face each-other off, did arthur finally realizes what he actually wants

Arthur: he’s going to kill merlin

Morgana: what??

Arthur: he doesn’t want to kill father, or you, or me! He wants to kill merlin!!

morgana and arthur scrambles to defeat the villain, while the finale is happening arthur is facing off the villain

Villain: well this looks like it’s going to be your resting place arthur pendragon

Arthur: please, try me

They fight in an intense battle, Arthur finds out that no, the villain is not a sorcerer after all. He’s like valiant, only a fool messing around with witchcraft

Arthur: why are you targeting my manservant??

Villain: oh arthur pendragon, there’s a lot of things that you don’t know about him….

Arthur: what do you mean

Villain: let’s just say he’s not what he is….have you ever heard of emrys??

Arthur: i heard it a few times before

Villain: you will soon encounter that name again, especially in the presence of your servant

Arthur doesn’t really give a piss about what he means, so they fight in silence after that. Arthur lost and the villain grins

Villain: be grateful i’m not ending your life right now, but i don’t see how your life will last much longer with the death of your servant….

The villain enters the finale with merlin. They are to shoot eachother with a dummy arrow. The first person to hit the other’s armor wins. Buf ofc the villain’s arrows are actually deadly. But when he almost hits him, Morgana managed to trip him with her magic.

He tries to get up but he feels himself paralyzed and passes out (it revealed later that arthur had slathered his sword with chemicals and managed to wound the villain). Everyone snaps back to their senses and camelot cheered on their new winner. Uther congratulate him and merlin still blushed like a child, embarassed

(Morgana and arthur from the crowd)

Morgana: i’m glad it turn out well

Arthur: me too

Morgana: we’re going to be in so much trouble for disappearing on the tournament (they didn’t sat at the royal seat for the past few days, always watching silently from the crowds)

Arthur: it’s fine, i’ll do anything for him, thank you morgana (looking at merlin who’s getting carried up by the crowds, and merlin cheering at them. Arthur is too embarrassed to go up to him, still thinking about their fight)

Scene cuts to the castle once the tournament is over, in arthur’s chambers at night, arthur was getting ready for bed on his own, trying to dress without merlin. Merlin enters the room, taking pity on arthur

Merlin: you look pathetic, let me (helps arthur into his sleeping attire, which is just his pants)

Arthur: thanks…

*silence*

Merlin: (biting lip) I- , Arthur: (looking sideways) So-

Arthur: you go first

Merlin: no you

Arthur: you Merlin

Merlin: (sigh) fine (preparing himself) i’m really sorry…for what i said back then, after the semi-finals…i don’t know what happened back then, something came over me and i just- i’m really sorry arthur, i really am. I didn’t mean any of that and i-

Arthur: no merlin….i should be sorry. You’re right, i’m a stuck up git. I overworked you too much at times and I force you into things that you didn’t want to and i can be a prat. I know i’m not perfect, and i’m really sorry…

Merlin: (feels bad, but awed by arthur’s apology) arthur-

Arthur: and as your future leader too. You need to tell me when i’m crossing the line, i know i can be a bit to much at times, and i really appreciate your honesty. i…want to be the king my father am.

Merlin: (caress his hair) arthur…but you’re already so…brilliant and amazing…and everything that Camelot needs. You don’t need to become like your father, you’re already perfect the way you are. i trust the reign you will bring someday. You will always be my once and future king

Arthur: (leans on him) thank you

They stare at each-other. Arthur drawing the lines on merlin’s faces and staring into his eyes

Arthur: i never knew how curly your hair is Merlin: i tried to straighten it like yours, never works Arthur: or how sharp your cheekbones are Merlin: i get that a lot, the kids in ealdor thinks im a phantom Arthur: or how blue your eyes are….(arthur trails the merlin’s lids, until he stops on his lips)

They inched closer to each-other until their lips touch. The kiss was light, and tentative. Testing the waters. Arthur nibbles into it, once, twice, and Merlin nibbles back. Arthur forgot how long it was, maybe it was only for a second, maybe a minute. Before merlin parted from him, leaning away

Merlin: no Arthur: no? Merlin: (tries to get away from arthur)

Arthur suddenly realizes that he’s kissing merlin. He, prince arthur had just kissed merlin, his manservant, a servant, a male servant. And arthur drops his hand from him as if on fire. Merlin didn’t say anything and left wordlessly. Arthur goes to his bed, still reeling over the fact that he just kissed Merlin, tucks himself under the covers.

Outside the hallways merlin is walking towards gaius’s chambers, hand pressing over to his lips. Before he continues to walk away.

END

[nixthelapin]

A bit ago, I made a post (jokingly) complaining about all the Peacock users having blue skin, and also weaved in how Argos looks so visually out of place from the rest of the hero lineup at the end of s5, so I decided I wanted to change him up a bit…

Tada! 🦚

It’s not really a redesign, just a recolor, but I really love this color scheme! I wanted it to feel more like a real peacock rather than the indigo-purple idea they were sticking to in the show.

(And to clarify, I did not draw this- I traced the still from Emotion. I am definitely not that good of an artist 😂)

I kept some dark color still, because peacocks do have very deep blues, but I wanted some brighter parts so he didn’t seem too much like a villain. I know Chat is all black with his costume (so very dark), but the gold of his hair and the bell help brighten it up. Argos wears a hood, which that covers most of his hair, so even changing it back to blond didn’t seem like enough to me. So I used a slightly lighter shade of blue for his coat (which I’m honestly loving). I tried the lighter shade for the whole thing at first, but it wasn’t really for me.

And I did really like how his original suit used green for the inside of the tail and hood, so I just changed that to a different shade (to match the peacock image I swatched from).

I’m kind of surprised I liked the gold on the sides and the hood detail. That was also swatched from the peacock tail, part to the “eyes.” I think it helps to contrast against the deep blue of the pants and goes well with the green to add more warmth. And it matches his hair a bit lol. (The leg by itself is so you can see that “eye” detailing better- the original was very hard to trace)

I’d love to hear all of your thoughts about this! It took a while, but I’m super happy with the outcome! I might play with the colors for other versions later, but for now, I like this 😁🦚

(Suggestions are also very welcome!)

[erebus-the-answer]

Will Power shouldn't have been Akechi's final theme(+ how Maruki did it better)

Persona 5 was my first smt game, but even in my first playthrough it bothered me. While I do think that Persona 5 has a problem with reusing tracks (I'm looking at you, Rivers in the Desert), when comparing it to the other games + animes, Goro's fight theme being Will Power becomes unacceptable.

Underneath the cut I will compare the secondary/social link boss themes from Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5

Spoilers for all three games/animes/movies under the cut

Persona 3:

so in persona 3, I would say that the closest thing to a party member boss fight would be the meeting and little tiff that happens with Ryoji on the bridge with Aigis.

So, in the game this is an animated cutscene and the song that plays is a slightly~ different version of Unavoidable Battle. (Don't get me started on Unavoidable Battle being used for the ??? fight lol)

Persona 3, especially during The Answer has a real problem with beating Unavoidable Battle into the ground until it's deader than dead. But... I feel that they rectify this in the movies with Light In Starless Sky

This is one of my favorite tracks from the Persona 3 Lineup (P3, P3FES, P3P, and the P3 movies) Even though Ryoji doesn't technically have his own boss battle, I felt like he was deserving of his own theme for such a big moment and such a "betrayal" from a character that you grow to love and care about. In theory anyway, I don't very much like Ryoji.

