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meimi-haneoka · 4 months

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What are your top 10 favorite scenes in Clear Card manga? (Not counting the anime because it hasn't been finished yet)

Aaaahhh nice question! 🤭 Thank you so much for sending me this ask, since now that the main story is over, with a cool mind, it gave me the opportunity to think about the scenes I loved the most.

It is actually quite hard for me to choose, because there are so many good scenes, and it somehow feels also "unfair" to make a ranking, but I will try to answer with my CURRENT top 10, which is highly depending on my current inclinations and preferences. 😊 (under the cut, with explanations and analysis for each scene)

10. Chapter 1, "We'll be together forever"

I'm not placing this here because it's my least favorite, not at all, but because after more than 7 years, its power to evoke emotions in me has been supplanted by other scenes. 😅 I dunno how to explain it but, while it stays one of the most important and nostalgic scenes in this series, so much more happened in this arc that I feel "in a stronger way" than this scene. Still, it's in my top 10 because I was highly emotional when I've seen it in chapter 1.

9. Chapter 22, "Same goes for you, Syaoran-kun"

Ooooh, this was such a satisfactory moment, I still remember it. Till that moment, Sakura never gave out any hint that she had started to notice that Syaoran had been hiding something from her. This was portrayed differently in the anime, because Sakura confides her doubt with Meiling way before this scene happened in episode 21, but in the manga it was such a "wow" moment for me, because we had been screaming in our heads "how is it possible that Sakura is so oblivious that she doesn't notice anything", but no, she actually had already noticed, it's just that she wanted to take all of us by surprise, Syaoran included! And she was waiting patiently for him to talk to her. I also liked the way she phrased this, because it might be interpreted as slightly slightly calling him out while telling him "please open up to me" with love. Which is exactly what also will happen with another couple later on.

8. Chapter 33, Sakura hugs Syaoran with a resolute face

Another moment that made me scream "QUEEN!!" was this one. Oooh, how much I loved Sakura in this specific panel. Syaoran is prevented from warning her about Kaito and what he knows about him, so he desperately tries to convey to her with that crushing hug that no matter what happens, he's going to protect her. But since Sakura had just found out the truth about the Clear Cards and felt the frustration of not having understood it earlier, causing her loved one to put himself into a dangerous position, her resolute face here always conveyed to me her desire to be more "in touch" with herself, finally "waking up" and do her part to protect Syaoran in turn. That little hand gripping Syaoran's shirt tightly is everything to me. It's so rare to see Sakura depicted with such strong and complex feelings.

7. Chapter 41/42, Syaoran and Kaito's fight

One of my favorite scenes, no doubt. You have no idea how much I'm anticipating to see this scene in the anime. It's not only because my two favorite boys are basically arguing over who's more "I'll save/protect my most important person no matter what" (even if one of them hasn't figured it out yet), but it's also because we have a pretty violent Syaoran here...he attacked Kaito behind his back with a freaking lightning, without notice or anything else, and that made me go "wow Syaoran, you must be quite mad if you're not caring about fair play in this confrontation" 😂 And it's also pretty uncharacteristic of Kaito to be taken by suprise by someone....but this is just because Nadeshiko had distracted him with a topic that really dug deep in his core.

6. Chapter 31, "I'm also mad at you, Syaoran-kun"

And of course, this is another main scene that I can't wait to see animated and that really left an impact on me. I realize that my favorite scenes are those where the characters do something you wouldn't expect from them basing on what's been portrayed of them till that moment. And I think hearing Sakura say "I'm also mad at you, Syaoran-kun" had a major impact on me. And felt very satisfactory. Of course I knew that Sakura would've never lashed out at Syaoran when she would've found out about the Sakura Cards, about lying and omitting things to her...Sakura knows that her Syaoran would never reach such lengths if it weren't for her safety. But still, he didn't fully consider the consequences of his actions, which could've been so much worse than what we've seen, and I think in that moment Sakura fully realized all of that, and it's inevitable that the pain turned also into anger because "how can you be so blind to not realize that you would've killed me if something happened to you?". Sakura's calm and composed anger and pain is very much in character for her, but also something we yet had to see till that moment, so it felt really refreshing. I also remember her next sentence, "Even if it would've made you uncomfortable, I would've cried and cried forever". It's as if she was telling him "in front of something of such gravity, I need to take notice of my own feelings and express them. I WILL react in this way, even if I know that I will make you feel bad about it." It's claiming the right to be angry when your loved one messes up big time with you. (lord, the parallels!) And Syaoran's hug to her head, not even allowing himself to hug her body, felt very humble and respectful from his part, in my opinion. He absolutely felt the need to apologize and comfort her, but not invading her space and comfortable zone too much.

5. Chapter 52, "But you look like you're in pain"

Chapter 52 was a "parallels fest" beginning to end, and more than a scene, I'd daresay I place the entire chapter in this position of the ranking. It was very nice to see, for once, a parallelism between Akiho and Syaoran, rather than the usual Akiho and Sakura. I think CLAMP took care in depicting this scene because they wanted to make sure that the readers understood that, despite being under a "synchronization", the feelings Sakura and Akiho have for their loved ones are absolutely genuine, unique and personal to eachother. In short, Akiho doesn't act in a certain way towards Kaito because she's "mimicking" what Sakura does with Syaoran. If there's one thing in CLAMP manga that always eluded hitsuzen, plotting, scheming, even premonitions, are the feelings the characters have for their important people, and it's not something specific to CCS. Not even magic can change the feelings someone got for someone else, just as magic alone cannot make someone fall in love with someone else. It's always coming from the heart. And so, in this scene we see two kids deeply worried for their loved ones, who look in pain, and CLAMP have shown to us how their situations, although paralleling, had two very different outcomes, not because the feelings at the base were different, but because their circumstances were different. In the Akiho/Kaito half, I was absolutely heartbroken by Kaito's reaction, dictated by fear and isolation. But I was also in awe at Akiho's strength of mind, the way she kept insisting for Kaito to open up to her because she just could feel that something wasn't right, it hadn't been for a while at this point, and the fear to lose him made her stronger and more incisive than ever. Alas, Kaito's stubborness at this point of the story is basically playing a tug of war with her (a game Akiho has no intention to lose), so he had that reaction of running away and shutting the door in her face, another thing I found extremely uncharacteristic of him, because he had always been so respectful and diligent in his "role of the butler". With the progression of the story, this reaction became so much more clear and coherent with his state of mind. To this day, this chapter is so dear to me because of the strong and complex emotions depicted in it (even though at the time it hurt so much).

4. Chapter 80, "Cristaux. That's my true name"

Well yes, it might be because it's just fresh in my mind, or because it was, in a way, the end of the tribulations for me to see this guy finally realizing what Akiho is to him, but I feel this scene in my core. The choice to reveal his true name to her, what it means in a CLAMP manga, the intimacy of the scene without actually depicting anything that any reader (who doesn't know CLAMP well) would consider "regular" for a romantic scene (so much that a good amount of people didn't understand what happened here), makes it so precious and special to me. When I've talked about this scene in the stories of my IG account, I used "Delicate" by Taylor Swift as a background song, because I really feel like CLAMP depicted Kaito's intentions in a very delicate way. Which is how it is supposed to be, how their relationship will develop and transform along the way. They need so much sensitivity, gentleness, time, tenderness, because they both have lots of scars they need to heal from. And just like in the song, Kaito is starting to acknowledge many things and he's moving a tiny step ahead in that direction, with this gesture that means so much (and Akiho is perfectly aware of what it entails). It's like "starting again" for them, this time from a foundation of honesty and trust. Slowly, slowly healing and building their bond back up. It's the evidence that when your heart is in the right place, there's always a second chance and Kaito showed here that he doesn't want to waste it.

3. Chapter 78, Akiho and Kaito's reunion

Well. OF COURSE this would be in my top 3! I cried so much!! 🥲 The emotional tension, Akiho's anger, Kaito's silence that suggested how stunned he was, finally realizing things that we waited for the whole manga for him to see... I think the one aspect that struck me the hardest in this scene was imagining to be in Akiho's shoes in that moment, and feeling all that love and anger pouring out of her, without even fully understanding where those feelings came from, because she still didn't remember anything about him. Like, you have someone in front of you, your heart knows it's the person you love, and yet you can't remember anything about them, not even their name. But you still feel this storm of feelings pouring out of you. So powerful. As powerful was Akiho's assertiveness when she rebuked Kaito not only for deciding her happiness on her behalf, without asking her absolutely anything, but most importantly because he dared to remove himself from her life, thinking "she doesn't need me to be happy, after all", when he was so so so wrong. And in doing that, he committed another horrible thing, he literally threw himself away in the process, like something of no value. I think more than anything else, this was what hurt Akiho the most. And we always go back to that parallelism of chapter 31, how these boys, in their fever of protecting their most important person, completely forget/don't see how fundamental THEY are to that person's happiness. Out of this whole reunion, another scene I love is when Akiho kinda "pulls" Kaito back to her, pressuring him to go along with Sakura's plan to revert him back to his true appearance (from that of a dragon). You can see that his self-loathing makes him hesitate, and resist that plan till the last second, but when he exchanges that long stare with Akiho, he finally caves in. Her hard stare, which shows already the irritation and pain that will overflow afterwards, makes him feel "wanted", necessary to someone. Just for being himself, not because of his powers, like it had been till he met her. That's another moment of this scene that I love deeply.

2. Chapter 48, "The moon is beautiful"

Yeah I'm sorry, I've been debating whether this scene would go to n. 1 or not, then decided otherwise, but I can't lie to myself: the scene that impacted me the most in this entire manga, the one that changed me, is this one. Akiho's covert love confession under the full moon. And until someone explained to me what Akiho actually meant with that "because the moon is really beautiful", I had considered this just a very sweet and cute scene, but nothing more. When someone gave me the correct "reading key" (and it's absolutely intentional because Akiho's speech is placed between quote marks), something changed inside of me towards these two. I already liked them, Akiho in particular, but this scene confirmed to me that Akiho was serious in wanting to grasp her life tightly and change it. From a shy, insecure girl needing validation at every sentence, crushed by the trauma of the past, to someone who actually made the first, concrete steps in conveying her thoughts and feelings to the person most important to her. From stillness, to action. The first steps towards finding her voice, and letting it be heard, louder and louder, throughout the story. This is a very important turning point, as you can literally see her changing, after this scene. Even in this metaphorical way, it must have required for Akiho to muster all of her courage to confess her feelings. Did Kaito understand what she meant, here? To this day, I don't think he did. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said such a foolish thing like "I didn't think you needed me to be happy" in ch. 78. But he still wanted to spend time with her, he was visibly glad to receive that "invitation" from her, even though he never let that transpire from his words, his reply is a line carefully built in Japanese to address what Akiho wanted, not what he wanted. Cause he couldn't allow himself to want anything, aside from that one wish, knowing very well how this would've ended. Chapter 48 and 49 were giving us everything we needed to know to determine not only Akiho's feelings towards Kaito, but also his own feelings for her. It's very clear by the way they look at eachother in their scenes of these two chapters. And yet, the smell of "doom" was looming over them (so much that at the time I thought this would be their last conversation before everything went down the drain; fortunately it wasn't), so this "duality" created the perfect mix to get me definitively invested in these two.

