#it's from the new trailer that dropped a couple hours ago

[muzarry]

HUNTLOWS!!! THE HAND ON HER WAIST!!!

THE HAND ON HER WAIST!!!

THEY'RE SOOOO 🥺🥺🥺

[hollowtones]

ayy monhun fan! what are you thinkin of what we've seen of wilds so far?

The initial trailer they dropped months ago was pretty cool. "World" is my least favourite game that I've played (even thought I liked it a lot!!), and 90% of why I felt that way was "this is the first time they're making a game of this scale / scope / direction", so it's exciting to see them make a successor to it now that they're not also learning how to make a game like it from the bottom-up & not also building the tech side of it from scratch.

Big desert environments have me excited!!!! I love the way these games do deserts. I'm always dreaming of Val Habar. I love the colour palette they're using for this area. Big fan of Yoshi being a new mechanic. In general I'm noticing a lot of things in "Wilds" that feel like a really cool mix of ideas from "World" and "Rise" in a way that feels a little more grounded. It's cool that they're bringing back a buddy you can ride around on & control. I wonder if they'll let Yoshi fight with you. I don't remember if they showed that off already. Getting to hotswap between 2 weapons without having to run back to base camp feels like a big deal that I haven't really wrapped my head around yet.

The focus mode thing seems fine. More granular control over aiming sometimes seems neat, & the footage we've seen makes it feel like positioning & animation commitment are still a part of it, which I like. Expanding part-breaking into "opening wounds that take more damage & enable special attacks" seems cool! (There was a similar-ish tenderizing mechanic with the Clutch Claw in "Iceborne", and I fuckin hated using it. Loved the idea of it at first. Having to do this whole separate action that interrupted the flow of the fight in a weird way to enable more damage felt awful after a while!! And they designed all the fights around the fact that you have it & use it! So I'm glad they're seemingly taking what I liked about it & chucking out the rest, haha.) I remember there was some hubbub about focus existing at all when news was first dropping. Some people were mad about it? I feel like this happens every time they announce a new Monster Hunter. They reveal a new feature, and a couple guys crawl out of the woodwork to go "THEY HAVE MADE THE VIDEO GAME PITIFUL AND EASIER - THIS IS THE DEATH OF THE FRANCHISE!" The franchise has died every game since the first one, by my count. (They end up buying the game anyway, of course.) I hope they put out a demo soon, though. I wanna get my hands on it & see how it works in the middle of a fight to see how I actually feel about it.

Weapon & armour design so far has been great. Happy about that. The bits of NPC designs we've seen have been cool. I don't really like the smith's look very much. Which makes me sad because I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be Little Miss Forge. LOL

When they first showed the game off I remember thinking "yeah, that's cool, I'm looking forward to this, but it's coming out Next Year & we're not even halfway done with 2024." Well now we're almost two thirds of the way through the year. And they keep dropping gameplay trailers. And they look hype as fuck!! And now I'm feeling more impatient!!! I wanna try this shit out soon!!! I wonder if they'll drop a public demo after Gamescom or something. I wonder if my computer could even run it...

I liked the way Hunting Horn played in "Rise" but it's cool to see the more traditional recitals back. (But faster!! And with new combo paths!!) I think I've spent a cumulative hour or two watching that horn trailer over and over again for little details. The funny bubble reminds me of bead of resonance but it seems like it might also be some kind of AoE team buff? It could also just be extra damage like bead was. But I loved bead. So I'll take it. Being a Hunting Horn fan is accepting that you'll be playing an entirely different weapon in every subsequent game, so I suppose I fuss less about whether or not it plays like any one specific game. But mannnnnn it looks cool as hell this time around.

[dominustempori]

SPOILER ALERT FOR THE GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE TRAILER!! (long post, fyi)

Alright Ghostheads, I'm writing all this down now, so I won't forget all these thoughts and observations I'm having JUST a few hours after this awesome teaser for the "Afterlife sequel" has dropped.

I'm sure I'm missing some bits here, so comments are duly welcome, just don't go all negative energy on me =)

Definitely felt a similar vibe to when the first trailer for "Afterlife" came out like 2 years ago now. Normal summer day, good background music, then...sh*t happens. Even worse than that burst of PK energy from the mine shaft. And yeah, I saw bits of "Day After Tomorrow," I'd be lying if I didn't get JUST a little hint of that, but only because, you know, massive storm system overwhelming the south shore of Manhattan. But anyway.

2. I SWEAR that one building shot from the side is 55 Central Park West, aka Spook Central. Probably not significant plot wise this time, just a nod to the original movie. And considering I toured some of the filming sites on my trip to NYC this past summer, SURE looks like it!

3. Deadly icicles ripping up the streets? Like the earthquake tearing up the asphalt in the original movie only BETTER!

4. The discourse is already happening about details...I know some people like Ecto 1-A from GB2, and some fans are still angry about "they ignored it in Afterlife! It's so canon! WTF Jason Reitman?" Yeah...missing the point? [They're not DELIBERATELY ignoring GB2! I LIKED GB2! A lot! Not perfect but still I LIKE IT! Probably a lot more than other fans! The film only had so much time to focus on the past to keep the story moving, so only put in so much of the lore to help a new audience along. That's my theory I'm sticking to it.]

ANYWAY...yes the car IS the original Ecto 1, NOT the 1-A (which was WAY too busy for its own good, just sayin'). I saw the plate on a freeze frame, it's Ecto 1, the original.

5. Enter the exposition cut scenes. or whatever you want to call them. Swear to God that Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, Dan, McKenna, and Logan are NOT at Ray's Occult Books...I mean come on look at those glass cases! It's GOTTA be the NY Public Library (throwback!) Patton's character is most likely a staff member, probably a librarian (related to Alice? God I hope so!) [GBs do their research yo! If that's one thing I love about the IDW comics, is how Ray and Egon and Kylie RESEARCH.]

That one bit with the frozen dude with the eyepatch? Looks like a flashback. Like, maybe Manhattan in the...late 1800s? Recurring hauntings is def a thing in the GB universe. Another secret society? Which, yeah, they did to death (sorry) with the Gozer thing, especially in the video game.

6. Liking all the concerned closeups. Paul Rudd still looking good, and I REALLY hope Carrie Coon as Callie has full on dropped the baggage about not having her Dad in her life. Well, mostly. Turned me off from her QUITE a bit in Afterlife, but that's just me. Finn's hair lookin' good short, love how McKenna still rocks the OshKosh look, and Logan with the retro vibe.

7. James Acaster HAS TO BE an adult Oscar. I WILL fight people on this =) Not Louis' kid, not Janine's... (well, maybe?) Peter and Dana are OFFICIALLY still a couple, what's to stop Peter from adopting the boy he saved in GB2? Or at least, maybe they have their own kid later on...? Damn I hope he's Oscar. I mean come on, this is still "Ghostbusters: the Next Generation" in my mind.

8. HAUNTED LION STATUE!!! (Yeah, that's right from Real Ghostbusters...kinda) It's the Library! And on another freeze frame...it's going after Ray (GASP!) That little elevator? Maybe they're going to...Special Collections? Remember the video game? Maybe? Squee?

9. DUDE, it's attacking GBHQ! Blew the freakin' doors off! It's gonna...NO NOT LUCKY! Dude she (they?) is getting the short end of the stick again...first she gets possessed by Zuul and now...please don't kill off Lucky, Gil! Also OGBs FTW!!! yeah Winston! bad ass mf as always! And man does Pete look proper scared. Go Bill Murray!

10. I'm presuming that the big bad/entity was originally trapped and stored in the ECU, hence the blinking red light in the post credits scene from Afterlife. And it's whatever's pushing out the cinder blocks this time around...and freezing Lucky in the basement of HQ? And it's the...thing pushing its demon horns in...(so far others are calling it a minotaur - totally NOT. this guy is so reaching, i mean an old obscure RGB comic reference from a wiki page? dude, just...no. a cross between a White Walker and Slenderman? yeah THOSE I get. I'm personally thinking some ancient demon from a summoning gone wrong...or maybe right in this case.) any case, DUDE with those icy blue staring eyes and 20 feet tall...f*ck yeah.

11. Also F*CK yeah Paul and Carrie in the jumpsuits! YES!!!

12. Alright, I can sort of buy a hidden room in Kumail's character's (presumably?) apartment, secret door at the back of a kitchen pantry with some pretty lead/silver tiling...but, what's with the horn? (SUMMONING HORN! Read the Bartimaeus Trilogy people!) and the shackles? the bells? well, yeah noise to drive away evil spirits...or not? again... SECRET SOCIETY! Or maybe Lucky and Trevor have their own place now? Nah, maybe not...wait and see I guess.

13. Dude...Paul Rudd is TALL, boy! Would like to see if they've actually gone and married...or, too soon? Nah, romantic/life partners is good.

14. I WANT THAT RED WINTER JACKET WITH THE PATCH! SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

15. Also, Paul's reaction...SO my own after watching this. He is still fanboy-ing out and I LOVE IT.

Holy hell that was a long post. First genuine reactions on the day. Online journaling. All good.

OK peeps, let me have it. What are y'all thinking?

Until March 29!

[lolahasmoxie]

More Wayne H.C.

TW: mentions of child abuse, bed wetting

I apologize for this sad headcanon, but the idea came to me and literally followed me on vacation to NYC. I promise something cute is coming.

Wayne asked a coworker about raising kids the day after CPS called. His brother was going to jail for a long time, and Eddie needed a place to land, or else he was going into the system. Wayne hadn't hesitated for a second, and when he went to the night shift, he found his friend who had a foster child.

His friend listened patiently and doled out heaps of advice to Wayne. But he emphasized that Wayne needed to give Eddie time to adjust to his new normal. "Let him open at his own pace, don't push him."

When Eddie arrives with a backpack and a buzzed head of hair, Wayne goes overboard trying to give his nephew his first taste of stability. He gives up the one bedroom in the trailer and makes a homemade dinner. Eddie barely says ten words before he goes to bed.

The next few weeks are tough. Wayne feels like he's walking on eggshells trying not to push Eddie. The boy is opening up slowly, but Wayne can tell that his nephew is waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It's a Saturday night, and Wayne is off for the weekend. He had fallen asleep watching a baseball game on the TV and blinked his eyes as he heard noises coming from the bathroom. He quietly got off his recliner and walked to the bedroom, pausing when he noticed Eddie's door open.

"Eddie, you ok?" he asked quietly. The bathroom door was slightly ajar, and he could hear Eddie muttering to himself. When he opened the door, Eddie froze in terror. He was leaning over the sink, his bedsheets in his hands.

"I'm so sorry, please. I had a nightmare; it was an accident, I swear."

Wayne can see that Eddie has wet himself and is now cowering because he was expecting punishment. Wayne considered himself a tolerant man. Yet at that moment, he wanted to pay a visit to his piece of shit brother and wring his neck until he could watch the light leave his eyes.

"Whoa, no one's gonna hurt you, bud."

"But, he said."

"Listen to me, son," he said calmly as he knelt before his nephew. "We don't do that here. Now I need you to listen to me carefully. We're still getting used to each other, but I need you to understand something. I love you, and there is nothing you can do that will get me to stop loving you. You understand?"

Eddie's eyes locked with Wayne's, looking for any sign of a lie. Wayne felt his heart lighten when he saw his nephew start to relax.

"But I wet the bed."

"Happens to the best of us, kid, hell my buddy peed himself after tying off one too many at the bar a couple of weeks ago." He smiled when he heard Eddie chuckle. "Here's what we're gonna do; I'm gonna take those sheets, and you can hop in the shower while I deal with the bed. Ok?"

Eddie nodded, and Wayne took the soiled sheets and gave his boy some privacy. Before tackling the mattress, he stripped the bed and put the sheets in the washer. Then he placed clean pajamas for Eddie and headed to the kitchen. By the time Eddie was washed, Wayne was waiting for him in the kitchen with two glasses of warm cinnamon milk.

Barely an hour later, Eddie is curled into Wayne's side, fast asleep while a B horror movie plays in the background. Eddie's snores blend in with the low volume of the TV, and Wayne runs a hand over his boy's head. As he carefully puts his feet up on the coffee table, he can't help but smile as Eddie pulls himself closer.

And while Wayne is happy to know that he and Eddie survived the first crisis to befall them, he also knows it will not be the last. But in the early morning quiet of their trailer, he believes they will be alright for now.

[zorasthoughts]

some thoughts for the holly jackson fandom

so, some people have been wondering about when the agggtm show might be coming out and i've been thinking *deeply* about it. also, the universe is laughing at me, because i had an urge to check ig last night, and holly had posted a reel joking about everyone wanting to know when the trailer is coming out, which makes me think that she knows that everyone is (im)patiently waiting, but it might be still be a hot minute before we get anything. anyway, these are my thoughts. this is all speculation, with a little bit of logic, so don't take this as gospel

on the show's release

first things first: a couple of weeks ago, holly reposted a reel from one of the bbc accounts on her ig story where we got our first look at pip (she's in a dark room with lots of pink and blue led lights, i think this could be from the calamity party). this reel was a montage of clips, that you also see on tv that the bbc show during the holiday period to advertise shows coming out in the new year. from memory, these are usually for shows that are coming out in the first half of the year, so the show might come out in the spring, like april

why april? well, if you've read the book then you might remember that it all starts in april (the andie & sal case happens in april 2012), so if the show came out then, it would be a neat tie-in to the book

another reason why i think it could be april is because of another tv show: heartstopper

obviously, there are differences, hs is a netflix show, so is available to watch all over the world, agggtm is made by bbc so is only going to be available to watch in the uk (and i think also the us). it may become available to stream elsewhere later on, but that's another story

anyway, hs and agggtm are both ya book-to-tv show adaptations set in britain. hs had eight episodes per season with episodes being roughly 30 minutes each. agggtm is going to have six episodes, roughly 45 minutes each. so hs totals around 4 hours of content, agggtm will have 4 and a half hours of content in total. pretty similar

i did some further research (a lot of scrolling through instagram) to try and calculate when we might get some content. the hs ig account posted some stills on 1 march, just giving a first look at the main characters

on 16 march, they released some more stills, with some of the other characters, and also released the teaser trailer later that day

the full trailer came out 13 april, and the show came out april 22

sooooo, this is all speculation, and bbc will probably have different ideas from netflix to promote their show, but if the dates are similar and agggtm were to come out in late april like heartstopper (again, this would put it around the dates of the andie & sal case from the book), but i reckon we could maybe expect content to start dropping in march. we will see.

a final thought, which i'd forgotten earlier: if the show is successful, which i think it will be, then it would probably get renewed for a second season, then they'd want to film over the summer (the majority of events in ggbb happen in april/may, after the andie & sal memorial, which happens around the six-year anniversary of their deaths, which happened in, oh yeah, april)

some other thoughts:

holly posted on her ig grid a few days ago, mentioning stuff that will be happening this year, and i have a couple of ideas about that

her new book, the reappearance of rachel price is coming out on 2 april (this made me wonder if the show would come out later so that one isn't overshadowing the other, but the people deciding when a book is published and when a tv show comes out are going to be two different groups of people, and if i'm right with my guess, then start of the month and end of the month releases gives trorp enough time to get the hype it deserves)

book tour for trorp/holly doing appearances at book festivals this year. holly and her books are popular, and this popularity is probably going to increase after the show comes out, so i could see this being pretty likely

lastly, and there is no real evidence to suggest this, but it could happen: film adaptation of five survive. i'm not the first to say this, but it would be a great thriller, and as people have joked, would be pretty low-budget given that most of the action happens in an rv with just six people. if we do get this though, it would be probably be much later in the year

[paperbackribs]

The Gift (6 of 15) (Witch Steve AU)

previous: Chapter 5 You're Doing That On Purpose (Part B) next: Chapter 7 Answering the Question Content: steddie fic, 2K words

Last chapter, Eddie convinces Steve about which film to watch on movie night, Robin reveals she bagged a date with Vickie, and Steve unexpectedly saw a vision through Eddie's sight. This chapter, Steve would really like people to stop staring at how strange he looks and he confesses his fears and doubts about his Witch powers to Eddie.

