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aleksanderscult · 9 months

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I loved your analysis! Can you analyse the (barely there, not enough) Darklina scenes from the KOS duology? I could not rationalize some of what was going on there.

First of all, I'm so sorry for taking that long to reply, anon! (Hasn't it been over two weeks since you send this or what??😭😭)

Second, thank you so much for your kind words! 💗💗

Third, you and I both friend 🤝🤝

'Cause honestly I didn't know what the fuck was happening in that interaction too 😭

I'll actually analyze the only Darklina scene we got in RoW. But if you want another one too, just send me an ask!

So! Let's dive in and analyze that hot mess, shall we?

(note: I had to go back and read this scene very carefully in order to understand what the actual fuck they were saying💀)

⚠️TW!: PTSD, trauma⚠️

The way he's so obedient with her even in this life 😭

If somebody else had ordered him to do that, he wouldn't obey. But Alina? Alina is a different story and this is the first time he hears her voice since his death in R&R.

'Any little victory'

Uhh....okay...??

You made him wipe his feet. I'm.... impressed??

(confusion levels 📉)

LMAO MY BOY WOKE UP AND CHOSE VIOLENCE

I always believed that the dynamic between Aleksander and Alina involves lots of teasing. But not in the fun sense. But in the sense of "I'm getting under your skin. My words to you sting".

And that's what the Darkling does here too. He's a prisoner. Their prisoner. So he tries to gain the upper hand by using his wits, his past with Alina and the latter's trauma against her to get even.

Pretty clever, huh?

See what I mean?

He tries to weaken her confidence and it's interesting that back in Keramzin he also tried to get even (and he did) by killing her mother figure.

Aleksander: "Wanna fuck with me? Wanna mess with me? How about that time when I burnt that orphanage and killed your "mother"?"

*Alina's sure confidence is gone and now the Darkling has the upper hand in her feelings*

OUTSTANDING MOVE 👌

Excuse me, Misha? Who the Hell gave you the permission to interrupt or talk at all??

Also, do you really expect from the Darkling to remember a little boy while he was too busy trying to rule a nation, win a war and persuade Alina to join him?

And if you also expect him to remember you from that time when Baghra went out to confront her son while you escorted her, then you're also wrong. 'Cause he was too busy being furious that his mother sided and helped the opposite side and too busy being distraught because he was watching her fall to her death.

You're not important, son.

Sit down.

LMAO THIS IS SO HILARIOUS

Misha you're still an infant. Please shut up.

I honestly liked him in the Grisha Trilogy (I found him a cutie) but now I want to slap him and everyone else in this duology except Aleksander

The Darkling has survived numerous murdering attempts against him. He was finally killed by Alina not because of some grand display of her powers but because the former was so heartbroken by Alina's fate (and his own because he would be alone) that he just gave up on his life. Basically he committed suicide.

Misha, you wouldn't be able to kill him even now that he's powerless and in chains. Probably you would stumble and fall in the effort or smth.

Uhh actually no, Mal.

Threating him only makes you sound like idiots, honestly.

Also, since when did Mal gained ✨wisdom✨?

Wasn't he the hot-tempered one in the trilogy who always got angry with the mere mention of the Darkling? And the one who wanted to kill him as well?

Alina, you know damn well what his name is.

Honestly, I think she didn't say it because she wanted to respect the fact that he trusted her to keep it.

And I agree that Yuri is a horrible name for him. Makes him seem like a fisherman 😭

Meanwhile Alina in S&B:

So either Bardugo kinda forgot these scenes or we're led to believe that these scenes weren't her being happy, but we thought she was happy.

(me casually ignoring that theory because I choose to believe only the things that MAKE SENSE)

The fact that Bardugo made Alina believe that she was unhappy when she was whole with her powers and surrounded by people like her but totally happy now that she has no powers (a part of her soul actually) and living with a man that slut-shamed her in a toxic, childhood place is umm... yeah. Not good.

So basically:

Aleksander: "You look different. You look like shit. What the fuck did they do to you? This is not you"

Alina: "No bro I'm happy now that I live in toxic conditions where the teachers mock me, Mal takes me out for a walk to forget my psychological traumas and I raise some Grisha children that will fade because they don't use their powers and some others that I probably am in no condition to raise. At least that's what the author said is happiness, bro."

Aleksander: "......."

Alina: "......"

The readers: "........."

ALEKSANDER IS HONESTLY ALL OF US FRR WITH HIS LINES

"In peace"

Yeah, having PTSD certainly is peaceful. And knowing that you abandoned your country and left its fate to chance certainly makes you sleep like a baby at night.

"We chose the life we wanted"

Alina, you didn't CHOOSE to lose your powers. And before that you didn't even know what you wanted to do with your life. It was a last minute decision for you.

"I fell pray to the same greed that drove you"

Girl, are we the only ones who did our homework??

In his POV in RoW he confirmed that he tampered with merzost in the past because he wanted to stop Ravka's wars. So as far as we know he never used power exclusively for himself.

"I paid the price for tampering with merzost"

Now hold a second. I thought that the reason Alina lost her powers is because Morozova wanted that said power to be shared by any otkazat'sya around. It wasn't that much of a punishment as much as a need for Morozova to share that power.

Unless it was..... both?

I just want a guy that will believe in me and my abilities the way Aleksander does with Alina, man 😭

He strongly believes that she could become a Queen even without her powers. And he's actually so right when he says to her that her wounds won't heal. Because no matter how much you try to convince yourself that you are alright. No matter how hard you try to persuade your mind that you're not broken, reality will always hit you. Some wounds never heal and Alina's certainly will not. She didn't lose a toy, she lost a part of her soul and witnessed many die. How the hell does she think she's suitable to raise children, when she herself is NOT okay psychologically?

"In the wake of your wars"

Excuse me. Why is the Fjerdan and Shu wars always the Darkling's fault??

"And maybe when our country is free, then that wound will close"

She sounds so brainwashed bye--

And just like I said, wounds like that never close unfortunately. It can only become more bearable with time. But not forgetable.

Ah yes. Bardugo makes us watch how cute their relationship is.

Am I supposed to take off my camera and snap pictures of them whispering with tears in my eyes: "They look so adorable"?

'Cause I won't.

The way Bardugo has made Mal unfazed by the Darkling's comments. A thing that completely contrasts his nature in the Grisha trilogy.

He also made him have "sassy" lines because we've got to like him somehow, right? 🤗

Still hate him

Basically, dear anon, the author has made Mal more "likeable", immune to the Darkling's insults, patient and witty in order for us to change our mind about him and finally like him.

(mission failed btw)

He is literally nothing like his trilogy counterpart and, if possible, she made him more annoying.

(how the hell she managed to do that, I don't know)

I just feel sorry for Aleksander who has to deal with all these jerks. If I were there, I would have helped him kill them and bury their bodies.

Because you let your heart and feelings get the better of you, Aleksander. Because you proved to be the most human of all these characters here. You let her come close. And that's what killed you.

(also, shut up Misha)

Alina, you could have said "no" to that invitation. So stop acting like they dragged you from the hair here.

"Do you think you could manage it?"

Do you, Alina? 'Cause really, what did YOU do to make the lives of Grisha better? At least he built a palace for them.

"It's not like you didn't get a fair try before. Hundreds of tries"

Yeah, and half of them failed because you got in the way. You refused to listen to him and, even if you didn't like the way he dealt with the persecution, you chose to run away (again) instead of deciding to stay and do better.

SHE DID NOT JUST SAY THAT ZOYA AND NIKOLAI COULD DO BETTER LMAO 😭😭

Zoya, the very fact that he mentioned you should feel like a badge of honor.

And yet Ravka is in its worst condition ever.

Sorry Alina but I don't see shit from them.

The fact that the Darkling keeps mentioning that he's eternal is to remind them that he has seen everything and done everything. He has more experience than they will ever have. Not to gloat about it. And yet Alina takes it as the latter.

And it's funny that Alina turns him down for the job saying he has no powers when Alina herself suffers from the same condition 😀

Finally someone with self-reflection.

THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING!!

PREACH!! PREACH!! 👏👏

When you have the "villain" exposing the true problem in the story, the flaws and failures while having the heroes screaming "EVERYTHING IS FINE. YOU'RE WRONG!" then you know that something is wrong.

How the Hell are they gonna provide eternal peace in Ravka and to the Grisha when:

They have no experience

They are too busy criticizing the villain instead of looking at their own flaws

They doubt themselves

(you can add to the list, guys)

And he's not shaken because he's talking with a Saint, Zoya. He's shaken because he's talking to Alina. She always had a way in getting under his skin. He said it.

"Fine. Make me your villain" fits here 'cause he never perceived himself as the bad guy but he knew that this is what others thought of him.

I think it still stung to him to know that others saw his every action in a negative light but he still kept going. And sometimes he even used it (at the end of R&R).

Alina still wants to believe that there's something redeemable inside him. Her POVs were always the "kindest" in the way they painted the Darkling.

MISHA COULD YOU PLEASE SHUT IT

What about his mother, huh??

Who, despite the abuse he suffered from her, he still cared about??

Alina?? Oh boy, he was in love with her, obsessed and gave her so many chances. Something that he almost never does unless he's desperate.

So PRETTY PLEASE STOP TALKING

Meanwhile the Darkling in R&R, chapter 11:

"I have regretted many of the things I’ve had to do in this war."

So either Bardugo forgot that or Alina did or Aleksander changed his mind.

Or (my theory) Bardugo changed his perception in order for us to feel less sympathetic towards him.

Nevertheless, at least he has a spine and knows where he stands.

And Alina wanted the Darkling to say it not for him but for her. So she can feel okay. Unless Zoya is talking bullshit.

YES ALEKSANDER WHY DIDN'T YOU LIE SO OUR HEROINES COULD FEEL BETTER ABOUT THEMSELVES???!!

HOW DARE YOU?? 😠😠

He tries so hard to persuade her that the reality she lives in will not pay off anything. First off, this is not who she is or what she was meant to become and second, why does she teaches children stories that are lies? Feeding them false hope, repeating a circle that others had also been doing.

"Do you *really* believe..."

He wants to make sure that she stands by that. He just can't believe that this is her opinion. Her choice.

He just wants her to shine people!! 😭😍

"Those stories tell us the only people who matter are Kings and Queens. They're wrong"

Now tell me, Alina, which stories do YOU tell them? What do you teach them? That the world is as rosy as the orphanage they live in, where they only eat sugar and play the piano? Do you imagine what kind of reality check will those children get once they live in the real world?

And here, ladies and gentlemen, we see the Darkling having reached his limits and saying "Fuck this shit I'm out"

Congratulations, Aleksander! You survived that meeting with these buffoons and their groundless arguments!! 👏👏

Here, have this! 🏅

He saw his chance (Alina holding Mal's hand) and seized it. But I think he really meant all those questions he asked to Alina.

So, dear anon, what we have here is the villain making his effort (again) to be heard and understood. He tries to make them see his own point of view: Ravka is in serious danger and Zoya and Nikolai are in no position to protect it. He, on the other hand, can since he has more experience and balls to deal with these issues. The Darkling is no pussy. He truly makes hard decisions when he must, something that essentially all rulers must do when the situation calls for it.

