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kyluxtrashpit · 5 years

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TROS Review

Okay here is my extremely long (almost 4k words >.>) review of tros. And that’s without the 2k meta on redemption arcs I also have filed away lmao. First off: I am not leaving the kylux fandom. It’s not a good enough movie to warrant that. Second: I might make a post of things I wished we’d gotten later, but this is already WAY too long lmao. Warnings for spoilers, opinions, and general negativity

EXPLICIT RISE OF SKYWALKER SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

So. I have watched the thing. I went in knowing the spoilers and oh boy, am I glad I did. Still, overall this movie was… not great lmao. It’s messy and the pacing is off and there are some very weird and straight up Bad moments, but I’m not actually upset about it anymore. It’s more like ‘there’s a lot to unpack here’ except we’re not going to unpack it or even throw away the whole thing, it’s just gonna become that one box that’s still packed and untouched from when you moved 3 years ago. It’s there, but you rarely think about it beyond the occasional ‘maybe I should finally unpack that? Nah, too much effort’

I see a lot of people writing fix it fic and that’s totally valid but tbh… I don’t think it’s worth the effort for me. I think I’m just going to pretend it never happened and write my kylux the way I always have. Maybe I’ll do something with tros at some point, maybe some mean!Hux + redeemed!Ben because I’m awful lmao but for now, it hasn’t changed my plans at all. Which is actually a good thing tbh

Anyway. I’ll start with the good simply because there’s less of it lmao. Best thing about the movie? Everyone in it is looking like a fucking snack. It’s great. These people have always been hot, but this movie really nailed that. Also the trio stuff was fun and felt genuine. I LOVED the hints that Finn is Force sensitive, and I liked him in this movie even though I wish he got more story/time. I enjoyed Rey at the beginning, but her actions and plotline made less and less sense as the movie went on. Kylo was fun; I had gotten worried after that interview that said he’s calm now but he wasn’t lmao, like at all, so that was good. Also I didn’t like how Hux died but I’m endlessly grateful Kylo wasn’t the one to kill him. That might’ve actually ruined the ship for me

The visuals were excellent (save that strobing near the beginning; I’m not epileptic, but I had to close my eyes because it was too much). Some of the jokes hit will, as did some of the emotional bits (Chewie’s “death” was very well-executed and Rey’s scream broke my heart). Weirdly enough, C-3PO is kind of the heart of the movie, which I did not expect at all. Lando’s appearances were too brief but good. I also loved D-O a lot and he’s very cute. I liked seeing a bunch of new planets and environments, however briefly. The acting was also really great throughout on most accounts. I really enjoyed 2 of the Hux scenes (when he’s sitting in that board meeting making a face like he’s mentally eviscerating everyone in the room and when he gets so excited to finally get to blow something up and then Kylo shuts him up with the Force BUT WITHOUT HARMING HIM!!!)

That’s kind of it tbh. The movie overall is really messy. I’ve seen people say it feels like a fever dream and it really does. I’ve seen descriptions of people dreaming the plot of tros and they’re less weird. The pacing in the first chunk is way too fast and there’s way too much to take in. Then things get weird in the middle. Then, well, that ending. It feels like it’s trying too hard to be liked. It’s ‘joke’, ‘reference to past movie’, ‘joke’, ‘reference to past movie’, ‘mention of hope without showing it’, etc. etc. on and on throughout it. Some of those are fun, but it got tiring very quickly. And it made it impossible for me to suspend disbelief long enough to actually get into it

I also saw a lot of reviews saying if you didn’t like tlj, you would like this one. That was not correct. I disliked this for many of same reasons I disliked tlj, but it also managed to hold tfa’s weaknesses as well. Honestly, tros feels like the worst aspects of tlj mixed with the worst aspects of tfa, mixed with way too much nostalgia and then blended up with a good heaping of mania and desperation to keep it going. It tried so hard, wanted to be liked so badly, and you can feel that watching it. It doesn’t feel genuine

It also feels like every single movie in the ST was actually from a different trilogy. None of the 3 connect to each other. You can’t say tros is a successor to tlj or tfa; it’s totally on a different path, which I’m honestly not sure how they managed that. As much as I felt tlj wasn’t a true continuation of tfa, tros feels like its own trilogy mashed into one movie. There wasn’t one consistent plot or character thread to follow between all 3 movies

I think bringing palpatine back was the first fundamental mistake. It didn’t fit. And after creating Kylo and Snoke to be very specifically Not Sith, why bring the Sith back all of a sudden? Palpatine has had his day and he didn’t need this. No one did. Much as he was creepy as hell and that was well done, it didn’t feel right to have him there. Also, I really don’t like the implication he procreated at any point skdfjskldjk

As for Rey… I know I’m in the minority here, but I never found here to be a good narrative foil for Kylo. The connection between the two doesn’t really interest me at all (and this was one of the reasons I didn’t like tlj). It worked better if they were related, which was the biggest reason I was a proponent of Rey Skywalker, but that didn’t happen. The commonalities they have are just: 1) can use the Force, 2) have been lonely. The contrasts are: 1) light vs dark (sort of; this is less explicit in tfa and I miss that greyer view of the Force) and 2) had a family vs didn’t. And that’s pretty much it. In order for 2 characters to contrast and hit the ‘complimentary opposites’ sweet spot, you need much, much more than that. Finn has and always will be a better foil for Kylo and it’s a damn shame they abandoned that in tlj and even more so in tros. I have more thoughts on her that I’ll get to later too

I did like Rey in the beginning, but the longer it went on, the less I could rationalize her actions. Why is she doing that? Why is she trying to ditch her friends all the time? Why does she heal the cave snake? Why does she stab Kylo when he’s just become a non-combatant? Why does she heal him after? Why is she trying to reach out to the spirits of past jedi? Why did she Do That after she wakes up in the end? Why did she then seem to not even care that Kylo died right after? None of this is explained. Show, don’t tell, is great, but you can’t just make massive leaps like that. I didn’t get it. None of this felt like the character I’ve gotten to know over the last few years, nor did it feel consistent within the movie itself

That said, I want to discount one complaint I’ve seen: I got no impression she’s exiling herself on Tatooine at the end. It’s very clear she’s just doing a quick funeral ritual for Luke and Leia. The Falcon is still there, ready for when she’s done. I don’t get where the ‘she’s all alone in the desert again forever and ever’ comes from because it’s clear she’s not. It’s just a private ceremony (plus obvious fanservice). That’s it

For Finn: I liked that his character got to be a lot cooler here. I’m sad that he didn’t get half the attention and plot he deserved, but at least he wasn’t treated as a joke and a coward. My tlj complaint for Finn was that he went through the exact same arc he did in tfa over again; here, he doesn’t. He’s clearly grown into himself. That I liked. But damn, he was supposed to be a main character and he really got sidelined hard. It’s also very clear finnrey was planned at some point but didn’t end up in the final cut. The tease with that felt cruel tbh. He deserved to get to tell Rey he loved her on screen

And Poe: Poe was okay in this one. He felt to me like a different character in tfa and tlj, but this one managed to mesh the two characterizations well. He’s a bit of a hothead who doesn’t think (tlj), but he also really cares about people and is trying his best to lead (tfa). That was very successfully done. However. Poe is the one character with the most backstory. He’s got novels, comics, all of it. Where in the fuck is this history of being a spice runner in all that??? Sketchy as hell to make your one Latino character being a drug runner but you know. It also felt like a HUGE retcon of the one character that actually has fully revealed backstory. Also his thing with Zori was just weird and forced and exhaustingly heterosexual. Completely pointless tbh

As I was rereading this, I realized I forgot Rose but really, that’s because she does pretty much nothing. She has very few lines, never comes along. It’s like they forgot she was there. Or just didn’t care. It was really sad and a huge disrespect to everything KMT has gone through. Both her and her character deserved more

For Hux: I liked the 2 scenes I mentioned above, but other than that I was disappointed. I said this on twitter already, but the biggest crime they committed was getting rid of his fanaticism. Tlj may have turned him into a joke, but at least he was still a zealot. Here, it’s clear he gave up his last fuck like a year ago. It’s 9 am and he’s had 6 glasses of wine because he’s lost the will to live and it’s all pointless. Might as well fuck around and give the Resistance info that might lead to the end of everything he’s worked for his entire life because nothing matters and at least Kylo will lose. That’s dumb and violently ooc. I get him being a traitor to Kylo, I am DOWN for that, but not to the FO. He cares about the FO. He is fanatically devoted to the FO. That was ridiculous and wildly out of character. Also the FO is just gone in favour of Palpatine’s fleet as soon as Hux dies? What happened to them? Are they still out there? Who even knows? WHAT A FUCKING WASTE

Also Pryde? Fuck that guy and fuck JJ/LF/Disney for thinking it’s okay to have an old imperial kill Hux. Especially since the visual dictionary today confirmed Pryde knew Brendol and our Hux had known him for years. The possible implications are gross as fuck. If anyone was going to kill Hux one on one, it should have been Finn (with a wonderful stormtrooper rebellion arc involved) for the sake of both characters. I’m personally going to choose to believe Hux was wearing a blaster proof vest (thank you, Delilah Dawson, for putting those into Black Spire as canon) and faked his death. He’s living in blissful exile with Millie now or rebuilding the actual FO and ready to take over as the Emperor he deserves to be

Oh and Leia’s scenes did feel weird. I appreciate them trying to incorporate her, but it didn’t quite work. I feel like having her be offscreen yet present would’ve worked better than most of what they used. Some worked better than others though. I also have some Thoughts about her death but I’m about to get into the second half of the movie stuff and I’ll cover that there

Now Kylo. My darling, sweet, disaster boy. So. Okay. I knew no matter what happened his end would be controversial. And I have a lot of feelings on redemption arcs that can be distilled into one thing: if they’re written well, I like them, no matter how much bad the character has done; however, they are almost never written well enough. One of the first things I said coming out of tfa back in 2015 is ‘that’s going to be a disappointing redemption arc in a few years’. It was never about what ending I wanted (I actually favour something more grey than simply ‘oh he’s good now’ or ‘dies evil’, but that was way too ambitious for them to attempt so I never bothered to hope for it), because I knew it was coming. So this didn’t really bother me beyond the fact that it was too sudden. I do blame that partially on tlj, because it took Kylo from conflicted and torn apart to ‘yeah, I’m in charge now’, but I still think this was not the way to do it. Anyway. I have a 2k word rant somewhere about redemption arcs and when they work and when they don’t that I never posted and this is the much, much shorter version of that

Also. Okay. One more thing on this. So I usually don’t like redemption arcs because they’re written badly, but my least favourite redemption arcs are those that end in death. The only one I can think of that actually worked was Vader’s, but it doesn’t work as well with Kylo. Why? Because redemption is about making amends, not being punished. It’s about choosing to stop doing bad shit and instead to do good things to make up for what you’ve done. In self-sacrifice, not only does it send the message that the only path to redemption is death, but also it means you do literally one thing and then die. That’s it. One good deed, die, you’re done. That’s too fucking easy. True redemption is waking up every single day, for the rest of your life, and continuing to choose to do good. You know that evil is easier, feels better; you’ve done it. But you’re making the choice to keep doing good and to make amends instead. And you do that for years. Decades, even. That is SO MUCH harder to do than just one good thing and then immediately dying without showing if that change is lasting or not. That is how redemption is achieved: in making that choice not once, but again and again and again. So yeah. I didn’t like that. Death redemptions aren’t convincing to me because one choice is easy; consistently making that choice over the rest of your life is much, much harder

End of point: if they were going to redeem Kylo, he needed to live and work to make up for his past mistakes in order to make it impactful. It’s a damn shame he didn’t

Also: having Leia die for the sake of a man, son or not? FUCK THAT. And, even worse, if we follow the movie’s logic: Leia died trying to reach and save her son. Which lead to… him dying anyway?! Which means Leia’s death is meaningless and she died for literally nothing. Fuck that. FUCK THAT. What the fuck. That’s bullshit

Again on the redemption: Kylo just… kills his good friends the KOR without a shred of hesitation? Also the KOR literally never speak? And Kylo says literally one word (‘ow’) after the redemption? I admit, it was fun watching him fight and also watching him get hurt. If I ignore the context of it, watching him crawl out of the pit, scrabbling on the ground, so hurt he can’t even stand up? Fuck. That was good shit tbh. Also those big, desperate puppy eyes. They’re even worse with him as Ben instead of Kylo. Bravo to Adam for playing such a convincing sad boy. I hate that his scar got healed though; I liked it

Now. The whole ending and the plot stuff. Rey being a palpatine is… okay. Fine. I don’t like it but whatever. Seems like an unnecessary excuse to bring him back. Also Luke and Leia knowing? How? Luke knew Rey for literally 1 day. And how would Leia know? And why not tell Rey, who was so desperate for answers to her past when they thought Palpatine was dead? It makes no sense. It’s just very unnecessary. Not to mention the line “you’re a palpatine” is not a thing any real human being would ever say, jfc that was clumsy and unrealistic dialogue. I don’t mind Rey going a bit dark for some time, but this was not the way to do it. Also I was really hoping for a resolution beyond ‘dark siders dead, light sider alive’ because the dichotomous nature of the Force MAKES NO SENSE. Balance is needed. Leaving the only Force user alive a light sider means something dark will come again for the sake of it – Rey should’ve gone grey and tbh tfa made me hope this trilogy would end with all surviving Force users grey. So that was disappointing

Now. The kiss. Straight up: I do not ship it. I don’t mind if other people do, but I do get touchy when they go out of their way to prove there’s nothing inherently problematic about it. I ship kylux; it’s problematic as hell. That’s a good part of why I like it. So I’m fine with r*ylo shippers as long as they do the same. Problem is: most don’t and go around insisting it’s actually the highest romance possible while leaning on incredibly misogynistic and racist tropes to prop up that argument rather than accept their ship has some questionable parts to it (like kyluxers do). It’s more a problem with the fandom for me than it is the ship in theory. Still, I don’t like it and that’s what matters for this

The fact of the matter is it felt extremely sudden and out of place. The entire first half of the movie is Kylo being an aggressive, creepy asshole to Rey. I can theoretically entertain the idea of Kylo having feelings for her (though I don’t), but I cannot see the other way around, not when Rey has so many kind, wonderful people around her. Which is why this feels so weird. There was not enough build to it. I saw a cam clip off reddit before I went in, so I had accepted it was happening but I expected a lot more lead up to it to make it not seem so sudden. None of that was there. There was no build up or reaching of understanding so it reads exactly like those versions of it I dislike: there is nothing wrong with a man berating you and insulting you and attacking you and you should love him for it. That is not enemies to lovers. That’s just abusive bullshit

