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tiptapricot · 1 year

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Hiya!! This may sound like a weird ask question but my autistic brain and it’s hyper fixations won’t let me live until I have this all figured out. So I watched moon knight and obviously became obsessed with Layla, the thing is, I love her outfits, and I feel like there ain’t enough on the show!! Like literally only three outfits maybe four that we can see and I need more it makes me sad. Could you maybe recommend me some other characters with the same style as her, or give me some links to Pinterest outfits that would fit her? I saw your stevens apartment post and I know a ‘I never miss a detail’ person when I see one which I adore about you being honest. Thanks for reading I know it’s weird lmao 🤭

He anon!! I don’t know if you ended up finding other answers, this got lost in my drafts while answering and I’m only just getting to it now (edit: got lost in drafts again while half finished and I’ve wrapped up some pieces to finally post it now months later), but I hope this helps! I unfortunately am not a fashion focused person nor someone as familiar w a wide range of characters outside of my interests as far as immediately available brain information, but I’ll do what I can :-) This is more of a post examining Layla’s outfit details and trends, so make of that what you will!

I checked costume designer Meghan Kasperlik’s Instagram where she’s posted a lot of the details of the costuming process, however the general focus seems to be on the suits and godly designs. I also couldn’t find any immediately available interviews talking about the choices made with Layla. Still! Here’s her post on the behind the scenes for the Scarlet Scarab costume, with detail shots and some notes.

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A post shared by Meghan Kasperlik (@mkcostumes)

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As far as more regular outfit stuff for Layla, here’s my own peeking and observations! These are the outfits we see her in in show (excluding the Duat Layla, the look she takes to blend in with Harrow’s men, and Scarlet Scarab, as those are outside of her canonic own fashion choices and wardrobe).

Summon the Suit:

What we see here is a more casual outfit, but still somewhat tactical. This is what Layla wore to go looking for Marc after his radio silence, a situation she wasn’t sure was his choice or because he was in danger. As such, we can assume this is a generally a more mission oriented outfit, tactical but able to blend in with civilian crowds. Stuff to notice!

There are colors but they are more muted

The pants are not loose and are sturdy while still allowing for good movement, but are not leggings or stretchy fabric

The pants are also somewhat high waisted/pulled up, with the top tucked in

She is wearing rings on her right hand, even for a more official mission (will go more in depth in next outfit)

She has a watch on her left wrist

More a fun fact, but the jacket mirrors/resembles the scarlet scarab design/look, which is a really fun character detail and good foreshadowing

The Friendly Type:

Layla’s most outfit heavy episode :-D These show some rly interesting trends in her choices and allows us to see her more casual outfit looks, and what she wears outside of business.

Outfit one, opening scene:

This one we never get a super clear shot of, but it’s what she wears while getting her passport forged. She’s with a friend, but doing slightly more illegal activity. I don’t know where she is when this happens, but things to note!

Big comfy black leather jacket, a black shirt, and black (skinny?) jeans

Darker tones again, possibly because she had to blend in or be under the radar for this meeting, but also may just be a casual look as her wardrobe trends darker

Pants are not loose but still flexible again, and are high waisted/pulled up again

Rings! Same as from summon the suit, on the same hands. These seem to stay constant in all following outfits. Will have their own mini section

A loose gold chain necklace

Still has her watch

Outfit 2, confronting Marc in Cairo:

This is Likely Layla’s most casual and every day type outfit we see her in during the show. She’s clearly been about town, having grabbed a drink, changed, and been looking for Marc. Things to note!

A bit more color again with the pinkish pants, but still a dimmer shade, nothing too bright, but cute and casual

Pants have a button and are pulled up higher again, seemingly looser than previous bottoms we’ve seen. I’m also unsure if these are shorts as I don’t have a clear shot, but they could be

Her top is loose and casual but nothing like a tight tank top, and has an almost ruffle look to it

Rings and watch as usual

Outfit 3, Mogart’s/turning back the sky (and what she fights in in the beginning of the next episode):

Initially a more formal, elegant type look, meant to blend in well with Mogart’s vibe, but still present a professional front, and double for a confrontation she knows is coming.

Darker tones again, grey and black this time, with a loose vibe to everything with nothing too stretchy

Pants high waisted again, seemingly tied around her waist either with a belt, a sash, or something built into the pants

Sleeves rounded against the wrists

Top is sleeveless under coat in a similar cut to her more casual pink and white Cairo look from previously

Watch and rings as usual

The tomb/God’s and Monsters:

Suited up to go into the tomb, all pretenses of formality have been dropped for something tactical.

New vest and belt, earth tones and sturdy fabric

A new shirt as her undershirt from previous was short sleeved

New pants, grey this time instead of the previous black

While I think she may have been wearing them at Mogart’s, has her gold snake earrings very prominent in this scene

So!! With all of this. The general sense I can get of Layla’s fashion is:

high waisted pants almost always

generally muted color palette of blacks, greys, browns, etc, occasionally with a splash of color usually in warmer tones like red or pink

Not much super stretchy fabric like leggings, and not many tight or athletic tops. She goes comfortable and generally loose, as well as going with more matte(?) textured clothing, nothing shiny or super silky

She has a range of jackets and jewelry

She wears her watch and rings with everything

And speaking of—

Rings!

Layla wears the same sets of rings throughout the show, a different set on each hand.

Right hand:

A gold ring with some kind of flat and engraved top, though I can’t tell the design on it in the shots we get

Two rounder and more generic silver rings

Left hand:

Two more generic flatter gold-ish rings

One silver ring with raised edges and maybe details on the flatter part, unsure

This is the hand she has the watch on!

As far as the significance or referencing of these with all of this, I don’t know! Again I am not tied into the fashion world and wouldn’t know where to start on research if these hold more significance or referential character detail than just being rings she likes to wear. But it’s an interesting detail to see her preferences and that she keeps these as well as her earrings on on missions and in deadly situations.

She doesn’t do this with necklaces, and it makes me think it’s likely related to function. Rings can help with punching (debatably) and earrings won’t cause a disadvantage, but a necklace would be a choking, tangling, or face-hitting hazard. The one time we do see her wear a necklace during active mission time is at Mogart’s, and of course, we see that’s because it’s specifically worn to be layer used as a weapon.

So! Again sorry this took so long, not even sure if you’ll see this if you don’t follow me, and I know I am more presenting information and details over analysis or giving you alternative looks, but I hope this was at least interesting and helped some for vibes to look for!

Also if anyone has things to add in about details I missed (it’s been long enough now I don’t remember if I rewatched the episodes to examine shots or not), or significance or references I didn’t pick up as someone not familiar with fashion, please feel free to add it in a reblog! Similar to my Steven’s flat layout post I’m more than happy to have this be a growing and changing source of Layla outfit information and discussion :-)

(IDs besides video in ALT)

#moon knight #moon knight 2022 #layla el faouly #the fruit is talking again #mikes mk meta #long post

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stitching-in-time · 2 months

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Voyager rewatch s3 ep 26: Scorpion pt 1

AKA, the beginning of All The Borg Crap. I do not love the Borg- I don't really like any of Voyager's continuing villains, but I've had issues with the Borg as a concept since Next Gen, and I feel like all the additional spotlight on them in Voyager just shone an even more glaring light on their flaws, but this particular episode was actually pretty decent, and better than I remembered.

For one thing, there wasn't a lot of actual Borg in it, just a lot of the crew preparing to face them, which has enough dramatic tension in and of itself. In any given episode, you know the crew is going to face a life and death scenario at some point, that's just how Star Trek, and most sci-fi, works, and you accept it as the status quo of the genre and don't think about it a lot. With the Borg, however, they're facing a fate much worse than death, and it's actually just really stressful to watch characters you love have to deal with the gnawing, existstential dread of that. Like, hmm, do I really want to think about my beloved space family facing the prospect of being turning into mindless zombie slaves? No! I do not! And the fact that Starfleet could literally have stopped the Borg forever, and didn't, because they felt sorry for them, makes it all ten times worse- but my burning hatred of the ending of 'I, Borg' is the subject for another post someday, when I do another full rewatch of TNG.

I liked the little scenes of Janeway on the holodeck in DaVinci's studio; the set is very detailed, and pretty, and they have a cozy, meditative atmosphere that acts as a nice counterbalance to the existential Borg dread and frenetic activity of basically arming themselves for war.

Having a new villain that could take down the Borg was actually a nice change- as evil as species 8472 is, it's actually a relief to have regular baddies who just want to kill everyone. It's kind of hard to judge the cgi fairly now, since it was the best they could do with the tech and budget they had at the time, but it doesn't hold up super well. (One thing I think is absolutely hilarious though is watching the DVD special features, and finding out that the pile of dead Borg was actually just action figures that they sawed apart and glued together and filmed from different angles. I thought it looked a little uncanny valley, and that's because yeah, it's literally a pile of miniature dolls. Actual mass produced merch, for children, used as an actual prop, in the actual show! Too wild!)

I appreciated the dilemma of deciding whether they should go through Borg space or not, and the disagreement between Janeway and Chakotay was well played, and pretty devastating, tbh. Chakotay always seems more ready to give up and be willing to settle for a new home, whereas Janeway never is, and considering that her stance on that has never wavered, it hurts when Chakotay disagrees with her. It hurts more when he won't concede she's right, even knowing that in her mind, she doesn't even consider not going home as an option. Chakotay must know that for her, the choice has always been get home or die trying, no third option, and that the crew would all follow her to it if she asked it of them, so it hurts when he won't back her when she takes the best option in a bad situation. On the one hand, I get where he's coming from- it would be safer to give up and go live on some planet, they could probably have had good lives- but they're Starfleet, and they'd choose Starfleet every time, and they'll chose it even when it the odds are against them. Janeway is the most Starfleet any person could ever be- and he had to know that, but when it comes down to the wire, he lets her know she's on her own when she makes that decision. At the end of the day, the hard decisions all fall to her, with no one to ask for help or intervention, and no one else to bear the weight of those decisions with, except maybe for supportive words from her crew, especially Chakotay and Tuvok. The only people she can rely on are her crew, and ultimately, Chakotay does let her down in that moment. Maybe he's too angry to be Starfleet when staring down the possible loss of everything they have on Voyager, but it still hurts that he won't even pay lip service to believing in her, for her sake, since he's going to follow her orders anyway. A heartbreaking scene, but very real. Sometimes no matter how much you love someone, you're going to end up disagreeing, and when it's something as fundamental as right or wrong, life and death, it's going to hurt worse. But still they do their jobs as though it didn't tear their hearts out. Ugh. This show sometimes!!!

Anyway, it ends on a very nailbiting cliffhanger, and I remember being pretty excited to find out what happened back in the day. Of course back then we didn't know about the cast change of doom looming ahead of us, and I'm not especially looking forward to it, but I'm hoping that maybe now, with hindsight and the perspective of a few decades, I might hate it less, or at least find things I didn't appreciate back then when it was all happening the first time. We'll see!