Persona 4:

So obviously in Persona 4 the secret twist villain or whatever you'd like to call him is Adachi. I was one of the many people unfortunate enough to get into the game with this twist already spoiled. That being said, with the expectation that Adachi would be a final boss sort of deal (even if he is third to last), it was really disappointing to me that he and Namatame share the same boss theme. I understand that we are supposed to believe that Namatame is the killer (even though he really obviously isn't IMO), but to hear the same theme twice made it extremely underwhelming to me. Also Adachi was not a hard fight lol

Luckily, this gripe that I have with the game can easily be fixed with this mod, which adds Yin Yang from the Persona 4 Golden anime to the game in the place of New World Fool during Adachi's boss battle. This was perfect to me because honestly this is such a jaw-dropping song to me. It perfectly explains the type of dynamic that Yu and Adachi have with one another. love love love love Yin Yang, and even though Persona 4 is my least favorite game from the series and Adachi is then by default my least favorite villain, I think this track being in the game and just existing in general really helps with the music aspect of the game.

I fucking love The Almighty and The Fog though, even if I did feel that the amount of fakeout-twist villains was a little bit annoying. (Do not get my started on I'll Face My True Self -Marie version)

Persona 5:

So, as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I feel like Persona 5 has a real problem with reusing tracks. Persona 5 was my introduction to the series, and when I said that it made me so excited that I felt my heart beating out of my chest and I was sick to my stomach (in a good way), I mean it.

In Persona 3, I feel like Master of Tartarus and Master of Shadows were fitting themes for the type of battles that we were having. The Full Moon shadows were just that. Shadows. They didn't really have any discernible personalities and they were just Shadows that needed to be killed for the sake of being shadows. I sort of wished that Strega had their own theme, but again whatever.

In Persona 4, even though we were fighting all sorts of different versions of different people, at the end of the day they all were facing their true selves, their shadow selves, so it makes sense for them to use the same battle theme when they are doing the same thing.

My issue with Akechi's theme being Will Power is that yeah, sure, his boss fight is technically an awakening, it's just been overused and beaten into the ground.

Now, I will say that it is better than his theme being Blooming Villain, the theme that EVERY SINGLE palace ruler uses, but it is still way too overplayed.

Like I said, P5 and ESPECIALLY P5R have some amazing tracks, but after the 4th time in a row hearing Rivers In The Desert, it starts to lose its spark.

In a stark contrast to the way that Akechi's battle solidified that they beat Will Power until it was dead, I'd like to take a moment to talk about Takuto Maruki, one of my favorite characters of all time.

I love Akechi as much as your average Persona 5 fan, but when it comes to how the music of the story drives home the point of their character, Akechi has nothing on Maruki.

I remember shaking in excitement when I first went on Spotify to look at the names of the songs from Maruki's palace and see what they were called (I am very particular about my music when it comes to persona games, my friends will let you know that I do not play when it comes to music spoilers).

The titles alone bring so much light into what Maruki was trying to accomplish. Gentle Madman, for example, is probably the most obvious one. It's who Maruki is. He's kind, sweet, he wants what's best for everyone, and yet he's on a complete wrong path. Something about the light piano mixed with the dark (???????????) sounding instrument really adds to it. It sounds clinical in a weird way, honestly, and it totally matches the aesthetic of the palace.

Out Of Kindness is one of the ones that makes me the most excited because it's such an awesome double entendre. He is doing it out of kindness, yet at the same time he has no kindness left to give! Beautifully, beautifully written! My God!!!!!!!

anyways, Keep Your Faith and Throw Your Mask Away. Need I say more? If you've played it then you know.

Of course I'm not saying that I expected Akechi to have an entire 5 hour long palace and half a soundtrack dedicated entirely to him. At the end of the day he isn't a final boss, he isn't the secondary boss, and he isn't the tertiary boss(at least in Royal anyway). Which I find to be... Disappointing. I mean he literally tries to kill the player character and thinks he succeeds! I know that Shido is the big bad, but I feel like Akechi deserved a bit more than what he got.

My idea would be perhaps Akechi got his own theme that he shared with the Holy Grail? I absolutely hated the fact that Shido and the Grail shared the same thing. It was so beautiful and amazing when we fought Shido and it transitioned between Rivers In The Desert instrumental and the vocal track. Almost threw up, so awesome.

They were kinda beating it already when it came to the Grail. I understand why, but to overuse such an awesome track really ruins it for me. and then when you fight the twins too? Jeez, give me a break.

Jaldaboath was an ok track, I'll probably talk about it in another post.

ANYWAY, my point is that I feel like Akechi deserved a better, more tailored theme, and it disappoints me that even in the anime he doesn't get it. The anime is even worse because he only gets Awakening? How annoying is that? There is a fanmade Akechi Palace theme, but that is a palace theme and not a boss battle. I guess we can only dream.

[k-white]

Personal Opinions of GMMTV PART2 SERIES

To nobodys request I am gonna do a opinions on the gmmtv trailers, let it be stated that I barely watch anything lately so we'll see how many I will actually watch🤣

so lets start, I will go in order of how they came out on the lineup:

Ossans Love Thailand: I do not like slapstick it isn't my thing but strangely enough I liked this trailer it made me laugh a lot and seeing EM in a show where they can be silly and ceazy is so fun plus the chemistry with the Boss was working, I haven't watched the japanese but I might go back and watch that cuz I wanna ne up on top of knowing the plot

Leap Year: It looks cool and has Gun, feels a little more survival show wich isn't really my thing but the concept is cool, I am always ready to try out more put there plots with supernatural elements and the acting seemed solid for both Dew and Pond

The Heart Killers: hem do I even need to say anything? BE GAY DO CRIME SHAKESPERE WITH FK AND JOJO DIRECTING I think this suffices moving on! jokes aside I am so exited for an action romcom with betrayal and tattoos and my babies looked AMAZING

Friendshit Forever: it's Mook and Pat acting their asses off and almost killing eachother while looking sapphic doing that, so yes please, New and Boom are ok man ruinibg things as always lol/j but honestly I would watch this for the girls and the drama plus Pat is literally a goddes I love that woman

Perfect 10 Liners: sigh another gay engeneers cute boy ensble with 2 couples I am not particualry a fan of om screen(FB PC) and one I have no feelings for(JM) plus the plot looks so uninspired and boring and if it is true it's gonna be 10 eps per couple you bet your ass you wont see me sit thtough this thing! We Are is enough and at least there I like the pairs

Us: FUCK YES BABY GIMME THE GL, this looked so artsy and indie it didn't even give off thai show vibes with the minimalist approach and cinematography, the story is gonna be angsty as fuck but I live for it and Girl falling for the guys sister? Man good drama, and it has Sing and Emi looking mighty fine plus Bonnie wich is so pretty, you will be seeing me seated for this one

Hide & Sis: Again it has women, and WHAT WOMEN GEEZ! Jan, Lookjun and Piploy???? god I am melting they are everything, it is very PS I Hate You and thank god Snap went back to that after Jungle, stick to the messy murder plots, it honestly might not be everybody shit but it's mine and I will take it, tho the revenge porn is trash and fuck you Chimons character, and Lookjun and Pepper actually playing a sort of couole on screen! and oh Gawin as a cop(probably corrupted) brings back memories

Thame-Po: another one that doesn't have gmmtv vibes and I like it when they try to branch out, the idol subplot isn't my thing tho even if I know LYKN are good, EstWilliam mmmm they look pretty but didn't really vibe with the acting, they do have good chemistry tho, for this one I might have to wait for the actual trailer

Break Up Service: NO moving on... ok fine this is ridiculous and does not give me anything even if there is Off in a suit, the comedy wasn't even good next

