#like i knew about these parallels already ofc but thats not the same as SEEING THEM ALL IN A ROW

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Changing yet unchanging relationship.. huh.. wonder what that could POSIBLY mean 👀✨, that aside i wonder who will realise/finally get some sense out of their feelings first and actually 'change' their relationship? I want haru to realise by himself and do something about it but at the same time i reaally want to see rin chase after him and let all his raw feeling out >,<!!!

Haha they know what they're doing and they really know how to laugh at us for sure. They probably meant their sparkly "rival eyes" as they wrote aha xD I've heard it's also a parallel to "I want to get stronger scene" thats supposed to go against the last one.

But Haru doesn't have to realize anything. What he said already wasn't about swimming and he knew it all along, Rin on the other hand we all think still thinks its because he left free, I don't think he fully got what he meant. At least from the aftermath I can tell that he didn't xD.

But I also think that Haru has to be the one who has to fully explain it at the end, bc Rin won't get there by himself, unless someone else will tell him about the time he was away. So Rin will for sure chase him bc Haru won't talk in this state, but after he's back, Haru will for sure want to apologize and say how he didn't mean that, so that means he has to explain. I mean, I doubt they can escape it somehow. He's in too much pain for saying this in the first place to not do that. I also want him to let it all out like s1 Rin, with tears of relief, just someone pls pat-pat and hold him. I mean no one particular, ofc 🌚.

I just suggest mutual feelings release bc like they both need it. They didn't get each other again. And I'm pretty sure that's how its gonna be.

But I also want to hear Haru, bc when he talked so softly and happily about them together during the car date, I was ready to combust, and I want Rin to have his heart attack, when he finally finds out that the love of his life missed him to death and wanted some loving. Like just pls don't accidentally trip and fall under that tree, Rin-rin xD

P.S. I'm also wondering what evil!Haru might say or do before that, bc I mean, imagine all the fun we can now have with this lol. Let the imagination run wild.

[icecreamkink]

so i watched cobra kai all in two days and i have so many -

this show has so many cool and smart angles to it, but the same time.... its so stupid oh my god everyone is so dumb literally mr miyagi held all of the braincells in this whole universe 

like i am but at the same time i am not surprised it was made like this, bc in hindsight of course there were hordes of ppl simping over johnny lawrence ....  but it still amuses me that this is like... an Actual Official Thing

ok this will get long so cut it is

how much fun this cast has is super visible and i love it

i rly enjoy how the world was expanded ! i did grow up watching the karate kid movies, so watching how they progressed the world of the movies so organically was pretty cool. it rly feels like its the same universe

i fucking LOVE stories that are largely about a Thing. dancing ,skating, sports its just so thrilling to experience this all consuming relationship people can have with this type of activity? and martial arts are just that much more intense, so yeah, grown ass men kicking each other around at the lightest provocation and a war veteran caring so much abt teen karate is Ridiculous.... but i love it all because thats the intensity i find so thrilling

was kinda surprised with how much im missing mr. miyagi. first because, like everyone is so unhinged jesus christo, it just really throws into relief how much his character grounded the narrative of the movies. but also hes just a really great character

and on that note it rly Gets Me that the show itself aknowledges that and plays that into daniels angst and all the little ways they sorta weave myiagisms into the whole show........ im not getting emotional over this dumb karate dads show OK

related - i really miss hearing ‘daniel-san’ 🥺🥺

ACE DEGENERATE oh god oh no

they really went down the down and out johnny lawrence route huh. like i was always kinda bummed we see kreese choking him and then we never see him again in the movies, and while i love dumpster fire problematic trash himbo ck johnny, its like......................... actually really sad that his life turned out like this fjngn

everytime i hear ‘babes’ and ‘pussy’ i die a little inside. i know thats the point but i am a v cringe easy person, have mercy (ehe)

loved the way they are constantly drawing parallels between johnny and mr. myiagi of all people. hes the handy man of his building that has a bullied kid asking for help and eventually steps up to teach them karate, beats up a bunch of bullies for him, creates a friendship with said kid, estranged from family, drinks his sorrows away, surprisingly one of the least quick to anger characters (which says more about everyone else really but.... Well.), no schemes or ulterior motives hes just tryna vibe here.... oh and ofc magically heals miguel of is asthma apparently. the true disciple.. meanwhile daniel is his usual messy petty self even tho he wants to be mr myiagi so bad 

also interesting about that is how miguels character is a parallel of both johnny and daniel at the same time

overall the parallels in ck are done really well, drawing comparisons and also subverting them constantly. theyre well thought out