But! We have the good guys silencing him and threating him (even having a little child to do the last one) in order for the reader to understand what he has left in his wake. How much pain he has caused.

Mal has gotten ✨magically✨ wiser and calmer and has actual wits to repel the Darkling's insults in order for us to get to like Mal and see how much he has changed.

Alina sounds like a brainwashed woman who is convinced that her lifestyle is great! That wanting something more (idk. a throne and changing the world maybe) is sinful and unfitting of her.

Aleksander is the only one who thinks otherwise for her, though. Thank God, I mean!

He sought Alina out both to reclaim his powers and because he just wanted to see her.

Personally, in this scene only the Darkling makes sense. The others either want to feel good about themselves by threating him or want to convince him that "Hey, we're the good ones here. We know what we're doing, okay?" and his own ways are shit.

Dear anon, if you have any other questions or want me to analyze any other Darklina scene from this book or duology that I didn't include, then just say so!

And please any others who want to add something about this scene, feel free to criticise in the comments! 💛💛

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brunhielda · 3 months

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Because this is becoming THAT blog-

The one where I review old movies we all have already seen, but I personally, have not seen for years until recently.

I just watched “An American Tale.”

If you were a child of the 90s, you just thought- “There are No Cats in America 🎶? THAT American Tale?”

Yes.

If you had that thought, you likely already know. If you have not had the absolute joy- buckle up. I am going to rant about a classic.

First of all- This is Don Bluth.

His movies do not get worse with age.

They get BETTER.

And American Tale is example number ONE.

No, it is not fond memories or nostalgia glasses, you can breath, and then go treat yourself to a viewing.

Secondly- the man did not dumb down or sanitize his history.

He said “I’m going to tell the immigrant story” and then opened with a fucking ethnic cleansing.

I said what I said.

The movie is set in the early Russian Empire, a time full of anti-Semitic sentiment and enforced laws, also seen in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Fiddler on the roof might actually be tamer on the subject.

Every other historical note in this movie is on point and easy enough to look up in a history book, if you have the common sense to realize that names have been altered.

The Statue of Liberty was not built by a pigeon, for example. It was built by a Frenchman. (Frederic Auguste Bartholdi).

I don’t know of an “honest John,” but I did guffaw out loud when he started taking names of the dead at funerals to add to his vote count. Ghost votes were very real, one of the reasons people are still so twitchy about voter fraud today.

I do not recall a moment in 1886 when the minorities of New York managed to run off prominate members of authority… but with how on point everything else is? It would not shock me.

Thirdly- Bluth DID NOT FLINCH

I don’t remember who said it first, but both Bluth and Spielberg had a belief that you could put very sad and scary things in children’s films, as long as the ending was happy.

This movie has multiple nightmare moments. Cats, monster waves, more cats, bugs and fish, and of course, the horrifying “Mouse of Minsk” (iykyk).

The thing is, it’s not even how they are drawn. Like, yes, the image is scary, but it’s the storytelling around it. It’s the lighting change. The soundtrack. The horrific sound effects. Seriously- whoever did foley on this film deserves all the awards- you make me scared of the kitty kats, and I LOVE cats. 🐈

Some people will question whether or not it is appropriate for small children. I would say maybe wait until they are six, and watch it with them, but they should watch scary things if they can. Being scared in appropriately safe space teaches you how to react to fear and handle moments when you are scared in real life. It is my major argument for Halloween. But each parent has to do as they think is best for each individual child. In any case, watch this one first before showing it to your kids- definitely more scary than you remember.

Finally- the animation on this film is a national treasure. I honestly hope this film is in the Library of Congress collection.

There are animation techniques here that don’t exist anymore.

Sparks. Sparkles. Glimmers. Stars in the Night Sky. Smoke billows.

Actually, I almost paused the film on a smoke billow. Sony is doing some things in the recent “Spiderverse” trilogy that are insane- and part of it is their mixed animation.

All the smoke billows? Hand drawn.

They look the same as Bluth’s smoke in this film, which is making me wonder if one of their artists studied under him. Maybe not- maybe they just did their homework on good hand drawn cloud formations. Either way, realizing how close they got to the master work in this film made me appreciate them even more.

Speaking of insane animation-

I don’t know WHO Bluth felt he had to show off to, but this man could DRAW WATER and he fucking knew it.

Like water is hard to do, ok? Like hands, Da Vinci had notebooks full of sketches of the substance, proving it to be the bane of the artistic existence.

Most water in hand drawn animation comes in two forms-

Flat water color with pretty things floating in it to distract you-

Or drawn over a live video of water that they spliced into the image.

Even that was hard to do, and they used a technology no longer available to us. It looks pretty cool honestly.

But no, not DON fucking BLUTH.

Not only can this man hand draw water without the underlying video, but he draws it moving in multiple different ways. He shows it from the top, side, and sinking underneath (with moving bubbles and shifting light, no flat blue for him).

He turns it into a NIGHTMARE FUEL WAVE MONSTER.

He ADDS it to SCENES it DIDNT HAVE TO BE IN!

The more I watched this film, the more I realized that if Milt Kahl had the head swaggle, Don Bluth had water, and by God was he going to use it.

He wrote plots AROUND the idea of water, so he could showcase it in every scene. “Rock-a-doodle,” and “Pebble and the Penguin” come to mind. “Anastasia,” “Thumbelina” and “All Dogs Go to Heaven” all feature action scenes in water. Heck- the one in “All Dogs Go To Heaven” came out of no where, and makes so much more sense if it was just Bluth wanting to show off.

“An American Tale” had the travel by boat sequence and our main hero being thrown over board. He could have left it there. NOPE. There were puddles and sewers and fire hoses and action scenes at the docks.

And the few scenes without water? Let’s throw some scary sparks in there. Maybe some smoke billowing. For funzies.

Also- we’re going to have a Love Song with the most incredible Night Sky you have ever seen and a Comedic song featuring fun house mirror distorted reflections because WHY NOT???

I think he was trying to make sure Disney regretted him leaving, the way you dress up when you know your toxic ex will be there, and I love that for him. 🩷

Also- the backgrounds are all beautiful water color. I love a good water color.

Also- yeah, the sound track holds up. The songs are just as catchy as they ever were- if you have ever seen this movie you WILL find yourself singing along.

As previously mentioned, when it comes to the scary parts, the composer UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT and the music easily fits into a good horror film.

And finally- the music at the finale when everything is made right, and the happy ending is finally here, is the most heart breaking thing you will ever hear. You will cry. Watch the movie, but bring the tissues. 🤧

This movie is definitely worth a watch.

This movie is more than worth a watch, it should be mandatory for elementary history and college animation classes alike.

But also it’s just fun. 🤩

#American Tale #Don Bluth #drawing water #movie review #classic animation #sometimes that movie is just as good or better than you remember #seriously- if this ISNT in the Library of Congress can we petition to get it in?#Fival Moukiwitz #Bluth said they took thier names at Ellis Island we are GIVING THEM BACK in this film #no shortcuts #the more I watch his films the more I love this man #no one tell me if he was a terrible person #My heart would shatter #He also said cultural music and traditions is how you recognize family 😭#“Keep playing! He might hear you! 😭#storytelling #one of the masters #if Miyazaki and Bluth ever met it would be the most beautiful meeting of the artistic souls

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penguwastaken · 3 months

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This is the review I wrote for my Danganronpa Togami fan translation that I am currently working on, which I figured I might as well upload to Tumblr.

In June of 2023, after reading Danganronpa Togami for the first time, I wrote a review of it on Twitter. I want you to pretend like that review doesn't exist. Completely disregard it because BOY was I wrong.

When I first read Danganronpa Togami last year, I absolutely despised it. I was miserable almost the whole time. But I'm not the same person I was a year ago, I was naive and stupid, but now I have an IQ comparable to Albert Einstein! So basically what I'm saying now is I'm smart enough to understand it now. I couldn't disagree with my original review any more as I am now a based and enlightened Danganronpa Togami enjoyer. That's right, ME, the person who for a year made fun of this novel trilogy, finally sees the light I would like to issue a formal apology to Danganronpa Togami for being so stupid and blissfully unaware of its peakness.

Jokes aside, the more the novel sat in my head, the more conflicted I began to feel about it. I felt pretty mixed about it when I first read it, but those feelings only grew. Were my criticisms warranted? Did Danganronpa Togami really deserve the treatment I gave it? I picked it back up and gave it a second chance, and I was surprised to discover that it was... really good? I thought you were supposed to be this edgy, nonsensical, stupid book, that's how I remembered it at least, so what happened?

I'm going to try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, because something I realized is that Danganronpa Togami isn't something that can really be explained. It's something that has to be experienced, beginning to end. The summaries don't really do it justice, which is part of why I started this project in the first place. Though at some points I may dive into some minor spoiler territory, so I'll make sure to mark those parts. So consider this my apology and defense of Danganronpa Togami, because I have to admit that in my blind hatred for it, I probably did end up harming it's perception. So maybe, if just a little, I can rectify it here and maybe convince you to give it another chance like I did.

I will say, Danganronpa Togami is probably one of the darker entries in the series. It features a lot of sensitive content, such as graphic and violent imagery, assault, incest, and abuse. If that's enough to turn you away from it, that's fine and perfectly understandable, especially given Danganronpa's track record with those topics. And I will admit, there are absolutely times where Danganronpa Togami borders on being edgy. But I don't think it's without purpose, and it's handled with more severity than most entries in the series. Once again, if that's enough to make you not want to touch it was a 2000 foot pole, that's perfectly reasonable.

Everyone knows Danganronpa Togami is like, REALLY weird. Octopus suits, lightsabers, fortune telling human-cows, you name it. This all seems a little out of place, even for Danganronpa, but it starts to make more sense as you proceed with the story. These weird things aren't real, they're the result of an unreliable narrator. Contrary to what idiot me from 2023 says, I don't think having an unreliable narrator invalidates a story. Even with it, you can still piece together the events of the story and it creates what is honestly one of the best plot twists in the series that ties everything in the novel trilogy together.

If I have one critique of Danganronpa Togami, it's Byakuya's characterization. It makes sense in the context of the novel for him to be perceived as some kind of god due to circumstances and Blue Ink's POV and stuff, but that's not my issue. My main problem comes from the fact that some of his actions are just bad, plain and simple. He is NOT a good person in this novel. I guess it makes sense, this is before his character arc in Trigger Happy Havoc after all, but it just feels kind of weird and out of character sometimes. You could chalk it up to just "more unreliable narrator nonsense," but I feel that misses the point a little.

Danganronpa Togami takes full advantage of its medium, it's twists are something that you can really only put in a novel. It's difficult to explain without going into spoilers, but unlike something like Danganronpa Zero or Danganronpa Kirigiri, I genuinely couldn't imagine Danganronpa Togami as anything else. It's also filled with a lot of fun and witty banter full of references and charming characters.