Tl;dr: A surprisingly suspenseful and tense episode that managed to bring a heap of character driven drama without bringing nearly any Borg directly in to it at all.

#star trek: voyager #voyager rewatch #rewatching star trek #star trek voyager #star trek

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morkitten · 1 year

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I finally read the IDW Sonic comics

I wonder if anyone’s been wondering why did it take me this long to do it. “You’re a Sonic fan, right?” I imagine some people who know me ask. I think people get the wrong idea of me.

I have strong opinions about Sonic-related things having followed the games for so long and having some Sonic games be my favorite games of all time. I was in Sonic forums, my first characters were Sonic fan-characters.

(pictured: my first character)

But I think people think that because of those things, you need to “follow the fandom”, that you need to consume and like every single thing related to a franchise. I was like that when I was young, but I’ve been an adult for a decade, and I think “liking” things should be much more complex than “is of this intellectual property”. Do the people who made the things that you like about your favorite game still work at the company who owns the IP of its franchise? People make things, not companies, although it can be fun to see other talented people do their take on a thing that you like, when they have interesting ideas and aren’t doing so cynically.

Still, when it’s something that it’s been a big part of your life and you have strong opinions about it, you feel the pull of curiosity tugging you, and when my friend asked me to read the IDW comics to talk about’em and gave me access to their account so I could do it, it felt like the perfect opportunity to jump in.

To be honest, at first I was extremely bored. It took me something like 30-something issues (yikes!!!) to start coming around to it. I thought that the writing was really boring. It wasn’t funny, it wasn’t witty, it didn’t make me feel things for the characters. Especially at the beginning where they’re just introducing every single character from the games. Why? Couldn’t you introduce a handful to use for a story arc, then use another different selection for the next story? Were they worried that a kid that had Silver or the Chaotix as their favorite characters would think that they would never be a part of the story if they’re not introduced fairly early? It’s strange. So the first few issues feel like a bunch of “introduce a character and make them look cool defeating some robots”. It’s boring. I mean, there’s really no sense of danger when those characters are just fighting regular badniks, is there? You know it’s not going to be an issue. So why have them? You could argue, well, it can still be good action even when there’s no sense of danger or stakes. I think it can be great opportunities to make good physical comedy, like Tom & Jerry where the robots are Tom and Sonic is Jerry. But a lot of times the way to dispose of those robots is just a panel of like, Sonic dashing between a bunch of them and they explode. Snore! Like, remember how Sonic CD had those ending sequences of Sonic fighting badniks in different Zones and every single time he does it in a different way? How cool and even sometimes really funny it looked?

dude... he’s made’em look like they were fuckin’

now let’s compare to literally one of the first pages of the IDW comics:

Boring! Just because Sonic boosts into enemies to destroy them in the games doesn’t mean that I’d want to see him do that in a comic. Actually, especially because of that you *shouldn’t* do that in a comic! We’re outside of the boundaries of video games - you can write all sorts of scenes and actions and stories that we don’t see in a video game, that don’t work on that format, that we haven’t already *seen* in the games. Give us something new, exciting, funny!

This is actually a big issue that I have with adaptations nowadays. It feels like we’re overcorrecting the fact that adaptations in the west were often completely uninterested in the original material, now going too far into “needs to be very literal to the source”. And especially with the IDW comics at first, it feels like a barrage of references to the games, like it’s marred to this mentality that more references = better adaptation. Anyone can read a wiki nowadays, it’s not impressive. It just feels like you’re being bombarded with stuff that shouldn’t even be here. Who was asking for the Deadly Six to come back? Why do we need them? And like, because I got the Sonic brainrot I understand every time that they pull something out of the reference hat, but often they’ll reference things in ways that I’m like “how is a kid supposed to understand what this *means*”, like they’re written like you’re supposed to already know these things, already have played every single other game, and the comics are just a “sequel” to all of that.

Anyway, I think this issue with the action might also be a problem of how comic books are made. Writer and artist are often separate entities, unlike manga, so you often don’t get like, very specifically graphic comedy or action that requires that many panels to set up a joke or some specific action that is maybe only appealing because of how specifically it is drawn. I’m guessing the writer just writes “Sonic disposes of badniks” and the artist isn’t going to debate “well, if we can make some significant cuts to other things that you wrote and give me some time, I can both think up and do a whole sequence that takes up a page and a half as to how he disposes of this very small inconsequential thing in a way that’s funny or fun”. That isn’t going to happen. You’re going to get one or two panels of Sonic dashing into these inconsequential badniks unless the writer envisions a specific bit and writes it down, I’d imagine. Unless you got pages to spare. Also all the characters look like that while they’re doing it, right? The smug smile, throwing a quip or two. I really dislike that. There’s not much emotional range in the comic for a while, it’s just this emotional temperature for several issues.

And even when they start introducing different emotional temperatures and character conflict, the writing at first really isn’t great. I was also not sold by the Metal Virus story, even though there are some nice ideas that I really like in them, I don’t think it’s “there yet”. I think this page here illustrates my issues with the writing:

For context, Cream (the rabbit) is something like 6 or 8 years old, and the robot (Gemerl) is her robot friend butler who decides in its programming that the best course of action to make Cream and her mom safe is to beat up everyone infected by the virus that turns people into robot zombies - Sonic’s partially infected and is fighting off the disease.

Like, is this how a 6 year old would talk? Is this how a 6-8 year old girl would plead to her friend to not attack her other friends? It feels like that genre of tweets where it’s like “my 6 year old son walked up to this bigot in the bus and told him how racism and homophobia is bad and that you should vote joe biden and the entire bus clapped”. I think she should be scared, she shouldn’t be able to “make an argument”, like she’s not that articulate or confident in her own words, but that she knows that it’s wrong, she knows she doesn’t want this to happen and is pleading desperately to Gemerl and is maybe confused as to why would Gemerl even hurt her friend. It’s also really weak that Gemerl would just be convinced by this tepid argument like it hasn’t thought of these things before until Cream said them, it makes Gemerl look really stupid. Maybe it changes its mind because Cream is scared, because it decides in its programming that keeping her happy is part of her safety or more important than her physical safety, maybe something else happens! I don’t know! I just know that what we got instead is boring!

There’s tons of plot points or conflicts that are disposed of quickly, easily, pointlessly like this. Sonic for an issue drops down in Blaze’s dimension with amnesia but gets his memory back and gets sent back to his world extremely quickly. Like we spend maybe 4 pages total with this whole “Sonic has amnesia” bit. Why did that happen at all, then? It’s not funny, exciting, it doesn’t set up anything, it’s... nothing. Nothing happens.

Also, a lot characters are constantly written in a really flat way. Especially if they’re good guys, they often don’t feel like they have motivations other than “to do good” and their argument for someone in a moral crisis is always “well, but you’re doing *good things* now, aren’t you?” And it makes me want to scream “Good doesn’t mean anything!” I think every character should be written like they have different ideas of what doing good for themselves and others mean. I think they get slightly better about this later on, they make it a point that Sonic’s ideals are about fighting for people to be free, that he prizes freedom above all else, which then leads to him resolving conflicts often with just letting villains go. But like, Tails disposes of a bad guy in an issue by putting him in jail. I would not write that. I think Tails is too lined up with Sonic’s ideals and prizes him too much to do something that Sonic would disagree with so strongly.

The art is also hit-or-miss. I don’t like shit-talking visual artists. Illustration is hard especially if you’re banging these out quickly. Comics are hard! But the quality undoubtedly fluctuates a lot depending on what artist they got for the issue. I like a few artists and I don’t really like the rest.

---

Okay, so! With all of that out of the way, how exactly did I turn around on these comics? Just to be clear, I don’t think they completely turn around, a lot of these issues still somewhat persist, but are lessened.

Well, I think the comic really starts getting good once we get more of the original characters in. I really like them! They’re interesting concepts and they work quite well with the already established cast. Dr. Starline in particular, feels like a great secondary antagonist to play off Dr. Eggman and the rest of the cast. It’s a really welcome presence that never feels like it’s jutting out weirdly, like a guest appearance or a temporary addition.

Belle the Tinkerer is also a really fun character. What all the new characters have in common is, besides that they’re fun conceptually and that they have fun designs and personalities, is that they’re allowed to have character arcs, growth, plotlines, these things that are essential for a comic that leans into a serialized narrative like this one, that they can’t quite do with the pre-established SEGA characters. It makes me wonder if a significant part of my issues with the early stuff is just that they were very tied on how they’re able to portray the pre-established characters or what they can do. Once they create a cast of new characters and flesh them out and create narratives surrounding them, it really starts to get going.

To be fair, the thing that most made me want to read these comics was Surge. One look at her and it’s like. Oh. she’s catnip made for me.

But that made me all the more wary about her. Do I trust her to be written well? I think people often fall into these pitfalls writing the sort of character that she is and end up with stuff I find really bad. But man, I’m so glad she’s exactly the kind of character that I thought she was going to be, she’s written and drawn exactly how I would like her to be. I don’t wanna spoil people so I can’t exactly explain what that means, just know that: I love Surge, I really do. I’m just going to post some of my favorite panels of her.

The art is also consistently better in the more recent issues (look at this last panel I posted! this artist gets a ton of work on the latest issues and their stuff consistently looks great!), and the Surge & Kit, Starline and Belle the Tinkerer plotlines are engrossing and fun. I’ve been finding plenty to like even if there’s some stuff I’ve felt is less than great still persists. In short, I’m glad that I didn’t quit even when I felt plenty justified in doing so. I’m trying to be open and not dismissive of things. Try stuff out and go through with them, because I don’t ever want to dislike something, and if I do, I want to be desperately proven wrong! If you keep trying new things out, even those that you’re iffy on looking from the outside, you’ll often find some stuff to enjoy, to enrich yourself, or even to just make an enormous post that nobody in their right mind will read afterwards.

#idw sonic #surge the tenrec #sth #sonic the hedgehog #sonic

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yesterdanereviews · 2 years

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Evil Bong 888: Infinity High (2022)

Film review #529

Director: Charles Band

SYNOPSIS: Rabbit has opened up a new restaurant to try and go legit after his many weed-related adventures, with the evil bong, Ebee, working in the kitchen. However, many mishaps ensue, and tempt Rabbit to return to his old ways...

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Evil Bong 888: Infinity High is a 2022 film and actually the ninth film in the Evil Bong series (if you’re counting Evil Bong vs. Gingerdead Man). The film opens up with series regular Rabbit preparing to open a new restaurant and attempting to go straight without smoking weed. Meanwhile the evil bong, Ebee, is helping out in the kitchen. If you’ve seen any of the other Evil Bong films, then you’ll know what to expect: a bunch of one-note characters come through the doors, and do their predictable humour, while the next characters come in and add to the scene. Everything that I have written about the previous Evil Bong films essentially just applies to this one: it is not a complex film, the plot is barely a plot, but the audience is people that are high and probably only aren’t going to follow any complexities, and just want to see some stupid, sexy or trippy stuff on screen. With a runtime of around an hour, at least the film does not overstay it’s welcome.