Chapter 6 Help a Friend

“Steve! We need your help.” Dustin’s voice rings through Family Video. The couple in the corner look back over their shoulders. Probably startled by the sheer volume belting out of the little butthead, Steve thinks with irritation.

It’s the end of the Friday rush and everyone and their mother should be home with their new releases and weekly specials. The purple fluorescent lights shining down from the top of the ceilings banish the darkness from the outside, yes, but they don't create nearly as hip or appealing a psychedelic cast as ownership thought they would. The strain of the lights along with the burr of the airconditioner adds to the building pain in Steve's head.

The entire day has been a wash. It was Robin’s shift off, he's not been able to eat in hours, and, on top of it all, he'd had to endure Keith’s odd looks until the lanky man had left half an hour ago.

Just ask, Steve wants to snidely say. Point to my face or neck and say, hey man, what happened to you? Instead, he had put up with Knowing that Keith was looking at him throughout the afternoon while watching the other guy’s head whip away any time Steve turned to catch him out. The hypocrisy of it was grating.

Now he’s an hour from getting off and he wants to, at the bare minimum, have a shower to wash off the stink of the day before Eddie comes over to watch their movie.

Lucas follows behind Dustin with the embarrassed expression of someone who understands what an inside voice should sound like. But it’s Dustin who slams his open backpack on to the counter, pencils and two spare batteries rolling out to drop on the floor.

“Fuck,” Dustin disappears in front of the counter as he bends over to pick up his mess.

“Language!” Steve rubs at the headache pushing behind the bridge of his nose.

“Sorry Steve,” Lucas says before lighting up. “Hey, do you have Night of the Creeps yet? Max saw the trailer earlier this year and El says she thinks zombies are funny.”

“That’s not the important thing here, Lucas.” Dustin stands up with a fistful of pencils and batteries only to shove Lucas to the side, who then pushes him back with his gangly arms. The stouter boy looks like he’s about to ram into his friend, so Steve does the responsible, mature thing and pulls Dustin back by the collar and shakes him like a disobedient puppy.

“Yeah, look over in the Horror section. It should be in New Release, but no one wants to rent it out.” Lucas follows Steve’s thumb to stroll over to the direction he gestured towards. Pointedly ignoring his friend squirming by the tips of his toes.

“Now, what’s this about,” Steve asks, releasing him.

Dustin clears his throat, conspicuously looking over his shoulder to see if any customers have come closer. The lone couple have long since lost interest. Nevertheless, Steve wants to smack him when Dustin hisses, “I need you to do a love spell for me.”

Steve drops his head into his hands. He just needs a moment, in the dark, away from this fucking day.

“First of all,” he mumbles, glaring out between his spreading fingers. “Don’t talk about this in public, you little dickhead.” He leans in further, “What I told you all is private and should stay that way.”

“Sorry,” Dustin looks appropriately chastened for all of three seconds before he perks up. “But, ah, could you do the thing.”

“No, I can’t do the thing. Even if I could, I wouldn’t do the thing. Because whatever you’re thinking about has got to be sketchy as fuck. Aren’t you dating Suzie, anyway?”

Lucas slides over his chosen VHS, which Steve notes has a big fat R sticker at the top of the case.

“No.”

“Come on, Steve. You got us The Shining.”

Steve crosses his arms, “That was for movie night. And I was able to watch over you guys when we saw it.”

“It’s just for me and the girls, we’re responsible,” Lucas tries, winningly.

Steve grabs the case and goes into the back to get the cassette, grumbling. He knew he was going to give in, why’d he even try to talk Lucas out of it? At least, out of all of them, he can probably trust Lucas, Max and El... Huh.

He returns, renting the movie under his name on the computer but watching Lucas from the side of his eye. “So, you don’t need the same help as Dustin, then?”

Lucas purses his lips, “Nah, I’m okay. Max explained it to me, and I just have to share her with El. But me and El aren’t together. We have a schedule; it all works out.”

“Ah, okay,” Steve replies, uncertain about whatever is going on with this group but deciding the blame lies with him: he never should have asked.

Dustin, in the meantime, looks a bee’s dick away from pulling out his tightly curled hair. “Steve,” he whines. “Suzie hasn’t talked to me in a week. A whole week! She’s clearly fallen out of love with me now that the honeymoon phase is over. I need to — you know, get a thing.”

Steve wonders if he should have just let Dustin use the word spell. It’s wrong on so many levels; he’s not Elizabeth Montgomery, he doesn’t twitch his nose and make people fall in and out of love. But it might be better than having Dustin repeatedly and in the most grating tone keep saying thing.

“Have you tried talking to her,” Steve asks, patiently.

“She’s not responding to the radio.”

“Have you tried calling her, on the telephone,” Steve clarifies, even more patiently.

Dustin blinks. “But her dad?”

“You don’t know what’s happened, Dustin. Rather than panicking, try calling her. If that doesn’t work, send her a letter. If that doesn’t work, we’ll talk more. Not,” Steve points an officious finger in Dustin’s face as he starts to open his mouth, “about that.” Steve pushes the R-rated film into its case, slaps it into Lucas’s waiting hands, and directs that finger again towards the door.

“Good night!”

As they leave, Lucas looks pleased, and Dustin looks like he’s brewing up a plan. No matter what they throw at him, Steve congratulates himself, he’s a pretty damn good babysitter. He turns to the approaching couple with a practised smile.

His satisfaction lasts through the drive home and past his shower. But it’s when he’s wiping his sweaty hands over his jeans one last time that he’s stopped as he catches his reflection in the hallway mirror.

The amber of the wood frames his square face, forcing his gaze front and centre. Making him unable to avoid the white globe on his left or the red ring below his jaw.

He’s always been a little vain, having a healthy appreciation for the work he'd put into his well-coifed hair and the muscles that playing basketball and swim meets had put on his bones. If he puts the effort in to look good, then he should at least get to appreciate the results, right?

But Keith got into his head, and he can’t stop picking at the thought that between his cockeyed features and the fading line around his neck, he must look unpleasant to some people. People like Eddie. Who, even as the self-proclaimed master of all that is weird and wonderful, hadn’t been able to look away from Steve’s eyes when he’d first gotten out of the hospital.

Or maybe it’s just that the uncanny, which has always sat comfortably inside of him, is now visible to others. Shining through in a manner that compels even the most mundane of people to stop and stare.

After The Sacrifice, he thinks that perhaps the white threads of fate are reflected in his left eye. That anyone looking at Steve can see that he decided to play God and manipulate Eddie’s destiny.

What, he wonders, separates him from Vecna? Henry must not have started out as a sinister bastard; even as a child, he couldn’t have been purely evil from the get-go. Did getting his way, by using his powers, corrupt the child until the adult thought that torture and murder were justifiable as long as they were in service to what he believed was right?

He thinks back to Nancy's instant suspicion and, even though it was more subtle, Eddie's initial tenseness around him. Did people like Nancy and Eddie see a connection between the well-meant intentions of Steve to the malevolent actions of Vecna?

Out of the corner of his right eye, he sees a shifting body behind the frosted glaze of the front door before the bell rings.

Eddie.

Steve looks back at his reflection for a moment, unclenching his jaw and making sure that an easy smile graces his face when he pulls open the door. The warmth of the night air gently rushes against his body and the stars twinkle with a golden shimmer behind Eddie.

Eddie, who startles back like he hadn’t expected Steve to answer so quickly.

Christ, it must have looked like he was waiting by the door like some desperate loser. Steve runs a hand through his hair as he starts to stammer out an excuse, but the other guy is looking increasingly bewildered, so Steve takes a moment to pause, blow out a breath and try again.

“Sorry, weird afternoon, come in.”

Eddie crosses the threshold to follow Steve through, gently placing the six-pack on the table in front of the couch. “Are you okay?”

Steve thinks back to his promise on the kitchen counter, the truth. “Just struggling with looking like this,” he waves a hand over his face and neck, trying to encompass what ‘this’ is.

Eddie leans in to nudge him with an elbow, “A total smoke show?”

Laughter bubbles out of his chest and Steve looks on at Eddie fondly. “You’re right, what was I thinking,” he asks wryly.

“Hey, no, Stevie. I mean it,” Eddie grabs his wrist, a warm band connecting them. He raises his other hand to rest a finger on the skin by Steve’s left eye; the exact spot he had touched after he had been pulled back to life.

Eddie continues, sincerity ringing through his words. “Even if this is weirding you out, it’s a badge of honour. You made the world shift. You raised me from the dead. If you like me even a little, then you have to like the eye. Thems the rules.”

Steve chews on the inside of his cheek before admitting to the heart of what is bugging him. “I don’t regret it; I never will. But I forced an unnatural path and maybe that’s too much power for anyone to really wield.”

“So what?”

Steve blinks, “What?”

Eddie looks back at him, mismatched eyes unconcerned yet frank. “So what that you’re powerful. Good for you.”

He leans forward, gently tucking a lock of Steve’s hair behind his left ear. The tip of his finger trails the curve of his haircut to the base of Steve's neck, which Eddie loosely clasps, speaking earnestly into their shared space, their foreheads almost touching. “If anyone is going to be able to do good with what they have, it’s you. Have you ever harmed anyone?”

Steve opens his mouth to protest; he’s done plenty.

“No,” Eddie firmly stops him, shaking him in a gentler echo of Steve to Dustin earlier that night. “Anyone weaker than you. Or made someone do something they didn’t want to do, with or without powers. And I don’t mean that pissant peer pressure crap. We’re all guilty of that at some point or another. I mean, in your heart of hearts, if you had the chance to force someone to do something for your own gain, no matter whether it hurt them or not. Would you?”

He wouldn’t, realises Steve, taking comfort in Eddie's plain-spoken tone. He may have done some shit he wasn’t proud of back in high school, but he’s not that guy any longer.

The thought of what Eddie describes is repugnant and he gratefully holds onto that feeling; because that was what Vecna was missing, Steve suddenly understands. The utter repugnance and disgust at hurting the people around him, strangers and friends alike.

“You’re the babysitter, right? The protector. You don’t have to worry about any of that shit,” Eddie's expression is sweetly earnest and the clean relief of his words has Steve's head falling to rest on Eddie's shoulder. Who tentatively brings his arm up to embrace Steve.

Steve leans further into the hug, taking what comfort he can from Eddie and feeling the weight of the day falling away. Eddie’s woodsy cologne soothingly envelops him while the scratch of his recently shaved jaw catches strands of Steve’s hair as if to join them further together.

“Thank you,” he says softly into the warmth of Eddie's neck. “I had a shit day and I suppose it just piled up.”

“No problems,” Eddie murmurs lowly into his ear before drawing back, smiling into Steve’s face. “Now, how about we watch a true battle of good and evil?”

Steve nods in agreement before heading to the phone to call up Pizza Palace; thankful that he has Eddie in his corner and anticipating a night just for the two of them.

If you liked anything, please consider leaving a comment over on Ao3 :-) It would make my day!

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@tartarusknight

@whackyrach

[ilovecupcakesandtea]

Me and @slipperygiraff are back with another fic!! Had a LOT of fun brainstorming this with them as always <;3 Reblogs, comments, asks etc are always appreciated and we cry over each one.

Chapter 2

*BANG BANG*   The knock at the door startled Eddie from his game. 

“Get the door, will you Eds?” Wayne shouted from the kitchen “I’m too busy.”

Eddie put his switch down and walked over to open the door revealing a young woman standing on the other side. “Can I  help you?” he asked her. 

“I’m looking to speak to Wayne Munson,” The woman answered. 

“What did you do now boy?” Wayne asked, looking at Eddie as he came up behind him. 

“My names Mary, I’m from child protective services. May I come in?” The lady replied.

“Hate to break it to you but I aged out of the system years ago.” Eddie sighed.

“I’m here about another child, please can we discuss this inside?” Mary stressed. 

“Sure” Eddie said, standing aside to let the woman in. 

All three adults moved to the living room and sat down. 

“So last month Al Munson left a baby at a fire station and signed away his parental responsibility. Apparently the mom isn't in the picture and hasn't been since the baby was born. Her name is Jane and she’s almost 6 months old. She’s spent a few weeks in emergency foster care but we would like to place her permanently with a family, ideally we would like to place her with her biological family.” Mary explained. 

“No, absolutely not. We have no room to raise a child here. I’m already sleeping on a damn pull-out, where do you expect “ Wayne started to say. 

“We’ll take her, we can make it work. I’ll work extra and move out. I can take her with me then. I’ll raise her.” Eddie interrupted. 

“Boy, this is a massive thing to take on” Wayne said softly to him.

“I know, but this baby, my little sister apparently, is already in the system. I can't stand the idea of her going between homes for as long as it takes for her to get adopted. She’ll grow up thinking she isn't loved, I know how that feels, I can't allow that to happen to her. I promise I'll look after her, I'll move out as soon as I can, it’ll be a few weeks, just please, she needs to be with family.” Eddie pleaded. 

The silence that followed was deafening. Eddie's words had clearly had an impact on Wayne. 

“Ok” Wayne nodded “When can we get her?” he asked. 

“She’s actually already in the car. We would have been dropping her off with another family if you had said no.” Mary answered. 

Mary went outside and returned a few moments later with a baby in a car seat and a diaper bag over her arm, followed by someone else who Eddie assumed was from CPS, carrying a bag full of diapers, food, more clothes and a travel cot. 

They spent the next couple of hours talking everything through. Making them both aware of everything they needed to know to look

A couple of weeks later Eddie was exhausted. Working as many shifts as he could at the local auto shop, looking after a baby and making sure Wayne did as little as possible to look after her.

By the time Jane had been with them a couple of weeks she had a new name, Nova, and was settling in very well and was overall a very good baby. Happy to spend a lot of time playing and watching what was going on around her. The trailer was cramped with the addition of a baby and all of the things that they come with. The parents in the trailer park had been really supportive and turned up with any spare clothes that they had a handful of toys and other things a baby may need. 

One of the moms in the park who stayed at home to look after her own baby had offered to look after Nova as well whilst Eddie worked. Eddie always made sure Nova was sent with food and a full bag of spare clothes and diapers. As payment Eddie also looked after both babies on a Saturday and gave the mom what little spare money he had left after everything. He could never tell Aimee how much her help was appreciated, She’d made him working and starting to make a life for him and Nova possible.    

It was night number 3 of having a cranky baby, a cranky Eddie and almost no sleep. Nova was teething and with every tooth that was cut, it seemed to chip away at Eddie’s sanity a little more. It was 3am on night two of no sleep and Eddie had tried everything. Teething rings had been thrown back at him, his fingers had taken a biting, she’d ripped at his hair and he was exhausted. Nova was currently lying in her cot fussing and biting her fist. Eddie had sung every nursery rhyme and lullaby he knew. He had one trick left, recently he had noticed Nova was very interested in ‘dragon slayer’, his acoustic guitar, whenever he played it. He grabbed it now and sat down beside her crib with his back against it and started to play a soft melody, making it up as he went along. It took a while but Nova started to settle finally and stopped being so fussy, slowly drifting off to sleep as Eddie carried on playing. At some point the guitar slipped from his hands and he was dead asleep against the crib, Nova fast asleep next to him in it. 

Eddie startled awake and realised he was leant against the crib, his immediate reaction was to turn and check on Nova, only to find she wasn't there. Stumbling to his feet he looked around the room, as though a 7 month old baby could have climbed out of the crib and was wandering around their shared room. He ran out of the bedroom and was greeted with a site that had him stopping in his tracks. True to his word Eddie had been the one to do all of the looking after Nova when he was home. He stood in the hallway in between the bedroom and kitchen and just took in what he was seeing. He could see Wayne feeding Nova who was sitting in her highchair. It wasn’t Wayne feeding Nova that gave Eddie reason to pause, but the look he had on his face as he did it. Such fondness for the little human in front of him was evident. 

For such a tiny little thing it seemed Nova held both Munson men’s hearts in her hand and they were both totally wrapped around her little finger. 

“Morning,” Eddie said, finally breaking his trance and walking towards the kitchen. “What time is it?” he asked. 

