#look this movie was a mess but the visuals were on point

[bunnycobie]

ice cream - choi seungcheol

pairing: choi seungcheol x f!reader summary: cheol hates mint chocolate chip, unless he's eating it off of you. genre: smut word count: 694 content/tw: food play(?), breast sucking, oral sex, facial, not proofread a/n: i had seungcheol brainrot so i apologize for this bc it's purely self indulgent 😵‍💫

18+ minors dni (masterlist)

“you’re joking, right?” cheol cringes above you, as you lay against his chest. “mint chocolate chip is not better than strawberry.”

“it is, and it’s better than that cherry crap you’re eating.” you tease, shoveling another spoonful of your ben & jerry’s into your mouth. “it beats all fruit flavors actually.”

cheol cringes, setting his pint on the table in front of you. “you’ve ruined ice cream for me.”

you smile. “that’s your loss.”

he adjusts his body under you so that your back lays flat on him. his arms wrap around your waist, thumb drawing circles on your stomach as you continue enjoying his least favorite flavor.

a few minutes into the movie you’re watching, cheol glances down and notices your ice cream melting. a drop falls off of the spoon and hits your chest, rolling down until you swipe it up with your finger and suck it clean. he shifts under you uncomfortably, trying to ignore how aroused he is by the visual.

until it happens a couple more times.

you had felt him get hard beneath you the first time, and at this point you were just teasing him. he’s never been one to initiate anything, so this was difficult for him. the ice cream was basically liquid at this point, and he should’ve caught on by now.

he moves under you again, abruptly this time, causing you to spill some down your tank top on accident.

“shit.” you flinch at the coldness of it running on your chest, sitting up.

seungcheol didn’t do it on purpose, but he also didn’t think to apologize. he eyes you for a second, lust written all over his face, before slowly pulling the stained top up just enough to reveal your breasts.

without thinking or asking for permission, he dives his face into you, licking up the melted ice cream. and despite him hating the flavor, he loves it on you.

something about his desperation and the way hes so greedy with you right now is driving you a little insane. you lift your top over your head, removing it completely as he continues sucking at your breasts. the mess is definitely gone by now, but hes still going. his mouth is cold from his ice cream, making your nipples harder and adding an extra sense of pleasure.

soft moans escape his throat, and at this point he’s so hard he might finish right this second. you lift his face up and away from your breasts. you kiss him, but he’s so whipped that he can barely kiss you back without getting sloppy. his hands are just all over you and he can’t get enough. it’s honestly adorable.

the least you could do is help him out.

his tongue is practically down your throat by the time you reach down to unbutton his jeans. he gets the memo and helps you out, pulling the waistband of his boxers down and revealing his cock that’s entirely swollen and dripping. thanks to you.

you kneel down on the floor in front of the sofa, letting him sit in front of you. you wrap your hand around him, the tip of your finger unable to reach your thumb because of his size. the second your tongue reaches his length, he lets out a whine.

he’s overwhelmed from the feeling of it all — your cold mouth wrapped around his girth, your watery eyes struggling to hold contact with his, and the soft noises you’re making as you try to fit all of him in your mouth.

you do a good job for him though, almost too good of a job. you feel him twitching against your tongue, realizing he’ll come soon. he thrusts himself into you lazily a few times before grabbing his length from you and attempting to finish in your mouth.

except he misses, and now his release is all over your face. he looks down at you adoringly, wondering how he’s lucky enough to be with someone as pretty as you. and he watches, eyes half-lidded, as you smile back at him, cleaning his mess off of you with your fingers and licking them clean.

[talkbycolor]

let me hold your hand forever.

A/N; i almost threw up writing this because its not the usual "omg i love this cute yandere boy, so silly!" shit i do

Pairing; "Rendacted" x GN!reader

CW; Ren/[REDACTED] having unhealthy, obsessive and possesive behavior, wow, who would have told / TW; mutilations, romanticizing mutilation by Ren side but MC is really terrified / this is an AU where MC rejected Ren's advances and he lost his infinite patience / character with extremely questionable ethics / wow another nsfw in this blog? / you’re lucky this isn’t visual / i know in canon Rendacted would never hurt MC BUT HEY god gave me the ability to write and im making that everyone else's problem / surreal strength for the sake of the plot, IMPORTANT POINT

It was quite comfortable, having a friend like Ren could even be strange, he looked like cotton candy and it was very nice to spend time together. But then again, you were just friends, it was a little strange that he mentioned being in a relationship with you.

But things have taken a bit of a drastic turn, Ren has spent his days trying to hang out with you, having lunch together, spending nights watching anime and horror movies, that would be nice if it didn't feel so overwhelming.

So it's time to confront him.

"Ren, hey, I know you like me a lot but we can't go out every day, I'm not always up for that so… I'll let you know when we can go out, okay?"

And there was only silence from the pink-haired boy, he seemed to be trying to smile unsuccessfully, just looking at you.

"Of course, angel, don't forget to call me!" He spoke nervously trying to hold back the storm in his throat.

Just when you were about to leave a hand grabbed your forearm, Ren was still looking at you with a smile, a sad smile.

"You're going to call me, right?" He asks, his eyes widening in desperation, Ren didn't want to lose you, he couldn't stand it, not again, what if you're thinking about slowly walking away?

"Sure, later" was the only thing you mentioned before pulling your arm to leave, it's not like you had an avoidant attachment pfff!

The days passed and life could be considered calm, you went out with your friends, you greeted your strange neighbor who loved to walk to her floors, work was not unpleasant and you even bought yourself a small dessert for dinner tonight.

You and Moth talked late into the night about the new episodes and since Haruko was so adorable, life felt peaceful once again. It's not that Ren was a problem, he was attractive and if you had enough self-esteem you would think you had a chance with him but…

I suppose not.

Speaking of Ren, what is he doing now? Visiting him would be a good idea, it's been days since they last spoke.

Once morning arrived you headed towards his large apartment and knocked on the door, not long after it was opened by Ren, who looked just like an abandoned puppy, you could almost see his eyes shine and his breath was lost just by seeing you in front of him. him.

"Angel, you're here! oh god, I-I'm so sorry for the mess, I didn't expect you to come… to my apartment…" It sounded a little strange, but it was just Ren being shy.

"Yeah uh… I'm sorry, are you busy? I can go, yes, maybe I should have let you know I was coming."

"No! NO! it's okay, you just surprised me, do you want a drink? I have your fav-… many options! I have many drink options" He corrected himself immediately with a smile, his face was almost the color of his hair and I was dying to say that I miss you so much.

"Or we can go out, do you want to visit the new cafe? Maybe we can-…"

“No” You interrupted, it sounded a little rude so you cleared your throat. "Now I'm not sure, I was just passing by to say hello, plus I don't have money to buy something…"

"I can buy it for you," he said almost immediately, his eyes fixed on you, almost sweating from having you close.

"That's very generous, Ren, but…"

"Please! It's your day off, right? We could go out and…"

"Ren, I'm not-…"

"Please, angel!" He begged, his hand had climbed to your arm and you didn't even notice, he was now gently squeezing your shoulder, wanting closeness, wanting to date, wanting you and you kept pushing him away.

The atmosphere was a little awkward now, you didn't know whether to be flattered that he thought you were interesting enough for Ren to want to spend time with you or scared by how desperate he looked about it.

"No thanks, I think I better go back to my apartment" You mentioned as you pushed his hand from your arm, you didn't even have time to turn to the door when Ren grabbed your arm tightly, a painful grip.

"Ren?"

"Can we be together, please? I-I'll make you feel special, I want you to be okay and I want you to…" his expression seemed so… surprised, to see you, embarrassed to act like that? scared of being abandoned? overstimulated? "all I want is to be with you!"

He almost roared out, his grip on your arm becoming more and more painful, he was pulling you away from the exit door.

"Ren, that hurts! REN! REN!"

"JUST LET ME HOLD YOUR HAND FOREVER!" He begged between screams, only a beeping sound existed in his head as he watched you fall to the ground in a pool of blood.

Now you were on the ground, screaming and crying out loud, it was agony, Ren had hurt you.

For fuck's sake, not only did he hurt you, he tore your fucking arm off and now you were writhing in your blood as you slowly lost consciousness.

Wake up.

Your body was still shaking, you were still terrified, and you had to escape, where was your arm? As soon as you woke up you found a sweaty Ren who was looking at you with a desperate and nervous smile.

It was a deranged look, almost immediately you started crying out of panic, your arm was gone, your arm, he tore it off, you were hyperventilating as you watched his left arm missing.

"REN! REN!!" You were sobbing in despair, the pool of blood was still on the floor, how long were you unconscious? not much because apparently Ren had tried to stop the bleeding and close the wound, seeing bandages full of blood made you vomit immediately, but that didn't stop you from crying in agony.

"Angel, please! s-stop crying, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, please forgive me! FORGIVE ME, I DIDN'T WANT TO! IT WAS NOT MY INTENTION!" He begged you as he sobbed himself, he had hurt you and that was something he never thought of doing, that he never wanted to do. "l-look, now we are equal, can you forgive me?"

What did he say ..?

Your throat had closed and the screams stopped, that guy was fucking deranged.

He ripped his left arm off of him.

For you.

He came up to hug you, wanting to be comforting, to make you feel accompanied in this, to give you love in such a dark time.

No no no no.