1. Chapter 79, "I can't be on everyone's side"

I chose this scene for the 1st position because I absolutely adored the revolutionary and strong message that Sakura passed in the very culmination of the climax. I felt we really needed it. More than once I had feared, throughout the serialization, that CLAMP would've shown Sakura trying to "befriend" or "compromise" with the Squids & Association, when the "moment of the truth" would've come. Because of the apparent "dogma" that "Sakura is everyone's friend, no one is evil in Sakura's world, Sakura is such a good girl".

But what they had already shown about Akiho's clan and the Association ABSOLUTELY couldn't be justified or compromised with. CLAMP had already shown too much cruelty from them, there couldn't be any "redeeming arc" or anything like that, that wouldn't result in being offensive to the sensitivity and intelligence of the readers. Sometimes it happens that you just can't compromise with cruel people guided only by greed. You shouldn't. Especially if they abused other people ever since they were so little.

In this specific scene, CLAMP have put Sakura in front of a choice, but not only that: they also made her question her own morality. How I adored that! Sakura does realize that what she's about to do might not be good from a moral standpoint, forcing people to forget about something without their consent. Exactly what Kaito did before. But she doesn't care. This is something different, and the difference lies in the intentions. While Kaito acted out of love, those other people were clearly trying to harm her friends. Because of this, she spells out clearly that she can't be on everyone's side. Because at some point a choice needs to be made, and she chose Akiho and Kaito. This scene right here is, perhaps, the one that answers the question that I know many people made themselves throughout the story, and after it was over: did we need Akiho and Kaito in Cardcaptor Sakura?

Yes, we did.

Because they brought Sakura to this moment, and they pushed her to make this decision. The decision to choose her loved ones' happiness over anything else, even her own morality, particularly when cruel intentions were involved towards people with a background much less happier and ideal than hers'. The decision to go on along with them, rather than trying to go back to how things were before. The decision to do whatever in her power to protect them. A series of decisions that brought her an enormous character development. This thematic of "going on" rather than "going back" was so strong in Tsubasa too, and it's not a coincidence that everyone could feel a strong connection to that other CLAMP work, in the final 2 chapters (and not only because of the cameos).

I think this scene defined and changed CCS forever (for the better, in my opinion). I feel like the essence of Clear Card is all here. This feeling of "everything we went through was for this moment" is so strong that made me designate it as my n. 1 scene!✨

#reply #cardcaptor sakura #clear card arc #card captor sakura #syaosaku #yunaaki #akiho shinomoto #yuna d. kaito #sakura kinomoto #syaoran li #lol I didn't think this ask would take me so long to reply #but I had some 'accidents' along the way #anyway this is basically just me rambling again about my favorite scenes under the cut

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tarisilmarwen · 9 months

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Rebels Rewatch: "The Last Battle"

Well TCW fans were happy lol.

It's weird to write these as someone who has very little emotional investment in TCW.

Okay, full disclaimer, I have seen quite a chunk of the show, the husband showed me several of the best arcs, I've seen scattered bits and pieces here and there so I know who a lot of the key players are, a lot of the important events and everything but... I dunno the whole Clone Wars era has just never been a big area of interest for me.

Happy for y'all tho?

Anyway.

[Insert commentary about how this show has really gorgeous environments and y'all sleeping on this work and effort.]

Kanan lampshading the tendency for missions to go sideways ha ha.

Ooof this verbal stumble by Rex is painful, he doesn't know how to act in a scenario where a Jedi is not his commanding officer, ouch.

Oh wow, just like Ezra, Rex shields himself inside his helmet.

Ezra messing with the B1 head awww.

Side note: I LOVE how stocky the model for clones is in Rebels. TCW clones always felt too tall and thin to me, Rebels clones look way more like Temura Morrisan's actual physique.

Ezra accidentally being insensitive about the Clone Wars moment number 1.

Kanan's comment about "scars you can't see". Something the animated shows have always excelled at is showing the genuine aftereffects of PTSD.

Ezra's been playing the Watson role for the past few episodes and it is adorable.

Rex's initial panic when he thinks he's back in the war. :(((

I understand that TCW fandom cried a lot about Rex calling Cody's name unconsciously here.

*sobs* Ezra still looks so TINY compared to everyone else.

Kalani assumed the shutdown order was a Republic trick lol.

Lasats not being part of the Clone Wars is an interesting detail. Obviously, Doylistically speaking, they couldn't have been since they weren't created yet, but also I like the idea that Lasats were adamantly against participating in the conflict and the Separatists took one look at them and decided invading them anyway wasn't worth it.

Ezra maybe naively jumps into things feet first, to Rex and Kanan's consternation. They both already know that War Is Hell. But they also have the best chance of getting out of the situation if they relive their collective war experiences and face their past by fighting one last Clone Wars battle.

Oh hey! It's the shuttle they'd repurpose later as the Phantom II!

Hera and Sabine's small B-plot is very brief, but hilarious.

I think Pryce must have pulled a LOT of political favors in order to be granted occasional command of her own Star Destroyer. She's apparently allowed to lay a trap for the Spectres specifically and has the authority to deploy local Imperial outposts, too.

Not bad for a planetary governor. But then, Pryce was always ambitious beyond her station.

She attached herself to Thrawn primarily for the advancement opportunities, I think.

The sex was probably good too I mean what?

The boys be looking good.

Lol Kanan can hear the cacophony of clanking droid footprints.

Poor Ezra is so lost with all these references.

This is just a fun adventure for him, he doesn't have the frame of reference to know just how harrowing and dangerous this could be for the average Clone Wars Jedi commander and clone unit. So he doesn't know to keep tighter formation and wants to keep charging ahead instead of waiting to assess.

Rex casually calling his training and conditioning and genetic modulation his "programming", directly comparing himself to the droids. Ow. Ow ow ow ow. Hurting in "Central thesis of TCW, that the clones are not just identical mindless meat droids but individual and free-thinking men" feelings.

Kalani and Zeb's exchange here is hilarious.

Chopper jumpscaring Ezra lol.

Just wholecloth grabs his wrist like an excited kid trying to show their parent something.

He's come so far, I'm so proud. All he needs is the slightest gesture.

OH HEY IT'S MY FAVORITE SCENE.

Rex is... I think a little rattled by getting hit. Sure, the armor protected him, but you know it can't have been fun and he probably thought for a moment he had gone down for real. So yeah, Ezra's innocently flippant attitude about things upsets him.

"A good soldier follows orders!" Ouch. Ow ow ow ow that phrase, Rex, please.

You know it's something that's gotta echo inside his head constantly, his programming won't let him forget it.

Eternally a fan of the kicked-puppy flinch Ezra gives here.

Kanan immediately reassuring Ezra that it's not him. <3

The beginnings of a realization.

I slowed this sequence way down to check where Ezra got hit (for... reasons) and from what I can tell, it looks like Ezra didn't quite manage to block a shot and some of it fritzed past his blade and hit his right collar, right where his armor is.

Rex gets dinged in the helmet moments later, but as he said, "Gen 1 armor always holds up." Once again, Rebels showing off the importance of good armor. :)

<333333

The group get up to the command center and Ezra starts to live up to his name as "bridger" between disparate groups, first pointing out that by all rights the droids should have won their skirmish, they were just too old to actually function correctly. Kalani agrees and claims victory, but Ezra also pushes against that, pointing out that none of them actually won the Clone Wars. It just... ended.

The more techie side of Star Wars YouTube have analyzed both sides and concluded that, absent the obvious direction and self-sabotage by Palpatine, the Separatists would have eventually won the Clone Wars. But of course the sabotage and playing both sides was the point. No one was supposed to win the Clone Wars because it wasn't a real war, it wasn't naturally occurring or organic, it was a massive artificial power play by Palpatine, who instigated, incited, prolonged, and manipulated things so that whichever side "won", he would come out on top as the victor standing on the corpses of the Jedi.

Palpatine set both sides up to fail.

This is something Star Wars fandom repeatedly fails to understand, there was no winning in this whole situation. The trap was too carefully set, nothing the Jedi or the Senate or the Separatists did could have prevented the war from happening and nothing they did could have stopped its ultimate endgoal, which was the destruction of the Jedi Order and the consolidation of power under Palpatine as sole ruler of the galaxy. That's the whole tragedy, that they tried so hard, got so close, but ultimately could not prevent that awful fate from happening.

Barring Anakin sitting his ass down for just five more minutes or slashing through the correct party in Palpatine's office, there was no narrative escape. The choices were damned if you do, damned if you don't, and either way you're ending up dead.

Anyway, Ezra's armor-piercing questions absolutely stun Rex and Kalani into silence for a moment before Zeb points out the Empire won. Because they decided to conveniently show up just in time for a good Enemy Mine situation lol.

Kalani resists the logic at first since he's not at war with the Empire but the Stormtroopers casually destroying his scout unit probably helped change his mind lol.

Ezra Persuasion Checks both Kalani and Rex into accepting the team-up, like the budding little diplomat he is. :)

"Well this takes trust to a whole new level." Lol.

Nice to see the B1s retaining their status as hilariously abused butt monkeys.

Rex praising Ezra for "ending the Clone Wars" ahhhhh.

Sabine's eyes lighting up when she sees the shuttle they're bringing awww.

And TCW-inspired credits as a nice little homage.

Predictably this is one of the husband's favorite episodes. It's a fun little romp, pays some love to TCW and develops Ezra's character a bit. It doesn't really affect the larger story outside of that so I guess it could be called filler, but it's a fun filler.

#star wars #star wars rebels #ezra bridger #space dad and his precious pumpkin child #rebels rewatch #liveblog

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chipthekeeper · 11 months

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what is you favorite super subtle velcinta moment that makes you want to chew glass?