Revamp: I know this is Boons crown jewel and it looks good but vampire shows are hit or miss and I am not that into them but I think I will watch for the cast and cuz I am attached to BP, and Kay in a villain role is cheffs kiss

Sweet Tooth, Good Doctor: SIGHHHH Oh Mark what have they done to you? they were able to make Mark Pakin look plain MARK! UNACCEPTABLE! plus dentists? I have visceral reactions to just thw sounds of the trailer, Ohms acting still isn't to my liking and it is a Jittirain novel so skeptical isn't even cutting it, the trailer even if less slapstick as OL it cringed me, the balance of humour and romance is off, I think I will watch but just for Mark, Jimmy and View

The Dark Dice: meh felt like a bootleg gifted in a bad way idk I like Gem and Prim enough but this didn't give me anything much, might have to wait for final trailer here too

The Ex Morning: I like the concept don't care at all about anchor man plot, still not a big fan of Krists acting, but I like Singto and the ex part was interesting enough, we will see, might be a little too meta and not in a good way

Scarlet Heart: My Tu come back and ot is a Harem Reverse? WHY??? I hate harem shows always had, I don't even know the og show, I do like most of the cast but still this was just a teaser so I might need to check the og show and then the full trailer to judge, for now I am not into it and I am sorry cuz MY TU!

Ok thats it, overall I liked this lineup better than part 1(even if it's just cuz of FK be in an actual show and not just to announce School Rangers) for now I am in for most of the shows we shall see once they start airing but I stay optimistic that I will watch most

by by

[komajordan]

Media I’ve experienced in 2024 (January)

Considering how my other media reviews have been doing I felt unmotivated to just do them individually. So instead I decided to just make a monthly tier list. I’ll list each entry by order I finished them and just give my cliff notes thoughts on them from 1-10. And I’ll include how my opinions on what I’ve reviewed in the past has changed too.

Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising (8/10)-I wish I had a way of experiencing the beginning of the series to get more context but otherwise the gameplay and visuals are neat

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (9/10)-Considering I finally finished JJK later on, it’s no surprise this movie did a good job at introducing me to the series

Friendship In Disguise (7/10)-Still the same. Art looks nice but overly bright for G1 Transformers. Cool fanservice moments. But relies too much on FiM characters.

Persona 5 Tactica (6/10)-Not a necessary game and is forgettable, but it’s fine in gameplay I guess

Chainsaw Man (10/10)-I love chainsaw

One Piece:Strong World (9/10)-Shiki as a villain has a powerful prescience. The moments when the Strawhats attack him with guns was exciting. And Luffy’s final fight was heart stopping.

Ringu (7/10)-Disappointed that it’s just the same movie as its US counterpart. But still good for starting the story.

Shaun of the Dead (8/10)-Hilarious dark humor, clever dialogue and slapstick.

Kung Fu Panda (10/10)-Seeing this movie as an adult makes me appreciate what messages and humor had in store for a growing audience. Realizing Jackie Chan plays Monkey is the biggest plot twist of my life.

Transformers 1984 Seasons 3-4 (3/10)-Blurr is the bane of my existence and Galvatron’s screaming gets grating. The locations are interesting at least even if they rely too much on fantasy than Sci-Fi

Total Drama Island 2023 Season 2 (8/10)-Priya overstayed her welcome but I found the team and alliance dynamics interesting, it gave more characters the spotlight like MK and Damien, and helped build a connection with past seasons with OG cast cameos.

The Ghost and Molly McGee (8/10)-Good animation, fun characters, Disney stop being Disney and let your shows continue.

Kung Fu Panda 2 (9/10)-The locations and fights aren’t as memorable. Everything else though still hits for me

Kung Fu Panda 3 (8/10)-The Furious Five are really nothing characters if they get soloed by everybody. The humors a bit more obvious, but still keeps the quality of the fights and animation.

Justice League X RWBY Pt.II (5/10)-The first one is a movie I knew I’d dislike. This one is better since the Justice League is more in character but the rogues gallery is baffling and the RWBY designs look weird

The Magic of Cybertron (7/10)-On the same level as its predecessor but with a weirder roster.

Megaman X3 (3/10)-Boring levels, takes trial and error too far, and Zero’s permadeath is a terrible decision

Sonic Prime (6/10)-The animation and voice talents were cool but it drags a bit too long and the same few characters with a different coat of paint on them gets tiring

Tenacious D:The Pick of Destiny (8/10)-So that’s where those YouTube Poop sounds came from. The humor is pretty funny and the chemistry between Jack and Cage is entertaining. And the songs are either hilarious or unintentionally hitting.

Fire Emblem:Three Houses Black Eagles Route (9/10)-While the class and grinding does get repetitive, the story and drama hits hard. Edelgard, Bernie, and Hubert are really compelling and entertaining characters. I do plan to check out the other houses soon.

Transformers:War For Cybertron Trilogy (9/10)-The CGI looks great and honestly works as a prequel to the 84’ series. And when the Maximals came in Season 3 it had me shocked.

Spider-Man 2 (8/10)-A bit of a let down but considering how it’s an 8 shows a testament to the standards to Insomniac’s Spider-Man games. The gameplay is still pretty slick, traversal is fun, and is pretty cool in spectacle. Its main problems is the story, the villain lineup, and a lack of mechanics past games had.

Naruto (8/10)-Yeah, I never grew up on Naruto so i wanted to see what the hype was about. While yes it has its problems like it’s annoying cliches and filler. I did end up liking the characters and settings. And the soundtrack and fights hits.

What If? Season 2 (2/10)-The multiverse has been so tired out it’s hardly interesting anymore

Transformers:Rise of The Beasts (7/10)-The effects and characters are neat, not a fan of the human parts as much as I do Bumblebee.

[mostly0]

Thoughts on London Rules

Spoilers below

This one is a great comedy which is strange because I believe it has the highest body count in the series.

As much as this is billed as the Ho focused book I got a lot more out of Coe after the first third.

Speaking of Coe, the paint tin is my favourite individual moment in the series and the aftermath with River and Coe in the car is also great.

Also a great book for Shirley, Marcus is brought up a few times and appreciated that. (Will have more to say once I talk about Joe Country)

The part of this that didn't work for me was the villains. Herron usually does a good job with picking post cold war antagonists but this felt very cliche being North Korea. Also too similar of a dynamic to the book 1 villains.

I find Claud's downfall beautifully realistic in a way. Can't recall anything specific but a plan like that from a man like that often does lead to horrible events further down the line.

I liked Emma trying and failing to control Slough House like a desperate school teacher.

Mrs Gimble feels like a character that will come back soon enough.

I honestly don't remember much from Lamb here.

Diana telling Standish the truth about Partner is maybe my favourite character moment for her, how she just decides to ruin a person on the way down the stairs from a meeting and she does this just to fuck with Lamb really.

Finally this is probably my favourite Slow Horses team lineup.

[thevindicativevordan]

Since you mentioned that Williamson would probably launch a Superman ongoing. How do you imagine his run would look like?

Well I called it, not that it was a hard thing to predict:

Looks pretty much exactly what I expected. All the classic elements get plenty of focus, Lois is back at the Daily Planet, Clark will be going up against a bunch of classic villains - Parasite is the villain of the first arc, seems Livewire, Bizarro, and Silver Banshee won't be far behind - classic supporting cast members like Jimmy Olsen will be getting used, and there may be either some new faces or revamps of old ones. That cop with the pony tail in the upper right might be a new take on Inspector (Commissioner?) Henderson. Williamson is at his best when he's focused on one character and just doing fun superhero adventures instead of trying to write big events or copy Morrison. Robin and Flash delivered that for me and were enjoyable, he should bring a similar level of quality here. If nothing else the use of classic Superman Rogues who haven't gotten attention in a while like Livewire, Silver Banshee, and Bizarro get points with me, I don't expect him to write the definitive Parasite arc, but if he can at least provide entertaining Superman stories featuring classic Superman Rogues I'll be happy.