Danganronpa Togami has some really interesting themes of identity and how one's past or situation can change their perspective. This is seen all throughout the novel trilogy, whether it be the protagonist whose a victim, an idol forced into a popularity debate, or its version of the despair disease, acting more as a placebo effect here. Its themes are a bit more subtle than other entries, not even I'm sure if I fully get them, but they're certainly interesting.

Unlike Danganronpa Kirigiri, which feels like a completely unrelated story with a few elements from the games and Kyoko (not saying that as a bad thing btw), Danganronpa Togami feels like it takes as many elements as it can from the games and stuffs them in. It takes place during the tragedy, features characters from not only the first two games but also the novels, has references to Ultra Despair Girls, brings back weird plot points like the despair disease from Danganronpa 2, and so much more. In a way, it's kind of like a big Danganronpa crossover (also featuring Kagami Family Saga because Yuya Sato couldn't help himself lol).

At some point, you've probably wondered: "is Danganronpa Togami canon?" Due to elements from in it and the divisive nature of Danganronpa Togami, you can't really find a straight answer about it online, so I figured I'd weigh in on the discussion. If you asked me back when I originally read it if it was canon, I'd probably give you a hard "no." But it's a bit more complex than that. It's a little more complex than just a simple "definitively canon" and "definitively non-canon." Disregarding the unreliable narrator, there are parts of the story that we do reliably know happened.

The closest thing to a reference to Danganronpa Togami in any other piece of media in the series to my knowledge is Byakuya saying "by the dignity of the Togami name" once in episode 7 of Danganronpa 3 Future Arc, however Byakuya swearing on the Togami name has been around before the novels even if it is prominently used in them. However, a more definitive piece of evidence towards its canonicity is in episode 11 of Danganronpa 3 Despair Arc, where you see Sonia leading an attack on Prague with a graph of a satellite in the corner. I think this is a pretty cut and dry confirmation in favor of Danganronpa Togami being canon, albeit told through an unreliable narrator's perspective.

And that about wraps up my review and personal thoughts of Danganronpa Togami. It's definitely one of the more weird, yet fascinating entries in the series. I don't think it's on the level of Danganronpa Kirigiri (I don't think any entry in this series is), but it has its merits and hopefully I could convince you to maybe check it or appreciate it a bit more.

#danganronpa #dr #danganronpa novel #danganronpa togami #dr togami #byakuya togami #togami byakuya #danganronpa byakuya #shinobu togami #blue ink #danganronpa book

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hushed-chorus · 3 months

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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Ahhh thank you Ashton, it was so nice to get this Ask. Here are my personal faves in rough descending order. All Simon Snow, of course!

What Remains After The Storm (86K, M)

For me, getting a story idea is like being possessed, and the process of writing is the exorcism. Of everything I’ve written for the fandom, this is the one where the exorcism failed. This story still rattles around inside me. Something so tied to the moors, the ocean, the battle with inner demons, and the strangeness of the fae all just soothes my soul. That aside, I’m so happy with how the plotty plot plot came together, as well as the ‘getting together’ moment. I'm also so lucky to have @erzbethluna do so many beautiful illustrations for it, as well as a gorgeous piece by @artsyunderstudy. They make me so so happy.

Accidents Happen (42K, M)

I’d not long finished the trilogy and got smacked by the idea for a CO-era time loop fic. I spent three days in an airbnb filling a notebook working out all the moving parts and honestly I’m pleased with how the plot came together (i.e. figuring out the best way to conduct the exorcism). It’s also the first time I pulled off twists and an ending that I'm almost entirely happy with. While there are a couple of teeny tiny things I’d now do differently, I’m very happy with how it came out.

The Danse Macabre (1.5K, T)

Pondering why the wraiths avoid Baz led to my first attempt at a ghost story since I was eight years old (yes, my teachers were worried). Also, I go long in my writing, but I managed to get this under 2K! So basically, I challenged myself in two ways with this one and I feel I pulled it off. Most importantly, this fic was the first time @erzbethluna and I worked together, so of course I love it for being the starting point for a beautiful friendship <3

Worst Disney Princess Ever (8.7K, T)

On a train and off my face on new meds, a really stupid crack idea came to me. One that involved well-meaning zombie rats and pigeons. And I write it. I then go back to it three weeks later and tidy up. I’d never written humour before so was so worried it was just weird or cringe, but my god I got such an amazing response. It made people laugh! That realisation was very good for me, and has taught me not to second-guess so much when I have a potentially witty thing to say. Also, @youarenevertooold did an absolutely wonderful podfic of this that I recommend!

Blood, Salt and Hummingbirds (32K, T)

Oh man, I was so fed up by the time I had nearly finished writing this fic xD Which is partly why I feel so good about it now. This historical AU takes place on an island after a shipwreck. It needed a lot of research into survival, ecology, a natural historian’s trade and old techniques for making leather (brains and piss). Then I had to remind myself that romance should be happening amongst all this survival stuff. But I feel like I achieved what I set out to do - write a slow, thoughtful story steeped in nature and self-discovery. Basically, this story showed me that perseverance can really be worth it.

#ask game #just talking about my fics #I would have added TGMY but it's still very much a WIP #Thank you for the ask!#I reckon pretty much everyone has already got this ask?#If you haven't just send me a nudge and I'll send it to you too ;)

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colemckenzies · 2 months

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Mid-Year Book Freakout

tagged by my queen @asalesbian

Number of books read so far in 2024: 56

Best book read so far in 2024: Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata. Which could honestly go in biggest surprise bc full 5* for a short story collection is CRAZY but it was just so so good

Best sequel: thank GOD i just finished the golden enclaves or I would not be able to answer this question lmao I haven't read any other series. this wasn't even technically a sequel its the final book of the scholomance trilogy. It Was Fine.

New release you haven't read yet but want to: the only book on my tbr with a 2024 release date is GENDER THEORY by madeline docherty which. does genuinely look good but also the description was like 'a story of love, friendship, and endometriosis'. yeah <3

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: LET'S GO WITCHLINGS 3 LET'S GOOOOOOOO

Biggest surprise: Next Year For Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson i rly thought this was gonna be Mum Fiction's First Polyamory but it was so genuinely compelling and moving and thoughtful i LOVED it

Favourite new (debut or to you) author: I don't really notice authors but I have been working my way through my gf's Mieko Kawakami collection and it's been pretty strong

Newest fictional crush: not something I really read for but I will say. not to repeat books but katherine from next year for sure genuinely one of the strongest fictional characters I've read in years. love her.

Book that made you cry: according to my storygraph there have been FOUR books I have cried at this year but most notably my first book of the year, Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. that fucked me up!

Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received): I'm working through my physical tbr atm so not acquiring that many books but I did buy a nice locally published edition of What's Eating Gilbert Grape? in bath the other day which had a cool vintage 50s illustration cover. similarly on the same trip got a hardback of Levitation For Beginners w a 70s aesthetic and wrapped in plastic. this is justified bc I have already finished reading that one.

Book that made you happy: She Loves To Cook She Loves To Eat vol 1 :) food lesbians!!

What books do you need to read by the end of the year: I have a single small bookcase of my physical tbr atm and I'd like to clear the top row at least. most notably finishing middlemarch, my lotr reread, and how to be both by ali smith (the favourite book of one of my best friends)

I'm gonna tag @hawkeyefrommash since they're a legit bookstagrammer, also book club besties @keclan and @dykemarcille AND ALSO @yellowjckets, but anyone else who wants to do it pls tag me as your tagger so I can read!!

#i had to type these out cus im on my phone so hopefully didnt miss anything 👅

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northlight14 · 1 year

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Fixing Larry Butz’s character development

‼️spoilers for Phoenix Wright trilogy ahead‼️

I’m aware that what I’m about to say probably isn’t anything new in the ace attorney fandom but I wanted to give my thoughts on all this anyway. I know both myself and a lot of the people in the fandom fucking hate how Larry was characterised in the 3rd game. I got told by a friend before hand that they completely ruined his character but admittedly I still held out a bit of hope, only to be majorly disappointed. As much as I adore the 3rd game, it does honestly feel like they forgot about everything that made Larry likeable in the first game. So this is basically gonna be me talking about how I personally would have developed his character.

First things first, they should’ve kept his personality and bonds with the other characters the same. While he’s similar and I’m more than happy with Phoenix getting annoyed with Larry, in the 3rd game Larry’s likeable traits are all completely abandoned and what’s left is just a womanising idiot and it feels like Phoenix straight up hates him. Larry can be a bit of an idiot who pursues relationships with women that don’t work out, I’ve got no problem with that as long as he isn’t creepy about it. But let’s not forget this dude interrupted an entire murder trial just to defend his friend he hadn’t talked to in literal years! Larry is loyal as fuck and in the first game Phoenix notes that while he always seems to get into trouble, it’s hardly ever his fault and he just has bad luck. If he was gonna be shown in the third game that should’ve been shown more. I guess it kind of is in some instances but never properly and it’s really disappointing.

Secondly, have him either make an appearance or at least be mentioned in the second game. This pissed me off so much Larry wasn’t so much as mentioned in this game. We obviously talk about Phoenix’s mourning period after “Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth chooses death” but what about Larry? He was childhood friends with Miles too who lost touch and just got him back only to lose him again! Miles, who in school, despite them having their differences, never told anyone about how he suspected Larry of actually stealing his money. That might not sound like a big thing but Larry even notes that if Phoenix hadn’t been the one being accused, he would’ve been. Chances are Larry was accused of stuff all the time as a kid. Considering that, Miles was probably the first person in a long time who didn’t want to get him in trouble. Continuing with this, Phoenix would be the only person Larry knows how knew Miles like he did and would truly know what he’s going through since they both lost that same childhood friend after just getting him back. Phoenix, the only person who’d understand, who spends that entire time refusing to speak about it, to the point he tells Maya to not even say his name. Literally all I want is either a few scenes of Larry trying to talk to Phoenix about it, only for Phoenix to shut him down instantly and then later Larry either also getting mad at Miles on Phoenix’s behalf or trying to calm Phoenix down about his return, and then also getting to see Miles again after he’s back from the dead and them having their reunion. Or, if there truly wasn’t time for any added scenes, just have it be mentioned in passing when Maya tries to talk about it and Phoenix just tells her “I’ve already told Larry and the others to not even say his name”. Just something small like that to show that Larry is also mourning the loss of his childhood friend adds just another layer to his character that I think he deserves and makes the whole thing more interesting in my opinion.

Finally, actually address his issues and insecurities instead of just making it a joke🙄 I feel like they tried to do this somewhat in the third game but honestly it just fell really flat for me. This isn’t me saying that Larry suddenly has to be this really tragic character because I definitely don’t want that. In a series filled with dead loved ones, murder and trauma, I really like that Larry can offer a form of comic relief. But if they’re going to repeatedly acknowledge the fact that he’s super insecure in the third game, at least go into why rather than just saying it🤦. Since first school Larry has been blamed for things to the point that his school had a fucking saying for it. It’s no wonder he feels inadequate in comparison to the other characters and it wouldn’t surprise me if him persuing these relationships with women is a way for him to achieve a form of validation that he was deprived of as a kid. Now obviously the game doesn’t have to go that deep into it and can leave things open to interpretation but I think Larry would have benefited from having a moment of seriousness during one of the cases after he messed up, genuinely asking Phoenix “how can I help? I know I keep messing things up. I have all my life and I want to make it right.” Just a moment of genuine friendship and reassurance between the two of them so it doesn’t seem like Phoenix hates Larry’s very being (seriously they’re supposed to be childhood best friends and they’ve stayed friends all this time but the third game has me asking why that’s the case)

Those are just my thoughts tho and I’m down to hear other’s opinions!