“A little after 5, I came home early, went to the toilet but heard little Miss here kicking her legs around like a gooden so I looked in and she was awake and you were sound asleep. Thought I'd just take her and get her changed and fed ready for the day.” Wayne replied simply, shrugging. “I’d hoped you’d sleep for longer though boy, I know you haven't been sleeping.” 

“I’ll get some bits done and then get some more sleep when she naps in a few hours, I'll be ok.” Eddie stated, walking into the kitchen to fix himself a coffee. “Oh shh…ugar, we’re out of milk” Eddie sighed “Want me to finish feeding her and then take her to the store?” He asked, nodding at Nova, who was happily eating oatmeal with mashed banana and making a mess with it as she felt the need to spread it all over her face and the highchair tray. 

“No, you just go and get yourself washed up and dressed and get yourself out of the house for some breakfast and pick up some groceries. I’m sure I can look after a baby for a few hours. Kept you alive for over 10 years haven’t I?” Wayne answered by shooing Eddie away with a spoon. 

20 minutes later Eddie was showered and dressed, getting ready to head out to a diner before hitting up the grocery store. Just as he was about to leave everything started to shake, Eddie moved towards Wayne, who had already picked Nova up and pulled her close to him and then everything stopped. Looking around Eddie  noticed that a few things had fallen from their shelves and had broken and some furniture had either toppled over or moved. 

“Everyone ok?” Eddie asked, continuing his walk to Wayne and Nova, who was screaming as loud as her lungs would allow, as soon as he was in reaching distance Nova started to squirm to get away from Wayne and to get to Eddie. 

“Yeah we’re ok” Wayne answered as he handed over the baby. “Lets get cleaned up and then you can head out like you planned” 

“Absolutely not, I'm not going anywhere on my own now. What if it happens again? What if something happens to her because I wanted breakfast alone. Nope. I’ll head out with her once we’ve cleaned up.” Eddie protested, shaking his head.

An hour later when Nova was settled again strapped to Eddie's chest and the trailer had been cleaned with the furniture righted, Eddie tried to get Nova ready to leave the house. 

“And what do you think you’re doing with my grandbaby? I told you she’s staying here with me whilst you go and enjoy some time without worrying about work or her.” Wayne declared, taking Nova off Eddie. “No go”

Eddie continued to hang around the trailer doing what odd things he could, the pillows had been fluffed and straightened 3 times, he’d changed his bedding and put the washer on. He’d also made sure that Nova’s changing bag was fully stocked. 

“Boy, if you don’t get out of here soon I'm going to kick you out. Go.” Wayne finally huffed a further hour later. 

“Ok ok,” Eddie sighed, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “Call me if you need me to come back. Please.” Eddie said as he picked up his jacket, throwing it on and leaving the trailer. 

Making up his mind for him, his stomach gave a very loud growl. First stop, breakfast. 

After a breakfast of pancakes, smoked bacon with plenty of maple syrup and 2 cups of strong coffee later Eddie felt a little more human again. Time for grocery shopping.

Walking into the store Eddie started to make a mental list of things that they needed. Milk, formal for the bottle that Nova still had at night, bread, nappies, always nappies, how many could a child get through?! More of the oatmeal she was currently loved. Standing in the cereal aisle Eddie was staring at the different kinds of cereal, debating which to pick up for himself and Wayne. 

He was too tired to really put much thought into, well anything really, which is why it's not surprising that a “Hey Eddie” coming from beside him made him jump a little. 

[glorious-spoon]

9 and any Stranger Things ship for the wrapped meme

Thank you! Number 9 this year was Limelight, by Rush. Here's a bit of pre-relationship Steddie featuring Eddie's complicated feelings about his hometown - I hope you enjoy!

-

title: get on with the fascination [on AO3]

word count: ~1900

-

Fifteen years after the world doesn't end, Eddie Munson returns to Hawkins.

It's a dramatic phrasing, even in his own head; for one thing, this is far from the first time he's been back since the summer of 1986, although the last time was almost a decade ago. He doesn't call it going home. Home is New York, and sometimes Chicago these days, which is as close to Roane County as he usually wants to get. Home, as far as it ever existed for him in Hawkins, was a trailer that got dropped into an alternate dimension along with a good chunk of the town the same night Eddie almost died. Home is the little house over the Illinois border where Wayne has lived since '91. Home sure as shit isn't here.

"You planning on brooding this whole time, or what?" Steve asks from across the booth. The bar they're currently sitting in is no longer called The Hideout; at some point in the last fifteen years, it's been rebranded to On The Rocks Bar And Grill. There's a fresh coat of paint on the walls and a layer of new laminate flooring over the old asbestos tile. Draft taps and an honest-to-god raised stage instead of the grimy corner where the old band used to play. At the turn of the millennium, Hawkins is finally gentrifying.

"I'm not brooding."

"Yeah, man, you totally are. Could we get a couple of refills? Thanks so much," he adds to the waitress who pauses by their table to ask if they need anything. She doesn't seem to recognize Eddie. Too young to remember him from his illustrious youth here, and apparently not into the metal scene, thank fucking Christ. For the most part, he kind of likes it when strangers come up to him in public—two platinum records in and it still hasn't lost its novelty—but not here. Not in Hawkins. This place still feels fucking cursed.

"Are you buying me beer now, Harrington?"

"You're the big-shot rockstar," Steve points out with a shit-eating grin. "You're buying."

"Ugh," Eddie groans, and puts his head down on the table, which doesn't even have the decency to be sticky. "Remind me again why I agreed to this?"

"I don't know. Closure?"

"Next time I decide to do something this shit-stupid, can you do me a favor and just, like, duct tape me to a chair or something?"

"Kinky," Steve says dryly, but he's still smiling when Eddie lifts his head to glare at him. Eddie should probably be less of a dick about this, given that Steve is only here for moral support; he doesn't live in Hawkins either these days. He's up in Chicago with Robin, who would also probably be here if she weren't mired in stacks of midterm papers on film theory from her earnest little freshman ducklings. Steve makes his own hours, so it's not that much of a surprise that he closed up shop and drove down here and didn't bother to call until he'd already crossed the county line, at which point Eddie was winding himself up into a dangerous head of steam and was grateful for any distraction that offered itself.

And Steve is the best kind of distraction. Always has been. Even now, kicked back in a bar booth in all his yuppie glory, sipping the last of his beer and scanning the bar every now and then with a wariness that Eddie hasn't seen from him in a while. Because Eddie isn't the only one who left a headful of ghosts behind in Hawkins, Indiana. He forgets that sometimes.

"Thank you, by the way," he says. "Did I say that yet?"

"Nah. Mostly you've just been, like, bemoaning your life."

"Bemoaning," Eddie repeats, delighted. "We'll make a poet of you yet, Stevie."

"In your dreams," Steve says mildly.

"Oh, every night, baby."

That gets him a scoff, but it's a fond one. The waitress comes back with their drinks, and he leans back out of her way to let her set them down and clear away their empty glasses. Steve thanks her again, and this time Eddie does too, because there's only so much wallowing that Steve will let him get away with and he's probably closing in on that limit quickly. Still, all Steve actually says once she leaves is, "So what's the plan, then? You're meeting the interviewers at, what, three?"

"Yeah," Eddie sighs. "I don't fucking know. They wanted me to, like, walk them around and show them the old sights, which sounded like a great idea when Marleen pitched it, but now it's like, what old sights? Oh, here's where the basketball team tried to kick my skull in. Here's where the football team tried to kick my skull in. Here's the picnic table where I used to sell weed out of my lunch box. Here's where my trailer was before a girl died there and it got sucked into the shadow dimension, except—oops!—can't tell you shit about that because I signed a stack of confidentiality agreements almost as tall as me. But they're still gonna ask." He lets out a long sigh and presses the heels of his hands into his eyes. "They're gonna want me to talk about Chrissy."

"So you tell them to go to hell."

He barks a laugh. "Easy as that, huh?"

"You've never had trouble with it before," Steve says with a shrug.

That's true enough. Eddie sighs again and reaches for his beer. "This place is fucking me up. No, there is actually a plan. We're gonna stop by the high school after it's cleared out and do the interview there, it's all set up. You know they put up a plaque with my name on it outside the drama room?"

Steve laughs. "No shit?"

"Yeah, apparently there was a vicious battle about it on the school board. Real fire and brimstone shit, went on for months. Henderson's mom led the charge on my behalf, I got the whole story from him."

"Jesus," Steve says. And then, "Shit, we should go see her while we're in town."

"You're just hoping she'll feed you."

"Well, yeah," Steve says. "I've been living on my own cooking since…" he waves a hand and makes a face. "You know. Since everything went south with Jerry."

Jerry was the latest in a series of attractive people of varying genders that Steve has dated over the last ten years, since he moved to Chicago and figured his shit out. Eddie kind of hated the guy, but it wasn't personal. He was objectively probably a perfectly fine person, and it wasn't his fault that Eddie fell head over heels for a hot monster-slaying jock in the spring of 1986 and never entirely recovered. Though, as he's now reminded, it's been a long time since he and Steve were both single at the same time, and the last time that happened, he still thought Steve was straight.

He tries to swallow that thought down with a mouthful of beer, but it lingers like a strange spiky shape in the back of his throat. "So, how's all that going, anyway?"

Steve groans dramatically.

"An encouraging response."

"No, it's fine. I'm, like, totally over him at this point. I just… I don't know, I figured I'd be past all this shit by now, you know? Thought I'd settle down, get my life together, find somebody who…" he trails off.

"Who…?" Eddie repeats leadingly.

"I don't know. Somebody who gets it. Somebody I don't have to, like, lie to."

"That's a tall order, my friend."

"Yeah, I guess," Steve mutters. He's looking at his beer, rubbing a thumb against the wedge-shaped scar bisecting his lower lip. He's got a lot of scars, and Eddie knows the story to most of them, even the ones he wasn't personally present for. But he supposes that he can see how it would wear on Steve, inventing explanations for them that aren't about being tortured by Russian spies or eaten alive by interdimensional monsters. Steve's not much of a liar, when it comes down to it. Eddie doesn't mind spinning fantastical stories to obscure the ugly truth, but they're wired differently that way.

"Hey," Eddie says. He taps his fingernails against Steve's glass and waits for him to look up. "Listen, I'm sorry I brought it up."

Steve smiles a little. "It's fine. Seriously. Robin says I'm being a sad sack, and she's probably right."

"Mm. Probably, but I am not the sensible Professor Doctor Buckley, am I?"

"God, you know she hates it when you call her that."

"She's the one who decided to get a PhD. Masochism, in my strong opinion."

"Oh, we all know," Steve says. He glances over Eddie's shoulder at the clock, then says, "Probably ought to get going if you want to make your interview on time."

"And Marleen has promised to string me up by my metaphorical balls if I show up late for another one," Eddie sighs. He drains the last of his beer and stands, digging his wallet out.

After they pay and head outside, Steve lingers by the side of the brick building, facing the road. It's a sunny day, breezy and crisp, pale wisps of clouds moving fast across the blue sky, and something about it makes Eddie's chest pinch with a strange nostalgia. Something about the way Steve looks right now, in his stylish yet dorky windbreaker with his hair tossed by the breeze. It's shorter now than he used to wear it but he really doesn't look that different at thirty-four than he did at nineteen. Older, sure, but it suits him.

"After I'm done with all this shit," Eddie says. "You wanna go get high at the quarry? You know, for old times' sake?"

Steve laughs softly, eyes crinkling. "Does it really count if we're not smoking in the back of your van?"

"True. Pretty sure I wouldn't get the deposit back on my rental if I turn it in smelling like grass, either."

"We can take my car," Steve says.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. If you want."

"You wanna crash with me after? So you don't have to drive all the way back home tonight, I mean? The room they booked me is, like, palatial. I didn't even know they had places that nice around here."

Steve glances at him again, rubbing his jaw. It wouldn't be the first time they've shared a hotel room, but there's a different context now. For one thing, they can both afford separate rooms these days. For another, Eddie's got that itch that means he's probably gonna do something reckless, and he's not even sure he wants to try to stop it.

If he and Steve go smoke up by the quarry where they spent the last summer of Eddie's teens, he's going to confess something, he's pretty sure of it. Lay it all on the line for Steve, after all this time. He's starting to think that might not even be the worst idea he's ever had. Steve is here, after all.

"Yeah, okay," Steve says, finally. He bumps his shoulder against Eddie's, and Eddie leans back into the solid warmth of him, and takes a deep breath of cool spring air, and watches the Hawkins traffic pass them by.

Tomorrow, he'll be gone. Maybe, if this doesn't all blow up in his face, he'll go back to Chicago with Steve. Hawkins is a place he's outgrown years ago, and whatever story comes out of this interview is never going to be anything other than a media-crafted shadow of the truth, but honestly, that's never been what mattered in the end.

"It's a date, then," he says, and when he glances over at Steve, he finds him already smiling back.

[gloomyfilm]

A LOVE LETTER TO THIS IS US 🍋💌☁️

/for full ambiant experience click on the audio before continuing\

I still can't believe two summers ago I decided to give This Is Us a try, fell in love and binge-watched the whole 5 seasons available.

Every night, I would get to cooking in a very romanticized fashioned way à la Nancy Meyers main character, pour myself a nice fresh drink as people still enjoyed the warmth of the early evening hours.

By the time dinner was ready, world would accordantly settle for peacefulness as I made my way to the couch to get all cozy and snuggly.

Here would begin, the events I was truly not prepared for..

In just under 2 episodes, I was now finding myself unexpectedly and completely invested, all thanks to the writers for having done such a terrific job on the dialogues, cliffhangers and time traveling. For approximately the next two weeks following, my nights were paced up by This Is Us and driven by my own hunger to find out: what on earth happened to the Pearson family?

From the very first episode, --- which features one of the most beautiful closing scene I've seen on television along Labi Siffre's song "Watch Me" --- up to the last episode of season 1, emotions would come to the surface, hitting a specific spot within me...

By episode 14 from season 2 it was clear, if not clear then, that the tissu box would be kept close by for the remaining time of the entire series.

Imagine some stranger dropping on you some hard facts about life, death, society issues, love, mental health... to sum it up: YOURSELF.

precisely, accurately and totally out of the blue. 😃

As the seasons went on, I was admiring how the flashbacks and foreshadowing started to merge all together into one. It would only get all the more brilliant with each new episode I was discovering.

The show succeeded in giving its audience a range of life observations to think about. Therapy-wise, if you couldn't afford a therapist, This Is Us was there for you. I still rely on and appreciate many of the thoughtful and life inspiring excerpts.

Moreover, it delivered the people with a brand new music playlist. Yes, another key element to all this greatness is the symbiosis between the storylines and the soundtrack. Hold my Spotify, to this day I still listen to the score in my bed, to meditate, to get dreamy. I've also come to discover wonderful artists and can hardly detach their songs from the show as it gave their melodies a new sense of clarity and depth.

When having finished the fifth season, I was desperate for more but afraid to google the show and potentially find out it had been canceled.... which is NOT what happened of course because we're talking about thee show that has garnered over 17 million views in less than 3 days for its trailer alone. alright lovelies?

And so just like that, comfortable in my bed and all up to date, the sixth and finale season of This Is Us was premiered in early 2022.

Only couple of months after having cried an ocean over its past seasons, -- if reminder was needed --, I emotionally began this last chapter of what felt in some parts like my own life portrayed on screen. ✨hopes were high - tissu box storage ran low.✨

Season 6 would open to a flashbacks filled episode echoing Season 1, already preparing us for closure and ultimately heartbreaks. Eventually some people were a bit disappointed by the simplicity of the final episode, but the last minute or so really brought it all up for me. It was ending, right there before our very eyes and it was beautifully executed. The ultimate disappointment would have been to not experience any shivers, but that never happened, the show always got in my feelings in one way or another.

The empty boxes of kleenex that I've been sitting on can testify, your honor.

Last but not least, an aspect of the show that I've truly enjoyed is that all characters and actors were given dedicated moments to shine.

The chemistry between them was real, felt and seen both on and off the big screen and that's precious. I miss this cast.