Okay so we know in episode 8 when they're in the cafe and we get the scene that fully rewired my brain? "I'm a mirror, Vel" etc and then our second hand-holding moment? It's the moment right after that. Vel's looking out at Bix and Brasso when she feels Cinta take her hand and then looks back at her but Cinta is also looking out across the street. They're there for a stakeout after all, makes sense for that to be where her eyes go.

BUT THEN.

As soon as Vel looks out again Cinta looks right at her.

It's so quick and so subtle and barely even in focus but it's there and it makes me crazy just how much emotion is in that one little moment. Along with that hand hold in general it's the moment that makes me just go "??????" when people try to claim that Cinta doesn't actually care about Vel or love her, because to me this is the CLEAREST indication that she does. Even after she's sort of cold and chastising, SHE is the one to take Vel by the hand and send a clear message that they're still connected, that there's still affection there even if it's not as much as Vel would want. And she may not be able to look Vel in the eye for that moment because she needs her to focus and because "the mirror hurts" as Diego Luna would say, but she can't help but look at her when she turns away again. She can't help it because that's her love.

I dunno, I don't think I'm explaining it as well as I meant to but it really is a subtle thing in their arc that makes me insane. I'll probably never stop finding little bits of this scene that do that, honestly.

#if i didn't have the brain fog this might be better #but alas i think the rona got me finally #if you want my full thoughts go read my velcinta week fic lol #anyway rant over #velcinta #cinta kaz #vel sartha #andor #forgive my horrible gif also #asks #anonymous #my posts

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heretherebedork · 7 months

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Here we are, almost at the finish line, and for the life of me I still don't get it. They are all messed up, confused, broken people. So... Why so much Top hate? I mean, even if we considered what he did cheating, since when is cheating a high crime in bl? That have been actual crimes committed by characters in this show and that's apparently fine. So why can't Top shake whatever image people assigned to him 9 episodes ago?

I dunno. Honestly, I like Top more now than I did at the start but I'm still not super attached.

Top is interesting but I feel like a lot of that interesting is being held back for some reason?

But I will be clear that a lot of BL fans absolutely consider cheating to the be the Pinnacle of Worst Things Possible in most shows and most relationships. Cheating has long, long been a high crime in BL and is the cause of like 90% of miscommunications in shows based on misunderstandings and assumptions of cheating.

But in the context of Only Friends? Top's biggest issue for me isn't the cheating, it's that he... has this air of trying to be perfect all the time in a way that doesn't work and I don't find that interesting, honestly?

He and Mew spent the first half of the show basically trying to act out their own little romcom of a BL that didn't really fit the energy everyone else was bringing or that I was expecting from the show. And I now struggle to see how Top fits into the world and into these relationships.

Top has spent most of the series sort of... outside of everyone else and not just as in the actual friend group. He's the addict who basically claims to instantly shake his addiction, he's traumatized but in a way that doesn't seem to affect him too badly (the scene of not wanting to take the sleeping pills anymore was good but I need more than that), he's a top tier guy who doesn't do serious relationships but he only has one ex we hear about or meet and Boeing is the best trash ever but I can see why you might not wanna pursue a longterm relationship with him.

My views on Top have changed but at the core I just don't find him to be a super interesting character. He has had good scenes (all my favorite scenes of his are with Boston and Sand) and I wish we'd gotten more of him with the other characters and less of him with Mew. He plays off everyone else so well in terms of being more fully realized as a character.

I dunno. I'm not invested in TopMew as a couple because I think they were presented and then proceeded in a way that doesn't fit with the vibes of anyone else but also in a way that feels... shallow.

I could not explain to you why Top loves Mew. I couldn't explain why Mew loves Top. Because their love just feels like it was written Because They're A Branded Pair Of Actors.

I am struggling to put more words into this.

But definitely part of it is that Top is written as a kind of foil for Ray as well but in order to fulfill that role he has to be what Ray isn't while also being what Ray is (just like Boeing and Mew) and that means he has to have the addiction and the trauma but he has to have gotten past them (like Boeing has morals and understands maturity but has gotten past that and gone right into being trash but trash with morals).

There's a lot that goes into what makes people dislike characters or find them to be ones that just aren't as engaging or interesting and I think the show did Top and Mew a bit dirty in the relationship development by having them both trying from the start because they started trying before they got to know each other and then the show kind of FFed their getting to know each other bit while showing us deeper moments with the other couples.

Or at least that's how it felt to me.

#asked and answered #only friends the series #i do like Top more now than i did #but i still find that the show isn't giving him the depth i want #and his scenes with sand and boston are better than any scene with mew so far #not his fault

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cookii-moon · 11 months

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FULL Dragons Rising thoughts and opinions!

PLEASE BE AWARE SPOILERS FOR EPISODES 1-10 OF DRAGONS RISING LIES AHEAD!!! If you have not watched it PLEASE be aware that the following contains both massive and minor spoilers for the entire plot of part 1, if you haven’t seen the full thing and wish to go in without spoilers I HEAVILY recommend you save this for later. I put this message here for those who do not have the spoiler tags filtered.

so… new ninjago show! So far? Absolutely love it. It’s shaping up to be interesting and… …well written??! I really enjoyed It, especially the characterization. Sooo good. No concrete opinions on the overarching plot yet, since.. it isn’t out… BUT I do think it’s shaping up to be pretty great.

Now without further ado-

1: Characters

1.1: Arin

I’d say I enjoy him! I do like how he’s portrayed as giddy and all ready to learn, his dream basically just came true and it’s great. Man hyper fixated so much that he taught himself an ancient art style and like yeah that tracks.

I like his design - you can tell he’s had a rough life by the dirt on his shirt and the scratch marks on his face, but he tries not to give up hope or let it get to him too much. I also like how he has a haircut commonly associated with black people and they kept the theme by also having that one line about a haircut he tried to get reference Zane’s, since Zane also has a haircut commonly used by black people. Nice lil way of alluding to a potentially POC character while still using the Lego skin tones.

His little moments where he lets his struggles get the best of him and showcases how his life these past few years have also impacted him for not just the better but also worse - they’re great. Nice way of balancing his character and personality with his experiences while not losing the charm. Things like him being all self deprecating sometimes, or how he felt seen when people looked up to him - they’re great. Not as much as I’d like, but i get the feeling that while this part was more focused on Sora and her backstory, the next might be more centered around Arin.

On a more personal note - while I think he’s great and has potential, I dunno if he’s really my thing. I don’t hate him, I actually like him, just not as much as some other characters right now. I think he needs some time to grow on me, or it’s just not my thing. Either way, he’s cool. Also I love how he just slaps his medallion on his face when he gets second place… it’s so dramatic-

1.2: Sora

aaaa trans kitty cat girl my beloveddd she’s just ugghhhh I love her so much. Probably one of my favorite new characters. I liked her but was scared they’d go too far with the generic big sister trope and she’d never get any deeper than that but boy I’m glad I was wrong.

I love her design. The whites and blues a pinks? Really glad they didn’t just go for a full color again, it makes her more distinct! I also love the prosthetic arm SO MUCH. Rare to see any sort of disability rep in media. Even rarer to see prosthetics. (Also yes ik it’s possible it’s just like armor or smthn but given the way it moves I’m like 99% sure it’s a prosthetic, plus I could be wrong but It looks a lot like she has it off during the scene where Lloyd wakes them up, since you can’t see her gold/prosthetic arm where it would usually be. Only going based off of pictures and memory here tho so.) < — haaaahaaaa yeah so uh future Cookie here, wrote that part before the statement came out..yeah that aged poorly. Look maybe they said it’s armor but I REFUSE to accept it that is a prosthetic to me. My mind has engrained it as a prosthetic meaning I couldn't change my mind even if I tried. Leaving that part in tho for histories sake. - Also, the Japanese cat girl is such a vibe. I love how I was right with the blue scrunchie in my art of her.,The power of character design.

I loved her story so much. She was just a kid with a love for technology and making the world a better place, she got offered what she thought was her dream job only to realize the cruel truth she’d likely been ignoring, in such a traumatizing way by the person she looked up to. She got shunned not only socially but by her own parents, being told she was a horrible person for prioritizing the dragons life over her cities energy and questioning the dictatorship. She grew to hate her home and fled and made a life for herself. I love her lil deadname tease, I love how she feels towards her powers and how she feels like she isn’t all that Lloyd thinks she is, how she clearly has issues and also her personality. Her siblings energy with Arin is so good. I love when Lloyd and Arin doubt who’s side they’re on too. I like how she doesn’t learn to control her powers like some ex machina when it’s needed on her own. She tries her hardest but fails and instead of constantly letting that get her down she still tries to fight without them, even if it doesn’t always go well. Dhdhfjdjs I could rant all day.

So uhh yeah i love her. Kitty cat girl. I really like the duality between her and Arin but also the stuff they have in common like sndhdhsben. I mean it should be obvious I like her. She’s in my title thingymajig and I made art for her. But still. Hdjdjdhdh I LOVB HER.

Also this isn’t part of my analysis but when she gets fake IDs if you translate the ninjagan on her card it reads “Sora Surname” as a placeholder and I think it’d be hilarious if we just started using that as her last name tag since this community is obsessed with them. Sora Surname. It’d be so funny. Please tag your posts Sora Surname.

1.3: Euphrasia

So like when dragons rising first released I saw quite a few peoples hating on this girl and imo I actually really like her. I feel like the hate is sort of unfounded but I’ll get into that later.

I like her!! I like the idea of her being a cloud kingdom monk, i like the new cloud kingdom designs, I like that FINALLY girls seem to exist there, and her wanting to ignore and hide her powers because she’s happy where she is and she doesn’t want to lose it. Side note, I do prefer this cloud kingdom, I feel like it leaves more room. Like if someone doesn’t like the idea that they write destiny at all they can just.. chose to see them as a sort of religious group who doesn’t actually write fate, and then if you like the idea that they can control some amount of destiny you can say that they do have control over some parts of it, but that they simply can’t control everything and in the end it’s not only up to them but also the people of the world if the prophecies come true or not (personally I like to think that’s how it is/is implied) or that they COULD control destiny but can’t anymore after the merge. Idk you can stretch it more and I like that. So much better than the old cloud kingdom imo.

