#only missing emma from my other blog

[savingthrcw]

and these would be Stella's stats!

[cherie-doll]

greetings

This blog will be where I dump my stories & fics.

about me: unemployed graduate with too much creativity, she/her, aro, mexican-american, intj, goth/alt, visual-kei and kpop enjoyer, likes to play video games, writer, adores reading & literature, into anything vampire related, art & history

(im ageless to reduce the chances of ppl ik irl finding my acc again)

fav book shelf: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders by Vítězslav Nezval, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Emma by Jane Austen, East of Eden by John Steinbeck

ཀlinks 🔗

୨⎯ ao3 ⎯୧

Donations & Fundraisers

۶ৎMasterlist

‗ ❍König:

Only Rule of This World

Brain rot

‗ ❍Ghost:

Words of Violence Break the Silence

Zombie!Ghost x Reader

‗ ❍Alejandro:

Brain rot

‗ ❍Phillip Graves:

Crave

A Shining Star Taken From The Sky

Phillip getting glasses brainrot

‗ ❍Keegan:

Oblivious

Oblivious #2

SFW Alphabet

Keegan x Assassin!Reader

Keegan w/ a clingy, tired Reader

𓆩♡𓆪Headcanons:

The Orange Peel Test

Beauty Mark

When They Come Back

They Realize They’re In Love With You

Night Routine

Their Dream Life With You

Missing You While They’re Away

Them As Parents

Them As Parents #2

Hidden Affection

Miniskirt

Summer With Them

Their First Date With You

They're At Sephora Buying Your Makeup

They're At Sephora Buying Your Makeup #2

You Use The Head Massage Spider Thing On Them

They Pay For What You Want

Taking Care Of You While You're Sick

You're A Bookworm

You’ve Got Sleeping Issues

Royalty x Knight

Binge Eating

໒꒱ྀ།Other

Who I would Kiss, Marry, Kill But Make It Interesting

Their Sun Signs

Their MBTI

All other asks that are not requests can be found under the tag #cherie's offerings & sacrifices

⤷Rules⤶

Be nice & kind while you’re visiting my blog or interacting with my posts!! i hold my writings very close to my heart and it’s taken a lot of courage for me to finally share them on the internet

If you’re not happy with something I’ve posted please lmk! I’m always open to criticism (given with the intention of improving)

I don’t have an age restriction on this blog bc I don’t rlly post nsfw stuff but warnings will be added if a post is 18+

And lastly, this blog is a safe space for all! I post with the intention of sharing what I’ve written for others to read and temporarily distract their minds, if my posts have made you smile or giggle consider following ^^

My inbox is always open if you want to submit requests, talk about books, music, history, art or anything else!

Disclaimer: the paintings/images used in my posts are not intended to depict those who read my writing. I refrain from using physical descriptions of readers in my writing so no one feels as if I am catering only to a selected audience. The imagery is solely for aesthetic purposes, thank you.

[courtney-deserved-better]

real-total-drama-takes/760496226248638465/the-real-question-one-must-ask-themselves?source=share

Okay but I genuinely want to hear your answer to this question I found on the confessions blog (with all the F/F ships you ship from this show).

the real question one must ask themselves regarding every TD f/f ship is "which one would get randomly shot by a stray bullet in a gay-burying mainstream network show?"

buffy the vampire slayer is the only gay-burying mainstream network show i've watched but i'm gonna give this my best shot. put the ships in alphabetical order bc why not

betherra - could go either way tbh but im leaning toward beth simply bc sierra would go insane and try to destroy the world buffy the vampire slayer season 6 finale style

bridgney - it would either be bridgette for reasons mentioned above or courtney bc the show couldn't handle her sheer power and had to kill her off

courtnemma - again, emma bc courtney would destroy the world, or courtney to rip away whatever previous arc emma had of softening and opening herself up to love and to make her even more cold and jaded

dawnkota - dawn is 100% getting shot and dakota is in shambles but dawn comes back as a ghost with prophetic visions to further the plot. somehow she still never has a scene with dakota ever again

evzy - eva bc the network couldn't handle her butch lesbian swag

gwourtney - courtney bc the network would want you to sympathize with gwen over her. hardcore gwen fans would be like "my poor blorbo... so sad, all alone" and hardcore courtney fans would be like "SHUT UP MY FUCKING BLORBO DIED" and it would tear the gwourtney shippers apart

jasammy - sammy would so die. jasmine would grieve her for a while and eventually start dating shawn but it's done pretty well and they're a cute couple

jomaria - they would kill off jo and give anne maria a boyfriend the next season and it would suck

kadie - could go either way tbh

lesheather - leshawna bc every single season of td does her dirty. the backlash would be insane but some ppl would defend her getting shot bc it "gives heather a great arc" and the backlash to that would be even crazier. the show gets canceled halfway through the next season.

