#i mean come on it's being made by the same people who did spider verse and mitchells vs the frickin machines | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

trashlama · 1 year

Note

Ok hear me out Yandere redson and Mei poly /team up hcs please 🙏who both fallen for macaque female apprentice ~

Mei fights her seeing as macaque fighting monkey king , which leads to MK fighting her future darling it was only when reader makes shadow clones to trap MK , that’s when Mei gets involved.

It would have been fine if the reader didn’t have such a flirty attitude, who likes to praise Mei even when Mei sword was near her throat.

Before Mei could do anything , reader disappeared into the shadow realm

For Red son , I can see him teaming up with her since MK is there enemy , with his brain and her brawn , MK and his friends will be finished in no time . (Reader teamed up with his , for sine reason her mentor disappeared and she thinking rid of MK and his friends will make him praise her )

He did not expect reader to be so smooth and honestly praises his inventions even saying he’s amazing .

There were so close yet MK still won , Red son thought she was gonna leave him only for her to teleport him and her to her hideout to heal his wounds before sending him back home ,not before giving him a flirty remark .

After that an obsession grow for Red son

While Mei she gains a guilty crush that got worse when reader decide to keep her company since MK been busy Lately, She knows she should hate it but she been feeling lonely and when reader not being flirty she can be nice even winning Mei a dragon plushie at a fair .

What made her snap was realising Red son fallen for her darling , but seeing how there got along greatly if there difference aside , there decided to team up to make reader theirs .

My dude —deep inhale of air— would it be alright if I made this into like a two possibly three shot series?

I love the idea and I've been brainstorming tons of ideas for this one and in each scenario I'm like damn this idea is so good. I really want to do it justice so I need to have multiple chapters. Ya know? To build the tension and really get a feel of the mindsets and what not.

However—

(SORRY THIS TURNS INTO A LITTLE AUTHOR'S NOTE)

As you guys are aware I have to seriously start working on this future Yan Raph fic of mine... . It's Ironic but, I reeaally want to start writing the future yan Mikey part. Mostly because I basically have that one planned out in my head. Meanwhile I got like five different possible scenarios for the Raph fic that I can't decide on. Though a few months ago I had said I was gonna do the Raph one first so to keep my word I plan to do so.

However SOMEBODY (an anon) had requested a future Yan Michelangelo fic and I'm like brooooo were you reading my thoughts? Cause they were somewhat close to what I had in mind but not quite. But the point is I need to write the Raph fic soooonn!!!

Gotta appease the masses~✨

Though guys I'm a bad Trashlama. I keep brainstorming all these awesome plots that I totally want to write— which ironically were formulated when I was brainstorming for the Raph fic.

Soooo I'm gonna do a poll so I can force my procrastinating/ADHD ass to write at least some of these.

And guys btw I'm sorry again for taking so long. I've been caught up recently with finishing a lot of other things I had been procrastinating. -Cough- Hogwarts Legacy -Cough- Spider-Man Across the Spider-verse -Cough- Adult responsibilities -Cough- -Cough-!!!

Anyways thank you guys again for sticking around to the end. I'll have that poll out soon(probably today).

HERE'S THE POLL

In the mean time here's some memes!

Sorry this is long↓ I don't own these memes. I've never claimed to do so. I just come across them on Pinterest when I'm on break at work and think they're funny so I like to share them. If I mistakenly put one on here that I shouldn't have please let me know! I like to respect people's wishes. And if you could add the creator names too that would be great so the same mistake isn't made twice. Sorry for the inconvenience that my sharing may cause. I hope you have a good day.

71 notes · View notes

danwhobrowses · 1 year

Text

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Quickfire Review

So I am out of the cinema, and I have thoughts

We've finally reached the sequel to the epic Spider-verse movie, which in itself rewrote the rules on animation while being able to juggle a large cast outside of the Marvel machine.

So let me tell you my experience with the movie

Spoilers for the movie, you've been warned

Okay, this was a lot

It was really good, but it was a lot

I really don't want to speak badly about this movie because it is not at all bad, it's a visual spectacle with many twists and great characters. But I think the plot lost me. The main reason I think it lost me was the crux of 'Canon Events', which I will get more into, but given that last movie was about anyone being a Spider it was irksome that the story is also 'yes but you also have to have the exact same experiences which strips your story of agency'. I also think that the retcon that Peter A would've survived is wrong, and if all Spiders are meant to have the same chain of happening then why is Miles, the anomaly, subject to that rule in a universe where that chain has already happened? Also if he's an anomaly why didn't the universe disappear after a year of him and the Spider from Earth-42 being in this world? In a way it does threaten to lose the heart of what made the first movie so good too.

I also feel like it was two or three movies stitched together, Gwen's story was great, albeit with so much angst, Miles' story in his universe barely got going and Miles vs Spider Society was the main part of the narrative, and while it was woven together well I think the magnitude of it all took me out of it a bit, a lot of the times I felt like it was gonna end and then it went on for another 10-30 minutes, and it is a bad sign when you can feel the length of a movie. Honestly we could've easily gotten away with a Spider-Gwen movie of her own, let it cliffhanger with the cold open we got then have the final interaction with her dad and the infinite amount of colour palettes in this movie with just the Miles stuff going on.

My main character critique is probably the sourness that they did EXACTLY what I feared they would do to Miguel O'Hara. Spider-Man 2099 is my favourite Spider-Man but they really did decuple down on the edginess over the basis of his suit and powers. I mean sure, he has trauma that has killed off the last of his lighthearted value we saw in last-movie's post-credits scene, but most Spiders have trauma, and he did essentially steal another man's life for his own. I think the fact that he puts a ton of pressure on himself to uphold other timelines didn't quite come across so well, because they needed him to take over as the primary antagonist and 'the guy who tells Miles the stuff his mother warns him people may say to him'. Also, Miguel is different from most spiders because he doesn't have his Uncle Ben moment, he was a dick who caught conscience and Alchemax tried to silence him and accidentally gave him spider powers, so that also hinders the 'Canon Events' plot of Uncle Ben and Captain Stacy moments happening. Jessica Drew I struggled to get around to, loved her at the start but then she just started being cold, same can be said for Miles' parents towards Gwen, they picked one thing she couldn't have known they'd dislike and that was their tone towards her for most of their interactions after.

B U T !

Do I intend to watch Beyond the Spider-Verse? Yes! Absolutely.

Because even with the narrative flaws and the irksome nature that some characters are just being cold for little reason and that one of your favourite comics Spider-Man is not represented the same way, there is an extremely good movie in here. The art was amazing, in between all universes, the music was AMAZING, like Gwen vs Vulture just had an amazing soundtrack on its own. And gods all the Easter eggs; game and live action continuity weaved in, Ben Reilly, Unlimited Spidey, Julia Carpenter, adult MayDay Spider, Venom movie shop, even Prowler Donald Glover! There is so much to enjoy and the more you know about the several iterations and media of Spider-Man the more you find to enjoy.

But Hobie (Spider-Punk) stole the fucking show, everything he did was gold, Pavitr was fun but we needed more of him same with Spiderbyte and really Peter B and Miguel, Spot was hilarious too and then terrifying-looking when he reached his full potential, also Penny has an EVA now. The Spiders chase was well done with its clever quips and dynamic use of other spiders, the cold open was also inventive with Renaissance-verse Vulture. And then of course we got a very gripping cliffhanger, I like the squad we have for Gwen to rescue Miles and I can only beg that Lord and Miller manage to tone down and bring Miguel around in a satisfying manner without having to compromise the integrity and heart of the plot as Miles seeks a way to save his father without erasing his universe.

If anything this movie will keep you on your toes, it is stylistic beyond anything you might have seen before, but it can easily get overwhelming. I personally enjoyed as much as Guardians 3, maybe more by a slight margin (the highs are higher but the qualms are greater so hard to tell), but I also feel like it's not better than the first plot-wise just because of that feeling of being overwhelmed. It is worth a watch though for sure.

74 notes · View notes

bellmo15-blog · 5 months

Text

The Most Beautiful Host for Carnage

And here we have in the list of old Ko Fi Requests Ammer has done for me a technically old concept since I've gotten a bunch of Symbiote related art before this but also technically new because it's with a different symbiote instead of Venom this time but still also technically old because if we are respecting Marvel lore than Carnage is still the child of Venom but it's still technically a new thing because even with there relation to Venom Carnage is still pretty different from Ven... Is your head hurting yet? Good lol!

I've gotten A LOT of Symbiote related stuff relating to Venom up to this point and there's always been a good reason for that. Aside from being the main Symbiote that people will usually think of when they think about this parasitic species of aliens, I just really like the design of that suit regardless of what universes design it is. Main, Ultimate or Rami verse. However even with that, Venom's child Carnage is another Symbiote I'd had a lot of interest in getting something with. Problem is that for the longest time I couldn't think of a good host to pair them with. Until I played Skullgirls and saw Eliza. Putting aside the fact I do have a thing for Eliza's design in general bonding her to Carnage made two much sense NOT to do.

I mean Eliza herself in cannon is well over 1000 years old thanks to the parasite she's already bonded to with, Sekhmet, which has allowed her to make herself young and beautiful perpetually thanks to blood magic as well how the charity blood drives she helps run are only used her her own selfish reasons not to mention she's shown in her own story mode to be pretty ruthless and not above getting her hands dirty. She's pretty much a vampire at this point. Plus her animations in game have her morphing her body in a way very similar to how Symbiotes are able to in most depictions. So bonding her to ANOTHER parasite that is a lot more violent, takes pleasure in violence, has a pretty high kill count and who's name is literally Carnage was perfect... And also probaply pretty scary given she's likely now even more dangerous. Thankful even most people who don't know a lot about Marvel lore know how dangerous the Carnage symbiote can make someone so I'm sure people will remember to be careful around the otherwise beautiful Egyptian Diva.

Genie Michael: Most people know? That's pretty ironic coming from the same guy who didn't even know who Moon Knight was until a few years ago despite Moon Knight existing in Marvel since 1975.

Hey, that example Marvel barley did anything with the character outside of comic books anyway save for that one Spider-Man game from 2008 he cameo's in and only recently decided to have him be part of the MCU with his own series on Disney +. Carnage and Venom on the other hand Marvel's done a lot with so I have no doubt more people know them!