Kaminski (head editor for the Superbooks) hinted on Twitter that Zod was going to play an important role in the Superbooks next year. Given Williamson already used him once for Batman/Superman - his use there of Zod was good - I wouldn't be surprised if he uses him again here. Perhaps Zod is the figure in shadow if it isn't teasing a new Superman Rogue. I've long wanted Zod to fill the Ra's role in Superman's Rogues Gallery and Williamson did position him as that, if he is writing Zod I hope he continues to develop that characterization for him.

Obviously Campbell's art is gorgeous, but does anyone really think he's going to last long on a monthly ongoing? Naomi and Far Sector really struggled to come out on time, if Campbell can do just one arc I'll be happy. Dragotta is a good artist too, but I don't know if he's fast enough to do a monthly these days. I'll enjoy their time on Superman regardless, can't wait to see them draw the villains!

Now for the rest...

Anonymous asked:

New Superbook lineup?

First DC panel thus far to actually talk about the big plans for 2023. Honestly I'm pleased overall with the news that was shared.

Action is becoming a Superfamily book with PKJ continuing to write the main feature, which will still be standard issue length. Lineup is Clark, Kara, Conner, Kenan, Jon, Natasha, and the two Phaelosians from Warworld that Superman adopted: Osul and Othul. Ever since Detective Comics became a Batfamily book during Rebirth I've been wanting to see someone try and do the same for the Superfamily. Metallo is going to be the main villain for the first arc starting in Action 1051, and seeing Metallo be a threat strong enough to challenge the entire Superfamily has me hyped. Loved how PKJ has written the book up till now, hopefully this switch doesn't cause him to struggle. If he does a good job he'll be delivering sorely needed development to Superman's Rogues and his Family, two areas I've long been begging to see more attention given.

It's a small detail but I love that Kenan still has his white and black yin-yang s-shield underneath his jacket. Everyone looks good to me, although perhaps Nat should just change the color of her armor rather than wear a hoodie. And PKJ finally gets an artist who is both good and fast! Sandoval hasn't had trouble meeting a monthly schedule so Action should finally have an artist who can draw consecutive issues. Just need DC not to poach another artist from PKJ for their events, first Sampere then Federeci, go find another book to swipe artists from!

Two backups are being added, Jurgens writing kid Jon stories set in the past and Leah Williams writing Power Girl. Jurgens Lois and Clark was my favorite thing he's done since the Triangle Era, but this sounds boring. Doombreaker (aka Doomsday with four arms instead of two) is not a villain who is attracting my interest, PKJ already brought back Conduit Jurgens, you've said repeatedly you were going to tell a Conduit story after Action 1000 if you got to stay. Go tell that story instead of something conceptually dull as Doomsday 2.0. No opinion on Williams, her Trial of Magneto was terrible but her Mary Jane series was entertaining, I think PG will be a good fit for her, and there's always Johns' JSA if not.

Superman: Son of Kal-El is ending with issue 18 and DC is launching a new Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent 6-issue miniseries where Jon will fight Ultraman and meet Val-Zod. Taylor was claiming he was writing post-Kal-El Returns SSOKE issues a while back on Twitter, so I assume that DC is taking what he had planned for future issues and just doing it as a mini in hopes of increasing sales. My hunch is that this mini will mark the end of Taylor's time with Jon, and he'll either depart the Superman sphere entirely or go do a Val-Zod mini, since all he really cares about is using Jon's book to spotlight his OCs. I want it to flop so he'll be done for good, he's done jack shit to establish Jon outside of his bisexuality, countless other more pressing developments need to be done for Jon to really stand on his own as a hero, but of course Taylor would rather bring in his successor to Superman and try to push Val one last time over actually developing Jon as a character.

Saw that yet again you have people theorizing this is going to end with a version of kid Jon returning or Jon being deaged and at this point I don't even care if that happens. Taylor completely squandered the opportunity Jon represented, long as Val-Zod fucks off back home to Earth 2 and Taylor doesn't try to keep him on the main Earth then fine, whatever, you lot can have your kid Jon back. Completely wasted the potential he offered, might as well reset him back to default. I don't think that's happening, Othul and Osul are filling the kid role for Clark and Lois, plus there might be that Legacy League book coming yet. If it does I don't even care anymore. There's one ray of hope for me even now: Waid, Yang, Watters and PKJ might be writing him soon.

Coming up after Dark Crisis, we have the Lazarus Planet event. Waid has a good track record with weekly events - 52, the No Surrender trilogy - and the supporting writing lineup looks great: Yang, PKJ, Watters, and more. No Multiverse bullshit and any of those guys writing Jon will be an improvement over Taylor. Given this is where Jon is getting his electric blue powers, which will still be a thing over in Action and AoS, this event is going to be important for his direction as a character. Obviously this is me projecting, but I want to believe that one of the writers here is going to end up taking over control of Jon after Taylor's finishes his mini, ideally Yang or Watters. Hey Yang if you can bring Kenan into this event, do it. Taylor keeps trying to make his Superman stick, might as well assert yourself and use your Superman too where you can.

Good lineup generally. That's not counting other projects we know are coming such as Porter's Superboy mini, Waid's Superman: Testament book with Hitch, or Venditti's Superman '78 Season 2. Taylor hinted on Twitter that there are more announcements coming too after Action 1050, and PKJ hinted that something might be coming with Lana. Praying that a Steel miniseries with Lana in there as secondary protagonist/love interest is coming, written by Greg Pak, is in the works. Steel isn't in Action or advertised as being anywhere else, but he had a badass Action 1050 variant and it would be weird for him to just disappear. Irons is being positioned as a key player for PKJ Action, for him not to be with the Superfamily post 1050 must mean he's getting a book of his own. That's how I'm coping anyway.

Anonymous asked:

Thoughts on the NYCC announcements? Personally I'm afraid the Authority will go into the background if Action is becoming the Superfamily book, but I still trust PKJ to introduce interesting concepts.

Yeah I'm resigning myself to the Authority crew getting dropped. PKJ was asking on Twitter if people thought there was any interest in an Authority book not by him, and saying he'd want to get an LGBT+ writer for them. Later said that DC was trying to find a place for those characters, so maybe we'll get a new Superman & the Authority book down the road. I wish they'd induct Apollo into the Superfamily, getting him away from Midnighter who always overshadows him (heh remind you of another duo?) would be good for him. Let him play off of other flying bricks and show how he's similar and how he's different. Let him bond with Jon over being a queer hero and the difficulties that come with that, of trying to establish a place for yourself in the shadow of one of the greatest heroes of all time. I want Apollo so badly to be inducted into the Superfamily but I don't think it's happening. Can always dream though!

[lollipopsub]

share with the classroom 🍵

at your service!!

My opinions on the GMMTV 2023 lineup!!! this is gonna be a long one :')

My initial thought was: lawd so many slapstick comedies, so few intriguing storylines.

At first I was thinking that GMMTV's business strategy seems to be non-existent; I would've expected them to see the success of KinnPorsche and Be On Cloud (regardless of what you think of the company, there's no denying the financial results they've managed with the success of KP) and aim for that direction. HOWEVER... I realise that I actually have no idea how GMMTV is perceived domestically, so my perspective is wildly biased as an international fan with no access to Thai sources and communities. I didn't watch other than the BL trailers because I know I'm not gonna watch the others anyway. But those seemed to be largely.... not my cup of tea.