mkulia - mk bc julia has plot armor. julia would either go full villain or be devastated and all the other characters who hated her would start to feel bad for her and forgive her even though she doesn't deserve it and hasn't apologized, she's just grieving

nichaxel - nichelle so axel can go full angry paranoia doomsday prepper mode and everyone would use that as an excuse to bash her character

prillie - either priya gets killed to discourage millie from being vulnerable ever again or millie gets killed and priya tries to destroy the world but her friends talk her down and they all honor millie's memory together and it's actually really sweet

skyella - ella gets shot and says something like "but this was supposed to be our... happily ever after" and dies in sky's arms. next season dave tries to date sky while she's grieving and she attacks him for it. somehow they end up together in the finale. everyone hates it.

i hope that makes. any sense. if for some reason i missed a f/f ship you've heard me talk about before lmk and ill add it!

[gravesung]

*  ANSWER  TWENTY - ONE  QUESTIONS  ! some questions may be ‘ ??? ‘ instead of answered.

01.    NICKNAME  :  raine 02.    REAL  NAME  : emma 03.    ZODIAC  : gemini 04.    HEIGHT  : 5′9′’ 05.    WHAT  TIME  IS  IT  ?  : 10:54 am. 06.    FAVOURITE  MUSICIANS  /  GROUPS  :  lately it's been hoz.ier, air traffic controller, hal.sey (thanks hol), brick + mortar, the neighbourhood, zack hemsey (underrated, listen to him), and then just 100000 other artists that i only know 1-2 songs by because of character playlists 07.    FAVOURITE  SPORTS  TEAM  : uhh hh h (sweats) the sportsball sportsballers (nodding. i'm so cool and know a single thing about sp 08.    OTHER  BLOGS  :  @/huntershowl, my main blog! beloved oc, writing whom has changed my life in so many ways! also elizabeth bioshock at @/cewyll but the activity there is super low rn. she sleebin. once dragon age comes out she'll wake back up 09.    DO  I  GET  ASKS  ?  : HAHA. (TAKES A LOGN DRAG OF A CIGARETTE) bOY DO I MISS GETTING NICE ONES 10.    HOW  MANY  BLOGS  DO  I  FOLLOW  ?  : 133 (wow? goddamn) 11.    ANY  TUMBLR  CRUSHES  :  oo. i haven't been here super long (since The Resurgence at least) & pre-anime boy takeover this blog was more just a friends-only sandbox zone, so i don't do a lot of outreach still. —but also, who are we kidding, yes 100%: @vzmky's geto portrayal & art has me in shambles. same goes for @brazenlystrong, ur art and portrayal is so [chef kiss]??? (& lbr you two are a package deal SDHSKJDH) —@sasouken we've only written together a little bit so far, but i'm already like !!! EEE whenever i see a message or reply from u. such an honor honestly. —also silly but needs to be said, despite literally being mains @chaoslulled is STILL fuckin awe inspiring in every way. i still get a little thrill when i see ur replies AND I DO STILL READ EVERY ONE THREE TIMES 12.    LUCKY  NUMBER  : 4 (thanks artemis fowl) 13.    WHAT  AM  I  WEARING  RIGHT  NOW  : pjs... though im about to change into some kinda cuteass fall outfit for a walk outside & the gym 14.    DREAM  VACATION  : prollyyyyyy italy to visit mine papá... although tokyo & amsterdam sound very fun too i just love cities 15.    DREAM  CAR  : a solid public transport system 16.    FAVOURITE  FOOD  :  curry. any kind of curry 17.    DRINK  OF  CHOICE  : coffee (flat cappuccino or just drip w/ cream), spicy black teas (dont get me started ill talk forever), or if we're talking alcohol, i always gravitate toward floral gin drinks 18.    LANGUAGES  :  english but i am learning welsh for fun. at some point i GOTTA start learning italian but i'm putting it off because i'm lazy 19.    INSTRUMENTS  :  cello & piano, a ttteeeeeeeny bit of guitar, took vocal lessons for a while, but honestly cello is my main bitch forever and ever 20.    CELEBRITY  CRUSHES  :  c.ate blanchett, d.aniel henney, k.eanu reeves, j.anelle monae, k.ing princess, uhhh kaoru kobayashi has real hot scarred dad vibes in midnight diner (this answer has not changed since 2019 when i last did it) 21.    RANDOM  FACT  : i just started an art mentorship!! gonna be commissioned a custom mural (themed on isolation, there will be hellhound & lighthouse themes involved most likely lbr) & later this fall, doing some inking for a mecha comic under guidance of a local artist i admire so much. it's gonna take an entire year but i'm so excited about it, especially because i want to eventually make my own webcomic/GN about mx houndcreature eventually (soonish) 

TAGGED   BY  :  thiefed it.