Inkling Michael: I don't know man, with the way some Mellenials and Gen Z's act over some of the stuff you talk about IRL I'm not getting my hopes up high. Hell, I'm not even from this universe and even I can tell you I get surprised when I see people here who have never owned or heard of Bionicle despite it's legacy.

GM: Yeah and not to mention we got people acting like the recent Dune movies are some sort of revolutionary Si-Fi story even though the franchise has existed for decades at this point thanks to there being several books, a movie from the 80's and lots of video games.

Artist is AmeerAshourDraws.

#Skullgirls #Eliza #Symbiote #Carnage

6 notes · View notes

ben-talks-art · 1 year

Text

Why I like Miguel

"You're a mistake!"

Before I start I just wanna make it clear... I know next to nothing about Spider-Man 2099's character in the comics.

I had a little exposure to him thanks to the games "Shattered Dimensions" and "Edge of Time", and from his focused episode of the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, but that's about it.

This is going to be focused only on Across The Spider-Verse Miguel which is to me, the most interesting take on the character that I've seen so far.

(Possible spoilers for Across the Spider-Verse below)

If you've seen my list of favorite characters, something that I tend to go on when analyzing and talking about them is that I love to see how they explore their relationship with tragedy or misery.

How do they react to loss and pain? How much do they let it become a part of them? How much are they able to move on from it? How much do they let it consume it? How do they overcome it? How does it affect the way they interact with other people? How much can you learn from watching them? And so on...

Miguel I think it's a very interesting case because he's one of those characters that even though he's clearly letting his inner pain consume and rule over him, you can still see that he's doing the best he can to stay in control of himself.

His backstory is basically that in the past he tried to break the rules in order to cheat his way into a happy life, and that ended up backfiring tremendously causing innocent lives to be lost, forcing him to spend the rest of his life living with guilt and fear that this same mistake might happen again and turning him into a man consumed by paranoia that his greatest error might be repeated.

The way I look at Miguel and his relationship with Miles is that of a perfect representation of what it means to be a kid vs. what it means to be an adult.

Kids when they're young they think they're invincible, they think they can do anything, they think no problem is too big as long as they believe in themselves and have the right people by their side. They are molded by the things they want to do. Kids are an existence motivated by dreams and hope.

He made a mistake, he got hurt, and he hurt others, and he never managed to recover from it, rather he let it take over his entire life, and now everywhere he goes and every person he talks to he sees it as a repeat of what he went through just waiting to happen.

Adults, on the other hand, are existences motivated by experience. They are molded by the things they did. They look back at their past mistakes, at the consequences of their actions, at the ways their decisions affect other people, and they keep asking themselves "How do I avoid getting hurt again? How do I avoid hurting others? How do I avoid being hurt by others?"

The tragedy of Miguel is that he's a man from the future who's stuck in the past.

And I find all this very interesting.

To see a man so consumed by his regret... and at the same time still looking like he's trying to do the best he can to be a put-together person.

What's more interesting about Miguel, isn't just that he's carrying a burden, but that he's trying to turn this burden into a productive thing, as if trying to make up for all the bad he did by trying to do as much good as possible, probably as some way to appease his guilt.

You can see that he's trying to be a hero, trying to be the good guy, trying to make sure people know where he's coming from with his actions. He tries to talk with Miles and make him listen to his logic, tries to make him feel like they're on the same side.

The problem is, Miguel's motivations are, again, born from fear, while Miles' are born from hope, so as much as he tries they're not on the same side.

This reminds me of the father from How To Train Your Dragon, another man who did all that he did thinking he was being the hero of the story without noticing how he was letting fear rule his actions.

This is exactly the kind of antagonist I love to see. People that make me go "This could be you, if you're not careful," and teach how they became this way.

Miguel shows how powerful fear can be, how blinding, how present in our lives, and how well-hidden it can become.

I watched the movie "Nimona" a few weeks ago, and while I love that movie, I never looked at the antagonist and felt "That could be me." Because that one felt like someone being afraid just for the sake of the plot. It was basically a cartoon villain.

This case though, shows that fear can be born in anyone.

Miguel is interesting because he shows that even a good and strong man can be a victim of pain and regret when he's left alone and struggling to heal, to the point that it can change who you are and turn you into this feral beast who feels perfectly comfortable unleashing all your rage and remorse into a young boy just trying to live his life.

In a sense, he's kind of a great representation of the worst aspects of being an adult. Being stuck in the past, projecting your experiences into others against their will, constantly anxious about tomorrow, wanting affection but too afraid of seeking it, lack of control over your own physical strength once reason starts to fail, resorting to violence once people don't agree with you...

But at the same time, you still want to root for him.

You can see that he wants to do good, he wants to be good, he does care about people. You want to see him recover and become the good and happy man he clearly wants to be.

Miguel is like Zuko, Catra, and Xanatos in that he feels like a redemption arc you want to see happening because you know all he needs is proper help to be the best version of him that he can be. Not just because he's already a hero in the comics, but because you can see a hero inside of him in the movie as well, just struggling to get out.

He's a great representation of the most harmful aspects of being an adult that you want to see turn into the best aspects of being an adult. The ability to learn, to admit your errors, to grow, and to find happiness and peace with yourself.

Favorite Characters List>>

#satsv spoilers #satsv #miguel o'hara #spiderman across the spider verse spoilers #spider man 2099

19 notes · View notes

amazingdudesblog · 8 months

Text

Dreamworks, What is Happening?

Now DreamWorks hasn't always had the best track record, let's just be honest. But recently, it's been telling that they and Universal have been in a slump in terms of their decisions, no matter what type of those decisions are. You all already know how Ruby Gillman left a bad taste in my mouth, considering the writing could have been a straight shot into something emotionally investing, with Chelsea being redeemed and finding a family in the Gillman’s after being alone for so long. But they didn't do that because we just had to have an irredeemable villain, because it worked with Jack Horner, why not do the same trick and dance with Chelsea/Nerissa? The unfortunate truth is that this just left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. Now, while some did not mind this, let's just be honest and say it would have been best if they went with the more emotionally investing ending to the movie. But that's only part of the problem when you have the fact the marketing (which wasn't much at all either) spoiled the twist. Now I knew going into this movie Chelsea was gonna end up a villain, no surprise there, but the thing that made this movie crash and burn for me was the fact that this spoiled twist did not lead to anything much more. Sure you spoiled the twist either way, but with Chelsea being redeemed, you would at least have a very emotionally driven ending, and a positive message that's anti-war, anti-prejudice, and shows the value in one young woman showing compassion to another in hard times, and making her see that things don't have to be the way they are if they truly made an effort to change things by sticking together. I mean hell, my rewrite ends with them becoming practically sisters. But no, there is no touching ending where the girl who was alone with her revenge driven mother for most of her life, before that mother died trying to get a weapon to wage war again, finally got a friend in another girl who, even as she was trying to kill her, knew on the inside she was still just a child who's been through a lot and wasn't going to let her become a monster because of the conflict between their people. There was no ending where the grandma who thought of another species as monsters finally sees how wrong she's been and wants to make things right. No. It ends with an even dumber twist where the girl is actually the mother, and she's put in a cage and mermaids are actually just evil creatures. Big victory for nuanced writing, eh? And to make matters worse, universal decided it would be best to put this movie out during the time when spider-verse, elemental, transformers, Indiana Jones, and the flash were all also playing in theaters. You know what would have been a smart time to release the movie? September 1, no kids movies were releasing in theaters at that point (seriously go check) so maybe while ruby wasn't the pinnacle of writing, it at least would not have been stacked against spider-verse and elemental especially, thus you'd have a fun movie for the family and maybe it could have at least made its budget back. But no, release it around the two other animated movies that are obv gonna be more beloved by audiences bc they have arguably more stellar writing, and are obv gonna be suggested to more audiences bc they stuck with the viewers in a positive way, meanwhile the only way ruby stuck with viewers in a negative way with people thinking “well that was lame, I would have liked for Chelsea to be redeemed and become genuine friends with ruby, would have made a sweet and sincere ending.” Now this obv isn't the case for everyone, but come on, most of the audience would've probably left the movie on a more chipper note if this happened instead. So, take marketing that spoils the movie and isn't very prominent either way, writing that's about as bland as you can imagine, and a release date that can be described as stuck between a rock and a hard place, you have a box office flop that made not even 50 mil throughout it's entire run. Part 2 of this post coming soon, where I will talk about Orion and the dark and megamind

#dreamworks animation #rant post #dreamworks

2 notes · View notes

mliter · 1 year

Text

Miles "Spider-Man." Morales

"Change always comes. What matters is how you face it."

September 2011. I was 9 years old. A friend at school tells me that there's a new Spider-man. "Like the one from the cartoon?" i questioned, with her replying that he looks like me. (with a smaller forehead.)

I go home and look it up. Who's this new Spider-man? I see him and think he's so cool.

My connection to Miles is a bit different than most, due to unfortunate circumstance. Because it was his reveal and the following online reaction is what got me to realize what racism was and fully grasp that there are people that no matter what i did or said, don't like me or straight up despise me for the skin color i was born with. I'm not sure what kind of forum i read the news on, but i was so confused and distraught that i even made an account and asked those monsters questions.

I was a pretty ignorant, carefree kid back then. After my family immigrated from Africa to the US, we THEN moved to Canada due to the racism my family was dealing with (i don't remember any of this. i was too young.). I was living a sheltered life with few friends in a pretty diverse neighborhood, as far back as i can remember. I was surrounded by pretty well adjusted kids and adults. I even got to know my neighbors and eat their food. I noticed they were different from me, but i didn't pay any mind to it, nor did i think it mattered because it would be pretty boring if we were all the same. Things weren't the same after this incident. My views back then didn't change, i just thought racists were just really mean/evil people. I think every poc got their own version of this story, where they first learn while young that a good portion of the outside world refuses to see them as human. That one's mine.

The character himself is great. Miles is smart and passionate kid that puts himself before others, even while still trying to figure himself out. I admire his great connection with his community. He's got cool lightning powers as well. As time would go on, he would end up embodying the best of the marvel community and the idea of a superhero. Well, to me.