"NO! NO! NOOO! PLEASE, NO!" You screamed in panic as the tears came out, that couldn't be happening, disgust and terror filled your poor mind as you were caressed with so much love, Ren was going to take care of you and promised to never hurt you again.

"We'll be fine angel, just trust me, I'll take care of you." He spoke so lovingly, smiling as he held you, genuinely happy to be so close, to be able to touch you. "Now we match, right?"

He was joking at a moment like that, as if it were nothing, the sobs no longer came out, you could barely breathe while the tears didn't stop and he lulled you into your chest with the help of his only arm.

♡

[ducktracy]

the first clip for "the day the earth blew up" was posted on twitter. can you spare us your thoughts?

@aadrawings: So uh how about that new Looney movie clip?

I MOST CERTAINLY CAN SPARE MY THOUGHTS! TWIST MY ARM! first, i'll link it here in case anyone hasn't seen it:

FIRST (and most obvious) THING'S FIRST: I'M SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED UUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHH!!! the film JUST started premiering in Annecy as we speak and my heart is literally pounding MY FINGERS LITERALLY SHAKING. so i apologize if this turns into a discombobulated mess i'm so so so excited and trying to keep an eagle eye out for any and all details. BUT ANYHOO

IT LOOKS GREAT!!! this is a fully rendered clip of the roughs that were uploaded back in September of 2022, so i'm already pretty familiar with this since i gushed over it to hell and back then, too. i had a few teeny tiny neurotic nitpicks that i would not take too seriously--honestly me nitpicking anything modern LT is a good sign because it means i'm ENGAGED and actively thinking and engaging with the material. there are a lot of modern LT adaptations i cannot say the same for. so it's all out of a labor of love and i also realize that most of these nitpicks are very.. you guys know my level of fanaticism. don't take it too seriously. my standards for this series AND THESE TWO KNUCKLEHEADS IN PARTICULAR who are my favorite characters of all time are so high that even the classics don't meet those expectations half the time. we all know i'm insane. BUT ENOUGH BLUFFING

my biggest critique is that it's going to take me quite a bit to get used to Eric Bauza's Porky. i LOVE Bauza, he is such a sweet guy (he sang me happy birthday as Daffy Duck and i almost exploded) and so talented and it's been really great seeing him rise up the ranks. i used to only know him as "the guy who voiced Stimpy in APC" and so i'm VERY glad to see he's gone on to greener pastures LOL.

but, with that said, the first time i saw these roughs i actually thought Porky's lines were scratch audio. there isn't enough stuttering--it's important for me to note that people give Porky's stutter WAY too much prevalence, in terms of how he sounds and just characterization as a whole. a stutter is not a personality. BUT, in the clips above, he doesn't really sound like Porky unless he's stuttering. it moreso sounds like Daffy talking to himself. Mel Blanc had Porky speak (and even sing!) in full sentences all the time, but it's never noticeable unless pointed out because Porky still sounded like Porky and Blanc knew how to make his personality come out in his voice beyond the vocal fluff of a stutter.

part of it is because i'm so used to Bob Bergen. and, even THEN, if i watch too much LTC or Duck Dodgers in one sitting, i need to "recalibrate" with the originals and hear Blanc. Bergen's Porky is much different than Mel's, more formal, the stutter more concrete in its formula (fun fact: Blanc's Porky has a southern twang in his voice if you listen for it depending on who's voice directing and i love it so much. biggest giveaway is how his "i"'s will often sound like an "ah" instead, not thinking of the stutter. I WARNED YOU we are getting into super pedantic territory here), but, much like how Joe Alaskey's Daffy is a much different interpretation than Blanc's Daffy, he was able to really make it his own. i think Bauza's Porky is still in a little bit of a limbo in finding its identity with that regard. but, also, keep in mind we've only heard him in this clip and Space Jam 2 and i have no plans of revisiting SJ2 to make a point here. sorry

THAT'S MY BIGGEST CRITIQUE i'd say! others are small, such as the design of the landlady is fun but reads like something out of the 2020 Animaniacs than anything based in the LT design philosophy, and you could argue that the fluidity is more Richard Williams-esque in its visual fluffiness and perhaps even excessiveness than, again, anything relating to LT. but i take less stock in that last one because the animation is STILL GORGEOOOOOOOOOOOOUS WHAT THE HECK!!!! so many fluid arcs and i really love that scene of Daffy talking to the landlady. the subtle twitching on Porky's cheek as a secondary action made me laugh.

other than that... you guys know that I. LOVE. LTC. i have been tracking it before it released, and there are posts on this blog (i think i saw one even dating back to its initial announcement in 2018, though it may have been a 2019 post of the 2018 upload. dunno.) dating back before i was even into LT at ALL. i've been keeping an eagle eye on every single development. the day they premiered i watched the entire batch 3 times in a row. i streamed it for you guys too! some people reading this may have been in that room.

ALL THIS TO SAY, i LOVE LTC SO MUCH and it's been the most excited i've been for anything in a very long time. i also have my fair share of nitpicks, but, as i've expressed above, they all come out of a place of love. some of the Porky and Daffy shorts in the LTCs i would have handled differently if i had my hands on them. Porky and Daffy are two characters who are deeply special to me, everyone knows me as The Porky And Daffy person including my coworkers and bosses, my friends who worked on the show and film have told me many times they're eager for my thoughts. the pig and duck are literally a part of my identity. so my critiques come more out of a place of fanaticism and love for the characters and wanting to do them justice and wanting people to see what i see in them, rather than an actual dig at the product

THAT ALL BEING SAID. there are some pitfalls and little traps the P+D (and a lot of LTC in general) shorts run into that i'm expecting to be in the movie as well. there's a little bit here with the screaming and some lines of dialogue that i probably would have shaved off (like "our roof?"). months ago i started typing up mini reviews of each LTC short that i may compile here someday--my Max subscription was about to run out and i wanted to watch all the LTCs one last time while i could. and then i renewed because i couldn't watch quickly enough and now need to return LOL--and it allowed me to lay out some of the nitpicks i have with the series more clearly, which i am fully expecting to also be in the movie. and that's okay!

ALLLL OF THIS RAMBLING IS TO SAY: I AM SO EXCITED. i've been tracking every single detail of this movie and this SERIES like a hawk since it was announced. i was even asked to work on the film back in 2021, but turned it down because i wasn't secure enough in my abilities and didn't know what job security would look like after i finished on the film. i'm glad i stuck with the decision as i did, because i figured i can draw those two any time i want, and the fact that i got asked meant that there are eyes on my work and i may get asked with other LT related offers (which turned out to be true!). needless to say, turning down the offer was genuinely one of the most excruciating things i've ever done and it seriously sent me into a pretty big funk for the next few days and weeks.

so, with all that said, it is ESPECIALLY important for me to see how this movie is and celebrate it and keep my fanatical obsessive eagle eye out. i'm so glad i get to live in a world where this is a movie that is happening and coming out. i've already got plans to see it with a best friend who i've shoved the agenda of the pig and duck down her throat many times. i am so excited to cheer on all my friends and colleagues who worked on this film. it's the most excited i think i have ever been for anything actively coming out in my life.

[james-stark-the-writer]

alright, let's keep moving with that DCEU watch bc i have the time today. time for David F. Sandberg's Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023). here's to hoping this has retained the spirit and heart of the original and improved the superhero aspects because they were the worst part of Shazam! (2019).

i've been trying to get a more accurate video player setup working for like 2 hours, i was using basically stock MPC-BE for the most part but some of the images looked a little soft to me even compared to something basic like a VLC (which i only really keep for its subtitle downloading feature bc it's the easiest to use, and tbh it could've been using sharpening filters, i didn't really check) and Potplayer (which is the only way i can get two subtitles to display simultaneously for media with multiple subs like fansubs or different translations or something, and also it's got like pretty good video output). i tried to look into MPV and the amount of work and scripts everyone was recommending kind of broke me, so i'm just using like the base form of mpv.net bc it's got a GUI, with like GPU decoding turned on which was the one common thing everyone recommended from my research.

hopefully this is better image quality then like standard VLC stuff and my previous MPC-BE setup though i obviously haven't sat through entire movies to compare frame by frame, so beware that if i say anything about the visuals it might not be the most accurate. MPV is supposed to be the most accurate and flexible option around but i don't know how much futzing around people do with it and there's a lot of like upscaling and downscaling scripts for no fucking reason, which is kind of antithetical to the entire point of accuracy to me, but it's fine. i'm just sticking to the base options and hoping it's good and better than what i had. the image does look just a tad sharper to me than in VLC and MPC so i don't know if they have sharpening filters on or something, but this is like the most base form with nothing changed (except the subtitle font) so i cannot imagine they are messing with the video signal with too much filtering. i tried to look into madVR and MPC-HC and got them installed and almost lost my mind trying to get it set up bc there's no real guides anywhere so don't fucking tell me to go look up madVR bc i will kill you. maybe some other day when i have 15 hours to dedicate to going through forums to try to find something that works for me and get enough knowledge to understand what the fuck everybody's talking about, maybe i'll check it out. i cannot believe there's not like some fucking guide for some anime noob because you know those anime people are on the cutting edge of video tech and playback for accuracy, that there's not some fucking guide for people that don't know what they're doing. i mean it's not that i don't know what i'm doing, it's that there's so much fucking shit to sort through that it would be nice if somebody narrowed it down for me. there's nothing even on YouTube or like some shitty github page or an old reddit comment or something, trust me i've like checked fucking everywhere i could think of but if i missed something, please feel free to link it somewhere in the comments or something, i don't know.

anyway, that is entirely an aside, that's just a forewarning that if i do say something about the visuals and you think it's not accurate to what the movie looks like or is not properly representative of the movie, feel free to take it with a grain of salt. i'm trying out something new.