THE PARALELOGRAMS

fr tho, the angle being explicitly the cycle of trauma and its effects and how trumatized adults in turn traumatize kids, maliciously or not, is so interesting

but! on the flip side of that, it feels like the writers are getting in their own way @ letting the characters grow. especially this last season. theres only so many times you can do "johnny and daniel are getting along but 5mins later they are (literally) fighting over some dumbass random issue" or "johnny puts in 20% of effort with robby and then gives up" before it gets on your nerves yknow?

i see daniel no longer talks like macchio ingested 15 shots of espresso before every take and idk how to feel about that tbh

interesting tension in daniel, as in, in tkk mr miyagi was there and daniel was frankly, kind of a lil shit, this messy petty spitfire hot tempered sassy kid,(johnny lawrence voice: just... stop being so annoying) but now hes the adult, and he wants to be mr. miyagi... but hes just not, and never will be to his very core and it shakes him and in a way hes trying to find who he is now that he sees himself in a position to be a not! cobra kai figure. i kinda really like that 

plus how that relates to his cobra kai trauma. idk if the writers thought abt it Like That, i think so, but in any case, its interesting bc it seems like daniel has told everyone whod listen about johnny lawrence his Pretty Boy Karate Rival and high school and 84 cobra kai... But. no one seems to know what went on in 85 (or 86? idk) which was just so much worse

like ye og cobras were shitheads, but tkk iii is just two hours of daniel being emotionally and physically tortured. 

like, the third movie is.............chaotic, to put it nicely, and many people ignore it, but the writers clearly didnt. daniels actions are, in a way, responding so much more to the events of tkk iii than to the first movie ie. johnny himself, AND. daniel doesnt rly seem to have dealt with that trauma? he never told sam? doesnt feel like hes ever told amanda? he doesnt even say terrys name out loud? freaks Out over kreese ? the way he reacts to robbys deceit? his FACE when he walks past the new "fear does not exist in this dojo" paint or kreeses photo? hmMm i sense Pain

his fashion tho........... disappointing. where are the flower shirts daniel huh we had one (1) shirt what a tragedy STOP WEARING SUITS ALL THE TIME . also the band ts/grunge bi are a look for johnny but part of me longs for the preppy lovable 80s bully chic johnny lawrence getups

weird that they never used that last moment of karate kid where johnny kinda... snaps out of his anger and hands daniel the trophy almost in tears. like “youre alright larusso, good match” “thanks a lot”  that being their last direct interection seems like itd be perfect fruit for cobra kai but... they just dont. weird. 

especially when, the FIRST SCENE they see each other, suposedly in 30+ years, the first thing to come out of daniels mouth is QUOTE "u still got those golden locks huh?" WHO SAYS SHIT LIKE THAT DANIEL FUCKING SAN 

also amandas immediate reaction "your pretty boy rival?" like. can we talk about the fact that daniel had to have imparted to his wife the very important information that his high school bully/karate rival was like Really Cute and Fucking Hot Actually

 the writers Knew exactly what they were doing and honestly.............. power to them

tkk director voice: and billy was just so cute  

also I was thinking that daniel sounded strangely fond in that first scene, and i wonder if he developed a weird affection for johnny on the grounds that of all of his Karate Rivals johnny was actually the only one who didn’t actively tried to literally kill him

i was actually delightedly surprised with how great the chemistry between them is, like from the get go i am Invested. their rl friendship totally bleeds through and its fantastic

. granted, idiots enemies to lovers friends is my Thing so i am biased  

johnny lawrence: i am down in the dumps, i fucked up my whole life and my sons probably, largely in light of the trauma that the father figure sensei and the philosophy of my karate inflicted on me and all my friends. u know what i should do, as a traumatized, unreliable mess of an adult? teach that same philosophy to some other kids! what could go wrong! 