The film is, in some way, a return to basics (if you think the series ever evolved beyond “basics”), and takes out a lot of the characters and concepts that had driven the last few films, such as Lucy Furr, the Gingerdead Man, and Sexy Hell (yes, I did just write all of those things, and yes, they did happen). Although it’s unclear whether this is just because they couldn’t get any of the other actors to return; even though this hasn’t stopped them before from simply recasting a lot of roles. As such, we are left with Rabbit and Ebee, who became the only ones to appear in all the previous Evil Bong films. The “I tell you what” rednecks return doing their regular shtick, and even though they have been doing the same thing over numerous films, it’s strangely comforting to see them back doing the same thing, as it probably wouldn’t feel like an Evil Bong film without them at this point. The film also manages to bring back Larnell, one of the original characters, for the final few minutes, but he literally does nothing other than smoke a joint. The Gingerdead/Gingerweed man also make a brief cameo at the end, so there was at least some effort to acknowledge some of the other key characters of the series.

The film does try to be up to date with some it’s characters: you have a “Karen” who comes into the restaurant to complain, two teenagers who don’t know how to act in public post-Covid pandemic, and “Joe Exotic” (not actually him, in factm it doesn’t even look like him) It’s very little, and hardly biting social commentary, but it helps set the scene a little, and make the characters seem a bit more relatable (even though they are never anything more than clichés.) To balance this out as well, you also get the German chef named Sal Monella, whose personality is simply being German (you can probably imagine what that means). Again, it’s all simple stuff that doesn’t need to be anything more than what it is, but that doesn’t necessarily make it good.

Like most (all) of the Evil Bong films, the film has two sets: the restaurant, and the kitchen. Even then, quite a few of the scenes are obviously completely green-screened. It cuts back on trying to use CG and trippy special effects, and just sticks to having a laugh with the characters and tropes they have. Being as this is supposed to be the final Evil Bong film, it doesn’t really have a definitive ending or resolution, but at least it didn’t end on a cliff-hanger like Evil Bong 777 did (and which this film pretty much ignores). Overall, Evil Bong 888 is, as all of the films in this series are, crude, low budget, and without a plot. But as always, these films are meant to target an audience of people who are probably so high they are devoid of sense, so anything more complex than semi-nudity and weed jokes isn’t going to be truly appreciated. I think cutting a lot of the characters and lore it had built up helps the film in some regards by focusing on the characters that work, but it doesn’t offer anything new, or a definitive, satisfying ending to the series. I don’t think it’s the worst film in the series, as it attempts some relevant jokes, and returns some of the more memorable characters, but there’s still plenty of dull moments and flat jokes that would remain flat no matter how high you are. If you are familiar with Full Moon’s low budget films, you’ll recognise this as more of what they do, but if you’re expecting something entertaining that delivers something truly unique with its concept, you’ll be sorely disappointed: that ship sailed long ago.

#movie #movie review #evil bong 888 infinity high #evil bong #420 #film #film review #2022 film

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needstobenerfed-blog · 3 months

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So I prevented a TPK by being an asshole.

I’m playing a classless campaign (Homebrew ofc) with some friends. Each of our characters had a regular profession instead of a class and weapons based off it. My character is a sort of Doctor Jekyl and Mr. Hyde case where I have to flip a coin to see which personality is in charge before each encounter/scene. We had just gone to a murder trial and went to go speak with the town’s religious figure (BBEG in disguise). Our party’s artist rolled a high perception roll and discovered the BBEG’s disguise and disclosed it to me (second highest roll). We deduced that it’d be best to just follow along with this guy ,as he invited us to dinner, to avoid rousing suspicion.

We go and have dinner with the BBEG and conversations start going around the table. Eventually, he insults one of the party members, a young slave PC we had just saved from a ship a few sessions prior. My character, being the calmer, more educated type, returns a wise crack at him and berates him for insulting a literal child. The argument consumes the table and ,eventually, leads to my character looking the BBEG (a priest) in the eyes and going:

“Least I’m not a child molester”

TO THE ABJECT HORROR OF THE PARTY. The priest (BBEG) was flabbergasted at the slight and proceeded to Holy Smite Doctor Jekyl into next Wednesday. Unfortunately for him, when one personality sleeps, the others awakens. So Mr. Hyde wakes up deepfried on the floor in front of a priest. The BBEG, still baffled, tries to question my character and gets hit with a complete accent change (Jekyl personality has an English accent while Hyde has a Southern accent) and a complete change in demeanor. The BBEG berates Hyde who’s just analyzing the situation. Hyde hadn’t even met the young slave PC yet ,so he was just delighted:

“Oh! We gotta new kid on board. Ain’t that great! Aye, Father, you ain’t gonna touch’em are ya?”

The party just stared at me in shock alongside the BBEG as the BBEG proceeded to hit me with like 4 more Smites before leaving the room fully insulted. After knocking the Hyde personality, Jekyl came back up. The party looked flabbergasted as they carried me out but my character just looked at the artist and went:

“Now we know he can’t control his temper”

OOC The entire table was losing their minds out of how stupid I was and how, although I remained in character, I almost got us all killed. It was the DM that broke that up by telling us that I prevented the boss battle. He had apparently planned it that one of the party members would get mad and provoke an attack on the BBEG and trigger the encounter. Unfortunately, he hadn’t planned for this argument to take this route thanks to me and the fight was avoided. Considering it took this priest less than a turn to subjugate any party member; That boss battle would’ve been a nightmare.

#dungeons and dragons #pmseymourva #almosttpk

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bookaddict24-7 · 2 years

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REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I’ve read so far in 2023!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

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18. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I decided to re-read ONE FOR THE MONEY and I'm going to be honest, I don't exactly remember why. It was a fun and quick refresher, though! The writing style is reminiscent of some of the other books I've read that deal with women who either are PIs or deal with crime. I love that writing style, especially when I'm listening to the audiobooks, because of the sass, the sexual tension between the MC and her love interest, and the quick pacing of the writing. While I enjoyed getting re-acquainted with Plum, there was definitely some words used that made me cringe. It just goes to show how much we, as a society, has changed. For example, there's a scene where the MC says to another character something along the lines of "you speak ghetto one second and normal the next". The use of the word ghetto is a little high in this book but I also see that this was regular verbiage in the 90s when this book came out. Heck, I didn't even realize it when I first read this book over ten years ago. Anyway, I want to read the rest of this series, but we will see if that actually happens LOL.

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19. Princess in Waiting by Meg Cabot--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

PRINCESS IN WAITING is by far my favourite book of the series (so far). Although I wanted to just serve Mia a dose of reality because Michael is so obviously in love with her, but remembering that she's only 14 is a very important thing. Despite her insecurities about Michael, I found that Mia was actually the most mature in this one. I could really see her growth in this one, especially when it came to her empathy and her moments of standing up for herself. I'm very excited to see how the next books go!

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20. Off Limits by Riley Hart--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm rating OFF LIMITS 4 stars simply because of how it made me feel and HOW I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN. I was such a complete sucker for this book and its many tropes. I loved that these characters essentially fell in love without knowing who the other really was and how their chemistry was so powerful, that it jumped off the page. I loved their love and that they communicated and decided to just go for it. The smut in this was great (especially that first time) and I think it was a good amount that didn't feel overwhelming. Riley Hart really knows how to give us some great scenes 😏 My main complaints, however, are how quickly everything at the end was wrapped up. I had an alternate ending in my head that I couldn't let go of, even as I finished the last page. That's on me, but in a way, I feel like the actual ending felt so anti-climactic. I did love the support that the characters gained from one if the families, and how one of the MCs was able to face the difficult relationship he has with his parents, but I do wish there was more of a...punch to the ending--especially with how emotionally charged the rest of the story was. I love Hart, so I know I'll definitely be picking up more of their books in the future!

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21. Vendetta Road by Christine Feehan--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One thing I have to give to Christine Feehan--I started this series kind of apprehensively because the characters (particularly the men) were a little hard to get behind. They're commanding, a little insta-lovey, and a bit too dominating. But somehow, the further I get into this series the more I start to see the charm of them? They may be very "You're my woman!", but they will treat their partners with respect and will literally die for them. VENDETTA ROAD is my favourite book in this series so far. This was one of those stories where I kept reminding myself that while these declarations of love were happening, they had literally had just met. But I think it is the dark past, the years of loneliness, and the need to find a reason to live that makes this men falling in love seem so desperate, intense, and immediate. The moment they see their light (their future partner), it's all over for both of the people in the relationship. I think this one was my favourite one so far because of how Ice just loved Soleil in the purest of ways. It was established nearly from the beginning that she was for him and he was for her, no matter the fears she holds and the trepidation he feels whenever he tells her about his past. I loved the scenes of them loving each other, then Ice going to avenge all those who wronged her. It was just so satisfying. This series is also incredibly dark with some of its scenes. I don't know how Feehan can write these books when certain characters say such vile things. I would need to take a break from writing after every chapter. Especially the chapters when we hear about who they're hunting, or another POV of the past we got a glimpse of in the first book. I've already started the next book because of the love interest. Hopefully I'll continue to enjoy this series. Please keep in mind any TWs you might come across before reading this series!

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Have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts, if you have?

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Happy reading!

#books #bookish #booklr #bookworm #reviews of the week #review #reviews #my writing #my opinion #long text post #on reading #on books #read #reader #reading #book blog #book blogger #Features #bookaholic

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olivereactsaboutgarbage · 2 years

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Soul Eater NOT! Episode 11 - Their Various Resolves!

SOON THE NIGHTMARE WILL BE OVER! Even though it, uh, literally just began. I guess it’s a pretty short nightmare and therefore not that big of a deal.

This episode once again starts with an anime opening rather than any sort of cold open. I guess that’s what distinguishes Nightmare Episodes from Regular Episodes. Well, neat!

This episode properly starts with Maka Albarn trying to kill Black Star. I think I’m watching the wrong show so never mind actually

haha just kidding anyways

Tsugumi is being kept in her room, meanwhile Anya is being kept in um??? The dungeon??? Anya gets to leave the dungeon basically immediately because Anya’s new job is to leave the school basically immediately. Meanwhile Joe is being kept in a tall place and she won’t stop mumbling about murder and it’s really annoying.

Anya, Clay, and Akane were stuck in a traffic jam for a minute there but “being the villain’s slave” starts getting spread like a zombie plague so they decide to just exit the traffic jam and go away.

Beloved Soul Eater Character “Stein” is working on an antidote, as it turns out. He calls a black woman a slave driver though which proves that he’s getting things backwards, so the antidote is likely poison.

The evil woman shows up to say that no one is allowed to leave the girls’ dorms (remember the evil woman?), so Tsugumi decides to leave the girls’ dorms. Tsugumi’s clever goal is to use Anya to rescue Joe so she can resolve the series’s overarching love triangle. Kim decides to use healing magic on Tsugumi because Jacqueline told her to.

wait why are kim and jacqueline together again did i miss something

The evil woman offers Tsugumi a mallet on her way out. Tsugumi doesn’t want a mallet. Meanwhile Anya’s cool moment is that she causes a car crash. It’s pretty rad. I like Anya.