[xandermatthews2290]

The Final Secrets Theory

With Chapter 2 starting back up again in about..8 hours, I’m gonna make my last prediction with the information currently available

So just taking the entire motive and murder at face value, we have 14 secrets, and if somebody isn’t dead in 4 days they are getting revealed

The logical step is then gonna be that the culprit must be among the group that still hasn’t had their secrets revealed, gonna include some visual aids

So far: Arei, Ace, Nico, Eden, David, Charles, Rose, J, Whit, and Arturo have had their secrets outed at the point we’ve left off at

that’s 10 people hypothetically out of contention, but as Rose never checked her secret, Whit actually cannot be included in that group of 10 leaving us with just Levi, Teruko, Veronika Whit, and Hu as potential culprits

Also it is worth noting that prior to the trial being started: Eden, Ace, David, and Arturo’s secrets were not public knowledge

Ace and Eden’s get revealed with very little fanfare

And one of the last points of contention, the dead students secrets, outside of Xander’s depression and potentially suicidal thoughts , the only thing we learn about Min is that she may have killed someone to earn the title of Ultimate Student

The 5 of them at the start of the case, Levi and Teruko are cooperating and reveal they got Arei and Rose’s secrets

Veronika, Levi, David, Hu, and potentially are all looking suspicious now but really what secrets are left

“You’re a murderer and you hold no remorse”

“You only took on your talent to distract from your incessant need to harm yourself for fun.”

“You were quite the hopeless child, dying once wasn’t enough, so you attempted suicide 3 times”

“How could I even select what secret to be your motive? Just about everything you’ve done in your life is worth killing for. This killing game is your fault”

The above secret was credited to Xander, however it is not clear if the dead students were included in the swap, along with another secret mentioning survivor’s guilt, however it is still possible that Levi or Hu’s family could be dead

“Your mom is dead. You always omit that truth”

So just looking at them, I’d say Teruko not being able to tell which is hers is pretty messed up.

But otherwise which of these is worth killing for? The murderer one is of course terrible, but killing someone now will just reinforce that point, this secret seems most likely to be Levi’s given the limited suspect pool, Teruko and Hu are far from emotionless though it is possible it’s Veronikas though 1 other fits her better

Only took your talent to distract yourself from self harm? The most popular theory is that this is Veronika’s following her scene in the movie theater

Though it is possible that Hu could have this secret, Veronika is much more likely, by extension Levi is also out for this secret as we can actually see most of him, and Teruko didn’t take up her talent at all

Hopeless Child, 3 suicide attempts, I lean towards this being Hu’s out of the secrets remaining, she seems to be a bit of an outsider, going by a different name to fit in.

This could easily be Teruko’s as she openly knows she can’t die and that failed hanging attempts are extremely painful, however David has also been openly more suspicious of her this chapter so it’s most likely he has Teruko’s secret, that being her being the reason the killing game exists, likely to test the ultimate luck

The mom one is probably Whit’s, which kinda undermines the theory that he’s lying about it but really? This doesn’t fit Teruko who’s an orphan and would recognize it immediately , Veronika has never acknowledged her life outside of the academy

Looking at Levi, he isn’t close to his family at all making this secret less likely to be his, it could be Hu’s but I’d still say it’s a reach

So now onto the meat of this theory, the culprit is most likely Eden or Levi based on the information available

The motive doesn’t end at your secret being revealed and while some people have claimed that certain secrets are not worth a murder, we’ve seen Charles and Arturo do complete face turns and Arturo himself nearly slit Eden’s throat in a moment of panic

Charles nearly had a breakdown and is now questioning his entire life’s view, he might not kill for what he hears but he might kill to find out what really happened with Elliot, unlikely this chapter since he’s the most active trial investigator but Arei’s bloodless death is certainly unnerving

So take Eden’s innocuous secret: “Ever since you kissed her, you were afraid your sexuality would ruin your friendships”

her secret is basically that she is a lesbian, or bi, who am I to say. Everyone’s else’s secret dives into deep trauma and fear, their crimes, their deteriorating mental states. Not that her secret isn’t valid but it’s also extremely mild, it also could be the first time we hear of Mai Akasaki, she’s hasn’t shown up at all and her role is still unclear.

Having her be related to Eden’s secret and subsequent murder would be a way to semi-naturally introduce her to the story

Now onto Levi the other most likely culprit, he’s been shown to snap relatively easily threatening Ace’s life the first trial after just being an arrogant annoyance

So the main trigger for this was Ace calling Levi a coward something he openly isn’t able to take nearly as calmly. He also barely acknowledges Mom’s violent execution, claiming it was simply “too absurd for words”

Yeah does anybody really think that Arei could have had a talk with Levi about his secret and not have brought up something similar

it’s also why several pieces of evidence don’t seem to go anywhere, the rope under the carousel, the milk jugs, the fish

It wasn’t used for anything, Levi was strong enough to break her neck, something Eden likely wouldn’t be able to do, and strong enough to hang her with no assistance however with Xander now dead it’s important to make it seem like somebody that wasn’t jacked could have killed Arei

So it it’s with that that I conclude my last pre CH2 part 2 theory, the culprit is Eden or Levi, though I lean towards Levi as he was my first suspect when I watched it so I’m committed.

Whit is also my crackhead theory but I’m at the point where I feel the evidence stacks up nicely but still leaves a lot to desire, though I would still like to be right so here a mini theory to go with this brick of text

In the words of Charles they fucked up, Whit is somebody to not only have an alibi with Charles but to also have taken credit for a secret that can’t be validated

He also did something a fair bit more damning:

He’s the reason David went to the relaxation room, Arei does say that she snuck a peek at Whit’s secret but isn’t it also possible that Whit simply told her and coordinated their meetup that night?

He’s not overly suspicious but sometimes there’s beauty is simplicity

Now for the short wait and to hope all these theories don’t get nuked the second part 2 starts

[grabyoursaintsandpray]

I didn't exactly have high hopes going into the film, my expectations were on the floor actually but somehow it still managed to be worse than I thought it would be.

In case anyone wants to watch the awful mess that is Borderlands, I'll put the rest under the cut and instead here's much needed eye bleach in the form of Krieg.

The exposition! There's so much of it, which I knew there would be because you have to explain 5 games worth of lore in a 1:40hr movie.

Tannis basically exists as a character to insert that lore for the audience, usually in an awkward painful to watch manner. I wish I could say well, Tannis is an awkward character so Jamie Lee Curtis nailed it but we didn't get that funny, slightly deranged way of speaking and making people uncomfortable. We just got some really blah lines, delivered very deadpan. Having her in the movie brought nothing to it, you could have cut her out and still had the same product.

Kevin Hart played Kevin Hart in a beret.

I actually stopped thinking of him as Roland and instead as a random 'Crimson Lance' soldier and you know what? It was more enjoyable that way.

Lillith, well yeah. The biggest sin here was her not being a siren? Not until the very end of course, which is so obvious as being the film's end game that I found myself checking the time wondering when would we be getting that 'big' reveal. Of course they don't actually use the word siren, they say Daughter of Eridia instead. Tannis does use the word siren exactly once near the end but it's pretty quickly muttered and never referenced again.

Speaking of sirens, Tina's whole back story is a chaotic mess. For some reason she has siren-like powers because why not I guess? Instead of her actual tragic back story, they kind of spliced her with Angel's instead. A controlling father who uses her powers for his own gain, except Atlas isn't her father because she was made in a lab with eridian blood.

Yeah the whole thing is a lot to follow and I know the lore, so I have no idea what casual movie goers thought of this.

The worst thing about this movie is Tina actually and that sucks to say because she's a great character but not in this. Her lines are delivered without any of that crazy, fun spark. Her jokes aren't funny and don't land and she's just... irritating. We're supposed to care for her, we're supposed to believe that lillith comes to care for her but it's a little hard to swallow.

Claptrap is well Claptrap, which is actually not that bad. His lines are very on point and visually he looks good. However he's a very annoying character and that's the whole point of course but in the games you just bump into him now and again and can generally get away from him, in this movie you are stuck with him and he very quickly grates on your nerves.

My beloved Krieg, at least you looked good. Another character who was really kind of pointless and didn't make any sense being there. Why was Atlas keeping psychos in space jail? Why did Tina know his name and why were they so comfortable with each other. We'll never know and the film didn't think it relevant to tell us.

Surely if Tina needed a bodyguard, the obvious answer would have been Brick? Did nobody working on this film play the games at all?

There's probably a lot that I've already forgotten and I don't intend to watch this film again to remember any of it but the main thing that stuck out to me was

Nobody laughed

At any of it, not a single chuckle was heard throughout the entire film and there must have been at least 15 people in my screening.

It was a painfully unfunny film and I'm now going to play Borderlands 2 and try to wipe it from my memory.