but really i enjoy the setup of it. i kinda like that i watched it late because, season 1 was johnny setting himself up for failure in a way and it was exciting to watch it all go to shit sjfn

Like. his heart might be in the right place, but theres just.... not a way to teach something like ‘strike hard, no mercy’ and not have it fuck up a kid 

case and point: aisha, miguel and hawk become annoying as all hell over that bullshit in the end of s1, even before shit gets truly fucked up

billys subtle panicked eyes when he sees hawk and miguel fighting dirty in the all valley was SO GOOD especially in parallel with the panic that is so visible in his face in the movie when kreese tells bobby to injure daniel and in the sweep the leg scene 

seen people question wether kreese should have returned and i absolutely think he needed to. johnny needed to realize that cobra kais fundamentals are flawed, at the root, beyond kreese himself being a toxic piece of shit 

also who are we kidding? we are here to see the tkk characters play on new playgrounds!

i get what they're doing abt kreeses backstory, ( also. cobra kai. pq eles caem nas cobras djjs sorry) but did it need to take up that much time? feels like they couldve  done it in half the run time and developed some other stories better 

martin kove has such an evil eye. i love it

love that we get a good follow up to kreese breaks johnnys trophy and tries to CHOKE HIM in the parking lot, which happened in the movie and then....................... was never mentioned again

“the gang is all back together again” aaaa u piece of SHIT 

also. terry silver is definetely appearing ha ha ha PAIN i cant wait

seen ppl say kreese was too much of a cartoon villain like..........................oh......... sweetie........... u dont even Know

interested how johnny will fit into that bc kreese was simping rly hard for johnny here. like i did not expect him to be so adamant to have him with cobra kai ... under his control, sure, but he really wants johnny by his side despite already having control of the dojo and how will terry silver self appointed jon kreeses forever simp going to feel abt that? 

like bitchs dropping by every episode like ‘joooooohnny ..... come bacc to me joooonny......... this ur last warning! for real this time johnny! i wont say it again! watch me ! im leaving johnny! im rly leaving ! im dragging a chair” and johnny is just like. dont let the door hit ya bitch it was so funny pls

and on that subject oof, johnny! doesnt! Know! he doesnt get that side of daniels cobra kai trauma. and i kind of.............. cannot wait for ck 2021 johnny lawrence to meet terry silver like. what a shit show i need a front row seat and popcorn (imagine terry tries some greasy charm and johnny just roundhouse kicks him in the teeth bc he just doest Not Have the Patience for This. glorious)

feels like we, as a society, should acknowledge that cobra kai will never die................ bc their sense of design is just chefs kiss. their name is COBRA KAI. they have sexie sleeveless black gis. theyve sneks. colorful leather jackets with embroided naja insignia, the get ppl thru the aesthetics. evil geniuses

the flashback cuts : masterpiece behavior

the other takes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of the movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the differente angles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of the FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE CLOSE UP ON JOHNNYS FACE AT THE KICK 

that scene of daniel and johnny vibing to 80s music in the car. just. oh my god. the fan wish fullfilment. no thoughts head empty.

the new characters! theyre .... good. but. idk. i really like miguel (save for the annoying phase mid s1 - end s2) and amanda, who is a damn riot and has some functioning braincells, but everyone else is       

like dont get me wrong, i dont hate anyone,its not a jane and rafael from jtv situation,  and i am interested and invested in their arcs, but i wouldnt say i like   Like them, as in, personality wise 

like, sams grappling with ptsd was rly gutting and i enjoyed that plus her slight rage issues, 

which nicely parallel torys rage issues. torys background is all over the place tho so im pretty on the fence abt her so far

robby deserves better in every way, and i like how smart and cunning and surprisingly sweet he is

hawk............... is there i guess,

 demetri is annoying in the best way possible,

 carmen is sweet but. i just feel like her character is blunted to make the johnny relationship easier. like when shes furious with him after miguels injury but then forgives him like an episode later? and then convinces him to fight for the tournament bc she had a karate epiphany off screen even tho she was always against it? meh. feels like with the plot thiccening she was swallowed and now shes like a crutch for johnny mora than anything, which is disappointing.