Tsugumi gets some reinforcements. Meanwhile, Akane decides the best way to protect Anya is to beat her up. Anya says “hey look over there” and it works, but Akane stops her from leaving anyways because he’s just that good at jumping, and he effortlessly dodges her punch. Tsugumi shows up and has no idea how kissing works:

Clay warns Anya and Tsugumi about what the general strategic vibes are of the villain, and Tsugumi refuses to give up:

The cafe guy’s scooter can only seat two people, so Anya tells Tsugumi to spontaneously gain the ability to fly. Logistically I’m not sure that’s really necessary, but whatever. We get another scene of Tsugumi skinny-dipping near her soul, and Anya is there, also naked. I thought Anya was supposed to be “the” “prude”. It turns out Tsugumi and Anya are doing “soul resonance” which means they’re super good partners. I bet that’ll be important later. Anya rides Tsugumi like a witch broomstick which I swear isn’t as dirty as it sounds.

There’s a dramatic standoff where Anya and Tsugumi want the antidote to give to Joe, but the school needs it to mass-produce it.

Tsugumi points out that she’s being selfish, so Stein gives her the antidote. That’s pretty in-character for Stein I think. After the girls leave, Stein reveals one million more antidotes and starts laughing. What a punk. I’m glad this show isn’t about him.

Tsugumi decides to follow a bat around. She ends up near the villain, so the villain does a big frown at her. Next, the episode decides to end. I have no thoughts on this.

#soul eater not #or snot for short #is what i'm consuming

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korolrezni-nikolai · 2 years

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klance starter pack fic list

making a klance fic rec list of the absolute must-reads all in one place! this will be in no particular order and is mainly for my use since the fandom is p dead lol.

Nightmares by Trashness

Summary: Lance's nightmares are getting out of control. It's affecting his and the team's performance, but he's at a loss for how to fix this. Apparently sleeping next to a warm body helps.

This was the first klance fic I read and it made me fall in love with this ship. I’ve re-read this fic multiple times since then and it’s a one-shot, quite short and sweet. I love it!

never saw you coming by dimpleforyourthoughts

Summary: Three months in space on his own would have been fine. Three months in space with Lance McClain is a whole other fucking story.

This fic. This fic ruined me and literally left me sobbing at 3 a.m. It’s also a one-chapter fic but has a hefty word count of 45K+ words and functions more as a drabble than anything. It’s a giant character study into Keith and his relationship with Lance and just how he grew up, met Shiro, etc. This fic made me fall in love with Keith as a character and is so so stunning.

so why don’t we fall by aknightley

Summary: Five times Lance used a pet name for Keith, and one time Keith used one for Lance.

Keith has no basis for having a relationship with someone, so he's trying to follow Lance's lead.

So anything by aknightley is pretty much a masterpiece but I especially adore this fic because its one of their much more lighter, softer ones and has Established Relationship Klance, so if you want a short 5+1 things fic that skips over all the angst and pining and goes straight to fluff, this one’s perfect for you! It’s such a sweet portrayal of Keith and Lance and just had me smiling at my phone.

part 1: there nestled against his pulse by hiuythn

Summary: "Found you!" Lance says, vaulting over the back of the couch. He lands with a soft thump that bounces Keith up in his seat. "Hey, I've got a question for you. You don't have to answer it, but, uh, have you met your soulmate?"

"No," says Keith, "I haven't.”

I shouldn't.

part 2: this is what love looks like: by hiuythn

Summary: Unlike Keith, Lance has to be dragged by his feet, bound and gagged, into this love. If there was a contest for the art of self-denial, he’d be the reigning champion.

part 3: roll credits by hiuythn

Summary: When Allura said, “You will explain everything to me,” she wasn’t kidding. “Can you still hear him?” she asks. She’s got a fucking datapad. She’s taking notes. “Yes,” Keith sighs. “He’s still singing Backstreet Boys.”

[post-TNAHP/TWILLL. Some asks from tumblr, some headcanons/extra scenes I haven’t shared yet.]

SOULMATES KLANCE!! That is definitely my favorite Klance trope and this is definitely the fic that started that obsession. Very famous in the fandom, this is a good 55K+ word, soulmate AU set in canon verse that has everything you could ever want: Enemies to Lovers, Langst, Regular Angst, Pining, Almost Major Character Death, etc. You should also definitely check out the sequel that follows major events from Lance’s point of view. To be honest, I actually love the sequel more because it’s such a beautiful deep-dive into Lance’s psyche and what makes him tick and also explores Lance’s experience at the Garrison and deals with out of fic events. But you definitely have to read TNAHP to understand the sequel! The sequel honestly made fall in love with Lance and he’s now my favorite character in VLD so. The sequel is also actually longer than the original fic word count-wise (the sequel cuts off at around 59K words, the original is at 55K+) and is a must-read if you enjoyed TNAHP!

There’s also a third part that I’ve linked, which has extra scenes and drabbles and is honestly so so cute and such a good dose of fluff after the angst and hurt/comfort of the first two that I couldn’t NOT include it.

katabasis by hiuythn

Summary: Keith's jetpack malfunctions.

So this is definitely the most angstiest and saddest fic I’m reccing so far. It absolutely ruined me and made me cry and re-evaluate all my life choices. That’s all I’m going to say. If you’re in the mood for some straight-up, hardcore Langst, this one’s for you.

skin hunger by hiuythn

Summary: Keith is touch-starved to the point of stupidity. Lance helps. Lance tries to help. Lance tries.

akjdjdjdjd THIS FIC IS SO SOFT AND SWEET AND CUTE. at this point, this list is basically just becoming hiuythn fics but I can’t help it! I had to include this fic after the damage the last one did. If katabasis is everything sad, skin hunger is everything happy. its a s3 AU with no clone!shiro and is more of a crackfic than anything, dealing with Keith going through Galran puberty and is hilarious and sweet all at the same time. we also get broganes and the way Klance’s relationship builds up is j *chef’s kiss* It’s a p short one-shot (only 12K+ words) and definitely the best thing for a pick me up! Slav and Keith’s interactions are also hilarious.

nothing’s quite as sweet by dimpleforyouthoughts

Summary: Keith is a barista who hates his job. Lance works at the cat shelter across the street.

So this is another gem by the amazing dimpleforyourthoughts and this fic is literally a ray of sunshine in this cold, dark, desolate world. It has kittens, coffee, side Shallura and cat cafes. Need I say more? Definitely an A+ comfort fic for the bad days.

Hearts Don’t Break Around Here by klancekorner

Summary: Lance and Keith have been best friends since first grade. Lance’s brain is always on overdrive and Keith’s blunt, realistic ass can never keep up. They both come to realize that sometimes you can learn a lot about loving yourself by loving someone else.

This is literally my favorite Klance fic ever, I’m sorry to all the masterpieces on this list and to all the others as well but this fic has my heart for all of eternity. It’s a 135K+ word monster of a fic and took me a good 2 days to finish and took my sanity as well. It’s such a raw and real fic and the way it captures Lance’s anxiety really hit me in the feels and made me fall in love with him further. I know what most of us are thinking- a friends-to-lovers fic? Really? But trust me give it a shot, the pining, the writing, the resolution, EVERYTHING is so good, you *have* to read it.

On Thin Ice by anonimina

Summary: This multi-chapter fic chronicles the lives of a hockey player named Keith who gets enlisted into figure skating lessons by his brother, Shiro, to "work on his footwork". There he meets a pompous - yet talented - figure skater named Lance and gets swept away by both the sport and the skater.

Or: the not-so-simple story of two people trying to navigate the complexities of living in an ever changing world and face the traumas they've buried far away from the sunlight.

(Russian Translation https://ficbook.net/readfic/5434480)

THIS FIC IS INCOMPLETE! I know most of you all will skip this because of that but it’s such a good fic that I had to include it despite that fact. It perfectly captures my Winter Olympics obsessions (Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno ftw) and has such good broganes and side Shallura. It’s also one of the few fics that acknowledge how talented and brilliant my Lancey boy is and has Keith showing him the appropriate amount of respect and amazement. I loved it and I do hope you love this incomplete 200K+ word fic too!

Not that Bad by varelsen

Summary: “Am I really going to have to explain this to you?” “No, I’m totally fine with you shutting up right about now.” Hunk cups his hands around his mouth. “You. Are crushing. On Keith.”

Or, a college AU featuring coffee shops, silly rivalries, motorcycles, arcade games, friendships, and lots of warm, fluffy feelings that are both confusing and delightful all at the same time.

One of the best Klance College AUs out there! It has awkward first impressions, Influencer Allura, and Keith on a motorcycle! It’s such a readable fic. It also sees the relationship slowly sort of dissolve into a benefits one and has such a natural flow to the relationship. It’s one of my most re-readable favs so defo check it out!

just come to me once by laallomri

Summary: Lance’s smile widens. He leans forward, and the prickling in Keith’s chest gives way to butterflies, fluttering wildly in his stomach, and oh wow has Lance always had this many freckles, has he always had eyelashes that long, has he—

Lance pokes his cheek, right over the Galra mark. Keith blinks.

“I can’t believe you and your mom have matching face tattoos now,” he says, and it’s so fucking dumb, but it’s exactly the kind of dumb thing Keith has longed to hear, and before he knows what he’s doing he’s surging forward, almost knocking Lance back against Red’s paw, and throwing his arms around him.

In which Keith lives on a space whale, goes on a road trip, and (eventually) gets a boyfriend.

I don’t even know how to encapsulate what this fic made me feel. It feels like the last day of school, the feeling you get when the ending credits roll on a really good Pixar/Disney movie. The feeling that songs like Fireflies or I Lived make you feel.

This fic also features a lot of POC, trans and queer rep and I for one loved all the Indian stuff in it. It’s also one of the few fics where Krolia and Keith’s relationship is explored in canon without being depressing so ofc i love it!!

Something Blue by starlightment

Summary: When Lance gets dumped by his fiancée just days before his entire family is flying out to visit, he finds himself trapped in a monumental lie. Now, with no bride-to-be, and no guts to admit the truth, he’s in desperate need of a pseudo-sweetheart — and fast. And Keith just so happens to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Fake dating Klance!! A truly blessed trope. We also see pining Keith and this is just such a well-written Modern AU, it had to go on the list!

part 1: Read All About It by starlightment

Summary: Keith is Altea High’s star athlete. And Lance, a wily reporter for the school newspaper, is crushing hard. The only problem? They’ve never actually met before. So when Lance decides to broadcast his long-hidden feelings in an explicitly romantic exposé, he ends up accidentally sparking a school-wide epidemic. Suddenly the entire student body is in on the drama, but are words truly enough to win over the school’s enigmatic heartthrob?

part 2: Read All About It: part 2 by starlightment

Summary: With a year of college and long-distance dating under their belts, Lance and Keith return home for the summer only to realize that life still has a few more challenges in store. Sequel to "Read All About It".