Back to Euphrasia, I do like her story and the little we see of her. I’m not actually bothered by the fact that she only appears in one episode. I’ve seen people complaining about it but come on guys, we literally only have ten episodes, would you have preferred that she randomly pops into imperium when she has no logical way of getting there and that’s where like every single other episode takes place?? There physically wasn’t anywhere else she would have appeared after episode 5 unless you made her join Sora and Arin, which not only would you need to lengthen the plot to develop her as a character with interactions since they JUST met, but also it’s refreshing to have a new EM who isn’t one of the new MCs.

the OTHER reason I see people hate her is because of Morro. Obviously, she’s the new master of wind, meaning Morro is dead, and his element went back to the cycle and found a new host. So people are upset.

guys. Guys we literally knew this. We’ve known he was dead since like 2015. We’ve known he moved on to the departed realm since 2016. We’ve known that the wind element has gone back to the cycle and found a new host for YEARS. That doesn’t mean Morro suddenly doesn’t exist. He just doesn’t have his element anymore. He could still appear in the new series, and even if he doesn’t I’m honestly ok with that. His arc is done and i get the feeling he’d go out of his way to avoid the ninja after the merge anyway. It isn’t Euphrasia fault, stop hating on her D:

I don’t have much else to say about her yet. I loved her story and moments and design and vibe and everything but there isn’t much else to talk about bc of the smol screen time amount, so yeah.

1.4: Wyldfyre

Silly wolf-raised-girl-trope-with-a-dragon-twist. I love her so much. Not sure I’d call her one of my favs yet (uuugh they’re all my favs… sobs..) only bc we didn’t see much of her character interactions n stuff.

Her design is so pretty. The colors make her look like a Qilin to me which I love so much.

I do like how she’s knowledgeable enough with humans to be able to interact with the rest of the cast while still keeping her draconic behaviors or knowledge that she gained by being raised around them. I think it’s a nice little limbo and I feel like we’re gonna see at least one identity crisis from her now that she’s in the group.

I’m usually not much of a fan of these types of characters but I actually really like her and I’m excited to see where they go with her. Plus, her powers and the lighting they give off are so pretty.

1.5: Lobbo

I had to include him. Look at him. I CALLED IT. I TOLD YOU ALL, ALL THE WAY BACK IN THE TRAILER DAYS I POINTED OUT LOBBOS MECH. I SAID I LOVED HIM ALREADY AND I WAS RIGHT. TAKE THAT INTERNET!! I unironically love him he’s so funny nobody understands him he’s just THERE with parental and relationship struggles and it’s just so funny to me. Little silly orb man. Now onto the villains!

1.6: Empress Beatrix

So I like… love her design, it’s so menacing and I think she’s so awesome looking. Super gender too. I find her weird rules funny but also sometimes I want to punch her in the face. Like.. why did she get so mad about Rapton being incompetent, but then.. fire Ras… who didn’t really do anything wrong except for fail that ONE time.. instead of Rapton.. who physically isn’t competent whatsoever?? Like I don’t get it?? It felt so random. Maybe it’s some form of her wanting to feel superior and in control so she got rid of Ras as a statement. But then… why not also fire Rapton, who thinks highly of himself bc of the position you gave him?.. I dunno I don’t get it maybe they’ll tell us in part 2.

1.7: Lord Ras

Ah yes, the guy people seem to really like. I’ll be honest, I don’t get the appeal?? Like his design feels out of place, which I guess is intentional but I just.. don’t really like the look of the awkward head mold. It’s a personal thing ig. His personality is just kind of boring to me and we don’t know anything else about him because he’s that scary bad guy general except oh wait he screwed up once and got thrown in prison!! Like I don’t get it?? Look guys he’s not even that attractive. I might be aroace but even I can tell that much. It’s the voice isn’t it. Y’all are simping for the voice smh /lh

I guess his whole “plan” thing is a bit interesting but even that isn’t something I’m too interested. I kinda just found him pretty boring and I felt disinterested whenever he showed up.

like in the last few episodes it felt like they were trying to make us feel bad for him with the way the empress treated him but like, they don’t give us anything to feel bad for?? I dunno the whole thing felt awkward and clunky.

Maybe my opinions will change in part 2 where we’re probably gonna find out more about him, but until then, meh.

also I want to punch him in the face sometimes. I dunno he’s just being all th e r e and boring and so I want to punch him and get him off of the screen because it’s like an annoying type of boring. Yk like an annoying torturous silence. But boring. Yeah that. No offense I don’t hate him I just want to punch him off of my screen.

1.8: Rapton

Silly goofy guy. I’ll be honest I found his incompetence a bit.. annoying? Like I get he’s supposed to be comic relief but like it doesn’t feel right sometimes?? It’s just a personal thing ig. I feel like having some comic relief villains is ok but imperium just has too much comic relief in their villain roster?? Like Ras and Beatrix are pretty much the only capable ones in a fight. Ras got chucked in prison and barely shows up or does much, and Beatrix still has comic relief elements in her ridiculous laws and such. LaRow could count but shes not really a competent fighter since she cowers and nopes out the second Arin tries to fight her. I feel like it just.doesn’t work with imperiums vibe having rapton as a general, and honestly i didn’t find his jokes funny (but ofc humor is subjective). I don’t dislike him, I just don’t really care about him. I want to punch him in the face whenever he shows up but out of annoyance.

1.9: Dr. LaRow

She shows up and I want to punch her but this time out of malice and hatred. She’s a good villain and I like how they handled her but I physically can not feel anything but spite for this woman and I love that. Great villain. Hate her with every fiber of my being which is how it should be.

1.10: Dorama

I don’t have much to say about him asides from that the magician vibes are fun and that I want to punch him in the face for his attitude towards living beings.

… apparently I really feel like punching all of them. Huh. I swear I’m not like this usually I dunno something about all these villains is just punchable.

2: Interactions

Honestly? I’d say the interactions in this show were great. Sora and Arin are great foils to each other and best buds. My only thing is I hope the show doesn’t try to push a ship (I’ve seen people complain about shipping them and while I see their dynamic in a platonic familial sense I have nothing against people shipping them romantically atm since we don’t know of anything that’d make it problematic, I just don’t think it should be forced in canon) but I choose to be hopeful and say it probably won’t. Lloyds interactions with his new students are amazing and so funny srfvjrtfjer Lloyds really gone from the guy who didn’t know what a VCR was to the guy who probably still doesn’t know what a VCR is (somehow) but has now adopted two strays and needs to pretend to know what a VCR is. It’s so funny. The sibling bicker between Lloyd, Kai and Nya was ok, I guess? Never cared much for the RGB sibling idea… Iknowww shame on me but uh was it just me or did the interactions feel a bit… forced? I dunno, something about it just felt off. Was it just me or did anyone else feel like that?? Also Soras interactions with Dr. LaRow and Rapton… so good… Overall I like the interactions even if the ones between the ninja felt a bit forced.

3: Writing & plot

So I enjoyed the writing.. specifically the characters dialogue and such. I think this season has some really good balance between dialogue and characters. I liked the pacing a lot up until the imperium episodes. I don’t have a problem with them on their own - I liked the conflict it sparked and the stakes and seeing Sora’s backstory, but I also felt like it dragged on too much?? Like Sora kept escaping and then getting captured and then escaping and then going back like it felt really backtracky and it kind of messed with the consistency and the pacing, yk?? Also the battle with the protacs definitely felt like the writers were trying to stall or smthn. Idk.

Also, did Zane popping up feel.. unnecessary and rushed to anybody else?? Like the IDEA was awesome and cool, things were great up until they opened the pod.. then Zane pops up and he doesn't really do anything except for immediately become a generic background exposition tool, he barely even interacts with Kai and Nya. Having him there felt so… unnecessary? He doesn’t DO anything. You could get rid of him and just give them another way of activating the monastery and it’d change nothing. Plus it’s NOT explained and he’s just so… unemotional and “whatever” about it that it just… feels so unnatural?? Idk I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s just me not liking how they seem to be reverting to making Zane more of a robotic exposition tool like after s4. I don’t like it. You could’ve just left him to part 2 though.

I’ve seen ppl complain about the “retcons” with Lloyd saying he trained under Master Wu for years and being shown as a child, but like, they’re not really retcons…? From what I remember they never give us any sort of specifics towards the timeframe in which S1-S2 takes place outside of S2 taking place only a few weeks after the S1 finale, but that doesn’t really apply to the ENTIRE season. It’s not Impossible that the events we see all take place over the course of a few years, since most of the episodes aren’t connected to each other beyond the overarching plot. And nothing ever said that Wu didn’t train Lloyd. What we see isn’t the only training that took place. Maybe I forgot something important that says otherwise, but the idea that S1-2 took place in only a few weeks/months is completely fan made, meaning it wasn’t a retcon. Sure, maybe it seems weird, but it’s never been stated otherwise. Now, if it IS a retcon, I’m not complaining for one. Why, you might ask? Because them using child Lloyd and saying he trained under Master Wu for years might mean we can FINALLY be rid of the Tomorrows tea confusion!! We could have him grow up naturally, or age him up and clarify and elaborate on how it works, we could FIX the entire stupid argument that has been going on for YEARS. I for one am ecstatic at that possibility. Also, it means we might get additional context and stuff for S1-S2, which sounds fun ,so honestly I have no problem with it. There have been worse plot holes/retcons *glares at Nyad from across the room*

I can’t say much about the overarching plot yet, since obviously it isn’t out, but it’s shaping up to be pretty exciting!

4: Worldbuilding

I feel like I can’t judge this TOO much considering the nature of part 1. I absolutely loved the crossroads and the mix of different cultures, real splatsville vibes, but I do feel like we should get to see more of how the other realms are doing. Imperium felt a bit.. strange? Like it’s just a massive city of humans right?? I don’t really get why it had to be an entire separate realm, I think it should’ve been more unique on like a larger scale. I dunno though. Honestly there wasn’t much worldbuilding in this part, so I hope we get more soon.

5: Visual design & animation

Okay so this new series is BEAUTIFUL. The colors and the backgrounds are so much more vibrant, the lighting is so pretty, the environments are amazing, they kept the wild brain clothing textures and just uuuugh I love it so muchychxhazjchcjdiwhthfs the animation felt very expressive and ueuahahehfhdsj I have no words props to wildbrain and the animators/artists. It’s so pretty.

Overall this part was great and I’m really excited to see what comes next!!

also uh on a side note this post took me *checks date* uhh 2… 2 weeks.. y e a h. So uh. Enjoy.

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neversetyoufree · 1 year

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What are your thoughts about Vanijeanne and Dominoé? A lot of people think that they’re forced and have no chemistry whatsoever, especially with Vanijeanne. As a Vanoé shipper, I don’t really mind Vanijeanne but I see a lot of people who are annoyed at that ship. Could you give your perspective on this discourse?