aisha was cool and im kinda mad she wasnt in s3, especially bc a storyline with her tory and sam was like RIGHT THERE , but also... cant say i was super super fond of her... doesnt feel like we ever spent enough time on her

moon the bi icon, 

overall its a good cast but the main draw for me remains the og cast 

the tory/sam miguel/robby Thing. enjoy how theyre Narrative Foils and i like how their stories were so dramatically entangled but oh god give me a break with the teenage love square for the love of god. if u gonna put us through that at least have the decency to not make it so straight

and honestly some sam/tory        miguel/robby romantic tension would even make more sense. just saying! 

also im not sure how i feel abt the cobra kai: red miyagi do: blue theyre going with since some of daniels most iconic looks in tkk are also red. like it was a color they (johnny and him) sorta shared. i get it, opposite but complementary but idk... a little too fire nation and water tribe for me .

 and like the cobra kai kids are so funny abt it bc their outifts grow progressively more ridiculously coordinated. its like do they group chat every morning before leaving their houses? 

robby still sticks out like that tho. he went thru an athleisure/daniel san tsleeves phase and now hes back in the bandts grunge, but his color scheme doesnt fully blend with the other cobra kais. hmmmm.

LOVED LOVED LOVED both the okinawa episode and the cobra kais easy rider episode just such good good heart aching fun

bobby is an icon. he was in tkk and he is now ck hope appears more and more

 tommy is like the most iconic background character. all his lines, freaking gold then and now. sigh :( 

the framing in the okinawa trip was so good everything was so good

i stand by the fact that kumiko was the love interest daniel had the most chemistry with and shes is overall such a joy to watch, loved to see her again, idola, fashion icon

also tkk ii is good u guys are just mean

also really enjoyed chozens role in the episode, his evolution; i love that they introduced the pressure points (ty lee the blueprint) and! the honk + karate! cousins! absolutely iconic

when kumiko reads mr miyagis letters........ oh my god, my eyes FILLED with tears, it was so heart wrenching :(( tamlyns delivery was so emotional and lovely and its so obvious everyone involved in ck has so much love and respect for pat morita and mr miyagi as character, and i adore that it exists like this electric current through the show

when we were watching i told my sister i thought that ali would be miguels big shot surgeon and ngl i am so disappointed that didnt happen. hire me cobra kai writers

also the johnny ali daniel amanda chemistry? off the charts

AND the sassy retconning of daniel and alis breakup! LMAO ‘I HOPE U DIDNT TELL MR MIYAGI IT WAS MY FAULT’ HFDJJGNKFKSD

i am preeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetty sure back injuries dont work like that    but oke

daniel and johnny are so good together whenever, like they never actually help the kids or get shit done and end up fighting anyway but its just so much fun when theyre hanging

JOHNNY LAWRENCE AND DANIEL LARUSSO FIGHTING TOGETHER

daniels “plan” on how to get robby to juvie was so stupid. literally were u TRYING to make him hate you. dumbass

parents at those hearing rly brave for ppl that did not do ANYTHING as their kids got involved in a karate gang war until now

“bullshit i heard u were the real bully!” i mightve screeched

this s3 ending was SO DRAMATIC omg

everyone is such a MESS go to THERAPY u unhinged motherfckers

also im sorry but uh. a richass neighborhood in california doesnt have some type of neighborhood watch? the larussos rly dont have any security at all? neighbors wont hear the sound of a damn karate brawl happening next door??? also wasnt tory all like ooo i cant go to juvie, my mom yada yada yet shes always running around town getting into fights even at the rich girls house she was kicked out of school for fighting??   ?  ??    ??        ?                ?    ?          ??                  ?    ? girl??

stop destroying the larussos house, its so pretty :((((

sam finding her center looking at mr miyagis picture...  uwu maybe

robby yelling ‘U ARE WEAAK’@  johnny \as he is easily blocking him is like.... so funny and so sad to me. sweetheart. 