So my thoughts on individual trailers (I haven't watched all of them, just the ones where the involved actors interested me)...

Hidden Agenda: Is this 2gether 3.0? Doesn't seem to have too much of a deeper storyline driving it, so I'm probably not gonna be watching; feels like I've seen it 100 times before already.

Last Twilight: So.. the story is a young guy from a somewhat shady background needs to get a job that pays well, decides to take the gig of caretaker of a man who got disabled in an accident. The disabled man chooses the delinquent even though the latter isn't really qualified, but the disabled man enjoys that the caretaker doesn't pity him for being disabled. They develop a close bond with one another.

Now watch the trailer for The Untouchables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK5hMNxqsFA

do y'all see what I see lmao.

ps. the untouchables is one of my favorite movies EVER so I'm not at all mad that Last Twilight seems to be a adaptation but........... y'all this is a adaptation.

Dangerous Romance: pls someone's gotta tell GMMTV to reconsider the English titles for their shows. Imagine going like "hi my favorite show is Dangerous Romance" with your whole chest 😭 Nah fam.

However, this looks fairly interesting. I'm going to pretend it's not set in a High School and that it means they're like babies, because I like Chimon and I am so excited for Perth. He is such a good actor, so I'm happy they gave him a show that seems to have more of a storyline (considering GMMTV). It looks like they have pretty good chemistry too. But also, the scene where they're fighting in the rain at the end reminded me of the OG mock trailer for 2gether which amused me heheh. Going to be excited to see the real trailer later to see if it stays with the same mood.

A Boss and a Babe: the way I cringed thru this entire thing. Looks super slapstick and not my cup of tea. Yikes.

Cooking Crush: ..... OFFGUN????? I have been blessed. Gun could make a 10 episode show of him staring into a wall and I would still be watching it religiously. I will be watching because it's OffGun and usually their chemistry makes everything worthwhile, and also I saw someone saying Gun himself had requested to do a RomCom with Off and I choose to believe that because that is very wholesome, 10/10.

Only Friends: ok I've mentally been calling this OnlyFriends (as in OnlyFans) and honestly isn't that lowkey accurate? The trailer for this flips my pancakes, waters my crops and hydrates my skin. It looks incredibly messy and the director said it's "Britney Spears toxic level" so sign me upppp. Some of the sets look like the same as YinWar used for their Concert trailer (the kitchen where Khaotung and Neo argues and the bathroom where First and Khao cuts each other's hair) and the fact that it isn't an actual show was my villain origin story, so I'm just gonna. Mentally insert YinWar in this show and live my best life.

I'm seeing people saying that some are complaining that it looks toxic and they're mad about it, etc etc but... I mean... this is what I was expecting to see more of, and I'm honestly kind of curious to see just how spicy GMMTV will dare to be. I'm not expecting a literary masterpiece storytelling wise, but the characters have potential to carry a good story anyways.

Our Skyy 2: YESSSS EARTHMIX MY INCREDIBLY MARRIED BABIES. Can't believe this is the only thing they've got lined up for next year, but I guess they're too busy taking care of their 64 cats which is fair.

Will be watching the EarthMix, FirstKhaotung and PondPhuwin episodes, I think!!!

ok last thought: did someone kidnap Neo's grandma and hold her hostage for a ransom, what bills does he gotta pay to have to be in literally every show 😂 poor boi can't have had much time to sleep (and yet not a single one where he's paired with Louis, the AUDACITY)

TL;DR: I'm excited for Only Friends and Dangerous Romance, and will watch Cooking Crush because of OffGun only. Also, I'm excited for Never Let Me Go and Moonlight Chicken from the 2022 lineup so hopefully those two will air soon as well!!

[twst-discourse-bot]

And they are back at it.

https://www.tumblr.com/annathenerd/699108757319368704/people-going-he-may-not-be-the-same-as-frollo

On another note... I read the article that was made for it. The person isn't really critiquing TWST. Rather, they are saying to wait and see what else unfolds in the event before making more judgements. So the article author is actually thinking

I'm actually pleasantly surprised about the article turning out in that way, I'd like a link to it if you don't mind. I mean, my point from before still stands but it's nice that this was an exception, given how TWST was branded as the "Genderbent Disney Villain Otome Game" by the same genre of game journalists. But good on this one person, I'll give them their deserved credit.

Anyway, into the nonsense:

I honestly laughed at this because of the vague posting but I'll go ahead and avoid tooting my own horn and say that there are probably many people with similar thought processes to yours and mine and she likely was not subtweeting me after seeing the answers I gave earlier today. But that's not the important part, I'll just jump right into it because I'm getting sick and tired of the picking and choosing going on here, so why don't we go through ALL of the main Disney Villains featured in TWST and see how they measure up to someone like Frollo?

The Queen of Hearts? An authoritarian dictator who executes anyone who publicly disagrees with her or doesn't physically kiss the ground she walks on. Scar from the Lion King? A fratricidal insurrectionist and attempted child murderer who led his country to ruin after killing his brother, effectively dooming all of his subjects to a slow death via starvation. Ursula? A con artist who preys on young people's hopes and dreams to get what she wants out of them before trapping them in servitude and mutilating their bodies beyond recognition, in addition to being another insurrectionist who nearly succeeded after kidnapping a young princess who she conned in the past.

Jafar? The man behind the puppet ruler who attempted to marry a child/young girl, keep a person enslaved for the sake of selfishly abusing their power, and murder the young boy who tried to stop him. Evil Queen? Easy, child murderer (Snow White is apparently 14) who was jealous of her stepdaughter's beauty. Hades? Oof, what a list. Child murderer, insurrectionist via the release of apocalypse-level monsters, many, many times put defenseless humans at risk of being killed by more horrific monsters for the sake of retrying his murder attempt on said child from before, arguably fratricide, and keeping a woman enslaved and using her to seduce and trick said child again.

And Maleficent? Evil Girlboss herself, somehow not as bad as the others when I write it out, but technically child murder that escalated to full on murder. A more psychological villain than anything.

And that's just the Great Seven! But where, oh where, was dear Anna when the game was first released and the villain lineup was announced? That's right, she certainly wasn't here, talking about how the glorification of villains was the equivalent of endorsing their actions because of course she fucking wasn't. Because that's the exact opposite of what the game is doing.

The characters we interact with are only tangentially related to the villains via character design for the sake of making them recognizable/marketable and a handful of plot beats, with some having more taken from their inspiration than others. Take Leona and Vil vs Riddle and Idia as an example, though this will likely only make sense to JP server folks since CH. 6 was already released there. The former nearly follow the og stories to the T with some extra stuff slipped in, while the latter clearly have more originality to their stories that have nothing to do with the og properties.

And the fact that SHE of all people is condemning racist stereotypes has me HOWLING, who the hell do you think you are? After all the shit she's done. No one, LITERALLY NO ONE, is saying that Frollo should be redeemed. The whole fucking point of TWST is that the history is WRONG. It's either been tampered with in some way purposefully or the plots of the movies that we are fed through flashbacks are from an alternate world of some kind. But if she could think critically then she would know that already.

The spoilers talk was also out of nowhere so that's...cool, I guess. No one asked, but okay.

Also, the quotes she used just prove to me that she has no idea what the fuck she's talking about: “The Jester Judge. A judge who is said to have once existed in the city of flowers. He was very fair and always made the right decisions. A great man on par with the Great Seven.”//“It is said that even when the city was about to be taken over by villains, he returned peace to the city through fair judgment. Everyone who lives in the city of flowers respects him.” Literally nothing in those lines is saying anything about his (supposed) REAL actions. It's clearly a sanitized version of history and it was written that way INTENTIONALLY!! HOLY SHIT!!!