Years pass by, and Into The Spider-verse is announced. "Ohhh shoot they're making a movie on this dude?" i thought.

Aside from it being one of the greatest superhero movies and animated movies of all time that revolutionized the industry, i was shocked to see the reaction to it. Even my own family liked it. My uncle specifically liked how the characters looked black. He's a bit of a nerd and he's grown up with the features and struggles of a black person being discounted or treated as a joke in fiction, with rare exceptions. I've already gone over how I've grown up seeing how black characters are seen and handled.

Miles in this movie is my favorite incarnation of the character. His origin starts off the same, but with more spider people. His journey to becoming Spider-man is quite unique. I'm excited for what comes next, like everyone else.

Seeing so many people from all over connect with Miles's story, drawing him, making songs, all sorts of tributes made me really happy. There's a lot of passion and love for this character. He means a lot to a lot of people. There are still sick people out there that despise him for obvious reasons, but there are far more people telling them to fuck off now then there was back then. Things are better now. And i think they'll get better. Nobody doing it like my Spider-Man.

#spider man #character log #fav

8 notes · View notes

lizlives · 1 year

Text

The Reaction to Gwen Potentially Being Trans

I'll start off by saying that Gwen being trans or at least being an intentionally trans-coded character has not been confirmed, but frankly it doesn't really matter for the point I'm trying to make.

This has just been something that's bothered me specifically regarding the discussion. Obviously, many people saw the connections, myself included, that definitely seem to suggest some trans-theming regarding her character. Many were justifiably super excited. Trans characters, especially main stream ones in a super popular genre, presented head-on with a lot of vulnerability are super rare, so yeah, I feel like trans people getting excited at the possibility of seeing themselves in a character that many of them already identified in before-hand is reasonable, even if some did get over-excited.

Obviously in response to this you have your garden-variety transphobes making the same typical transphobic arguments. But the people I want to focus on are the people that emphatically claim that they are allies and have tons of trans friends, but then proceed to vocalize their distaste for the headcanon as if making her trans would ruin her character.

The thing is, Gwen is a clear example because it actually has some genuine basis in what happens, but this happens with straight-up headcanons as well. I once came across a post on the Evil Dead subreddit where a person had posted art of Ash, whom they headcanoned as trans. People, even people who were insisting that they were allies couldn't stop getting actually angry about it.

Here's the thing, if you're an ally but you just don't agree, if you don't see the evidence that people bring up, if you don't think Gwen is supposed to be trans at all, that people might just be relating to some character bits and seeing patterns where there are none, fine, you are absolutely allowed to feel that way, it's alright to not see it, but genuinely, why are you mad?

Maybe these people are just transphobes pretending to be civil, but I see it so common that I feel like a good percentage of these people have to genuinely believe themselves to be allies. What about this situation warrants getting mad? Why should you care if a minority you claim to be an ally of, that is denied representation at almost every turn, starts to believe a popular character is like them? Where's your skin in the game? Feels like you should just be able to say, "Well I don't really see it, but I'm glad people are happy." It's that simple.

But furthermore, why would it be so bad if it were true? If you believe that trans people are just regular people that deserve the same treatment as everyone else, why be mad? Don't say because it's not comic accurate, Spider-Verse was never holding itself to being 100% comic accurate, if they made her trans, they aren't trying to claim comic Gwen is trans.

Sorry, maybe what I'm saying is coming across as really obvious to some, like maybe this is just typical transphobia, but oh my god, I'm so tired of trans identity being treated as an imposition, a burden. If someone suggests a character is trans, all anyone can ever do is lament that it overcomplicates a character, that it inherently means the character is going to overtaken by progressive language or something. It doesn't, they just view being trans as something unnatural, but it isn't.

Gwen being trans, if it was true, would not spell the end of her character, and if you're an ally, getting irrationally angry at a headcanon/theory/interpretation that you personally don't understand doesn't make any sense.

#gwen stacy #across the spiderverse #transgender #transphobia #spider gwen #ghost spider #venting #cw transphobes

3 notes · View notes

venusdeluxe · 2 years

Text

I'm freed from Twitter, here's the Spider-Man No Way Home review I wrote when it first came out. It's so stupidly long.

I don't really know what started my love for Spider-Man. I can't even remember where I first learned about him, it just feels like he's always been a part of my life. I watched the cartoons, all the movies, I got any game I saw with Spider-Man on it at the store, I had a Spider-Girl toy that I thought was just Spider-Man, but it was actually Mayday Parker the whole time and I didn't notice. Point is, I really love this character and it feels like I always have. As a fan I also like to find the positives in all of his movies, even if I greatly dislike them. All that is to say that I am incredibly biased, this movie means a lot to me and I don't think any other singular character could give me the kinda experience I got from this film (except maybe a Star Wars movie). I absolutely loved it. Even as "pandering" as it might seem with how much of it is about bringing things over from previous incarnations of the character that people feel really nostalgic for, I think No Way Home uses those elements to really great effect. It's clever, it says something about the core of Peter Parker, and it teaches this younger Peter a lot. It's hilarious, it's painful, it's exciting, and it feels so… sincere. (I'm gonna be using that word a lot).

It's kinda hard to hold it in for too long, so I just have to get it out. There's three Spider-Men in this movie, the big three live-action Spideys finally coming together. Holy shit. Tobey and Andrew jump straight from the worlds of Sam Raimi and Mark Webb into the MCU, bringing their own flavors and personalities, but still feeling like they've grown since we last saw them. Tobey is of course older, a bit wiser, and pretty mellowed out, polite and quite positive. Andrew is still bitter from what happened with Gwen and admits he let his anger get to him more after that event, but here he still brings a lot of love, charm, fun and sarcasm into the movie. They really shine once they enter the scene, and it doesn't feel like they're purely here to get paid.

Andrew's line before the final battle, saying he always wanted brothers, really stood out to me personally. It made me smile so hard. I don't think it was meant to invoke this specifically, but it reminded me of Peter's clones in the comics, Ben Reilly and Kaine, who sorta become Peter's brothers. And I think that kind of brotherly dynamic was the perfect way to pull this off. I was very skeptical of the idea to bring the three Spideys together when the initial rumors started to circulate, thinking that it wouldn't work as well as Into the Spider-Verse did with all of its distinct Spiders. Since then I’ve warmed up to the idea, and my god seeing it for myself was truly magic. The banter between the three Peters in this movie really gives that brotherly vibe. There's such a sincere love that develops between them in the short time they have together as they bond over shared traumas and desires and weird experiences as superheroes. Tobey and Andrew have felt all the same things that Tom is feeling during their first meeting, soon after Aunt May's death, and they serve more of a purpose in the film by helping him through it, and not just being there to fight in the finale. I also love the moment where Andrew calls himself lame after Tobey and Tom talk about how they've fought aliens, and Tobey backs up and repeats to him that he's not lame, he's amazing, even trying to get Andrew to say it to himself. They're all so supportive of each other, it's really great. And their last hug made my heart absolutely flutter. It's just so… sincere!! And sweet! I feel like there aren't enough hugs in superhero movies. They're brothers, they love each other, and it feels like they were destined to be brought together one day. It's beautiful. Their brotherly bond makes me wanna see them stay together forever, but of course Tobey and Andrew must return to their lives. If they all come back in Across/Beyond the Spider-Verse, I will cry.

Speaking of Into the Spider-Verse, it is certaintly easy to compare this movie to that as another multiversal Spider-Man film. They do share that aspect, but they are so completely different that I can't really compare them. Into the Spider-Verse was an origin story for Miles Morales, while also being all about the Spider-Man identity as a whole and what it stands for, the idea that anyone can be Spider-Man. It's why Miles was such an effective protagonist for that story. No Way Home shrinks that lens and focuses soley Peter Parker (three of him even!), and the kind of struggles that often define his career. It's not exactly an origin story in the same way, but a continuation of a character we've already seen plenty of times. It's about his on-screen legacy and all the things that bring these three distinct adaptations together, while pushing our newest and youngest iteration to his absolute limits and beyond. The movie does a lot of work to "fix" some of the issues people have expressed about Tom's version of the character, but to me it never actively feels like that's what it's doing. It feels like a natural progression for him, and a transition into a newer, darker and more mature stage in his life as he enters adulthood and takes on new responsibilities. While none of us have faced circumstances as fantastical as Peter does in this movie, the ending gives off a feeling I can relate to. When you enter that next stage in life, like leaving high school to go to college or get a job, you often drift apart from people who were once so close to you. It hurts, and for someone like me it's difficult to let people go, but it's a part of growing up. You grow away from people, and that's natural as sad as it might sound. That's not exactly what happens here, there are supernatural causes for Peter drifting away from Ned and MJ, but it invokes that feeling which grounds it in reality for me. And even then, there's still hope left for a future rekindling of these relationships if you look closely and see the Black Dahlia necklace Peter bought for MJ in Far From Home still hanging around her neck. You can drift apart from people, but you might still find them again further down the road. For now though, Peter has been given a fresh start, a fresh suit and a new apartment where he can start to rebuild his life, and continue being Spider-Man. Even after all the pain it's brought him, he can never forget the lessons taught by his family, his mentors, and his brothers. As long as he wields great power, he must always be responsible with it, and by the end he's given a second chance to take on that responsibility and take on his duties while protecting the people he loves the most.. The events that lead down this path started in Far From Home when he forgot that lesson, and this movie guarantees that it'll stay forever. He feels like a truly tragic character now, which is made so painful because they've actively made him so likable and charming and adorable in all his previous appearences. We met him in such a young and innocent state, and Tom's Peter has been defined by that innocence and optimism much more than Tobey and Andrew ever were, so seeing where this movie leads him just pains the soul. But it's good! As much as I think people exaggerate how miserable Peter's life should be, tragedy has always been a part of it, and I think this movie does that very well while not letting it make the whole thing a downer of an experience. It's still so fun and exciting, while giving all the tragic beats the room they need to breath. It's a delicate balance that I think is handled with a lot of care, more than many other MCU films.