#I adore ace attorney I promise😅#just some choices in the game make me very annoyed sometimes #just little character things that I think would have made a big difference #like miles yelling at Von Karma like Maya does to White in the live action movie #ace attorney #larry butz #tw cursing #tw death #spoiler demon #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #maya fey

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genericswordsmaiden · 8 months

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I watched The World's End. I'm crying. It was a beautiful thing, truly. When Gary's motives finally unraveled I just started sobbing - empathy do really be like that sometimes.

The casting choices were brilliant: Rosamunde Pike slayed, Pierce Brosnan also joined the battle, and recurring actors were again very much appreciated, together with recurring gags. About the characters, I think I can say that I love every single one of them. Pete's past made me feel a bit sick - I was a victim of bullying too, even though I was lucky that it never got that much physical. Andy and Gary got my heart in a chokehold, they're beyond shipping to me.

Also I need to know if there are any fanfictions set after the finale! It was totally epic, and I was so fucking happy that I started crying even more! I thought back to Simon's own struggles with alcohol and I thought to myself "this is the best ending he could write for a story like this one 'cause it somewhat reflects him."

From a writing standpoint, it really is the best one because it combines the best parts of the other two movies.

Also, fun fact: it's the one with the best italian dub (opinion of a certified italian who only watched the first ten minutes in ita and then switched to english because I needed the full british experience) but on the trilogy blu-ray it says that both italian audio and subtitles are unavailable (meanwhile the other two movies have them) lmao

I don't understand why it's so underrated, honestly. I think if I had to rate the trilogy, this could very easily be interchangeable with Hot Fuzz on the top tier. Shaun is very good too, but I felt some kind of disconnect while watching it, for some reason I didn't get close to the characters as I did with the other movies.

So... yeah. This was, is, and always will be the Cornetto Trilogy. Now I can finally reblog one hundred posts about it without the risk of getting spoiled.

Also, did you notice a pattern for the last names of the main characters? Page, Chamberlain, Knightley, Prince, King? And the names of the pubs being actually relevant to the plot??? It's details like these that enhance everything. The (Nick) Frosting on the cake (I'm so sorry I had to lol). Anyway istg when Wright and Pegg started collaborating the planets aligned or something, because stuff this good is so incredibly rare!

#the cornetto trilogy #the world's end #gary king #andy knightley

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sharpestasp · 8 months

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FemFebruary: Padmé Amidala

Padmé Amidala. Two time elected queen of Naboo. Shouted down an attempt to let her serve more per some Legends sources. Has a bevy of Handmaidens who are trained to stand in for her, and basically have the full repertoire of skills she has, to some degree or other.

Fourteen years old when her planet was invaded.

Twenty-four years old when the galaxy falls to war.

Twenty-seven or twenty-eight at the time of her death. Murdered, IMHO, by Palpatine stealing her life force to raise up Darth Vader as a mechanical monster.

Mother of Leia and Luke, biologically. (Leia has a mother, it is Breha, and I stand by this.)

Firstly, I hate the condensed time line the prequels gave us, and the fact that Leia remembers her very sad mother in the original trilogy, but we're supposed to accept that it is a birth memory only. Secondly, not enough Sabé on screen with her after the first movie.

Moving on.

I actually love the idea of a council of elders led by a very young but willful person in a democratic monarchy. That made me honestly happy to think about, because the elders lay out the case, and the young person applies fresh eyes and IMAGINATION to the outcomes, then the elders rebut, with a solution hammered out between them.

When the system works correctly, anyway.

Also, in theory, the way the system was set up, it would be hard for a catspaw to make it all the way to the top, I think.

Padmé, as the first version of this we see, seems like a very tough act to follow. Yet the other queens show they followed in her footsteps on resisting as they could, being killed for it, etc…

Her revealing moment in TPM made me actually squee out loud, because THAT? That is how you start mending fences with a maligned colonial-displaced people. The Gungans are native, the humans are not. Her abasing herself in front of her own people AND revealing the secret of the royal handmaiden shuffle was exceptional.

Too bad the Empire undid the gains that were made after that…

I wasn't sold on the relationship as presented on screen, and cutting the family scene on Naboo is a big part of that. It revealed that Padmé had been following Anakin's career at a distance, and that her fondness for the boy had been morphing into a crush on an unattainable.

Then again, the cutting room floor swallowed a few of her key moments. She is the literal mother of the Rebellion. She was pushing Bail and Mon. She was questioning. In that, I think the TCW cartoon did her more justice, as it is far more clear there that she didn't just wake up one day and buck against Palpatine. She'd been fighting against the war before it began, and never STOPPED.

"Lost the will to live" is the stupidest thing, and GL was a male dumbass to take his own personal fear/near tragedy and project it in this moment. Should have stuck to the original 'tried to kill Vader on Mustafar' plot point.

If Force Ghosts were a thing that happened for strong willed people in general, she'd be one.

#star wars #padme amidala

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aurorawest · 3 months

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Twenty Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @lowkeyed1 - thank you and sorry it took me so long to do it!

Tagging @bereft-of-frogs, @rosieposiepuddingnpie, and @nostalgia-tblr

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

An even 150!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

2,230,050

3. What fandoms do you write for?

At this point my fanfiction output is pretty sparse, but in the last two years, I've written primarily MCU. I've also written for Captive Prince, Six of Crows, The Daevabad Trilogy, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, Some Desperate Glory, and The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. Over the years I've written in tons of fandoms.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Real Asgardians of the Galaxy (MCU, Loki & Thor)

The General Mess and Imprecision of Feeling (MCU, Loki/Stephen Strange)

Sleight of Hand (MCU, Loki & Stephen Strange)

You Come to Me Wild and Wired (MCU, unrelated ficlets, Loki/Stephen Strange)

They Change Their Sky, Not Their Soul, Who Rush Across the Sea (MCU, Loki & Thor)

The first three are all part of my 10 fic Loki series, it's not going to matter if we fall down twice.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Goddddd I've become so bad at it. I used to respond to every single one. One of my projects/goals is to go back and respond to people, but of course, my AO3 inbox is totally overwhelming at this point, and every time I see the number of comments I haven't responded to, I become paralyzed. I need to man up and just start chipping away.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Do No Harm (MCU, Loki/Stephen Strange) and Anamnesis (Weyoun, Star Trek: Deep Space 9) are probably tied on this one.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I primarily write happy endings so...most of them, haha. But I guess The General Mess and Imprecision of Feeling, since it's the HEA at the end of 10 fics. It's a seriously hard-won HEA haha.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have! I've been called a pedo on some Wreck-It Ralph fic (that was my introduction to purity culture, btw). Idk if I'd call this hate, but I once had a reader get pretty upset that an OFC in A Full and Factual Account of Asgard didn't turn out to be a love interest for Loki.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sure do! Honestly writing smut might be my favorite thing to write, haha. Whenever I get to a Big Sex Scene in my original stuff, I sigh in relief that I'm finally going to have an easy writing night. I've written m/f and m/m, but I have way more m/m, and an occasional m/m/m. It's mostly sappy, vanilla, OTP stuff, but I love me some dub and noncon, so there are a few of those amidst the gooey soulmate smut.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really, though I did in my youth. Honestly they're...all kind of crazy. When I was in my early teens I wrote a 4 fic series that was a crossover between The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (the books by Patricia C Wrede), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (the Disney movie), and Newsies (the movie). It had time travel. And dragons, obviously. I also at one point was writing a crossover between Newsies (yes, I had a Newsies phase) and Doctor Mordrid, an obscure fantasy B-movie from the 90s starring Jeffrey Combs. Fun fact! It was actually supposed to be Dr. Strange, but they lost the rights before they made the movie.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep. It was a Harry Potter fic. I threatened legal action (lol) and they took it down.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

People have definitely asked me if they can translate my fics, so I think so!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yeah, I had a friend I wrote a Loki & Thor fic with. I also used to collab on fics with my sister when we were kids.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I guess it's gotta be Loki/Stephen Strange.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a DS9 fic about Eris, a Vorta who was only in one episode, where she's an agent who's infiltrated a rebel Vorta/Jem'Hadar cell. I LOVE that fic, but I just...don't see myself ever finishing it. Maybe someday I'll file the serial numbers off and turn it into an original work. It probably wouldn't be that hard because it's set hundreds of years before DS9 takes place, and I did a lot of original worldbuilding.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, character, romance, sexual tension, pretty polished first drafts. I don't know if I'd consider it a strength yet, but I feel like I've really improved my pacing over the past year.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Probably visual scene setting, haha. I'm pretty thin on describing what the physical location LOOKS like. I'm better at describing sounds and smells, because honestly that's what sticks with me personally from a place, not how it looks.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've definitely done it. I took many years of Spanish so I'm pretty confident that when I write in Spanish, it makes sense. I can tell when google translate is wrong, haha. One of my novels (coming out next year!) has some Afrikaans, and a South African sensitivity reader didn't say any of it was wrong. Though that reminds me, I really should message my friend/former safari guide to see if she has any complaints about the Afrikaans in it, haha.

IMO when you write dialogue in another language in a fic, you have to assume the reader doesn't speak that language, so you need to let them know what that dialogue says through context. I read a book recently where there was quite a bit of Quebecois French, and there were end notes with the translation, and...eh, it was a pain to flip back and forth to the end of the book.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The first time I sat down with the intention of writing a story with a beginning, middle, and end (I didn't finish it), it was an Enchanted Forest Chronicles fic. This was before I'd ever heard of the internet, so I didn't even know that what I was doing was called fanfiction.

Though, my mom made me a scrapbook of a bunch of childhood stuff for my 40th birthday, and it included what I can only call a Lion King AU where the characters from The Lion King go to Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America. So idk, maybe that.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I think in some ways Anamnesis is the most ambitious single fic I've ever written, in that it's a difficult story. But I probably have to give the nod to it's not going to matter if we fall down twice. I'm totally cheating because it's a series, but I'm going to be really proud of it for my whole life so I'm going to take every opportunity to plug it, haha.

Thank you again for the tag!

#writing #tgmaiof #traotg #afafaoa #soh

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nicosraf · 4 months

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Hi, this is not really an ask, I just finished reading Angels & Man today and felt like screaming my praise of it at you if that’s ok. Because Rafa !!!! I read abm over a year ago and it instantly became my favorite book and the sequel was just as good and I’m in awe of it!!! It made me feel so many feelings. So Many. It’s rare that I have such a visceral reaction to fiction and honestly I often crave it! And both abm and a&m delivered beautifuly, as well as tragically and painfully. I had to sit and stare at the wall for several minutes after the last chapter— I was so overstimulated. I hope I don’t make you uncomfortable saying that your book made me uncomfortable because honestly that’s my favorite kind of book and these first two parts of the trilogy were A FEAST.