And she's acting like the biggest offense is people finding the new character attractive, like, that's the selling point of the fucking game. The marketing worked. People are going to find him attractive because he was drawn that way.

The reality vs. fiction debate has probably been going on since the dawn of literature and storytelling. If she genuinely thinks people are suddenly going to think that racism and sexism doesn't exist because of an ANIME CHARACTER, she's beyond psychiatric help. He's a collection of lines and blobs of color on a screen, his existence is not going to perpetuate racism or end it.

That she even has the NERVE to demand that people be "respectful" of her idiotic ranting is beyond me, entitled piece of shit. Man, I got angry writing this. Anyway, I've made my point.

Bitch just stop interacting with the game and the fandom if you're getting so upset over what's going on over here. You're not some valiant white knight who is going to end Disney's reign of terror by posting shitty OCs and virtue signaling on Tumblr. Better yet, same with all the other games and media you claim to like but just try to ruin for everybody else. Get a life and a different hobby.

[lang-rangler-enjoyer]

FOR THE VIV ANON IM SO SORRY I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED YOUR ASK😬

Here’s my answers:

•First Impression:

•I felt really bad for him during his fight :( he was just an average guy who got dragged into Pucci’s conflict without his consent. I was just really glad Araki never outright confirmed his death (even if his body did mysteriously disappear from the stairs during the Dragon's Dream fight).

•Impression Now:

• Baby boy. Baby. I love him so much. I love how weird and extreme all the other Stone Ocean characters are, and then Viv is just. aggressively plain-looking. He’s still super duper duper hot tho, like holy shit, but just LOOK AT THIS FUCKING LINEUP

POV you asked your straight brother to pick you up at the gay bar

Araki doesn't always make good writing choices, but having one of his villains just be Some Guy who has a regular 9-5 job and isn't a part of this conflict at all was great. Sad for Viviano that he got dragged into all this, but conceptually a very fun arc.

•Favourite Moment:

•I just find it so funny that one of the ONLY things we know about Viv is that he's into some degree of CBT. I love the vague implications of this, like what other situation Mr. Westwood? Is he referring to a normal, out-of-work CBT session....or does he just legit get off to prisoners attempting to crush his genitals to escape being detained??

•Idea for a Story:

•Post-Survivor, "holy shit I have a magical ghost now and other people do as well". Not only is he recovering from being supernaturally forced to kill his coworker and friend :( he also has to deal with now having a stand, which must be absolutely terrifying for any adult who's gone their whole life without knowledge of this phenomenon. Especially considering his first experience with other stand users was so awful. Like, once he realizes he wasn't just hallucinating the whole thing, where do you start? He doesn't even know they're called "stands", how do you find information on them? IDK maybe I just like the worldbuilding aspect of this, but I wanna see stand user culture, how do new adult stand users (which aren't unheard of, like Tonio and Aya) find out about how stand stuff works?

• Unpopular Opinion:

•Hmmmmm once again with the minor villains not a lot of people really have serious opinions on him. Just APPRECIATE HIM MORE HOLY SHIT. HE'S HOT. HE'S GOT A STRONGMAN BOD. REAL MEAT ON THOSE BONES. HE'S NOT DEHYDRATED-LOOKING LIKE SO MANY OTHER "MUSCULAR" JOJO CHARACTERS LIKE HE ACTUALLY HAS A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF FAT. HE'D BE SO GOOD TO CUDDLE WITH. HE CANONICALLY LIKES COCK AND BALL TORTURE. I MEAN COME ON WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT WHY DON'T MORE PEOPLE LIKE HIM???

•Favourite Relationship:

•The brief period where he was just hanging out with Sonny Likir was nice. I wish Stone Ocean showed us more antagonists interacting! That’s like, one of the best parts of jojo, when you have a villain duo or squad like Cioccolatta and Secco, La Squadra, Oingo and Boingo, or Sale and Zucchero, seeing how these characters act with the people they love/respect/tolerate before we see them trying to kill the protagonists adds so much depth and sympathy and investment. Seeing Sonny and Viviano just have some regular coworker banter before the fight was really fun and makes me wish we could see more of that in Stone Ocean.

•Favourite Headcanon:

•He's bisexual and literally the most closeted man to ever exist. He's the type to laugh at the homophobic comments his friends and coworkers make, and even make some of those comments himself, it's a learned defensive habit. I'm not trying to make him super angsty or anything, he just gives me mega bi energy. I don’t think he grew up in a particularly abusive or neglectful household, just the kind of environment where people in his family/community would make gay jokes because they honestly didn’t think anyone around them was gay. And I can’t see a prison in the early 2010’s as being the most accepting place either, so he’s just learned to keep certain things to himself, and hope those feelings he has about men sometimes just go away on their own.

[thefaybul]

Movie Review: Ant Man and The Wasp Quantumania

Just to let you know that there are no spoilers in this post, merely this is my take on the story and movie as a whole. I avoid deep diving on any specific event outside of the ones critical to make the point about certain things. I was a little nervous to post this as I generally do not review movies, but hey if you like this please feel free to let me know.

Initial thoughts after having seen the movie. I had high hopes for this outing of the characters of the MCU. I wanted to have Jonathan Majors who plays Kang the Conqueror impress me and send PG rated chill down my back and to see a truly good story line developing through the demonstration of his power. So was it the great outing and grand presentation of Kang as his official MCU cinematic debut, sadly it did not feel like it was what I had hoped for.

Now to be certain I would actually recommend this movie for the entertainment value alone. Marvel has a tried and true formula for making entertaining movies that are fun to watch and that is what this is. Paul Rudd is funny and entertaining throughout this movie and the introduction of his daughter Cassie Lang played by Kathryn Newton is also enjoyable. Evangeline Lily as Hope Van Dyne leaves something to be desired, but the movie was not about her as she takes a back seat to most of the emotional parts of the movie. At times she comes off as a lovelorn teenager instead of the stern, dedicated, and experienced character that she was not that long ago in the prior iterations of the MCU.

This all comes together to make a tried and true Marvel movie, very little else. Jonathan Majors clearly does his best, which at points is menacing, however ultimately in the end is just another villian in the lineup that has no real bite or substance. He has one stand out scene in the whole movie where the writers were clearly working to present him as a real powerhouse and threat as the next “big bad.” This scene is in the prison negotiation where he is flinging all manners of people around and “Darth Vader” chokes two of the main characters. This scene is the one that shows you who Kang is and can be as the writers show that he can control everything in the area with just a flick of his fingers. Lines like “Have I killed you before,” and “I have killed many versions of the Avengers,” serve to show his real danger in his tone. Then by the end of the film he is reduced to a fist fight and while he is winning by leaps and bounds, comes off as not really serving the character that well. He is controlled and always in charge and yet has no back-ups for just this sort of instance, this goes against his earlier lines of “Do you know how many revolutions I have put down.” If he had really killed that many Avengers and decimated that many revolutions, why did he have a plan in place for the guy that shrinks and talks to ants.

So I guess my initial thoughts were that of disappointment. Not in the movie, actors, or even the MCU, but rather in the writers. Could we not have found a more creative way to end the story. I get cranking out movies at the rate that Marvel is, but the MCU is great and people return to it because when it started it was not like all the other movies. You have hundreds of storylines and plots in the Marvel comics to draw from and writers paid a lot of money all overseen by one of the most powerful juggernauts in entertainment at this time and you really are going to tell me that you couldn’t take a risk here with the story. That you can’t find a way to keep the real menace portrayed by your actor and still have a loose win for the good guys. Because honestly at this point I do not have much fear of Kang as now in cannotical MCU he has been killed and outright defeated twice. So please forgive me when the young Avengers or whoever beat him that I am not surprised.