also i know it was meant as ‘oh johnny pushes him and HURTS HIM’ but it just looks like robby runs himself into the lockers and IM SO SORRY I FEEL SO BAD BUT IT WAS SO FUNNY 

i like that he and tory are the cobra kai kids now. we need ppl we care abt there to not revert to a good vs evil schtick, and this is the most engaging it could be... tho it hurts that these kids cant catch a break

ah yes "lets bet some real shit on the result of this teen karate tournament bc that is always a great idea" is BACK

so daniel saves johnny from kreese..... maybe johnny will save him from terry 🧐

and dojos unite ohohoho. lets SEE how that’ll work out 

miguels face of Despair when the ck defectors and the md kids are bickering like 'this is never gonna work' : gold

also. Johnny Lawrence is gonna learn some myiagi-do karate AHAAHSJAKDFH

 ive been waiting for this moment all my lifeeee oh lawrd 

final thoughts! there are def things i hope the writers will improve on the next season, but i am very excited for it either way AND i feel like it has made me enjoy the movies even more and that is a win for a reboot/sequel to me!!

[rainstormfes]

Attack on Titan S4 Ep5

THIS IS MY BIGGEST SPOILER WARNING LIKE PLS DO NOT LOOK UNDER THE CUT IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED OR READ UP TO THIS POINT IN THIS STORY. P L E A S E. Attack on Titan is such an amazing story and I HIGHLY recommend picking it up. It could seem overrated cause literally everyone is talking about it but there are HUGE reasons why it’s being talked about right now, especially since the anime has caught up to some really cool parts in the story. So this is kind of a psa for it as well. PLEASE GIVE THIS MANGA/ANIME A CHANCE. IT’S REALLY AMAZING. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED IN THE SLIGHTEST, TRUST ME. ISAYAMA HAJIME IS AN AMAZING MANGAKA FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF WORK AND WIT STDUIO AND MAPPA HAVE ANIMATED IT SO SO SO WELL. Anyway. On to my big big rant under the cut :3

Ok so after literally bingeing through the whole anime for the last three days ever since ep5 was released imma just talk about the season and ep5 especially and the absolute BEAUTY that everything is.

With the beginning of s4, we get to see outside the walls, yeah? We see that there’s a war going on between marley and the mid-east allied forces over control of paradis and who gets the resources from it. And then we see the main gang: falco, gabi, zofia, and udo. Ya know, at first i absolutely hated seeing them. Like come on where’s the people that we CAME HERE to see?? That we saw on the teaser images?? But as the eps kept getting released and we started to get more of the story pieced together, we’re forced to see the other side’s beliefs. What the other side is fighting for. Like despite the eldians on the main land sharing the same ‘blood’ as the paradis people within the walls, they have grown up to believe that the people within the paradis walls are pure evil and devil’s spawn and part of the reason they’re oppressed in the first place. That was the whole purpose of those first 4 episodes. And to be honest, I kinda got attached to falco at least cause he was just an honest kid wanting to protect a girl he likes from becoming an actual warrior.

Rewatching the previous seasons and refreshing my memory on everything that has happened to everyone in the walls made me realize that they just made us get very attached to everyone on paradis, especially the main gang. For years, and I mean literal years, we have all grown up and grown attached to these people in the walls that only want their freedom from the titans. They just want to live peaceful lives and there are people that are brave enough to fight for that peace. No matter what it takes.

And ep5 brings everything full circle. It was absolutely mind blowing with every sentence that eren spoke to reiner. How they were both the same. How what they were doing was to save the world, their world. How they had no choice but to go through so many harsh experiences like killing other people and losing people they cared about and making difficult sacrifices for the sake of the humanity they knew.

It is absolutely beautiful how there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ side. Like, despite my bias toward the paradis people bc i’ve literally grown up learning about their story, you can’t say that there is an actual objective enemy that the viewers should side with. Everyone involved is just fighting for their own beliefs. And it’s just the cruel world that they live in that forces them to fight because again they have no choice.

Also just a quick reminder... AT THE END OF SEASON 3 PART 2 THE 104TH CADET KIDS ARE ALL 15. FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. MEANING THEY, INCLUDING REINER AND EREN OFC, ARE NINETEEN NOW. I swear they look like adults. And if THATS 19 then what does that make levi and hanji ??? In the teaser images, they look like they havent aged a DAY.