I saw you mention somewhere that you feared people would interpret Azazel’s experience and miscarriage as mpreg, so I felt compelled to express how much I enjoyed how you portrayed the angels’ relationship with gender while navigating their relationship with the humans, I was fascinated honestly.

For how long it took me to actually finish the book, I wish I had kept a journal with me to write every impression because it made me feel A LOT and I wish I could have bottled it all up! And I also wish I could give you a forehead kiss as a thank you for writing this the way you did and putting it out there in the world so I could read it and feel all that.

There was so much more I wanted to say as I was staring at the wall after finishing it and now I can’t remember it all, so there is a chance I will be back. Anyway, happy Sunday <3

hello!

Thank you so much for reading!! I'm really happy you enjoyed A&M the way that you did ABM and that it gave you such a visceral (positive) reaction! That really does mean a lot to me to hear. Also, it doesn't make me uncomfortable! I'm really happy :') thank you for the kind words

Also, I'm not really afraid of Azazel's experience being interpreted as mpreg. He's pretty explicit about wanting to be read as a man (if he must choose), after all. But, yes, like you said, the angels have a complicated relationship with gender, and I don't want that to get suppressed for the purpose of jokes. I'm glad you found that aspect of the book fascinating! It was very interesting to me too.

Thank you again for reading and the kindness!! Have a great week :') sending u much love

#<3333 #mine #ask

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 1 year

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2022 MOVIE OF THE WEEK #33

disenchanted. i......have been avoiding this review since literally months ago because just thinking about reviewing this movie makes me sad and tired. if you loved this movie, which i think some people must have because i’ve seen the occasional gifs from it on my dash, feel free to skip this. it’ll go behind a cut, because i suspect it’s gonna get long.

(spoiler alert: it got ridiculously long. how did i have five thousand words to say about this? and if anyone besides leander reads this i’ll be shocked but that’s fine cuz they were the one encouraging me to make it through this rant and if they hadn’t i definitely would have given up even trying a long time ago.)

and it is pretty much universally negative, because i could not have been more looking forward to this sequel featuring literally my favorite disney (noncanon but still mine) princess and it not only let me down (as sequels tbh do a lot so that’s not even surprising) but it sincerely broke my heart.

in a ‘wow i’m being really overdramatic about a disney movie’ sort of way, but it’ll make more sense after i explain it, i promise. you had to be there, i think, to care as much as i do, and only @actuallylukedanes was, so it was also pretty convenient that i ended up watching this with them when they were gonna watch it with their partner and invited me to join. cuz they felt the same way i did about the sequel, which is how i knew i was not overreacting.

it was also leander who advised me to start posting completed reviews of other 2022 movies since i was stuck on this one, even though i never posted them out of order before. (i ended up realizing in january that i totally forgot a movie from 2022, so it’s good i wasn’t as obsessed with perfect chronology anyway.)

the first warning sign i had with this movie was honestly its release. they had been talking about an enchanted sequel for so long that i had stopped hoping for one, and then when it was really happening they wouldn’t even put it in theaters!! i was so pissed off about that, because enchanted felt like a magical (pun intended) experience for me in 2007.

it came out exactly on my birthday, when i turned 23, and @actuallylukedanes and i saw it in the theater to celebrate. we lived in utah then, and were happy rather than homeless, and we paid for the movie using a card that had a ‘reward’ system like a lottery where they told you they would at some random time choose a single purchase you made, and reimburse you for it. out of everything we paid for with that card, it was the tickets to enchanted that they made free.

and i couldn’t have been more excited to see enchanted back then, because it was a real live musical, and those have always been rarer than i wish they were, and the cast was ridiculously great. long before amy adams was making bigger movies, she had played tara’s cousin on buffy and a memorable one-episode character on charmed, and i had just always loved her an unreasonable amount like i had been waiting for her to be a movie star. plus i had discovered wicked in college and dove deep into other idina menzel musicals as well as every one of her solo albums (and singles that weren’t sold anywhere, which i downloaded illegally because that is called devotion) and was just generally obsessed with her for years.

and then there was patrick dempsey, reliable dreamy star of grey’s anatomy (which i gave up on quickly but he was good in) and james marsden of the x-men trilogy i had watched a zillion times. (his character was not one i liked in that, but he was great as a comedic part of this.) i had grown up with susan sarandon and wasn’t used to her as a villain but she brought just the right level of Too Much, and her henchman was perfectly cast. they somehow managed to even make the child in the story not annoying, which can be really rare, especially when she has an actual role--but she’s great.

the mix of animation and live-action was really fun, and when giselle’s dress goes from cartoon to sparkly 3d it was so swoony. truly like a disney fantasy sort of moment, they brought so much to life. and they did so even where it shouldn’t have worked! the basic plot of ‘two couples aren’t meant to be so they switch partners amongst themselves and then it’s perfect’ is not one i like in other movies, but here i’m just like, yeah absolutely, dance with patrick dempsey in your pretty dress, and let idina menzel go live in a fairy tale.

but in addition to all of that, and the catchy, catchy music, what i really, truly loved about enchanted, and why it was one of my all time favorite movies to put on that i never got sick of (along with mamma mia and a few others, i really like musicals okay), is how much it turned out that i identified with giselle. how much she not only made sense to me, even as she was supposed to be this wide-eyed disney princess, but how she gave me language for things i was still figuring out, and i got so attached to that.

i was 23 years old. i had left home less than two years earlier, and i didn’t know i was autistic yet, let alone bipolar/anxious/adhd/disordered eating all knotted together. i hadn’t begun thinking about what it meant to be ‘developmentally disabled,’ and how unprepared that made me for adulthood, independence or being in a relationship. I had just leaped into all those things, and i wasn’t necessarily all that good at any of them.

but there was giselle, singing her way through a world she didn’t understand how to navigate either, and it was okay because there was somebody who loved her for her exact weird self and a child who needed her. (substitute cats for child and you see where i’m coming from.) she was relentlessly optimistic but also cursed by forces outside her control, and she was full of creativity.

my absolute favorite moment that giselle has in the whole movie, when it comes to why it was important to me, is when she experiences anger. at first she can’t even name it, and then there’s a kind of joy she finds in it, in having a new feeling...in having the FREEDOM to feel that difficult feeling, and not need things to be perfect all the time. until i saw that scene, i had never realized that my childhood had trained me to not be angry--before i was even conscious that had happened. and once i saw that scene, i started to wonder if maybe anger was something i was allowed to feel, after all.

i think if you’re not me, or you didn’t know me at 21 (a fragile adorable unstable bby desperate to be rescued from my life), it might be hard to understand that, how i didn’t just love giselle for being giselle, but loved her for being the most me a character played by amy adams could be.

up until i fell in love, and was loved in return (my only real wish thanks to moulin rouge), i collected tv and movie characters, made little lists of them, and they were always the ones i wanted to be like, ones i wanted to grow into. usually the snarky best friends, the deadpan wits, the ones who pined but never got the guy. (bby me didn’t think anything but ‘guy’ was an option.) i didn’t spend time claiming characters that were like me, that made me feel seen, until i was older. (i couldn’t, when i didn’t know who ‘me’ was.) so giselle felt like one of the first ones, with her autistic literalism and trust in humanity and her joy in everything.

then flash forward fifteen years and they’re continuing the story. even more amazingly, they’ve brought back the whole central cast (minus the child actor, who i assumed they replaced because New Morgan sings and dances, but i didn’t look it up or anything). idina is much more famous now thanks to her frozen work and of course amy adams is amy freaking adams now, nominated but never oscared, but they both came back. the direct-to-streaming release worried me, but i saw a trailer and the movie looked way better than i kind of expected, so i was excited after all. and as mentioned above, i settled in to watch it with my family.

^^^^and that is where this review left off, almost a year ago--because it was still so hard for me to wrap my brain and my heart around writing it. but at this point i’ve reviewed all the other movies i watched in 2022, AND i’ve watched almost 20 movies this year and reviewed most of them, and those reviews are just sitting in my drafts waiting for me to post them once i finish this. so here goes:

this movie was bad. obviously that’s a personal opinion or value judgement or whatever, but like...it was really, really bad. it bore no resemblance to the original and painfully reminded me how disney’s moviemaking these days is so soulless when it comes to trying to squeeze more money out of its existing IP. and i can handle fairy tale/princess modernizations that aren’t all that impressive (idina was in one of those as well, cinderella), but even those had parts that i liked or that were fun once i was grading on a curve for the whole movie. i can’t say the same for this one.

first of all, we’ve skipped time since the original, which makes sense, since everybody’s older. but nothing about the time progression makes sense, because offscreen fifteen years have passed, making amy adams 48 when this movie came out. giselle and robert have just had a newborn whose royal inheritance is what leads to the movie’s plot--at best, i guess we can assume amy was supposed to be playing giselle a lot younger than she, the actress, was. or maybe her andalasian genes make her immune to fertility averages?

either way, though, that still doesn’t explain morgan. who in addition to becoming literally a different person (and i hope they only replaced her because the original actress opted out, because she was so great in the first movie i’d resent disney for dumping her just to make the new one sing and dance, or whatever other justifications they might have) is a teenager now. Original Morgan was nine years old in enchanted, or the actress was, anyway. if we assume they meant for Original Morgan to be only seven or eight as a character, that still doesn’t explain a now-high-schooler morgan in this movie. it has been literally twice as many years in real time as it would have to have been in this movie world for morgan to be this age! and unfortunately for the movie, it’s mainly about adults, who have aged the fifteen years you would expect. so that’s ridiculous.

but anyway. somehow, all the adults from enchanted look fifteen years older but morgan’s a teen, and her parents have had a shiny new baby. idina’s character moved with prince james marsden to his world, and literally everyone is depressed now except prince james marsden (and presumably the baby). giselle sees a billboard and decides that’s a plausible reason to uproot her whole family from the city she fell in love with and that the others were from even before meeting her...to move to the suburbs.

at first, because of the impression i got from the trailer, i thought she would be moving to a perfect-seeming little enclave that was secretly evil, like a magical stepford or something, and that it would turn her evil and throw her family into peril. but the real plot is not that creative. it’s literally just the three of them moving to an ordinary suburb that (gasp!) doesn’t automatically fix their lives. instead, robert has a slog of a commute now, and in their own ways, giselle and morgan both struggle to fit in with their new local peers.

everything establishing this movie’s setup baffled me because it felt so random and flimsy, when the original was a beautiful sendup of classic disney tropes that managed to be subversive but still magical. i referred earlier to giselle deciding on a plausible reason, and i felt the same way about disney and this sequel: it felt like they decided this concept was a plausible reason to bring the cast back together, mix in a few new actors, and try to make money off the result (in this case by locking it inside their streaming service as though that would force new subscribers to disney+ instead of what i’m guessing actually happened, having less viewers for the movie than they would’ve gotten in theaters--cuz even i, the biggest fan of the original, wouldn’t have subscribed just to watch it).