Once again, I just want to say it. “I wanted to see a great villain.” I really did go into this movie excited to see the next MCU big bad kick butt and earn his place as a terror to be feared by the characters for the coming movies and yet I just did not get that from this movie. As for the CGI and the rest of the movie it was entertaining and fun for the family. I really do appreciate that Marvel is a reliable movie to go to with the family where the kids can be entertained and I don’t have to watch another episode of “Paw Patrol.” So I guess maybe I am asking too much of Disney. Maybe it is too hard to make a big bad that is that threatening and still have a good family movie, but the truth is I still enjoyed the movie. So I recommend you go see it and let me know what you think.

[takaraphoenix]

Once Upon a Time for the shiny new ask game? 💙

Ohohoho, fun one! Thanks for playing! *^*

my favorite female character: Ruby, but honestly I love near all characters, this show has so many great female characters

my favorite male character: Rumpel? David? Killian? So many good ones? Harder to pick one that I love more than the others

my favorite book/season/etc: season 4 or 5 maybe? But also quite frankly I love all seasons aside from the final season that I pretend doesn't exist

my favorite episode (if its a tv show): S05E09 "The Bear King". Mulan/Merida and Mulan/Ruby in one episode, it was really amazing

my favorite cast member: I don't have one, I don't really do cast stanning

my favorite ship: *distressed noises* Swan Queen? Red Warrior? Sleeping Warrior? Snowing? Rumbelle? Captain Swan? It's very rude to make me pick in this fandom because on top of amazing non canon wlw ship options it also has a great lineup of amazing canon m/f ships I love but if I HAD to pick only one I think Rumbelle is my OTP in this one

a character I’d die defending: Rumple probably he seems like he would need defending xD I don't think any of my other faves would require defending? Look me in the eye and try attack Snow White I dare ya xDDD

a character I just can’t sympathize with: oh Cora fuck that bitch

a character I grew to love: mmh probably Regina, because first watch around, I did perceive her as the villain she was in the beginning and didn't like her due to not knowing her her journey would take her

my anti otp: mh I honestly don't mind most of the ships even the ones I'm not die-hard for. I do dislike Neal and Emma together, beyond their necessity of conceiving Henry

Show Ask Game

[bigskydreaming]

Tom is already rehashing some things, like too many homages to the nineties run, Zucco's daughter plot point, Beatrice had ideas for societal reform he's taking that and giving it to Dick. It'll probably be half hearted, but it stings that Beatrice left just a few issues ago and she's already completely forgotten for the sake of DickBabs or a love triangle.

Like the thing about the nineties runs is I mean, as much flack as we give various elements of them, there’s so much from that time period that was good? Great, even! Just....myself and the writers seem to have very different opinions on what the most interesting elements of the nineties comics were, oh well.

And omgggggg I’m still so mad about Bea, and its literally Shawn Tsang all over again. The writers keep introducing new, interesting characters, investing just enough time and focus into them to have us interested in them and wanting to see more.....and then they toss them aside to go back to drawing from the same well as always.

And the thing is, this isn’t even about me not really being a Dick/Babs shipper, because honestly, I’m not enjoying the Dick/Kory stuff in what I’ve seen of Titans Academy either, and for the exact same reason:

When they create new characters like Shawn and Bea, they KNOW they’re starting from scratch and need to build interest in those characters from the ground up. So they’re forced to put their best foot forward. There’s no short cut there, if you want people to care about a brand new character you have to give them REASONS to care. You have to make those characters likable, you have to make people WANT to root for them, you have to hook them with intriguing backstories that don’t feel formulaic and new angles that don’t feel just derivative of older characters, and that’s how we got stuff like Shawn’s history as a former sidekick to a villain and now running a support group for rogues trying to turn their lives around, and Bea’s work in societal reform.

But then the second they stop having the patience to build the new characters up enough that the interest in them can actually start to reach the levels that lets older characters last and grants longevity....they just toss them aside and move on....except they never really move on, just backwards. Because the problem with so MANY superhero couples, far from just Dick and Babs or Dick and Kory, is just....how lazy it seems to make so many canon writers. They just fall back on rehashing the same old tropes and just updating popular moments that resonated with fans in the past, now just recreated with a slightly more modern twist but without ever really being anything new. 

Even with ships that I’ve never really been sold on in the past like Dick/Babs, I’ve always said, there’s usually nothing stopping me from GAINING interest in them.....its just....the writers have to GIVE ME A REASON TO. And so many of DC’s writers just aren’t even trying. They’re just moving parts around and pushing characters together in various arrangements like everyone’s just a puzzle piece that you can mix and match however you want......and then just basically expecting readers to be interested purely because of who the characters are, or because it hinges on a nice moment that they then milk the hell out of without ever expanding that into building actual STORY around these moments but rather just squeezing each one til they get everything they possibly can out of it and moving on to the next as though its all just about chasing the next soundbite...because it is! LOL.

And honestly, this problem extends far beyond just the Nightwing title or the Batfam or Taylor’s run or writing in particular.....its a company wide issue right now. In fact I would bet just about anything that its a matter of editorial edict, that even before Taylor started his run DC said okay here’s the approach we want everyone taking with their stories right now:

And that’s like.....its all about banking on nostalgia and the comfort of the familiar right now. I think Taylor is drawing all these elements straight from the 90s Nightwing comics, like Blockbuster and Dick having been a cop, etc, because these are the elements of past Nightwing stories that are so well known. Its the same reasoning behind why they put Tim back as Robin and so many of their new characters are just new spins on old faves like Punchline and Harley Quinn, and why they’re pushing all these older ships that haven’t been together in ages and why specific team lineups are reappearing....its because nostalgia is the name of the game for DC right now, and all their writers are just pulling together threads of classic stories that have stood the test of time, figuring anything that landed particularly well with fans in the past will sell with people here and now, and weaving these threads together and brushing over them with a modern social issues veneer. 

As an approach, its basically all just about repackaging previously successful story moments and elements with just enough changes or in just new enough a configuration that readers aren’t likely to complain en masse that like “hey we literally already read all this. We’ve already BOUGHT these issues. When we were kids.” Its minimizing creative risk while maximizing monetary profit. Spend as little creative capital as possible outside of anything that’s already been successful in the past and as such is a relatively proven quantity, instead of testing new material that’s an unknown and runs the risk of falling flat and thus not being profitable.

And see, I’d almost guarantee that all THAT, that whole line-wide approach to DC’s storytelling, is because the powers that be looked at the last several years of stories and how many of THEM fell flat with readers, and decided that the problem was they’d BEEN trying too much new stuff and readers just didn’t like it. Because they WERE concentrating on presenting totally new stories and building up new ideas throughout their books.....but readers have been pretty vocal for years now about being disenchanted with most of DC’s major stories. And so DC I think looked at that and came to the conclusion that okay, people just don’t want new right now, they want the familiar.

But like.....DC’s problem IMO was never that they were trying new stuff? The reason so much of their new and original storylines weren’t gaining traction or bringing in readers and kept shedding old readers had absolutely NOTHING to do with them being new and previously unseen storylines, which makes falling back on nostalgia very much a non-solution to entirely the wrong problem.