This year, just a few weeks away from my birthday, there'll be no new Jack Pearson butt to be seen, no mothering singing Rebecca, no anxious Randall, no queen Beth, no indecisive Kevin, no self sabotaging Kate and oh do I miss them all. But I am so grateful for the people behind this project and their creative genius that bought us such a magnificent television program. I had low expectations, it now holds a special place in my heart like no other tv series.

This Is Us did not just narrate a story about some random family, it narrated life authentically at its worst and finest. With poetry and grace, it presented different storylines for each and every single one of us to identify, it offered us our very own reflection, and an opportunity to change, learn, heal or grow. This is the reason why so many of us worldwide described it as close to home,

because This Is Us.

🎂 And a very happy (late) birthday to our boo Milo Ventimiglia (08/07/1977) 💘

[thisaintascenereviews]

Our Favorites Of The Year (So Far), Part One: April 2024

By Bradley Christensen & @jakeh2987

At the end of every year, I’m always amazed when peoples’ yearend lists come out, because it takes me awhile to fathom that it’s really the end of another year. Aside from Christmas, which is what most people associate with that time of year, I love “list season.” Publications of all kinds put out their yearend lists, and I just love seeing what people have been into the entire year. It feels like yesterday I was talking about my favorite media from the entire year, so I thought I’d “check-in” in the beginning, middle, and (obviously) the end of the year. I’m not doing this alone, however, because I thought I’d bring along my buddy Jake. We worked together on a yearend piece last year, too, and I thought it would be fun to work on something like this again, at least checking in periodically with each other and seeing what we’ve been into throughout the year, as well as how the year’s been going when it comes to media of all kinds. With that said, it’s good to have you back, Jake! It feels like deja vu, because it feels like we just did this, but I digress, how’s this year been treating you so far, Jake? How do you think this year has been in comparison to last year?

First of all, thank you for having me back to do this! I had a blast working on our year-end wrap up last year, so I jumped at the chance to do something similar. To answer your question, though, I feel like this year has been really stacked in terms of new releases in not only music, but a lot of different forms of media. Last year was incredible, for sure, but I feel like a lot of it was backloaded in the second half of 2023. This year, on the other hand, I felt like there’s been at least one or two new things to be excited about every week really since the start of the year, but especially so in the last couple of months. I had a look at my top 10 albums, and I think almost all of them have come out after the first week of March, which has been great. But, we’ll get to that later. For now, though, I say we take a look back at the broader picture for a second! Last year, we talk about how we often found ourselves falling back into old comforts, whether that be favorite artists, that TV show you’ve binged far too many times before, and so on. For the first bit of this year, I kinda feel like I’ve been a lot more open to discovering new things and stepping outside of my comfort zone, so I’m curious, how does it feel for you?

Last year definitely had a theme of listening to what I call “ol’ reliable” types of media. A lot of my favorite pieces of media were from old favorites, whether I was revisiting them again for the first time in awhile, or old favorites releasing new albums, movies, or shows that I could easily get into and gave me a nice sense of nostalgia. I would say that this year, at least so far, is a mixture of both being adventurous and discovering some new things and still revisiting some of those same “comfort foods,” so to speak. Looking at the big picture of how media has gone this year, it’s certainly been steady since March with at least one album per week that I’m listening to (almost my whole top ten is from the last couple of months as well), and we’ve been getting a steady stream of movies and shows that are worth watching and talking about. Speaking of which, let’s start with movies and TV, what have you been watching this year?

Okay, this is where I get to gush about the new Fallout show that just premiered on Amazon Prime Video a couple weeks ago. I’m not super familiar with the games, having only put a few hours into Fallout 4 way back in 2015, but when the first trailer for this show dropped, I knew I was gonna be in for this. I’m a sucker for a sci-fi/post apocalypse setting, and from what I do know from the games, there was gonna be a blend of dark humor/satire along with the high-stakes drama. I ended up watching the whole season in about a week, and I really loved it. The creative team behind the show did about the best thing you could do for a video game adaptation; it’s set within the universe and continuity of the games, but it’s a new story with new characters, so they were able to tell their own story while still nailing that Fallout vibe. Also, come on, Walton Goggins playing a post-apocalyptic cowboy bounty hunter, how can you not love that? But for real, this show was a blast, and I’m happy it’s already been renewed for a second season, because I can see this show being a great time for many years to come.

Aside from that, though, I did see the Mean Girls musical movie from earlier this year, and while I don’t think it was all that great (and I don’t necessarily love the original, either), it’s pretty clear why Renee Rapp is a rising star, she was great in it and can definitely sing. I’ve also been making my way through a super casual Criminal Minds rewatch, it’s been a long while since I’ve watched a lot of the early stuff, so I like having it on in the background while I do other things, but I still love this show a lot. How about you, though?

When it comes to TV and movies, I haven’t watched as much stuff as I’ve listened to music, but I’ve got a few things I’ve been watching. The second half of the second season of Invincible, also on Prime Video, premiered last month, and that was a lot of fun, especially after loving the first season a few years back. Animation has been on a roll this year, between that and X-Men ‘97, which has been a show that I’ve been eagerly watching every Wednesday. That show’s been an absolute blast, and despite being rooted in a show from the past, it doesn’t let the nostalgia overtake the show itself. I haven’t really been watching a lot of movies this year, surprisingly enough, but I need to catch up. I need to watch Fallout, though; I love dystopia and post-apocalyptic universes, so I need to sit down and watch that front to back. What about video games? I got a couple that I’ve played this year, not necessarily new but new to me; and that’s been a whole lot of fun.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth came out at the end of February (on the leap day, no less!), and I've been playing it basically non-stop since then. Rebirth is the second part of a trilogy of games that are remaking/reimagining the original Final Fantasy 7 from back in 1997, greatly expanding upon and making tweaks to various things that were in the original. This is also a game that adopts more of an open-ended structure, featuring several pretty big zones filled with a ton to do. As of writing this, I've put about 100 hours into it, and I'm just over 60% of the way through it. This is a game that''s so incredibly easy to get lost and immersed in for hours, and I think that comes down to three things. Firstly, your main party of characters is so enjoyable to be around; it really hammers home that feeling of being on a grand adventure with your friends, and even when you're doing a seemingly mundane open world activity, you still get little interactions with the characters that makes it worth it. Another factor for me is the combat. I said after the first part came out in 2020 that it had maybe my favorite combat in an RPG, I really loved the seamless blend of real time action and strategy with the ATB system. Rebirth's combat is essentially more of that, but the improvements and enhancements make this combat sing in a way that very few games ever have for me. Swapping between party members, using the new synergy abilities, and popping ATB abilities feels so seamless and flows super well. It's just a blast to play. Finally, I wanna give a shoutout to the minigames. I won't give all of them away, but there are so many different minigames to play, and this is where Rebirth gets to really lean into its silliness more often than not. Your main story can often be very dramatic and emotional, so I appreciate that these side activities are a way to provide a tonal balance and gameplay pacing. And aside from maybe one or two I admittedly wasn't a huge fan of, all of them were really fun to play (shoutout Queen's Blood in particular, I would buy a standalone version of that in a heartbeat). Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the music. It's incredible, and even when you're walking around in the open areas, you get hit with yet another really cool music piece, and that's before you even get to the big set pieces or boss fights, which also rule. I could just gush about this thing forever, really, but I'll top this off by saying it's been a really special experience and I'm so excited to see where it ends up. How about you, though? Have you been playing anything in particular?

Man, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth sounds great! I always love when a piece of media, whether it’s a game, movie, or album, can really suck you into its story or sound. I can’t say I’ve played any new games, but I got a couple things I’ve been playing so far this year. I spent the last few months playing Mafia III, especially after seeing it was on sale for the first time in awhile, and I absolutely love the first two games. Now those are games that you can get lost in, especially its story, world, and atmosphere, but I’d say the third in this trilogy is the best. Instead of taking place the 1930s or 1940s, like the first two games, the third one takes place in the 1960s, let alone in a New Orleans-type of city with different “districts” that are composed of different kinds of people. This game also tackles issues like racism and PTSD, especially where the main character is Black and a Vietnam veteran. It’s got some hard hitting and still relevant themes, despite coming out in 2016, but it’s still relevant today. The game does have a couple downsides, such as the combat and side missions between story missions being repetitive (despite still a lot of fun), but it’s the story, characters, and the world itself that really draws you in. The music is also a big part of this game, as it features a lot of 50s and 60s blues, rock, soul, pop, and lots of different songs that you can listen to on any car’s radio, and the songs really bring everything to life. It’s a wonderful game, and it’s the best of the three, hands down.

As for the other game, thanks to the new Fallout show coming out, I decided to download Fallout 4 on the PlayStation Store, because it was only $4.99, and I’ve been playing it for a few days now! It’s a lot of fun, despite how I’m still getting used to its world and mechanics. I’ve always been curious about Fallout’s story and lore, but never knew where to start. There’s so many games and lore to sink your teeth into, but that’s what makes the show so good — it’s its own story, like you said, so you don’t need to know everything about the games. The show eases you into it, but if you enjoy post-apocalyptic stories with retro futuristism aesthetics, along with a killer soundtrack (that I enjoy, thanks to my niche taste of 30s, 40s, and 50s music), you should get really into it. The game itself is cool, too, and it also eases you into the story, especially if this is your first go-around. I’m excited to play more, since I haven’t had anything I’ve really dedicated my time to after finishing Mafia III.

With all of that said, let’s get to our main event — 2024 in music. We discussed this a bit earlier, at least our overall first impressions, but this year has been off to the races when it comes to new music. I swear that almost every week since the start of the year, there’s been something new to listen to, but a lot of my favorite albums this year have been from March and April. Let’s not beat around the bush anymore, though. What are your favorites of the year so far? Hell, what are some albums that have been resonating with you this year? They don’t even need to be new, but stuff that you’ve found that you’ve just been into this year, regardless of when it came out.

Both Mafia III and Fallout 4 are games I wanna revisit sometimes, for a lot of the reasons you've said. I do remember Mafia III getting a bit of criticism for its repettitive open world structure and missions, but I loved what I played of it for the setting and characters and how it tackled heavier subject matters in a game like this. And I did redownload Fallout 4 as well, I played a few hours of it when it first released in 2015, but the show has made me wanna give it another go, though at this point I'll probably end up starting a new save.

Anyways, yes, let's get to the main event, our favorite music! I feel like since we both have the same number one, at least I think we do, let's save that for last, but for now, I'm gonna highlight a few from my top 10, in no real order (at least not for the purposes of this piece, I do have a proper list for myself). First, an interesting thing I noticed about my list is how a few of these are from bands/artists you recommended to it. Cory Wells' Harbouring the Hurt I Cause is a really good acoustic/emo album that I had never heard of before you suggested it, and that new Fluorescents album that just dropped, Scream It At Me! gives me such great mid/late 2000s neon pop-punk/pop-rock vibes but with a modern polish to it. You also turned me back on to Neck Deep; their self-titled album is just a really damn solid pop-punk album from a band I admittedly kinda wrote off in recent years.

Secondly, I wanna talk about two final releases from two of my favorite bands, but they're final releases for very different reasons. Sum 41 are pop-punk legends at this point, and sometime last year, they announced that after their new album and some extensive touring, they were calling it quits. It's always nice that when a band does break up, they do so on their own terms and while going out on top. I really had a lot of fun with their final (double) album Heaven x Hell, it felt like a love letter to the band and everything they do well, and I'm happy they were able to go out with that. On the other hand, though, we have Too Close to Touch's For Keeps, and this one is very bittersweet. Vocalist Keaton Pierce passed away unexpectedly in March 2022, and many fans like myself weren't sure we were ever gonna hear from the band again. So, it was a very welcome surprise when they announced a final collection of songs, but it was also a little bittersweet that they decided to call it quits, although it was for a very understandable reason. For Keeps, I think, turned out as well as it could have, and is a very solid sendoff for a vocalist and a band who were so close to taking that next step.

Outside of this year, I did wanna highlight Linkin Park's recently-released greatest hits album, called Papercuts. It's a very nice little collection of songs from their career, and it's been a lot of fun revisiting my first favorite band.

Okay, now I'm gonna throw it back to you, what's some music that you've really been resonating with so far this year?

Yeah, Mafia III got some criticism for the repetitive open world structure and the missions being pretty much copy and paste, such as killing certain enforcers, and interrogating informants, but it’s still a lot of fun every time you get to unleash carnage on an unsuspecting group of bad guys (or are they, because this game does tackle how the main character might not be as good as he thinks he is, and that’s a real interesting idea). I got through a bit of Fallout 4 already, though, and despite a rather annoying combat system that I still need to master, I enjoy it a lot. It’s pretty cool, especially with its story and the lore that the game has already built up for itself.

As for the main event, we can save that specific album for later, but I have a feeling I know what it is, too, and it’s a doozy, that’s for sure. I figured we could highlight stuff from our top tens, really in no particular order, but that’s really neat! I always love recommending stuff, but if I hear something that I think you’d like, I always throw it your way, even if it’s not something I’m as into. Anyhow, my top ten is mainly from bands and artists I’ve already been a fan of, and with the exception of Fluorescents’ debut, Scream It At Me, it’s all stuff that I’ve both heard of but haven’t listened to in awhile. A few of my favorites, in no particular order as well, are Neck Deep’s self-titled and Fluorescents’ Scream It At Me, especially for really wanting some catchy pop-punk at this time of year. Neck Deep’s new one came out in the beginning of the year, but it just hits differently now, and it’s really grown on me. I’ve also been enjoying a handful of metalcore albums, including two that just came out last week. The new Ghost Inside and SeeYouSpaceCowboy albums, respectively titled Searching For Solace and Coup De Grace, are a couple of metalcore albums that really hit what I’ve been looking for, especially really catchy and hard hitting stuff. The new Justin Timberlake album, Everything I Thought It Was, is another album that I’ve been playing a lot this year, and it’s a solid little comeback album for him.

A couple of albums on my list, too, aren’t from bands who released their last albums, although those two albums you mentioned were pretty good, but they’re from artists I never expected to really love a new album from. Thrice frontman Dustin Kensrue dropped a country album, entitled Desert Dreaming, and it’s a wonderful throwback country album that sounds like it came out of the 1960s and 1970s. Augustana, and indie-pop / folk-pop band, also dropped their first album in a decade, called Something Beautiful, and it really hit me, especially for being so catchy. Lil Dicky also dropped a new album this year, his first in almost a decade and I wasn’t expecting to enjoy that as much as I did. I also binged his show, Dave, that has been on for the last few years and it’s a pretty funny show, and I forgot to mention that earlier, but the album, Penith, is supposed to be the “soundtrack” to the show.

Now when it comes to music this year that I’ve been that isn’t new, I got a couple of things, such as getting into the last Hot Mulligan albums after seeing them live with Fall Out Boy a couple months back. I also have spent some time with the last couple of James And The Shame records. That’s the brainchild of Rhett McLaughlin, most famously known from YouTube duo Rhett & Link, but it’s a retro-style country project that has a lot of themes about religion and his overall deconstruction from the church, and it’s very interesting stuff. I’d like to check out that Linkin Park greatest hits, though; they’re a band I feel like hits better with their greatest hits, although their first two albums are really cool still.

There is one album that we haven’t talked about yet that we’ve alluded to, because it’s both our current favorite album this year, so would you like to introduce it?

You know, this is actually kind of a funny full cirlce thing, because Bayside was another band you originally introduced me to, I wanna say about a decade ago, around the time Cult was coming out. I really enjoyed that album, but their next album, 2016''s Vacancy, was what really won me over and made me a huge fan of theirs. So, naturally, you could say that their new album, There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive, being my number one album of the year so far is a bit of a no-brainer, but I really do think this is one of Bayside's best albums, and it really showcases the band at their peak and what they do best, whether it be guitarist Jack O'Shea really letting it rip with some killer guitar parts and solos, Anthony Raneri's ability to paint a picture and tell a story with his lyrics, or the band's penchant for memorable hooks. It's all there in full force on this album, but what I will say, is that if you really think about it, it's not really all that different than what they've been doing. So, I wanna turn it back to you and ask, what was it about thsi album in particular that really clicked and led it to also being your favorite album so far this year?