[starsandhughes]

The View Between Villages

summary: trevor finds you in the middle of a break down, and you finally open up to him.

pairing: trevor zegras x reader

WARNINGS: PAST SELF HARM MENTIONED, SCARS, CRYING, DIVORCE, SCREAMING, BAD PARENTAL RELATIONSHIPS (PARTICULARLY FATHERS), POLICE INVOLVEMENT, WEAPONS MENTIONED, RUNNING AWAY, PET DEATH MENTIONED, PSYCH WARD MENTIONED, (please tell me if i missed any i went really heavy with this one to *cope*)

ps. i wrote this and didn’t edit or reread this whole thing might be a typo and i wouldn’t know

word count: ~2.4K

MASTERLIST

Trevor had yet to see you break.

He’d seen you cry, sure. He’s seen you frustrated, maybe a little angry, he’s seen you cry over a sad movie or just on a really bad day.

But your precious, happy, more radiant than the sun boyfriend had yet to see you break. And it was… probably as traumatizing for him as it was for you to see you a sobbing mess on the bathroom floor when he came home early from a roadie.

You didn’t hear him come running into the bathroom when he finally figured out where you were, so you certainly didn’t hear him enter through the front door.

It was stupid, really. At least, you felt it was. A song triggered everything you’d been trying to forget to come flowing back and throttle your emotions head on. A song! You hadn’t cried in so long, and you know crying is good for you, so you kept replaying the song over and over for an hour now, and the subtle tears slowly lit the flames of the matches leading up to a giant mental break down. So, to say Trevor wasn’t expecting to find you as an indescribable mess is an understatement.

“Y/N?!” he shouted. He was instantly on his knees knelt next to your scrunched up form.

Your knees were tucked under you, and your upper body was bent forward so your face was practically touching the ground. The only thing keeping your face from falling to the cold tile were your elbows propping you up, while your hands were digging into your hair as you slowly rocked.

The View Between Villages had to be on its thirty-something-eth run by now. Trevor stood up to turn off your speaker, but you gripped at his forearm to stop him.

“No! No, Trevor, I’m not-“

Your voice was cut off by your own gasps of breath. You weren’t hyperventilating, but you weren’t exactly breathing steadily either. Trevor looked down at you with the most shocked and pained look on his face you’d ever seen. His mouth trickled open as his lips wobbled at this sight of you. Your face had to blood shot red at this point, with tears coating the lower half.

“Not what, y/n?” Trevor asked, voice filled with urgency and concern.

“I have to get it out, Z, I’m not done crying!”

The lyrics went on.

The cars in reverse, I’m gripping the wheel. I’m back between villages, and everything’s still.

Images that weren’t real to you, only visualizations of memories told to you, flooded your vision again at the last line of the song. You were sitting up now with your knees pulled tight to your chest. Your hand flew to your mouth as more wracked sobs came out. Trevor wasted no time in getting up to turn off the speaker this time, despite your attempts of protests.

Trevor flew behind you and pulled you into his lap. He tried to pry your hands away from your hair, but it took great effort from him because he didn’t want to risk you physically pulling your hair out. Luckily, that wasn’t something you ever planned to do, and your hands gave in. His palms held onto the back of your hands and his arms wrapped around your middle, taking yours with. You pulled your knees in tighter and laid your forehead on them against the pressure of Trevor holding you tight to his chest.

“I wasn’t done! I have to get it out! I HAVE TO GET IT OUT!”

Then came the screams. Not shouts, you weren’t yelling. There weren’t even words accompanying the screams. You could’ve been featured on the soundtrack of a horror movie with how intense your screams were.

“Get what out, y/n/n? Tell me! What’s happening?”

Your head flew back against his shoulder, catching him off guard. Your body was extremely tight that you were practically writing in pain in Trevor’s lap.

“Let it out to me, tell me. What’s happening, love? I’ve never seen you like this,” he asked lowly. He was staying steady for you.

“I’m sorry,” you sobbed. Your breathing was getting heavier now.

“No, baby, don’t be sorry, it’s alright. I’m just concerned, okay? What happened? Why were you listening to that song over and over?”

“It brought things back,” you shuddered out.

“Brought what back, baby?” He was rubbing your arms up and down with a lot of pressure to try and help relax your muscles, and you could feel him exaggerating his breathing so that you could feel it from behind.

“Everything,” you whispered. “Everything bad that I’ve been running from. The last part of the song is a little too accurate for me, and if opened a floodgate.”

Trevor stayed quiet for a minute. He just rubbed your arms up and down until he felt you finally start to ease up a little before moving up to your shoulders.

“Just breathe with me for a second, okay?”

He started to take even more exaggerated steady breaths with you. In for four, hold for four, and then out for four.

You looked up to find a very concerned looking Jamie, who apparently came running over when you screamed. Trevor told him that he had this, and Jamie hesitantly stepped away. You completely forgot about him if you were being honest.

“I need you to talk to me,” Trevor breathed out. “Do you wanna go to the couch?”

“I don’t wanna move,” you mumbled.

“Alright. I’ll move for you.”

Trevor picked you up and carried you out into the living room bridal style. He sat down on the couch and pulled you into his lap again, but this time you were on the side. His arms wrapped around you and you leaned into his chest, resting your cheek on his shoulder and tucking yourself into his neck.

“Alright my love, you said you related to the last part of the song you were playing too much, right?” He continued when you nodded against him. “What was the song called?”

“The View Between Villages.”

Trevor nodded and pulled it up, “Let’s take it lyric by lyric then, and you can tell me what came over you specifically for that line. Is that okay? We can stop when you need, but you need to let me in on some of this. It doesn’t have to weigh all on you.”

“Okay,” you quietly agreed.

“‘Past Alger Brook road, I’m over the bridge. A minute from home, but I feel so far from it.’ Anything there?”

“I ran away,” you said blank.

“You what?”

“From my father. It wasn’t the first time I had to leave home, but it was the first time I did it by choice. But I still go see my best friends there. And every time I take that final exit off the interstate, there’s always a part of me that deflates. I grew up there, most of my friends still live there, but it’s not home anymore. It’s where he lives. It’s where I was… um…”

“You don’t have to tell me what you don’t want to right now. You’re doing so great,” he assured you.

“My parents divorced, which happens, but when my father told us on Christmas, things went a little haywire and police got involved. There’s some details in there that I don’t want to dive into right now, but it was pretty bad. The police took all the weapons in the house and placed them on the table while he packed a bag to go into a hotel for the night. And then the next day, my mom took us to live with her since they already lived in separate states.

“I moved back after a few months when he had calmed down because I missed my friends. Things weren’t great, I wasn’t medicated yet, but I had my friends. I lasted a year, and then he threatened to kick me out and throw away all my stuff if I went to see my mom for the Fourth of July. He gave me an ultimatum. So I packed up my stuff and was planning on just leaving, but he found out.

“I thought he was gonna come after me. I called my mom crying, and she called him to get him to calm down. He calmed down, went to bed, and I ran away at 2am and drove through the night to my mom’s house. I haven’t seen or spoken to him since.”

Trevor let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. His arms around you tightened and he pressed a kiss to the top of your head.

“That’s… that’s um… intense,” was what he got out. “I mean I know you don’t talk to your dad anymore but that’s…”

“Yeah.”

“Is that all?”

“Not even close.”

Trevor nodded and continued on reading the lyrics, “‘The death of my dog, the stretch of my skin. It’s all washing over me, I’m angry again.’ Anything there?”

‘The death of my dog’ line was self explanatory, but Trevor already knew that. Sure, you cried when it happened, but not much anymore.

“‘The stretch of my skin’ lyric. It um…”

You got a bit choked up at the idea of telling Trevor this next part. Everything intimate you’ve done has been more or less in the dark with minimal light to still see each other’s features. He hadn’t noticed yet.

“Tell me no,” he said shakily.

“I can’t,” you teared up. “I uh… started in high school. On my wrists. Those you can’t really tell because of the way wrists bend— but my upper thighs? I guess I went deeper than I thought because—“

Trevor held you tighter against his chest when you started to cry harder again. His hand cradled your head and held it against his shoulder as he gently rocked you, “Can I see them?”

“Are you sure?”

Trevor hesitated, “I mean, I’m kind if glad you told me about them first before I saw, because I honestly don’t know which one would be worse. And if I don’t see them now, it’s all I’d be looking for the next time we’re in the bedroom.”

“You don’t have to see them this sec-“

“Y/N, please,” he cut you off.

You took a pause from the trauma dumping to show him the scars. You refused to look at him as he did so. His fingers ever so lightly brushed over some of the more prominent ones and you hitched a breath.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

“Don’t be,” you assured. “I’m clean. For over two years now. You help a lot, Trev. More than you know.”

He nodded and cupped your cheek with his hand, “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Do you wanna stop? I’ve dropped a lot on you in the last ten minutes.”

He urged you to go on, so you continued to the next lyric.

“‘The things that I lost here, the people I knew. They got me surrounded for a mile two.’”

“Everybody’s lost things. Important things. But the things I lost really wrecked me, you know? My innocence. Happiness. I lost a part of myself when I was mentally at my worst. I was admitted to a psych ward, and I overheard my father telling his girlfriend that he thought I just didn’t want to “be a grownup” and was acting out.”

“I’ll kill him.”

“Get in line,” you tried to joke. It didn’t work. For either of you.

“And then for ‘the people i knew,’ I only have two friends that I’ve had since high school, and then their boyfriends, but even friends I met after high school I managed to fuck up and lose them, too. There’s never even conversations about it, they just leave me. Cut me off. It took me so long to open up to you because all of that leaving made me lose hope in people.

“It never happened before, but today that song played and there was just visions of everything. Some were memories, others were my representation of things my father did told to me by my mom. Individually I can take it all; but all together? I broke. And I’m sorry you had to see it.”