Y'know anon, generally speaking my opinion on anything that can be labeled "shipping discourse" is "I am an adult woman with a job and thus physically incapable of caring about this." It takes a lot for me to find other people's shipping habits actively annoying, as I mostly just. ignore and/or block anything that I'm personally not into.

My personal thoughts on shipping are also colored by the fact that I have a somewhat uncommon relationship to the concept. My engagement with fandom has become extremely focused on analysis rather than transformation in the past few years. I am much more hung up on focusing on canon and canon only than I think a lot of other people are. My opinion on Vnc ships is mostly defined by "do I think they're attracted to each other in canon?" which I realize is not how everyone else picks their favorite romances.

I suppose my take on DomiNoé is that I don't ship them, but mostly that's just not really the context in which I think about their relationship. My read on canon is that Domi's crush on Noé is unrequited. I don't think he's shown evidence of being attracted to her, and I also think it would really undermine the amusement park arc's thematic beats if it turned out Domi's jealousy of Jeanne was "justified." I wrote way more about this previously.

I love Domi and Noé's relationship. I find it tragic and fascinating, and there's a lot of love between them. Given the physical/blood aspect of their whole thing, they're like, super close friends with benefits in which one of the friends is madly in love with the other. And also the one that's in love is deeply traumatized and mentally ill and obsessed with not being a burden to the other guy. And the one that's not in love is compulsively unable to recognize both the crush and the trauma. I could write about their weird-ass bullshit forever. How could you say they don't have chemistry?

However, I'm aware that "I think Noé's feelings are platonic and I love digging into their tragic dysfunction" isn't generally what a person means when they say they "ship" DomiNoé. So like, I dunno man. My relationship to their whole thing is kinda separate from the concept of shipping. I'm just here to watch the toxic drama.

And on the VaniJeanne end it's like. Their relationship is a whole complicated can of worms that I cannot begin to get into properly in this post. They're toxic they're in love they're doomed to fail they're each other's parallels. Whether I "ship" them depends heavily on your definition of ship.

Do I want the series to end declaring Vanitas and Jeanne as true love and Vnc's one true couple? No. Do I seek out fanworks about their relationship? Generally no. Do I think their canon relationship is healthy or all unambiguous romance? No. But do I find their whole thing really fascinating? Absolutely.

VaniJeanne is a relationship that starts with an extremely non-consensual kiss. That instance of assault is then followed by multiple scenes of Vanitas goading Jeanne into yet more physical intimacy/sexual contact that she very much claims on the surface not to want. And that, kids, is what we might call sexual harassment and coercion. That is not a foundation that you can build a healthy relationship on.

Furthermore, I will admit that I find it really unsettling when a certain small subset of VaniJeanne fans cannot admit that the non-consensual scenes between them are what they are. Back when the anime was first airing, I saw a lot of people new to the series start talking about how much they shipped them after episode three, when their only romantic interaction was the forced kiss. And I suppose that's my most discourse-y opinion about this whole thing, because I do not like people who cannot tell when something is meant to be a depiction of assault.

I realize that Mochijun abruptly changes tones to comedy during/right after the kiss, but still. I do think uncritically romanticizing that moment speaks to a pretty striking lack of media comprehension. The entire point of that scene (the hostage plan, the kiss, the dhams' commentary, etc) is the reveal that Vanitas is a freaky little asshole (affectionate).

However! Their relationship doesn't stay purely in this realm of exclusively non-consent. They evolve during the date and Gévaudan, and as of my writing this (hello post-57 hiatus), their whole thing has gotten more complex. I think Jeanne is getting a lot out of having Vanitas there for her at this point, and Vanitas is starting to treat her more like a person rather than a prop to bounce his trauma responses off of. I can't say much more about it because I frankly just haven't unpacked everything from more recent VaniJeanne yet. I haven't worked out what to make of it besides that it's compelling and bizarre.

Anyway, if you want my more specific thoughts on VaniJeanne stuff, you can read more about why I think Vanitas kissed her in the first place and why I think the violation of consent motif kinda works for Jeanne and her story. The lack of consent itself is absolutely serving a purpose in both their stories.

VaniJeanne are two deeply damaged people using one another to cope with their respective traumas and illnesses, and it's wild and fascinating and very often (though not always) unhealthy as hell. I don't think "forced" is at all the right word to describe their whole thing. But at the same time, I do find uncritical romanticization of their more questionable moments eyebrow-raising at best.

At the end of the day, like I said, I just don't know if "do you ship them?" is the best lens to ask this question through. I probably don't, by most people's definition, since I'm cheering for endgame Vanoé, but that doesn't mean their relationship isn't interesting as hell. And even I have to admit that I find some of VaniJeanne's later and fluffier moments genuinely sweet and fun.

VaniJeanne and DomiNoé aren't my preferred picks for endgame romances, and I don't personally tend to seek them out in fanworks. And at least in DomiNoé's case, I don't think canon supports a mutual romance. But that doesn't mean I find their relationships annoying or have anything inherently against people who have them as their preferred ships. I think talking about VaniJeanne responsibly takes a bit of care and nuance, given how much their relationship deals with the violation of autonomy and consent, but that doesn't mean I'm, like, against people shipping them.

They're the closest VnC currently has to an official couple, and I am, as established, obsessed with canon. By definition I cannot disregard them.

Also, like I said at the beginning, I tend to just block anyone that I see with a particularly bad take and then move on with my life. Aside from being a bit startled when I occasionally come across, like, some real weird pro-vanijeanne-assault youtube comments or whatever, I devote very little mental space to "shipping discourse"

#this post kinda just turned into me rambling and promoting my other meta posts haha whoops #anyway you should read the last post that I linked. there's a long addition on there #all about vnc and vampire fiction and sxual horror. and I think it's one of the most fun posts I've ever written #nothing much to do with the topic of this ask. but I reread it when I linked it. and god I love that post #I love y'all. I'll love you even more if you stop asking me about shipping discourse and start asking me about stuff like that #lmao #vnc #ask #anon #dominoé tag #vanijeanne tag #meta #english major hours

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cowardlybean · 2 months

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teruki and minigishi. go forth

thank you fish my number one supporter

Teruki

Why I like them- middle school be so fine then BAM. WILDLY HUMBLING EXPERIENCE. and learning to become better because of it. Also other reasons but I am not describing my ancient middle school drama in comparison to teru

Why I don’t- I actually cannot think of any criticisms about teruki that boy is just living

Favorite episode- S1 EP5 where Mob fights him! That’s actually the episode that got me hooked on mp100 :3 Also S3 broccoli arc when psycho helmet is behind him that scene scared the shit out of me

Favorite season/movie- I actually really like season 1 Teruki because his whole fucking world got flipped on its head and he immediately gets a giant ass wig. That’s how I acted in middle school too

Favorite line- can’t think of one off the top of my head but something from confession arc most likely

Favorite outfit- transgender shoes :3

OTP- N/A

Brotp- Minori and Teru!

Head Canon- I think he used social media the most out of the main kids (Tome, Mob, Ritsu, Shou, etc) so he pulls references that Mob just does Not understand out sometimes

Unpopular opinion- um. Raises hand. I prefer platonic TeruMob,, I don’t mind the ship ofc I just see it better as a friendship!!

A wish- PLEASE GIVE US A TERUKI PIGEON TOED FIGURE. PLEASE. PLEASE

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen-

5 words to best describe them- “average middle-schooler wildly inaccurate worldview” turns into “that one really queer friend”

My nickname for them- haystack

Minegeshi

Why I like them- the fact he gets a new start at the flower shop and learns to take care of plants rather than use them. God I love life.

Why I don’t- I’d probably like him more if there was more post-Claw content of him

Favorite episode (scene if movie)- I LOVE THE BIT IN BROCCOLI ARC WHEN HE TOUCHES A ROOT AND JUST KEELS OVER LMAO

Favorite season/movie- his appearances in s3. All of them. I love them.

Favorite line- can’t think of any :(

Favorite outfit- um the main one?

OTP- n/a

Brotp- I think he still hangs out with hatori sometimes

Head Canon- BOTANY NERD. KNOWS EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW. Put him in a greenhouse and he will flourish

Unpopular opinion- idk how popular it is but I don’t ship him with anyone so I guess there’s that? I dunno

A wish- minegeshi figure with plants. Please. Please. Ple

5 words to best describe them- “um. Uh. Plant. I guess”

#cowardly asks #ask game

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jezabatlovesbats · 3 months

Text

2023: The Year of Milestones

What a crazy year it's been, am I right? I graduated high school, and I'm now a college freshman. We got some new films that were memed a lot and made a lot of cash. The Owl House and Summer Camp Island ended. I got into some new things as well. Unikitty: Big Bright World turned 5 in January 2023, which is why I crappily edited in the milestone doodle I did for it. You can find it here because I made an ask blog for BBW. For anyone who doesn't yet know me, Unikitty and the BBW AU mean a lot to me.

Following that milestone, I realized there were more things I liked that were turning 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 that year than I thought, and those are very noteworthy digits to me. I wanted to create anniversary drawings for them in celebration. But, because I was procrastinating from them and I also had other stuff going on, I couldn't.

Instead of individual milestone drawings, I decided to compile all of them into one big tribute. For the same reasons, though, I had to delay it to January of 2024. I was aiming to have it ready to go by about New Years' Eve. But then on Christmas day, me and my brothers were surprised with a trip to California, and we left three days later.

Without further padding out, I'll talk about the things from which the characters are here partying with me, and what those things mean to me. I'll also talk about what the 5 on my hot chocolate mug means, because I'm not 5 years old, and I wasn't born on Leap Day. Here we go!

We're starting with the oldest thing featured, The Nightmare Before Christmas, which came out in 1993 and hit 30 years. Me and my family went to see it in a theater back in October of 2020, leading to me growing fascinated by it, its characters and its worldbuilding. I LOVE ME SOME COOL AND INTERESTINGLY DEVELOPED WORLDS, OKAY? THE HOLIDAY FOREST IS NO EXCEPTION! I thought of some other towns based on New Years, birthdays and Earth Day. I also thought up some backstory for Lock, Shock and Barrel because they're my favorite characters and I need more of them. Honestly, I felt like I was late to the party. Like, why hadn't I watched it sooner? But let me tell you, you can get invested in something at any time, no matter how dead its fandom is. I think the reason why TNBC stuck with me is because of its spooky-fun atmosphere. I'm not a fan of horror movies; when I go into the garage or go to pee at night, I have this subconscious fear that something's gonna jump out and slash me in two. I sleep with a nightlight on, too. But if it's clear that the spooks are non-threatening (which the Halloween Town citizens made clear in This is Halloween) and there's no graphic violence or gore anywhere, I'm all for it. After all, I enjoy both cute and dark things, and that's how I present myself. Also, I made an entry for TheITinFIT's YTP collab for TNBC in observance of its 30th anniversary, and you can watch it at the link in the replies!