TAGGING  :  y'all know by now that i barely have enough confidence to tag the earlier ppl. THIEF IT. TAG ME SO I CAN SEE. but also @tewwor because you tagged me in this 5 yrs ago

[ntzsche9]

So, hi! I'm Verne (they/them), practically a queer elder in my 30s, brand new to tumblr (dunno how I ever missed the boat), and I only ever seem to write in the 20 minutes or so between pulling up to work and clocking in, or when I'm putting my toddlers down for a nap but don't want to crawl out of their beds and address the chores I gotta do while they're out of the way. I've written poetry, prose, and roleplayed in the past but got away from it for years and years, and only recently started writing again. I have notebooks and lists of story ideas but the few things I have fleshed out are mostly silly character-based "what if?" scenarios, because those are the most fun to me. Too many of my stories are me simply wanting to write a scene, developing a bit of a world around it, then losing interest entirely. I hope this blog can change that a bit, help me focus on following through or figuring out how to better develop small ideas into something longer.

Interests:

Post-apocalyptic

Near-future dystopias

Scifi/Fantasy (urban) with magical realism

History/AltHistory (especially lesser-known and marginalized stories)

Horror, dark, violent, and mature themes

Queer everything. I can't write heteros to save my life and I'm not all that sorry about it.

Sexy melodrama and smut with too much plot

Fanfiction (I could read/write Fallout stuff all day)

Some Favorite Authors:

Octavia Butler

Nnedi Okorafor

VE Schwab

Starhawk

Madeline Miller

Ta-nehisi Coates

Becky Chambers

Emma Donoghue

Looking for:

Community, inspiration, other writers to follow, and problem-solving tips in storytelling and sticking to stories when things get tough. I really just need some folks to talk to when working through all the things in my head. Open to the occasional tag but I'm not great at responding.

I have plenty more little bits of nonsense in various states of readability, like character backgrounds, alt-ending scenes, slice-of-life banter between characters, etc. These will be posted under the tag #ntzsche misc

Noteworthy WIPs:

Bad Blood - A Fallout Nuka-World fanfic (#ntzsche Nuka-World)

My longest story is a fanfic, but with a cast of characters largely not in the Fallout 4 DLC. I intend to eventually write this in a way that someone who hasn't played the game would be able to easily read.

Lafayette, the son of a 'retired' raider, left his abusive father to find his place in the world and was taken in by an eclectic trauma-bonded found family that inspires him to be a better person and shows him love he is certain he doesn't deserve. When his father comes across them in a raid, Lafayette is given the offer to join him, and he agrees in order to save the settlement and his little brother. Lafayette finds that being with his dad again, and being the son he always wanted him to be, isn't nearly as difficult as he thought it would be. He struggles to maintain the person he wants to be with the person he suspects he is, all while a cast of scheming raiders, wastelanders, and slaves vie for power in the raider city built within the rusted remains of an amusement park.

Salem's Child (#ntzsche Salem)

A background on one of the lesser Nuka-World characters that I got carried away with.

Andrew Rook doesn't look like his parents. He looks like someone they are desperate to forget. Growing up in post-apocalyptic Salem, Massachusetts has it's perks, though. In a fading settlement run by incompetent men who would rather blame the population of feral black cats for their problems than try to solve them, Andrew and his two best friends build a world in their imagination that shields them from the wretchedness of the wasteland and the people they have to rely on to survive.

Hechizo

Another character background that I would love to expand into a few short stories around.

Mateo Zavala was born in the vibrant and tight-knit community of Navarro. His great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother, a pre-war ghoul, is still the ruling matriarch, and it's hard for her not to play favorites when she has over 300 living descendants.

The Crash (#ntzsche Crash)

A what-if real-world rewrite of an event from another story. I just really enjoy writing these two.

Gabe always knew his functional alcoholic roomie would get into a terrible car wreck some day, but he never thought he would be dumb enough to be in the car with him. When the consequences of the wreck threaten to destroy Dave's life, Gabe finds himself doing everything he can to hold those pieces together. The love he harbors for his straight, polyamorous best friend runs deeper than either of them are ready to face, and find that Dave's injury turns their relationship completely on end.

[fullscoreshenanigans]

Hello! It's lonely-cereal. I really adore your blog since I've been obsessed with the promised neverland for over 4 years. And I wanted to tell you an idea I had/hear your thoughts.

So, I'm currently writing a promised neverland x OC. (Canon timeline.) and I came up with line a fanmade demon world plant. It's called muerte. It works the very opposite of the Vida plant. It's related to it. Vida is like it's "evil twin." instead of sucking the life out of it's victims, it can undo the effects of vida If so desired. It only withers if the person who's touched it last is dying or has died. Since "Vida." means life in Spanish, but takes life away, I named the fanmade one muerte since that means "death." in Spanish, even though it can bring life back. I thought it'd be an interesting concept for promised neverland fandictions.