No, DC’s problem for years has been that they’ve been all about spectacle instead of story. There’s ZERO emotional pay-off to any of their biggest plot twists or character beats, and emotion is LITERALLY what people read stories for. Its all about racing to the climactic action packed finish of every storyline and then immediately resetting everyone back to square one and jumping straight into the next big story, without ever giving the events of any of their stories time or reason to MATTER to the characters.....and if they don’t matter to the characters, our proxies that we’re viewing these stories through, then why should any of it matter to us? Why should any of it linger, dig in roots, resonate with us as moments that left an impact and that we accordingly want more of?

And again, like because I’m a Dick Grayson focused blog I’ve obviously largely been focused on how much I dislike the SPECIFIC reactions or non-reactions to so many of the major beats in his stories.....but it was spread throughout their entire line.

Bruce and Selina almost got married....but why should anyone care outside of Tom King’s title when nobody else seems to, no other characters feel anything about this, and Bruce in none of his other appearances seems the same as ever without any reminder that he just almost got married but then didn’t.....and if the characters don’t ever seem to be affected by or feeling a need to revisit or reflect on recent stories, why should we bother remembering them either? 

Jason was dramatically and fucked-upily (yes its a word, I totally looked it up and everything) exiled from Gotham....and then all of that is undone in a single issue with one low-stakes awkward conversation between him and Bruce. Damian quits as Robin and goes off the map and everyone in his family is like “hey don’t we have a littler brother, I feel like we did maybe” for one panel per story arc, and that’s it. Roy’s back from the dead and everybody’s like oh hey cool instead of the kind of return we used to get like when Donna came back and everyone was like oh shit, this MATTERS, because we MISSED you....just like Dick’s death never mattered to anyone but fans of his character because much like I was just saying earlier with them not really giving me a reason TO emotionally invest in Dick and Babs’ relationship if I wasn’t already, same thing with the aftermath of Forever Evil. They didn’t give anyone else reason to emotionally invest in that as something that HAPPENED to Dick and that he was AFFECTED by....because the writers didn’t bother writing him as all that affected by it and it was just like oh he’s a spy now, all that was last year’s content, we’ve moved on, keep up.

And on and on it goes. Ric Grayson was the same problem all over again. Rinse and repeat down the line with everyone from Wally to Donna and etc etc etc.

THAT’S why DC’s stories have been falling flat. It has nothing to do with people not being interested in new ideas, characters or directions, its that’s ALL they were giving us, but it was like just reading wiki summaries of events just alongside pretty art, but no real emotional weight or substance to anything we were reading....and thus, literally nothing that we couldn’t get much the same outcome from if we just...stuck to reading wiki summaries after the stories were over, with no real need to follow along with them. For years most fans have basically just been about keeping up to date with changes in the characters’ lives, but without feeling any real need to watch those changes unfold and play out.

And so honestly I worry we’re just gonna be subjected to a company wide rehashing of old and familiar storylines, directions and character beats, but repackaged and delivered in the exact same way DC was delivering us their new stories and ideas these past years....and its basically going to have the same results, because its the same problem. They didn’t actually fix anything by switching gears, they just shuffled around the actual issue.

And DC’s just gonna be like well now wtf are we doing wrong, we were so sure this would work, everyone LOVES nostalgia right? Did we pick the wrong stories and character beats to bring back?

When really its like......it honestly doesn’t matter WHICH stories and beats they rehash, because its not about them picking the ‘right ones,’ the real keepers, the stories that everyone really WAS eager to see brought back or made new again.....

Its about like, the only reason any of those stories or beats or dynamics stood the test of time and are still familiar and well-known....is because the stories AROUND those moments and ideas gave us reason to emotionally invest in them and retain them as crucial to our view of the characters and things that would resonate and stay with us for a long time.

It was never that any of those ideas or stories were just so innately brilliant that they couldn’t help BUT linger in the overall reader consciousness...it was the fact that we CARED about what happened in those moments and stories.

*Shrugs* But I mean hey, what do I know? I’m just a dude on the internet lolol. 

[gavillain]

Disney villains and Disney princesses for the fandom question!

👑 🌹 🐉

Just did the villains one post back, so now I'll do the princesses!

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): Megara! Yes, I'm counting her. Because I love her. She's my favorite Disney lady, and if Mulan gets included in the lineup despite having no royal blood, then Megara counts by literally marrying the prince of the gods! She's just a deliciously complex and fascinating character.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): Snow White. My favorite official Disney princess. She's the one who started it all, and she's so pure and good :) Honorable mention to Aurora and Cinderella here.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): Esmeralda! Again, also not really a princess, but I think she's just so likable and down to earth and just such a real feeling character for me. Definitely doesn't get the love she deserves

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): Princess Eilonwy! She's honestly so iconic, and I hate that she doesn't get the love she deserves.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): Ariel did nothing wrong, and I will not stand for the slander that she gets. She's bold, she's fun, she goes after what she wants, she's committed, and she's interesting. Quit acting like she's the anti-feminist or something.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): Princess Anna. GOD she's annoying. Like I genuinely cannot think of a Disney character who I dislike more than her.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): Elsa. See if I can hear "Let It Go" from down there. Hopefully not XD

[opinionatedscreamsintothevoid]

‘Happy Halloween, Scooby Doo’ is a very weird movie.

Maybe I’m just biased because I grew up watching the original movies/original batman crossovers, but HHSD is... I felt it killing my brain cells every second I was watching it. (No shade to anyone who likes that movie, that’s just my opinion.) It had a very hefty dose of ‘Hello, fellow kids’ energy to it as well.

But, as I and a friend of mine were watching it, we noticed something: Jonathan’s scenes were pretty much the only ones that actually seemed good and well thought out.

Honestly, it’s like they came up with the idea of the pumpkin fighting scene, and maybe the one where he’s talking with Velma behind the glass pane, and then wrote the rest of the movie around those two scenes. It’s so bizarre.

It was also weird because of how they characterized the mystery gang. Both this friend of mine and I ended up deciding halfway through that it would end up being some kind of simulation (A-la ‘E-Scream’?) or fear gas-induced dream of Velma’s, but...it wasn’t. This entire movie, besides one or two scenes and gags, is just so off. I can’t really put my finger on why.

It’s not the animation, it’s not the art style, it’s not even the painful attempts at being ‘hip’ and ‘with-it’, it’s just the writing. I can only really describe it as ‘floaty’, if you get what I’m saying? It almost feels like a fever dream. The only exceptions being the parts with Crane. Which is why my friend and I theorized the bit above about them writing the movie around those scenes.

Idk, I watched it because I heard it was good, then it was...Ugh. If I had to give it a rating, 2.5/10: There were some good bits, but I’m probably not going to come back to this movie. (Unless it’s specifically for clips of that pumpkin fighting scene because that was awesome.)

Also, figured I’d mention this at the end, my friend mentioned to me that based on how they wrote Crane in this movie, he almost seems more like an anti-hero than a villain. Which...yeah, honestly. Which shouldn’t be surprising considering DC has a habit of doing that when ‘villains’ are in the spot light. Not saying that’s a bad thing necessarily, after all, plenty of villains in DCs lineup have gotten the anti-hero treatment, even Clayface at one point. (If I’m being completely honest, the idea of Jonathan being more of an anti-hero is actually kind of interesting to me, and now that I think about it, has some potential with certain versions of the character. Honestly, Scarecrow kind of always has been more of an anti-character than a straight up villain to me outside of things like the Arkham games and new 52. But Arkham is outside of canon, and we don’t talk about new 52 in this household. Crane is more of a man with a morbid dose of scientific curiosity to me, less like the type of guy who gets sadistic glee from the torment of others, if you catch my cold?)

But hey, this is all my opinion. If you have a different opinion or believe Crane being an anti-hero or anti-villain would be a terrible idea, or if you prefer sadistic tormentor Crane, feel free to say so or discuss, I don’t mind.