Trevor went back to cupping your face. His thumb skimmed across your under eyes to wipe some fresh tears away. He just looked at you. He looked at you fondly.

“You’re so strong, did you know that?”

“Trev, I was just screaming on the bathroom floor over a song.”

“Yeah, because your brain decided to have a mid day showing over everything bad that’s ever happened to you. But you made it through all of that. You’re here. You’re here with me, and with Jamie, and your mom. You’re here because you’re strong. I think you might be the strongest person I know.”

You didn’t say anything back. Not because you weren’t grateful that he said that, because you knew he truly meant it. You just didn’t know what to say. You didn’t even cover everything that has happened to you, but the things you did share was already too much for you, and definitely for him. The rest would come eventually.

“I don’t wanna talk anymore,” you said quietly.

“That’s okay,” Trevor nodded. “How about I call Jimmy down here so he knows you’re okay and we can watch a movie? Does that sound good, love?”

He smiled when you agreed, and seeing the crinkles next to his eyes brought a small smile onto your lips as well. Jamie didn’t make a big deal out of the events that just transpired, which you were beyond thankful for. He just placed a quick kiss on the top of your head and took his seat on the edge of the couch next to your and Trevor’s spot in the middle.

You were barely paying attention to the movie, it was some action one that you didn’t pay attention to the name to when Trevor put it on, but it had Chris Evans in it, so you weren’t mad. You were resting against Trevor’s chest, listening and feeling his steady heartbeat as you purposely began to breathe in sync with him.

He’s here. He’s here, and so are you. And that counts for everything.

[justabrainrotvictim]

I literally was brainstorming the plot for a lps MOVIE, and there were vivid VISIONS of a fanmade trailer in my head OKAY OKAY!!!

I COULDNT SLEEP LAST NIGJT BWCAUSE OF THIS I HAVE TO GET THIS DOWN

(Rant under cut >-<) Feel free to give your own ideas i would love to read them!!!

Visuals:

Okay so imagine the mlp movie and how they did their models, how crisp and clean with the simple airbrushing at shading points right? Polished and well animated, looking semi-3D? Yeah imagine that but paired with LPS. I think it would look stunning. It would be understandable because both MLP and LPS are made by Hasbro.

I imagined a dynamic 3D-like zoom beginning from the clouds down onto Down-Town city, zooming down the skyscrapers, city park, across bright alleys and busy streets. At some point the pov points towards pets being walked by their owners down to a busy shop of lps.

The drone-like accseleration would cruz through the busy shop of pets jumping for treats and the ring of the cash register from paying customers. Then, finally, the daycare, the theater speakers blasting cute pop music and chattering criters enjoying their time there. With all 7 pets running around doing their little characteristic things and their modles being displayed,. The old timer people watch as they claw at their seats, excited to see their favorite characters.

Then a rattle comes from the Dumb waiter, and this is where we meet the main protagonist, Blythe, off to go to school.

(Stop this looks so good in my head i hope you get it) (i feel like the animation style would be a pixar/illumination style if not hasbro

Plot:

I feel like the plot would be very cliché like something related to Blythe's Mom, since she was brought up and obviously absent (i hope they didnt apply that she's not dead because then this wouldn't work) but ill go with this plot for now.

I think blythe's mom would reside somwehere in a jungle, in a treehouse even, as a ranger. She would use her gift to aid animals and help them through climate change and relationship problems and sortage. Etc. Haven't fleshed this part out yet.

This movie would be an Adventure Comedy Rated G. (I dont really know how much angst i want in this but whatevr)

Blythe and the pets will be going through an adventure to find out if Blythe's mom is still alive .. as Blythe finds a shread of hope, a clue.. of where she could be.

The pets will be going through airports, a rural city in the east continent, jungles, and especially shenanigans.

Now this just came to me, what if blythe brings the pets with her by the permission of the owners through a cruz or something, THEN being stranded (ignore this happening in the show okay) or something out of Blythe's control where now Blythe and the pets have to face being both lost, on a time crunch, and blythe's quest as a lesser priority. Because if blythe doesnt bring the pets back, she could be in serious trouble.

Characters:

Blythe Baxter: Main character energy. Helps point the plot in the right direction while also being the most hopeful about her success in finding her mom.

Roger: A silly goose that nearly messes up the plot with his clumsyness. Dont know if he will be apart of blythe being lost.

Twombly: probably very little dialog, unfortunately.

Zoe: Comentary and would get distracted easily with herself, would help with discovering scents and tracking. The most observant.

Pepper: lightens up the mood with her jokes. She even does this in glim and depressing sequences but slowly trails off when she realizes her failure. She would then wallow in the mood while feeling guilty.

Penny Ling: The most useful when finding food of substance that is sonsumable. It is also helpful with being extremely charming and cute in some instances. The heart of the group.

Minka: The most energetic and finds upcoming trouble first. What isn't helpful is how she freaks out crazily to the point where it makes all the pets panic even more. Otherwise, she is the eye of the group.

Sunil: AHHHHHH! He worries a lot.. sort of anxious about everything new around him.

Vinnie: AHHHHHH's with Sunil. Somewhere in the movie, he would find our something utterly impossible - for comedy - that literally no other living being would figure out. This would reference the many times he did something 'smart' to contrast with his character.

Russel: Group parent, bossy pants, and nerd. Too much dialog. Wayyy too much. At some point, one pet even brings up this detail of how he's such a yapper.

Biskits: Totally like ew. Their like so cool and stuff. Yeah.. The young adult demographic LOVESSS them like Velvet and Veneer from Trolls 3. In each separate scene, they wear a new slaying outfit.

Cashmere and Velvet have a cameo btw

Character interaction:

There will be small details in some scenes, kind of easter eggs at some sort like where one is hugging the other or making sure they're okay. Or a pet observing a butterfly ykwim.

(*cough cough* sunil and vinnie hugging when scared)

I honestly feel like there would be random lore drops, like idk how a pet was adopted/raised (SUNIL WAS OBVIOUSLY RAISED AS A BABY) idk i just really want that in a movie like, lore of a character that sounds awesome.

The pets would be super caring with each other. And during their worst, they will comfort verbally or physically whenever one feels down. They will protect one another like family. They will cry. They will suffer.

All characters will experience something out of their comfort zone. All characters will receive character development. Blythe will prioritize her mom over the pets. That's right, you heard me. She will care less about the pets at some point.

She would be so caught up in her own world that she wouldn't notice the pain she's causing her pets by dragging them with her through this journey. How hard it would be to cope with such stress.

Conflict:

That leads to conflict. Blythe's neglectful behavior would lead to a more serious scene where she breaks down at the idea that maybe, her mom is gone. How all evidence points to her death or some other factor. That maybe if she was just a few days earlier, she could have seen her. She could have met her.

Trailers and Theater posters:

The music would be like the intro music to mlp movie , an electric guitar cover of the intro, like JUST IMAGINE HOW BADASS THAT WOULD BEEEEEEE!!!!!

I could not be clearer ENOUGH! Sunil would be in a scene of a trailer saying something like,

*anoyyed groan* "Could this day get any better?!"

*as sacrastic as possible* and then it pours rain and vinnies like,

"Maybe." In a very oblivious voice.

IDK GUYS THERE WOULD BE SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN THE TRAILER OKAY YOU GET ME???? SOME DUMB DAD HUMOR LIKE IRONICALLY FUNNY OJAY OKAY????

[betterbemeta]

As it is right now, machine learning image generation is classist. It depends strongly on the human audience's eye for pareidolia to smooth over its inconsistencies and find patterns in its noise where its procedural generation falls short.

This means that the less opportunity a person has to gain context for information, the more likely 'AI art' is to be convincing. As long as that person has been given a baseline to 'believe' the general arrangement of elements, AI art will 'make sense' even if that baseline is just exposure to more acontextual imagery. Which is what the machine learning's algorithms were trained on in the first place.

For example, 'AI' right now struggles to coherently depict plants. When it's not blurry, indistinct plant fur, leaves from different kinds of plants appear on the same stem, plants from the wrong biome are included in 'nature' images. Someone who has very little educational opportunity, but has seen movies where people walk through jungles or forests as set pieces or something, might not notice the difference. And why do you 'need' to know if the plants look right, poor person; you'll never leave your immediate area or take a biology class!

Someone without the opportunity or comfort to travel might not recognize that a cityscape has been artificially generated, depicts no actual real-world city. Is that supposed picture of Dubai or New York City or Cairo showing a real place that exists? Who cares, you're too poor to ever go there.

Searching for information about animal species, even, can get messed up by generated 'content.' Do servals have ear tufts? What kind of insect is that? What species of lizard or snake am I looking at? You don't deserve to know what kinds of animals are real. What time do you have to go to a zoo, if there's even one around you?

The less money you have, the more likely you are to be surrounded by advertising and "AI Art" is ideal for advertising because it only tells a very simple story at best. There's no complicated human emotions; its literally made of averages of what has been seen before. Marketing and advertising content often replaces actual art that might be a window into a greater world. It may even just be dropped in there to fill the awkward silence or blankness that would have otherwise surrounded marketing efforts-- commercials would be surreal without some say-nothing 'music' track behind them, and billboards would be creepy without the graphic noise that surrounds the product and its information. Someone who passes through more monetized public spaces per day will see more of it than someone who inhabits private property.