It started when Ray and my OC found it and gave one to each other to make sure the other was always safe before my OCS shipment.

It looks like this.

Anyways I just wanted to hear your thoughts about it since I believe it could be cool for TPN AUS or oneshots.

Heyyo 👋

Going to digress a bit to start off, but one of my reservations with the series can be summed up with these tags from @whamss on this poll regarding the ending:

#nothing serious that happens to any ‘good’ character lasts if they’re younger than 20 lol #again its been a hot ass minute but tpn was at its best when Shirai knew how to raise stakes and make them feel actually serious

With the specification of "good character under twenty whose name the reader is aware of before they die" because during the bunker raid and Andrew's subsequent pursuit, there are six innocent children who are murdered.

(Chapter 111)

Fred's, Malcom's, and Mary's deaths are particularly brutal in that rather than shooting them from a distance, Andrew chose to relish bludgeoning them to death with the butt of his rifle until their faces were unrecognizable.

However, none of them have any significant moments in the narrative prior to dying, and their names aren't revealed until this extra in chapter 119. I distinctly remember feeling Shirai was trying to have his cake and eat it too, running with this to say "see, death is still a real possibility for these kids!" The effect is muted though when I don't know who they are besides "background character whose design I vaguely recognize from earlier chapters" and all ten members of the Goldy Pond Resistance survived their gun battle with the demon nobles.

Reading all that in chapter 85 and then seeing Paula and Sandy alive in chapter 96 was so jarring and kind of a "lol okay I guess" moment for me on my first read. It's not actively wishing for the death or brutalization of children who are already victims of the farm system but wanting to see lasting consequences that have weight to them and seeing how characters cope. Sandy loses an eye, but much like Emma losing her ear, we never see him note his long-term struggles with that loss, such as having a larger blind spot, the anxiety and anger that would understandably result in, or even minor annoyances that when stacked together weigh on him. Compare to Lucas who, while still a very capable character, does reflect on how the loss of his arm impedes him.

Tying that back around to muerte, my initial thought was that it similarly feels like it's cheating the narrative on a surface-level read and it seems to rely more on soft magic than the series typically does. Compare to Mujika's blood that has seemingly magical properties. While we're never given the specific details of how it works, Norman's explanations of demon physiology in chapters 120, 126, and 127 are enough to ground it in the hard science of this series' universe. It provides something their genomes are missing and is potent enough to permanently stabilize them upon introduction to the body through consumption.

But again, this is only a surface-level read and I don't know all the details of your story.

Vida is like it's "evil twin." Instead of sucking the life out of its victims, it can undo the effects of vida if so desired. It only withers if the person who's touched it last is dying or has died.

How does it undo the effects of vida, which draws up a being's blood into its stem and then carries it to its petals that results in its flowers blooming? Does it naturally create chemicals that when introduced into a being's bloodstream don't harm said being but cause a negative reaction in the vida plant, resulting in it shriveling up and dying? What of the stab wound still left by it, which is a major factor in its victim's death due to piercing their heart? Does it provide potent clotting agents to prevent a being from bleeding out after its removal as well as rapid mending to flesh?

I'm also a bit confused by what causes muerte to wither, assuming that it has to touch a being that's in the process of dying in order to counteract the vida and restore life to them. If a being uses it on another being but they're unaware they're dying from a disease like cancer, or adrenaline is pumping and they're unaware of a fatal wound when they go to help someone else, is muerte rendered ineffective?

Another thing to consider and something that could potentially offset the narrative convenience of being able to undo death is how it factors into demon culture. Gupna is a carryover from the original faith. Is muerte seen as unholy and are beings saved/revived by it seen as unnatural in the eyes of the general demon population and/or those who follow the original faith? Would that put a human or demon revived by it in conflict with Sonju? Is it highly regulated by the demon nobility as another means of controlling the demon population, or is it so rare it's believed to be an extinct species of plant? Are beings hindered in some way after being revived or are they fully restored to a clean bill of health? Having power over death in a series where it's treated as a genuine finality would dramatically alter a culture and its relationship with the afterlife.

It started when Ray and my OC found it and gave one to each other to make sure the other was always safe before my OCS shipment.

Since Ray isn't aware of the intricacies of the gupna ceremony prior to the explanation Sonju gives Emma, I'm assuming this is initially a sweet gesture between friends because they thought the flower looked pretty, and it unwittingly ends up saving your OC's life? Cute. |3

[spar-kie]

That New Melia Design

Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Rejuvenation Brainrot

So! People are dissecting the new Rejuv 13.5 trailer and I would like to add my bit to the fray on account of I have terminal illness of Melia, she is my all time favorite. And the new design she's got has raised my eyebrows.