And then the death. Both of them. Rey dies from… what exactly? It’s never shown at all. And same with Kylo. The leaks said it was Force exhaustion, which a) why? And b) that’s not clear in the damn movie. You need to explain things!!!! And also that means Leia, Luke, Kylo, and Rey all died (even if one didn’t stick) from using the Force too hard. Meanwhile Darth Maul survives getting cut in half and Palpatine survives falling down a shaft in a space station that explodes 2 minutes later (and, you know, all the wacky Force shit he did in this movie too). The fuck? It’s dumb. I hate it

Also the dyad thing was weird. I know the early leaks had it more explained, then the leaks said they cut it, but now it looks like they left in 3 lines of dialogue with it and cut the rest. Again, explanations people! This is not a thing in previous canon! Maybe in the EU, but that’s not canon anymore! The fuck!!!! The idea is dumb and forced to begin with, but the execution made it worse

And now for the final, largest criticism I have. A confession: I am not a star wars fan by nature. I’ve always liked them, but I preferred other sci-fi more. I’m more of an invasive species who forcibly carved my way into this fandom ecological niche because I really loved Kylo lmao. But if there is one thing star wars is defined by, I don’t think it’s love or family or any of those common themes people say. It’s hope. That’s the thing star wars does well. Even when things are darkest, it keeps the hope alive and it makes you feel that. Good will triumph. There is reason to believe in heroes, even when they stumble

This movie is not hopeful. Rogue One, a masterful tragedy, still manages a message of hope despite every single lead character dying. This one doesn’t. And tbh, I think tlj missed on this a bit too (a lot of talk about having hope, not a lot of showing us reasons to be hopeful), but it was still there. Tros does not feel hopeful. The Skywalkers are all dead. Rey has decided to download the legacy (why? No idea! The whole message was ‘don’t be afraid of who you are’ and she just then decided to become someone else? Makes no sense!!!). Anakin’s sacrifice meant nothing because Palpatine came back (and it is CRIMINAL we never got an Anakin and Kylo scene). Han and Leia’s and even Luke’s (a bit) deaths meant nothing because yeah, Kylo turned back in the end, but then he died anyway. They all gave their lives to save him and it was all for nothing. He’s still dead. Palpatine is gone and so is his fleet, but what about the FO fleet? Are they still out there? Are there brainwashed stormtroopers still trapped in its clutches (also, they were so close with Jannah and Finn to adding depth here, but nope, the stormtroopers are still cannon fodder in every fight scene even though they’re literally slaves!!!!)? Who knows!

This movie only feels conclusive in that so many characters we love are dead. That’s it. There’s more questions than answers and so much left unresolved. There’s no sense of hope in it. There’s barely a sense of victory. It’s not satisfying. Even the celebration at the end feels weird and like it’s trying to force you to be happy. The jedistormpilot hug was good, but the lesbian kiss was such a cheap attempt at trying to appease people calling for representation. The moment with Lando and Jannah at the end was probably the most hopeful part of the movie and neither of them are lead characters

Idk. I know this is pretty negative. But I didn’t really enjoy this movie. Some parts were fun, or funny, or exciting, or emotional. But overall? No. This was not a satisfying conclusion for any of these characters, either the new or the old. They missed. Hard. Not one character was truly done justice. And it’s disappointing. But it’s over now and I have no intentions of letting it dictate my fandom activities. I’m just going to pretend it didn’t happen and call it a day

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chicagoindiecritics · 4 years

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New Written Review from Mike Crowley on You’ll Probably Agree: 10 Reasons Why ‘Blade Runner 2049’ is better than ‘Blade Runner’

If you haven’t’ seen the movie, see it then read this. No intro, let’s jump right in.

1. K is a replicant

The reveal of K’s genetic code, or lack thereof, flips everything we assume the movie will be on its head. We are learning along with K what it means to exist. Do we as humans, live like replicants? Do we obey a society that treats us like trash but breath anyways out of the fear of death? Where we viewed “Blade Runner” mostly through Deckard’s eyes who didn’t have much of a personality, K’s lack of a character is his entire purpose for existing. For K to emote is to face death.

Where Harrison Ford’s Deckard entire arc was us questioning if he’s human or not (despite what Ridley Scott unequivocally says), there’s nothing much of substance to Officer Deckard. He gets drunk, retires replicants, that’s it. Name one thing that makes Deckard standout? I’ll wait. Ryan Gosling’s Officer K goes from a machine that is dying spiritually on the inside to someone wanting to have a purpose in life. All while maintaining his composure, if perhaps too much poise for the film. Anything with a conscious can feel. Whether or not how it was made is as relevant as where you were born or what skin color you are. The importance is that you’re here.

K doesn’t seek gratitude nor affirmation. He doesn’t suffer from a narcissistic personality. All he wants is not just to be another useless piece of metal.

2. Deckard has depth this time

Being a daddy changes you a lot. Rick isn’t just a slouchy drunk who likes to shoot robots out of legal obligation. He’s a man who’s principles and love for forbidden things cost him his life. What kind of soul did Deckard have in the first film? Who did he care for? Please don’t say, Rachel, we all know why he was attracted to Rachel. Like Winston in 1984, Deckard rejects Big Brother for a life of pain to gain a glimmer of happiness.

3. It’s horrifyingly relevant

Denis Villeneuve based the imagery in 2049 on a planet that has become degraded with pollution. The buildings are extrapolating enormous amounts of water into the atmosphere, the sea wall at the end of the picture will be our new Mount Rushmore, the orange Vegas is happening now. Denis Villeneuve didn’t predict the earth looking like this, but his production team was still spot on. A picture that transcends its very style, developing a look that will be discussed on its merits separate from the ubiquitous original, is a stunning achievement.

Everything isn’t dystopian because that’s the way it was in the book. It’s what will happen to us in real life, why we’d look for colonies to live on if we had the technology or funding towards NASA to do so. God help us all.

4. The love story questions the essence of relationships

The story between K and Joi further examines the meaning of love, sex, and mortality, with the two being different versions of artificiality. When the default sexed-up version of a naked Joy pops up on the screen, we are emotionally mortified. Some of us may be repulsed to observe a character we care for utilized like a thirsty Godzilla.

The towering ad tries to seduce K tempting him to buy it, rendering everything Joi said to K throughout the picture questionable. Its manipulation solidifies his final decision in life to help another man. We’re not sure if she loved him or said what it thought it wanted him to hear throughout the narrative. Possibly Joi herself didn’t know her intentions. An unusual amount of nuance and uncertainty rests in the love story. Who do we love? Why do we love? Do we love by the heart or the heart of our designers whom we don’t know?

Meanwhile, Deckard was just drunk and horny when he bashed Rachel up against the wall. Sorry, that really was all there was to their passion despite what Wallace says.

5. The movie was an honest commentary about how the world views woman

Here’s a controversial one. A lot of women were disgusted by the way they were depicted in the film. Outwardly watching the movie, I can’t blame them. I’ll let Mr. Villeneuve speak for himself. “I am very sensitive to how I portray women in movies. This is my ninth feature film and six of them have women in the lead role. The first Blade Runner was quite rough on the women, something about the film noir aesthetic. But I tried to bring depth to all the characters. For Joi, the holographic character, you see how she evolves. It’s interesting, I think. What is cinema? Cinema is a mirror on society. Blade Runner is not about tomorrow; it’s about today. And I’m sorry, but the world is not kind on women.”

Villeneuve is right. Women today are still sexualized. Even with the Me Too movement, women are continually seen as sex objects or subservient slaves in a male-dominated society. Villeneuve isn’t interested in painting a rosy picture that Hollywood does for female roles to make the audiences feel comfortable. It’s an honest reflection on who we are. What we see is what we don’t want to see, but that’s part of the honesty of cinema.

6. The score is mesmerizing

Another point in which I may face some contention. Yes, Vangelis’ score is iconic, but it only works for the era it was composed in. Much of its mixture of bleeps, blops, and wind chimes are a product of its time. A lot of emotion is missing from the score other than the opening theme and “Tears In Rain.” Hearing much of the soundtrack while on the road, I sometimes thought I was listening to something from a porno. Take a listen to “Wait For Me” in the soundtrack and tell me otherwise. Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Walfisch’s score is timeless while also paying respect to Vangelis’ synthetic use in the original. It dives into the character’s mind providing a replication of something more human than what Vangelis composed.

7. It thematically ties more directly to “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” than “Blade Runner” does.

“Blade Runner” got the overall gist of Phillip K Dick’s novel. Replicants are scared, trying to find a way to survive as Deckard hunts them down. However, the Andies in the movie almost deserve to die. In their quest for more life, they torture and kill multiple civilians. What did the guy making the eyes do to deserve being frozen to death? What about J.R. Sebastian? He was nothing but pleasant to Roy and Pris. Did Roy eye gauge him when he was done with Tyrell?

Aside from Luv (Sylvia Hoeks), our replicants are fully rounded people. Sapper Morton is a watchful protector who was meant to be a NEXUS 8 combat medic; Joi’s true intentions come into question for herself and us. K’s inner conflict is the central core of the story. All of this revolves around the meaning of existence within a world that has forgotten about you. The introduction of Robo procreation is an evolution of Dick’s ideas, widening his notion of why life exists in the first place.

8. It doesn’t get lost in the scale

Many sequels love scope over characters. Remember “The Matrix”? Remember how they talked about Zion and all these other things we didn’t see? When the sequels brought in Zion, the focus got lost in the spectacle. “The Matrix Reloaded” was a bumbling CGI mess of Agent Smith Clones and cave orgies. “The Matrix Revolutions” was a glorified “Space Invaders” game. Shoot as many sentinels as you can before becoming overwhelmed. Amidst the sequels bumbling chaos, I missed the smaller scale of the Nebuchadnezzar crew.

The story of “2049” could have focused on the replicant uprising with thousands of robots slamming into humans. We could have gone off-world to finally see what all these other colonies we’ve heard about are like. Some have argued that the movie could have borrowed some of its source material from the later novels about replicants creating humans, so on and so forth. All of that sounds incredible in theory. In execution, you would likely get “The Matrix” sequels.

A movie that overreaches in scope, attempting to please fans by showing everything. What we got was an incredibly meaningful story that further explores the themes of the original while building upon its world without going too far. We see what’s beyond L.A. on the dilapidated west coast. The answer is not much. The film aims at minimalism over extravaganza.

9. We’re still talking about it

After being MIA for decades, “Blade Runner 2049” isn’t forgotten. I can’t say the same for “Superman Returns,” “Monsters University,” “The Incredibles 2,” “Live Free or Die Hard,” and “Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull.” In fairness, people do talk about Indy 4, but not in a positive fashion. “Blade Runner 2049” returned to the limelight with disastrous box office results yet high accolades, even gaining the Academy’s attention. Ironically it seemed destined to live the life of its predecessor.

“2049” may have tanked because it was a multimillion-dollar art film that respected its audience’s intelligence. Maybe “Blade Runner” was too far gone amongst the public to gain an interest geared almost entirely towards comic books and Disney. I think the trailers after the reveal teaser looked too generic for my own two cents, turning me off from the film for a short while.

Here we are with Honest Trailers in 2020, making a video about a film that came out in 2017. Bloodsoaked orange skies from the headlines mention the atmosphere of this film. Somewhere, about 100 other people are writing their analysis of “Blade Runner 2049” as I type right now. Seven years from now, we’ll be talking about why the world is still like “Blade Runner 2049.” Villeneuve made a timeless sequel to be remembered.

10. It’s better than the first film and one of the best films in the last ten years

Here’s why you’ll probably agree with this one when you put your pitchfork down. Remove your nostalgia goggles. I know it’s hard to do, please, trust me. Look at the points I made above. Think about how ironic the love story is to our lives. The layers of meaning behind K’s existence is lightyears beyond the featureless Rick Deckard. The picture isn’t flawless. Niander Wallace is spectacularly corny in his scenery-chewing grim monologues. Dr. Eldon Tyrell had some ambiguity regarding the morale of his intentions. For that, I’ll give the original the benefit of my doubt. I understand Ryan Gosling was cast to be intentionally deadpan, but it’s okay to emote once. His distant stare in all of his other performances made it difficult for me to discern myself from the actor’s rather dull persona.

With this said, “Blade Runner 2049” understands cinema. Its atmosphere is why we venture into a dark room that takes us to a different place. Denis Villeneuve’s masterful follow up is one of the most orgasmic cinematic experiences I have witnessed in the last ten years that demands a re-screening in 2022 when theatres reopen at an entirely safe capacity. The style doesn’t overshadow its substance, which is far richer in detail than the original without grasping at blatant metaphors. “Blade Runner 2049” is slow cinema at its finest, letting us into the character’s heads, knowing when to be quiet and when to be loud.

Like “The Empire Strikes Back,” not everyone appreciated the movie at first. Time has been incredibly kind to it, though. I wish the Academy recognized “Blade Runner 2049” beyond its technical marvels in 2018. I suppose it wasn’t the type of picture that catches Oscar voter’s eyes. But it has acquired the audience’s to this day. Now, if you could just look up and to the left for me?

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#IFTTT #WordPress #CIFCC #film critics #movies #film #Chicago

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acaseforpencils · 5 years

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David Ostow.

Bio: I'm a cartoonist and stay-at-home dad, not necessarily in that order. I came late to cartooning, because I thought I wanted to be an architect. In grad school, my professors were always hung up on the fact that I was more interested in drawing pretty pictures than in designing interesting spaces. Anyway, they graduated me, and should really answer for the disservice they did to the design industry.

Find this print here!

I came to cartooning by way of illustrating some books for my sister who's an author. To date, my work has also appeared in and on a combination of print publications and websites, including The New Yorker, Mcsweeney's Internet Tendency, The American Bystander, Buzzfeed, and The Weekly Humorist. My work and I were also featured in a New York Times piece about artists addressing gentrification in their work. I don't know if that counts. Does that count?

I live in New York City with my son and my wife, whose support is the reason I'm not drawing on grocery bags in my parents' basement, and raking their yard for allowance.

Tools of choice: Where to begin? I got an iPad Pro earlier this year, and I've been using it pretty exclusively since. But finding and experimenting with tools has been an odyssey unto itself for me, and I'd be remiss not to give a bit of history.

I started out employing a lot of the tools that I learned about in the architecture world. I went to UVA, and when I was there my sketching professor [fun fact: he was also the mayor!*] encouraged us to draw with Micron pens using a very loose hand. Check out the sketches of Michael Graves, and you'll see what we were emulating. My hand was naturally pretty shaky. Years of drawing have rendered it less so, but at the time, my peers teased me (in good fun) for being a teacher's pet with my wobbly broken lines. That introduction to sketching was definitely formative to the style I would eventually develop for cartooning. Sometimes I find myself trying to force my hand to be as wobbly as it used to be.