This is another masterpiece by starlightment!! I honestly can’t decide whether I like this better than Something Blue, but if you’re in the mood for high school feels and public confessions, this is definitely for you! Lance is also portrayed in such a talented light and I truly loved his characterization in the fic. Here, we have very heavy Langst and Lance pining instead of pining! Keith for a change too.

Part 2 is incomplete as of now but what’s there is very funny and sweet and a must-read if you loved the first one. Honestly, it’s kind of an extra scenes/moments work and has some post-fic things as well which I love to see since it has College Klance.

open your arms to me by aknightley

Summary: Lance quickly finds Keith’s communication signal and hits call.

A few seconds later, he realizes what he’s just done, panics, and immediately slams the 'end call' button.

“Shit!” he hisses through his teeth, throwing the tablet on the bed and recoiling away from it like it’s a poisonous snake rather than innocent alien technology. Its screen goes blank again, wiped clean the way he wishes his impulsive action could be. “What am I doing?”

So like I said, I love aknightley’s stuff (seriously- they could write their grocery list and I’d eat that shit up) but I love S4 fix-it fics with Long Distance Klance and BoM Half-Galran Keith and this one honestly takes the cake. It has such a nice build-up to the relationship and the pining is just amazing.

pushed up the window to kiss you off by aknightley

Summary: A series of conversations between Keith and Lance when they're apart but together, and the effects unrelenting thoughts can have on a very confused boy.

The worst part of deciding to leave had been telling Lance his plans -- no, the worst part had been that Lance had understood.

Another Klance S4 fix it fic by aknightley but this one is my more preferred one since it skips all the pining and goes straight to Established Relationship Klance, which aknightley honestly writes so beautifully!! Their relationship is also a secret and I truly loved the humor and how we see Keith deal with being a BoM member and all the bloodshed and sadness that comes with it.

all my reasons why, by tylerproposey

Summary: It starts off as an infatuation, nothing more than admiration for the entrancing blue eyed boy. It turns into a crush - something he’s never had - and suddenly every shade of blue reminds him of Lance. It ends with love, something deep and turbulent, really he never stood a chance.

This fic is very similar to never saw you coming and is honestly one of those hidden Klance gems that everyone HAS to read it. It once again shows Klance from Keith’s perspective in canon and the way the author captures Keith and Lance both is just stunning. I’d recommend reading the other fics by tylerproposey as well- I’m not including any on the list except for this one since it’s just *that* good. Their other fics are more Modern AUs and more plot, less pining than this one but equally as fun to read!

Tramps Like Us by PVB

Summary: “Do you play guitar?” Lance asks, holding up the pick.

“Yeah,” Keith replies

.“Are you good?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you just saying you’re good, or are you actually good?”

“Actually good,” Keith says defensively. “And why do you care anyway?”

Lance narrows his eyes at him. “I don’t know if I believe you.”

“I’ll prove it,” Keith says before he can think.

(High school marching band/Battle of the Bands AU. Keith is the new kid, Lance is trying to prove himself, Pidge is a musical prodigy, Hunk’s tired of stereotypes, Shiro and Allura are just trying to get people to stop calling them ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’, and Bruce Springsteen is still the Boss. Don’t ask about the lions.)

this is a fic very similair to the feels invoked by just come to me once by laallomri and I enjoyed this so much- it had me laughing out loud and rolling on the floor with all the shenanigans of the gang. I also love the side Shallura and Pidge, Hunk and Lance are just the right amount of crazy and weird in this!! The way Keith slowly finds a family in these crazy weirdos and also opens up to his dad is so sweet and made me cry. Such a good HS/band AU! It’s also perfect for 70s/80s rock n roll music geeks and really explores the music aspect of things!

all of these stars will guide us home by mayerwien

Summary: The space museum volunteers au, aka "my God, it's full of snarks."

Okay, damn I just can’t stop coming with all the Klance HS/teen AUs. But this one I had to put in because it’s just another one of those funny, smiling at my screen ones and I also adore the angsty broganes we see in this fic- once again, a Keith POV that shows him finding a family amongst Lance, Pidge and Hunk. It doesn’t have much (any) Allura in it but I can excuse that for how good it is!

Fake It Til You Make It by nikkiRA

Summary: “No, it’s not that –” Keith tries to backtrack. “We just – we –” he isn’t sure what he’s going to say, he just knows he has to say something before he and Lance are forced to have sex with some weird alien species, while also keeping the weird alien king happy enough to create an alliance with them.

But not for the first time and not for the last, Lance pulls through.

Of course, this time pulling through almost gives Keith a heart attack, because Lance slips his fingers through Keith’s so that they’re holding hands.

“What Keith here means to say,” Lance says, and although his voice is steady, he is gripping Keith’s fingers so tightly it’s painful. “Is that we can’t mate with your people, although we, um, appreciate the offer, because, well. We already are. M-mated, I mean. With, you know. Each other.”

Fake dating Klance once again! In canon this time and I mainly read it because it was written by nikkiRA (whose Solangelo stuff I adore) but I truly loved it! It is quite explicit though, since it has a (sort of) sex pollen trope as well so if you’re in the mood for smut, I’d definitely recommend this!

part 1: house on fire by ilgaksu

Summary: When Lance McClain is eighteen, he qualifies for the Olympics.

When he's nineteen, he meets Keith.

Correlation does not mean cause, until it totally does.

part 2: two ways to skin tonight by ilgaksu

Summary: “You can do this,” Keith’s coach tells him at seventeen, hand on his shoulder and nerves in his eyes. Keith looks down at the chalk against his hands, stark and messy against the black of the gloves. He adjusts one of the straps again. Flexes his hand. Nods.

This is definitely one of the best fics I’m putting on this list! I originally read it because I found aknightley’s drabbles set in the same universe (which you should ALSO read it- soo good) and I honestly did not expect to love it as much as I did! If you’ve had a huge Olympics or AFTG phase like me, this is perfect for you. It also so nicely incorporates Social Media into it- which is one of my favorite tropes and this fic has to be one of my favorites under that trope. It’s such an inspiring collection (called ‘the greatest’) and truly captures the vastness and importance and beauty of the Olympics/competitive sports and interweaves so many conversations about LGBTQ+ athletes into it that I love it. The author creates such a realistic and fleshed out world that I kind of got RWARB vibes. All in all, a must-read if you love AFTG- it’s actually inspired from the really famous AFTG fic about the Minyard-Josten rivalry!

it grows stronger by tylerproposey

Summary: College campuses are a cesspool of awkward encounters. Some more unnerving than others, as Lance comes to find. He thinks it’s important to note that in all those instances, Keith is there to witness them. Actually, that’s unfair. Admittedly Keith happens to be useful in getting him out of those situations. Affection, as it goes, grows stronger when you’re constantly being “saved” by a protective rival – but mostly friend at this point.

Ok, so I know I said I wouldn’t include anything else by tylerproposey but I couldn’t help it- this fic is definitely one of the best College AUs out there. It’s so much more than a 5+1 fic!

i need someone like you to lighten the load by slowklancing (notanannoyingfangirl), sunnyjolras

Summary: Another scrap of parchment shot out of the cup, a fourth scrap of parchment, which made no sense at all, and the Headmaster grabbed it from the air, unrolling it and reading it quietly.

The entirety of the Great Hall remained silent. It was as quiet as a tomb.

“Lance Álvarez?” The Headmaster whispered, and then again, louder. “Lance Álvarez.”

Wait, what?

// Lance and Keith have always been battling it out: on the Quidditch field, in the duelling club, for the best marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Keith always manages to come out in the lead.

Now, the Triwizard Tournament has been announced and Lance knows that Keith is going to beat him for the only open spot, even if he pretends that he thinks otherwise. But it doesn’t quite go the way that Lance expects, and everything changes from there.

Hogwarts Klance AU!!! For the Twiwizard Tournament!! Such a long ride but so worth it- all the ups and downs of their relationship and Lance’s life is EXACTLY like an HP book and I loved it. We also see Hagrid! Coran and DADA prof! Shiro so what more could I ask for? It also features Allura from Beauxbatons and Lotor from Drumstrang! It does follow HP canon in its ending, so it might be a bit lacking in that but i just adore the exposition of the plot so I couldn’t not include it!

say my name (and every color illuminates) by parchmints

Summary: “Well, that’s what you are, right? My subconscious talking to me? That’s what my aunt says dreams are, but it’s kinda weird that my subconscious hasn’t seen the ocean before since I’ve been around the ocean my entire life.”

“What? No! I’m--I’m not your subconscious, I’m your--” Keith starts, but he slams his lips together in a tight lock, then looks at the waves, while Lance sits up taller and leans in closer to him.

“My what?”

“Just--!” Keith starts, getting frustrated and pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m real, okay? We’re not--this isn’t--we’re having a shared dream.”

Lance never thought he had a soulmate, but when he finds himself dreaming about a boy on Varadero Beach and in a southwestern desert, he learns they have an incredibly rare soul link–-one that allows them to form an unusually strong bond before they meet, but also exposes their greatest vulnerabilities to each other.

SOULMATES KLANCE!! this is also a fic by parchmints, who is another one of my fav klance authors and this is definitely my favorite one of theirs- its a must read if you’re a sucker for Soulmates Klance like me. The way they eventually meet also had me smiling at my phone so much!

they're gonna watch me disappear into the sun by basicallymonsters

Summary: Lance turns his face towards the tree line meandering off to the edge of the coast, feeling every system in his body light up simultaneously. “Keith.”

He lifts his wrists and Keith’s hands follow them up. He shifts closer on his knees, mouth turned down, desperate.

“So you can’t expect me to leave you here,” Keith says, “I know that I’m asking you to walk away from your home. But you’re asking me to walk away from mine.”

(prompt: when they get to Earth, Lance wants to stay)

this fic is very similair to katabasis, in the sense that they both made me want to die. im not even joking, this fic put me off of reading klance for like the next 2 months because it was that fucking sad. so of course i need everyone to share in my misery.

no, but all jokes aside, this is an amazing fic that will absolutely change you forever. it is such a good exploration of lance as well, and how much his family means to him and for a fic of only 7K+ words, it sure has an impact.

life after death by taylortot

Summary: Fear clambers into his mouth and tastes bitter on his tongue. “Who are you?” It takes him a moment to register the sound of his own voice.

She stares at him. Blinks. “Lance, please, this isn’t time for one of your jokes-”

He furrows his eyebrows and struggles to sit up, to stop leaning into the cradle of her arms. “I’m not--I’m not...joking.”

After sacrificing himself to save Allura, Lance wakes up in a strange new world where the only thing he knows is a deep connection to a boy he doesn't remember.

so this is another amazingly angsty beautiful fic WHICH IS ALSO INCOMPLETE by the way but the author is still replying to comments and there’s only 1 more chapter left so hey, there is hope for us all! i just really love the deep love lance has for keith in this and how everything unravels slowly by slowly and we learn about how they fell in love, along with lance himself. you *have* to read this!

it's all in my head by aknightley

Summary: "Uh," Pidge said, "Lance? Buddy? What's the deal?"