The first bit of the movie has the same kinda tone as Homecoming and Far From Home which eventually takes a turn into darkness and tragedy, but again it doesn't feel like total whiplash, it feels like a transition. The movie takes all the neccessary steps to get us from that John Hughes fun to the darker new reality. I think in addition to the classic "great power" mantra, the ending embodies an important line from Spider-Man 2 said by Aunt May, and that Peter repeats to Doc Ock. "Sometimes to do what's right we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams". I'm honestly surprised that wasn't one of the lines they referenced since it is so applicable, but either way I think it's fitting that the words of two Aunt Mays feel so central to this movie's ultimate conclusion.

Going back to Into the Spider-Verse, another thing that seperates these two is No Way Home's focus on Spidey baddies of the past. ITSV certaintly attempts to give Kingpin a sympathic backstory and motivation for doing what he's doing and is otherwise jam-packed with classic Spidey foes, but it still isn't really about the villains in the same way No Way Home is. This movie is all about saving them, redeeming them, and getting them home. It's like a twist on ITSV's plot to get all the Spideys home, with NWH adding an extra layer to that. One of the biggest conflicts in the movie is the disagreement between Doctor Strange and Spider-Man on how to handle them. Spider-Man desperately wants to cure them and send them home safely and alive, while Strange is rigid in his belif that their only destiny is to die. It's such a smart and Spider-Man-y way to deal with this multiverse drama. I don't think anyone watching the ending of Far From Home expected it to lead to this sorta multiversal madness, but they really make it work anyway.

And as we're talking about villains… Green Goblin. Holy shit. He's not really in that much of the movie, but he is a god damn demon in the time he has. Breaking the mask early on was a smart idea I feel, as it opens Willem Dafoe up to really shine even brighter than previously as Green Goblin, letting us see every bonkers expression on his beautiful face. When Goblin takes over he becomes so insanely sinister, in a way that only Willem could pull off this well, and it is so god damn entertaining. He's clearly having a great time playing the role, and it's really makes him stand out among other MCU villains (besides the fact that he's literally from another franchise). I think he's the perfect villain for this movie. He's the perfect challenge for Peter's desire to save the villains since the Goblin persona is so cruel, and evil, and heartless. Doc Ock, Electro and Lizard aren't exactly the nicest guys when they're in villain mode and they're quite resistant to the idea of being "cured", but they're nothing compared to the pure evil that Norman's alter ego showcases. It really adds to the feeling that the whole world is against Peter. Strange, the general public, the media, and even the people he's trying to save with Goblin going as far as killing our dear Aunt May. And it makes Peter really doubt his whole mission in the movie, and the wise words of his aunt. Goblin doesn't wanna just kill Spider-Man, he wants to twist him. He wants to push him over the edge, just like he tried to in his original appearence, and he gets even closer to that goal in this movie leading to one of my favorite moments of the film. After Spidey and Goblin's raw final brawl, Peter is ready to just murder him with his own glider, way more directly than when Tobey just dodged out of the way. And right at the last second, Tobey catches it. No dialogue, no music, just a knowing look from Tobey to Tom, as Tom's Peter relents and lowers the glider. Tobey saves Tom from completing his dark path, and makes up for one of his biggest regrets by saving Norman and allowing a new timeline to be created without the fallout between Peter and Harry. It's such a great moment, Tobey's eyes alone manage to say so much. Absolutely powerful.

The previous two Spidey movies have had very strong villains in my opinion, soaring a lot higher than many of the other boring grey villains in the rest of the MCU. Michael Keaton's Vulture has personally been my favorite since Homecoming came out, and Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio was insanely entertaining in Far From Home once the twist happens, with his presence looming over this film as his final illusion lays ruin upon Peter’s life. I was very much looking forward to another new baddie in this one before we started hearing about all the old ones coming back, which felt a little disappointing at the time. But as much as I would've liked to see Kraven or Michael Mando's Scorpion finally enter the picture, I was still very happy to see how the returning foes were handled here. Films like Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 have often been criticized for having too many villains to deal with at once, and it very much was a worry that this movie would face that same problem tenfold. We now have 5 villains in one movie, more than the two other movies I just mentioned, but No Way Home manages to pull it off incredibly well. That might in part have something to do with them all being returning villains of course, we've met these guys before and we know their history so they don't need to dedicate as much time to setting them up, but it could still easily feel very crowded anyway. But as I said before, the villains are a major focus of this film and I think that's the key that really makes it work. It's all centered around them, it's all about the debate on what to do with them and if their fates are truly sealed. They're all shown to not be truly rotten to their cores, there are people underneath those scales and lightning bolts and sand particles that deserve redemption and a second chance at life. It's kinda beautiful in a way, atleast to me. I love a good save the villains plot, and it's part of what makes this movie feel so… quintessentially Spider-Man. I think it's also part of what makes this movie feel so sincere to me. Despite the high drama and tragic tone it doesn't feel pessimistic, atleast not to me. There's a fight for hope happening. Peter is going way out of his way to rescue these guys and get them home safely, fueled by the words from his aunt, when he could so easily just do as Strange tells him and solve the problem for himself way quicker. I really think it's something beautiful.

I just have to take one paragraph to talk about the death of Aunt May. This isn't the first time I've had to see her die, but I cried just as much this time. I don't know how to even begin to describe my feeling about it. I really love Aunt May, every iteration of her brings something new to the table, but she is still always so warm and morally strong. As important as Uncle Ben is to Peter going down the path to becoming Spider-Man, it's Aunt May who consistantly takes the role of being Peter's northstar. And while she hasn't had a big role in the previous two MCU films, she is incredibly important in No Way Home. More than ever, she is Peter's moral compass and her teachings drive Peter for the rest of the movie and changes his life forever. If he is to truly become Spider-Man, he has to come to the terms with the fact that his powers give him a responsibility to do good by other people, and to do that he has to make some sacrifices. He can't have it both ways, if he wants to clean up his mess he has to give up some of the things he wants the most. That doesn't have to mean absolutely no one can ever know he's Spider-Man, but it does mean that he can't shift his responsibilities onto others like he tried to do with Mysterio. He can't be wreckless, and that is what I think is the most important lesson from May's death. God I cried so hard.

I think No Way Home might have my favorite performance of Spider-Man that anyone has given on the big screen. Tom Holland hits every beat perfectly. He's always been incredibly charming in the role, and I think he's always put in a good performance in the moments that have required him to get serious and sad and scared, but as this script turns the drama up to 11 he keeps up with it all the way. He's goofy and mischievous, he's furious and sad, he's scared and unsure, he capture so many sides of Spider-Man so, so well, I absolutely love watching him. Tom Holland's version of Spider-Man has been deeply personal for me. When Spider-Man Homecoming came out I was the exact same age as Peter was in the movie, which strengthened my connection to him and his daily struggles even more, and quickly made it my favorite Spider-Man movie. And now here we are, at the end of the trilogy, and I am once again in a similar place to Peter as I prepare myself to move on to the next stage of my life, which is one of the reasons this movie once again feels as personal as Homecoming did all those years ago. The tone is entirely different from where the trilogy started, but there are so many heart breaking connections back to the beginning and overall I think this is an amazing trilogy capper. It's been a wild ride for MCU Spider-Man, in his own movies and beyond, and after No Way Home I can say with more confidence than ever that he is my favorite Spider-Man of all time.

I can't keep rambling on, and I can't touch on every single moment I loved and every character that I adored, so I think I have to just end it here. Overall… god I wish I didn't have to wait so long to see this after everyone else was storming the theaters, but I am so happy it's finally in my brain. I adore this movie, I absolutely love it. It's kinda hard for me to not place it as my number 1 Spidey movie and MCU movie. Is it recency bias? Did the nostalgia bait get me? I don't know, and I do not care. This is everything I could've wanted it to be and so much more. It's everything I love about this character, everything I love about the MCU's incarnation of him and it ends with so much room for future stories from new creators. I can't wait to watch this over and over again in the future. I should've edited this down, but fuck it. You can't control me and I can't control my emotions. So with that, I'm just going to list a couple short bullet points of stuff I liked.

MJ absorbing Peter's optimism as his mind is shrouded in darkness is such a beautiful thing, it makes their relationship feel even stronger and their goodbye even more heartbreaking. I cried so god damn much. Also, I love Ned. Whenever a fun and goofy supporting character makes you cry, that shit is POWERFUL. AND THIS IS THE SECOND TIME HE'S DONE IT! FIRST IN ENDGAME, NOW AT THE END OF NO WAY HOME! And then they show how Peter kept his Lego Palpatine, the first thing we saw of Ned in Homecoming. God, my heart is just broken.

Michael Giacchino is a god amongst men, and he steps up his game tenfold from his previous two Spider-Scores which were already excellent on their own. What an absolute fucking genius.

The apartment fight between Spidey and Goblin is amazing, and that is all I have to say about it.

And with all that, I think I've said enough. This movie is great, and they should PUT SPOT IN THE NEXT ONE, THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT!!

#spiderman #spider man #no way home #review #spiderman nwh #spider man nwh #i have never used tumblr in my life am i doing this right at all

3 notes · View notes

amarriageoftrueminds · 2 months

Note

One of the biggest gripes I have with the MCU is that half of the heroes are (unintentionally) written as bad guys (EG Steve, Tony, Clint, Peggy...) and the other half is still friends with them and/or never call them out in any meaningful way (Bucky, Sam, Rhodey, Nat....).

Tbf I haven't watched new Marvel content since 2021 so this might not be true for all the new characters. But the characters I liked from the first 3 phases? In my eyes, none of their canon versions are good people anymore.

The MCU really is a superhero universe without any moral compass.

Agreed Anon, you're right.

(I likewise haven't been able to watch since EG, outside of that one Spidey movie where Tony remade Insight yet again and gave control of it to a teenage boy. 🤦‍♀️ MCU's Spidey is just his mini-me; completely missing the point of that character. I mean look at Sony's Spider-verse by comparison!)

I've used this term before, but the MCU has a problem of protagonist-centered morality, whereby villain-defining deeds are put in the hands of 'good' (as in: decent person) characters, and/or good characters are tarnished by their unforgivable inaction, when inaction is the very definition of un-heroism in that universe:

ie. "when you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.” "If I see a situation pointed south, I can't ignore it." etc.

Taking Steve as a textbook example:

Even though Steve behaves accordingly in that scene (by calling Tony out for double-dealing re: the Accords) by the time Steve comes to say that 👆 he has already betrayed it in other ways.