Bayside is a band that I’ve got a lot of nostalgia for, because I found them on a 2007 Alternative Press compilation. It was an acoustic version of “Dear Your Holiness,” and I really loved it, I picked up 2007’s The Walking Wounded and immediately fell in love with it. It’s still one of my favorite albums today, especially for its great hooks, awesome guitarwork that was really heavy for a pop-punk album, and very poignant lyrics that still hold up today. I have enjoyed their subsequent records, but Bayside ended up becoming a band whose albums all sound the same to me.

Despite how good they are, especially 2016’s Vacancy, you know what you’re getting with an album from them, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on where you stand with them. Aside from The Walking Wounded, nothing else they’ve done since has really blown me away as much as that album. I was somewhat eagerly awaiting There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive, especially because it’s been five years since their last album came out, but what really surprised me was how this album feels oddly refreshing compared to their last couple. Not that they were bad, or even bland, but this album reminds me a lot of The Walking Wounded.

Like you said, this album is a classic Bayside album on the surface, but they prove that they can tweak their formula a bit and make it really interesting. This album is both the heaviest and catchiest I’ve heard Bayside in a long time; their hooks are sticky sweet this time around, but their guitar riffs are some of the thrashiest and most heavy metal-ish that I’ve heard from them. Raneri’s lyrics are also some of the best I’ve heard in awhile, too, and a lot of this album gets lodged in my head for the best reasons. I bet it was a shock to you, especially as someone that hasn’t been crazy about their last few albums, that I was over the moon for this album when it came out, huh?

I was definitely pleasantly surprised when you said you were loving this album as much as you do, but at the same time, especially after hearing you talk about it more, I do kinda get why this one maybe hooked you more than they have the past few albums. Sometimes all it takes is some tweaks/refreshes to the formula, and sometimes, something will just hit you in the right place at the right time, even if maybe it normally wouldn't as much otherwise. But, I love that we both have this at number one; thinking back on years past, I think this has only happened a handful of times, most likely with Fall Out Boy, since they're another band we both love.

It's really hard to believe we're already a quarter of the way through this year already, isn't it? I'm glad we got together to do this again, though, it's been a blast looking back on all of it so far, and I really can't wait for what's still to come.

I really was surprised to love this new album as much as I did, but you’re right, sometimes all it takes is a tweak to the formula to really hit you at the right time. I think by having a catchier and heavier sound, the album was able to hit me harder because it reminded me of when I first listened to them all those years ago. It just hits in the right way, but I truly love it. Not many albums this year have really hit me in that way, but this record is their best in a long time. It’s really hard to believe we’re almost a quarter done, though, so much good stuff has come out and so much is going to come out in the next eight months. It’s been an absolute blast doing this with you again, but before we close this out, what are some albums you’re looking forward to, whether they have a confirmed release date or not?

Just today, as we're writing this, The Home Team announced their third album, called The Crucible of Life, is coming out on July 12th, and I know that album is gonna be amazing. They're really about to be the next big thing, and I can't wiat. The other big one for me is The Early November, whose self-titled album is coming out June 14th. They're a band sorta like Bayside, in that they have a pretty storied legacy in the scene and have still been at it, putting out great music for over 20 years now.

Got anything on your radar coming up?

No way, they finally announced their new album? I hadn’t seen it yet, so that’s awesome. I can’t wait for that, so that’s easily a most anticipated. I’d say that off the top of my head, the upcoming Knocked Loose is my most anticipated, and that comes in a couple weeks on May 10th. Those guys are currently one of the biggest heavy bands in the scene, and their last album was easily my favorite of 2019, so I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. It’s gonna be a good rest of the year, for sure, and I can’t wait to do this again with you. I hopefully plan on doing this again here in another three or four months, and then at the end of the year, but it’s been a lot of fun being able to work on another one of these pieces with you, so thanks for being able to indulge me on what we’ve been into this year so far!

Yeah, this has been so much fun, so thank you for having me! I'm looking forward to meeting up for this again, as I'm sure we'll have plenty more to talk about.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 9 "A Place of Particular Concern"

Happy start of a new Volume, everyone! 🎉

Shaving off a little more than a month, it’s been two years since I was writing a RWBY Recap. Is that long enough to count as nostalgic? Definitely long enough to inspire a minor existential crisis on the passage of time, so how about we just collectively pretend it’s still 2013, yeah?

Of course, that would mean we were watching RWBY on YouTube and RT’s website, not... Crunchyroll. Listen, I’ll be real with you all and admit I know incredibly little about the site’s sketchy history which, from what I’ve gleaned lately, has led to a number of RWBY fans boycotting its use. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. However, I noted the two week free trial and decided to give that a go first, if only to make my life a little easier for the premiere. I’d planned to either shell out the 24-ish dollars necessary to watch the other eight episodes - which, honestly, isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, especially if we factor in my Starbucks addiction... - or don my parrot and eye-patch once I hit that two week mark.

So there was a plan!

This plan was a mistake.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that writing, “Wow, Crunchyroll’s website doesn’t work very well, does it?” maybe isn’t news to anyone else? I read that the new episode was supposed to drop at 9:30am. I then tried unsuccessfully to get it to load through 4:00pm. During this, while trying various avenues in the hopes of getting this video started, I noticed a Google link with a four hour timestamp, which would have put the release at around 11:00 my time, closer to what we’re used to.

Regardless of when it actually dropped, I was finally able to start watching at around 4:00pm. By which I mean I watched the first 17 seconds of the episode. Then it froze. I made it to the minute mark using a different browser. Then it froze again. I let things sit for a while and finally restarted my original vid, completing the episode without any additional problems, but by then I was more than a little frustrated.

Was it my internet? Crunchyroll? The will of the RWBY gods who don’t want me critiquing the hell out of this episode? Who can say, but I think I’ll be hoisting the flag sooner than intended.

“This is the story of a girl who had a lot of problems.”

If you’re thinking that this line sounds at all familiar, it’s because we’ve heard it before. Actually, the entirety of the first seven minutes is made up of our promo clips which, in a fourteen minute episode without opening and credits, is a lot. RWBY has been gone (in its canon state, anyway) for two years. I can’t speak for anyone else, but my impression of the Ruby PoV clip was that it was purely promotional material, not the start of our far-off Volume. So it was more than a little disappointing to finally get my hands on new content only to realize that half of it wasn’t new at all. We’d already seen it, discussed it, dissected it weeks, or even months ago. Combined with how much of our starter material was in our trailer (two emotional shots of Ruby I’ll be unpacking later) and how much the fandom was able to easily infer (Weiss and Blake are captured while trying to retrieve her weapon) it almost didn’t feel like a RWBY premiere at all. There is, almost literally, nothing new for the fandom to sink their teeth into. We knew they were in this Ever After place, we knew the basic plot of the first couple of episodes, we’ve seen glimpses of all the side characters... I’d actually argue that there’s more to analyze in the opening than the totality of our first episode.

Not that that's going to stop me from writing a shit ton about it, you know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

None of which bodes well and, frankly, this episode is enough of a mess that I can’t even take solace in RT executing the repetition well. Thus, I’m going to move fairly quickly (for me lol) through the first half of the episode, if only because I’ve already given my thoughts on it in other posts. So to recap within the recap:

Yang’s fall into the void and the ways in which this moment differs from the original animation is still a sore spot for me, especially given how the characters react (or rather, don’t) to finding her alive. While I commend RT for trying something different by giving us Ruby’s PoV, Lindsay’s acting grates here and the constant whimpers/gasps just highlight how much Ruby didn’t emote in the original version of the scene. Likewise, the halo of white around Ruby’s vision prior to falling proves that the writers were very aware of her silver eyes in that moment, yet inexplicably decided not to use them. As we’re seeing more and more lately, characters loose all their powers and strategic thinking the moment something needs to happen for the plot. Why craft a legitimate failure for the heroes when you could simply have them forget that their longest-running villain is in the city with them, or have Yang repeat a major mistake she’s supposedly outgrown, or have Ruby not use the one, unique ability that would save her from certain death?

As said, we know this old tune.

A detail I don't think I picked up on the first time around though is that Ruby is reaching desperately for Blake when they fall... and Blake just isn’t paying her any mind lol.

I mean I get it. Of course she’d be looking towards the villains/the bridges that represent safety, but given the non-relationship between Ruby and Blake, it struck me as funny that even when they’re “dying” together Blake barely seems to register Ruby’s presence. ‘I really look up to you!’ Yeah. Sure you do.

Ruby floats through the orange orbs of the void and, given that they show up in our opening, I hope we receive an explanation for what they are exactly. Perhaps the souls of other people who have fallen? Idk, I'm reaching. Neo shows up and fights in various disguises, blah blah blah. Ruby wakes on the beach to someone calling her name.

I feel like I asked this the first time around, but is anyone confident on whose voice that is? It almost sounds like Ruby’s own to me - perhaps heralding the split we saw in the trailer - but it could also be a repeat of Yang’s when she saved her? Honestly though, that second option feels too emotionally nuanced for what we got in the rest of this episode.

Right now, I’m inclined to ignore the voice until something actually comes of it. RWBY history has taught me that such minor mysteries may not last past the twenty minute mark.

As we saw in the released clip, we're immediately given some details of this strange land, including giant flora and twin suns. That’s... pretty tame. I’m of the opinion that if you’re going to do an Alice in Wonderland-inspired story, you’ve got two routes you can follow. The first (and for more satisfying option, I think) is to study the ways in which the original story functioned as a metaphor for the life of a child navigating an adult world and, similarly, use the weirdness of this land to impart some message. The second option (far easier, but still entertaining) is to really lean into the oddities, captivating your audience through the sheer WTF-ness of what you’ve put on screen, even if the strangeness isn’t actually representative of anything other than a "Well damn, that was weird" reaction.

Sadly, RWBY’s “A Place of Particular Concern” doesn’t seem to be achieving either. I mentioned when the trailer dropped that I don’t trust the story to say anything meaningful via its environments, but nor are the environments spectacular enough to engage us through novelty alone. Don’t get me wrong, I think the animators have achieved an impressive feat here, especially given the constraints and terrible working conditions we know they’ve faced before, but the oddness of the Ever After is mediocre at best. Oh look, small things like shells are now big. Real birds like the Dodo now come in flashier colors. A mouse talks!

...in a story where a main character is a cat girl.

Just like RWBY failed to distinguish how magic was different - and, ultimately, more shocking - than semblances, it’s now failing to inspire that sense of awe when our characters already hail from a pretty odd world. Sure, this is a different kind of odd, but the switch lacks any real punch. Compare RWBY’s Remnant/Ever After to Alice’s Normal World/Wonderland. She doesn’t have things like faunus and grimm, so something as relatively simple as a cat smiling unnerves her (and the reader). She doesn’t just see a slightly off bird, she finds out you now use them to play croquet. And she’s at the center of every oddity, experiencing these changes first-hand. Ruby sees a giant shell for a single shot. Alice becomes a giant and deals with the social horror of filling up someone’s house. I knew this was going to be a problem back when our clip dropped because despite being a separate realm supposedly governed by its own rules, we’ve still got a mouse terrified of cats. There’s this implication that the Ever After is oh so strange and horrifyingly unfamiliar... but then we immediately turn around and learn, no wait, most of what Ruby is encountering is familiar. At least enough to get by.

Ruby: “I should have known! I’ve seen plenty of cartoons!”

Volume 9 is playing it super safe with the Wonderland references and it’s really disheartening. If RWBY doesn’t have anything to say via this weirdness, I would have at least liked to see something truly weird.

To get back to the plot, Ruby immediately starts walking into the jungle and I - true story - groaned at the screen. Despite knowing it was coming! Because how can you have a character go through everything Ruby just did and not provide some reflection on it? This girl wakes up in a fantasy world after The Most Traumatic Fight Ever and waltzes off like an automaton following a coded directive. Where’s the shocked examination of her surroundings? Where’s the horrified, “Where am I? Did I die?” questioning? Where’s the post-fight panic where she desperately shouts for her teammates, begging someone to answer her? I literally can’t think of another instance in which a character goes through that much and then, literally, walks it off.

Later in the episode Ruby will inform Weiss and Blake that she spotted an overhang on the cliff and decided to try and get up there so she could survey her surroundings. It sure would have been nice to know about that while she was wandering. During the actual act of her travel I had no idea what Ruby was trying to accomplish other than, in true RWBY fashion, what I assumed was her most logical goal(s) - like finding her teammates. The kicker is that there are a ton of easy ways to keep the viewer informed despite lacking voice-overs. Let Ruby talk to herself as a way to self-sooth. Or use Little as a sounding board (why else is this mouse even here...) Show us a shot of Ruby spotting her target, taking a deep, fortifying breath, and going, “Okay... you can do this. Just make it to the cliff. One step at a time," a goal that’s ruined once her steps start going in circles. You can add a bit of character work by having Ruby remember Tai and Qrow’s training: always get a sense of your surroundings first. You can setup Ruby’s (presumably) Volume-long depression by having her just lie in the sand for a while, the suns passing overhead, staring at them listlessly, only moving when the surf starts hitting her mouth. Hell, is anyone even carrying their scrolls anymore? I don’t care how unlikely it is that it’ll work here, the first thing Ruby should do is whip that out and try to call her teammates.

Watching this moment in the context of the whole episode made it that much worse for me. It’s just so glaring how rushed this entire premiere was, with every logical reaction - to say nothing of the emotional beats necessary after that finale - getting brushed aside so that the team can get back together in under fifteen minutes. We’ve only got ten episodes, Ruby, so hurry it up. Go on, girl, give us nothing!

So we know the rest of this silliness, yeah? There’s the implication that a small amount of time has passed, an annoying dodo bird that must have been animated in later because Ruby doesn’t react to that either, a circular path of the jungle, and the soon to be named Little watching all this from a rock.

I want to emphasize that our first tonal emphasis here is humor. Having Ruby continually ending up in the same place, growing frustrated with cutsey voice acting, and the quick cuts of Little in various poses all function as lighthearted amusement for the audience... which is really fucking weird in a Volume following up on the trauma of last season. This is going to be an ongoing problem for the entirety of the episode and severely undermines the reveal that Penny has died (again). This is the exact thing RWDE folks have been worried about for literal years now, from the moment we realized we were getting a Wonderland-type world. I have little doubt that the fandom is right in saying that the rest of the Volume will likely get much darker than this (it almost always does nowadays), but that doesn’t matter because the damage has already been done. RWBY cannot continually flip-flop like this and expect its viewers to still buy into the serious moments. So many of us have lost faith in the writers’ abilities to treat these subjects respectfully and segueing from the (supposedly) fascist storyline that ends in horrific tragedy straight into, “What a whacky world, am I right? 🤪” is a damn good way to continually alienate viewers who want an emotional connection with this show.

Every time this criticism comes up there are other RWBY fans pushing back with the claim that a show - especially one that began so lighthearted and silly - simply can’t just be doom and gloom all the time. And you know what? They’re absolutely right. However, there are numerous ways to infuse comedy into your story without outright undermining the primary tone. Given that I’m reading it at the moment, I’d like to briefly use Kim Carnby’s Sweet Home as an example.

For those who are unaware, Sweet Home is a webtoon turned Netflix series that follows 18 year old Cha Hyun-soo after both his parents and sister die in a car accident. Given that he’s technically an adult, but without much financial support and already grappling with a deep depression, he moves into a rundown apartment complex and schedules his own suicide. Before he can go through with it though, a virus sweeps through the world, turning people into various kinds of monsters. These monsters - entertainingly creative - are modeled after whatever the infected person’s greatest desire is at the time of their turning, resulting in some benign beings... but much more hungry, violent, terrifying beasts. Thus, the story is centered around Cha Hyun-soo’s attempts to survive, the horrors found in his apartment complex, and the question of why he’s trying so hard to live when he’d already planned to die.

It’s dark, is what I’m getting at.