but their ‘plausible’ setup is therefore that everybody’s feeling a bit meh in new york city. robert’s not excited about his job, morgan’s a sullen teenager, and giselle misses the days when everything felt magical and new and perfect. instead of recognizing that they have a freaking newborn, which i may not have experienced personally but have certainly heard is a difficult phase of life (especially the first time, for giselle), and that they simultaneously have a teenager, which anybody who’s ever been or met a teenager can tell you is a difficult phase of life for both the teen and their parents--heck, instead of just going to THERAPY when new york city is one of the few places it may still be easier to find access than everywhere else these days--they move to a random place where they know no one for truly no reason.

the movie wants us to believe that the reason is giselle seeing a billboard and believing its promise (or still being unusually literal?) but neither of those makes any sense because even if we had reason to believe that giselle hadn’t learned anything or grown in the last mysterious number of years and would truly treat a billboard like a promise rather than an advertisement (and i don’t think what we see of her in the sequel supports that idea) it’s still robert she’s married to now, and we know he’s always been someone who lovingly but firmly points that stuff out.

morgan’s unhappy because she’s a teenager, she doesn’t actually want to move, and as much as robert loves giselle, i don’t believe at all that he would just let her have her fantasy of a fresh start without injecting reality into the situation--so i think the real explanation is that both robert and giselle, for their own reasons, are desperate enough to try it despite knowing it won’t be a magic fix. but then idina menzel and prince james marsden (i should remember their character names but i really don’t at the moment) pop into their new, still-unhappy-just-in-a-different-time-zone, lives and make everything even worse. way to go guys!

continuing the flimsy plot setups, they’re visiting to give a gift to the new baby, to basically proclaim how special she is and make morgan feel like she’s neither special nor giselle’s ‘real’ daughter. giselle is thrilled by the gift from her childhood home and her former prince remains as hilarious as ever (the acting in this movie is good, they’re just not given as much to work with; ‘campy humor’ was the only element they could successfully recreate for some reason). but nancy is clearly already Over It, the former new yorker not exactly as enchanted with prince james marsden as she used to be now that she has to live with his personality 24/7.

you might expect this to be woven in with the central family’s ennui in some way, but you would be disappointed--that general intermittent eyerolly energy is never directly addressed and as far as we know by the end of the movie, she’s still with him. and i guess will remain so forever? because that’s the rule when you choose a fairy tale life?? even though giselle’s story was entirely about leaving fairy tales behind when they weren’t what she wanted???

maybe we’re supposed to read nancy’s reactions as like, lovable occasional annoyance at How Very Much her guy can be sometimes. but it didn’t come across that way to me; it seemed intentionally to mirror the dissatisfaction giselle and robert were struggling with. i could have been giving them too much credit there, i guess, in assuming deliberate parallels.

but the real point is that the adults were unhappy in the city, and now, in the suburbs, they’re still not very happy. after the gift-givers go back to andalasia, giselle makes a wish using her baby’s magic present, wanting to make their family into a fairy tale...and she gets her wish. morgan goes from a strugglng teen to a cheerful girl again, running around singing and eventually having to be the savior of her family. robert goes from a commuting lawyer to a wannabe monster slayer, and giselle slowly transforms into an evil stepmother--while the women in town who’ve been snubbing her turn into an actual villain with henchwomen in tow.

from then on, it only gets more ridiculous. amy adams is an immensely talented actor, and like i said, i’ve loved her since she was on tv. but she is not doing her best work here, switching between normal giselle and evil stepmother giselle in response to a chiming clock in a way that reminded me of one of those over-the-top acts where a guy hypnotizes people and then can trigger them to be a chicken or something. it was just so over the top, and lacked any of the emotional depth the original movie brought to her character that made me care.

and poor robert, it was clear, they did not know what to do with. a convoluted exchange with prince james marsden before the wish created circumstances where he was carrying a sword around on his commute. that, i’m sure, was supposed to help make it seem like it made sense for him to become a giant fighter or whatever. but really, they had a sequel to make in which he had to be there because he was her happily ever after in the first one, except now robert isn’t a love interest anymore, there’s no drama between them--and the actor was never meant to be a major contributor to the musical part of these movies, so what’s the point of his story? to run around looking for monsters, totally separate, and mostly unnecessary, it turns out.

the fairy tale transformations mean that we go from watching giselle being sad and hurt in response to morgan’s attitude to morgan’s being mistreated by her now-evil stepmother--neither of which is fun. in giselle’s intermittent ‘good’ moments, she tries to encourage morgan to be free of her and get help, and eventually morgan does end up in andalasia with nancy (she’s also a cartoon at that point, i think). nancy helps her understand what might fix things, and the fact that it’s up to their teenage daughter (whose complaints the whole time have honestly seemed the most reasonable to me compared to her parents’ vague ennui) to save not just her own family but both worlds from doom...it doesn’t seem at all fair. but okay.

the solution for making giselle good again involves morgan’s memories and singing and the idea that with the power of love it’ll all be fine, but what i remember most about it is that the scene is really just a vehicle for idina menzel to get her own song. which, duh--i was very disappointed that she didn’t sing in the original, and given the success of frozen, it would’ve been crazy for them not to showcase her more this time.

but the song she’s given? it’s so bad. so very bad. the others i was watching this movie with spent a significant portion of the song time mocking it, and i couldn’t blame them. at a certain point, it just devolves into idina belting the words ‘love power’ over and over and over. you know how some words or phrases become completely meaningless if you say them too much? this definitely felt like that, like the big drama’s ‘solution’ was flimsy to begin with, and then they forced a song into it that wasn’t even a good song, and got idina to sing it. she’s so much better than that! it genuinely made me wonder if she has some kind of disney contract that left her stuck dealing with this.

somehow thanks to morgan, though, giselle does stop being evil by the end--i don’t remember exactly how that scene plays out so i doubt it matters too much--and ending the sort of wish curse she inflicted on everybody means they go back to living in a normal suburb. the woman who briefly became her villain nemesis apologizes in a ‘sometimes i’m a lot oops’ way, and giselle is just like ‘hey, me too, no big deal.’

and this brings me to my two biggest problems with the movie, outside of how much it felt like it was trying to destroy any love i still held for the original.

this movie has no real villain. unlike the first one, where susan sarandon was camping it up in a delightfully appropriate way, and was defeated in the end...this movie falls into the same hole that so many New Disney Movies are determined to, for unknown reasons. we can’t have classic straight-up evil anymore; our heroes have to instead be facing antagonists that are less specific or even less corporeal. it’s family! who of course will no longer be in conflict by the end, and don’t actually need to be ‘defeated.’ or it’s emotions! and once they can be accepted rather than avoided then things will be okay again.

i’m not saying that’s a bad thing, in general. i love encanto, and i thought turning red and inside out were great. but when you’re dealing with a now-franchise whose original style was to reference and gently mock and lovingly rework classic disney tropes...why would you toss that out completely and make a sequel that feels like the other movies disney makes now? why can’t people appreciate that beloved movies are beloved for a reason and you can’t just slap the ‘brand name’ on whatever you want and act like it’s just as good?

but yeah. this movie decided to have no villain by way of having two villains, both of whom were only temporarily villainous due to indirect magic and who became normal again once it stopped. they bear no real responsibility for being villains, because after all, they aren’t really. post-movie, it seems like they may even become friends! all’s well that ends well.

which really annoyed me, lol, because it felt so incredibly pointless once i knew that was how it ended. our main character accidentally makes herself evil, makes somebody else evil, has to be saved from being evil while fighting the other evil, and the grand conclusion is that they just finish back where they started? how is that a story that moves forward, let alone a good story with some kind of point or even just a good-versus-evil win, fairy tale style?

it’s like the main conflict of the movie is created by them having problems, but then the problems they were having...are solved because they’re no longer in conflict. which brings me to my second issue with the movie’s ending: apparently the ultimate lesson of this follow up to enchanted is that growing up means learning to settle, rather than believing in happily ever afters.

despite the cheerful singing at the end of the movie that tries to make us believe it’s just as great an ending as enchanted got, i was so underwhelmed and disappointed and tbh freaked out, that they reached that conclusion. the story we were given was giselle and robert and morgan are a family now just like they wanted but they’re all unhappy, so they move out of the city to seek happiness elsewhere. and it fixes nothing which instead spirals giselle into cursing the town but in the end everybody’s okay and there are no consequences and nobody’s mad at giselle cuz she didn’t mean to do it...so she and robert and morgan commit to trying even harder to be happy in their new suburban life.

and all i can wonder is, why is that the lesson? why is that the right place to end up? why couldn’t they go back to the city and figure out their problems there, since clearly suburbia wasn’t a fix on its own? there didn’t seem to be a real reason for requiring giselle, who loved the sparkly harsh city she landed in years ago, to become a suburban mom--or for uprooting morgan, or making robert become a ‘small town practice’ kind of guy.

i guess what grates on me about it is that it has such a hallmark christmas movie vibe of just assuming their real happy ending would naturally be escaping the city, no matter how central it was to their original story and lives. whatever their deeper issues were that made them unhappy in the city, they haven’t addressed those by the end of the movie; they’ve just somewhat improved the issues that moving TO this new place piled on.

therefore my logical brain goes, you were unhappy and tried to fix it by moving but that only made things worse. why wouldn’t you reverse the making-it-worse part by going back, and then continue trying to figure out how to fix it? i just don’t get it. and i may be kind of offended by it, because the giselle who i have always adored is a completely different person in this movie, and not because of some wish curse.

she’s older, and sad, and it’s like nothing about her life is fun anymore...and maybe there could’ve been a way to craft an interesting story out of that, though i don’t know what it would be off the top of my head. but we don’t get whatever that could’ve been. and we don’t get a sequel about our faves from enchanted having more hijinks and having a to fight a new tropey villain, in the style of the first one. what we get is a story about everybody from the first one not liking their lives and having to fight the fallout from that and then concluding that hey, at least the world didn’t end so they must be better off than they thought, time to make the best of it. it deeply depressed me.

and look--i’m not saying i demand happy endings always. i don’t even require happy endings mostly! but unless there is some requirement i’m not aware of that post-pandemic we are no longer allowed happy endings at all, this was not the movie world to bring back just to say ‘the best you can hope for is meh. good luck.’ giselle and everybody else deserved better.

i will say that there was one thing about this movie that i liked. exactly one thing, sadly, or at least only one i clearly remember. i was really excited about the casting before this came out, because i love jayma mays, and maya rudolph is reliably good always. once i actually saw the movie, i was bummed that jayma mays and the other henchwoman didn’t have roles worth including, but maya rudolph was as good as i expected.

and since this movie was such a mess, she also just really stood out. she’s a ‘can do it all’ kind of performer, in a way that makes it look easy, and i feel like that’s the difference between amy adam’s background in a lot of dramatic roles and maya rudolph’s background in snl. they’re both super talented and both have range, but are a good fit for different things because of that.

so there is one song in this movie and one performance (cuz it’s the performance of it that makes it good) that i genuinely enjoyed. it’s basically a face off between the two not-actually-villains, kind of like ‘anything you can do i can do better’ but sillier and maximum camp. it’s the only part where it felt like that was what the movie was deliberately aiming for, and both actresses are fully going for it while sometimes we’re watching them parallel on splitscreen...it was ridiculous but in an entertaining rather than cringe-inducing way.

so that part is great, but also highlights even more what this movie could have been. if only they had let maya rudolph be a proper villain, the leader of a trio of new antagonists for our faves to face, that would’ve been potentially a great movie. she could have gone evil after getting her hands on the baby’s wand, then gone down fighting after the family consulted with their andalasian friends on how to deal with magically corrupted humans. the ending could have been more interesting with bigger stakes than ‘everyone survives and decides to play nice.’

heck, i could write that version of that movie! lol. but i won’t. because it would probably necessitate rewatching disenchanted and that is something i never ever want to do. that was a piece of my heart you fucked with, you jerks. and i’m gonna stay mad.