And a lot of credit to @tlozypaka-tina bc their post really got me thinking more in depth about this design rather than just thinking it just a new design for the new version.

So first, that new design! Let's take a peek at it!

(Bear with me on the resolution being bad, it's a screenshot of a small part of a YouTube video)

And before we continue, let's just compare all of Melia's previous designs (plus throwing Emma in there for kicks)

Now, something important to note for all of Melia's designs (except for the Terajuma design) is that the primary color on them is white. Her first, fourth, and fifth designs all have white shirts, and her second design in Emma wears a white robe with a white bow. Her previous Terajuma design had her shirt be grey but there was a bit around the collar that was white.

Though it would take more time to say what this symbolism this has for Melia (if any, and this isn't just a motif for character design), we can contrast it to the new design shown off in the trailer, which (despite the monochromatic color filter) we can tell that she's wearing a darker shirt. It almost looks like a darker version of her first outfit given the design of the shirt and the exposed bra/tank top straps. Though of course her hair is too long for it to be a re-do of that design. Not to mention the eye shadow, which is something none of Melia's current designs have. It seems to be the same shade as her shirt too.

Also worth noting is that the expression looks far more smug and self assured than any of the expressions of Melia's other designs. And while on this blog we support girlbosses and women who know how capable they are, this is something worth noting. Going back to tlozypaka-tina's post their friend Vance notes that the expression here is similar to that on Melanie's vs sprite.

So, what's the thesis of this post?

Honestly this is a jokey way of putting it but I think it puts it best, between the smug look (being similar to Melanie's vs sprite) and the darker colors of the design, I think we're getting some kind of evil Melia, for lack of a better term.

EDIT: Everything below this point is based on speculation that happened due to me straight up missing Melia's powered up design. I have no good reason for this, I checked the Chapter 12 folder where it is. But I'm keeping it in the post just bc I don't like deleting stuff.

Now, to get into some baseless speculation here, I can already hear some people going "Hey wait, you forgot Melia's powered up design!".

And I'm glad you noticed dear reader, I sure as hell did. When I was gathering the different Melia designs I snagged them from the DeviantArt stash where Zumi posts all the character designs. I didn't grab powered up Melia because she wasn't there (I grabbed the pic above from the Fandom Wiki).

Now I would normally chalk this up to there being dozens of pieces of art in Rejuv and it's easy to forget to upload one, except for the fact that I swear this used to be there! I could be remembering wrong, or... there could be plans for this design when 13.5 drops that involve a redesign that will only be revealed when it's out. Related to the design of Melia we saw in the trailer? I dunno, but it's worth noting since I found it.

[emma-ofnormandy]

Hello lovelies! I’m Liz and strong independent women (and the men who love them) is my fandom calling card. I’m a multi fandom enjoyer, but am very much back in the comforting embrace of period dramas at the moment.

I am a new gif maker and sometimes writer and am so glad you have stumbled into my little corner of the internet.

This is a secondary blog so likes and follows will come from @windylizmt. Would love to make this my main but, alas, that can’t happen yet.

Current Fandoms: Vikings: Valhalla, SAS: Rogue Heroes, The Gilded Age, Miss Scarlet & The Duke, The Artful Dodger, My Lady Jane, The Witcher, and Shadow and Bone/ Six of Crows

Writing: My AO3 link, but you will have to be logged in to read. I also try to tag them on tumblr under the #mine: writing tag but I can’t say I’m very good at remembering to tag them like that.

Current Projects: Nothing to speak of at the moment.

OTPs and their tag:

Emma of Normandy & King Canute #otp: mutual respect

Jane Grey and Guildford Dudley #otp: it’s almost dawn

Geralt & Yennefer #otp: important to someone

Nina Zenik & Matthias Helvar #otp: youre better than waffles

Other Common Tags I use: #liz nonsense (for my ramblings), #justliz (my tracking tag), #mine: gif, #mine: edit, #mine: writing. I also tag by show name if you want to search that way.

Requests: I will for sure entertain requests for gifs if there is a particular scene you would like to see.

More about me, if you’re curious: I’m a weird horse girl, I love period clothing but am only just beginning to truly learn about it, my book tastes are varied, but rarely do I venture into the non-fiction genre. I have a thing for the 19th and early 20th century but please don’t look to me for a history lesson, I’m a staunch supporter of a good glass of wine any day of the week, I don’t enjoy cut flowers but love house plants, I have a soft spot for happy endings, and I fit the bill as a nostalgic millennial.