It also has moments like this:

And just a little while later:

Here, a generational divide infuses some much needed comedy into the story without detracting from the world’s overall tone (note too that Cha Hyun-soo remains looking stressed and anxious the whole time). It would be a problem if our depressed, terrified teenage suddenly started jumping like he’s having the time of his life (Weiss). It would be a problem if the entire first volume, which is meant to highlight the horror of this situation, was constantly peppered with lame jokes involving cutesy animals (the mice). If you’re going to add comedy, keep it subtle, relatable, and in this case bound to the characters’ internal monologue. By having them each compliment the other with age-appropriate comparisons that cause confusion, but without verbally acknowledging that confusion, the humor exists purely for the audience’s sake. The characters aren’t supposed to be laughing it up right now... so they don’t. The humor is for the reader alone, recognizing the miscommunication and enjoying it as an element separate from the dark tone of the characters’ world. Because this is the vibe of the scene directly before:

RWBY fails at this division. A lot. Like, that failure makes up the majority of this episode.

You know what? It’s easier to just keep a count going.

Little’s introduction is Ill-suited Comedy Example #1.

All of which means that when Ruby starts crying - and by that I mean a few sniffles and a single tear track - I have no investment in the moment. Even if the animation were close to what I’d expect after such a tragedy, its impact is obliterated by the, “Look! Cute mouse!” immediately proceeding and following it.

Also, love how Little has never seen a human before, is watching Ruby intently during this entire process... yet makes no effort to engage with her. I suppose I get it given the emphasis on how scared the mice are of predators, but from a character perspective it leaves something to be desired. In regards to Ruby not (yet) utilizing Little as a means of expressing her thoughts to the audience, our first Ever After character is just kinda... there. Ruby stumbles across them. (BTW, is they/them what the fandom is using for our first non-binary rep?) They only speak because they feel obligated to help Ruby after she retrieves the cheese. They come on this adventure because, by their own admission, they simply have nothing better to do. What’s the point of Little again? How are they serving the story? They don’t even lead Ruby to Blake and Weiss - she stumbles across them on her own while Little sleeps. In fact, it’s already a running gag that Little naps instead of doing anything useful. I wouldn’t care so much if RWBY weren’t already a show suffering from character bloat and an inability to manage that (because the former isn’t necessarily a problem on its own). Now that we’ve finally got the girls alone(-ish) and primed for some character development, I don’t want to squander it on stupid mouse jokes.

Given which: Little’s ‘Gimme The Cheese’ dance + accompanying sounds effects is Ill-Suited Comedy Example #2.

I mentioned the first time around that I am weak for a cute, animal companion. That remains true. Unfortunately, Little’s cuteness is only carrying them so far with me. Their negative impact on the narrative as a whole is, thus far, simply too much to fix with grabby motions and snot bubbles.

They ask the thematic, “What are you?” question and introduce a number of other theoretical ideas that, frankly, I doubt the Volume will capitalize on. Is your name your purpose? (Like Huntress Ruby Rose.) How does one "Little"? The team is “similar, but different.” Until the Volume actually does something with these questions, I’m inclined to read them as simple ‘nonsense’ language included to try and emulate Carroll’s style.

With Little planning to show Ruby her village (but doesn't actually succeed in that), we cut to Weiss and Blake traversing the jungle together. How did they find one another? No idea. Why did they find one another when Blake fell with Ruby? No idea. The story tries to bypass this by, as expected, leaning into the illogical nature of the world. If they somehow found each other, then they might be able to likewise find Blake’s weapon, despite the fact that it fell long after her. Honestly, this feels more like a very convenient plot device than an interesting characteristic of this world. Things happen so randomly here! Funny how that randomness seems to solely benefit the heroes.

Sidenote: I really like that Weiss says “Gambol Shroud” because the weapon names have felt only semi-canon for a very long time. Other than Ruby referring to Crescent Rose back in the first couple episodes, have we heard the names at all? I can’t recall off the top of my head, but regardless this makes for a nice moment between Weiss and Blake. It’s a small thing, but it helps sell the idea that they do actually know one another well.

The rest of the scene is... passable. Weiss has a “Blake... I’m really glad you’re okay” line and gets a “I’m really glad you are too” in response. This is one of those cases where I think fiction needs to deviate sharply from reality. Irl that’s probably exactly the kind of awkward, rushed line I’d give a close friend because I myself am awkward and struggle to verbalize my care for others (gift giving ftw!). But in fiction an exchange like that just comes across as wooden. “I’m really glad you’re okay,” says the girl who thought this friend had died and for real saw another friend get killed by a third like, an hour ago. Wow, what a reaction! This is also a case of RWBY’s animation acting as a constraint. As said earlier, I think the animators are doing the best they can under the circumstances, but better writing, time, and funds would likely lend itself to a more expressive reunion for all the girls. It also highlights how convenient the time-skip is. You can easily argue that these two cried and hugged and went through their Face Journeys when they first found one another. No need to rehash that though because it already happened off screen!

All of this is made worse for me by the fact that Blake says that if they’re fine, the others “might” be okay too. Might! That’s a loaded word choice with absolutely no follow up. Remember, this is the girl who was beside herself with anger and grief when Yang “died.” So glad to see that emotion carried over into the next Volume. I mean hell, give me a Blake who’s screaming at Weiss to just ditch her weapon. Why are they bothering with that when Yang is still missing?? Screw vines and mice, I’m going to go find my partner!

If only.

Everything in this episode just rings so hollow to me. I mean, I expected that given RWBY’s track record, but this is a severe failure to me given the intensity of Volume 8. From Penny's death to destroying a Kingdom, the fate of their friends to lost Relics, we needed a stellar start to this emotional journey and we simply didn’t get it.

That includes Weiss dodging the question of what happened after Blake fell. I really enjoyed this on the surface, just not - as is so often the case - in the context of RWBY as a whole. Because what is Weiss doing here except keeping another secret? In her defense, it doesn’t last long and there’s a case to be made about how difficult it is to discuss such things, especially after they just happened, so as said, I think that’s a compelling situation to put her in. It’s just one that also happens to poke at a RWDE sore spot because we had such a strong anti-secret rhetoric for three Volumes. Thanks to that arc, my initial reaction is not, “Poor Weiss. Grappling with this traumatic event.” It’s “See, Weiss? See how hard it is to discuss something horrific that you went through? But oh, you and the others had no sympathy for Ozpin in that regard, so just get over it and spill the crucial information already. Snap, snap, keeping Blake informed is more important than your mental health.”

All of which isn’t even touching on how she explains the situation... but we’ll get to that.

So they have this exchange that’s passable in many regards and fails largely due to the problems RWBY has carried with it for years now. They stumble across Gambol Shroud and proceed to spend a while trying to cut the vines/reach it from a nearby tree. This is how Weiss cheers Blake on.

Weiss: “Yah! Woo!”

Example #3, folks.

Weiss’ completely inappropriate cheer-leading aside, the entire time I’m going, “How is this in any way a problem?” I know Blake has become the useless fighter who can’t take out a single grimm without Ruby’s help, and Weiss has forgotten everything except her summoning, but has the audience forgotten how these girls used to fight? Anyone recall this moment from their very first battle?

Oh no, a giant pile of vines! However will we get past this obstacle?😱

I don’t know, maybe just... jump? Or you could get a little more creative by summoning a clone and doing a cool person-tower move to reach the top? That’s definitely not me pulling from my love of Yu Yu Hakusho or anything.

TEAMWORK, BABY!

My point is that moments like this fall flat precisely because RWBY has spent so much time showing us the group’s extreme abilities. Remember that scenes like the Ace Ops fight hinge on their presumed excellence. This is a group that beat the best team in Atlas! But now they can’t even bypass a pile of vines? The downside of giving your characters great power is that you then have to continually come up with ways for them to still face challenging conflict. Some shows handle this rather badly (like Castiel not just blowing up every demon/mortal that opposes them) and some shows handle it rather well (we establish early on that despite technically having the power to get the crew out of sticky situations, Star Trek’s transporter is prone to glitches and interference from the weather). Basically, you can’t go, “These girls are brimming with power because that looks awesome in a fight! But oh, now they can’t use that power because... uh... because that would interfere with our lame gag?” There has to be a reason. And this is far from the first time RWBY has conveniently forgotten the characters’ abilities. I still cringe at Ruby hanging off the cliff during the Cordovin battle. It’s meant to be a dramatic moment wherein she faces great danger from a fall, but they tried to give that to the girl who can fly.

So this is just incredibly stupid to me. Bad enough that we have gags following the intensity of Volume 8, but RWBY hasn’t even put in the effort to make them good gags. This episode honestly feels like RWBY satire to me, more akin to a Chibi episode, or a YouTuber poking fun, than the content fans waited two years for.

Right as Blake reaches her weapon they learn that the vines were a trap and they move, ensnaring both girls. We knew that was going to occur from the trailer and I thought that this was just another aspect of the Ever After. The vegetation (a bit like Alice’s flowers) is alive, sentient, capable of helping or hurting you. That’s pretty cool and, as I mentioned in regards to the environment responding to Ruby’s emotions, could be utilized in fantastic ways for combat.

However, this isn’t actually the case. Apparently the mice have sprung this trap because... Blake is a cat?

Wait.

So let me get this straight. This village of mice - who have never seen a human before, but have definitely seen cats - assume that Blake is exactly the same because she has cat ears. Then they found her weapon before her, somehow realize it is her weapon (even though Blake has yet to even stand next to it within the Ever After), and set an elaborate trap so that they can be the “hunters” for once, instead of the prey. Blake happens to come along with another human, but who cares? Capture her too! What are they going to do with them then?

Uh... the only thing we know about these mice is that they spend the majority of their time foraging for food and they struggle greatly to get the cheese out of the ground, and this would certainly be a way to both feed the village and eliminate a presumed enemy, so...

You know what? Never mind. I’m not going there lol.

This is stupid and illogical, but not in a wacky Wonderland way. Also, anyone else a little uncomfortable with the mice calling her a cat and Blake just going with it? Is that the stance we’re going with after eight seasons of a civil rights movement? That a faunus girl and an animal are fundamentally interchangeable?😬

They could have used this moment to let Blake explain her identity to someone coming from a place of well-meaning ignorance but noooo, why would we have an interesting conversation with the mice when they can just cheer about cheese instead? “She pulled the cheese out of the ground ON HER OWN!” Little cries, causing another mouse to faint in shock.

Example #4

While all this is going on Ruby shows up because remember, the premiere is trying to get the group back together as quickly as humanly possible. Or magically possible, in this case. We get Ruby asking if Little is drooling on her - “Yuck” - before spotting the village of mice about to do presumably unspeakable things to her teammates. Remember the shot from the trailer where Ruby looks properly horrified and I wondered what could possibly be causing that reaction? Yeah. It’s just this.

Example #5. Sigh.

If you were hoping for a proper reunion between these three, keep hoping. We segue immediately into a practical explanation where Ruby explains, about five minutes too late, what she was trying to accomplish while wandering around the jungle. Little has her freak-out about Blake, explains Ruby’s magic cheese gathering skills to the others, and then decides to tag along to find Yang because, and I quote, “I don’t have anything to do yet.” For a hot second I thought this was going to lead into more information about mouse culture. You know, how Little has already admitted that they don’t have a name, how they equate names with a purpose, and therefore if they have nothing to do in their village yet because they’re so young, they’ll find a purpose by traveling with these humans. We might have even put off Little’s naming to this moment, having them or one of the girls come up with something appropriate to the task ahead: something like Guide, or even Friend (of Humans).

But no, apparently Little is tagging along just because they literally have nothing better to do? In the sense that they’re bored and why the hell not? It’s not exactly a compelling reason and, given that they’ve yet to provide any actual assistance to the girls, I’m continually questioning their place in the story. This is what critics mean when they say that time is wasted with Volume-specific side characters when we could be doing more, better work with the core team.

Case in point: Little says that they’ll be “your trusty guide!” and then the joke is that they’re immediately asleep again once the girls set out.

#6!

I do like the following scene though. As the trio follows a path that they’ve found, Weiss walks ahead with her back (obviously) facing Blake and Ruby. When Ruby likewise questions what happened after they fell, there’s this long pause where Weiss considers how to respond, not turning around. It’s a powerful little detail, refusing to show us, or the girls, her face. It leaves her expression up to interpretation while maintaining the impression that she’s hiding from her teammates, due to not knowing how to address their failure. Her insistence on finding Yang first just highlights that avoidance. Really, I think this moment works quite well and I wish the whole episode had been treated this seriously.

Just as Ruby is about to press the issue they hear a roar from nearby. Following it, they discover a creature that fans have already dubbed RWBY’s version of the Jabberwocky.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Bewared the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

Kudos to RWBY for trying here. It’s no secret that I think one of the best grimm lately have been The Apathy, so having another horror-leaning creature was a good decision in my opinion. Unfortunately, I like the idea more than the execution. The twitching motion of the Jabberwocky could have been creepy, but it doesn’t quite capture that feeling of unnatural otherness that makes your skin crawl. A problem with the animation, or something the engine itself just isn’t equipped to create? I’m not sure. Its voice is also a nice touch, with the exception that it’s really hard to understand once it starts yelling. At first I thought RWBY was leaning into the Jabberwocky’s origins. That is, using nonsense words like those from Carroll’s poem whose meaning is understood only in context. Now though, I think it’s just a badly voiced character? I’m not sure because Crunchyroll’s subtitles wouldn’t work for me (of course) and all I got was the “Searching. Stalking. Detecting.” in the beginning.

Which, you know, is an interesting bit of dialogue. RWBY has always straddled the line between fantasy and Sci-Fi, so I’m pleased to see some of the latter worming its way into the distinctly fantasy setting of the Ever After. The Jabberwocky sounds like an AI creation following a coded command. Out of everything this episode, I’m most eager to learn more about it.

Of course, we can’t learn anything now. Despite the fact that Yang stumbles out of the jungle, arm gone, throwing a rock at the Jabberwocky, and looking like she’s been through hell and back. Would you like to know what Yang experienced while on her own here? Or how she came across the Jabberwocky? What she might already know about it?

Would you like to see an actual battle in the combat show’s premiere?

Too bad.

The Jabberwocky just runs off and we get an... interesting reunion for the whole team. First off, Weiss just isn’t a part of this. Given that she’s not Yang’s sister or the Schrodinger girlfriend, she’s shuffled off to the side. Second, Ruby is greeted with a, “Dammit! You weren’t supposed to be here” which I really like. Rather than going the pure fluff route, the writing seems to consider the fact that Yang (as we’ll learn soon) thinks she may have died, so of course she’s horrified to see her little sister here too. This isn’t a joyful reunion for her, it's evidence that her (stupid) sacrifice was in vain. As always, I wish we could have explored that a little more - specifically this idea that Yang thought she was dead and was still trying to defend herself against hostile creatures - but a single line is all we’re given.

Ruby gets that soft smile of hers, kneels down, and says, “If you thought we wouldn’t have come for you then you must have forgotten who raised me.” Aww.

...wait.

Hold up.

The fuck??

First of all, that is NOT what happened. Ruby didn’t come looking for Yang, she lost to Cinder - DESPITE HAVING A UNIQUE ABILITY TO BEAT HER, I WILL CONTINUALLY ADD - and failed to rose-petal her way to safety. Wow, way to imply a heroic rescue that doesn’t exist, Ruby. Also, this simultaneously implies that if they had won the fight Ruby would have dove into the void afterwards to try and find Yang which... you know... I highly doubt. Just given her non-reaction to her sister “dying.” If there was going to be any rescue attempts, give me a Ruby who jumps after Yang as she’s falling and they both go in together.

So that’s a huge misrepresentation of events and then Ruby follows that up with, “you must have forgotten who raised me"? What exactly is that supposed to mean? Because a lot of people raised Ruby. Is it Tai, Summer, Qrow... or Yang herself? This almost feels bait-y to me, in the sense that the writers must know that mom!Yang has been a huge debate in the fandom for years, so they toss in this ambiguous line that could go either way. Is Ruby referring to her many capable, loving, adult guardians? Or her older sister that maybe, sorta “raised her” while their dad was recovering from the death of his wife? I don’t know, why don’t you all fight about it ;)

But no, let’s talk about the actual bait: bumblebee.