Finding Nemo came out in 2003, so it's hit 20 years. Let me tell you- I was scared of this movie when I was younger. I wouldn't watch it because of the part where Marlin and Dory were sucked up by that whale, or when that pelican swallowed them (not Nigel; he's a good egg). I was also scared of that Octonauts episode where Dashi gets stuck inside a whale shark. I've always had this fear of getting swallowed by a larger being. And this is just my personal opinion, but I'm disgusted by vore. It's not for me, and it's never been. I can handle those scenes now- after all, Dory and Marlin made it out alive both times (and Dashi did, too). Later on, I had a greater appreciation for FN. Like spooky-fun stuff, another favorite, uh, aesthetic of mine is oceans and the sea. I dunno- sea animals are cool, and I've been fascinated with them since I was a kid. I had this phase where I wanted to be a marine biologist. There's just something so relaxing, but simultaneously exciting about Finding Nemo, and for that reason, it's now one of my favorites from Pixar.

I was listening to the theme song for this show while writing this. Teen Titans also premiered in 2003, and I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I was introduced to it by Teen Titans Go. In 2018, we saw Teen Titans Go To The Movies in theaters, and I followed TTG up until, like, 2021. By that point, it just wasn't enjoyable for me anymore, but I still very much enjoy the classic series. I watched it from start to finish in 2019 and got super into it, especially the HIVE Five. On Wattpad, I created a random story that was basically a blog for the HIVE. I wrote them profiles, let my followers ask them questions, and did incorrect quotes. It's deleted now, though. I was weirdly obsessed with See-More to the point where I made an OC that was his cousin, made OCs based on the other four senses, and shipped him with Scorpion (though they broke up later on). My mom printed the HIVE symbol on a black T-shirt, and it's still in my closet today. Besides them, one of my other favorite characters is Raven. Any character with a purple and black color scheme will catch my eye, but I also found her history and character traits interesting to the point where she influenced one of my favorite OCs I've made. I've got the entire Teen Titans series on DVD, including the Trouble in Tokyo movie. It was one of the first things I could say was one of my fandoms, so it's got a special place in my heart. By the way, I’d LOVE a (good) HIVE Five movie.

Another thing I absolutely ADORE that came out of 2003 was the Mario & Luigi RPG series. I mean, I've been playing games in the entire Super Mario franchise since I was young. With this series, I'd always be playing Partners in Time, Bowser's Inside Story and Dream Team on my DS, but in both games, I could never get past two parts. For PiT, I couldn't beat the Swiggler, and in BiS, I couldn't get past the Pump Works area inside Bowser. (Like, I couldn't find the Stingler, even though it was actually super easy. You know, the sparky bzzt thing that opens that one door?) Dream Team was the only game my younger self actually completed, and I think that's why it was the game I liked the most. We got Paper Jam when it came out, and though me and my brothers fought over who got to play it for a while, I played it and beat it. I REALLY started getting invested in the M&L series in 2017, when the Superstar Saga remake came out. Now, as I said earlier, big, elaborate worlds with multiple places to explore and lots of characters will have my attention! So, I was hyped to traverse the Beanbean Kingdom. I never played the original Superstar Saga because we never owned any type of Gameboy. But, I got the remake, played it, and beat both SS and Bowser's minions. One thing led to another, and I fell back down the M&L hole. I even wrote a Prince and the Pauper-like story about Prince Peasley and Red, one of my OCs, but it's also deleted now. I had the idea that the series would be a great TV show, leading to me developing an AU in which I write it like one, with my own characters and kingdoms. Some of you may be thinking that if the M&L series appeals to me, then I would enjoy Paper Mario, too. If you are, I think you might be right!

As I just said, I loved Dream Team the most, and it's still my favorite game in the series. For this occasion, I was planning on writing a post on why Dream Team was, in fact, a CLASSIC, but again- because of personal business and procrastination, I didn't. I forgot all of my points anyway. But I will say this: even with all the long tutorials, the visuals in the game are absolutely GORGEOUS. I love how well-detailed everything is. The colors were so vibrant and dream-like (just like the game title, guys!). And, the music is AWESOME. In fact, it's one of my favorite game soundtracks ever. I want more of the music with lyrics! I already wrote some for three of them! Luigi really got his time to shine, and his and Mario's brotherliness thoughout the game was just SO amazing and sweet. Luigi believes in Mario so much, and he's willing to fight alongside him, and they're unstoppable together! Also, the Pi'illos were and still are an extremely interesting concept to me, to the point where I thought up a whole Elena of Avalor-type character arc for Prince Dreambert. To me, he seems like a prince learning to rule his land in a different time after being stuck in a nightmare chunk for who knows how long. Anyways, Dream Team is amazing. I freakin' love it. Not much more needed to be said.

Hitting 15 years in 2023 is one of my all-time favorite movies ever, WALL-E! I have loved and appreciated this movie ever sense I was a literal toddler! I made a bunch of little WALL-E stories, so I’ve been writing fanfiction as early as then. I just didn’t know what that was yet. I remember pretending to be EVE and M-O, the latter of whom is my favorite character. I loved it when I was younger, but I didn’t realize just how amazing it was until I started fixating on it again in 2021. When you revisit something, you can notice lots of things you hadn’t seen before and understand why you love it and what makes it so great. Like, I came to better understand WALL-E’s story and themes, and appreciate how gorgeous it is. I watched Hello, Dolly because of WALL-E, and the parallels I noticed blew my little mind. Those old stories I wrote when I was 5 influenced that WALL-E human AU I made. I think I might bring back my gijinkas and create ones for other things with non-human characters because I miss them. I think the reason why this movie appeals to me is because WALL-E himself is fun and perky and curious (and music-loving) in a similar way to myself. And, I’m a firm believer that there’s more to life than my job. I think that because of WALL-E, I enjoy sci-fi stories and worlds just as much as fantasy stories and worlds. I’m also a sucker for stories that combine sci-fi with fantasy. I still love and appreciate WALL-E so, so, SOOO much, and it’s such a huge part of my life. Autistic WALL-E is real to me.

A movie that came out the same year as WALL-E that I also still love a lot is Ponyo. It came out in the US a year later, but I’m still including it here. Ponyo was my introduction to Studio Ghibli, and I watched it as often as I did WALL-E back in the day. Me and my brother LOVED this movie and would watch it while in in the car a lot of the time. I remember that my brother even started pretending to be a character called “Sonyo.” I think he also started liking ham. I already said how much I love oceans and fantasies! I don’t really watch a lot of anime or movies from Japan, so this was actually my first time drawing Sosuke and Ponyo. I think they came out pretty great. If it hadn’t been for this movie, though, I don’t think I would have wanted to check out Ghibli’s other films. I did watch Doraemon, Yokai Watch and some Pokémon XY Kalos Quest, so I think I still may have wanted to see other anime shows like Eizouken (which I watched all 12 episodes of). But, I’ve got Ponyo to thank for introducing me to Japanese animation as a whole, and in 2021, I watched all of Ghibli’s other movies (except for Grave of the Fireflies). I think I’ll rewatch Spirited Away and Arrietty sometime later on. I really want to see The Boy and the Heron.

There’s a good number of 10s here, by which I mean these things all came out in 2013. The earliest of these is Steven Universe, which came out in May of that year. I got into Unikitty when the last few episodes of SU were being hyped up. I remember watching a clip for Tragic Magic before YouTube slapped the For Kids thing on it, and most the comments were like, “Give us Legs From Here to Homeworld!” So later on in, like, 2019, I got curious and started watching the show from late Season 3 onwards. My first episode was Earthlings. Then, I watched the whole show from start to finish when CN did the Every Steven Ever thing before the movie came out. I watched the movie past my bedtime ‘cause it premiered on a school night. I made myself a gemsona, my brother started watching the movie and getting interested, and I watched the whole series with him including Future. Even with its flaws, and despite what people say about it, it was an enjoyable watch for us! It’s not the best thing ever because nothing is, but I’m on the side of defending it. Even with its flaws and all the shade it got thrown at it, it paved the way for lots of great things and helped so many people feel understood. This show is legendary in more ways than one, and it still has my respect.

I’ve been interested in Ever After High since it first launched in 2013. I never had any of the dolls, but I think I watched a few episodes of the series. I remember reading Shannon Hale’s books and owning some of the other toys (like a lockable diary). I was interested in Monster High as well (creepy/fun and cute style! Right up my alley!), but I mostly leaned towards Ever After High. I’d also search the web and look up information about the characters. Raven’s included here because, once again, purple and black color scheme! Yay! But it’s mainly because I remember wanting to be like her. I wanted to be a rebel, and I began calling myself one. Back then, I interpreted her as being so defiant of her prewritten destiny that she believed following it was dumb. But I’ve grown since then, and I came to realize that she isn’t like that. Far from that image, in fact. It’s such a HUGE shame what happened to EAH, but I’m glad there are still people out there who show interest in it. I currently follow someone who’s got lots of ideas for a reboot! Sign me up!

I loved lots of other games in the Super Mario franchise, like Mario Party 9 and New Super Mario Bros. for the DS. My great enjoyment of Super Mario 3D World pretty much goes hand-in-hand with Ever After High. Why, you may ask? Because of the weird crossovers I wrote. Let me explain! Hear me out! I was a well-known enthusiast for the game’s Sprixies. You know, those little fairy creatures? I even had names for the Sprixie princesses based on their colors: Greenia, Yellowlina, Bluia, Orangia, Violet, Aquamarina and Redna. (Get it? Edna, but red?) These days, I still call the purple one Violet, but I gave the rest of them other nicknames. Also, back then, I had the red one be the queen of the Sprixies even though the green one is implied to be the face of the seven. Back to the ridiculous EAH crossovers. I made Sprixie sisters for the female characters in the series. The male characters had Toad brothers. It wasn’t just canon characters, either- I also made Sprixie and Toad siblings for people’s OCs I found on the internet. I even typed up a story about the characters and their, quote-unquote, siblings. But yeah- Super Mario 3D world was ridiculously fun, the music was bouncy and catchy, and the graphics are actually really pretty. In the last worlds, whenever we didn’t have enough green stars to advance, I’d organize the Daily Green Star Hunt. Games like this are the reason why I love searching levels for treasures and trinkets as I go along, and I don’t want to advance until all is found. I’m at a point in my life where I completed SM3DW (and also Bowser’s Fury, since we got that edition) to its entirety with everything you could collect in the game. This game stands as one of my top favorites in the Mario franchise as a whole, so much so that I wanted to include it in Mario & Luigi Rewritten.