[popculturebuffet]

Mutant Month: The Marvel Super Heroes: Dr. Doom's Day!: Hawkeye is an X-Man Now (Patreon Review for Emma Fici)

Hello all you happy muties and welcome one and all, wether you fly, shoot rays out of your eyes, make pasta in your nose or your heart can shoot an all inspiring ray that teaches people how to truly love themselves and then explodes them inside out, all are welcome for a celebration of 60 years of the strangest heroes of all, the outlaws, protectors of those who hate and fear them, those undergoing a fall, the uncanny, astonishing, amazing, dark, immortal, red, blue, gold, black, and green, the

As I haven't remotely hid on this blog but will repeat for newcomers, I love the x-men. Their my faviorite superhero team and are easily my faviorite franchise in comics, with spinoffs from New Mutants, to X-Factor to X-Men red all ranking among my faviorite comics ever. I love these characters dearly and haven't covered them nearly enough on here so I decided to celebrate the 65th anniversary with mutant month... and while we're a few months late due to moving and such, this month happening was never in doubt and wills tand as a yearly celebration of all things x.

So to kick this off we've got an odd little note in x-men history, one I wasn't even aware of till asking my good friend emma what animated apperance of the x-men she'd like to cover.. and finding out their first wasn't on spider-man and their amazing friends like i'd thought but much earlier, on a show known for awesome theme songs, shoddy animation and not much else. Yes folks before costarring in the friendly neighborhood, before all the 90's tastic spandex, before 2000s teenage angst and awesomeness, and before the last gasp till a revivial of said 90s spandex, the strangest heroes of all became the allies for peace and teamed up with one of the first mutants to combat the greatest evil the world had ever known on a barely animated marvel cartoon. Also hawkeye was there. So join me under the cut if i've peaked your intrest as we inter the limitedly animated world of the sub mariner and his allies for peace on the marvel super heroes!

The Marvel Super Heroes wasn't just the first animated apperance of the x-men, but the first marvel animated series PERIOD. Create din 1966 and running for 65 episodes (with each episode having three chapters to it but seeming to tell a complete story). The series was made on a budget somewhere BELLOW a paperclip and a piece of string, a singular bottle cap. They simply scanned the actual comics, barely aniamted them, added some effects and for lip movements used Syncro Vox. For those unfamiliar with it Synchro Vox was a super cheap effect where they cut out the characters mouths and had real human mouths recite the words. And if you say "Well jee whiz jake that sounds like a styigan nightmare from the deepest depths of my subconcious" then your right on the money. There's a reason it didn't outlast the 60s.

As you can imagine this .. looks pretty bad and it's better ot just read the actual comics. The actors TRY, they do, but static, barely perserved images on a screen just can't match the panel work in the original jack kirby art. Congradulations Marvel Super HEroes, you found a way to somehow make JACK KIRBY ART not work. I hope your proud.

It's only lasting impacts are , and i'm completely convinced of this, serving as the inspriation for this incredibles short

At first I thought it was cheap animation in general but knowing now this cartoon uses synchro vox and seeing this cartoon again.. yeah. Good on you crew for doing such an incredibly deep cut and making it work on it's own.

The other is the theme songs. The theme songs for the most part slap.

YOu'll also recognize the Iron Man theme song as they used a jazzy instuermental in his film. And given it's the best of the bunch it's easy to say.

There's two themes missing from this. The first is the shows theme itself. Which is... a lot.

I mean they did get namor down pretty down pat.

So kudos. Speaking of Namor his absence from that montage kinda speaks to him as a whole. As doe shis theme being a bit.. less than the others

It's not bad, but you get they just didn't quite have Imperius Sex Machine as defined as the other 4. Captain America at the time was a man of action, who fought for the people and was a symbol of all of america has to offer. Iron Man was a playboy who kept people at a distance. Thor is a god full of the majesty and wonder that brings, and Hulk.. well okay Hulk's theme is just goofy but damn if it isn't fun and still gets the point across. But namors is "Look at him ain't he powerful. He rules a kingdom. So for those less familiar with the prince of the deep who might of missed wakanda forever, a quick recap: Namor started as a golden age super hero, one of Timely, the future marvel comics, first, and one of the big three of his day with the human torch, a diffrent one than the one who'd later flame on with the fantastic four, and Captain America. LIke most timely heroes he vanished to the sands of time for a while. So cue the Fantastic Four and the true birth of the marvel universe. And since Marvel coudln't just let their bigger names of days past simply lie around, they put the human torch moniker on our boy johnny storm. And once the fantastic four proved to be the hit they were, they decided to bring him back via this book to test the waters.