Now, for a long time I’ve refrained from calling Blake/Yang queerbaiting for the simple reason that I’ve expected the show to follow through with the romance in a way I don’t expect that from “real” queerbaiting. Remember, the word originates from a hard “No” on the queer front, that’s why it’s baiting and not a slow-burn towards representation. However, we’ve now entered an age of television where, yes, many couples do become canon, but only in the final hour when the writers don’t have to actually write a queer romance. That’s the modern from of queerbaiting and goddamn, is bumblebee fitting it to a T.

I know the fandom has some memory problems, but everyone recalls the surety that Yang and Blake’s romance would kickstart after Yang “died” right? That having Blake mourn her and then discover her alive would finally push her to go in for a kiss? We pictured a plot where the girls were separated for the first couple of episodes, still believing the others were gone, Blake stumbling across Yang in the Ever After, the confusion and shock and relief at finding her again, the kiss that would finally bring RWBY into 2023--

Yeah. There’s none of that.

I myself said that THIS was the time to do it. If you ever needed an excuse to get the queer couple together (which you don’t) then the reunion after one thinks the other has died is 100% the time to do it. Emotions will never be stronger! Inhibitions will never be lower! Don’t pass up such a golden opportunity!

They totally passed it up.

This reunion is just as generically ambiguous as all the others, right down to Yang hugging Blake with a tenderness that’s equal to what she’s given other characters:

Friends. This is all the same hug. There is nothing coded romantic in this reunion, not unless we want to claim that Yang is also romantically attracted to Ren, Weiss, and her sister.

I’ve already seen some fans talking about the importance of Blake initiating contact when before she always held back and yeah, sure, that can be read as character growth, but that’s the kind of minuscule step forward we needed years ago. Not now. Now we’re firmly in bait territory and need confirmation.

“But, Clyde, it’s just the start of the Volume. They could still kiss!”

I don’t care. RT had an opportunity and they squandered it. If there's a kiss, a confession, or whatever comes later in the Volume, it’s still more time that the show has spent in a will-they-won’t-they dance. I’m so sick of it. RWBY’s queer rep is atrocious and I find that to be particularly insulting in a show that’s praised for and celebrates its own diversity. I watch plenty of television with no queer rep at all, but I don’t give them the same kind of shit because they’re not pretending to be the Pinnacle of Queer Representation. If you’re going to claim that you have a queer main couple, then actually give us a queer main couple.

God I was actually so hopeful I’d be writing a, “We’ve finally confirmed it!” recap. It’s beyond frustrating at this point and I’m continually shocked at the fans who are celebrating that hug like they’ve been given a feast and not crumbs. If I were more emotionally invested in bumblebee as a ship - meaning, if I cared more about the relationship itself rather than how it functions as representation for RWBY - I’d be pissed as hell. Yang “died,” Blake lost her mind over it, we waited two years, and then you give us... that? If I were a hardcore bumblebee shipper I’d be writing about my extreme disappointment in RT, not my happiness that Yang touched Blake’s hair.

Actually no, I grew up in the age of no rep/the original queerbaiting, so really I’d be rolling my eyes at anyone who expected a canonical relationship and instead going off to write it myself as fic. I still believe very strongly that ships don’t need a canonical basis and in some ways fandom has limited itself by only writing about what’s canon, or “realistically” canon ([waves old man cane] “In my day we shipped characters who were never even on screen together!”), but I acknowledge that we’ve entered a new age of television. Viewers expect more. They should expect more and they should get it.

With the disappointing hug behind us, Yang observers that if they’re all here then things must have gone really badly up top. This finally pushes Weiss over the edge and she starts the not-crying that all the RWBY girls do, where she has wet eyes and a single tear track. “Penny,” she says. “Jaune tried to help... but she scarified herself...”

And by that you mean Jaune killed her? Weiss’ recounting of events makes it sound like her own stabbing by Cinder: Penny was hurt and Jaune tried to heal her, only this time it wasn’t enough. When in reality we’ve got Jaune giving up because his “I’ve had a human body for twenty minutes” patient says there’s no hope and then slitting her throat because Penny mistakenly believes all she can do with her life is give it up.

Again: what happened to telling your team everything? Where did the importance of context and the complete picture go? For a team that’s so furious when others provide incomplete or misleading information, they sure do that themselves a lot. We can add, “Weiss horribly mischaracterizes Penny’s death” to the “Yang is keeping the Spring Maiden a secret, twists all their failures into victories to win a fight with Ren, and Ruby straight up lied to Ironwood” list.

In another show I’d have more faith that this would come back to bite Weiss; that the girls will later learn the truth and express some actual emotion at her inability to keep them informed... but who am I kidding. This is RWBY. It’ll be forgotten - or retconned - by next episode.

Ruby faints at hearing that Penny has died (again) and man, I really want to like this moment because it’s definitely more of a reaction than I was expecting based on our post-Volume 3 writing. However, this is primarily used as a way to avoid Ruby’s reaction, wherein she wakes up some undetermined time later and is allowed to pretend to be fine, thereby jumping over any conversation/crying/actual emotion we might have seen from her. I know that Ruby will be grappling with this for the entire Volume - our intro proves as much - but it’s still disappointing that we don’t get to see Ruby grapple with her initial feelings because she was too busy being unconscious.

Also, anyone else frustrated that the same action used to depict horror and grief is used for a gag just a few minutes earlier? A mouse faints at the thought of someone being able to pull up cheese with a single tug! Ruby faints at the thought of her dear friend dying for a second time! This is why all that earlier humor messes with the more serious moments.

Our final scene once again fails to convince me that any of these characters love each other outside of the Grand Gestures delivered post-tragedy. No one is holding Ruby while she’s unconscious. No one has made her a makeshift pillow or blanket. Yang asks once if she’s alright - when she’s clearly not - and then just drops the subject when Ruby says yeah, she’s fine. None of them waited until she’d woken up to have this important conversation. After Weiss’ tears and Ruby’s faint, there are no reactions to Penny’s death. Do Blake and Yang care? Presumably not considering they never had a real relationship with her, but RWBY likely wants us to assume that their reactions exist off screen. Remember, given that we’re primarily following Ruby as our protagonist, her being unconscious means that we also skip over how everyone else reacts too. The viewer only gets to continue seeing the story when Ruby wakes up.

I had low expectations for the Volume 8 follow up, but overall this is pretty bad even by my nonexistent standards. It’s not that the premiere doesn’t give us any worthwhile moments, it’s that none of them are capitalized on. They just sit, unexplored, or outright undermined by what the rest of the episode has produced.

It’s disappointing, to say the least. As are our final lines. Yang admits that she thought she was dead, but there’s no time to let her or the others explore that. We hear a throwaway line that her arm was stolen - which relies a lot on the viewer having seen the trailer to understand how and why that happened, at least until next episode. And then Blake follows a bit of light shining through to them, parting some of the vines to look out across the entirety of Ever After.

“I know how this sounds, but... I think we’re in a fairy tale.”

Our final line, folks! Is there anyone else that would have preferred ending on Ruby’s faint? Feels more dramatic and would have let the fandom theorize a bunch before she wakes up next episode (even if then, inevitably, there would have been disappointment that nothing was done with it). Really, I get why they want to end on the shot of Ever After, but all I could think was, how in the world did you come to that conclusion, Blake? Given that this is a world based off of a real fairy tale and not the fairy tales that exist in Remnant. I would 100% buy a character from our world recognizing that they’re in a place similar to Wonderland, but nothing we’ve seen here reflects the tales of Remnant.

Well no, there is one thing, but it exists in the opening. Blake’s been reading the script again.

So let’s unpack that, shall we?

(Sorry, I need to slam all the important opening screenshots together because tumblr won't let me upload any more images boooo).

Our first shot is of Jaune! 🤦‍♀️

Really? That’s the beginning of every episode’s opening? Jaune crying with his broken, bloody sword? Hmm, I wonder if the character imposing on the girls’ team journey will be important this Volume. We also get another shot of him with a clock motif, making me wonder if the theories about him having (somehow) spent longer in the Ever After will prove to be true.

This initial shot is paired with Neo looking sad, presumably over Roman’s death and her continued failure to avenge him. She appears in the trailer a fair bit which, alongside the Jabberwocky, is the thing I’m most excited for. I’m glad that, at least based on this, it doesn’t look like they’re going to squander her role as a villain here. We see Neo drinking her tea with a fantastic smirk, surrounded by a group of shadowy antagonists.

A huge list of one-off baddies, or the various looks she’ll be adopting to mess with the characters? I’m hoping for the latter, especially since some fans think that one of the silhouettes looks like Jacques. However, I do question whether she can actually pull something like that off. I love the idea of Neo manipulating the group, especially in a Volume hosting a grief arc, especially in a place that, as far as they know, might contain their dead loved ones. For a brief moment I even questioned if that other Ruby we see in the trailer was Neo. The problem is I’m pretty sure she speaks and, thus, it’s very difficult for a villain to pretend to be an ally for more than a few seconds when she’s mute. Combine that with the fact that Ruby knows Neo is here and that all just kinda... falls apart. Which is unfortunate because I would have loved to see a Neo using the Ever After’s impossibilities and her own semblance to mess with the heroes. Still, a final shot at the end appears to show everything stemming from Neo, which makes me think she’s going to be the major antagonistic force this Volume and/or gains control of the Ever After somehow. Fitting, for a woman with control over illusions.

Whether Neo makes much use of her semblance or not, I hope we don’t have another 8+ characters to introduce because there’s already Little, the other mice, the cat, racoon, the forge lady, the knight (same person?), the Red Queen, the creature hiding in the leaves, the caterpillar, the Jabberwocky, and this new girl. People get why that’s a lot to manage, right? Especially in a story with four main protagonists, with two others thrown into the void with them. I get that they don’t want the Ever After to be a wasteland, but RWBY continually has a problem with side characters eating up the time and focus. Then they’re left behind and that work feels wasted. Why spend a Volume developing Little (or Ilia, Sun, Neptune, etc.) just to drop them? This bloated cast means it’s a bit of a relief that Volume 9 doesn’t seem to be trying to jump between here and Vacuo, but damn. Three years to find out what’s happening with the others? The growing chance that there will be a time skip and that the girls will come back to find all these ongoing problems resolved off screen: We somehow rescued all the people from the desert! Ren and Nora are officially together! Winter has long gotten used to her powers! Oscar merged while you were gone and now we don’t have to worry about Ozpin anymore!

Not looking forward to it.

Out of all these new characters, the most important is the young girl. My current theory is that she’s the girl from “The Girl Who Fell Through the World,” with perhaps our opening line - “This is the story of a girl who had a lot of problems” - being the first line of her tale. We know due to Ozpin that many of Remnant’s fairy tales are based on true events, so it would make sense if that one came about after a young woman literally fell into a different world. We see her arrive on the beach before Crescent Rose shows up, implying that she’s been there a long time, and there are some implications that she’s a rather powerful figure now: she leads the group through the various environments (with Ruby lagging farther and farther behind. Perhaps the introduction of a new team leader will increase her feelings of inferiority and failure?), she appears right before an evil copy of Ruby turns around (love that grin), and she's in a painting with another, shadowed figure behind her. Despite the fact that we already have this reference (short of) it gives me Ozma/Tip vibes, wherein the original Wizard of Oz books Ozma is turned into a boy named Tip in an effort to keep her hidden.

Regardless of her role, I have the feeling this girl will end up being more of an antagonist than an ally; a representation of the ways Ever After can twist a long-term resident and likely a foil to Ruby (the true leader) and Jaune (someone who will overcome the world’s allure and return with the girls).

There are a number of other thematically significant shots throughout the opening. All the girls are shown in their various outfits, smiling or smirking, but Ruby grows sadder and her most recent counterpart hides in her cloak, facing away from the viewer.

Her tears - more than we’ve seen her actually cry in the show, I'd like to point out - transforms into Crescent Rose.

The girls try to navigate an impossible maze where the Ruby copy shows up, they run up the tree before being blown back (falling remains relevant then), the girls are once again gloriously saturated in their colors (even if Weiss is still more blue than white), and I really like the shot of Ruby falling past the rabbit. Actually, I like the painted style of that fall far more than I like the look of the rest of the Volume.

However, what interests me the most about this intro is a series of images that may well be connected: two streaks of blue falling through the sky, a massive explosion that engulfs the life tree, and the burning of a book of fairy tales.

Look, I don’t care how awful the gods actually are, especially when RWBY has done nothing to explore that. I don’t care if this is one of their realms and the heroes need to take drastic measures to escape it.

You are NOT going to have the girls destroy a whole-ass world after they destroyed a Kingdom, right?

Right?

On that thoroughly optimistic note, let’s end with a miscellaneous section because we are nearly 10k in and this poor recap needs to be put to bed. (As do I.)

Thanks for reading! :)

Misc. Observations

I enjoyed the little detail of Ruby wringing out her cloak as she surveyed the jungle. Nice job remembering she just came out of the water.

I didn’t enjoy the actual shot of the landscape though. I totally get that there’s wonky perspective stuff going on given how far back the ‘camera’ is, but am I the only one who thinks the jungle looks WAY too small in that opening scene?

I definitely mentioned this the first time I examined our promo clip (and briefly above), but I wonder if the weather here is influenced by emotion, given that the rain appears to start and stop when Ruby cries. I want to say “No” now just because this already isn’t consistent - there’s no rain when Weiss cries, you’d think we’d see some kind of weather influence when Ruby faints - but a part of me is hopeful just because it’s such a cool concept. Especially for a combat show where terrain can make-or-break a battle. As we’ve seen, each little bit of Ever After seems to function differently - Ruby doesn’t hit another patch of repeating jungle, for example - so maybe this is something that will return sporadically?

This is definitely me being nitpicky and petty, but you’ve gotta love that, other than the repeat dialogue of Volume 8 and the faint shouts of “Ruby!” our first words of the Volume are, “Now if only you could help me.” I don’t begrudge anyone help, certainly not the protagonist of a story that wants to be centered around unification, but Ruby has struggled with agency so much I can’t help but roll my eyes a little. Yes, why would we write our protagonist figuring out how to help herself when the random mouse she stumbles across can do it instead? And then, you know, not actually do anything, allowing the protagonist to instead just stumble on what she wants, rather than actively retrieving it.

So you know how Little not-so-subtly mentions that an easy way to get on their village’s good side is to bring more of that cheese? Surely then when we next see Ruby she’ll be animated carrying a couple of those cheeses as a bribe? Spoiler: she's not.

Anyone else feeling iffy about Blake’s description of Yang? The one where she refers to Yang as the scary looking one? As someone who has been frustrated with Yang’s lack of anger management the last couple of Volumes, I’m not a big fan of her “scariness” being played as a cute character quirk.

Ruby remembers right before the non-battle starts that she’s without Crescent Rose. Funny how she didn’t appear to notice its absence before, or go looking for her precious weapon like Blake did. (Seriously, I know I’ve said this a hundred times by now, but the girls’ reactions to landing here and everything they’ve lost are nonexistent.) This also highlights how useless most of the girls are without a weapon in hand. Didn’t we have a mini-arc back in Volume 5 about them learning hand-to-hand? Wasn’t that specifically labeled as Ruby’s flaw? Now it crops back up and she just hangs back, scared? Once again I'm asking what the point of any of that was if we're not going to see the development. Something something only the most recent Volume is canon.

[celleryeller]

Game design thoughts- Superliminal

I’ve decided, for shits and giggles and bettering my analysis skills, that I’ll write and post some thought about the game design of games I’m playing for the first time. Not a rating or anything, just a sort of what I learned from it

I just finished Superliminal on the Xbox. Only took around 2 hours for a solid first playthrough. Made in Unity, released 2019.

The main mechanics were around perspective. Unfortunately, this playthrough wasn’t completely blind, because there was a gif set or promo trailer floating around Tumblr a couple years ago, and it showed the mechanics before I got a chance to figure them out myself. But, the premise is picking up objects, and their size depends on the actual perspective when you drop it.

I think those mechanics are pretty fucking cool. I would love to see how the idea was originally prototyped. Or how they came up with the idea. Honestly tomorrow morning I might look into if the creators have done any interviews or anything.

The tutorial was pretty sick though. Instead of ui elements floating and telling you what to do, everything was written on objects in the game. My favorite was “press a to jump” being on a wet floor sign.