Architecture school was also where I first began using Photoshop as a diagramming tool, and I became more facile with it when I moved into the professional world, where it's a common tool for rendering presentation drawings. Since then, Photoshop has been my go-to for applying washes and colors to my drawings, although now that I have an iPad and I'm experimenting with Procreate, the Photoshop era may be coming to a close.

After taking a class on comics creation at The New School in Manhattan, I got up the nerve to add some ink and brushes into my toolkit, and while it was an adjustment, it was also fun to have a brand new way of making varied and expressive lines. At the height of my "pre-digital" period, I was using a combination of ink and technical pens. The accompanying photo shows my spread in more detail. All the tools pictured are easy to find, and easy to use, and I recommend them for anyone looking to take a stab at drawing cartoons or comics.

From there, I waded slowly and awkwardly into the world of digital drawing. I had a hybrid moment when I was roughing my drawings in pencil, scanning them, using a Wacom tablet to ink in a program called Clip Studio, and then adding colors / washes in Photoshop. It was an incredible time suck, but, for what it's worth, the cartoons I produced that way were some of the first I sold to The New Yorker. So there's that.

Since getting my iPad I've been drawing with Procreate, which seems to be the preferred drawing application among my iPad savvy colleagues, and which I enjoy, but I feel like I'm still getting comfortable with it. When it comes to new technology, I have a habit of doing the bare minimum to educate myself, and every time I need clarity on a finer point I'll do a tad more research. It's called the "Dave Ostow Kicking and Screaming Method" and I recommend it to no one.

Tool I wish I could use better: I've never had any formal fine arts training, so I lack the kind of mastery of many traditional tools that some of my peers have attained as a matter of course. One time I tried to use a dip pen, and was so overwhelmed by how hard it was to draw a single line that I put it in my drawer and just kind of forgot about it.

I also used to own a set of Koh-i-noor Rapidograph pens, which make amazing lines, but require saintlike patience to maintain. The nibs are super delicate and If you're not careful, they'll break and leak (or — worse — explode) all over your drawing.

In an ideal world, I would have the patience and time to master some of these more traditional and delicate tools, and I think I'd be a better artist for it. Maybe some day, but right now my schedule doesn't allow for much extracurricular activity.

Tool I wish existed: Kind of a no-brainer: an iPad / digital tablet that felt almost indistinguishable from real pen and paper. Think the Beyond Meat burger of digital drawing tools.

The iPad is great, and of course it's wonderful to have digital editing capabilities, but there's simply no hiding the fact that you're drawing on a screen that lacks the kind of tooth you'd get from dragging a pen across paper. Also, when I zoom in to do detail work, I'm always thrown by the pixelation.

I'm sure the more I use the iPad, the better I'll get at tweaking the settings to my liking. Like I said, when change is involved, I sometimes drag my feet. But that's okay. As a good friend who's also really my therapist said, "Maybe that's just the way you work."

Tricks: Not a trick so much as a suggestion: If you're drawing on an iPad or some other sort of tablet, get a matte protective cover. It will reduce glare, and soften the feel of the screen against your stylus, so you get an experience more like drawing on paper, albeit only slightly so.

Misc: Yes, that is a Dan Smith Will Teach You Guitar flyer on my bulletin board. I found it on the subway and it just seemed like a fun authentic New York artifact that was calling to be preserved. I look at it every now and again, and find it oddly inspiring. That picture of Dan Smith has been circulating around the city for God knows how many decades. What does Dan Smith look like today and would he still teach me guitar?

Website, etc.

Website

Instagram

New Yorker Link

Conde Nast Store

*Editor’s note: I went to Charlottesville High School with Mayor Cox’s son! I also went to UVA, though not at the same time as David. Small world!

Also, I happily do this blog for free, though there are a lot of hidden expenses that I take care of myself. If you enjoy this blog, and would like to help defray labor and maintenance costs, there is a Patreon! Or if you’d prefer to buy me a cup of coffee, there is a Ko-Fi account as well (which is essentially a PayPal donation)! Your support means a lot, and I'm grateful to everyone who has donated!

You can also find more posts about art supplies on Case’s Instagram and Twitter! Thank you!

#David ostow #how to draw New Yorker cartoons #cartoons #how to draw cartoons #art supplies #artists on tumblr #art process

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thisiskindagross · 7 years

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Better late than never. Here’s your question dump for some things y’all have been curious about. I did 55 questions.

1. why does heaven get to distribute death sentences to the Fallen if they decide to directly serve satan? I'm talking about what happened with ipos and sheila. Did the fallen have to sign a contract or something saying they cant talk to satan after the fall? why would heaven even care, since the fallen chose to leave heaven on their own free will and aren't their business anymore?

Heaven’s strange in the sense that they give themselves that authority. They are aware that the Fallen follow Satan and have pledged their allegiance to him, so they don’t care if they have contact with him; however, there are a select few Fallen that Heaven doesn’t want talking to Lucifer about certain things. Ipos was one of those people. They pretty much told him not to discuss anything involving Heaven as a whole, or giving Lucifer any help to give him an edge during the Apocalypse or else they’d punish or kill them depending on how severe the information was. So Ipos finding out about the Horsemen and where they were and telling Lucifer was a big enough deal to Heaven for them to shut him down.

2. So Michael fights with a torch, Zad fights with a knife, and Chamuel fights with two short sickles. Do the other archangels have distinct weapons like these? If so, what are they?

Uriel has God’s light, Gabriel has a spear, and Jophiel has the wheels of fire on his ankles since he’s the fastest angel. Raphael doesn’t have a troop to command so he’s not great at fighting, but he does have something that comes up in the Memory Arc later that he uses.

3. I noticed during the "Wager" update that Pestilence has a scar going down her back. How did she get it?

This is kinda not released yet so I’ll be vague, but it’s not so much of a scar as it is an orifice.

4. We know that Zadkiel put Satan's summoning symbols on a pad to "protect him during the End of Days", but why specifically? Like did Zadkiel know that Natalie was the prophecy child from the get-go and wanted to get her on Luce's side? Or was it just to delay the fight between him and Michael?

They did not know specifically Natalie was the prophecy child, it was more of a gamble. It was done to delay the fight because Michael isn’t the kind of person to harm someone in a contract, so the unlucky person who got contracted to Satan was like a temporary meat shield so to speak.

5. About how far are we into the story you envisioned telling?

This is hard to answer cuz I have something planned at a later date, but I’d say a decent amount in.

6. Which of the angels/demons would be the best with kids? I feel like Anthea and Gabriel would be great parents tbh

Gabriel, Chamuel, Anthea, Uriel, to name a few.

7. what's titus' birthday?

October 23. I believe I said a different date in a stream once, but I changed my mind and set this as the official date.

8. Has Michael ever been put in the Tank? What was his reaction?

He has never been in the Tank before.

9. Why wasn’t Raphael punished for healing Natalie at Oregon? He helped out the "other side" too, it wasn't just Gabe. Did Michael never find out about Raphael's involvement? Or DID he know and he just chose to punish Gabe because he's the one that dragged Raphael into the situation? Love your work btw!

Michael knew Raphael was involved, but I think a little bit of him was sympathetic since he had been stabbed and poisoned and was on his death bed not long before this.

Since I haven’t publicly explained what the Tank is or does yet, I have to be vague. But Raphael is the only angel in Heaven forbidden from even going near the building where they keep the Tank. There is actually a sign on the door and guards forbidding Raphael from entering the building. Since Raphael is the only healer of Heaven and he’s a very depressed/easily influenced person, the higher ups don’t think the Tank would be a beneficial punishment for him.

10. How did Raguel get his job? Like what about him stood out to Heaven? Does he just hide his sociopathic tendencies well lol

Raguel was created purposefully with the intent of being a replacement angel if one of the Archangels were to die. The Higher Ups asked God to make them an angel as a sort of “test run” angel and he reluctantly agreed.

The Higher Ups want angels to have very little interest outside of their jobs, and not be emotionally fueled. Raguel’s literally the first attempt at a prototype of an “emotionless” angel that will only obey orders.

They’re going to find out that that’s not the case with him later.

11. Are you planning any couples?

There will be some couples, there will be some “flings” that don’t last, there will even be some children. But that stuff’s very far away UuU

12. Hi （〜^∇^)〜 In the beginning, did you plan for Satan and Me to just be comedy and then you came up with the plot or did you have the plot in mind when you started the comic ? (By the way, I love this comic and the others you create (♥ω♥*) Keep up the good work and take as much time as you need to do so, we fans will always support you ( ˘ ³˘)♥)

I just doodled, though I had no interest in keeping it a comedy. I like drama/angst with comedic and romantic elements. But no, I just went with whatever came into my head when I sat down.

Thank you for the support!

13. does hell know that a part of natalie is still there?

Yes, it knows.

14. Do you plan what you're going to write on each page or do you make it up as you go along?

I sit down and whatever happens, happens. I let the story dictate itself.

15. is god going to show up again in this arc or is he just staying in his lane?

I have no intention of God showing up again this arc, but anything’s possible.

16. I'm curious about the significance of characters that have the black iris but the colored pupil. Is that to show that the characters are more reserved, bc I've seen you do it with both Raph and Francisco and they're both on the quiet side

Pure coincidence, my friend UuU

17. I don't know if you'll see this or if it'll be answered/has been answered already but- I was just wondering if perhaps we would be seeing War again before the comic ends? I really enjoyed his character, even though he's a little shit.

You will see War again in the Memory Arc.

18. It seems like Kristi is always with Laila, but now a sleeping bag? Is Kristi's home life okay or is it just a sleepover?

Just a sleepover. Kristi takes some comfort clinging to Laila because Laila is calm and collected. She’s scared all the time since meeting Satan so she clings to Laila since she doesn’t know anyone else who is aware about supernatural beings, except for Natalie.

19. How are Michael and Gabe right now I'm really worried about them!!!

Michael is upset about Lucifer’s wings and Gabriel is just getting his thoughts together after being in the Tank.

20. Will uriel ever find out that he basically killed anthea?

Yes. Gabriel confronts him later.

21. Sorry if you've answered this before because I couldn't find it but what does Zadkiel identify as? I know the angels and demons refer to them as she and they were a woman up in heaven (if I'm correct) but down on earth they've seemed to have favored a male form which I find really cute (and hope they continues to use throughout the comic sometimes) so yeah! Also if they are annoy would they be considered transgender or is that not a thing for the angels and demons? Hope you feel better Orange!

Zadkiel was originally intended to be written as genderfuid, but it worked out with them being nonbinary. I don’t believe they go by a specific male or female gender, but they do prefer the male form because it’s the form that they have the best success of making people submit with, unfortunately.

I wouldn’t call Zadkiel transgender in canon, but y’all can headcanon anything you want. Go nuts! :~)

22. can demons and angels procreate with people? like why else would they have nuts to kick? or is just the body they're in?

They can procreate; however, it is illegal to procreate with humans. They would be executed as well as the human and child they procreated with an conceived.

23. Here's the real question everyone should be asking. Where is Natalie's black bow/headband thing?

Perhaps it needs to make a comeback.

24. Is Raphael still using "borrowed time"? Will that be touched on later in the comic?

Yes he is, and yes it will be.

25. Will Zoè and Chamuel ever get some screen time together? Like it says in their profile that they're dating but Ive seen each of them like once or twice and on separate occasions

Yes, they will.

26. WAIT! Why has no one asked this? What happened to Carla after the hospital situation?!

Michael delivered her back to her housing district in Heaven and left it at that.

27. For some reason the Here It Comes comic account is marked as sensitive content suddenly. Is there anything you or myself could do about it?

While Satan and Me is relatively tame, Here it Comes is Mature in every sense of the the word. That blog has been set as a mature blog so you’d need to manually go into your settings to turn the safety off and you can see it again :~)

28. Have you ever considered submitting a pitch bible to like Cartoon Hangover of Mercury Filmworks before? You have plenty of content and support! They could probably make SaM and even some of your other stories into animations n stuff?

Tbh I have no idea who those people are lol I’m out of the loop with stuff like that.

29. Does Gabriel have any crushes atm or that will develop?

Gabriel’s still stuck on Anthea right now.

30. quick question about ipos' book. does it reveal stuff about the future like the real ipos he's based off of or is it just this big encyclopedia?

This is more like an encyclopedia he made to help Lucifer. He was good networking and digging stuff up so it’s a highly sought after book.

31. If you don't mind me asking, do you ignore asks sometimes? Like, questions about the comic? It's fine if you do, but I wanted to confirm because I've sent a few questions before that were never responded to and I wasn't sure if they were received and just not answered or if my computer messed up sending them (which it does a lot).

I do sometimes if I know it will be explained later in the series. But for the most part I get a lot of asks and can’t address them all, and I don’t want to clog the blog with asks. So I do these question dumps from time to time so it’s more organized.

32. In "No More Angels" how did Titus know Uriel was an archangel? Just from the sound of his voice? Uriel mentioning Raphael and Satan in the first panel might answer my question but I wasn't sure if he was just talking to himself or not.

Titus could feel stronger auras from people. They gave him headaches growing up, a sort of “side effect” of self preservation from Cain’s curse. He also did a lot of research and had seen a couple of supposed sightings of angels. Uriel happened to be one of those of the two he knew about.

33. you said that satan hates humans and sees them as beneath him and lower than dirt. how does this compare with how he sees natalie, since she is a human?

I’m sure he struggles with that from time to time, but her pros outweigh her cons. It’s shown sometimes in the series that he doesn’t like humans and finds a lot about them unappealing, exp: anytime she cries or drools or has a runny nose and he calls it leaking.

This will be touched upon later in the next Arc. Natalie isn’t just some positive kid who swayed an ancient heart. There is another element to it but I can’t say it right now.

34. Does the devil ever get self-conscious about all the different depictions of himself and now he may or may not be able to live up to some of them?

It frustrates him a lot, but he can’t really do much about it.

35. I know you've had S&M planned out for a long while, but do you ever get to an arc and it just veers off wildly in a new direction? Or does it always get back to where you're going somewhere down the line?

Key elements stay the same, but yes, the events and characters just do what they want and I get surprised sometimes how different it turns out than originally intended.

The warehouse scene with Jericho and Natalie using her contract was out of left field and I was like “What the fuck are you saying?!” when Natalie used it because the original goal was to keep them contracted till the very end of the series. Sometimes stuff like that happens lol But it works out and I love it.

36. In The Beginning, when Zad defected, Michael blamed Lucifer, and Lucifer made him think he'd actually been controlling Zad's actions. But I noticed Michael was all betrayed and surprised when that happened, so my question is, did Michael still have some sort of faith or trust in Lucifer until the Zadkiel incident? Cuz that seemed to prompt this character shift in Michael where he got broodier and less trusting?