I love a lot of films from Pixar, but when I was 9, I especially loved Monsters University. The most noteworthy memory I have with it, which is also the most important one to me, is when I had my tonsils removed. By the way, that’s the only time I ever had surgery done on me. After it happened, the next three or so weeks consisted of me eating nothing but ice cream, taking nasty medicine, and messing around with an iPad on this app called Toontastic (if anyone here has heard of it, you’re a legend to me). I also rented MU out on the TV without my parents’ permission and watched it on repeat. I loved to doodle the movie’s background characters and include my doodles of them into my Toontastic cartoons. (Yeah- the app had a thing where you could draw your own characters and backdrops. Also, off-topic, but Toontastic is the reason I know about Deng Xiaoping.) Also, I shipped the frats and sororities with each other. Like, all six of each one. The RORs with the HSSs, the EEKs with the JOXs, the PNKs with Oozma Kappa. Except for Mike, whom I knew was with Celia, and Sulley, who I shipped with… Carla the Killer Claws lady? That wasn’t the best idea. Johnny x Rosie is a ship I still remember quite fondly. Like I said with WALL-E, the older you get, the more you notice why you love a film so much and what makes it good. I really appreciate MU’s message about how it’s okay to fail. And yes, it is! Because if failure wasn’t an option, you wouldn’t know how to pick yourself back up on your feet when things go wrong. Even if you don’t achieve the dreams you hope for, that doesn’t mean you’re done for and there aren’t other doors you can go through. You still matter. My brother and I made a bunch of jokes about MU when I started college. Of course, it’s not what college is actually like, but I still love it and the original Monsters Inc. If I ever see Steve Buscemi, Billy Crystal or any of the other people from this movie in real life, I’m telling them about me watching it while recovering from surgery.

I’ve always gravitated towards the Mario franchise more than the Sonic franchise. And while I have played Mario and Sonic at London 2012, I didn’t like to play anything solely Sonic except for Sonic Lost World. I know, I know- it wasn’t well-received, but that doesn’t make me any less of someone who enjoys Sonic. Back then, I loved watching cutscenes and walkthroughs of the game, and I was particularly fascinated by the Deadly Six. I can only remember looking up pictures of them and reading fics about them. But, that led me to come back to my affinity for them in 2020. I became interested in fleshing out their characters more and imagining what their pasts were like. I do that a lot when I hear people say a thing is half-baked or cookie-cutter of mediocre/bad. I also created my own Zeti characters as well. I played other Sonic games like Colors and Forces, I saw the movies, and I thought up my Mobian characters. Also, I watched Snapcube’s SA2 fandub. I was there to witness Eggman go on the moon. I’d love to branch out to more Sonic stuff, so if anyone would like to recommend me some, please do! I’m all ears! If you’ve seen Take Me To Snurch (Snail Church), a version of that with the Zeti is stuck in my head now. 🎶 Take me to zurch. I’ll worship like a Zeti at the zhrine of your zife…

Oof… I’m just gonna say that Frozen fever was inescapable back in the day to tons of kids, including me. When I was a kid, I was a huge copycat. I’d be into things because my friends were into them, and I’d plagiarize other people’s stuff almost all of the time. So, I don’t really remember if I was genuinely interested in Frozen. But apparently, I was enough to have my 9th birthday party be themed around it. Also, I remember that shortly afterwards, I had a sleepover with my friends from dance class, and we watched the movie together (not all of it). Right before we went to bed, we were all singing Let it Go as loud as we could. Frozen’s impacted my young life enough for me to take inspiration from it for Broken and Frozen. But, I agree when people say we need to warm up.

Lastly, there’s my milestone, which just so happens to be Christmas. On Christmas of 2018, I got a new computer, and my parents told me they’d set up the Wattpad account I’ve wanted since before I turned 18. I was first introduced to Wattpad after watching a video about fanfiction and reading the MC:SM Rewritten series (even though it’s now inactive). I talked about the weird little things I liked in real life, but while people listened, I never felt like they really knew what I was talking about. I started uploading my random thoughts, characters and stories to Wattpad, and I started making friends with people who were interested in the same things as me. When I did that, I really felt understood. The same happened when I joined DeviantArt in 2019, and for a while, it was just those two. Later on, in 2021, I hopped on Tumblr, YouTube and AO3. Then came Discord, and most recently, Amino. I was and still am fiercely loyal to my creations and my pals online. Through my high points and my mess-ups, I’ll want to connect with my closest friends and mutuals whenever I can. I’ve found enjoyment in lots of things, and I’ve come so far in terms of developing my artistic skills. When online, I found it easier to connect with people because I could more easily seek out people I had things in common with. What’s especially important to me is that connecting in this way is how I met one of my best friends ever, and while on my trip, I got to see them in real life. I hope it happens again someday. It’s not good to be chronically online, of course. But, being here has helped me discover myself and find peace within this world in ways you can’t even imagine. To everyone I’ve ever interacted with, thank you for five wonderful years!

Wow! This sure was a lot. To everyone I’ve ever befriended and followed over these things and others, and to everyone who followed me, I can’t thank you enough for being here! You guys are the reason I keep logging in almost every day and why I’m still on my feet. Especially you, Hino! Thank you so, so, SO much!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! 🎆💜🖤🦇

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tarisilmarwen · 10 months

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Rebels Rewatch: "A Princess On Lothal"

Mini Leia is here to lift everyone's spirits, and provide some much-needed hardware to the Rebellion.

Right, so going to have to be careful about the new photo limit, but just one quick cap from the beginning here because awwww the Loth-cat was comforting Ezra!

Oooh the deep glockenspiel adds some interesting texture to this music cue here.

And cue the Hammerhead corvettes. Good thing Leia dropped by when most of the blockade was still sweeping up on Garel.

(They'll be back soon, Lothal and Garel are practically galactic neighbors.)

Lol Lyste sighing in aggravation about "Another delegation from Alderaan." I'm certain Bail and Breha have cultivated quite the bleeding heart reputation as cover for their covert Rebel activities.

I don't think the voice actress they chose is that great. She sounds... way older than 15/16 and I can tell she's trying for the cadence of Carrie Fisher's snark but... I dunno it just lands weird for me. I think they could have gotten away with having her voice sound younger and it would have been okay.

Chopper sticking by Ezra's side. :((((

A slow, mournful version of Ezra's theme. Fitting, as he's going to be grieving the whole episode. Which is a nice bit of continuity. I love it when shows allow time for characters to grieve and adjust to losses they've sustained.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The way Ezra idly thumps the cadet helmet to the side of his head. Just a nice little gesture that adds character and flavor.

Oh shit, that was definitely a Dies Irae in the score there.

(A refresher for those of you just joining this rewatch: The Dies Irae is an old Latin musical sequence that has been used basically since the Gregorian chant days to denote the specter of death in a work of music. Composers from ages past up to the present have referenced it in their compositions. Think of it as like the world's oldest music meme.)

Lot of OT score references in this part, no surprise.

Ezra is noticeably more surly and pissy than usual this episode, at least until his pep talk from Leia. Also no surprise, the boy hides behind his sarcasm and snark like no one's business.

"I don't get to give orders!" Just wait, Ezra, lol. You'll get your turn.

Leia playing Lyste like a damn fiddle lolol.

Mini Leia is really pretty. They did a great job with her design.

Alderaan sits pretty in the "plausible deniability" section. I'm sure the Empire suspected the planet of harboring secret Rebel sympathies but they were never able to have concrete proof of it. Bail, like Mon, probably held out hope that he could stem some of the Empire's tyranny from within, and so that's why he didn't want to lose his seat of government power, not as long as there was a chance he could effect some kind of change, which meant Alderaan had to avoid being directly tied to the Rebellion.

There's some commentary there about the need to work within the system in order to fix it, versus when it's time to break off and burn it down, but I'm not going to go into that right now.

Hngh, Ryder's resignation when the Stormtrooper mentions "termination".

"Hera's here." Hhhnkgjhn that's the happiest we've heard Ezra sound this episode Imma cry.

Luke's theme used per the standard as a bold Big Damn Heroes leitmotif with the Ghost's appearance.

"I'll warn Sabine." Lol how does Ezra know Sabine's the one who's going to be paying attention?

Zeb enjoyed this entirely too much lololol.

Ha ha those two Stormtroopers who are like, "They take prisoners now???"

This man has zero shame lol.

RIGHT, SO THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE UNDERRATED SABEZRA MOMENTS RIGHT HERE AND I HAVE BEEN A VERY GOOD GIRL WITH THE PHOTO LIMIT WHICH MEANS I GET TO CAP THE SCENE IN FULL.

That soft hand on his arm. The way her eyes linger on him as he turns away.

*sobs*

I love it so muuuuuuuuch!

Leia being, well, Leia, immediately discerns that something's really bugging Ezra. I love that the Kenobi show leaned into the inner sixth sense she displays here, that she can pick out a person's thoughts and feelings with the Force just by looking at them.

Kanan discerning that Leia might be able to comment and help Ezra, aww.

Friiiiiiiiick his face.

Leia's theme follows right on the heels of Ezra's theme here, in the score.

"I feel like because I can fight, I have to, for those who cannot." Boy is that isn't the quintessential Jedi and Rebel Alliance motivation right there...

I do like the dynamic between Ezra and Leia. It's very sweet. They bond based on their shared Hero Complex motivations, their mutual desire to fight on behalf of the helpless. Ezra shows off a little bit for her, later, in the way he usually does around girls he likes (the boy has A Type, let's be honest), but it never quite reaches the overtness of his crush on Sabine, so it hits even more quasi-platonic.

I think Leia thought he was cute tho.

Back to the plot, Leia's embarrassing Lyste all over the place here lol.

Ah, wow, the Rebel Alliance theme, haven't heard that in a while.

There is quite a bit of tension in how slowly the Hammerheads take off. The show plays that tension for all it's worth.