Like: he never calls out Peggy for her mistreatment of him (in CATFA) and borderline rudeness to Bucky. It's like they wanted Steve to almost gloat about becoming superior to Bucky (who, mirroring that, they frame as dragging Steve on double dates he doesn't want to go on and not noticing he's being mistreated during them.)

In CATWS Steve never calls out Peggy (or Howard, or Phillips) for hiring Nazis and making one immortal (this is why they kept her 'visit' safely out of the way in Act 1).

Even though he does call out Fury and Nat for doing substantially less-heinous shit (as far as he knows at the time) and they are made to make it up to him before he will trust them again.

He never calls out Sam for being rude to Bucky in front of him, even though he will tell him off for being rude to a stranger (T'Challa).

(Again: a friend who will stop somebody actually killing you, but won't bother to stop somebody being rude to you? or bullying you? = Not much of a friend. Not much of a way to repay all the years Bucky did that for pre-serum Steve, is it writers? 🤷‍♀️)

Since they never bother to show how/when Steve finds out Bucky is a mind-controlled innocent, nobody therefore ever calls out Sam and Nat for being wrong about him either / for trying to dissuade Steve from helping him. And Sam continues to dehumanize him like a ticking timebomb, even after mind-control / his innocence has been established.

(Contrast: Clint, who tries to kill all of the Avengers while mind-controlled, and Nick Fury and Maria Hill, but is nevertheless welcomed into their ranks with open arms on the very same day. This without question, on the basis of nothing more than a Silent Nod of Approval from Natasha. And they're going to fight... the villain who still has the magic mind-control method, mind you. 🤪

Similarly stupid: to take Bucky to fight the same guy who just established that he can mind-control Bucky at the end of CACW? 🤦‍♀️ Bad enough to pick up the idiot ball, but then you don't even do anything with it? But I digress...)

Back to Steve: he never calls out Sharon for staying in SHIELDra while they were hunting him, Nat and Sam.

(Condoning both her and Peggy in a weirdly inccestuous way, since these idiots writers are so desperate for him to be demonstrably heterosexual, no matter how irrelevant to the plot. The corpse of Compulsory Female Love Interest No.1 hadn't even cooled before she pounced.)

Post-CW Steve never calls out Tony for tying to kill him and Bucky, for refusing to call when Thanos came, for refusing to help them undo the Snap initially, or for monologuing Hydra's rhetoric at him yet again. Just stood there like a plank while Tony hurled RDJ's improved abuse (was CEvans even allowed to improv? I bet it would've been cut if he had.)

And then, when he actually does get to do a thing that is unequivocally good (passing the shield onto Sam) ...they retcon that it was a bad, selfish thing, spread the blame off Steve onto (guess who?) Bucky (of course!) and then make him apologise (of course!)

...But don't hold Steve accountable for ditching Bucky to face the music on his own! (The apparently bad-now music.)

Wtaf, huh?

And that's not how accountability works! Holding white men responsible for specific actions, in-universe, doesn't mean anything if you haven't got the right white guy! Doesn't mean 'pick a random white guy.' Doesn't mean 'pick the only 'non' villain white guy in the cast.'

White character apologising to a black character for what white people generally do to black people = Fine. White guy apologising to a black guy for a specific trespass he did not commit against him? = Nonsense. Cheapens the whole point. If Steve has committed a microaggression it's his job to apologise for it, not Bucky's.

Picture Happy Hogan apologising to Rhodey for Tony gifting him the War Machine suit.

Perfectly valid for Tony to apologise: if gifting the suit had always been framed as a poison chalice for Rhodey (foreshadowing, folks. Basic writing skill.) But not if they had always been like 'hey isn't this War Machine suit great for Rhodey what a heartwarming gift wait no it isn't you bastard, Happy, shame on you for Tony doing that!' 🤔

Of course What If/post-EG skrull Steve has been nothing more than a cringe mirkin for Saint Peggy Sue. Back to being written like a poorly-written female character. 🙄

And all this is presaged by Steve waking up in the future, immediately being lied to by SHIELD, and... coming to work for them anyway? Even though he hates liars?

But he keeps working for them, even after they have lied to him again, and he has discovered it, in A1?

Steve's CATWS line about thinking he could throw himself back in and be happy, serving in SHIELD, makes no damn sense when you consider that he has known SHIELD ain't shit almost since the very moment he awoke in the future.

So actually, seems like canon Steve can ignore plenty! 😬

Much as I nevertheless like MCU Steve -- CEvans' casting and acting choices, his chemistry with his co-stars, his acting correctly (viz against the stupid script), etc. -- when you look at the Cap movie characters and realise just how much they've axed, warped, or insidiously inverted from the source material... it's hard not to see the MCU versions as a real hack job. 😥

#long post #mcu critical #anti mcu #toAyourQ #hey nonny #my meta #dat's me #tfatws critical #my headcanon steve is catfa/catws and comics steve and that's it tbh #assuming a post-catws steve who calls out shieldra's founders instead of just giving live slug reaction about it 🥰#you'll never find a stauncher critic of marvel than a marvel fan 😂#anti mcu writers #antiendgame #endgame steve is a skrull #mcu meta #mcu #meta #antitfatws

69 notes · View notes

amazing-spiderling · 2 years

Text

Guess WHAT it’s time for the Murderdock Fashion SUPERCUT

Yeah I know you didn’t ask for this but once I started thinking about it, the less I could stop thinking about it and I had to go digging to try and see if my thoughts lined up with what was on the page.

Presented in order of printing!

1. Edge of Spider-Verse 2 (First appearance):

Seen here with Rhino who he is enlisting on “the Kingpin’s” behalf. Average grey suit. Grey tie. Nothing to see here, just a totally normal lawyer being totally normal about things like super powered spider people.

2. Spider-Gwen (Vol. 1 Issue 2):

The first time we see him in the Spider-Gwen series proper. Similar to the outfit above except he’s wearing some dark red pants and decided shoes are for chumps. His shoes are brown to match the pants I presume. I guess we could assume the jacket is a lighter shade of grey than the one before, but it’s hard to tell because of the nighttime lighting.

3. Spider-Gwen (Vol 1. Issue 5)

Ah. Back to business as usual, with the grey suit and black shoes except we’re wearing a red tie now. Little spot of color to keep things interesting. Just what a normal person would wear to a rock concert.

4. Spider-Gwen (Vol 1. Issue 5: Flashback)

Interesting panels for a few reasons! We see Matt in a flashback with Fisk and he’s wearing black pants, shoes and tie and what we can assume is a red jacket, since even in the tint of a memory it’s similar to the color of his hair and glasses. His hair is slicked back which actually does a good job of suggesting a younger appearance here, or at the very least, someone who is endeavoring to appear young and eager to be professional. (Probably worth nothing his childhood flashbacks show him with long hanging bangs like the ones he has in the present.) We also get to see him working as an assassin on behalf of Fisk but rather than being dressed in full ninja garb his black basics and mask look a lot more like his year one (or season 1 if we’re talking about the Daredevil TV show) costume.

5. Spider-Gwen (Vol 2. Issue 3)

Matt shows up at George Stacy’s house. Even more color has found its way into his outfit here with a rust red jacket and brighter red tie. Black pants keep this looking relatively normal as business attire, nothing that would turn heads. (The bright red business cards ruin the illusion, though.)

6. Spider-Gwen (Vol 2. Issue 5)

Compliments of a different artist than the usual, we have Matt looking extremely hinged and having some alone time on top of a bridge. Shoes are nowhere in sight this time, and we’re back to the grey pants and shirt (it might be a light shade of purple but the colors are so saturated it is hard to tell) and a bright red tie. At this point in the story, he’s still waiting to be engaged by Captain Stacy. This of course leads us to...

7. Spider-Gwen (Vol. 2 Issue 5)

Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that all Matt Murdocks are big dorks, he’s shown here with what I think we can assume are the same pants from the previous scene as well as a matching grey jacket, but the dress shirt and tie are gone, and he is now sporting a bright red “I’M NOT THE KINGPIN” t-shirt. I love the idea that 1. He had this custom made and 2. He went home or at the very least had a bag with him for a quick costume change JUST so he could wear this shirt to troll George during their meeting. And yes, I mean COSTUME change because...

8. Spider-Gwen (Vol.2 Issue 12)

We hadn’t seen Matt in the book for several issues but when he returned he did not disappoint. Right after calling Gwen melodramatic, this guy shows up silhouetted against a red full moon (some things never change) and when we finally see him he’s in a full red suit flanked by ninjas looking like he’s about to break out into his Disney villain song. (Which would absolutely slap, by the way. The man went to Evil Julliard, after all.)

THIS is what comes to my mind when I think about Murderdock, and I think that’s intentional. When he first appears, we don’t know what Fisk’s situation is, we don’t know who is pulling the strings, we don’t know that this “kind of scummy lawyer Matt Murdock” is going to become the main enemy of the entire book. We don’t know that we are about to become low key obsessed... And we get these smatterings of color, these visual cues, these flickers of red until BAM. We arrive at this. This isn’t an just a suit, it’s not just an outfit, this is a full on villain COSTUME. This man has been working to position himself as Gwen’s downfall, the devil on her shoulder, and he is DETERMINED to dress the part. We see him in his full glory only after the deal has been struck and we are starting to fully understand just what his role truly is in the story and I LOVE it.

Anyways! This is a lot of words to say that I love how much the artist was able to convey with clothing when we didn’t have a traditional hero/villain outfit to rely on. Just the subtle (well, not so subtle) changes in things like color can tell us so much about a character and their motivation and I am here for it 100%!

#murderdock #spider-gwen #i've been consumed by this for like two weeks #finally sat down to sort it out #earth-65 #matt murdock

131 notes · View notes

takerfoxx · 3 years

Text

Arcane, Season 1, Episode 7, "The Boy Savior," First Impressions!

All hail the king.

While every episode does advance every plot, there is always that one character that seems to be the star of the week, usually the one that gets the flashback lead-in before the intro. Last week was Viktor's.

And this week was unquestionably Ekko's.

And my dude gets a whole-ass music video!