I think Michael struggles with his denial about his brother. He’s floating on a blurred line of who he remembers Lucifer being and who he is in the present. The incident with Zadkiel made him a bit broodier because even though Lucifer’s an asshole, Michael never thought he’d stood so low as to blood poison his siblings. So that surprised him how cavalier he was being about taking credit for this. Like he lost some respect for Lucifer then.

37. I have a question. Back in the beginning, there was that one day when Satan was all happy cuz he said it was game day and the world was gonna end. And then we went on this whole journey that ended in Run and basically didn't talk about it again. So why didn't the world end?

Game day meant that date was to start the beginning of the Apocalypse. Both sides were free to do anything they wanted, as agreed upon by Heaven, the Fallen, the Horsemen, and God. Before that they were coexisting but all parties going forward from that date were going to actively try to fuck over each other and drag humanity into it.

38. I was rereading the entire comic (cuz jesus fuck I can't stop) and I found a thing. Before Run, Satan was always reading this blue book, and Nat would bust in and ask him a question or something. But the book always looked exactly the same. So was there anything particularly important about that book, or was it just always there?

It’s his favorite book. He has limited access to entertain himself stuck in Natalie’s home, so he’s reread the same books over and over.

39. I noticed something. We've seen a bit of pre-fall Lucifer, and he looks different from both 'Stan' and the Satan we usually see now. Is there a reason he doesn't take his angel form anymore?

Pre-Fall Satan is tiny. It’s not intimidating enough, so Lucifer chooses to not take that form. He actively puts energy all day to maintain his bigger form, and would do so even fighting Michael, despite the fact if he reverted to his original form he would have more energy to fight. If he gets hurt badly enough or gets mentally compromised you can see him start regressing to his original form.

40. Okay, so I was wondering. In that first arc when we met everybody, you could tell that Michael had been trying to catch up with Lucifer for a while, but he was also the one who ripped his wings off and threw him out. So I was curious, what was their first encounter after the fall like? And how did they get to that point?

Their first substantial encounter after the Fall is a story in the Bible where they argue over Moses’ dead body. They had casually run into each other before that but made no direct contact other than eye contact across a crowd.

Michael and Lucifer have had minimal contact since the Fall, hence why Satan’s reactions to Michael’s presence early on usually resorted in shocked anger and beating the shit out of him. How much contact they’ve had since Natalie came into the picture hasn’t happened since pre-Fall.

41. Was Death created by God after or at the same time humans were created? Why does he hate Satan so much?

God created Death when he created the angels. He needed a mediator or a balance of sorts, since he established life he needed Death for consequences.

Death hates Satan because he taught his followers how to make contracts with humans and disrupt where their souls were going. Death is very particular about his job and Satan interferes too much. He also thinks he’s smug, entitled, and pompous. Which he is, so you can’t really fault him on that lol

42. Hey orange, I'm not sure if this'd be spoilers or not, but is hellLuci a soul or a personification of hell or something? Who is he? And why hasn't he tortured Nat or something?

“Hell Satan” is a conglomerate of human souls taking Lucifer’s form to bother Natalie and gain her trust to mess with her. These souls do that to Lucifer too occasionally, where it takes Natalie’s form now it used to take Michaels. Pretty much whatever a close person is to Satan or Natalie, it morphs to it.

The main soul that usually talks the most when in Hell Satan’s form used to be a human named David, but since Hell fuzes souls together as one unity, it’s not likely he has any sense of individuality, just personality traits. Such as intrigue in long hair, as well as playing mind games.

Hell Satan takes its time before going straight into depravity, hence why when Natalie’s soul was removed from Hell, it was even willing to risk being pulled under into the lake to get her back. It feels robbed, and that’s a good way to get an immediate reaction from Hell.

43. Is Satan's desperately thinking of asking Michael to help him because he's scared and he didn't mean for this to happen and he doesn't know what to do and he's lost and HE NEEDS HIS BIG BROTHER, a further sign of Natalie causing him to revert to the part of his nature that cares for others like he used to back when he and Michael were close????? Also Natalie made a bet in the early chapters were she said she'd get him to care about one person before the end of the world, does he remember that?

Yes, he remembers that. And yes, Satan’s go to to fix something if he ever thought he couldn’t would be to seek out Michael for help. It’s not intentional, but it’s his first instinct before he represses it. Boy needs to get out of denial.

44. I saw the Group SaM Asks, but, I really wanted to ask if angels could still date humans? or be around them frequently, like Michael and kristi?

You can be around them but you cannot date them, marry them, have children with them. It’s also an unspoken rule to keep your identity a secret.

45. Why was Satan the only angel in heaven to not have any piercings? Did that have something to do with why he was able to rebel?

God gave “special case” angels no piercings, in a way of hinting that something was going to go down with a particular angel. Most angels noticed the ones without piercings, but didn’t know what it meant till after the fall. Now any angel without a piercing is looked at suspiciously, just in case.

46. I'm in a lot of fandoms who the fandom is very lighthearted but the fangroup is very dark *cough me cough * but this fandom here is talking about FREAKING SATAN and the fangroup is so lighthearted and is joking,playing pranks, ...I have to ask HOW?!

I don’t know, but it’s my favorite thing in the world

47. Based off of his reaction, was Hell's chatter constant (like 24/7) even when Lucifer's seals weren't leaking?

Yes, it was never ending whispers/static in his head. When Natalie shut it off he was in shock for a while and zoned out for a bit because he wasn’t used to silence.

48. What was laila's natural hair color?

Very light brown.

49. So I'm curious, what ever happened to Max's biological father? He and Carla divorced, but then what? Is he still part of Max's life? Did he die? Did he mutate into a zombie and become an extra on the Walking Dead? Sorry if this has already been asked, btw

He’s a deadbeat. Teen father, too hard, walked out. Not really part of the picture.

50. IT BREAKS MY HEART HOW MICHAEL STILL INVITES HIM EVERY YEAR. The relationship between Michael and Lucifer is almost as big a part of the comic as Lucifer and Natalie and it's seriously heartbreaking. Could you maybe just talk a little about that?

Michael was the first angel Lucifer connected with. Michael was always very bubbly and lighthearted, which is a personality trait Lucifer gravitates towards. They were virtually inseparable and did everything together. So when Lucifer rebelled Michael took that extremely hard. He wasn’t ordered to physically retaliate when the Fallen were leaving, but he was emotional and angry and felt betrayed so he ordered the Fallen to have their wings removed if they were caught before they were kicked out so they couldn’t come back into Heaven.

Despite both of them saying they don’t care about each other anymore, it’s kinda obvious that it’s a lie. Lucifer doesn’t like seeing Michael because of old memories so he avoids him or tries to lash out/hurt him when he does see him to make himself feel better.

Natalie is the first person Lucifer developed a very close emotional bond with since Michael, and Michael is very jealous of that. Natalie and Michael are two people who aren’t aware of it that are competing in Lucifer’s heart.

51. I just noticed in the most recent doodle dump on tapastic, there's one drawing of Natalie and lucifer kissing and lucifer is crying and his back is bleeding, and I thought it was a little weird that that "doodle" had a full background and everything. I was wondering if that was possibly the original idea for after Natalie came back to life and just got scrapped in favor of a more heartbreaking story line??

No, that was for April Fools and I let people request pairings and Natan was requested so I drew that since the current plotline at the time was so angsty lol

52. so does pax just have a lot of libido or does he actually experience sexual attraction? just curious!

Both? I mean, he’s not picky with women. He just likes to hook up and whatever’s convenient at the time is good enough for him. However, he does have preferences and traits he prefers over others, so if given the option of fuckin Girl A who possesses 30% of his favorite traits or Girl B who possesses 80% of his favorite traits, he’d try for Girl B first if that makes sense.

53. for the question dump: what is natalie's academic life like? like what's her GPA and has it lowered since she got involved with this end of days business? shes a senior, so was she planning on going to college? if so, what did she wanna major in? loaded question but i've always been curious

She had a relatively high GPA. She put a lot of effort into school, and tutored some classmates. Since she’s missed a lot of school her grades did go down, but not to the point that she won’t graduate if she gets at least Cs in her classes.

She is planning on going to college but not immediately. She’s a biology major.

54. No mean to sound rude or anything like that, it's just a suggestion, but don't you think it would be better for you to have an assistant to help you for your comics?

I would, but sadly I cannot pay them anything, and I have an odd schedule so it would be too erratic to keep in touch with someone. I also don’t have anyone I trust giving access to the comic with that much authority atm, so for now it’s just gonna be lil old me :’~)

55. Michael and Lucifer break my heart (I can relate, God). And this is kind of a huge deal now since we've got Michael feeling nostalgic about Lucifer and freaking out cause of his wings, so I have to ask: which of them is angrier at the other? And is there any chance of forgiveness on either side??? I care about this much more than I should and I need to knooooow!!! Help me Orange

Mmm... Angrier.... Idk, they’re both angry for different reasons. Currently in the comic atm I’d say Lucifer is angrier, since Michael is now just ensconced in grief over the wings. When he processes that we’ll see what stance he takes and if that sanded any of his rough edges or not.

Forgiveness is up to them UuU They’re both alike in how stubborn they are.

#asks #admin #satan and me #satanandmeupdates #question dump

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aros001 · 3 years

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Read through light novel vol. 4. Random thoughts.

I don't think I've ever seen an adaptation/source material relationship quite like that between Goblin Slayer's anime and light novels.

Episodes 1-4: most of vol. 1. Episode 5: mix of vol. 1 and beginning of vol. 4. Episodes 6-9: Entirety of vol. 2. Episodes 10-12: Rest of vol. 1. It certainly wasn't a bad season but it's funny to see the books adapted in such an almost random order. Closest I've ever had to this was Rising of the Shield Hero, which adapted vols. 1-5, the beginning of 6, and then at the end a little bit from vol. 10.

“There are people who use a torch instead of a lantern, because it doubles as a weapon.”

Guild Girl mentioned with a smile that rats and insects both despised fire.

“What kind of adventurer would do something like that?”

Goblin Slayer: "You've got something on your face."

Goblin: "GORB?"

[Stabs goblin in face with burning torch]

Goblin Slayer: "It was pain!"

That second chapter really suckered me in at first into thinking it was a flashback, but I suppose that was the idea. It's like when Batman saves a family from an alley mugging. It's a classic way of showing the hero keeping what happened to them from happening to anyone else. Goblin Slayer is making a difference, even if he doesn't always feel like he is because of how endless the world's number of goblins seems to be.

As much as Spearman could stand to take the hint that Guild Girl is not into him, I do really like that Spearman isn't at all a bad dude. Again, he has a spear but he's not a Motoyasu. He's not hitting on every attractive woman he meets or treating his party as an excuse to build a harem for himself. Witch feels like his trusted ally and equal before anything else, not just someone he's trying to impress because she's got big bizongas. Admittedly I'm not entirely sure what his relationship with her is. The implication is that she maybe likes him romantically (seeing Guild Girl as a romantic rival and all) and they talk about going on "dates" but it's hard to tell how serious either is being about that.

The chapter with the goblin sentry guard was kind of interesting for me, because part of the way into reading it I realized I had read it before...the manga version. I'm stumbled upon the chapter by accident through a Pintrest link of one of the pages where Goblin Slayer is carrying poor spear girl (Spearwoman?) out of the cave. At the time I'd thought it was a fan-comic, not because it was badly drawn but because the goblins had a different design. Between that and this chapter, I think the manga's was harder to get through, but for a different reason than the anime could be. The anime had audio, so the screams from Fighter and Priestess when the champion bit her arm were what left me really shaken up (Fighter especially because, while I wasn't seeing it, I knew what was happening). With the manga, how much of Spearwoman's body was shown off, the positions she was in, and the angles of the camera made it feel uncomfortably like a porn comic. I don't have a problem with fanservice in and of itself. This volume and previous ones have plenty of fanservicey artwork. But there's a time and a place for it. Cow Girl and Priestess trying on battle bikinis and High Elf Archer waking up in the nude? It's pervy but still harmless. A woman being violently raped should not be used to titillate the audience and I'm so glad the light novels have had the good taste (so far) to not do anything like that with its illustrations. Even High Elf Archer, when her clothes were torn away by the goblins in Water Town, she escapes non-violated and we get the art of her helping Goblin Slayer walk, but she's not drawn at all in a sexual way despite being half-naked.

But back to the actual volume, I really liked showing things from the goblin guard's perspective. The goblin happy with the spear he stole...at first. But then wondering if the belt would have been better and then hating the goblin who got the belt instead of his "stupid" spear, with said goblin likely thinking the same about him, just the other way around. Again, they're not mindless monsters. They're incredibly selfish and self-centered, each one believing he is the best and thus that he is the one entitled to everything. It also serves as another reminder that goblins are no victim of racial circumstances. Yes, there are no females of their race and thus they have to force themselves on others in order to procreate...but they seem like they would probably be doing that regardless. When their victim fights back, they hurt her more as punishment and to break her. And when their victim doesn't fight back, allowing themselves to be violated so that hopefully it won't hurt anymore (yeah, there's a lot in this chapter that's hard to get through but that especially with how unfortunately real that mentality feels), the goblins hurt them even more, taking it as an excuse to go as far as they can with them.

These aren't mindless monsters that have to rape to survive. They like the pain and suffering they cause others.

Which is where he comes in; to stab them, impale them, light them on fire, and kick them in the d*ck before stabbing them again.

Hm? Cow Girl thought suspiciously, but an explanation was soon forthcoming.

“Today is...a bit of a rough day for it...”

“Sure.” Cow Girl gave a strained smile and nodded. It was something every woman had to deal with.

You know...I've read through three other fantasy LN series in full thus far. Overlord, Konosuba, and Rising of the Shield. And I'm pretty sure out of all of them (and even out of the majority of other series I've read/watched), Goblin Slayer is the only one I've seen that even acknowledges girls having their periods. I get that it's like watching a character go to the bathroom; it's not usually relevant to the story and you can just assume it's happening off-screen. But it still just sat with me for a moment and I went "...Huh. Yeah, that would be a problem for them, wouldn't it?"

Also, these two are just adorable together. I like that they're friends. They don't pass the Bechdel test (though High Elf Archer and Guild Girl surprisingly do) but their bonding was still great to read.

“I have no interest in magical swords, but I do have a ring.”

“Oh yeah?”

“It allows underwater breathing,” Goblin Slayer said briefly. “Even if the goblins stole it, it would do no harm.”

“What would they even want it for? Wait a second—you just assume it’ll get stolen?”

Spearman was pressing on his temples, but the steel helmet nodded and said, “Of course. It wouldn’t fit on a goblin finger.”