"That's Lance?" Hunk shouted, somehow still ramming ships away from the castle; Keith felt like bubbles were bursting in his head, effervescent pops of giddy fear mixed with conviction.

Lance, he thought, Lance feels like this. "Thank God, I thought I was going crazy for a second."

Another amazing must-read fic by aknightley that explores the paladin bond as a much more psychic connection and shows Keith and Lance both struggling to hide their feelings for each other through it! Must more be said? Go read it!

pepsicola by corydalis

Summary: It starts like this:

Lance looking up at the scoreboard only a few days into his Garrison training and muttering to himself, “What the hell kind of a name is Keith?”--

Or, Keith and Lance fall in love. Eventually.

corydalis has the absolute best klance drabble fics but i especially enjoy this fic because of the dual POV and how we see both characters grow from the Garrison itself and the slow build to a friendship and then eventual romance is to die for! very similar to never saw you coming, by the way.

Like Devo by surveycorpsjean

Summary: As rival jammers, they're rough, skating around the rink, giving bruises, bloody noses, broken ribs and snapped fingers-

But when the cops show up, Keith grabs his hand and yanks Lance into the storm drain.

And that’s how they start dating.

The adrenaline rush I got from this is unparalleled! Both Keith and Lance are also absolute BAMFs and I love how fucking rogue the fic is. It’s just a one-shot so I’d defo recc it, but it is quite explicit so if that’s not your thing, go ahead and skip it!

this is my idea (of love) by the-noble-idiot (noblegambit)

Summary: The first meeting between Crown Prince Lance of Altea and Prince Keith of Daizabaal was, to put it mildly, less than perfect.

ARRANGED MARRIAGE KLANCE GALTEAN AU!! this fic is so so so good and the build-up of their relationship over the years that we see in glimpses is so precious and amazing- and the enemies-to-lovers in this is to die for. My only complaint is that I wish it were longer!

you should date me by petalloso

Summary: “I can read you, Keith Kogane. You’re tired and maybe a little sad, and this mask will lift your spirits, heal your aura, align your chakras. Trust me.”

“I chrusht myou,” Keith says through his fish lips, Lance's hands warm against his squished cheeks, his heart pounding ridiculously in his chest.

This fic is the defo THE best College AU out there and has SUCH similar vibes to Hearts Don’t Break Around Here and Tramps like Us that I adore it. It’s so kooky and weird and hilarious and lovely- exactly like college and I LOVE it. Klance’s relationship dynamic in this is to die for and is so fun to read! It also shows Keith with dyslexia and ADHD, which is a new take since its usually Lance with ADHD but one I loved equally and the portrayal of ADHD is so refreshing to read if you have ADHD (like me) but can be hard for people without it to read since it’s a bit erratic and random. I’d still highly recommend it!!

Love Bite(s) by ArchetypeOfAdespota

Summary: In which Keith gets bitten by a Love Bug, and Lance is less okay with this than anyone honestly expected.

This is literally the best Lovebug Klance AU out there and definitely started my obsession with that trope- Alas, there are none as good as this one! I loove how we see Klance trying to hide their real unrequited feelings and the amount of misunderstandings was so frustrating but written so well- the resolution was to die for! I’d definitely recommend it! The author’s writing style is very good and there is a second part to this fic that deals with a ‘what-if’ where Lance was bit instead of Keith but that’s incomplete so I didn’t include it but you can check it out if you like this fic!

Objects in Motion (When Unbalanced) by Mytay

Summary: Lance and Keith are constantly being mistaken for a couple. Lance is highly offended. Keith is quietly outraged.

Pidge decides if she can’t have peace, then she can write an epic scientific dissertation on the romantic failings of two exceptionally dense paladins.

This fic is going to be the last of this very extensive list and its honestly one of the most re-readable fics and is such a good crackfic with outsider POV on Klance! It also has 4 more parts that are one-shots/sequels set in the same ‘verse and you can definitely check that out if you want more Matchmaking Science Pidge.

Some other Klance authors I’d recommend that didn’t make it on this list:

jilliancares

Katranga

wittyy_name

Zizzani

mothpoem

Purpleneutrino (mackerelmademedoit)

Queerklancing

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zoe-oneesama · 3 years

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Robostus Animation Errors

So, I watched Robostus for the first time and was LOSING MY MIND over the sheer overwhelming amount of continuity and animation errors. Not since Rogercop where pencil bags swapped colors, position, and existence have I seen so many, there was just ZERO quality control on this episode, so I’d like to share the ones I’ve archived for you.

No these are not all of them. I just stopped noting when between cuts some characters hair would change saturation and there’s some I’d need to make gifs in order to show.

1. Bag Swaps - My Number One Headache:

Regular followers will know my obsession with the many colors and types of bags that the characters carry and noting when they’ve gotten the wrong one, so imagine my “joy” when the episode LITERALLY OPENS with a three way swap: Kim has Ivan’s usual blue backpack, Ivan has Mylene’s usual pink, and Mylene has Kim’s usual orange. These are a straight up animation error as later Mylene and Kim have their usual bags. But that’s not all:

Alya must’ve traded with Lila for this shot because her usual blue book bag is suddenly white, but don’t worry, it’ll be blue later! And Alix also got sick of her usual blue.

2. Marinette’s Magic Appearing Purse:

In the shot where Marinette realizes she left her backpack in the locker room she also doesn’t have a purse. But while we physically see her pick up her bag, her purse magically appears at her side. (Also Alya ribs her for forgetting her bag but both seem not to notice that Juleka and Nino also don’t have their bags)

3. Sabrina’s Infamous Dye Job:

This animation error was so prevalent and never went away for any scene she was in which is proof that no one checked this episode. (And yep, another of Sabrina’s bags - her portfolio bag has been tan, brown, and this green, on top of her once having a green backpack).

4. Uh, where y’all going guys?:

When Marinette realizes she left her bag, the class is headed upstairs to Bustier, which make sense since it’s a homeroom. However!

In the time it took for her to grab her bag, hear Max exchange 3 sentences with Markov, and walk back to class, they go straight to Mendeleiev’s lab on the first floor...and the whole class is there! AND EVEN THEN!

When Robostus attacks, the class comes out of the door on the other side of the school! Unless Mendeleiev’s lab takes up the ENTIRE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCHOOL, there is no reason for this!

5. It’s a Mood Bag:

6. Maybe she switches them out?:

This one is a very common error across multiple episodes, but I noticed it here, so might as well point it out.

Bonus: This is where I’d need to be able to make GIFS to show, but when Markov speaks up from Max’s bag and he hurries to his seat, when he goes around Kim and Kim follows him with his eyes, Rose, Juleka, and Kim are physically pushed to the right with the force of the movement. But that did help me notice the next one,

7. Kim needs the power of bleach:

8. Sabrina’s not alone:

Alix usually suffers under the less detailed animation studio, but they really didn’t pay attention today.

9. Is that a conch piercing? Oh wait...it’s your hair:

10. Alya took Chloe’s lazer eyes suggestion a little too seriously:

11. Hawkmoth’s trying some new things today:

12. Watch the light leave his eyes:

Talking to Markov just zapped it out of him I guess.

13. Who knew Max’s bag would be such a showcase:

YOU THOUGHT I WOULDN’T NOTICE BUT I SEE ALL!

14. Marlena wants in on what the cool kids are doing:

These were all from the same episode btw, even the normal reference.

15. Ramier running from vending machines and this hair dye challenge by removing his hair:

16. It’s okay, Wayzz absorbed the color into his eyes:

Like I said, this doesn’t include the fact that textures are changing, that Damocles beard moved like he was in a PS2 game, the times Mendeleiev’s hair turned BRIGHT purple or Marinette’s BRIGHT blue or when Fu’s hair turned brown but his mustache stayed grey in one cut, but like, guys, this episode was sooooo messy looking, did they even try!?

#robostus salt #ml salt #animation errors #backpack project #continuity errors #robostus #this is literally me just being pedantic #an essay by zoe

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thankskenpenders · 2 years

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So, about the sequel...

I HAVE SEEN SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2.

My boyfriend and I were worried about this little coronavirus thing you might have heard of, so we decided to go to a midday Monday showing. This ended up being perfect. There were like 15-20 people at our showing - a small enough number for everyone to spread out, but enough for crowd reactions. (And boy, did that make that ending special. But we'll get to that.)

The short, spoiler-free version of my thoughts: It was great. It felt like the fully realized version of this take on Sonic. The weird human stuff is still there, but I thought it was more fun this time around, and the Actual Sonic Content is cranked up to 11. Many of the big setpieces in this movie are just pure, unadulterated Genesis and Adventure era fanservice, and I am here for it.

...BUT, at the same time, I get the lukewarm reviews it's gotten from critics. If the words "Master Emerald" and the sight of Tails flying the Tornado mean nothing to you, then you won't get as much out of this. It is, in fact, another blockbuster action movie where fully CGI characters fight over a macguffin of ultimate power (that wasn't mentioned at all in the first film). The script also has some oddities, and the constant one-liners don't always land. This is by no means high art

But goddamn, I had so much fun with it. (And for the record, so did Anthony, despite being an extremely casual fan of Sonic.) If you haven't seen it, go see it! If you have, though, let's dig into the specifics. From here on this beefy post will contain full spoilers for literally everything in the movie.

So let's jump right into the main attractions, shall we?

Tails

I wasn't sure how the movie would handle Tails. It was impossible for his origin story as a kid who followed Sonic around to work with Sonic spending ten years on Earth, and he already seemed to be the confident inventor he would come to be depicted as later.

It turns out, I was pleasantly surprised! Tails does sort of still have his old backstory, in that he grew up looking up to Sonic after hearing all the stories about him being the fastest thing alive. He's also here as a messenger warning Sonic about Knuckles and his search for the Master Emerald, which is on Earth. (Side note: this reveal makes everything about Longclaw sending Sonic to Earth make a hell of a lot more sense.) Because he's only here as a messenger, Tails still gets to have his little arc where he starts out as the timid sidekick in Sonic's shadow and learns to believe in his own strengths. It's really nice. Tails also gets the most heartwarming scene with him and Sonic going to bed. God, what a sweet little moment. Tails is so cute in this. I'm glad they leaned into him being the sweet kid sidekick instead of trying too hard to make him a smartass

Of course, he does end up getting overshadowed by you-know-who for a lot of the movie, but I thought the time Tails is allotted here was mostly used well, and Colleen is good as always. (I was a little worried hearing Regular Tails next to all the other characters with different voices would sound odd, but it felt natural to me.)

That said, what Tails does get to do primarily includes the Siberia segment, which is... odd. As soon as they walked in I felt like the movie had turned into the SpongeBob movie all of a sudden, and the climax of that sequence only added to that. (But it exists to let Sonic and Tails bond as friends, so I definitely wouldn't cut it. It's just kinda odd.) It was also one of several sequences where you can really see the cracks in the script, because like. Sonic is like "oh no, the map!" but he could just... go grab it with his super speed? Moments like this definitely didn't ruin the movie for me, but they're worth mentioning for a fuller picture

Anyway, the real star of the movie...