And like, at the end of the day if you are wealthy... you probably don't care about any of this. You have access to whatever you want, so why do you care what's real? You trust you can 'pay for' the real thing, right?

Plus, who knows the economic status of who generated imagery the machine learning algorithms train on? It's all stolen.

Photography has been critical in modern history for bringing 'the world' across social divisions of class, race, geographical divides. Photographers and filmmakers, along with other visual artists as well as musicians, writers, and journalists associated with all of these disciplines give us lenses, framing, voices, and perspectives to understand our greater world no matter where we are. Hell, identifying the human intentions BEHIND those lenses, framings, voices is key to our development. No matter your circumstances, with a strong grasp of media literacy anyone can sit down and say, wait a minute, is this real, would it be true for me too? Or is this someone's point of view?

To the point of view of wealth and capital, the working class and those without wealth who cannot work (disabled people, displaced people, homeless people shut out of employment, and more) do not deserve to know about reality. To that point of view, nonwealthy people don't deserve to even know who created the perspectives they're allowed to see. You can be born, get trained to work, go to work, come home to the minimum, repeat, and die having seen no images of reality for all they care. They'd like that! How can you dream of something outside the current exploitative structure if you can't even trust you know what plants and animals and cities look like, outside your tiny box?

[burst-of-iridescent]

atla live action thoughts: episodes 7 & 8

SPOILERS AHEAD

tw: opinions

things i liked:

i keep forgetting to say this but i love the stylization of the opening credits it looks so elegant

northern water tribe looks beautiful. the spirit oasis is stunning, this show almost never fails to deliver on visuals

i fucking KNEW they were going to end the season with azula producing lightning for the first time and it looks great i won't lie. can't wait for her blue fire

the pakku v katara fight is not bad actually, though it obviously doesn't hold a candle to the original. glad they kept the ice discs moment in because that was iconic and it does have a nice set-up of her learning it from the earthbenders

i do like that they allow aang to interact with different avatars and that they all give him different perspectives. it highlights the differences in their personalities and how the role of the avatar had to be adapted to the times they lived in

i can't remember exactly what it was but aang's line about how this isn't his world or his time went hard

"i underestimated zhao" "funny i figured that out as i was swimming away from the burning wreckage of my boat" i live for sassy zuko

good decision to take out pakku only deciding to teach katara because she was kanna's granddaughter. that reeked of exceptionalism and never sat right with me, so i appreciate that she at least proves herself and also that she includes the other women in the tribe when pushing him to let them fight

yugoda getting to yell at pakku for being a misogynistic idiot is exactly what she deserves, you tell him queen

KOIZILLA!!

seeing the fall of omashu to azula was an addition that made a lot of sense, and sets up the return to omashu episode in the next season nicely

things i disliked:

yue's wig was atrocious. can't believe i'm saying this but the shyamalan movie did it better. amber midthunder deserved so much better

the misogyny arc was a godforsaken mess. the northern water tribe is still sexist... but no one seems to be sexist except for pakku?? chief arnook seems to be grooming yue to take over as chief, the other male waterbenders are impressed by katara and respect her right away, yue seems to have a lot of autonomy, hahn is respectful and kind, and then pakku himself changes his mind on women fighting pretty much within one day. so what was the point of including it at all?

this show has completely nuked katara's rage. she would not be calmly announcing that she's fighting pakku as though it was a calculated decision because it very much wasn't! it was her sense of righteousness and outrage over injustice taking over and it hurts me deeply that they removed that because it's so important to who she is! i needed to see a LOT more power and fury in her in this scene but instead it felt extremely lukewarm

KATARA AND AANG NEVER. FUCKING. LEARN. WATERBENDING. for a show that marketed itself so heavily with the tagline "master your element" there isn't a lot of mastering going on here?? i'm sorry i don't buy at ALL that katara would be able to become a master with One waterbending scroll and watching some earthbenders. i know she's a prodigy but no one can be THAT prodigious. and it really makes her fight with zuko and subsequently being called master katara fall flat because i don't think i've been shown enough to justify that

also hate that my girl got knocked out halfway through the zutara fight because of the moon wtaf let her kick zuko's ass

a moment of silence for "aren't you a big girl now" and "you rise with the moon, i rise with the sun" you will always be famous

despite knowing the avatar needs to learn waterbending, pakku and arnook just?? walk away?? when they find out he hasn't??? SOMEONE TEACH THIS POOR BOY AN ELEMENT OTHER THAN AIR. ANY ELEMENT, I'M BEGGING

real quick, who had "momo saves a random little girl from falling rock only to be nearly killed and saved by yue and sokka in the spirit oasis" on their live action bingo? no one, that's who, BECAUSE THAT'S FUCKING BONKERS. people are dying all around them but sokka and yue decide this is the time to fuck off to save a lemur?? please be so fr

iroh telling zuko to remember his breath of fire when this show has not once established (at least, iirc) that power in firebending comes from the breath is... something. heavily dislike how little focus was given to the intricacies of learning bending in this series

HATE that they removed zhao dying because of koizilla and gave it to iroh instead. that was such a great moment of karmic justice for zhao and really highlighted how he brought about his own downfall through his pride and arrogance. i know they tried to show zuko's compassion by having him spare zhao and walk away (as a callback to the agni kai i'm guessing) but zuko risking himself to save the life of the man who tried to kill him in the original just hit SO much harder.

the pacing of the north pole arc in general was FAR too rushed. at least in the original animation we got the sense that they'd spent weeks there, but in the show it feels like it's been a couple of days MAX. there had to be much more time to build up the threat of the fire nation and the yue/sokka relationship

the sense of time passing was a problem i anticipated the show would have from the start because 8 episodes just feels shorter than 20, but i wish they'd at least done some montages or something to make it seem like time was passing between episodes. as it is, it felt like every episode picked up right after the previous and so the whole season felt like it happened within a week or two. which is a shame because it weakens the epic scale of their journey in having to cross the entire world

overall rating: 6/10. unfortunately i think these episodes were the weakest of the series both in quality of writing and entertainment value, but still fun to watch for the most part

[harrypotterfuryroad]

Ohhhh I'd love to read you expanding on Daniel's awful acting and ruining Harry's character. Seriously his acting is, among other things, the reason why I cannot bring myself to ever rewatch the movies again. Well except for the first two, his not so good acting can be excused, I feel, on the account of him being a kid, but after that nope. And he only got worse and worse. Of course not all of the blame on Harry's characterisation is on him; gotta blame Kloves too, but that's a whole 'nother story.

like don't get me wrong, he's got moments (playing felix felicis as a coke bender stands out), but yeah he def had some growing pains. the spittle-flinging "he was their friend" rant gets memed to death but that really was the moment that solidified that he can't manage that kind of acting. that was always the gamble of committing to making the series, you pick out a handful of child actors and just pray they turn into decent adult actors. i'm guessing they never expected that rupert grint was gonna be the only one to pull it off tho

and yeah inconsistency from the higher-ups has a lot to do with it. i think it was the right call for chris columbus to leave the series as it got more complex (can you imagine the guy who made mrs doubtfire doing a full-on political thriller) but they wound up jettisoning most of the complexity anyway so what was the point? the first two books were tight enough that they could be turned into two hour movies without losing much, but past that they have to cut so much out that it becomes this shallow rushed mess. even splitting deathly hallows wasn't really enough to give everything room to breathe. i've said this before in the context of fantastic beasts but things of this scale really need something like an hbo series in order for an adaptation to work (or they just don't need an adaptation)

also idk how hot of a take this is (especially after pointing out how inconsistency hurt things) but i think all the minalima stuff was a net negative for the series. like yeah having the daily prophet look like that is cool but when absolutely everything on set looks like that it takes away from the lived-in feel of the setting. i get that a distinct visual feel of the series counts for a lot, but they have to balance that with making it feel real and i think they missed the mark

[vampirealpaca]

My thoughts on the pjo show (now that the season is over) (this is going to run long) Overall Rating: 8/10 :

Ok first of all, I actually LOVED the show and the cast is literally awesome; I do have some thoughts and feelings tho.

The GOOD :D

The visuals were eating ngl

THE CAST!!!! they literally were amazing cannot stress this enough

I think a lot of the changes were handled super well, especially Medusa (although I don't love all of the changes...see below in the next section lol)

I LOVED the set design for pretty much all of the scenes!!! Like the set & costuming was literally so good; sometimes it looked a little Volume-y but I think it's ok since they also clearly did a bunch of on-location stuff

Driving scene was literally so funny like no notes on that + the acting was On Point pretty much All of the Time.

I actually think they slayed with the special effects

Pretty accurate! (overall a waaaaaay better adaptation than the movies)

BLUE FOOD!!!!

More Sally content was awesome!! And I cannot stress this enough the ACTORS WERE SO GOOD in their roles!! Like I think they were the perfect choices ngl and I hope to see more of them in season 2 (if we get one, idk if its greenlit yet)

I also liked how they focused on Grover's character more (lowkey my fav now)

Genuinely had a great time watching the scenes from the books I've loved since Forever come to life onscreen!

The character dynamics were GIVING

Loved getting more info about Percy's backstory

The way they showed the Mist was honestly so cool!! This might be filed under Visuals but still...it was so cool

Fight choreo fluctuated, but I liked the Percy vs Luke fight (altho the scorpion erasure ;-;)

Again the chemistry with the actors like adkjhfdkjdfkjhdfjkhk I think the acting may have been my fav part honestly lol

All of the easter eggs for the fans!!