After Cow Girl and Priestess trying on the battle bikinis I was already laughing at the idea of a Goblin Slayer beach episode. Now I really want to see that. Everyone's on the beach showing off their summer bodies and swimwear while he's still in his full armor. They're all playing volleyball and building sandcastles and he's slowly turning the ocean red as he's just murdering goblin sharks all day.

All seriousness through, I do love this consistency with Goblin Slayer's character and methods. We've seen tons of goblins throughout this story and the only ones that maybe would have benefited from underwater breathing would have been the ones on the boats in the sewers of Water Town. Otherwise, yeah, it'd be useless to a basic nest and they'd have almost no way of finding out what it can even do, so they wouldn't even move elsewhere to take advantage of such magic. Plus he has apparently destroyed nests by flooding them before, so it makes sense he'd want to prepare himself for just in case he ever got caught up in the water.

Also, Goblin Slayer, Heavy Warrior, and Spearman were a really fun team to see work together. I love the sense of respect the three share and that Goblin Slayer never has any problem acknowledging how much better they are than him when it comes to things like leadership, charisma, enthusiasm, or just certain general abilities. If there is a little bit of competitiveness it's still very friendly and never becomes a pissing contest between the three. Heavy Warrior and Spearman don't exist just to make Goblin Slayer look good by comparison. In fact, they're very good at what they do. It's just what they do isn't murdering the ever-loving sh*t out of goblins, thus why they're not the ones we're following the story through.

“I picked up the spear,” he said. “The shaft is broken, but the point remains.”

"You are hurt and broken right now. But you can recover. You can be okay again."

This is probably just me looking way too deep into things but I like to believe Goblin Slayer said those words because of his party's, and especially Priestess', influence on him. I'm sure he's saved many women from goblins in the past but before Priestess I think he just saved their lives, sent them off to the temple, and then just kept moving on without looking back, thinking about nothing other than killing more goblins. After all his and Priestess' time together, and her making it clear he played no small part in helping her keep moving after the tragedy of her first party, maybe he's now wondering if there's more he can do to help these women recover, even if it's just a few kind words to help them hold onto their sanity after what they've been through. Spearwoman was so attached to that spear that hearing that it's still intact enough to be fixed maybe helped her believe she could be too.

“Isn’t it?” She stuck out her delightfully average chest, as proud as if she had grown it herself. “And you know what? The person who brought it was someone you saved recently.”

“...Was it, now?”

“Uh-huh!” Guild Girl let her eyes drift to the corn with an expression that bespoke relief. It was rare that adventurers or mercenaries found themselves with a second chance when they had failed once. “It’s great, huh?”

Does that imply it was Spearwoman? I'm hoping so. It'd be nice if someone who was used by the goblins (hopefully NEVER one of the girls in the main cast) did still manage to go back to being an adventurer again and wasn't just left permanently defeated. Honestly, it'd be cool if either her or Fighter or someone like I'm describing came back and adventured with GS's crew for a bit. Goblin Slayer witnessed what they do and it almost happened to Priestess and High Elf Archer but we don't have anyone yet who was raped by the goblins and yet is still fighting. Sword Maiden is about the closest but her very understandable trauma and duties as the Sword Maiden keep her away.

God count: Earth Mother, Supreme God, Deity of the Basin, Krome

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/GoblinSlayer/comments/fu0b1w/read_through_light_novel_vol_4_random_thoughts/

#goblin slayer #random thoughts #reddit repost

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donnerpartyofone · 7 years

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You are literally the prettiest thing! You've inspired me to love myself and it's just really cool. Keep slaying the game💘

thanks, buddy! that’s a really nice thing to say. i talk a big game about how i don’t come here for any kind of validation from the public or whatever, but it’s not like i’m immune to positive responses. i’m not sure what the standards are but i think i’m technically “pushing 40” now, so i dunno, i guess it’s nice to feel vital in some ways. NOW i’m about to say something that sounds really negative, but i swear it’ll have a good outcome so sit tight!

personally i get really obsessed with this fantasy that we should be able to separate our evaluation of people, including ourselves, from the accidents of physical appearance. i get really worried when i hear people saying things to the effect that someone is “beautiful in their own way”. it always seems to mean “not beautiful by accepted standards (probably not even the standards of the speaker)” which in turn suggests that not being beautiful is such an unspeakable fate that we come up with all sorts of euphemisms to obscure the truth–and then THAT in turn suggests to the subject that their state of being is so disturbing to people that they’ll do anything not to tell the truth about it. bummers all around. i’m just amazed by how completely controlled we are by reproductive drives, like so much so that we assign all kinds of meaning and power to beauty, even though most forms of it just boil down to signals of a person’s generic breeding potential. i have this hot friend with a really gorgeous rack, who once told me that her feelings about it were just like…a moose displaying its antlers to snare a mate, something really primitive and based on the survival of the species and not cool or cute or interesting at all. (incidentally, she spent a lot of her teenage years wearing a binder, in spite of being absolutely cis-het)

ACTUALLY my obsession is a lot bigger that all that. like, we all know about how “sex sells”, but people don’t always note the inverse–that sex doesn’t just sell better, but that it can be actively difficult to sell something WITHOUT sex. i consume a lot of horror and sci-fi and fantasy media (in that order), and i’m constantly struck by the fact that even when people try to imagine like the most ultimately powerful being or whatever, they can’t seem to separate the idea of power from sex appeal, everything always has to be all horny-looking all the time even if eroticism is not even part of the story. this is actually a big part of the reason i stopped reading superhero comics, first i just got sick of looking at the same bodies and faces all the time, then it became a philosophical quandary: why can’t even the most imaginative artist seem to leave these porn star looks out of non-pornographic works? it’s so weird, it’s like, most of our ideas about physical beauty are ultimately informed by sex, and then we have all these crazy emotional & spiritual & mythological ideas about the power of sex only because our hormonal bodies are constantly urging us to procreate at all costs. if you could somehow take the reptile brain influence out of the equation, sex would probably seem pretty ridiculous. but, i guess that’s just never gonna happen.

(PS this is why i love people with freaky fetishes so much, they’ve taken the sex OUT of procreation and put it somewhere where it ONLY has emotional and spiritual and mythological trappings. get on down, pervs!)

uh but obviously i’m aware that the ability to separate self-esteem especially, from appraisal of attractiveness, is never gonna happen, so all that said, here’s some things that might be useful to think about while you’re trying to love yourself:

- any picture you see of me is one of like 100 versions that i snapped, desperately searching for a good angle. i don’t have a good sense of how much i look like my pictures in “real life”, but it could be pretty different. my point is that i think this is probably almost universally true of most nice-looking selfies you see all over the internet, the people who look good to you, or that you aspire to look like, probably work a lot harder on it than you might ever guess.

- the demented undercurrent of this is that i think my main reason for taking pictures of myself is a subconscious feeling that i don’t really have any idea what i look like, somehow, so i’m constantly trying to figure it out…which makes it absurd that i’m cherrypicking the best images. i bet a lot of people are similarly motivated, though. sometimes i kinda dare myself to post bad pictures anyway. a little while ago somebody recommended that i check out stoic philosophy, and it turns out the stoics recommend that kind of thing too, to get yourself detached from perfectionist anxieties and prepare yourself for the real world more.

- at almost-37 i’m naturally a lot heavier than i was in my teens and 20s, but the weird thing is, i feel exactly the same as i did then. i have exactly the same feelings about how my clothes fit me, and the exact same “damn, i really wanna lose some weight” feelings regarding the exact same parts of my body as then. i don’t really have an explanation for that, but i think it reveals something about how we feel about ourselves–how artificial it can be, how departed from reality, how rooted in the story we tell ourselves, about ourselves. (although i think this also indicates that i’ve been wearing my clothes in the exact same ill-fitting way my whole life, at all sizes! i guess i must be very precise)

- i think that most people, even *hot people*, have a vision of some sort of inner self that they think better represents what kind of person they are. like i have kind of a short thick rockabillyish hourglass figure and wavy/curly hair, which has cultural connotations of being really feminine, sensual, sassy and slutty. however, living deep in the recesses of my brain is a flat-chested broad with short and straight or NO hair, with veins in her arms and calves, with long legs that make her fast, and a frame that all clothes just kind of drape on. somehow i’ve absorbed from the ether that women with my personality should look like that. unfortunately, even if i were to starve myself or start aerobicizing like crazy, i’d never look remotely like that, my skeleton isn’t even the right shape. obviously there’s some people who like the way i look just fine, one of them is marrying me–but i’d bet that a lot of people who look great to others have some mysterious totemic inner self that they can’t manifest physically, and that’s not even necessarily related to the typical beauty standards. it’s just something to think about when you’re thinking about ideals.

so i’d say like, while you’re working on seeing yourself as beautiful, you can also ask, what does beauty mean to you? what do you think beauty even is, or how many kinds can you name? when you compare yourself to others, do you think you’re missing out on something other people are enjoying, and if you notice yourself feeling that way, do you think it’s really true?

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clovexei · 7 years

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An Honest Review of the Emoji Movie

Longer than intended! Tbh I’m just leaving this here as physical evidence of the fact that I watched the whole thing. What was The Emoji Movie? Honestly we just don’t know.

The world-building was cool in concept but underdeveloped. It feels like a knock-off of Inside Out, but I spent most of the movie plagued by the same sort of stressful confusion that accompanies the Cars universe. A sampling:

Where do emojis come from? Are they born? Are they initially created in heterosexual sets of two so that they are able to procreate? If they're not born, why do some of them have children? How does the Princess family work, where there are apparently no male princesses? Is the Poop emoji an only father? What about the emojis who don't apparently have children/a heterosexual counterpart? Are those emojis going to grow old and die? What happens then? Do emojis die natural deaths? Do emojis age?

Why do the face emojis have to express the same emotion all the time and not just when they're on screen? It's like they're actors, but they have to be in their roles forever. Why? Why not just take pictures of the emojis and put those in the cubicles? Why do emojis have to physically stand in the cubes and wait to be picked, if they're only going to be face-scanned anyway? If there are multiple emojis, do they all take turns in the cubicles? Do they have to eat or sleep? If they do, then why? Aren't they made of code? Do they have to be in the cubicles whenever the phone is on? What if that's all day, every day?

Most of the questions I have about this movie carry over from world-building into the plot. Most of the events driving the plot feel like thinly-veiled plot holes. For example, the reason Alex is going to wipe his phone is to keep it from acting up – but it's acting up because Gene and company are moving from app to app. Buy why do the emojis hopping from app to app activate each app? If they're bopping around behind the scenes, why does that activate the user interface?

Another: A big scene happens in a Just Dance app, but Just Dance isn't an app? It's a motion-based dancing game, and you can get accessory-style apps for it, but the game itself is only on consoles/systems with a sophisticated motion-following camera. So it's not something that Gene an Jailbreak would be able to activate as a game on a phone.

(As an aside, I am human proof that you can suck at dancing and still pass levels in Just Dance so cut Jailbreak some slack, she was doing fine.)

Hi-5 is presented with a character goal (be a part of the Elite Favorite Emoji Club), but he doesn't actually do anything to achieve this goal. He wants to be a part of the club, joins Gene on his adventure, learns nothing, and gets to have his goal as a result, despite having no character growth and no indication that he's done anything to actually earn his goal. It's given to him as a way to wrap up the movie in a neat little bow.

As much as I didn't like that Jailbreak rejecting Gene's romantic advances was what finally turned Gene into the “Meh” emoji of his dreams, I do appreciate that him getting his Good Feelings back wasn't dependent on her reciprocating his feelings. That's a very good post-rejection message, and as much as this movie was weird and bad-romantic (“I've known you for twenty minutes but I LOVE YOU so let's BE TOGETHER FOREVER like in the FAIRY TALES”), at least it dodged that particular bullet.

The characters in general were likeable but ultimately uninteresting. It's the same standard fare that I think is the easy trap to fall into: bland but relatable main guy, tomboy girl, and comedic side character.

Jailbreak was my favorite, but even so, I'm not sure what to think about what her arc was. The intended direction felt like “girl feels oppressed by rigid gender roles and leaves home, forms agreement with fellow outcast to further both her goals and his goals, realizes that she can be different and returns home to create her own rules about how she represents herself.” And this largely feels like what does happen in the movie, but I'm not sure how I feel about the execution of it?

She makes some interesting comments about feminism that seem like Character Flavor, and have elements that fit into the story overall, but her backstory and thought process isn't explored beyond “I had to do princess stuff and I HATE princess stuff so I left.” It falls into a style that I think is in vogue right now: to present girls as being Princesses and Not-Princesses. (This is especially popular in movies that are deliberately lampshading Disney's princess movies, but Brave did this, too.) And while I like that, at the end, Jailbreak realized (apparently) that she didn't need to not be girly in order to be happy and express herself, I don't know if that message carried over really well in general. We last see her in her original princess design as she runs the tech board for the emoji cubicles, so I guess she's comfortable with herself? And she's not picking Princess or Not-Princess but occupying a gray area in the middle? So that's good? But everyone else is still in one box or the other? So that's maybe not good? But with Gene paving the way to “be different,” there's a place for her and for others to be more socially flexible? But it felt like a sudden and easy resolution to something that was something that was so ingrained in their society that Gene was going to be executed for diverging from it.

Anyway. That was a tangent. TL;DR: Jailbreak is very queer and I like her but if feminism was going to be a part of her character arc, then I want it to be done with a lot more focus and nuance than there was? Yeah.

I liked Gene in the beginning of the film, when he was set up to be this energetic force for ENTHUSIASM, but Hi-5 muscled him out of that. Hi-5 is excitable, energetic, causes more trouble than good, and honestly, why do they even need Hi-5 as a character? He has the role that should have been absorbed by Gene. Within the first five minutes of Gene's introduction, we know that Gene is goofy, cheerful, and doesn't fit in. Hi-5 coming in as the goofy and cheerful side character demonstrably pushes aside those traits in Gene so that Gene can, nearly every time, play the straight man to Hi-5's hi-jinks.

If Hi-5 wasn't in the movie, then Gene would be both comic relief and the protagonist, which suits the energetic, playful way in which he was introduced. He would also have a much more interesting dynamic with Jailbreak: Jailbreak is jaded and bitter; Gene is (or should have been allowed to be) peppy and enthusiastic. With that push-pull dynamic, the interactions between the two would have been much more exaggerated and engaging, and it would have been believable that Gene encourages Jailbreak to be less standoffish and isolated.

Recommendation: Instead of relying on one-time gags and overdone food-related jokes, drop Hi-5 as a character and let the interactions between Gene and Jailbreak carry the comedic weight of the film.

Also, what is the target audience for this movie? Kids? Kids younger than 12? High schoolers? What do you gain by portraying students who have smart phones as mindless phone-obsessed zombies? Aren't you alienating your target audience? You're making fun of the people you're making this movie for?