Knuckles

Knuckles is so good in this y'all

As expected from the trailers, Knuckles is portrayed as an absolute powerhouse who TROUNCES Sonic in their first fight. What surprised me, though, is just how many jokes they gave Knuckles.

I really liked how they handled him, though! He's competent in a fight and a genuine threat to Sonic, but he's still a lovable doofus at heart. Instead of just playing him up as a gullible idiot, though, they focused on him being an honorable warrior from another world who just doesn't get Earth stuff, and who trusts people because he comes from a culture where your word is your bond. (I might compare him to Thor.) It's a tricky needle to thread, but I think they did great. Idris Elba is great as this extremely confident straight man who's so serious at times that it wraps around to being funny, but never to the point that Knuckles comes off as a buffoon

After the scene with the echidnas in the first movie, I was also really curious how they'd handle Sonic and Knuckles' dynamic. What they landed on might honestly be my favorite take on their first meeting? Instead of simply being lied to by Eggman, Knuckles is after Sonic because of the established rivalry between Longclaw's owls and the echidnas over control of the Master Emerald. And, in fact, Robotnik chooses to ally himself with Knuckles (who finds him on the mushroom planet at the start of the film) because they have a common enemy in Sonic. He doesn't even learn about the Emerald until later, at which point betraying Knuckles to take it becomes his goal

We also learn that the rest of Knuckles' clan only died in battle in the modern day (possibly in the fight scene at the start of the first movie? I might've missed them saying that explicitly), explaining how he came to be the last of his kind. And over time, Sonic starts to bond with Knuckles because he realizes that they both lost their families to the war between the owls and the echidnas. It's a small touch, but in a movie with so many nods to Sonic Adventure 1 (even without Tikal or Chaos being part of the story), this definitely echoes its core thesis about breaking those historical cycles of violence

Overall, Tails and Knuckles were spot on to me. After how much Sonic and Robotnik were adjusted in the first movie to squeeze them into a more conventional Hollywood storytelling mold, I was ecstatic with how faithful these two were

Speaking of echidnas, though...

Interlude: The elephant in the room

Let's get this over with quickly. Over the weekend, Penders has begun tweeting about looking into legal action against Paramount. He believes that Enerjak and Locke were included without his permission. I reserved my personal judgment on this until after seeing the movie

I can now officially say he's full of shit

Even as someone who agrees that a big chunk of Sonic Chronicles was based on his Knuckles comics, there's almost nothing here. Like, yeah, I can get Archie readers going "huh, this kinda reminds me of the comics!" Seeing Knuckles have a dad is instantly going to remind me of Locke as well. But they have only the most basic similarities.

The character Penders is calling "Enerjak" is not an echidna scientist who's turned into an ancient Egypt-themed tyrant, he's a nameless typical echidna warrior with the vague Maya aesthetic from Sonic Adventure who's shown harnessing the power of the Master Emerald in a battle. Knuckles' nameless dad is also just another generic echidna warrior, not a mad scientist who experimented on Knuckles, and he looks nothing like Locke. His muzzle fuzz is a little thicker to give him the appearance of facial hair, but it's certainly not Locke's white beard, and he's sure as shit not running around in a lab coat. He gets one brief flashback scene where he tells a young Knuckles to stay home from the fight where the rest of his kind died, and that's it. Both characters appear for maybe fifteen seconds each

I really think Ken should've actually seen the damn movie before running his mouth, because there's basically nothing supporting his claims, and he's going to look like a goddamn idiot if he takes this to court. Now, moving on!

Eggman

I liked Carrey's Robotnik more in this one! The combination of him going full cartoon character and getting the proper makeover really works. (And he's flying around in the Eggmobile for most of the movie, too!) It was much, much, much easier for me to see him as Robotnik this time around, instead of just Jim Carrey

Him absorbing the power of the Master Emerald directly and basically going super for the climax was a fun take on things, too. Carrey's observations about him wanting to be a robot are very clear here. And having him use magic to build a big fucking Death Egg Robot out of the vehicles around him was a clever way to explain the setpiece in a grounded setting where he can't just have a city-sized fortress pumping out giant robots. Him saying that he wants to enslave all of humanity and make them service his machines probably came out of nowhere for general audiences, and is another point in the "this script isn't amazing" column for critics, but as a fan, yep! That sure is Eggman right there!

He also flosses at Knuckles one time and god, it's so good. I know Sonic flossed in the first movie, but it still managed to catch me off guard because he just fucking does it out of nowhere

The other humans

They also felt like a step up from the first film to me! The biggest change: Tom being a cop literally does not come up ever lmao. He's basically just Sonic's dad here. And this normal-ass guy being the adoptive father to the little zinger-spouting Looney Tune that is movie Sonic feels kinda weird, but eh, if he has to be in these movies then this is an improvement to me

This stuff will probably be hit or miss for most people, but the human cast is thankfully a fairly minor part of the film compared to the first, and it just feels like they're having more fun with it, even if it sometimes feels like you're watching a completely different movie. They got more laughs out of me this time. (Although the ring mixup was definitely another bizarre script moment to me. Why did Tom not just say they had the wrong ring, instead of having that little argument and then punching the groom???)

Tom in particular is a very, very minor part of the film compared to the first. For critics who latched onto that as the heart of the first film, I can see why they might get disappointed to see his relationship with Sonic sidelined hard. But also... I hated Tom? Yeah, James Marsden was fine, but I hated the whole premise of Sonic having to go on a road trip with a boring-ass speed trap cop whose greatest aspiration in life is to be a cop in a bigger town. That's the complete polar opposite of what I want out of Sonic. So having less Tom, with no focus on him being a cop, and Tom's scenes being funnier (imo) is a huge improvement to me

There's also an odd stretch of maybe 5-10 minutes towards the end of act two where, out of nowhere, Maddie (Tom's wife) and Rachel (her sister) basically become the heroes? I was like wait, what the fuck is happening. Rachel of all characters gets this whole little character arc in the span of a few consecutive scenes. It's almost like they inserted an unrelated short film into the middle of this Sonic movie. But said segment still got some genuine laughs out of me, so I'll take it. Again, it felt like they were having more fun with it this time

Really, though, it turns out there was exactly one word they had to say to make me like the human stuff more, and that word is "GUN."

Yes, GUN is in this as much more than a background Easter egg! It turns out the division was formed after the events of the first movie, and none other than The Olive Garden Guy himself has been retconned into being the GUN Commander. (And yes, they joke about the name. The Commander's giddy little response that shows he's just so proud of the name made it land.) Literally just making "GUN tries to capture Sonic and Tails" the crux of that human-heavy Hawaii sequence made it work way better for me by turning it into something recognizably Sonic

The climax

After that brief detour in Hawaii, Sonic and Knuckles have their showdown over the Emerald, it's a really good fight, Eggman betrays Knuckles, and then it's off to Green Hills for the final showdown against the Death Egg Robot. Which is really where the whole film comes together. It's a very fun battle where Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all get their moments to shine. Knuckles in particular is so fun as an ally from this point onwards. Him just freefalling backwards off of the Tornado was so funny

And, of course, as the grand finale. It happens.

Super Sonic

Super Sonic was done perfectly. It appropriately feels like this is the moment at which the movie's Sonic comes into his own as the confident hero we know from the games. It's just... it's so cool. There isn't much else to say. I'm so glad they went all the way. And afterwards we get a brief fakeout where Knuckles is like "that's not the same Sonic anymore" due to the power of the Emeralds and I'm like, wait... StC Super Sonic??? They don't actually do this, but I wonder if the thought crossed their minds with that evil Super Sonic fakeout. There's a surprising amount of stuff with StC vibes in these movies. (Regardless, Sonic giving up that power after winning was a very Sonic move.)

Then we get the wrap up and a very cute baseball scene with the boys. I was so glad Knuckles got to stay with his new friends instead of walking off into the sunset to guard the Master Emerald alone. And that's it! Movie over. What a fun time

Oh, except...

The tease

Look. I didn't get spoiled, but people have been freaking out about the tease since it came out. I'd speculated before that the only characters left for a big crowd-pleasing tease would be Amy, Metal, and Shadow, and Shadow is the most popular of those three. People have been hyping themselves up at the thought of the third movie doing SA2 literally since the first set photos came out showing the GUN vehicles. So it didn't exactly surprise me to see Shadow at the end

What did surprise me... was that they're not just including Shadow willy-nilly. It looks like they're going all the way.

It's a short tease where Shadow doesn't even speak (I'm sure they're trying to get someone big to voice him - I want Keanu), but it speaks volumes. I had assumed that Shadow might get tossed in similar to how he was handled in Boom. No backstory, just a dark rival for Sonic. Nope!! Not at all!!! I was fucking delighted. They aren't backing down. I don't know how they'll handle it - lord knows what they'll do with Maria, or if they'll ditch the ARK and keep it on Earth - but Shadow is a test tube baby created by a Robotnik 50 years ago that the government has been covering up. And there he is. In the tube. That's Shadow.

Man, Shadow isn't even my favorite character, but as a fan of that era of Sonic I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooo unbelievably down for this. I am so glad they're leaning into even the "cringey" parts of Sonic instead of backing down and only doing the Genesis era stuff. I cannot fucking believe three years out from that heinous first trailer that felt like a Sonic movie in name only, we're getting this. The reveal of a live action Shadow. A major tentpole blockbuster action film is going to come out in the year of our lord 2024 with Shadow the Hedgehog as the marquee character. Critics are going to have to review a film based at least in part on Sonic Adventure 2. (It is simultaneously going to get the worst critic reviews and be the most fun of the three, I'm calling it now.) What a world. The hype is beyond real. And not just for me. Shadow got some big reactions at the tiny midday showing I was at, too, from kids and adults alike. I am so, so happy I was able to make it to the theater to experience that firsthand

(And hey, let's hope Rouge shows up in that Knuckles streaming show next year. Can't have Shadow without his partner in crime. And also I still just have no idea who else they would put in that show lmao, she's the only other real rival Knuckles has)

Stray thoughts

Tails and Knuckles both finding Sonic in the same scene (with the returning Robotnik there as well) felt kinda cramped, and I can see non-fans thinking it's too much too fast when Sonic's new best friend immediately shows up and starts talking about the Master Emerald

There are two jokes in like the first ten minutes where it sounds like someone is going to say "shit" but then they say a different SH word and I was like yep this sure was written by Hollywood screenwriters

Sonic using his super speed to disassemble the stolen bank truck was a fun use of his powers, and I loved the SA1 shot allusions throughout that sequence

People speculated that Longclaw was inspired by the owl imagery in various ancient ruin levels in the Genesis games, and they lean into this! The classic owl face blocks show up

I loved that the Mean Bean coffee shop Stone runs ends up being a secret Robotnik base. (And, yeah, Stone was fun in this. His first scene got a big laugh out of the audience.)