Narratively, it did make me ponder about brute forcing puzzles, and trying the same thing over and over. There was one puzzle I was stuck on near the end that I only decided to change perspectives on after I noticed the classic game trick of teleporting the player to create a feeling of infinite looping. While I didn’t walk away fundamentally changed, I did gain a new perspective on how I do puzzles.

The juice was pretty good, too. It got me giddy to pull every fire alarm and use up every fire extinguisher just because the option was there. There might also be achievements for doing that each level? Idk. Superliminal also had some good (although a little too loud) controller shake when an object was made huge and dropped on the ground. There was text I couldn’t read on papers that I wanted to read. The loading screens were great too, and while the bar animations weren’t accurate, the variation and weirdness for each one made up for it.

The limitations, unfortunately, were a touch obvious. The edges of light could shine through objects in a way that initiated something was up. Too many objects bumping around (which didn’t happen often) made a god awful sound. Screen hiccups happened a lot. Honestly, all of it was bearable, but the first one in particular just made me think about how light does that and it pisses me off as a developer that I can’t control it.

Other thoughts:

The walking around and setting felt very reminiscent of The Stanley Parable, especially in the repeated opening segments.

Music cutoffs were well placed and heavily affected the tone.

Late game played heavily with dream with dream sensation, and so perfectly emulated the dream feeling of looking at everything right side up while it feels like you’re laying down.

Played with the medium. I mentioned earlier that it used teleportation for infinite hallway tricks, but at some point it just started teleporting you for the purpose of being jarring.

On a similar note, it loved to play with the first person camera. It knew that you couldn’t look behind you, so it had complete free range to silently change whatever you weren’t looking at. Then when everything was breaking down, it started fucking with you and changing things as you looked at them, so you only saw the change once you moved

There was one level intended to be eerie, and it did that so well it made me google “is Superliminal scary.” The answer is no. I’m just a bit of a paranoid fraidy cat. It ended with a joke so good I instantly forgave it for making me scared.

The humor was also pretty good. It’s a good reminder that games can bet serious AND a little bit silly with it.

The piano music was superb

The options menu was simple and bland. It didn’t need to be anything else. Everything it had could simple fall under “gameplay” or “audio” settings.

Conformed to the wonderful idea that text to speech voices are evil. Fuck tik tok.

Overall, it was a sick game! I might do a couple more replays tomorrow. Or I’ll move to something else.

[thelowlysatsuma]

it's been absolute years since i've last talked to you. what are you into lately? how have you been?

HELLO HELLO!!!!

lmao I got this ask like a week or so ago and completely forgot abt it then found it again and instead of answering stalked ur blog for a solid half hour and NOW I’m answering it

but ye I’m doing well!! graduated w my bachelor’s degree back in may and now am a couple weeks away from starting film school for writing — specifically writing for video games which I am IMMEASURABLY hype about. my summer’s been pretty quiet other than one (1) knife fight (i had minor arm surgery and am all g now) and also two weeks playtesting for EA a certain video game whose trailer is out now. and yes I’m under NDA but after having gone into said game completely blind and now seeing all the fantastic Tumblr memes since the trailer’s been out i assure you that once the game itself drops I will be Unable To Shut Up abt my Fictional Shitty Divorced Stepfather (/bald)

uhhhh other things I’m into include TAZ (balance as always but also I’ve heard a bit of vs drac and am LOVING it), ace attorney, persona 5, various rpgs and visual novels, well loved Irish sillyman rtgame, drawfee, dimension 20, black butler since there’s apparently a new season out now which is an insane thing to be able to say, bungou stray dogs, and uhhhh honestly idk feel free to dm me abt this or anything in case I think of more lmao

also a HUGE fan of daydreaming abt situations involving my ocs. currently main ocs are the Greek myth bisexual wlws but other ocs/stories I currently have include a) hardboiled detective with OCD loosely inspired by penumbra podcast b) high fantasy Italian mystery game/dating sim c) megamind ripoff where you romance the isekai truck d) ???? probably more again i am so down to dm you abt things aha

how have you been??? hope ur doing well and having a good time!!

[larakb117]

LONDON ADVENTURE

Joseph Quinn & female y/n

Summary: London Adventure is turning into New York Adventure…

Content Warning: fluff, rpf, implied smut

Part 10

The next morning you woke up, Joe sat next you in the bed, shirtless, with his phone in his hands. He clearly had already showered, there were some water drops all over his body, his hair was wet. “Hey.”, you said with a raspy voice. “What time is it?” He hadn´t recognized that you were awake, he almost threw his phone away on the night stand and turned to you. “Morning love.”, he smiled, his eyes were filled with adoration. “It´s almost 5 am.” He cupped your cheeks and kissed you softly. You slowly closed your eyes. Your breathe got a little heavier and you could feel your heartrate get higher, it was like your heart was nearly bursting out of you. Your hands wandered down his naked and wet upper body, they rested at his chest hair for a while, your fingers curled up in it a little. It was a long kiss. Once your lips separated he asked: “Do you want to go on sleeping or…?” “I think I slept enough, Joe.”, you chuckled. “You want to go and see the city a little bit?” “Oh, yes!”, you hastily kissed him again, sprung up from the bed and ran into the bathroom. “I´m taking a quick shower!”, you shouted out of the bathroom.

It had two separate sinks, a huge bathtub and was covered in white marble. You showered off the dirt from the 7 hour flight and many hours of waiting in line. “Damn.”, you thought, when you realised you did not bring any clothes in the bathroom. Then it came to your mind, that you wouldn´t need to worry about stepping out in the room naked. That was still new to you, but you were confident enough to do that. The last couple of days Joe had told you how beautiful you were hundreds of times. And you could feel that he really meant it, so you went out there without anything on. Joe stunningly stared at you: “Wow, love, you are just…Come here.”

After a short make out session (you came twice), you got dressed: Joe wore some grey trousers and a pinstriped shirt. It seemed like half of his wardrobe were pinstriped shirts. You decided to go for a simple white shirt and a leather jacket on top of some jeans. The jewellery you wore spiced up the outfit a bit more, Joe wore his chain and the rings as well.

At about 6 am you left the hotel. You took two different subway lines and went to Times Square 42 St. The moment you left the subway station you got to see Times Square right in front of you: Hundreds of billboards were in front of you, movie trailers, ads for various products, lit up signs for shops and restaurants everywhere around you. Suddenly you discovered Joe on of the billboards: “Oh my God!!There´s you, Joe!” “Yes.”, he blushed a bit. Joe had told you about the movie he was part of and which he was about to promote this week in New York. It was the first time you saw him in the costume and everything. You just knew the stuff he told you about so far. Pride started to grow in your chest. You grabbed his hand and squeezed it, while you watched the short trailer with a fascinated look. Then you turned around to look him in the eyes: “I´m really proud of you.”

After Times Square you took a taxi to Lower Manhattan for a long sunrise walk at Battery Park. You slowly started to get hungry, so you got some takeaway breakfast at a café and sat down at a bench with a view to Staten Island and the Liberty Statue. The Liberty was way smaller than you had expected, she was barely to see. You sat there for a while, the sun had already risen a few hour ago. “Love, will you join me at Jimmy Fallon tomorrow?”, Joe surprisingly asked. “What?”, you stared at him with an open mouth. “I´ll be at Jimmy Fallon tomorrow, do you want to come with me?” “Oh yes!!I love Jimmy Fallon!!!”, you lowkey freaked out. You could not believe you were sitting on a Bench in New York City and had the chance to see Jimmy Fallon live. Joe laughed: “Okay, we can go on top of the Rockefeller Centre together before we have to go to the studio, if you like to? So, don´t do that later when I´m at the Buzzfeed office, alright?”

You hastily nodded out of excitement and threw yourself at Joe. You tightly hugged him and wouldn’t let go. Joe stood up with you wrapped around his waist. He laughed, his laugh was perfect, it came right from his heart, it was a true and honest laugh. You just left some metres behind till you jumped off of him. Meanwhile it was 10 am, you sat down at a café to get some coffee and a snack.

Joe had to leave and get to the Buzzfeed Office near to Times Square, he had already texted Maddie that he would meet her there. It was a hard goodbye, even though you would see him again in a few hours, you would very much miss him. Joe told you to enjoy the city, he would call you as soon as he finished filming and doing interviews. The first thing you did was going to the Metropolitan Museum. The fashion exhibitions were the most exciting thing about the museum. After that you walked around Central Park, visited the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain and strolled around the Reservoir. A lot of pictures, selfies and google maps searches later your phones battery was about to die, so you decided to go back to the hotel. The moment you arrived at the hotel, Joe called you. You picked up the phone: “Yeah?” “I love, I just finished, where are you?” “I just arrived at the hotel. Are you coming?” “I´ll be there in twenty minutes, love.” He hung up.

Exactly 22 minutes later, the hotel room door opened and Joe came in. His eyes wided when he saw you laying on the bed: “Oh, I missed you so much.” He jumped up on the bed right next to you and grabbed your face to pull it close to him. “Hi, babe.”, you grinned. “How was your day?” “Pretty good, they let me play with puppies, that was cute. And I had to read some thirst tweets. Fans are begging BuzzFeed for two years now to make me do this video.”, he laughed and ran one hand through his hair. He looked incredibly good, that´s because you stared at him for a moment. You went in for a deep kiss.

“Love, I have a surprise for you.” Excitement rushed through you, you loved surprises. “You told me that you like musicals.”, he stopped. “Yes?” “I texted one of my friends who´s currently on Broadway and he put us on the guest list tonight.” “What?”, that was a thrilling surprise. “You tell me, I´m going to see a Broadway Musical?! At fucking Broadway?!”, you squeaked. “I love how excited you can get.”, Joe said with a loving undertone. “Who´s that friend? And what´s the musical?”, you asked while your hands tugged at his shirt. “It´s Gaten Matarazzo, I met him at the stranger things set.” “Oooh, he is Dustin!!!” “Yes. Gaten´s the best. Such a nice guy. He has some time after the Musical, so you can get to know him” “He´ll be the second friend of yours I get to know!”, you smiled, Joe hopefully did not think that you just wanted to meet Gaten because of his role in Stranger Things, you just wanted to meet all the people who were important in Joes life. “So tell me what´s the musical?”, you curiously asked again. “Sweeney Todd. You know that?” You squeaked again: “I love that musical! I was obsessed with the movie too!” You started to belt the song “Johanna”, but got in a fit of laughter after just a line of the song. Joe covered his face with a pillow. “Am I such a bad singer?”, still laughing, you knew that you were actually good at singing. Joe revealed his face, he was laughing too: “I just love how excited you are, love.”

To be continued…

[skippyv20]

In the comments from the Youtube Netflix trailer . What disgusting, cold hearted, evil behavior !!

(sorry didn't screenshot)

Sserpent Chic13 3 hours ago I loved the part where she discreetly flew down, fast as she could in a private jet, here to Uvalde Texas after a massive, tragic shooting..

Yes, the grieving parents and community definitely appreciated being shooed away from the site; so she could heroically lay down a couple Walmart bouquets, and hang her head in compassion, solidarity, and grief for the photographers she also kindly brought along.

We were also, so grateful for her generous gift of the Walmart bagged meals she dropped off before jetting back to her palace…thank you Megan!! You are truly an inspiration to us "plebs"!!

Kelly Heath 4 hours ago I love the part where Meghan visits Uvalde undercover as ‘just a mom’ to bring flowers and snacks. She totally wasn’t trying to dig up new material for her histrionic documentary because all she has is her Palmolive story and not even two years as a working royal. She had no idea her Netflix camera crew would be there too! I cried a single tear, left eye. 😢

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4 replies Kate C Kate C 3 hours ago whilst moving the mourners away so she could stage her photo opp. Bravery beyond measure

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hsmd hsmd 3 hours ago And then she was brave enough to share the photo. I can’t think of anything more genuine!

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TheDriftwoodlover TheDriftwoodlover 2 hours ago … and went all the way to a vending machine to buy the sandwiches. Nothing but the finest for Harry’s wife to express her gratitude to the workers there

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Mini Haha Mini Haha 3 minutes ago The snacks she offered were Red Cross sandwiches and water bottles. She trooped into their place and handled the sandwiches, which were all thrown out because she handled them without washing her hands

Wow! Unreal! Thank you!😔❤️

[agent-bumblebee]

The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review (SOME SPOILERS I guess):

It’s hard to believe that when the news dropped that Illumination Animation was gonna produce a Mario Movie I was skeptical and also scared, not only that but when they revealed the casting for the movie during the Nintendo Direct 2 years ago, I was shocked and surprised at who’s gonna be who in the movie.

And of course, it’s not just me, it’s everyone, EVERYONE was surprised and shocked at the cast, especially Chris Pratt as Mario, like that shocked me.

But now here we are, after seeing 3 trailers, a shit load of TV Spots, and even the Super Bowl commercial, that the Mario Movie looked better than I had expected.

So now, was the movie exactly what I hoped it would be based on the trailers and other promotional material?….

Yes. Yes it was.

But it was even better than what I expected, like I thought it was just gonna be good, but holy shit, I didn’t expect it to be REALLY good.

First of all, they really went all out with the references, like there were a lot, not only from the previous games, but also surprisingly from the modern games as well, I mean sure, it’s to be expected, but it still kinda surprised me.

Second of all, the performances were good as well, tho I will admit, I still had to get used to Chris Pratt being Mario, like I’m not saying he did a bad job, I think he did it decently, but it still feels weird to hear Chris Pratt as Mario, especially since I could still hear his regular voice, tho it has that Italian-American accent to it, so I’ll give him that.

But other than that, each of the Actors were pretty good in this, like Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Keegan Michael Key as Toad, as well as Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.

I also wanna appreciate them using professional voice actors as well, I feel like it was a good choice, like you have Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, ( which btw, he did a good job with the character) you also got otherr voice actors like Eric Bauza, Khary Payton, Scott Menvile, Jessica DiCicco, and John DiMaggio.

Plus I can’t really forget about Charles Martinet’s surprise cameos, and they weren’t lying about him having surprise cameos, because they were really…well…surprising.

Him being both Mario and Luigi’s dad, and the old man playing the arcade game in the restaurant who sounds and looks like the OG Mario, was just surprising to see.

But of course the standout star of the movie has to be Jack Black as Bowser, cuz HOLY SHIT he was REALLY good. He gave a KILLER performance, and he just seemed like he was giving it his all, and overall just having fun with role, even when he’s performing his music number, he’s still good as Bowser.

The third thing has to be the music, GOOD LORD was the music SOOOO CATCHY and epic, like just hearing a couple of Mario themes from previous games being incorporated into the score was just *mwah* so good.

Tho it is weird how they incorporated some pop songs into this, like they just popped out of nowhere, tho I’ll give credit, at least they didn’t use any modern pop songs, and instead just used, 80s pop songs which I appreciate.

And lastly, is of course the animation, and boy oh boy was it PERFECT, I really love how it’s this combination of realism and this sort of 2D esque style of animation, i.e. the movements.

And the way they incorporate it into the action sequences, made it even better, mixed in with the epic score, and it was a goddamn beauty to watch.

Especially during the final battle between Bowser in both the Mushroom Kingdom and also in Brooklyn, and the Rainbow Road chase, those sequences were really good, thanks to both the animation and the music.

However there is only one thing I had to criticize the movie for….

And that is the pacing, being 93 minutes or an 1 hour and 33 minutes long, it felt more shorter than it is, I do wished that I was a little longer, so we can explore more worlds and also flesh out the world, especially with both Mario and Donkey Kong, because their chemistry felt a little bit rushed, and I would have loved to see a scene of them interacting a bit more, and that they would eventually reconcile with each other, so they can work together.

However despite that, I could kinda overlook that, because of how simple the story was, if they were to make it a little longer, it can kinda make it feel dragged out, and almost boring so I can kinda see why it was the pacing was fast.

But overall, this movie was pretty good, and I enjoyed it very much, and I hope this does well because I am so ready to see a sequel to this.

8/10

Also what the fuck were the critics on that they gave the Mario Movie a 56%?

Yea, this is why I don’t trust Rotten Tomatoes anymore.