There's a lot of that: of the creators being out of touch with their target audience. The gag of the text-based emoticons being old and out-of-date struck me as odd, when people are still using emoticons like that all the time. And, on top of that, we've developed new ones.

I also can't tell if Jailbreak's asides about feminism and female stereotypes are supposed to reflect her Cool, Modern persona or if they're meant to be funny? I think they're supposed to be the former, but they come across as the latter, especially since she gets so angry about the “Birds come when princesses whistle” stereotype... and then that stereotype turns out to be true and also plot relevant.

It did have some good jokes overall. The constant mismatch between Gene's parents having no visual expressions or tonal inflections paired with lines like, “I'm on the edge of my seat,” was right up my alley of humor. I also liked the Devil emoji's poop joke followed by the Poop emoji's tired sigh and “Aim higher, Steven,” but overall there were rather too many toilet jokes. “Aim higher” is kind of a good overall takeaway: this movie had jokes, but most of them felt like the same basic fare that one can usually find in kid's movies. It felt a lot like the humor in The Smurfs: The Hidden Village in that they cracked a lot of jokes, but most of them were overused or borderline mean, and so I didn't spend much time laughing, despite the fact that I was watching a comedy.

As for overall theme/message, I am biased on this front because, with little effort, this movie is a really odd, definitely unintentional allegory for, like, gay conversion therapy? And why it's not good? And why it's okay to be queer? This movie is about a cheerful, enthusiastic young man who disrupts serious social norms in his home community, who sets out to find a way to artificially alter his genetic make-up and encounters a young woman who likewise does not fit in and has rejected the social role/gender role she was expected to embrace, and the two of them realize together that what makes them different isn't bad and their differences should be embraced both by themselves and the wider community. Gay.

That metaphor is PROBABLY DEFINITELY very unintentional, but the romance between Gene and Jailbreak feels ham-fisted even without the queer undertones.

So, for a takeaway message, we have “It's okay to be unique,” which is the same message 50% of the rest of the kids' movies have these days, so cool, I guess. It's good to have that message reinforced, but there are also, as a result, more cohesive movies with the same message but better plotting and more interesting characters.

Overall Verdict:

Not great, could have been worse. I left The Bee Movie brimming with a confused and impotent rage, but this movie left me with vague good feelings and no deep impressions. I couldn't remember anyone's name either during the viewing or after. The animation was stretchy and bright and expressive, which I really liked. And the soundtrack was bright and bouncy. But the message was muddled, and I think the world-building/plot could have been (and should have been) a lot stronger than it was.

#do I tag the movie in this?#I just like writing about B movies

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nerdylittleshit · 7 years

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Thoughts about Spn 13x02

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Trigger warning for mentions of self-harm and suicide

I felt asleep on the sofa. Don’t mention it.

Ah Bucklemming. On the plus side: they didn’t kill off a fan favourite. On the down side: everything else? It just felt like exposition, exposition, expostion, that really cool thing Dean did with the angel blade, expostion. Like a big info dump instead of an episode, with a weird cutting between the scenes, and the usual awkward dialogues (do they even read their scripts? Do they think actual people talk like this?). I mean we had worse from them, but it always saddens me to see in one week how great this show can be (13x01) and then we have this. I don’t think there was much to learn about the characters, at least nothing we didn’t already know, so I will focus a bit more on the mytharc stuff and what we could possible see in this season.

Bizarro World

In which Mary lands in apocalypse world and her hair still looks better than mine *sigh*. I really hope they kill of Lucifer, simply because the guy (and the dude who plays him) likes to hear himself talk. And is it just me but I think the reason why he keeps Mary alive doesn’t really make sense? He wants her as a trade for his son, but a trade doesn’t sound like Lucifer. Like, at all. I assumed he would just take Jack with him, and needed Mary to get back to our world. And by now I’m not sure iof Jack even wanted to be reunited with Lucifer, but maybe Dean’s behaviour will get him there? Believing his father is the only one who cares about him? (And does he? Don’t give this character feelings or a redemption arc, please don’t)

So, we learned a few new things about bizarro world. Appearently women are hard to find, which turned all men into rapists, because Bucklemming can’t write an episode without any sort of sexual assault in it. Angels dress up like soldiers, and Michael is cosplaying Cas. And he doesn’t kill Lucifer because he needs him, hopefully not for another trade. But why though? I wonder if this Micheal regrets killing Lucifer, because the big endfight didn’t bring paradise on earth like promised. Now he is stuck in an eternal warzone and maybe that is why he needs Lucifer to fix it? Also, look at these screencapes from the Shaving things promo: (credit to @postmodernmulticoloredcloak)

That looks like a cage to me. Is this some sort of ritual? Let me hear your thoughts.

Asmodeus

I already don’t like him. Dude looks like a comic book villian in his white suit and his accent makes it hard for me to understand what he says. I had a hard time understanding why he would wanted Lucifer and Jack to return, especially after he told stunt demon number three how Lucifer humiliated him, but at the end the picture got clearer. Asmodeus is out for revenge, and he tries to get Jack in order to help him achive his goal (the same way Crowley wanted to use Amara, and we all know how that ended). He asks (as Donatello) Sam about two things: Jack’s powers and his relationship to Lucifer. What he learns: Jack might be one day even more powerfull than Lucifer and he barely knows his father. Bucklemming are not very subtle with it, but you can see the direction in which this is going and why Asmodeus won’t stop to manipulate Jack.

Other than that Asmodeus was used to introduce a whole lot of new stuff to the show’s mythology. In true Bucklemming fashion they just created new stuff instead of working within the existing mythology, to make the story they wanted to tell work. I hated it.

So, appearently Princes of Hell can shapeshift, which from now on will have us second guessing everyone who even looks at Jack. Also, there is another gate of hell, a special one, because why not? Makes Azazel’s big plan in season 2 kind of redundant. And now there are the Shedim, who will probably play a bigger role in this season. They are actually quite interesting, at least if you look at their wikipedia entry:

Shedim are said to have had the feet and claws of a rooster and share some characteristics both of human and angels. Like angels, they know the future and have wings, but like humans they eat, drink, procreate and die. [...] The shedim are not always seen as malicious creatures and are also considered to be helpful to humans.

That... sounds like Jack? not the rooster part of course, but: both human and angel? Check. Knows the future (his vision in 12x19) and has wings (can teleport)? Check. Eats and drinks (and sleeps)? Check. Helpful to humans? Check. But also:

Asmodeus is a king of demons [...]. In Jewish and Islamic lore he is the king of the demons (Shedim/Jinn).

Asmodeus is already linked to the Shedim, he wants to free them, but he also wants to free Jack (”Jack, they wanna stop you. Contain you”).

Nougat

Can someone just like hug him? Kid needs a hug. A lot of what we saw was a continuation of 13x01: Sam thinks Jack can be good, Dean thinks he’s the devil. Nature vs nuture (and thanks Bucklemming for letting Donatello spelling it out, it’s not like every meta writer came to this conclusion since may this year). So far the jury is still out. What we know is that Jack is powerfull, enough to draw Donatello to him, and that he will become more powerfull. But his powers still don’t seem like a part of him, he has no control over them. He uses them unknowingly during times of emotional stress: when he is afraid, or hurting, or angry. He needs to learn to understand his emotions and how his powers are influenced by them, or else he ends up like the next Anakin Skywalker. (@margarittet wrote a great meta about the connections between Star Wars and what we could possible see in season 13, go read it).

Jack is still paralled a lot to his foster dad Cas. We start the episode with him sleeping in the back of the car like Cas did in 5x22, he enjoys TV the way Cas does (Scooby Doo, so you can bet Jack is somehow causing Scoobynatural) and he desperately wants Dean’s approveal. Mimicking Dean? That is what Cas has been doing for years. His whole manuael on how to be human is to act like Dean. And what is the first thing Dean teaches him about being human? that pain is being part of it. Because at the moment Dean is nothing but hurting.

There was a short moment where Jack rembered Lucifer reaching out to him, which was quite interesting, because if anything Jack seemed afraid of him. Donatello tells us that his power is not dark or toxic like Lucifer’s was, but then again power is just power, neither good or bad.

Sam tells Jack that he believes he is worth saving, like his mother and Cas did. Unlike them Sam though was never influenced by Jack. His faith in him is genuine. Also, with all the brainwashing talk, we should remember that Kelly already loved her son before 12x19. She wanted to keep him, to raise him, to take care of him. It was only after she learned that she wouldn’t be able to do so, and that Dagon would twist him into something evil, that she decided to take her life. At least when it comes to Kelly I like to believe she and Jack influenced each other in equal parts. “I was her”.

So what is Jack to the Winchesters? In the tattoo parlour Sam says they are brothers, that the tattoo is a family crest. But the tattoo vanishes, and though it is unintentional on Jack’s side it is rather symbolic. He is not a part of the Winchester family (yet). Later he calls them his friends.

The ending scene was pretty heavy. Jack doesn’t know who he is. More so, he is afraid to find out, that he will hurt everyone around him and can’t be saved. It was an interesting choice that Dean stopped him. Dean, who never believed he deserved to be saved, not after hell or the MoC. And he tells Jack the same. And I get where Dean was coming from, why he said, but that doesn’t make it OK. Dean telling Jack he will be the one to kill him makes me believe the opposite now, that Dean will die for Jack (who will bring him back of course).

Also, when Jack read the bible we saw The Book of Solomon opening:

Jewish tradition reads it as an allegory of the relationship between God and Israel. Christian tradition, in addition to appreciating the literal meaning of a romantic song between man and woman, has read the poem as an allegory of Christ and his "bride", the Christian Church.

Now, I already speculated about Jack’s fate on the show. If he turns out to be good where will be his place in the universe? I could see him replacing God, and him reading a text about the relationship between God and his chosen people? Interesting.

Anyway, “What would Mr. Rogers do?” is a motto we should all live by.

#supernatural #spn 13x02 #the rising son #spoilers #spn meta #my meta

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thecorteztwins · 7 years

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hexiva replied to your post “Eyyy I found my copy of X-Men Noir! I thought for sure I must have...”

X-Men Noir: What the fuck was that?

I remember you asking me that before and I don’t...really know? I assume you mean thematically rather than the actual story/murder mystery (although that gets a little confusing too). So uh, this gets long, and there’s a lot of mention of eugenics (in a WHOLLY CONDEMNING CONTEXT but still) under the cut, so warning for that:

The issue of eugenics just seems a bizarre topic for the story to start with. A 1930s noir murder mystery where everyone is human, okay, I’m listening. Like, the basic idea of Magnus and his Brotherhood as corrupt cops, ok. Xavier as training criminal teens to be better criminals, ok. I’m on-board. A debate about nature vs nurture, terrific. But then trying to work that in with the concept of “genetic hygiene” and the idea that “sociopaths are the next step of evolution!” (which is completely stupid for numerous reasons) is just...buh? Now, for the record, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to address eugenics in an X-Men comic. In fact, I think it’s almost an elephant in the room at certain points. And this was the time period for it in America, something people really don’t want to talk about. But then the entire discussion/message is so...jumbled? Like I think ultimately it is aiming to say “it’s bad!” at the end---it’s something the bad people believe in (tho everyone is kinda a bad guy), the villain proclaiming herself merely this way by her nature is killed by the twin of the good guy in an attempt to prove that nurture triumphs over nature, and see it does because the good guy was adopted by a good family and his twin wasn’t so that’s why his twin is like this, and the story-within-a-story sci-fi tale ends with the “carefully bred and created from all the best genes” hero getting rid of the Breeders Council and now going to procreate with the supposedly genetically-inferior natural-bred people, yay! And yet...it doesn’t do a good job of arguing the point I think it’s trying to make. Bad Twin may have gone to a bad family, yet he still grows up trying to be good? He’s the one who stops the villain? And the villain seems to be telling the truth, she really was just born this way? So like, Dukes is right in the beginning when he says it’s really all down to nature. And likewise, in the pulp-style sci-fi story that serves a metaphor for the larger story, the reason that the Breeders Council turns out to be evil isn’t that they’re eugenicists selectively controlling human reproduction like show dogs, that’s explicitly stated not to be the issue ( “The Breeders Council planned not to just retain humanity’s best qualities and remove the bad, but they would also remove every part of us that is spontaneous and unpredictable!”) So like, eugenics are fine until free will is bred out, I guess? But it’s cool otherwise! And it doesn’t help that the coolness and superiority of the eugenically-bred hero BECAUSE of what specific genes were use for him--his super sense of directions from Bedouin nomads, voice from the most accomplished Neapolitan baritones, reflexes from three generations of Hessian sharpshooters---is constantly harped on and shown as working for exactly what it was intended for, whereas the “mongrel” population falls before him easily and is emphasized as hideous. And like...the reason they’re going to start breeding with the “unfit” population...is it turns out they’re the ones with the “spontaneity genes”...so...that’s...still selective breeding for genetic reasons? Also, back to the elephant in the room...it’s trying to be about eugenics, it’s not shy about that, that word is literally used in the first few pages. Yet the racist and ableist aspects of eugenics never comes up. Not in the noir story itself, not in the sci-fi story-within-a-story. The noir story focuses specifically on the idea of criminal/evil tendencies innate vs inborn; the racist, ableist, xenophobic/anti-immigrant parts of eugenics are never even mentioned. And in the scifi story, it’s averted even harder, with the genetically “superior” people being specifically noted as bronze-skinned and having had their genetic traits picked from all over the world. So like...they wanna debate eugenics, they wanna throw that right at the center of things straightaway...but not ever mention its really nasty parts? And set it in a time period where those parts are why it was popular? Like, I get wanting to focus on the issue of criminal traits in a crime story, and I get just not even wanting to debate these other parts in the story because there shouldn’t be a debate, but just avoiding the whole thing altogether seems...it just seems wrong. If you’re going to bring up something like that, BRING IT UP. Maybe they wanted to ask the question of “ok but would it be okay if it WASN’T prejudicial about race or disability?” but it seems more like it’s just trying to avoid/ignore that in general for the sake of the story...which I get because there’s a LOT there, but again, if you’re going to tackle something like this, tackle it. Don’t go halfway. Also, given that the anti-immigrant aspect of actual eugenics beliefs at the time means it makes no sense for Magnus, whose background as an immigrant is a plot point because of how it indebted him to Shaw, to believe in it. Which is also never addressed to my memory, not even to call him a hypocrite or even just explain how/why he believes it at all. And of course, making Magneto in any universe, even one set before WWII, a proponent of eugenics is GROSS AND A TERRIBLE CHOICE AND WHY WOULD YOU EVEN i guess because his 616 counterpart’s belief in mutant supremacy makes it seem like a good analogue but oh my god think for two seconds?! I genuinely do not think a malicious message was intended but due to the shitty handling, the moral I think they’re trying to deliver ends up mixed at best. I think they were trying to use the theme of mutants in a noir somehow without actually having mutants, and they got the idea of “well how about people who are genetically criminal” and then that leads itself naturally to a nature vs nurture debate, and it’s a cool idea to have some deeper questions like that within what would otherwise just be a straight murder story. But then I guess they connected the idea of “criminal by nature/born sociopaths” to “eugenics in general” which is admittedly not a huge leap, and it is easy to tie the idea of eugenics to a series whose characters are literally meant to be “homo superior” by virtue of their genes...except in this case they’re not homo superior, they’re a bunch of criminals, and only one seems to have been born that way. Like I feel like this theme would have worked a lot better in the 616 universe, not a human AU. Basically, I think they were trying to do too much in one story, they didn’t want to tackle all the implications of their theme despite those implications being what it’s most known for, the theme frankly doesn’t even really work with the story or setting that well even though it seems like it should (time period, etc), they don’t seem to realize how to convey their message or even what that message really is (as said, I think it’s nature over nurture, but the story itself seems confused on that) and when you add all that to the convoluted, confusing plot (which is okay for a noir, but when it’s added to all this mess it’s just hard to follow) with the twist at the end, it’s just...what just happened? It’s just kind of a mess, and given the themes they decided to tackle, ends up a mess with some Unfortunate Implications...assuming you can even follow it that far. ALL THAT SAID...I enjoyed it? I know that sounds so terrible to say because of all the problematic shit I just described, but I genuinely liked exploring this world and what everyone was in it, and how their mutant powers in 616 were translated into mundane traits and skills, finding all the little references to stuff from 616, etc. I think they would have done a lot better to just focus on that, on translating the characters into these roles and how to keep them still those characters (instead of people who really just have their names) while in these roles, and just doing a straight noir story with that. I feel like trying to tackle deeper themes ended up just distracting from the story, and then ended up not even really tackling those themes anyway, so it just ended up a mess in both directions. But I think it was a good idea at its core! I really do! And I like what’s there of it! You know me, I fucking love a mess with good potential. Also, two other things--I understand noir means black, but the art is in so much shadow it’s often hard to tell what’s going on, or who is who. Lighten it up some and include some fun time-appropriate fashions. It would be easier to follow and better communicate the fashions, plus look cute as hell. And get another protagonist because why was the protagonist Tom Halloway?! He’s not an X-Men character! Why is he the lead?! LIKE THAT IS REALLY MY BIGGEST QUESTION