Out of all the canon characters, Ekko has been one of the most absent, with only singed making fewer appearances. But that doesn't mean that he's been idle. As predicted, he's the Firelight leader, and has basically picked up Vander's mantle in fighting to protect the innocents of Zaun, though with Silco moving into the Lanes that's been more difficult, forcing him to create a hidden community for former Shimmer addicts and other victims.

And, uh, it fucking rocks. Seriously. That little subterranean tree community was visually gorgeous.

But while he's overjoyed to see Vi again, he's not so trusting of Cait, and with good reason. And Cait is forcibly getting a lesson in class disparity, though the two do thankfully come to an understanding.

I like Ekko as a leader. He's clearly seen some major shit, and had to grow hard to survive. He takes no shit, does not cower, but is also responsible and willing to listen to reason. He has his reasons for being distrustful and antagonistic, but will also work with those he despises if it'll help his people.

On the topside, Jayce the golden boy is starting to feel the pressure. He hates what he did to Heimerdinger, he doesn't like what his new position is doing to him, and during his confrontation with Viktor on the bridge, we see that he's not so pure after all, for as well-meaning as he is, he still harbors some prejudice toward those from the Undercity, which Viktor calls him out on. The dude's trying, but he is ultimately out of his depth, and now Heimerdinger is up to something.

As for Viktor, dude made a dark choice. He's been driven by desperation, and now he's turning to the darker side of fantasy science to save himself, using Shimmer to try to withstand whatever the hexcore will do to him. I don't know if he's corrupting it with whatever impurities are swimming around in him or it's corrupting him by just being naturally bad, but either way, he's had his Anakin Skywalker moment. Now, will he be fully corrupted, or will it take some time, and he'll seem fine for a bit before the darkness really takes hold?

Okay, so let's get to the bridge, the same where Violet and Powder lost their parents, and now Jinx loses everything else.

Well, for one, there's Marcus. Oh, Marcus. I really thought that your conscience would get the better of you eventually, and you'd do the right thing for once in your life, but I guess not everyone gets redemption.

I still think his kid might turn out to be one of the child champions.

Next, we get Jinx letting her delusions convince her that Vi has chosen Cait over her. Which, to be fair, is...kinda sorta true, but not in the way she's thinking, as Vi still wants to save her. But that's not something that's going to get through that rattled brain of hers anytime soon.

And finally...

Okay. I know y'all been waiting for me to talk about it, and now I've finally seen it. Let's talk about Ekko vs. Jinx.

Now, I try to avoid spoilers, but I had still heard a lot of hype over this fight, and I was curious to see if it would live up to that hype.

It did.

Ooooh boy, did it ever.

First, let's just take a moment to shout out the animation. Arcane's animation direction is pretty stellar most of the time anyway, but this was on a whole other level. Like, it was like something out of Into the Spider-Verse!

Second, there's Jinx's little line upon seeing Ekko. "Look who it is! The boy savior!" There is so much packed into that line, as it shows that Jinx knew that Ekko was the Firelight leader all along, that the two of them have been feuding for a long time, that they were probably pretty intense rivals.

But you know what? Despite thinking that she's a lost cause, despite no doubt resenting her for all of his friends that she's killed, Ekko still, in his own way, cares for her. I mean, they were pretty close friends as kids, and no doubt he pities her for what happened to her. After all, you do see Powder's face on the mural of the fallen. He still mourns the loss of his friend.

But he's not above weaponizing that history between them.

Look at her reaction when he starts swinging the pocketwatch, the same signal to begin the game they played as kids. Look at their demeanor. They're playful with each other, almost flirtatious. He's asking her to play one last time.

And Jinx being Jinx, she accepts.

And that is her undoing.

See, Ekko is a very smart guy, and he knows her fighting style inside and out. And he uses his memory of what she did during that childhood game coupled with his knowledge of her shooting habits to basically maneuver her into recreating that game, and in an absolutely brilliant call-forward to the rewind powers he will one day possess, he then outsmarts her and takes her down in a matter of seconds.

But that proves to be his undoing as well, as he stops right before ending her. Because while he was fully prepared to kill Jinx, he was not prepared to kill Powder.

I don't really think Jinx setting off that bomb was a malicious, "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" moment. I think she recognized that he couldn't finish it, and I think that she was hoping that he would. So she decided to do it herself, just to make the hurting stop.

So are they dead? No, dummy, of course not. They're game characters. But it will be interesting to see how they survived. Did Ekko choose to save her at the last moment, or did something else intervene? Guess I'll find out soon.

#arcane #league of legends #lol #ekko #jinx #vi #arcane spoilers #viktor #jayce #the boy savior #reaction

29 notes · View notes

itspufflehuff · 4 years

Text

Spidey - Sebastian Stan x Holland!Reader

Summary: Being Tom Holland’s twin sister isn't all that bad. You each live your own lives and have your own successes. You don’t get to visit Tom on set much but when you finally make it to Comic Con will there be a special someone there for you to meet?

Hi! This is my first post in here so please let me know what you think! If you ever have suggestions or you find a mistake in my writing feel free to message me. Thank you and enjoy!

MATERLIST // TAGLIST

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four |

Word Count: 2,840

~~~~

Being Tom's twin wasn't as intimidating as people expected.

Sure he was Spider-Man but you still had your own success. Tom went for the big screen but you went for the big stage, Broadway.

You started with local shows, then you went on to be ensemble on West End. Soon you became an understudy for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It wasn't too long until you got the lead as Elphaba in the West End production of Wicked. With the attention you got as Elphaba you were scouted to audition for Broadway.

Seemingly around the same time Tom's fame skyrocketed so did yours. You two were so proud and happy for the other.

You decided to move out to New York seeing as how you were performing eight times a week.

Tom was your best friend so after every show, he called to ask how it went and to update you on his Spider-Man shenanigans.

The years came and went. You were still going strong on Broadway taking up different roles and Tom was still Spider-Man. He always talked about how fun it was being apart of the Marvel cast. You had still yet to meet anyone besides his Spider-Man co-stars like Zendaya and Jacob. Whenever they were doing a press event with the entire Marvel cast you were busy doing a show. Then one day you got a call to play Spider-Gwen.

You were so shocked when you got the call. You happened to be in your dressing room getting ready for a rehearsal. You sat there shocked, "Spider-Gwen?"

"Yes! Sony is making an animated Spider-Man and they think you would be perfect as Spider-Gwen. You wouldn't have to leave New York too long, just for some auditions. If you get the part you can do your recordings there."

"I don't know what to say." You were shocked. This is amazing! Imagine Tom's face when he finds out you're Spider-Man, well kind of.

"Say yes!"

"Yes!!"

~~~~

This was your first time attending Comic-Con. You never had a purpose to go before or even time. Now that you're apart of the Into the Spider-Verse cast you were attending so many different types of events you never did before. It was quite fun.

"Tom!" You shouted as soon as you saw him. You were in the middle of an interview but you didn't care. You hadn't seen your brother in ages. Tom laughed and walked over to you.

You two hugged and the interviewer spoke, "Our two favorite Spideys! Tom, how are you? What do you think of Y/N being Spider-Gwen?"

He laughed, "I'm doing well, I think it's great we have another Spider-Man in the family! But just so everyone knows I am the better Spidey." Everyone laughed.

"Sure you are." You playfully rolled your eyes.

"You're just a cartoon, I actually have to do flips and stuff," Tom argued.

You let out a 'pfft' before you spoke, "I could do the same things you can, you're not that special Tom."

"Alright, let's see it then!" He challenged.

"What? Right now?"

"Yes right now, come on let's go."

"Tom, I'm in heels."

He playfully rolled his eyes, "Heels aren't even that hard to jump around in, Y/N."

You looked to the interviewer who watched you twins bicker, "He did one dance wearing heels and he thinks he's amazing," turning to your brother you continued, "Newsflash Tommy I do that eight times a week."

The interviewer let out an 'ooo' as if you got him good. Everyone laughed as the interview wrapped up, "Well thank you for your time Y/N and thank you for joining Tom."

"Come on I want you to finally meet everyone." Tom grabbed your arm and pulled you along.

He basically ran through the crowd dragging you along behind him. When you finally got to where the rest of the Marvel cast was you and Tom were immediately surrounded by interviewers before you got to meet anyone.

Knowing neither of you were going to get through without at least one interview you both gave up trying to get by and stopped for an interview, "The Holland twins it's so amazing to see you both here today! How are you both?"

You answered first, "Thank you, I'm so excited to be here this is my first time so I'm a little nervous."

"Don't be nervous sis, just watch the pro." He smugly adjusted the jacket he had on.

You laughed and rolled your eyes as the interviewer asked another question, "Has there been any sibling rivalry now that both of have taken on the role of Spider-Man?"

You both looked at each other then Tom spoke, "You know what I was never mad because I know she's trying to be like her big brother which is flattering really."

You didn't notice before but next to Tom a couple of his castmates were doing an interview as well. The only reason you noticed them was because one of them came up to Tom and said, "Seriously Tom keep it down! Man, dude can't even do an interview without being a diva." You recognized him right away Anthony Mackie and next to him Sebastian Stan. Both you and Sebastian laughed at Anthony's obvious joke.

Tom looked down slightly embarrassed as he was trying to act smug before your interview was interrupted. "Y/N were you intimidated to take on Spider-Gwen knowing your brother was Spider-Man?"

"Umm, not really." you laughed, "I was actually really excited and thought it would funny to take on the role. I'm sure the casting directors thought the same thing."

The interviewer nodded, "Has there been a time where you two fought to prove who the better Spider-Man is?"

Before Tom could answer you did, "Well just a few minutes ago Tom tried to have a competition between us to see who was better at doing flips."

The three of you laughed, "And did you?"

"No, of course not! It is way too crowded in here and I'm in heels. I'm used to dancing in them not doing stunts. Maybe we can have that competition another time." You suggested to Tom.

He smiled mischievously, "You're on. May the best Spidey win." He held his hand out which you took. You both shook hands in front of the camera closing the deal to have a competition soon.

You didn't know this at the time but Sebastian couldn't take his eyes off of you for the rest of his interview. He knew who you were but never got the chance to meet you in person. Now seeing you several feet ahead of him he couldn't look away. You were more beautiful in person and your smile was radiating. Even after his interview ended he stood to the side watching you.

His eyes followed you as you smiled and waved to the interviewer. You were headed his way, quickly he turned and engulfed himself into a conversation with Chris Hemsworth.