Rick's subtle rewriting of the story was sometimes very cool! (Like with the water grabbing Percy etc) --- you can definitely tell that he's thinking about how he'd change the story if he were to write it today

...HOWEVER i have gripes :(

THE LIGHTING WAS TOO DARK IN NIGHT SCENES!!!! HATE THAT TROPE WHY CANT I SEEEEEEEE (looking at u medusa scene)

I feel like they should've fallen into like…at least one trap without Knowing Everything about it. Like, I get the Medusa change and am pretty on board with it, but I feel like a few of the other changes weren't really necessary & messed with the stakes. A lot of the time it felt like I was watching them explain "Oh you're THIS person so you will do THIS so I will do THIS" instead of like...showing me.

Not enough blood (this is prob a Disney problem, not the show creators fault but like...cmon Disney...they have swords, let the children get More Injured...they are Fighting for their Lives)

Felt kinda...dryer than the books? idk how to explain it...like it felt like there wasn't the same Vibes in some parts if that makes sense, like they switched out a lot of funny moments (esp with how they changed Charon and the Crusty scenes lowkey im bitter)

the tone was definitely sometimes waaay different from the books (like it was way more serious I think, which is good sometimes and less good other times)

Idk if this is 100% true bc my last reread was a few months ago, but I think they separated the main trio more than in the book (?), it felt like they were duo-ed with diff members for a lot rather than building off of their main dynamic -- they had some trio moments but ig i just wanted more (again, I could be wrong on this one tho)

Lotus Casino not really being as Fun (the pumping lotus flowers in the air was a cool detail tho!)

It generally felt like they took a lot of the funny parts in favor of talking more about how messed up the gods are (which I liked sometimes!! but the kids are 12 let them have more funny moments too yaknow) (Rip the Died in the Bathtub line...gone but not forgotten)

I really didn't love the changes that made the story feel more Cliche and Basic (the ones that annoyed me were changing the entire DOA to just Some Standard Death Eater Looking Fellow & Annabeth's interactions with Cerebus being completely changed)

Mixed feelings on Gabe...I wanted him to be more evil at the beginning but I get why they changed it ig. Plus he was literally so funny when he (spoilers?) got murdered by opening someone else's mail. That's what happens when you commit a federal crime ig.

General Character Thoughts:

PERCY: Walker Scobell was such a good casting call... like you can tell he really cares about the books & getting the character right. Acting was on point, sass was on point (but I do wish he got to be sassy a bit More); Really gives off the energy of Percy Jackson and definitely was AMAZING in this role!

ANNABETH: She was spectacular in this role!! Leah got literally all of Annabeth down to a T --- her kindness, her pride, her wisdom, etc etc without resorting to any kind of "stock smart girl" vibe. She was literally SO GOOD! I loved seeing her talk about her dad, and the detail about her not having seen a movie is such a mood and so in-character lowkey. Leah really nailed Annabeth's dry humor and general vibe like dfajkhfdjhkfdhjk

GROVER: He was my favorite! Like, his acting was AMAZING fr!!! They brought a lot of newer things into his character that I think worked really well & it definitely strengthened his characterization --- he was also really funny & so sincere I just loved his portrayal of Grover!

HOWEVER I think some of the arcs are shakier since the characters didn't struggle as much, since they were figuring out a Lot of things

Overall, I took 2 points from the rating because the Spirit and Humor weren't fully there and I felt some of the changes made it feel less like the OG and more cliche (looking at u Charon). However, the great acting, pretty slay writing (except for the tone stuff), Vibes, and all the other stuff I think they did right pulled through to get it ranked a little higher lol. Plus, I liked it, even if I didn't like all of it.

No hate if u loved the show adaptation tho!! Feel free to disagree, these are just my thoughts lol. I really genuinely hope there's going to be a season 2, although I would like if they fix a few of these problems in that potential season (please...let me see what's happening in the dark scenes...please...)

[suzuran777]

Revisiting Gakuen Handsome: Backstory + short review

I think every BL fan has seen something related to Gakuen Handsome at some point in their lives, it's a parody BL visual novel with quite the legacy. It was originally released in 2010 by Team YokkyuFuman and it also got its own OVA and anime adaptation in 2015 & 2016. The protagonist, who is an unnamed seventeen year old boy, moves back to the city after a seven year absence. He enrolls into Baramon High School, a prestigious all-boys school which takes pride in being the best of its prefecture. From now on, his life will be changed forever...

First of all, the developer team's backstory is probably one of the most unique ones. In 2008, eight film students from the Tohoku University of Art and Design formed Team YokkyuFuman (チーム欲求腐満). Their blog mentions that a year later, they attempted to submit the Gakuen Handsome opening movie to the 9th edition of the Niconico Film Festival (their submission was completely ignored). After that, the opening movie was uploaded on NicoNico Douga, where it was quite well received. The description of the video mentions “to be released in 20009”, as they originally probably had no intention to create a full game.

After it became a hot topic on NicoNico Douga, the team decided to continue production, and in 2010 they released the game "Gakuen Handsome". Their university even gave them permission to organize an official exhibition: Gakuen Handsome Matsuri (or just Gakuen Handsome Festival). Visitors could watch the opening movie, learn more about the characters and take pictures together with the life-sized cardboard cutouts. The exhibition also featured rare merch: A drama CD which would be released in "20009" and canned bread.

This exhibition was apparently not only held once, but many times according to their blog. The game was finally released in 2010 and many fans were happy to finally play it, supporting the team that created it. Togo Mito, who many of you know as the creator of (in)famous BL game Hadaka Shitsuji, also collaborated with them. These are some pictures I found on Togo Mito's old blog, Mizoguchi and Juro drawn by Togo Mito and the Hadaka Shitsuji cast drawn by Team YokkyuFuman.

Even after graduation, it seems like they would occasionally invite some of Gakuen Handsome's creators. In 2014, the university tweeted that they would not be able to host the exhibition that year due to renovations, but visitors could take pictures with the cardboard cutouts. There's also an interview from 2016 on the university's website, in which they talk about how things have been after graduation! I absolutely love how the university supported all of this.

Now about the game itself... Where to even start? You'll have to trust me, but the game is actually good. Many parody games can be quite a hit or miss, but this visual novel is something I still catch myself laughing at years later. The inconsistent art, pointy chins and strange jokes really create an experience unlike anything else. I don't think any commercial company would be able to create something like this, even if they tried. One detail that the anime adaptation doesn't really show is that many different artists worked on this, whose styles widely vary from each other, making absolutely no attempt to create one consistent artstyle. Most characters have at least 2 ~ 3 sprites that often look completely different from each other. For example, sometimes Saionji sensei looks like a clean-shaven teenager/young adult, but in the CGs he suddenly turn into an older looking man with a stubble.

Yes he's talking about eating paint in the screenshot above, why not. Anyway... the voice acting in this game is something else I wanted to talk about, because it adds so much to the game. Of course it's not professional, but I think that's what makes it amazing. You can sometimes hear the voice actors trying really hard not to laugh, and they will occasionally completely mess up their lines. Of course all of those lines are kept in the game and they didn't re-record them. I also loved it when they started swearing in English for seemingly no reason. Also, instead of just avoiding the name of the protagonist (who you can give any name you want) they pronounce it... by improvision. Just imagine how one would try to pronounce a "adfgdf" keysmash and you'll get an idea what it sounds like.

There are 6 characters in this game who you can romance. The protagonist's childhood friend Takuya, who is a bit obsessed with the protein bar Calorie Mate (which is censored in the new version of the game, so you just hear a BLEEP sound), outlaw teacher Saionji, school principal Juro who basically only functions as a save point, student council president Kagami, chuunibyou transfer student Shiga, and last but not least, the captain of the soccer team Mitsurugi, who also murders people with his chin sometimes. The protagonist's sister also has a (non-romantic) ending, which you need to play in order to unlock the extra scenario (which... is a ridiculous murder mystery story for some reason). I also could not find the guide I used a long time ago, so I just looked at some videos on NicoNico to see what others were doing and that worked pretty well...!

My favorite scene is probably still that one scene in Mitsurugi's route, in which he stabs people with his chin. It's also one of the scenes that gets referenced the most in fanart. The context makes it even more ridiculous, Mitsurugi gets really upset that some people like the chunky variant of red bean paste (tsubuan) and decides they should die. After stabbing his teammate and multiple other people he runs outside. The protagonist however, isn't safe either and also gets accused of being a "tsubuan supporter". If you survive though, you get a chance to marry Mitsurugi!

Honestly one of the reasons I wanted to write about this game is because many people only know the OVA and/or anime, but the game is so funny I think everyone should play it if they're interested. I also think the team behind it has such a funny backstory and I love seeing how supportive their university is. Right now the team is still active on their Twitter account and they sometimes create new content. Last year they released Gakuen Handsome Fighters, a short fighting game featuring the Gakuen Handsome characters.

If you are interested in purchasing it, I recommend getting the "Special" edition which can be purchased on DLsite! I couldn't find a working download link anymore of the older version, but I think the creators deserve the support, so I don't regret buying it (it was about 15 USD). It includes the original game and 5 shorter stories which were originally released as smartphone apps. While I think the original game is still the best one, it's fun to explore some of the extra scenarios as well. One of the shorter games takes place in an alternative universe in which the boys live in the Heian period, and for some reason some of the sprites are animated... yeah.