Anyway, in an article that i’ll link here that unpacks ep5, the author said, “[it] feels like everything in this season up until this point has been prologue and that Attack on Titan’s conflict is about to finally begin” and honestly i could not agree more. The previous seasons were dedicated to detailed world building and slow intake of knowledge about the titans and the actual world, leaving the viewer none the wiser than the characters that had grown up in the walls and to also give them time to get to know everyone in the walls. To become attached to them. And then completely blow their minds by saying that of course there’s more people outside the walls. In fact those people outside the walls despise the people inside the walls and wanted to kill them off and the titans are the least of their worries. 

So imma leave my absolute FAVORITE part of s4 ep5 (not my video but bless their soul for posting it)

And ofc imma still talk just a little bit abt this. GOSH THE TENSIONS. THE REALIZATIONS.

When reiner reveals to eren that it was all his fault that any of seasons 1-3 happened bc he forced the rest of his team to continue with the mission after marcel was killed. THE CUT TO EREN’S IRISES SHRINKING JUST A TINY BIT AT THAT REALIZATION. In another world, all of his loved ones might still be alive. He would’ve never had to experience the hell of the colossal titan breaking down Wall Maria.

AND THEN when willy says ‘more than anyone i wanted the eradication of eldians. but i dont want to die because i was born into this world’ and it’s a call back to WAYYYY back when the gang is talking with shadis and he tells eren what his mother said long ago “[my son is] already special. because he was born into this world” which eren indicates he remembers by the small reaction of his eyes widening at those words. He’s reminded that everyone is special... it’s just that they had the misfortune of being born into this world.

oh and one last thing:

the way they animated this was perfectly done. tho they could only fit willy into one frame and had the camera pan up to eren it still worked SO well

anywayyyyy if you reached this point thanks ig? 😅 gosh i love this story so much. it’s an amazing piece of work and will definitely go down in history. the whole story was woven together so well and rewatching everything after seeing ep 5 helped me connect parallels and realize each character’s motives and just why some characters did what they did. Can’t wait for ep 6 :))

[madisonrooney]

THOUGHTS ON D3

(some of these may be points about stuff we already knew going into it but like now that weve gotten to see it all together its easier to discuss)

- i like what they did with audrey’s plot. her and mal’s relationship did feel pretty unresolved after d1 so im glad they went this route. not to mention being able to bring her back after her being absent in the second. also i like the message that it gave off about being able to be good or bad regardless of where you come from

- i loved hades! he was so fun and i loved how things ended up with him. and DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO WAS AWESOME probably my fav song. but i cant say im a huge fan of him being mal’s dad. like i loved the way their relationship played out but while the descendants fan in me is happy the disney stickler thinks its a bit too much creative license for them to make a kid the child of two disney characters from two different movies. it also kinda like...almost invalidates her character of “maleficent’s daughter” now shes the daughter of two villains and it?? feels different?? if that makes sense?? could the other VKs possibly have another villain as their other parent?? who knows. also i wish they hadn’t made it so obvious so early like people guessed this A YEAR AND A HALF AGO WHEN THE TEASER CAME OUT. maybe had it just been a few months it wouldnt have been as bad but yeesh. it made the shock factor...well, almost non-existant.

- continuing on their relationship, i thought tackling the idea of an absentee dad was a bold move for a movie like this and i applaud it. not to mention with an upbeat musical number? they really did that

- i loved celia too!! i was afraid she was gonna be more bad news than she was but she was super cute and sweet. loved her friendship with dizzy. and loved getting to see more of dizzy! and even though dr facilier wasnt in it much he was fun. i thought it was sweet that he and celia seemed to have a good relationship. im also glad we got to see lady tremaine! but wheres drizella lol

- also in regards to hades and celia, i liked that they brought in two more movies into the universe that hadnt yet been acknowledged (not counting wicked world or the books). i love both hercules and princess and the frog and while i wouldnt call them underrated theyre not quite as mainstream as some of the other movies in the descendants universe so im happy with that.