#hexiva #x men noir #eugenics for ts #tw for eugenics #out of cortez #meta #noir meta

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aion-rsa · 5 years

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WandaVision Hints at Vision and Scarlet Witch Kids

https://ift.tt/2UonPFu

The WandaVision trailer may show us the children of Vision and Scarlet Witch, and this could have grave consequences for the MCU.

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Marvel’s Disney+ commercial from the Super Bowl is a loaded few seconds. The stuff shown from Falcon and the Winter Soldier is relatively the most straightforward. The brief stinger for Loki asks a lot of questions. But the true highlight of the ad is WandaVision, starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany. Even though it shows just as much footage as Falcon and the Winter Soldier, there’s far more head-scratchery in what we see and, more than the other two shows, it has potential for the biggest fallout for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Of course, if you haven't seen it already, watch the trailer.

Video of “Big Game” Spot | Marvel Studios | Disney+

It isn’t enough that Vision is alive or that Scarlet Witch and Vision are living in various sitcom-like realities. And it's not seeing the comic-accurate Scarlet Witch costume. Not even Vision’s swanky fashion, taken directly from his Tom King/Gabriel Hernandez Walta solo series. It’s the fact that one shot makes Wanda Maximoff seem pregnant and then she’s acting surprised in front of two cribs.

Seeing Wanda and Vision in front of two cribs is just as ominous a tell as when we first saw Thanos or when the Collector namedropped “Infinity Stones.” This could very well be the next step in something bad hitting the MCU.

Now, in the movies, Wanda’s powers have ranged from telekinesis to mind-manipulation. In the comics, it’s a bit more complex. She started out able to control probability. Like if you flip a coin, she can make it more likely of landing heads-up than just 50%. Just how much depended on the writer and that led to some interesting questions and directions about her powers. Comic book superhero stories make the impossible possible, but how much is too impossible?

For instance, Wanda and Vision did get married in the comics and we, as comic readers, are fully able to accept that Vision – basically an advanced robot – is capable of love and other emotions. He’s based on the technology of Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, and is essentially a synthetic human being. But HOW synthetic? More specifically, can he procreate? Does Vision have sperm? Does it work?

When writing Avengers stuff in the 1980s, Steve Engelhart decided that, yes, such a thing is possible if Wanda uses enough hex magic to beat the odds. Wanda and Vision settled down and started raising their twin sons Thomas and William. Things were happy...for a brief time.

At some point, Vision stepped a bit over the line in his attempts to better the world and went full-on SkyNet. He was stopped and in doing so, was broken down and rebuilt without his previous personality. More disturbing was that the autopsy showed that Vision wasn’t genetically equipped in the way people originally thought and he wasn’t as advanced as Jim Hammond after all. In other words, writer John Byrne didn’t like the concept of Vision being capable of putting a bun in the oven, no matter how much Scarlet Witch upped the probability. Her having Vision’s children was simply impossible.

read more: Every Upcoming Marvel and MCU TV Series

So then...what were her children? The actual explanation is too bonkers for me to fully get into (God, I hope Immortus never shows up in the MCU), but the gist of it is that Thomas and William were not so much actual babies, but lost pieces of a soul that Wanda summoned. These soul shards belonged to the villain Master Pandemonium. Pandemonium’s power is that he has monsters for hands and, in this case, he had fire-breathing babies for hands.

Guys, the MCU in 2020 might actually give us demonic baby hands. Oh my God.

Naturally, Pandemonium was defeated and all, but all these plot twists did some real damage on Wanda’s psyche. She had a brief run as a psychotic villainess, but ultimately had her memories of Thomas and William removed so she could go back to being a regular member of the Avengers. That too lasted a while and she even rekindled her relationship with Vision for a time.

Then the shit hit the fan. A casual discussion with an intoxicated Wasp unlocked the memories of the whole baby episode. By this point, Wanda had been dabbling in “chaos magic,” which was increasing her powers to reality-altering levels. Having the ability to change reality while not being mentally well were not a great combination. Not only did she secretly summon her “sons” to live in her quarters, but she decided to take revenge on the Avengers (who would take her “children” away if given the chance) by conjuring inexplicable and contrived threats and situations that ended up killing several of them.

Vision included.

This story, Avengers Disassembled, was pretty major for being the beginning of Brian Michael Bendis’ legendary run on the Avengers books, where the team’s adventures became the true backbone to the Marvel Universe. The team was reborn with the likes of Spider-Man and Wolverine among others while leading towards such major stories as Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Siege.

Watch everything Marvel and more with a FREE Disney+ TRIAL, right here!

During this era, Wanda returned as a major threat in the event House of M, where she rebuilt reality completely into a world where mutants ruled over humans and her family was royalty. This included her sons, rumored to be the children of Wonder Man. During the climax, she acted out against her father Magneto and tearfully wished for, “No more mutants.” In the aftermath, reality returned to normal, except with all but a few hundred mutants left with their powers.

Something to keep in mind when it’s time to introduce mutants into the MCU. Maybe Wanda’s breakdown will somehow bring us opposite results.

Over time, Marvel loosened up on Wanda’s villainy and returned her to the status quo. Well, except for getting back with Vision. Although he was brought back, he didn’t take kindly to her Disassembled actions and wanted nothing to do with her. The real interesting development was the return of their children.

After the events of Disassembled, when the Avengers had disbanded for several months, a team of Young Avengers came together. One member was the magic-using Billy Kaplan, known as Wiccan (formerly called Asgardian). During the team’s adventures, they came across Tommy Shepard, codename Speed. Not only did Billy realize that Tommy was his long-lost twin brother, but it became apparent that they were also the reincarnated souls of Wanda’s children.

I...don’t have answers for how that works. Even Wanda isn’t sure. Did her powers cause them to be born in the past? Did their souls take over existing bodies? No idea. But hey, her kids are real and aged a decade and a half. Go figure.

The MCU borrows ideas from major events, but rarely ever goes word-for-word. Will we really get demon baby hands and a couple Young Avengers out of it? Probably not. But thematically, the pieces are starting to land. Vision was dead. Now the Avenger with ill-explained powers is living with him in a reality that doesn’t seem stable. The same Avenger who will star in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness shortly after WandaVision wraps up.

She’s one of the few heroes who could take on Thanos one-on-one. God save the rest from what she’s about to unleash.

Gavin Jasper writes for Den of Geek and still finds it hilarious that there’s a Vision show in 2020. Read more of his articles here and follow him on Twitter @Gavin4L

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Gavin Jasper

Feb 3, 2020

Marvel

WandaVision

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from Books https://ift.tt/2UtOS26

#aion-rsa #Books

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coldtomyflash · 7 years

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Any thoughts/theories on who Savitar might be, in light of the "Once and Future Flash" episode? I'm hearing people suspect it might be Eddie, which could be cool. And that fits in with the whole "Barry ruined my life" thing and also 2024 Killer Frost's comments that Barry would be "so surprised" when he found out. But I also feel like if that was the case Caitlin would have been more confused/suspicious towards him instead of just immediately giving in like she did at the end of the episode?

I’ve talked a lot about my theories and the various ones I’ve heard, weighing the possibilities, but maybe I should have it all in one place, so here we go.

Who Savitar might be (in descending order of likelihood).

1. Barry Allen

This is my favorite theory.

Maybe it’s a Barry who becomes so twisted by the death of Iris that he makes a time remnant who becomes Savitar somehow. Maybe it’s the version of Barry that was destroyed by Barry changing the timeline so many times, and he’s been caught in the speedforce going mad all this time, re-witnessing his mother’s death.

Who knows? Not me. But I can see it from how this season has gone, with it being about consequences to Barry’s time travel. And Caitlin knows enough about time travel and time remnants to put that together quick, upon seeing Savitar’s identity. Like I mentioned somewhere else, her reaction could’ve been a “this version of you is as twisted as I am as Killer Frost” - a mutual understanding of what they’ve both become.

This theory also makes the most sense from Savitar’s “it’s me or you” thing with Iris. Maybe Barry needs to become so twisted and broken to become Savitar, and Iris has to die in order for that to happen.

2. Eddie Thawne

This would warrant some surprise from Killer Frost, given that Eddie was pretty dead last we checked. She wasn’t quite confused enough for this, maybe?

But note that Eddie died within a time loop, right? The only reason he killed himself is because Eobard time travelled. No Eddie procreating, no Eobard to travel back in time and cause Eddie to ultimately kill himself. The speedforce shelters that timeline (Eobard’s original timeline) to prevent a world-collapsing paradoxical time loop, but we don’t really know if that means Eddie just stays dead, or if he’s maybe been stuck in the speedforce or caught in a time loop going mad?

It also plays into the “you’ll never guess” thing they’ve got going, but fit with it being someone who knows the team / has been watching them, has a personal connection to Iris. Idk, this gifset had some interesting points/parallels for it.

3. Cobalt Blue / Malcolm Thawne / Barry’s evil twin

This one is out of the comics but I’m a fan of this theory. Separated twins at birth, a twin who thinks Barry took “everything” from him by having the life that he was supposed to have but never got to, raised by the Thawnes and not the Allens. It seems unlikely to me that they’d actually play it out this way, but some Cobalt Blue reference or tie-in wouldn’t really surprise me.

Anyway, @ladyofpride and @prouvairablehulk have made an interesting case for this.

4. Ronnie Raymond

So people are suggesting this one I think because of the Killer Frost tie-in? And maybe because it’s sort of unclear what the heck happened to Ronnie’s body when he was sucked into the singularity. Maybe he wasn’t crushed by gravity and maybe he didn’t get chucked out as a corpse onto Earth 2. Maybe he just got lost in the speedforce, sucked in like Roscoe (Turbine) in the New 52.

I kind of dig this theory on a few fronts, including that it would be a genuine twist, fit with the comics in that weird way, and sort of have a strange tie-in with how Julian was Savitar’s avatar and was falling for Caitlin all season. But, I do believe if this were true, Killer Frost’s reaction to seeing him would’ve included more shock and awe and joy?

5. Iris West

This is a new theory I’ve seen floating around. It’s neat, placing the “it’s you or me, Iris” thing in an entirely new light. Iris doesn’t die, she becomes Savitar. Or I mean, she does die, and thus becomes Savitar.

I feel that Killer Frost’s reaction at the end of 3x19 would actually fit with it being Iris, to be totally honest, but I still think it’s ultimately a little unlikely. That being said, the seasonal big bad being a woman? Into it. And it would be an unexpected twist. What better to ruin Barry than the woman he loves becoming the one who ruins him?

6. Another speedster: Jay Garrick, Wally West, Jesse Quick, Eliza Harmon

Mostly Wally and Jay, but I think these are all at least a little plausible, right? Jay is stuck in the speedforce right now though, so it would have to be a Jay from a different time. Wally is an interesting theory to me… Savitar took a shining to Wally and used him, got close to him, imprisoned him and the speedforce didn’t want to let Wally go.

Also, it would but a neat spin on 2024!Wally. Wally goes after Savitar, Savitar breaks his back and does something to him, and Wally becomes permanently catatonic? Maybe he’s catatonic due to becoming Savitar? I know it’s convoluted and silly and unlikely, but hell, this show handwaves a lot.

Jesse seems unlikely but she’s a speedster so? Same with Trajectory – she was destroyed by the speedforce after all. Maybe Velocity made her one with the speedforce. It’s silly and I doubt it, but hey, I’m being thorough.

7. Leonard Snart

I don’t think this is likely, but some people think Occulus!Len might’ve become the God of Speed. @literallyflashtrash suggested it as a crack theory but it’s taken off since then, and others have thought it up independently as well. I think we all just miss Snart. It’s okay guys, I miss him too.

8. Humanized!Grodd

“I am the future, Flash…” - Grodd, New 52. Enough Said.

9. Patty Spivot

@terrie01‘s joke but hell, at this point, I won’t even be surprised. Throw us all for a loop, writers.

10. A random hot dude because KF is thirsty

Someone joked about this and I 100% approve. “you’re gonna be sooo suprised… that Savitar is someone you haven’t even met!”

11. Edward Clarriss / The Rival

The dude had a big enough ego, right? Was created by Flashpoint. Maybe Savitar is somehow a remnant of him, and that’s part of why he killed Clarriss when he was done with him? It’s not like Zoom didn’t pull the same move with killing his remnant, and this show loves its parallels.