[honeybeebytheseaa]

All my Camilo head canons in one post because I can’t keep track of them

• He is gay! At one point he questioned being bi but the older he got it became clear he was just into boys.

•His family has described him to have ‘cat-like’ tendencies such as sleeping on high places and being very reactive to being sprayed with water

•Loves very spicy foods. Isabela attempted to prank him by putting an extremely hot sauce in his dinner, but it backfired and he ate the whole thing. Ended up wanting more and was confused when the ‘kick’ was gone.

•Has zero game. Like none. Cannot get a date someone has to want to date him first.

•Although he lives up to his title as jerk cousin he is surprisingly sensitive and has good emotional intelligence. He knows when and when not to mess with someone based on their mood and this is likely due to spending time with his mother.

•Him and Mirabel fight a lot but have a close relationship, even if it dwindled pre-movie.

•If this were to take place in a modern AU the family would absolutely have him shift into a younger kid for discounts at restaurants. He gets extremely pissed and therefore doesn’t like eating out unless it’s his birthday and it’s guaranteed they won’t make him shift.

•Claustrophobic as all hell

•Specifically hates cruises in terms of vacations. Doesn’t like knowing he cannot leave the ship makes him feel trapped.

•At one point Antonio out grows him and he actually looks close to blowing up a building

•Does theater (obviously) and has scored a good part in nearly every show he has done he is an extremely talented actor and singer

•Is good with the arts in general. Great at writing, visual arts, dancing etc

•Not so great with school. Struggles to understand concepts.

•Thinks he is incredibly stupid and def suffers from imposter syndrome. He is naive sometimes, not clueless.

•if he ever begins crying in public he will randomly stand in a corner pretending he is admiring the paint on the wall

•ALWAYS warm. He loves winter months because he isn’t dying from the heat. During sleepovers with the grandkids he often gets shoved into the middle because dude is just radiating heat

•Tolerant to gore and horror but draws the line at extreme body horror

•Does not have a good reaction time he will always be the last to turn his head

•The towns number one baby sitter. He is very good with kids and a lot of the town kids adore him.

•Messes with Félix a lot but if anything goes wrong in his life ever he runs to him like a scared wet cat.

•Has Julieta’s HEART. He plays coy around her to get free food. However he does really love his aunt a lot and enjoys her company and loves helping her in the kitchen.

[tmbatcat]

YEAH!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!! TELL ME ABOUT YOUR SKILLS!!! :D!!!!!

HEELL YYEE!!! Let me just spill my guts out !!

This may be a little long :]

(You may know this but is good to recap)

Ok, small story time! Basically I drew them becourse I read spilledkaleidoscopes works and in the second part Kim gets his own skills and there are only 8 and I was like "Fuck, If I were to make my own skill I am not forced to the albatrairie number 24 and also not forced to include all of physique and motorics gangs and i could just mix and match and nobody would care." so that's basically what I did

i took me 20 hours to figure their designs out (I am not kidding btw, i looked through the ibispaint recording) and 10 more to render them out to a point that i would say it's acceptable (i would have stayed longer if i wasn't physically and mentally tired of this little project and i also told myself that they will never be perfect and that OK)

more drawings for your pleasure (some not posted yet)

Ok now let's actually talk about the 8 dummies: (i will compare them to Harry's skills and other stuff for better understanding)(also I will includes an edgy description) [anything in square brackets are just my notes over the skill]

DOUBT - LOGIC + anxiety + masking - Logic tainted by how many times you got burned. You now know what to hide; all your cracks and imperfections. Your mask won't peel from your face, you forgot to take it off at some point and now you don't ever remember what you look like. Good luck with that, people would hate you more without it and you know it; I bore that though your head everyday.

[The little Jean in all of us. A strung up anxious mess that can't understand that people actually like you and that perfection is impossible. A lil hater.]

MECHANICAL HEART - EMPATHY + video game/movie logic - Understansing through empathy and pattern recognition. Don't understand someone? That's OK, use your vast knowledge of media to put them into little boxes and label them. People are more complicated than that but I am just a tool. I tune in on everyone and everythings frequency and if you don't understand something you look through the file drawer of your mind.

[My internet riddled brain can only understand tropes. I have so much brainrot that it can not be contained, it spreds to everything]

SENSOR - ENDURANCE + PERCEPTION + INTERFACING + autism - Caretaker of the temple. For other people it's automatic. Sadly, yours isn't. You forget to eat if nobody reminds you. So that's why I'm here. Your nerves are also more sensitive than most. It doesn't help that the world has so many textures and hard edges. I relay all the info as soon as I get it, though it's late most of the time.

KNOW-HOW - ADHD info dump (basically ENCYCLOPEDIE) - Keeper of the librarys. You know, your mind is like a library, but without any of the labeling a normal library would use. More of a big collection of storys and fun-facts you know. When you don't ask them for a piece of information in particular, they chime in with something that is vaguely connected to the conversation.

WILLPOWER - VOLITION + a crumb of SHIVERS - Makeing peace with it all. I am silent most of the time but not, because I don't care. I talk only to remind you of the world's humanity. When you are at ypur lowest. You need to go on. You can take a break, maybe cry a little, but never actually give up. The world doesn't end with you, and it's worse without you in it.

[they don't talk a lot cuz I am a depressed lil bitch]

DAY DREAM - INLAND EMPIRE + VISUALIZATION + CONCEPTUALIZATION - Close your eyes and see other worlds. Colors, characters, ideas, scenarios; all swirling in that little head of yours. They just make the puppets move for your own amusement. They unfortunately play with your puppet too, making you watch scenarios wherein you die a lot, but what can you do? You can't stop it. It has it upsides through, mainly escapism.

CHASE - ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY + ADHD hyperactivity + autistic hyperfixation - Longing for paradise and ambrosia. Comfort over anything else. They love to indulge and party. Not actually party. You know, more like watching youtube alone or with friends while eating chips at 2 AM. That is your type of party. Your batteries run low most of time, so a good game and a snack also work.

[ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY but a bit chiller, no drug related stuff, if sugar doesn't count. They just love good brain juice]

FLARE - HALF LIGHT + PAIN THRESHOLD - The fire that burns within us all. A caged animal that hisses at anything that comes near. In general it sits in corner, waiting, only popping it's head out to shriek profanities at whatever rattled the cage. All bark, no bite. A problem that you have is that you forget how people wronged you, but I'm here, I remember. Only emotions, but that is enough. You shouldn't give out so many second chances.

[stressed out little creature]

They also hate each other so fucking much AAAAAA I have a headache

I also wrote a small story with all of them in another post... I want to write some more small storys of mine if i could think of anything funny that happend and that would work in the Disco Elysium dialog style

you can also make your own skills if you want, i may be annoying but I believe in you <3 don't know what else I could add

[legobiwan]

Okay, just got back from the Mario movie, thoughts under the cut.

SPOILERS AHOY YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

This movie was delightful. I think I was grinning almost the entire time. Yes, it's a love letter to the Mario franchise. To quote Bojack Horseman, it's not Ibsen, but not everything has to be.

The visuals were stunning.

The SCORE WAS FANTASTIC. They did an incredible job of arranging 8bit video music game music for full orchestra. And yes, there was a short Luigi's Mansion quote when our boi was exploring the woods.

Speaking of our boi...LUIGI!!!! I LOVE HIM! He's such a mess and jeeze, did he get roughed up by Bowser. But there's something I want to point out about his "moment," as it was, in the finale. Well, two things.

Firstly, Luigi with the shield (manhole cover) looked like something straight out of Captain America. And for once, he's protecting his brother.

Secondly, Mario went through all this extensive training to beat Bowser. Luigi just shows up and...does it. Knows next to nothing about the Mushroom Kingdom or power ups or whatever, he just starts jumping around with equal skill and facility as his brother (yeah, yeah, I know they needed it for the grand finale, but in-universe, it's a hell of a thing.)

Honestly, I had no issues with any of the voice actors. Toad and Kamek were both unexpected delights. And yes, Charlie Day killed it, as was expected.

I could have done with fewer slo-mo bits - those did get a little old.

A lot of the reviews mention the pacing as an issue. Yeah, the movie probably could have used another 30 minutes, or - and this might be controversial of me to say, they could have cut the Bowser piano scene, as I personally didn't feel like it added much to his character. (The scene between him and Kamek rehearsing the proposal, however, was hilarious.)

LUMA YOU DEMENTED SOUL. Perfection.

Gods, the Brooklyn scenes. So good. Poor Luigi was really getting talked over by that one family member, grrrrrr.

Mario calls him "Lu"? ADORABLE.

I also think we could have done without the baby Luigi and Mario scene. Like, we get the dynamic, let's not lampshade Luigi's lack of confidence.

I started pumping my fist when I heard the Mario Brothers rap in surround sound. RELIC OF MY CHILDHOOD.

Okay, yes, Luigi was underutilized and my hope is that he gets his own character arc in the next movie. Or, you know, we could do a Luigi's Mansion flick, which I will pay to see 50 times in the theater. (Or or, we could go really darkhorse and ask for a Super Paper Mario film, but I doubt we'd ever be that lucky). Anyway, that really was my largest complaint of the film - we needed MORE LUIGI and MORE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR LUIGI. LET MY BOI BE INDEPENDENT.

9/10, taking off a point because I just want to see my boi on screen at all times. I had a blast (and showed up in my lowkey Mr. L outfit!)