It seems like Tails' catchphrase in this is him going "only SONIC THE HEDGEHOG could [do thing]" in a half-laughing impressed way and like, I get that it's to show that he practically worships the guy but it did feel kinda forced lol

Sonic calls his Super mode the "golden god look" in one joke at the end and I was like oh my god he's Dennis Reynolds

Overall, I loved it. It's far from a perfect movie, absolutely, and I think the low fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes is fair. But god, seeing all that Sonic iconography done right, when paired with genuinely good takes on these characters? It just hit right

This movie is still weird. It still has jokes that whiff. It still has incongruous human subplots (that will probably feel like complete filler if you aren't a Modern!Sonic nerd who lights up at any mention of GUN). It's big and dumb and loud. Its emotional moments rely on broad, cliché statements about what it means to be a hero. But where the first movie felt like a painfully generic family road trip adventure film with Sonic and Eggman tacked on, a film that was only saved by the last minute redesign, this one felt like a Sonic movie. It embraced what I like about the series instead of shying away from it. It's still not my ideal Sonic movie - that would be, you know. A cartoon. With the whole cast. But if we're gonna get these live action ones? This is more like it. Can't wait for the third one and that Knuckles show

#tkp post #other media

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lady-lazagna · 2 years

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I can’t remember if you like him or not but Ryuga interacting with other characters Headcanons???? 👀

Ooooh he's always an interesting one for interactions! (also yes I do like him but I'd write these for any character regardless :))

-There are two people that I think would "get along" best with Ryuga, the first being Kyoya. Kyoya matches his insane, feral energy pretty well, so while not being necessarily friendly with each other, they understand each other pretty well and could have a good amount of banter before trying to kill each other. Like, they could organise to go out and have a nice fancy dinner together at the Ritz before beating the shit out of each other in the parking lot.

-The second person I think he could get along well with (if it weren't for the trauma he'd caused to him and his loved ones) is Tsubasa. They're both far more mature and reserved (at least when they're not battling) than the rest of the crew, so if Ryuga wanted to get away from the riff raff, he could just go sit next to Tsubasa (who'd put up with him being there so long as he shuts the fuck up) and relax. Sometimes, when they're sitting alone, Tsubasa will just start quietly rambling about the sky, nature, spirituality, and all that crap. Not talking directly to Ryuga, but if he wants to stay and listen he can. Secretly, Ryuga does love the sound of Tsubasa's voice and finds it calming, and he may have accidentally fallen asleep on his shoulder on one or two occasions during his rambles.

-Kenta kind of acts like his guide to being a normal human and not a hundred-year-old king of an ancient civilisation. He helps him order food, he teaches him what to do at the post office, he tells him not to scowl at children who are literally just standing there, etc. Ryuga never asks for his help, because he'd rather die than admit he has to rely on a twelve-year-old for social queues, but he really does appreciate Kenta's help.

-Hyoma just shows up sometimes and strikes up a casual conversation with him- completely calmly, as if Ryuga hadn't destroyed his village and hospitilised his friends. Seriously, the dude showed up in a fucking volcano to ask for a hand with Tsubasa's dark power like it was a regular Tuesday! Ryuga doesn't find his strangeness off-putting, just... intriguing. Like he almost wants to get to know more about him, like, as a person? What the fuck has happened to him.

-Why the fuck won't this Ryuto kid leave him alone??? He's a descendant of Ryuga's people, great, good on him. That does not make them family, and that does not give Ryuto the right to follow him around and demand a mentorship!! He seemed to be a perfectly good blader on his own before he found Ryuga, so why the hell does he want his help??? Bitch he learned everything on his own, now you can do it too- okay, Kenta told him that that was rude, and that he should give him a chance. Fine. He'll take Ryuto to the top of a volcano and through boulders at him. If he manages that, then maybe he'll consider a mentorship.

-Ryuga is the only person that Tsubasa will let Yu get away with attacking. He doesn't care. It's not like it hurts when the little shit kicks him in the ankles with those dumbass light-up sketchers. He doesn't care that he can't retaliate because apparently Tsubasa has a license to kill. But seriously, just because he left Yu to die at the hands of that creepy snake guy? That was one time, Kenta would've gotten over it by n- OW!

But on a serious note: Every kid in Metal Bey City cowers in fear as he walks by. He can't let himself look Hikaru in the eye, lest his gaze is too intense and she breaks down again, causing yet another scene that Kenta would have to escort him away from in shame. He knows Kenta feels guilty for liking him, and for bringing him around his friends who so clearly want nothing to do with him. His shame is most apparent whenever he's with Yu, who looks at Ryuga with the utmost contempt- if he can stand to look at him at all.

"Guilt" was not a word that his brain had ever registered; it was a useless emotion that only served to hold him down. But if that was really the case, then why did his stomach tie itself in knots whenever he saw that scorned look in Gingka's usually kind eyes, the ones that had witnessed every atrocity he'd ever committed? Why, when Yu stared him down, did he feel like he was the one who's body was ensnared by a giant snake, suffocating him as he locked eyes with someone who simply refused to help?

What was a monster like him thinking, trying to find connections in these people at all? He wasn't made to be loved; he was made to be feared- that was the way it had always been, and the way it would always be.

#:)#mfb #metal fight beyblade #beyblade #beyblade ryuga #kyoya tategami #tsubasa otori #kenta yumiya #beyblade hyoma #beyblade ryuto #yu tendo #headcanons

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kill-your-authors · 4 years

Text

Another Van Scene Take

The thing about the van scene that gets me is...I really don’t think Joe goes off like that on a regular basis. Like, I’ve seen so many posts about how Joe gives that speech every time someone says something homophobic, or I’ve seen posts about how Joe just waxes poetic all day long to Nicky about his love for him and like...believe me I Dig That Too. It’s both funny and very sweet to think about.

But my personal impression was that the van scene was actually a special occasion. For starters, because of the most obvious: They’ve been captured. Regardless of how dangerous their job is on a regular basis, regardless of how often they’re injured or killed, I don’t think it’s every day or even every once in a while that members of the Guard get captured. It’s my guess that this is the first time anyone’s captured them, only hours after Nicky explained to Nile that being captured is pretty much their worst fear because it could potentially mean centuries of imprisonment or torture.

One theory someone else had on this site (unfortunately I can’t find the post just now) was that Joe allowed himself to be captured because Nicky had already been killed and captured, so even though Joe had the opportunity to kill a few of the guards or try to escape, he didn’t because he wouldn’t permit himself to be separated from Nicky, nor permit himself to die, therefore leaving Nicky to wake up alone in the van or next to Joe’s captured dead body. It would be horrifying. Traumatic. The scariest moment of Nicky’s life undoubtedly.

And so, they’re in the van, Joe is alive and trying to make sure Nicky comes back to life. Nicky comes to, realizing they’re captured and surrounded by armed guards. They’re speaking Italian so as to not be understood by the guards. It’s apparent, that in this moment, regardless of how scared they are, they’ve got it under control. They’re pros, after all. But nonetheless, this had to be the scariest God damn moment of both of their lives.

And then, the guard makes that fucking comment. “What is he, your boyfriend?”

And Nicky makes that exasperated face.

I see a lot of people theorizing that that face is Nicky’s “Oh here we go again” face, the face he wears the moment he realizes Joe is about to go off, reciting poetry in the name of his love for Nicky on the spot. I like that theory. It’s funny. But I really don’t think that’s what’s happening.

I think that’s the exasperated face of someone who has been the victim of others’ ignorance for centuries now, taking different forms based on time and place, but nonetheless, the discrimination these two must have witnessed over the years...All after Nicky himself, personally overcame his own bigotry to be with Joe. Nicky was literally ONE of these men back in the crusades. Sure, it wasn’t over sexuality but it was nonetheless rooted in ignorance as he himself describes Joe as one of the people he’d been taught to hate. And imagine how fucking infuriating it would be, to witness people mindlessly HATE just because they’d been taught to, for centuries. It would be fucking soul-crushing. It would be the kind of thing that makes you lose faith in humanity. For fuck’s sake, sometimes I lose faith in humanity because of this and I’m 26! Let alone 900 some years old. Plus we all know from watching Andy how critical it is to what they do and to enduring being immortal (and especially to Nicky who states more than once that he does what he does because it is the right thing to do), to believe in humanity.

And I think in that moment Joe saw Nicky’s face, and he saw how hopeless Nicky felt, and knew how scared he was, and realized that Nicky, who is the type of man to look Merrick in the eyes and tell him his time is coming and look the doctor in the eyes and tell her she’s immoral, essentially, Nicky, who is the type to tell someone exactly what he thinks of them, Nicky, who is usually the one to give the speeches to the latest homophobe or bigot or just fucking asshole in their presence - not even have the energy or motivation to acknowledge this guard let alone look into his soul and say something that will echo in his ears until he dies. That look on Nicky’s face breaks Joe’s heart.

So what does Joe do? He does it for Nicky because Nicky can’t. He goes off tenfold. He tells them not only that they’re ignorant but goes way above and beyond to show those men how little the implication that A) they’re dating and B) that that is worth mocking in their opinion, matters to him. He makes it a point that he’s only offended by the guard, not because he implied that Joe is gay, but that he would reduce their love to something as inadequate as boyfriend.

And you can see how this effects Nicky right on his face. How touched he is. How inspired he is. He’s reminded of all that really matters - Joe.

Not only that, but following this Nicky’s attitude pretty much does a 180. They kill the guards (I imagine they would have anyway. I really don’t think they killed the guards FOR being homophobic, even if that was the icing on top. I think they’d have killed any men who are in the business of kidnapping people for the profit of a corrupt CEO, particularly ones putting their own safety in immediate harm’s way) and as soon as the armored van doors are open Joe and Nicky are both, as a team, mocking Copley and the rest of his team of guards. Nicky nonchalantly asks about removing their restraints - as if he doesn’t know that isn’t going to happen. Nicky’s once again able to look someone in the face and tell them exactly what he thinks of them - this time it’s Copley he tells that they’re usually a better judge of character.

Joe joins in, complimenting the plane, and the two trade back and forth. Nicky mentioning the TV and Joe asking about Champagne.

This behavior, while first and foremost is just fucking hilarious, I think serves a greater purpose in the characterization of Joe and Nicky and their relationship. By the time they’re on the plane they’re back to their old selves. They’ve gotten their bearings enough to externally appear calm and unworried in the faces of their capturers, for one. But also, I think just about everything they say to each other, almost everything they do throughout the movie, but especially from the van scene on, is a purposeful attempt to always be comforting each other. To always be strong for the other. Mocking their capturers on the plane. Bumping heads after Joe has been stabbed. Talking about Joe’s bedhead. Bringing up Malta. Everything they do until they’re free, is a purposeful attempt to be strong for the other.

It’s really...so fucking well written, you guys. The portrayal of Nicky and Joe in this movie, and especially the van scene, is one of the most realized fictional relationships I’ve ever seen.

#the old guard #joe x nicky #immortal husbands #yusuf x nicolo #meta #long post

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