12. (Grown up) Sara Diggle

Barry erased her existence from the timeline. If I were her, I would want revenge too. Obviously not likely, but damn does he deserve this coming back to bite him.

#in case it's not clear #it's crack theories toward the end #the top 5 are the only *genuine* theories i'm holding #savitar #fan theories #speculation #the flash 3x19 #long post #long post for ts #pedestrianfootbridge #replies

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acaseforpencils · 6 years

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Jason Chatfield.

Bio: I grew up in the far flung suburbs of Perth, in Western Australia, and used to spend my paper route money on MAD Magazines (I cheaped-out and stole my dentist’s waiting room issues of the New Yorker. I think I was the only kid who looked forward to going to the dentist).

I moved to New York in 2014 and started pitching to the mag in person. I’m not sure Bob liked me, so I went back to pitching via email. Then I went in on his last day and finally sold my first piece. I feel like it was his final f—k you to the magazine. “Here! Have a Chatfield!”

Find this print here!

The cartoon was a goofy play on Vlad the Impaler.

I didn’t sell to the magazine again until last month, but I’ve had a handful sold as dailies. And I’m published in MAD often, so they’ve clearly done away with any of their standards.

When I’m not drawing gag cartoons I write and draw a syndicated legacy strip called Ginger Meggs which I took over 10 years ago. It’s been around since 1921 and now appears daily in 34 countries. He’s kind of an Australian version of Dennis the Menace, except he predates him by about 30 years.

Tools of choice: For drawing/roughs, I use a Prismacolor Turquoise clutch pencil with a red lead and try to find some paper with a little bit of tooth. The mixed media pads at Blick do the trick nicely.

I ink using a Uni-ball Vision Elite Stick Roller Ball Pen… or a Pigma Micron 03.

DO NOT use the Uni-Ball Vision Rollerball Pens, Fine Point (0.7mm) if you’re traveling. They explode on planes. And ruin your copy of The New Yorker.

For a wash, I just use watercolor and whatever brush is lying around. Nothing fancy. There’s a scanning app on my phone called “Adobe Scan” which does a nice job of scanning line-art into a PDF when I’m out of the studio and need to email in a quick rough.

I use a Wacom Mobilestudio Pro for finished artwork. I like to get out of the studio and work from a bar or restaurant, so it helps that I can take that with me. I use a little glove that I got on Amazon so I don’t grease up the screen, and the felt-tip nib that comes in the pen-holder makes the friction between the stylus and the screen more like pencil on paper. Unfortunately, they’re not waterproof, as I found on a recent vacation…

youtube

My wife plays piano and sings at bars around the city so I’ll often sit at the bar during her sets and draw. Digital/Traditional depends on what deadlines are most pressing. (She has a weekly residency in Astoria —if anyone’s interested in going, let me know!)

A lot of people email me for advice about tablets —I’ve been trialling/demo-ing Wacom products for 15 years— I think they’re great. If you’re married to doing stuff by hand but want to colour digitally, you can get a decent tablet without going broke. Depends on your workflow.

Writing Desk: My wife and I were living upstairs in 5A when my neighbour in 4B died. He was a brilliant poet and had an incredible old writing desk. It’s the only thing that was left in the apartment, so I’m looking after it ’til his grandson moves in at the end of our lease. I work for countless hours at this old thing. It’s beat up, but I’ve patched it together enough that it won’t collapse and bury me mid-brushstroke. I’ve stuck a few of my favourite toons on the top of it.

Tool I wish I could use better: My brain. It really is a sack of cats. Whenever I want to sit and do work, it clocks off. Then it comes up with a pearler of an idea at 3 in the morning when I’m trying to sleep. I write it down in my phone, but autocorrect makes it indecipherable by morning.

I like working with my writer friend, Scott. We both do comedy at night and have developed a nice short-hand. We also seem to have the same library of references and can build on each others’ premises, which tames my sack-of-cats.

Tool I wish existed: The Deadline Extender.® I’ve never missed a deadline, but that said… an extra 3 or 4 minutes to allow for a terrible wifi connection, or a errant scanner wouldn’t go astray.

Also: The Deadline Extender® PREMIUM: Let’s you go back in time to when you were procrastinating and slap yourself in the face. $30 p/month.

Tricks: Ok, well. This is going to sound a bit Dalton Trumbo, but bear with me: I do my best work…in the bath.The most productive 3 hours of my week are during Scotchbath Sunday; an immoveable chunk of time on Sunday evening whereby I lock myself in the bathroom, run a bath, lug my drawing stuff onto a bit of wood that sits over the bath, and just write and draw. Nothing else. I write weeks worth of my syndicated comic strip (Ginger Meggs), I write New Yorker cartoons, scribble up roughs for dailies— and when I feel like I’ve earned it (usually 2 hours in) I tap the side of the bath three times, and my wife peels herself from her piano and I unlock the door to a nice big glass of scotch. It’s a hell of a carrot on a stick to work towards when you’re stuck. (PS. Lest you think I’m some kind of Don Draper-era misogynist; the scotch reward part was her idea. I think she realized it keeps me in the bath and out of her way.)

Anyway. It’s a great way to switch gears creatively. It’s like being on an aeroplane. No wifi, no phones — just the work you need to get done. Get involved. #ScotchBathSunday.

Oh! And if I get my deadlines done for the week, I have a small budget for a solo lunch somewhere where I can eat cheese and draw. I really didn’t know cheese ’til I moved to America. (And yes, I’ve already been to Wisconsin. Good Lord.)

Tips? I always tell younger artists to not even think about touching a drawing tablet until they’ve learned to draw by hand first. Otherwise they’ll always be drawing away, knowing they have the insurance of the CTRL+Z key at their disposal if they screw up a line. That’s not a good habit to have when you’re working to a deadline. But, once you do know how to draw, by all means dive head-first into the digital realm. It’s incredible. Procreate, Sketchbook or Photoshop are all great.

Misc: One of the hangovers from working in advertising illustration is that I’ve had to be a bit of a chameleon style-wise for the last 15 years and haven’t allowed myself to just settle into one style. Lately, I’ve just decided to say “Bugger it!” and try and find a loose, consistent style that I’m comfortable with, that’s an apt conduit to my silly ideas.

I always loved George Booth’s line, and his ability to create a scene with so much movement but just at the right moment in time. Also Sam Gross’ dark, hilarious cartoons with perfect line-economy. And I’d give my left arm (I draw with my right) to know how Barry Blitt has so much control with his washes…

Chatfield’s portrait of Sam Gross

While I’m geeking out, I love seeing younger cartoonists find their feet and thrive in a style that just feels like they’re speaking to you— Ellis J. Rosen, Sofia Warren, Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, Jason Katzenstein, Amy Kurzweil, and a seemingly endless list of talented younger artists who are putting in the work are a big inspiration.

I know it should be Steig or Thurber or Addams, but my favourite cartoonist is Sergio Aragones.

I was always so enamoured of MAD growing up and studied the lines of Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Al Jaffee and the Usual Gang of Idiots. I remember being so frustrated I couldn’t even come close to getting my work to look like theirs, but I think I found a style somewhere in between when I fell short.

I think Wil McPhail’s poses are masterful, and I wish I knew how how the hell he did that. One day I’ll trudge up to England and knock on his door to ask him. I find myself doubled-over at John Cuneo’s Instagram, and Ed Steed’s absurdly funny gags. I have a slew of toons I’ve torn out of years’ worth of magazines and taped to my studio wall, or my zillion year-old writing desk. I’m constantly humbled by how generous and welcoming the existing crop of New Yorker cartoonists have been to a goofy Aussie immigrant — Joe Dator, Matt Diffee and Pat Byrnes, Mort Gerberg and an ever-growing list of prolific, talented cartoonists who make the 99% weekly rejection tolerable.

I’ve made some of my closest friends and have been lucky enough to meet my cartooning heroes through the National Cartoonists Society. I got to spend a lot of time with Sergio at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in the UK last year which made my year. We were signing together for a whole afternoon and I spent more time geeking out with him than signing.

Okay. Enough drooling. Sorry.

I’m a fan of cartoonists.

Website, etc. I have a weekly podcast where I throw around ideas for New Yorker cartoons with a fellow comedian and writer, Scott Dooley. It’s called “Is There Something In This?” It’s a bit of fun. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the art of writing gags very seriously. It’s an extremely difficult skill to master, and we’re virtually zygotes at it. We have lots of listeners now, which is bewildering. Talking about drawing is like dancing about architecture, but here we are. Anyway you can find it on iTunes or wherever you waste time listening to podcasts.

My website is jasonchatfield.com and my comedy stuff is up at jasonchatfieldcomedy.com ( I’ve been doing stand-up comedy for 11 years. If anyone wants to come see a show, hit me up! I’ll put you on the door). My instagram is @jasonchatfield. I’m still trolling the British chap who has the @jasonchatfield handle on Twitter to no avail. To that end, I’m @jason_chatfield on Twitter.

If you want more art supplies in your life, A Case for Pencils is on Instagram and Twitter. You can also find me, Jane (the person who created/edits this blog), on Twitter here, which is where I stick the paintings that I’ve been doing instead of interviewing people consistently (I needed to balance working on other people’s work and my own work!). Oh, and If you’d like to support this blog, which is always very appreciated, there are many different ways to do so, which you can find here!

#Jason chatfield #how to draw New Yorker cartoons #artists on tumblr #art supplies #drawing process #artist interview

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dstudiouk · 3 years

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Weekly Studio Spotlight

*fanfare* This week’s artist of the week is Sam Green

Sam is an extremely talented graphic artist and illustrator based in London, UK. He creates incredible art based on movie posters, comic books and other pop culture references.

Credit: Sam Green

We love getting to know the artists we see in the studio, so we got in touch with Sam for a short Q&A from his biggest inspirations, to what superpower he would most like to have...

What inspired you growing up?

So, I’ve always been into superheroes, particularly Batman. I was obsessed with anything Batman as a kid and would draw him constantly. My mum has always been really encouraging and supportive of my art - she would keep scrapbooks of all of my drawings from a really young age. Most of them are filled with Batman.

I’ve always loved movies. Just characters in general I think. I really enjoy drawing interesting people and it’s almost like embodying characters through my artwork. I think that’s probably what inspired me as a kid - and still does really.

How did you start your art career?

After school I did a year-long art foundation course in Cardiff, which is where I’m from. I don’t think this course is around anymore (at least not at the place I did it), which is a real shame because it’s probably the most artistically invigorated I ever felt throughout my education. My final project was a big 64-page graphic novel about a cowboy/samurai hero. It was really over the top and gory. Very 70’s B-Movie. It was great.

From here I went on to De Montfort University in Leicester – initially to study Game Art Design which I’d had in mind for years. When I got there, I realised it wasn’t quite what I wanted to be doing and decided to switch course. I went over to Fine Art, thinking I could practice and learn about a broader spectrum of art and inform my work. Turns out they hated basically everything I did, and I ended up doing photography as my final project which is about as far away from illustration as you can get.

I kept up doing my own thing regardless and after university I moved to London to work at a clothing company as a designer. This was around the time I started developing my freelance work and making that into a career. After working there, I went to work as an illustrator at a children’s book publisher also based in London, where I now head up the Design Department - working on my freelance illustration stuff alongside that work.

What’s your favourite piece you have created?

My favourite piece would probably have to be the poster I made of The Last of Us Part II. It was the biggest and most detailed piece I’d made up until that point and I felt very satisfied with the result. I’m usually quite critical of my own work, but I feel like I really nailed what I set out to do with this one.

It ended up getting a fair bit of recognition from some of the main cast of the game, as well as the director Neil Druckman. The developers Naughty Dog also shared it on their social channels which was quite exciting. It was really rewarding seeing that recognition and having my work shared with such a huge audience.

It’s probably my most popular artwork. I do have some other pieces due to be unveiled later this year through different things that I’m quite proud of, but I can’t share too much about them just yet.

Another one would probably be my Stranger Things poster. I did it fairly early on in my foray into making poster art, but it seems to be one that people find me through quite often. I can definitely see things I’d change if I did it today but I’m really happy with how that one came out.

Credit: Sam Green

What art tools could you not live without?

My iPad. It’s likely the art tool I use more than anything. I’m from a traditional background, predominantly pencil and ink – but the versatility in digital is unparalleled. I’m not really into Apple stuff but the iPad is fantastic, I take it everywhere and it’s at the point where drawing in Procreate on the iPad is a key part of my workflow.

What is your biggest challenge when working on your art?

There are 2 things that immediately come to mind. The first is coming up with the concept of a piece. Some stuff just comes naturally, but if you’re setting out to say, create a poster artwork for a movie, then coming up with an interesting concept can sometimes be really difficult. It’s that first big hill to climb – staring at a blank canvas and trying to come up with how to fill it in the most interesting way.

The second big challenge then comes from persevering with the work. There’s usually a point somewhere in the middle where you’re doubting the work or second guessing some things. Getting through that patch is a bit of a mental test, but it does usually come together in the end.

If you could have a superhero power, what would you want to have?

I’ve thought about this before, and it would have to be the ability to freeze time. It would just be so versatile. You could use it to get out of sticky situations - but what I’d probably use it for most is to stop everything around me, go somewhere really scenic and just make art. I’d love to have unlimited time to just push myself to learn more and get better as an artist.

There’s a thing in Dragon Ball Z called the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Characters would basically go in there and do a years’ worth of training, but it would only equate to one day on the outside. I’ve always loved that idea and wished I had access to it in real life. I know that probably sounds really lame.

If you could bring a fictional character to life, who would you pick?

I mean, I’ve already mentioned how I’m a big Batman fan – but I don’t know how much I’d actually want to bring him to life. I don’t think he’d be very fun to hang out with.

Michael Scott from The Office would probably be a good one. I feel like you’d always have an eventful time hanging out with him.

If you could travel, or live anywhere, where would you go?

My girlfriend and I love travelling. We’ve been planning to go to South East Asia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand for a while now. So, I’m really looking forward to when we can actually go off and do that, once the world hopefully returns to something a bit more normal. I’m a big foodie – both cooking and eating. I’m a big fan of Asian food in particular. I’d love to go all over Asia and experience all of the delicious and varied food.

Really, I’d just love to go everywhere. I love going to new places.

Credit: Sam Green

Huge thanks to Sam for taking part and giving some great answers! We hope you enjoyed this week’s artist and don’t forget you can check out more of Sam’s work on all of his socials and website (all linked below)!

Sam Green - Instagram

Sam Green - Twitter

Sam Green - Website

#artistoftheweek #artist #artwok #pop culture #batman #joker #lastofus #digitalart #DStudio #dstudiouk #artists

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