- on the other hand, i dont really like it when they get more kids from movies that they already have kids from. in this case, squeaky and squirmy. gil seemed out of place to me when i first watched d2, especially cuz like why would gastons son be a pirate, but since he had some funny lines with ben (in this movie too!) it was worth it. but squeaky and squirmy had no lines with harry? THEY ALMOST DIDNT HAVE ANY LINES AT ALL??? so why couldnt they have had them be kids from a movie they hadnt used yet? the more the merrier imo. idk.

- mal and uma repairing their relationship was like the highlight for me ugh it was so good. i think we all had a feeling that would happen (not just from speculation but from set pics and whatnot) but it felt satisfying regardless. uma saying “im right here mal you got this”? love that

- WE LOVE MORE DRAGON MAL. EVEN MORE THAN IN D2. WE LOVE THAT A LOT.

- WE ALSO LOVE MORE DUDE. OK SO MAYBE THATS JUST ME BUT SCREW IT I LOVE TALKING DOGS SO IM GLAD HE STILL TALKED. DOVE CAMERON AND A TALKING DOG IN THE SAME MOVIE IS BASICALLY PANDERING TO ME OK

- WE ALSO LOVE MALVIE CONTENT!!! love that evie was the only one who knew hades was her dad AND LOVE THAT THEY SAID I LOVE YOU TO EACH OTHER LIKE DAMN. AND DURING MY ONCE UPON A TIME WHEN MAL LIKE CARESSES HER FACE??? LIKE HER INTERACTION WITH HER WAS MORE INTENSE THAN WITH ANYONE ELSE EVEN BEN??? GOOD SHIT

- OK I KNEW ABOUT THE DID I MENTION REPRISE AS OF A FEW DAYS AGO BUT IM A SLUT FOR PARALLELS SO THAT STILL KILLED ME

- any parallels killed me. especially, ofc, ending with “cuz were rotten...to the core” (tho i was hoping the rotten remix thats on the soundtrack would be in the movie)

- loved getting more harry and gil content. gil is so blissfully stupid and precious and i love him and harry is so chaotic and i love him too

- and just...love the sea three bonding with the core four. also it felt well paced. wasnt rushed, had its moments to slowly get us there (mal+uma, jay+gil+harry) it felt like it went just the way it was supposed to.

- the whole series of events felt well paced and well ordered

- tbh i think its hilarious how chad’s douche baggery never dies down. i mean points for consistency i guess

- (did anyone catch the sign on the isle that mentioned monstro? good easter egg)

- (im really going out of order ik)

- one kiss was fun and cute, but i never felt like doug and evie were like...behind in their relationship? if anything i thought as of d2 their relationship was more stable than that of mal and ben

- night falls was a little silly and felt a little too similar to its goin down to me but it served a purpose and it was still fun

- and ofc it was so bittersweet to watch cam. the dedications were heart-wrenching but beautiful.

overall it really could not have been better! great new characters, great development on the characters we love, great soundtrack, and, most importantly, a story that perfectly wraps up the franchise. its hard to get a trilogy right. i love a lot of trilogies but a lot of them have some major flaws. with like say the kung fu panda movies, the 2nd and 3rd feel like theyre about very different things than the first. it doesnt feel like its telling one cohesive story. some have a second that feels unimportant to be between the 1st and 3rd. this just felt like perfectly coming full circle. everything from the beginning of the first movie to the end of the third felt necessary to tell the story. no useless filler, all essential to the plot, adding more as we go and resolving more, but having a hell of a lot of fun the entire time. i remember d2 being one of the most, if not the most, satisfying sequels ive ever seen. maybe part of that has to do with descendants being such a main fandom of mine when it came out, but sometimes, even new additions to my main fandoms can disappoint. these sequels really haven’t. part of that may just have to do with my love for the franchise regardless of the direction it goes in, but i know that it also has to do with just a great job in storytelling. continuing the story and wrapping it up just right. when the first one came out, we didn’t know it would be a trilogy. it works great as a standalone movie, but when you see the third one, you would think it was intended this way from the beginning, which honestly gives it even more power.

it breaks my heart to let this franchise go, but ofc in mal’s words “this is not the end.” with it just coming out, that means its just the beginning of discussions, gifs, memes, fanart, and all that fun stuff. so lets jump right in!

and, as always, every bit of love in my heart goes to cam tonight. we still miss you endlessly and we always will.