Tom began introducing you to everyone as his little sister. He was only seven minutes older and always treated you like a kid for it. You were most excited to meet Robert Downey Jr. seeing as how he and Tom were so close. You two hit it off right away, he treated you like you were apart of the family.

You made your way down the line, meeting each member of the Marvel cast. You finally made it to Chris Hemsworth, Anthony, and Sebastian, "Hey guys I want you to finally meet my little sister, Y/N."

They all looked to you at you, well more like down at you. They were all so tall towering over.

Thank God I wore heels today.

"Pleasure to meet you," Chris grabbed your hand.

"Finally the famous Y/N! Now tell me was Tom always such a diva or is it just because he's Spider-Man that he's acting like a big shot?" Anthony asked.

You and Tom laughed. He did tell you about how he and Sebastian always teased him.

"Yeah and what about that juice obsession? Like, come on man you're too old for that." Sebastian joined in.

You looked to him and laughed, "You know what I've been telling him the same thing like come on Tom we're in our 20s and you're still hooked on juice like it's you're only will to live." You joked along and turned to Anthony, "As for the diva attitude he's always been this way like we get it you were Billy Elliot get over it!" Everyone laughed as Tom stood there pretending to look offended.

"Well, at least I never went out on stage looking like the green goblin!" He fought back.

"Hey! Elphaba is a very complex and demanding character. You're just jealous you don't have half the talent I do."

"Oh puh-lease, I totally do. Tell me who was it that taught you to dance?"

"Ok fine you have that but acting and singing was all me! All you can do is act and dance. I'm a triple threat."

That shut him up as everyone laughed at him, "I like this one." Anthony said. He reached out to shake your hand which you gladly accepted. He moved to the side, Sebastian happily took over his spot in front of you.

He reached out to shake your hand and when you grabbed it he pulled you in closer, "Just so you know you're my favorite Spidey." He whispered into your ear. A smile arose onto your lips as you pulled away, "Thank you."

"May I also add I think you have a beautiful voice, I want to one of your shows but wasn't able to catch you after the show."

A blush crept up to your face, "Thank you, again." A nervous laugh escaped, "I would've loved to have met you then. Sometimes I escape through the side exits. I love my job but I don't always love the crowds."

"I know what you mean, sometimes after movie premieres, I sneak out through the employee exit just to get away from the crowds."

Neither of you noticed but you were still holding onto each other's hand. It wasn't until Hemsworth cleared his throat beside you two, "Sorry to interrupt but we're heading to the panel room."

You both looked at him and quickly let go of each other's hands. "I'll meet you guys over there." Sebastian nodded to him. Chris looked over to the both of you, "Ok, well once again it was nice to meet you Y/N. I hope to see you soon." He gave you one last smile and walked away. You turned back to Sebastian. He spoke before you did, "I'd love to see you again late."

"Yeah, I'd love that too. I have a panel in twenty minutes. I was going to meet my brother after and join you all for the rest of the day, maybe we can talk more then." You smiled at him.

"Great, I'll see you then." He grabbed your hand gently, pulled it up to his lips, and placed a kiss there. He walked away to where his castmates went leaving you standing there with your heart beating fast.

You meet up with your cast and took photos with fans. Sebastian took up all of the thoughts in your head. You tried to focus on what was happening but your mind wandered off the feel of his lips on your had and how his eyes looked so deeply into yours.

Surprisingly enough your panel flew by. You were able to get Sebastian out of your head and get lost in hanging out with your cast as you answered fan questions. By the end, you walked out the door to see Tom waiting for you talking to some fans.

"Excuse me, I've got to go. It was nice meeting you all!" Tom excused himself from the group and walked towards you. "Ready to go?" He put his arm around your shoulder.

"Let's go." You said with a bit of excitement and nervousness.

Tom didn't notice, however. "So how many of your questions were about me?"

You were lost in thought once again unable to get Sebastian out of your mind, "Huh?"

"I got so many questions about the new Spider-Man in the Holland household." He chuckled.

Finally understanding him you laughed along, "Oh, yeah, I lost count after five. Someone asked about our rivalry so I started a rumor that we haven't spoken in months and I am actively hiding from you during this event."

Tom laughed, "Lucky for you, Mackie and Sebastian started a rumor that I'm a diva at home, so you're scared to be near me."

You laughed louder than you expected, "What?"

"Yes! They asked me about you and Mackie joined in saying you met everyone earlier and told them I've always been a diva. And of course, Sebastian had to join in," He imitated their American accent, "Poor girl looked terrified to be around him."

You both laughed as you walked into the room where the rest of the Marvel cast was.

The moment you walked in Sebastian's stomach flipped, in a good way. You were laughing when you walked in. It was the most amazing laugh he heard, he wanted to able to keep making you laugh like that. He watched as you walked around the room greeting everyone. You stopped at RDJ and Chris Evans. You all talked, but you were too far for Sebastian to hear what about. He saw you smiling from where he was at and he loved it. He excused himself from his friends and made his way to you.

"So, Y/N, what's it like to perform on stage like that? I mean it's all live and you have so much to remember, lines, songs, choreography, blocking." Evans sighed as if the thought of it made him exhausted, "I mean it's incredible."

"It was hard at first but this is my life. I love going up there each night. Sometimes we make mistakes but as long as you don't let the audience know it was a mistake then it doesn't matter. Plus we get to improve sometimes or make scenes better each night by seeing how the audience reacts."

He watched you talk about your work. The way your eyes lit up he could tell you really did love your job. Of course, he already knew that though. When he saw your performance as Eurydice in Hadestown. You had just happened to be there that night as the understudy, but he was glad to see it was you. He recognized you from the pictures on Tom's phone. He knew you were an actress on broadway so when he saw you he knew it was you. He fell in love with your performance that night. Your voice was so beautiful and the emotions you gave were so raw. Your energy was incredible it was as if you fell into the character.

"You should see her perform," He chimed into the conversation making his presence known.

Everyone turned to him, "I never did ask, which show did you see?" You tilted your head.

"Hadestown."

You broke out into a smile, "I know exactly which performance. You know that was the only time I played Eurydice?"

"Really?" His head hung in disbelief. From that performance, he would've been fooled to think you played that character a million times over, "Well you were incredible if I'd known you would be playing the lead I would've told Tom to set us up to meet."

You both smiled at each other for a moment before Tom spoke, "Yeah, that's my sister. I don't like to admit it but she's an amazing actress. Maybe even better than me."

"Maybe? More like definitely." You challenged.

"What show were you working on before coming here?" RDJ asked.

"I was doing an off-broadway production of Mamma Mia. I let my understudy take my place so I could tour and do some promoting for Spider-Verse."

Tom excused himself so he could talk with some of his other castmates. Slowly RDJ and Evans left the conversation leaving you and Sebastian.

"You know I live out in New York as well," Sebastian said casually.

"Really? I just assumed all you movie stars lived out in LA."

"Heck no! I'm a New Yorker. I love it there" He smiled looking at you.

"Maybe we can meet up there someday, now that we're acquainted and all." You suggested nervously.

"Yeah, that would be great. Which part of New York are you in?"

"Ironically Midtown," you laughed. It took him a second but he got it, "Ah yes Spider-Man goes to Midtown." He dropped his head with a chuckle.

"38th and sixth." You clarified. He looked up with eyes wide, "You're kidding? I live on 43rd and ninth! That's like ten minutes away from me." You both stood there in disbelief.

"All of these coincidences, you would think we'd met by now."

He laughed, "Well, we have now. I'd like to keep meeting. If that's ok with you?"

You looked up at him smiling, "I'd love that."

#tom holland #sebastian stan #winter soilder #spiderman #into the spider verse #spider gwen #sebastian stan imagine #mcu #marvel #buck barnes

204 notes · View notes

discotreque · 3 years

Text

LwD 2.05: An Embarrassment of Dooplers

So I was a little nervous about this one! I hadn’t heard any spoiler-spoilers, but screeners have been out for weeks now, and I’d heard a bunch of individual, vague, non-spoilery hints about (1) big character moments, on the scale of a mid-season finale even though the show’s not taking a mid-season break; and (2) an ending that would make me cry.

I guess I imagined something relatively serious and dramatic, like “No Small Parts”? This show makes me cackle with laughter and giggle with nerdy glee and “d’awww!” at heartwarming friendships every week, but it’s only ever made me cry once—and then I was impressed that they were going to get there from the wacky hijinks we saw in the brief teaser.

The lack of a cold open made me apprehensive too—in my experience, that’s typically a sign that there’s so much plot in the rest of the episode that they need that extra scene—but after ~21.5 minutes of aforementioned hijinks, I was having so much fun that I’d completely forgotten about the alleged tear-jerker at the end…

…and they were not the tears I was expecting.

I didn’t think I’d be smiling and crying!!!! That was wholesome as SHIT!!!!!

I almost can’t believe they earned that—but they totally did.

After a Mariner–Tendi episode and a Boimler–Rutherford episode, we’re back to the “usual” Season 1 pairings… except the relationships between these characters have changed since Season 1. Mariner still feels thwacked in the abandonment issues by Boimler bailing for the Titan, and Rutherford’s having a tiny little existential crisis about losing an entire year of his life.

Both of which are extremely understandable and very heavy situations—and both of those situations get resolved because everyone in them is vulnerable with each other and honest about their feelings—AND that honesty and vulnerability brings both pairs of friends closer together. Are you kidding me?? I would watch SEVENTY seasons of that shit. Put it in my veins.

Onto the notes:

So basically Dooplers are Tribbles, but for cringe comedy instead of slapstick? Ohhhhh boy.

Look at Ransom the diplomat, tossing his own fork on the floor! I like that he’s actually a pretty competent Starfleet officer, despite also being a completely ridiculous person.

Wait a second, is that—OH HOLY SHIT, THE DOOPLERS ARE VOICED BY RICHARD KIND.

It makes sense that B. Boimler would find William annoying—who likes seeing their own flaws reflected back at them? And who could be a better reflection of one’s flaws than one’s literal duplicate?—but most interesting to me is that it implies on some level, Bradward knows the stick up his butt is a flaw. (Does William?)

Why does the Cerritos model have working phasers?!?!