It's a clever return too: Naturally the person to bring namor back is Johnny Storm, the new human torch and spirtual successor to the original who Namor famously battled in the golden age. Johnny was a teen at the time and ran away from home eventually ending up at a homeless shelter.. and finding NAMOR. Turns out since wwII (an increasing gap but unlike most in comics one that dosen't need to be handwaved as Namor is immortal), namor lost his memory and grew a beard. Johnny uses his power to burn it off

And unable to convince namor he's a freaky fish guy dunks him in the bay. The good news is this brings Namor back. The bad news.. is this brings namor back, who sees his kingdom in ruins and wages war with the surface. The four are able to mostly repel him, and Namor ends up taking a liking to JOhnny's sister Sue. These became his primary character traits: wanting to lash out at the surface, and wanting to nail Reed Richards girlfriend and later wife. Seriously just a few years later the guy buys AN ENTIRE FILM STUDIO when he hears Reed's gone bankrupt simply to try and win her over. As other books sprouted up he'd appear in them, mostly to punch the hero or be courted by various supervillians to team up with them as he was the hottest guy in prom. And that's where the decision to make HIM the 5th pillar of this show really makes me tilt my head. Namor isn't a TERRIBLE character. He's not one I like a lot, but it's simply because outside of his stint with the x-men, where both Matt Fraction and especially Kireon Gilleon really nailed him down: arrogant, but not without honor, powerfula s hell and knows it and while certainly willing to go after someones partner does so because he senses a lack of passion. Dosen't make it okay. Also as seen above it shows his tastes are wide, varied and awesome.

The problem is most of the time he's just an angry fish man with a pretty standard power set and a fairly boring kingdom. Wakanda forever completely redesigning it really helped the MCU version.

But just thinking of the remaining superhero books they could use while fantastic fours rights were elsewhere, as were spideys, they still had ant-man and the x-men. (The avengers were around but were largely saved to adapt in cap and iron man's shorts). I get it to a point: Ant Man had recently been canceled and X-Men.. weren't exactly a hit.

See the early x-men adventures.. aren't great. Their not terrible, there's some good ones as i've read them, and it's not exactly a big secret in the x-men fandom or marvel fandom as a whole that while the CONCEPT for the x-men was great: a new evolution of mankind with powers, that next step being largely teens and young adults struggling to control them.. but Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had no idea what to do with this. Stan 100% created the concept of mutants so he wouldn't have to make up an origin for every superpowered villian or hero. You can only use good ole radation so many times before people catch on and Thor, Cap and Iron Man all had super unique origins that coudln't easily be replicated. The most they could do thor wise is bring in another god from another mytholgy with herc.

But it was at it's core just weaker versions of the kinds of stories he told elsewhere and fell HEAVILY into

Ant Man baffles me as while yes, his book was canceled.. they still had a WHOLE series to mine stories from with interesting visuals. He was still an avenger and he and jan played off each other decently when it didn't fall into Smilin Stan really not knowing how to write women.

SO I KINDA get it as Namor was more the default.. but it still felt like a weird choice given they didn't have mcuh to work with where he wasn't the villian and actively seemed to refuse to adapt any story where he was. IT was just an odd choice to pick someone who at the time was mostly an outright villian and most of whose character arc from that was in books they woudln't use.

So when you have to use WHATEVER you can, what do you do? Well if your this show.. you do something profoundly bonkers and hilarious.

The Actual Episode:

So.. this episode is a mighty marvel frankenstien's monster.

NO not him. He wasn't around yet. NO this episode is clumisly stitched together from two diffrent ff issues. Fantastic Four #6 and Fantastic Four Annual #4

The first makes sense as it features Namor teaming up with one of marvel's best villians who they apparently could use in both shows: Doctor Doom. They simply had to replace who his nemesis were. And that of course is where our futuraly uncanny x-men come in, simply slapped into the baxter building and given the ff's reputation and relationship fighting doom. Oddly they woudln't actually fight doom during the 60's like everyone else. Eventually though he did leading to this awesome cover

Granted FF writer at the time John Byrne didn't like the story because Doom was tricked by X-Men enemy and my boy arcade and tried to retcon it but that's a story for another day.

Point is the X-Men hadn't fought doom.. but given they were more generic superheroes at the time having them step into the ff's roll actually makes a lot of sense. And they even had some panels they could use from the x-mens series of them battling namor.

Yeah for some weird reason they decided instead to mash this story.. with FF Annual #4, the wedding of Sue Storm and Reed Richards. An issue that I haven't read but i'm bound to cover eventually for my annual February superhero wedding special

It is famous enough for me to have the gist though: Sue and Reed get married but this being a superhero comic, some action gets thrown in. In this case Dr. Doom decides to gift them EVERY SINGLE AVALIABLE SUPERVILLIAN in the marvel universe. That's not hyperbole. Pretty much every villian who could from street level guys to the big bads like Kang showed up to try and beat the shit out of the ff.. but this being the wedding of two public super heroes, every super hero in the marvel universe short of spidey (who didn't seem to show up, loner that he was). IT comes off at least from a distance as a big old celebration not just of the happy couple but of how much the marvel universe had grown.