#disenchanted #rant #amy adams #idina menzel #patrick dempsey #james marsden #susan sarandon #actuallylukedanes #actually autistic #autistic #jayma mays #maya rudolph #negativity #enchanted #2022 motw #my formative years

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marvelousmagicalaura · 6 months

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Thoughts on Secret History Part 1: Empire

I've finally started Secret History. I've heard it's very important to Mistborn and the Cosmere, so this is something I want to take my time reading. I'll be posting my reactions to each part, starting with Part 1: Empire. This part was short but had a surprising amount of info.

I'm beyond happy to see Kelsier again. "I am hope" always gets me and I SCREAMED in the final scene of book 6. It seems like Secret History will reveal different sides to Kelsier's personality. Here, I saw his fear of death and unwillingness to pass away, his drive to discover the truth behind secrets, his justified lack of faith in God, regret for hurting Vin and the crew. And the absolute BALLS to punch God then finesse God! That was totally unexpected, comedy gold right there! 🤣

The words Spiritual Realm and the capital C word - Connection - showed up. I remember from book 6 that Connection is a Spiritual Realm property, includes Connection to lands, and includes Connection between people (i.e. Connection between Handerwym and koloss). I'm confident the magic system of The Emperor's Soul manipulates the Connection within the souls of people and objects. Guess I shouldn't be shocked it's in the workings of Allomantic malatium (gold too?).

Here I bear witness Rashek's final moments. It's honestly depressing. I would've loved to seen Rashek's personality from his POV or the Firsts, people very close to him. And even though he was a scumbag, he was essential to Preservation's Plan. I like to theorize Rashek was either religiously motivated or had a duty to protect Scadrial once he glimpsed Preservation’s Plan. But lost his sense of devotion after so long. I don’t think Rashek just starting out would’ve silenced Fuzz or called him an impotent mouse 😂

I’m surprised to learn Ruin was attacking Preservation even before his release. So the hologram must be showing a representation of Preservation taking Ruin’s attacks and losing his mind. The passage about Ruin’s alterations is pretty shocking as well. At this time, no one knew about the Terris Prophecies or religion outside of Alendi’s logbook and kandra. But there were the Steel Ministry and the 600+ religions studied by Keepers. We know from WoBs and book 3 implications that Preservation wrote the Terris Prophecies and hid gems from Ruin in all of humanity’s religions. IIRC those gems were hidden to help the Hero of Ages his gambits would lead into. My speculation is Ruin wasn’t just altering Sazed’s rubbings. He was altering Alendi's logbook, the Keepers’ copperminds, the Keepers’ texts, and the Steel Ministry’s texts. And it appears Preservation has been actively writing stuff that Ruin altered. Pretty hypocritical for Pres to dislike Ruin for “making the religion all about him” even though Pres did the same thing 💀

A lot about Preservation in this section. Fuzz is a living contradiction. He's the god of stasis, yet he accepts that death is the natural progress of things... Though, The Plan is a contradiction to begin with. And it doesn’t seem like his planning was as certain as I thought. When I look back to the Mistborn Trilogy, one of my personal gripes was Preservation and mortals outsmarting/overcoming Ruin around the time he appeared to Vin at Fadrex. But it turns out I might be wrong lol.

Fuzz didn’t foresee that Kelsier would have a 100% chance of dying by letting the Lord Ruler kill him, or at least didn't foresee it as a likely possibility. He even said futuresight is cloudy - made of many possibilities. He didn’t understand why Ruin let Kelsier use malatium. And all these distortions are definitely because his mind has been degrading for millennia. It seems like Fuzz - Leras - Preservation - knew the Well of Ascension wouldn’t trap Ruin/Ati forever, that he would break free eventually. So he set up gambits that **might** eventually come to fruition, like the army of atium Mistings preventing Ruin from regaining his full power.

I have to respect the fact Fuzz’s mind has been dying for millennia, yet he has the cognition to manifest holograms that move and have conversations wiyj every dying soul. As well as the cognition to watch the fight between Kelsier and the Inquisitor.

Going back to Rashek, my theory is Fuzz's anger at Rashek's death is an instance of Preservation not remembering this part of the plan. The way I see it, Rashek needed to die for many of Pres’ gambits to come to fruition, cuz Rashek would’ve killed or captured the pawns like Vin, or Sazed, or the mistfallen. But Preservation can’t remember this.

There's the magic number sixteen! The mistfallen! I remember that Harmony said Preservation hid clues about the number sixteen, before he imprisoned Ruin. Guess this means Preservation set up the snapping Mists before the imprisonment, planting unaware Allomancers over the course of thousands of years. Setting up the gambit of Allomancers who can burn Ruin’s atium.

To close off the post, I gotta call crap on Fuzz's claims. There’s no way Kelsier is the only person in history to punch him or beg for revival. I suspect whatever he did to Kelsier is a gambit that’s part of the plan... which I don't remember well lmao. Was the plan made when Fuzz was smarter the Terris Prophecies and the Hero of Ages?

#mistborn #mistborn trilogy #wax and wayne #cosmere #brandon sanderson #mistborn secret history #secret history #the hero of ages #the bands of mourning #kelsier #the survivor #the survivor of hathsin #mistborn preservation #mistborn fuzz

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popculturebuffet · 8 months

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Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space Retrospective Finale: What's New, Beelzebub?

Hello all you happy freelance police. This one's a tad late thanks to a wrist injury, a cold and just as I was getting back to work, a case of bronchitis.

Yeah the end and beginning of the year have been rough. But we're finally here at the end of the second chapter in Telltale's Sam and Max Trilogy, the final chapter of Beyond Time and Space.

So for this one our heroes make their inevitable visit to hell. And sadly not the fun hell with musical numbers, sexy dinosaurs, and keith david as a kitty cat. No our heroes must grapple with beauacrcy, the end of days, and a rogues gallery of old foes working soul crushing desk jobs to save the world... again.

So join me under the cut as we finish off this game with a one way ticket to hell and back.

We open with our heroes in a subway station to hell... right under their street. Yeah unsuprisingly the portal to hell was right beneath our heroes all this time, but to use the subway to hell they need to pay the ferrymoleman. Harry is back...

I mean I have a friend who IS a fan of him but for me Harry's never been that entertaning. He's not soda popper's levels of "PLEASE GOD STAB THEM IN THE EYES", but he's just not very funny.

Still we have to engage with him so we need a soul token. Getting sent to hell is pretty easy given all the horrible things we done did, we just need to get the token from Mama Bosco. Turns out she was above the store this whole time and the explosion when we went to space last time killed her. We can fix that later, but for now we need the token from her room. So we reactivate our good old friend the maimtron , giving our past selves the egg and getting the remote needed to get to hell.

ONE SUBWAY RIDE TO HELL LATER

Our heroes arrive int he river sticks. They need to talk to satan about.. stopping his shenanigans, but the problem is Hell's Receptionist.. is Jurgen. Jurgen is only mildly fond of his new job but given we you now killed him and saddled him with this new job as a result, he's not feeling helpful.

He's not the only person our heroes have killed down here though as Hugh Bliss and the Shambling Corprate PResence are also here, the former being suprisingly forgiving and the latter.. well we assume he is. Brady Culture is also here. He somehow got his hair back.

The real attraction here though, and my faviorite part of this chapter, is the sam and max wing. Yes Sam and Max have condemmed so many souls to hell they have a wing. Honestly when they get down there they'll likely be the most powerful overlords since the invention of radio, so I pitty demonkind when that day comes.

For now though the wing is stuffed.. and honestly.. it makes me go a bit easier on just how dark the comedy's been this season as it was buildlling towards something. I still think the season's a tad mean spirited.. but damn if they didn't have a punchline ready for it. Not only that our heroes fixing this mistake, if for selfish reasons, is the main goal of act one: sure we're undoing people's personal hells for attention, but it's still undoing all the harm our heroes have buit up over the season.. and doing some more because it really woudln't be sam and max if they weren't ruining lives.

The poor souls our heroes have to save are the desoto, stuck at a low speed, Santa , stuck with bratty children, and the elf from the first chapter stuck having his toys constantly rejected.. by santa. Also Santa turns out to kind of deserve to be here as he hates kids and only makes toys to avoid them. Not LIKING chidlren isn't the problem but building your whole career around avoiding them sure is fucked.

At any rate the big attractions are Bosco... who is best summed up by a joke kev made abotu this chapter

Yup Bosco is naked as hell and being watched by his mom, various supporting characters and THEM

The other is Stinky.. the PROPER stinky, whose stuck on a cooking show with his spawn stealing his credit. We find out Girl Stinky ISN'T what killed him: a climbing accident did that. She wasn't lying about being his protege or inhereting the place, a nice gag and one I knew going in, but would've seen coming: her killing him was too obvious for this series.

So we have to save all these poor souls in ways I vaugely remember: we save the de soto by giving it it's soul back, allowing it to run, then run it into the theater saving bosco in the most badass way possible.

For santa we simply gum up the works of his toy return and clear out the elves, allowing him to be free and allowing his slave labor in the other hell to also be free.

For Stinky we have to commit once last crime against humanity.. well ratmanity. Junior Two Teeth is dying.. and we have to send him to hell.

I mean we somehow got rid of his mom via time travel, I'm still not sure where he went, keep ruining his dad's life, killed him in one timeline, at this point sending him to hell is a mercy.

Especially since with all this Satan's finally pissed enough to cut a deal: Sam's soul for everyone elses. IT's a deal and Sam's now stuck in his OWN personal hell: a paper pushing nightmare where Max is replaced with the most hideous, ugly, nightmarish ghoul of all

Yes Sam is living my own personal hell. Thankfully max is on the outside and thanks to the broken wall can be swapped inside to disembowel Sam's new partner and free him

Satan isn't pleased.. but i'ts more because he's NOT the boss. Yeah in a nice reveal I again had already revealed to me ahead of time but still really slaps, Satan ISN'T the big bad of this season. The big bads of this season have been putting us through everything, pulling all the strings of the plots to lead us here and throw him out. The true ultimate evil is

Yes folks, the big bads of season 2, the masterminds behind it all, the banes of my existance... are the Soda Poppers. And it's a twist I like. Look I know my general attitude to these freaks is

That still stands. But I can't deny them being behind all this is brilliant. While Telltale claimed they did this to make the chapter darker by making "fan faviorites" into it... I call bullshit using evidence from the games themselves. The way Sam and Max are frustrated when they show up in chapter 1 and when they SURVIVIE it somehow, it's very clear they knew we hated them.. and decided to expland on that. And the idea of these dorks being the ultimate evil.. is just funny.