I’m loving hot pink as the currently en-vogue colour for “dangerous sci-fi energy” in animation (cf. almost every previous episode of this show; Into the Spider-Verse; other stuff I can’t remember right now). As a former child of the 80’s, I’m living for it… but as a former teenager of the 90’s, I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to age as poorly as the harsh neon green of The Matrix, every Borg appearance on Voyager, and like 80% of the websites I made in high school…

SKANTS! SKANTS! SKANTS!

That fake-out joke with the fly-by over the Cerritos model was in the season trailer weeks ago, and I was so enthralled by that handsome lady that the sticker coming into frame still got me good 😂😂😂

BECKY Mariner????? omg yes

Some top-quality Boimler screams in this one. Poor Jack Quaid must drink gallons of throat-coat tea when he records.

One of the great things about Star Trek to me is that you never know what you’re going to get from any random episode. A murder mystery? A road trip? A spooky thriller? A cheesy romance? Broad comedy? Body horror? Didactic political screeds shrouded in tissue-thin science-fiction metaphors? Brain and brain, what is brain??? And after this many years of watching, you’d think I’d be hard to surprise. But if I ever told you I thought I’d see a Blues Brothers–style car chase through a frickin’ shopping mall on an episode of Star Trek, I would have been straight-up lying to you. I loved it, it worked for me, my jaw was on the floor and I was clapping with joy—but I’m definitely comfortable calling this one “unexpected.”

It’s CAPTAIN SHELBY!!! And an ancient babydyke crush rose from the depths of my childhood subconscious… (Also I think her Number One is based on the original makeup—eventually deemed too complicated—for Saru? Now that’s a deep cut.)

In 20th-century Trek, you almost never got to see what was going on inside a starship from the outside. Even after they switched from physical models (where it was next to impossible on a single episode’s budget) to CGI (which was still in its infancy, still not exactly cheap, and still broadcast in SD anyway), it was a rare thrill to see any meaningful interior details in an exterior shot. Disco’s modern VFX have given us some tasty, tasty treats in that department, but nothing quite as sublime as all the pink Doopler light glittering through the Cerritos’s windows.

Mariner says she’ll take her contact Malvus down with her, and threatens that they’ll end up “in the same cell.” Malvus is a Mizarian, a species introduced in TNG’s “Allegiance,” in which Captain Picard is held in a mysterious prison with one. I think I see what you did there, McMahan?

Bartender… so hot… lesbian circuits… overloading…

The Tendi and Rutherford C-story was, well, a C-story within a 22-minute episode, so there wasn’t much to it, but the one scene that mattered actually mattered a lot. I’m ambivalent on whether they should end up romantically involved—I’d prefer they don’t, but they’ll be one of the cutest couples in Trek history if they do—and as long as they keep that pure, sweet friendship between them at the heart of whatever else happens, I’m on board.

Carol Freeman was already one of my favourite captains before this season, and she’s been steadily moving up the list. The quiet throughline about her ambition to be on a better ship has been fascinating so far, and it’s starting to actually make me feel a little conflicted: I’m of course rooting for Captain Freeman to recognize her worth, make Starfleet recognize her worth, and become the ass-kicking captain of a hero ship that she’s clearly ready to be—but that almost surely means she’d be kicking ass off-screen, because LwD isn’t about those kind of adventures, and I’d be devastated not to have Dawnn Lewis on the show every week. So I’m kind of on the edge of my seat about this one!

I had so many favourite jokes this week I put them in a separate list:

“Even the replicated water on the Titan tasted better” is a low-key brilliant dunk on people who can’t shut the fuck up about the cooler places they used to live.

“Ooooh, they have a Quark’s now! That used to just be an empty lot where teens would make mistakes!” ← That’s literally me every time I go back to where I grew up. I felt so Seen™ I almost hid under a blanket.

“I would never go down the stairs!” (evil grin) (goes up the stairs)

The “well, shit” expressions from Mariner and Boimler as their crashed car sank right into the water… which started to bubble innocuously… and then the bottles of Data bubble-bath popped up, paying off a joke I thought had already been paid off—that was the one that woke up my poor cat this week. Just exquisite timing.

“YOUR PAGH IS WEAK, AND IT DISGUSTS ME!” “I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t like your tone!”

“Okona’s in there? He’s not even Starfleet! This is outrageous!” made me shout “NO!” at the screen like I was scolding my cat for scratching furniture. (She did not wake up that time.)

Best background joke: the neon sign at the dive bar advertising FREE SHOTS & BEERS. (Get it? Because they’re on a Federation starbase? Where nobody uses money?)

And of course Quark merchandised DS9.

This wasn’t just a standout episode of Lower Decks, this was a brilliant episode of Star Trek, period. The Dooplers, though extremely silly, are nevertheless also a clever sci-fi metaphor for real and relatable personal/interpersonal issues, and an effective plot catalyst for meaningful character growth from all four of our ensigns and the captain.

The jokes were hilarious, the action was kinetic, the A-, B-, and C-plots linked up thematically, the visuals were consistently and thoroughly gorgeous, the character beats—between Mariner and Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford, Mariner and Capt. Freeman—were all genuine, heartfelt and wholesome, and the references to other Trek canon were both deep and deeply affectionate.

Only 15 episodes in, and this series knows exactly what it is, exactly what it wants to do, and knows that it can knock our socks off doing it. Mike McMahan has said in recent interviews that the back half of S2 (and the apparently almost-fully-written S3) is a straight line uphill in quality from here—which surprised me at first, because McMahan seems like a pretty chill dude who doesn’t normally brag about his own work like that.

But then the Prophets sent me a vision of my space dad Ben Sisko, who reminded me of the words of 1930’s baseball player Dizzy Dean:

“If you can do it, it ain’t bragging.”

[Thanks to cygnus-x1.net for the screenshots this week—I was too lazy to do my own.]

#star trek #star trek lower decks #lower decks #lower decks spoilers #lwd spoilers #amy's episode notes

34 notes · View notes

fakeloveaskblog · 2 years

Note

Hi, me again. I have more fun facts.

Did you know that if you eat two hundred finely crushed apple seeds it will kill you. This is due to apple seeds containing amygdalin which is a cyanogenic glycoside composed of cyanide and sugar, that when metabolized degrades into hydrogen cyanide. A lethal dose of which will kill you within minutes.

Did you know that when people are crucified they usually die from asphyxiation because the way their bodies are hung makes it almost impossible to breathe unless they physically hold themselves up instead of just hanging there, and after some many hours it gets to be to much, resulting in oxygen deprivation, unconsciousness, and death.

Did you know that according to some research, a human head may remain conscious for up to 30 seconds after decapitation.

Did you know that a good portion of spiders shed their exoskeletons occasionally, so when you happen to come across a "dead" spider, there's a good chance that it's just an empty husk and there is another, slightly bigger spider nearby.

Did you know that there are several species of mushroom-like fungus that implant their spores into insects, creating a kind of zombie, that will lose its mind, wander off, die, and then it’s corpse will be used as fuel for the next generation of fungus.

Did you know that dogs love squeaky toys because the sound mimics small animal's cries of agony after being bitten.

Also on a more lighthearted note after those slightly disturbing facts, when I first got my cats they would claw at the carpet outside a closed door when they wanted to get in a room and the ended up destroying a lot of carpets that way so I trained them to scratch the door instead which is a much better alternative. Plus it’s like they are knocking on the door which I find really cute. Also my female cat had a favourite toy when she was a kitten, it was a small gray mouse filled with catnip called Mr De-Mouse and she would growl at anyone who got close to her when she had Mr De-Mouse in case they would try to take him away from her. She would sometimes play fetch with him bringing him to me to throw and then bringing him back once I threw him, it was adorable.

Also I hope you are doing okay, I’m sending you lots of virtual love. Have a nice day and remember to stay hydrated.

I did know the apple thing bc my friend used to think that fact was hilarious to the point he emailed it to our teachers kgkf i am also well versed in tje fungus fact bc me and my friend saw a video of an ant becoming a zombie and got convinced that the same fungus could evolve into making bigger animals and eventually human zoombies as well. So for several years we were sire the zombie apocalypse would happen just like in the last of us. I started going to the gym bc i was so sure i would have to protect my loved ones from zombies. The gym!!! Insane!! Fun times.

That crufication fact is so cool. I dont know how but i want to use it someday. Whether it be in real life or in writing. I didnt know how long the head could stay alive but Atrocity guide on youtube recently made a cool ass video aboit human head decaptitation. OH ANd another cool youtuber as well. I love both of their videos. Lemme see if i can find them

https://youtu.be/IZ2YEESTQUI

I cant link the other video but its the latest by Jacob Geller. Neither of the videos have gore dw

I didnt know the dog fact thats kinda sad but it also makes sense. Lil doggos) :

Ur cat sounds so cute 🥺🥺🥺 im just imaginign hearing lil cat knocks omg. Mr De-mouse is a great name btw. Oogoggh having cats sounds so good. Ive never had pets. Thanks mdude 💙🐳 i hope u have a good day too

Dont worry dude. When i say dissociation is slowing my response time down i mean that i got triggered into a catatonic dissociation state today. And when i dissociate i can go in and out of beibg grounded and dissociated for many Many hours. So i am literally physically struggling to move in any way including writing ofc. So having fun facts to think about while laying still is helping tons instead of thiniing of bad things. Grounding myself enough to write a few sentences doesnt hurt me, it just takes a while. At most the dissociation is giving me a headache

#Thanks for taking time out of ur day to help #I hope ur day is going well

4 notes · View notes

kareofbears · 3 years

Text

persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort.

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind.

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao).

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence?

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch. I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest.

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there.

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list!

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters.

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.

The format of the game

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting.

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie).

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters.

But let’s talk about some of the new characters!

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda.

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!!

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister.

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle!

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable.

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me.

And then sophia had a persona awakening.

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me.

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start.

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it.

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy.

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji.

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game.

You know what else i love? Akiryu.

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo).

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally.

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot.

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean)

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks. This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.

#cant believe im done #but you know what?#i was actually at peace when i finished it #so i consider that a good healty thing #p5s #alex plays p5s #mine #p5 #my moon and stars #the leader and his right hand man

20 notes · View notes