Oh you know I gotta comment about this part right here where Ezra goes feral.

For a moment we had all forgotten about the fact that he was clearly grieving, and this outburst caught us off guard. The way this is staged it's framed as concerning, with an edge of danger, Ezra leaping onto the Stormtrooper and clashing beats sounding along with his punches in the score, Kanan reaching towards him with an almost hesitant body posture.

But! Ezra lets out his anger and then contains himself, standing up and just putting his helmet back on. He breathes, regains his composure, and returns to neutral.

*weeps* He's such a good Jedi.

Kanan whipping out his lightsaber to be awesome against the AT-ATs aaaaaah!

(And that implied to be the reason Ryder stayed on Lothal and started up a new Rebel cell there, ONCE AGAIN CATCH ME CRYING ABOUT HOW THE JEDI REPRESENT HOPE TO A HOPELESS GALAXY.)

HHmmmmmmgggh I wanna say this is a recurring leitmotif but I don't know, I love it either way, it's beautiful.

Swish swish and return to first position, aaaah lightsaber choreography is so cool sometimes.

This whole sequence is just... *chef kiss*. The orchestration, the tension, the rapid shot choice...

Lolol Lyste getting thoroughly embarrassed by Leia.

Fun fact: One of the Hammerheads they gathered here in this episode would later go on to be the one that landed THE decisive blow to one of the Star Destroyers guarding the shield gate at Scarif.

PIECE BY PIECE, REBELS SHOWS THE MINUTIA OF SACRIFICES NEEDED TO PUT EVERY ELEMENT INTO PLACE FOR THEIR ULTIMATE VICTORY.

Ryder enters with Ezra, did Ezra have any kind of hand in convincing him to fight for Lothal?

HE LOOKS DIRECTLY AT EZRA I THINK THERE'S A CASE TO BE MADE HERE.

The Force Theme soaring into prominence here as we close out.

This episode is just the kind of break we need to process the events of the previous episode. Leia is almost flawless, willy deflecting suspicion off herself while playing the Imperials all for fools, compassionate and empathetic when she senses someone in pain and turmoil.

Ezra is allowed to grieve throughout the episode, and displays a myriad of conflicted and complex emotions from scene to scene. Kanan almost takes a bit of a backseat to comforting him, letting all the others express sympathy in turn, giving him the space he needs and offering up the distraction of the mission. He handles Ezra really well, all things considered.

It helps that Ezra, unlike Anakin, chooses to deal with and channel his grief in a productive way, rather than destructive. (I have the tag "#ezra is the anti-anakin" for a reason.)

This is a fun episode. Lighter than the previous one, lower stakes, but needed to let the characters breathe and process through the revelations of the plot. I really like it.

We're about to hit the Golden Streak, so stay tuned, I will have more to say later.

#star wars #star wars rebels #rebels rewatch #liveblog #sabezra #ezra bridger #leia organa #music #soundtracks

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bearded-shepherd · 2 years

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LET’S TALK: LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS VOL 3 (few spoilers)

THREE ROBOTS: EXIT STRATEGIES >>

The first episode starts out super strong with everyone’s beloved robots! On their next stop, they’re visiting where all the sorry fukers hoarding all the money come to cower in isolation. The whole short was just jabs after jabs towards humanity, tech bros, and billionaires have me ded laughing… bet Musky boy is lovin this… on top of his ‘elongate’ thing (:

BAD TRAVELING >>

I dunno how ya can put a whole ass movie in less that 14:00 min, but they did it somehow! Also, ya never really thought crabs can be so terrifying and yet so delicious at the same time. But anyways, the short took me on a loop (especially the ending).

THE VERY PULSE OF THE MACHINE >>

Kids, drugs are a powerful thing; and if ya start hearing your dead friend spouting deep shit like it’s 3 o’clock in the morn on a weed session, then uh … idk it’s all vibes from there really.

Damn I can’t get enough of the visuals, stunning and trippy. What I really like about this short is that it take same story of dying in space. Most stories ya have the person float out into space, drifting further and further into the black ink… alone; But in this short, ya have the feeling of not being alone in an array of beauty ( even if it’s the drugs doing all the talking).

NIGHT OF THE MINI DEAD >>

O man I fukin love this; just full fukin chaos out the wazoo. I love the literal aspect of it all. It’s like one of those shitty mobile games that is constantly advertised and ya know it’s false advertisement, but actually came to life (or in a mini short). I will honestly play the fuk out of a game like this.

KILL TEAM KILL >>

If the Terminator, G.I Joe, and The Edge had a fuck up baby, this is it. What more can ya ask for; just 3 loving parents raising an edgy child. Pure fukin testosterone shooting up to ya brain creating a whole ass fever dream. This is Adult Swim gold right here.

SWARMS >>

That Guy: Let’s exploit this alien race (presumably non sentient) for profit Everyone Else: … da fuk you aint

Humans being humans I suppose. So uh, we all skipped the sex part right?

MASON'S RATS >>

First of all, what the hell was in the GMOs? Second, how did WW3 end? And third, how rich is this fuker to be able to buy all this tech?

Another thing, these rats hold ZERO grunges even if the main guy bought tech to literally commit rat genocide… like wot, did the rats not eat enough GMOs or somethin to think for a sec. Whatevs, that’s not the horrifying part, that goes to the Traptech guy and his tiny ponytail friend.

I can’t deny, I did laughed pretty hard on the long scene with the TT-15 over killing one of the rats tho.

IN VAULTED HALL ENTOMBED >>

This is a long video game trailer right? Right? I mean Ya got ya generic male lead that was randomly created by a COD character creation thing. HOWEVER, this short, the true lead is Cthulhu’s lost sibling Cbhubhu alright. My eye is on them and only them. But no seriously, if this was a game I would actually be interested in; I wanna know the story/world and I wanna get to kno… them.

JIBARO >>

Now boy Howdy, this one fuked me. Girl out here fuking it up on the waters and slaying the boys in the yard. Can’t resist a lil jingle jangles in our brains and it goes strait to our jiggly asses; except for that one knight, he was deaf… (:(:(:

Anyways, fukin brilliant, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I love how confused the siren was when she realized the guy was just not reactive at all.

Honestly, this short haunted me the most (well besides the traptech guy…)

Overall, great season; I really enjoyed it and for me, a definite step up from the last season. It’s hard to choose a favorite on this one; but I do say, the true winner was the soundtrack. The music in each short just fit so well.

#love death and robots #love death + robots #LTs #love death and robots spoilers #three robots #jibaro #kill team kill #the vaulted hall entombed #mason's rats #night of the mini dead #bad traveling #the pulse of the machine #swarms

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bitter-like-coffee · 11 days

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hehehe thank you for the Jessica Jones ramble!!! ur sooooo right abt everything tbh. i totally think ur fine to just watch s1, like the others were fine but s1 stands alone really well. also i feel it with tennant tbh i never even liked him until he was kilgrave and its still my favorite role hes ever had

Its just, its so sad it could only happen in the lawless era of Baby Netflix because its just delicious. I think if more of marvel's ips were handled with a similar brush i might actually enjoy them. Not to say they have to all be Gritty Noirs Focused On Very Grounded Villains, but itd be nice if they really sat w their premises. I dunno if any of the movies w Steve and Bucky ever really get into that sorta thing, but theres such a depth you could get out of Steve and Bucky grappling with the future and adapting and challenging their 30s? Worldview, etc.

Tennant just did such a good job w Kilgrave. Simmons was uh terrifying lol. I realize I hadnt mentioned Trish and. Ough. Ough. I love her so much, like any good noir should elicit, I spent so much of her screentime murmuring "girl dont do this". I love her desperation and drive to help people even at her own peril. Much like Jessica, she can't help it, but unlike Jessica she's not physically strong enough to not be the damsel, so she hides in Rapunzel's pin-locked tower and learns to fight in the hopes that if the evil stepmother or a dragon comes she'll be ready. And then the dragon asks her to come in, politely, through the front door and she's so charmed by his candor that she's helpless. The entire rest of the show after Trish popped one of Simmons' pills to save Jessica, I was just looking at her like a dog eating something it's not supposed to.

"TRISH WALKER, WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR PURSE?! DROP IT RIGHT NOW! EMPTY YOUR PURSE YOUNG LADY--[MIMING PRYING HER LITTLE BAG OPEN]"

It really was like, incredible how harrowing every moment with Trish's mom was. The scene where she was trying to force Trish to purge was so hard to watch, made me cry.

And then theres Malcolm abd Robyn abd Reuben abd this isnt even getting into the deliciously toxic yuri wrt Hogarth and Pam and her ex-wife whose name I'm blanking on. Honestly this us just a testament to how beautifully female lead so much of the show felt, which really added so much punch to the themes they were tackling, especially since there were a ton of Kilgrave's victims who were men (but weren't solely the focus).

I really loved Malcolm, especially after they, blessedly, revealed that his addiction was less of some stereotypical black druggie horseshit abd that Kilgrave had just added another tool in his arsenal to keep a good guy under thumb. (To be clear whether his reasons for his addiction, he needed help and compassion, but I was wary of it as a like stock trope.) Learning he'd wanted to go into social work was gutwrenching.

I think, though, I was most impressed with Robyn and Reuben. From the outset they seemed very...Stock "Crazy" Apartment Weirdos, abd as was perhaps the intent, they made me very uncomfortable, especially with early appearances making it seem like there was some WEIRD incest going on. And then Reuben's little crush on Jessica happened and I dreaded every time he was on screen but gradually less because he was a little weirdo and more because he was so visibly a little weirdo head over heels for Jessica. I cried when he died, and I was shocked at how masterfully they made me care. And then Robyn's neuroses kept building in the background abd foreground as she desperately searched for Reuben, and even though she's absolutely weird and abrasive and perhaps needs anti-anxiety medication, she's so solidly a mourning person who was so afraid because as much as she felt like her brother couldn't survive without her (and woe, she was kinda right), she needed him. The scene in the penultimate? Episode? Of Season 1, where she sobs because his fucking charger finally came, days too late, because she told him express shipping was too expensive? Oh that crushed me and made me really gel w her very strongly as a character.

Everyone's Arcs were so good aaaaaaaaaaaaiaaaaaaa. (I love Luke Cage and i practically danced every time he was on screen. Just such a wonderfully grounded, traumatized man.)

#ray rambles #i. meant. to answer this provately but im not used to tumblr mobile oops #jessica jones spoilers //#jj spoilers //#netflix jessica jones spoilers //

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