I do admit i'ts a bit stringier than last season: using the toys to create chaos, using the moai to crush souls, using them to gather them. It's alot harder to follow and not in the "when you think on it it makes sense" way but in the squiggly do map kind of way. Plot wise.. it's a mess

Character wise it's perfect as it's tied well into their season 1 journey: they killed brady, that gave them the bloodlust and the dakota war, instead of just them being stupid was them intetnioanlly wanting more blood and evil. I'ts a neat turn ofr the characters. As for why they want revenge on our heroes, thats simple: they beat them at embarassing idol. It's as petty as it is perfect.

So Satan is sacked and our heroes now have to cancel the apocalypse as the Soda Poppers plan to end the world. Thankfully as mad as he is at our heroes, Satan is more than willing to play ball and let them use his stuff as them winning means he becomes top devil again.

First is satan's grocery list.. which is suprisingly normal, which means we can swap it for the words Hugh Bliss is censoring and thus learn the true name of one of our demons: Dick Peacock

That's Peepers whose task is to create the anti christ.... and chooses Sybil as his target. I mean granted her standards ARE pretty low so I get it, but he uses a glamour to appear sexy while sam has to confirm his demntia hasn't kicked in... dosen't confirm we're not still in hell though. Seriously of all the people to ship with Sybil as an alternative to that granite ballsack.... they decided THIS was the better alternative. Making me think of peepers doing anything to anyone in a sexual manner. And just having had to TYPE THAT sentence

Just.. damn. Thankfully we ruin the illusion by revealing his name is dick peacock... somehow. i mean i'ts a fucking great pornstar name. Honestly we could've just revealed tha the has a 5.15 inch PENIS. It would've been faster but probably woudl've wrecked our teen rating.

For Whizzer he's trying to sell the apple of knowledge.. via some wine and talking up Girl Stinky. Old Stinky is alive again and ain't having it but to help him we'll need some suplies from boscos. Mama Bosco is also alive but is in her room as Bosco kinda.. snapped after finding out she was the one surveling him and is now having a bachelor party for abe with all the other male characters and Jurgen as the stripper.Max's oh god reaction to it is priceless. We distract them all by throwing some of the apple of knowledge juice in, making everyone shockingly sober, ruining the party and getting the tar needed to undo Stinky.

Yeah as it turned out that gooey cake we stole the rights for? THAT WAS STINKY. A form of it evolved into Girl Stinky, and sadly we have to change her back as Old Stinky misses his surrogate daughter> it's an insane reveal but dman do I love it. We change her back, they say no and the only one left is specs, the greatest threat. Thankfully Specs is only compitent by Soda Poppers standards, so a quick sound card for one of the COPS wins the fiddle duel for his soul.

Satan returns, with our heroes in tow to take his throne back but hell has frozen over... meaning it's SNOWBALL FIGHT TIME. Yeah in a weird boomerang back to the first chapter, but a ncie one, it all comes down to snowballs. Sadly their not full of pee this time nor is it as easy as Whizzer can now piss fire

And how we use that against him is clever: Using various suplies around hell: some ice cream, some choclate, our old goldfishes bowl we make a cake, as not getting the birthday song is part of why their pissy. See a tad earlier the poppers simply tried using a banishing ritual I forgot happened for a second before the climax, leading to our heroes being saved in chapter one by their future selves. So we turn that back on them, setting it up and using Whizzer's fire piss to light the cake. They get their birthday.. and banished to a small firey pit as they deserve.

The day is saved and the wedding is on.. which is somehow a good thing. It's not as fun an ending as world of max, but it works well enough and I really can't say no to a wedding episode no matter how hard i try so it stil works. The world is saved again, and the soda poppers finally, FINALLY die

So that was season 2 and before we go back into the yonder till the remaster for The Devil's Playhouse, with some brucey bonuses while we wait, let's reflect on this season. Beyond Time and Space.. is decent. The game has some truly great gags, we get some fantastic new faces like Jurgen's Monster and the time babies, and the gameplay is slightly improved.

That said while Beyond Time and Space isn't a bad game and if you liked Save the World it's well worth playing.. it does ultimately feel like a step down: the presentations upped and the hint system improved, max giving frequent hints is way easier, the puzzles still have that old obstuseness that can leave you stuck without a guide, and more importantly the writing is a lot meaner.

I'm not against dark comedy. I'm a big fan of helluva boss and hazbin hotel. Dark Comedy is fine by me... but i'm admitely very selective with it. The misery and humor have to be weighed pretty equally to work, and Beyond Time and Space often misses the mark on that with things like ruining christmas, killing pirahnas or .. everything we do to jurgen's monster feeling pretty damn cruel without being over the top enough to justify. We also have smaller stuff like future sam or the whole Sybil arc. That arc was bad and it should feel bad. It just feels a lot meaner for the sake of it, something a lot of adult skewing humor does.. but it often can backfire as seen here. You need to be cruel in just the right measure. It's why the last two chapters worked: the things we did were so over the top, from nearly unmaking bosco by accident to having an entire wing in hell to sending Timmy to hell, that it hit a lot better. This one I admit will be a prefrence thing: i;'m sure some people like Beyond Time and Spac ebetter, but for me it feels like a slight step down: not enough to derail the series or not play it again, it has a vampire rave and a LOT of all time great gags, like THEM

It's just a bit of a downer. So i'll see if I end up liking The Devil's Playhouse more or if it's another step down soon enough, but I have hope it'll end the trilogy on a high. Until then thanks for reading little buddies.

#sam and max #telltale games #sam and max beyond time and space

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melancholysway · 2 years

Text

Rating all Raph's because I can

can we do it?

YES WE CAN.

Going off personality, character development, design etc

80s Raphael

No because this Raph took the cake for being the sass king- straight away from Donnie

It may be because Rob Paulsen voiced this mf, but holy shit is he fun to listen to.

No complaints, this Raph was funny and I love it. Made mfs SCARED of his sarcasm- he’s great. He’s not a personality type we’re used to for Raph though, he may fit Donnie’s- but either way, I love it.

This Raph was more sarcastic than anything, he wasn’t really mad.

Not much on the character development, and there’s nothing really memorable about his design since him and his brothers look similar!

3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

2003 Raphael

Okay, THIS ONE.

This is it.

This the one yall, still sarcastic as FUCK, and his comedic timing is everything. He probably doesn't even mean to be funny and just says whatever mean shit he's thinking up in his head

He’s by far the most witty cunt in this whole 2003 series. I also love him x Casey Jones broship I’m here for it guys.

I loved his development and evolution up until the last ep, it wasn’t like Leo’s character development, but I still enjoyed Raph’s all the same.

Nothing strikingly different on his design, but his accent is the most notable!

4.5/5! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

2007 Raphael

TOTALLY NOT BIASED AT ALL GUYS 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

THIS RAPH. I love this Raph

It may be bc he’s the best looking in this one but idc He is so FINE.

Ahem this is about personality not looks so

As for his personality in the 2007 movie, he has his lil corny sarcastic jokes here and there

Knows how to “show a lady a good time” according to Casey mf Jones

He went viral in NYC. HE WENT VIRAL IN NYC. AS A VIGILANTE. HE MADE HEADLINES. HES THE GOAT.

I also have mad respect for 2007 Raph bc Leo straight up said he was better than Raph and the only thing Raph did was laugh at him he has more restraint than me fr fr

Bc me personally

I wouldn’t take that level of disrespect

Idk what restraint Raph had not to BITCH SLAP his brother, but I would’ve in a heartbeat for sayin that LMAO

His design is great, he’s the only brother with the amber eyes, while Leo & Donnie have light/dark brown, and Mikey has baby blue! He has his alt persona as the Nightwatcher, and his character development is rushed given its a movie, but you clearly see his transition from resenting Leo into accepting the fact that Leonardo took that absence to work on himself for his brothers.

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2012 Raphael

Hear me out rq

I enjoyed this Raph-

I really loved 2012 Raph because they always showed him caring for his brothers and pets! This was kind of the first time we got softie Raph and I’m so happy they added moments of him being soft- I would’ve rated him lower if he was strictly just mean and showed no vulnerability.

he’s getting a higher rank than intended because when he’s mean, it’s literally justified, ESPECIALLY with Spider Bitez omfg that man pissed me AWFF. He’s a good balance of sarcastic and mean honestly!

He had great development and evolution as a character, he took what Splinter said and applied it everytime, & he also didn’t just have unjustifiable anger bursts.

His design is the most unique Raph we’ve seen by FAR. He’s the only brother with bright electric green eyes, and a crack in his shell in the shape of a lightning bolt.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bayverse Raphael

He calls Leo on his b.s. I love it. He called him out on keeping shit from him and I loved it. Mikey was begging this man not to, and he didn’t give a fuck. He did it anyway. Raph doesn’t take shit from anyone, INCLUDING LEO.

I also loved this version of him, in the second movie, he really comes to terms with being a mutant and having to hide from the world. That being said, I enjoyed his development in the second movie, though it isn’t as evident. It’s a movie, and unlike the 2007 movie where it’s mainly focused on Raph (it was supposed to be a trilogy, where the movies focused on one of the turtles! Luckily they picked Raph & his relationship w/ Leo for the first movie before they went bankrupt LMAO) it’s focused on the bigger picture. This was definitely a fan movie for those who already know why each character acts the way they do.

His design is…interesting? I couldn’t actually see them, but I’ve read somewhere he has tattoos? Leonardo has the most, but I couldn’t even see them? I only saw the symbols on his shell & bandana- I’m not sure if they were talking about that as being tattoos. Bayverse Raph brings back those amber eyes from 2007 Raph! I love me some golden eyed Raphael guys

Anyway, his personality was nice! They showed that he has fears despite his size. He has morals, and recognized the benefit of being human all the while realizing normal will change nothing internally but everything externally.

3.5/5! ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Rise! Raphael

This is the first ever Raph as the unofficial leader! He’s taken Leo’s role and made it his own in this series!

That being said, I see why they had to change his personality up. He’s more upbeat, way less mean. He’s more soft. Not that I’m complaining, but I see why lowkey sometimes Leo don’t be listening to him / the other turtles don’t really take him serious? He LIGHTLY puts his foot down, he’s like the cool substitute who’ll let you use the bathroom the whole period, or the old rich auntie that gives you a wad of cash every time you and the family get together at the BBQ.

I also see a slight trend now, Raph’s becoming the largest character. I don’t know, it makes him distinctively different, but I enjoyed when he was the shortest in the 2012 version, he’s a small dog with a big bite.

Anyway, he’s a cutie in this series! His design is very unique, & his lil tooth makes him look less intimidating. I wish we could get some more on the development side for Rise!Raph, but the series isn’t done! So there’ll probably be more!

3.5/5!⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Masterlist

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #raphael #tmnt 2012 #bayverse tmnt #tmnt 2007 #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise!tmnt #tmnt raphael

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