[madisonrooney]

alright lets get some more collected thoughts out here

im still a little scatter brained but i wanted to get something at least somewhat more cohesive out before the night is over lol

- predicted ways to be wicked to be a dream sequence. check and mate. - i cant?? entirely remember what my thought was as far as why mal was blonde but i think i was right? that she dyed it to yknow fit in better? - ofc not a fan of forced heteronormative relationships but janelos had its moments i must admit. like, if i had to take it or leave it, id leave it, but it didnt have me cringing and rolling my eyes the whole time, yknow? - ok guys. go easy on me. but some of you know that im that ass who holds dog with a blog as one of their favorite shows of all time. im a sucker for that kind of stuff, always have been. so i was all over dude talking. im now aware im probably the only one who feels that way but oh well lol. and i thought it was bobby moynihan at first but wasnt sure? but then lo and behold lol. im glad they got a somewhat big name, and i really like his voice work so. - i knew id love the new VKs but i loved them even more than i expected. uma was a badass as anticipated. harry was so loud and crazy i loved him. and gil is my son omg?? im always a sucker for the big burly boys who happen to be sweet little idiots. and dylan was super cool when i met him at the RDMAs, shouldve known id end up loving his character. - chad is such a douche and he made me laugh so much lol. and you go audrey drop his ass lmao. - the whole thing with lonnie was great. glad to see her get more screen time, especially given that it fit in with her heritage and wasnt just random yknow. i loved everything about her plotline, and i liked that any romance between her and jay was subtle and implied. i can handle that. - beyond just that, we had a lot of lesser seen interactions, like between ben and evie and jay and mal. liked those a lot. - its very intriguing to see each VKs different feelings towards the isle. the part where evie made ben promise her she wouldnt have to stay there really struck me deep. she and mal have different histories there, so its understandable that they have different attachments to it. - as is common consensus, dizzy is adorable and im so happy she (and other isle kids it seems) are gonna have a chance to go to auradon prep. - dove got me hyped for a very layered, insecure, developed mal and naturally, she delivered. i think she had a very real relatable story and i really liked that. - in mal’s story and in others, there were some deeper implications that i found really interesting. like how uma said beast was the one who trapped them all there when really the children are innocent. sure this was addressed in the first movie but this gave us a chance to think about it a bit more. i also liked the message of “you dont have to be one thing or another, you can be a mix of whatever you want” i thought that was pretty original and creative?? and could be interpreted as a metaphor for gender/sexuality (among other parts of the movie). - a lot of people are saying the pacing was bad and i can kinda agree to some extent but at the same time i watched it with commercials and thats the first time ive watched a new disney show or movie with commercials (save for one gmw ep that id already seen at a taping anyway) in a year and a half so that kinda threw me off. plus i had to watch it on lifetime which i think had more ads than DC did. - one thing that did confuse me tho was mal’s decision process of where to stay or where not to as the movie went on. like she just...went back to auradon without even thinking about it (but i guess that was to escape uma, and then jay offering to take her back kinda balanced that out). but her official decision to stay was a bit...confusing to me?? - okay yah so dragon mal is something ive been dreaming of for who knows how long and i never genuinely hoped for or even expected it to happen in canon so the fact that it did made me RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY. (im a slut for dragons for those who dont know). and i also hoped for uma to go full ursula which she did so that was awesome. - even tho i knew this earlier this week, the soundtrack is baller. its going down is my fav. chillin like a villain is a bop. space between....is gay. its all great. - im a SLUT for parallels so any parallels to the first movie were a plus for me - long awaited bal kiss yay!!! and more than one no less!! - oh!! and of course!!! dove is adorable/flaming hot/angry angsty baby all at the same time look at my girl go

so all in all, it gave me a ton of things i wanted, some of which i didnt even expect to get, raised the stakes, built on the characters and added some great new ones, had fantastic music and dancing, payed homage to the original movie but also made it its own, and overall was a super fun exciting ride! sure it had a few issues here and there, but thats to be expected of a DCOM. what matters most to me is that i love this franchise and i had a fantastic time watching this new installment.