As a result though the first half of this episode is just a lot of fighting and feels really disjointed esepcially once the ff #6 adaptation kicks in as there's never really any resolution to the "all the supervillians are given a subconcious signal to fuck with my arch enemy's wedding day. " part of the plot. Or here it's because the X-Men are getting a major award. Which is nice given how their usually treated.. but for some reason here their called "the alliance for peace".

Look if you had to rename the x-men, and why on earth would you even back then at their weakest, why not the peace patrol, the peace posse, Cyclops and those other 4, the Beast Brigade, the Merry Mutant Marching Society, Not-The Fantastic Four, The Fantastic Five, The Sesnational Six, Uncle Charlie's Funtime House Band, Scotty Dosen't Know, The Teen Angels, The Alps, The Marvels, The Recess Monkeys, Code Yellow, The Mutants, XX-Men, The New Justice Team, Fruit Punch, We Hate you Please Die, Hated and Feared, Diaper Time, Stars and Garters, or Suck it Erik? Did they only have 5 minutes? I did and I came up with all of that, so how.

At any rate the first few minutes is just a lot of fighting. Again they HAVE an issue with namor. I get not wanting ot use all of it: Wanda and Pietro were still in the brotherhood of evil mutants at the time and it was back when Magneto was less "one of the most complex, compelling and awesome characters ever" and more "Dollar Tree Doctor Doom". But you HAVE PANELS OF THESE CHARACTERS FIGHTING NAMOR

There's also some with beast. So there was more than enough to do that and still use bits from ff #4. Just have doom narrate he's having mole man attack them. Instead once the fighting stops most of the x-men vanish, widdling down to just xavier who, thanks to using the wedding panels, is in his best baby blue prom tuxedo.

Oh and instead of just angel and professor.. we also get the greatest of all x-men, king of kings. Hawkeye. Yes for no reason other than they could crop other characters out easier probably, Hawkeye shows up a lot in the second act and is implictly a member of the defenders of peace. So in this reality, playing Mephisto's Advocate, either Hawkeye's a mutant with super sharp aiming ablities, or Hawkeye came to the X-Men to tie one of them up to prove he could join them instead of the avengers and Xavier was like "Fuck it come on in bud."

The rest of the ep is.. fine. Namor is asked to team with dr doom, then is betrayed by doom. We do get some awesome over the top stuff as Dr. Doom needs to use the grabber to pull the x-baxter building into space. So namor SWATS MEOTRS AWAY then chases Dr. Doom and ethan hawke into space and somehow survivies. IT's the cheesy kind of fun I want

So yeah.. for a first x-men in animatoin apperance this is pretty bad. Their barely featured as a team, Jean hardly gets to do anything, and it's two stories that just don't work together welded together. We have to assume at the end new york just.. burnt to the ground because Dr. Doom left all the other super villians int he world on. Or like the actual story the watcher just said "Fuck this' and ended it. Either way it's a pretty bleh episode and even the weird as hell way the x-men are used dosen't give it much of a recomednation.

Thankfully next up in x-men month we have something a bit more fitting as it's time for one of the greatest x-men stories of all: God Loves, Man Kills. Thanks for reading.

[tintagel-or-cockleshells]

get to know me

Tagged by @daisymae-12 and @14carrotghoul! Thank you so so much. I've not been on Tumblr much this weekend so let's dive back in.

name: Emma

sign: Taurus

time: 5.17pm, waiting a little while to post this because I just posted a new chapter and I want that to stay at the top of my blog for a bit!

favourite band/artist: Is 'musicals' accepted? Love a good showtune, am a slut for Sondheim. Other faves include Hadestown, Next to Normal, Wicked, and Waitress.

last movie: Miss Congeniality, because my future spouse had not seen it before and I had to show him how to SING.

last show: I think it was Strictly Come Dancing. Layton for the win, Krishnan for the quarter-finals.

when I created this blog: About a decade ago? I have been Tumbling for a long, long time. I left it for a couple of years though.

other blogs: I had an LJ for another decade before Tumblr, and I created a Substack in 2020 and posted religiously twice a week and then found out the company platformed a lot of TERFs.

do I get asks: Only when there's an ask game making the rounds. I love Asks. Love being perceived.

average hours of sleep: I am a terrible sleeper, so sometimes it's 4, more often 6-7 though. Last night I was exhausted physically and emotionally, though, so slept from 11pm right through til 10am.

instruments: Voice! I have a Grade 5 classical and Grade 8 in musical theatre. I struggle to read music but I adore singing so so much.

what I’m wearing: Massive 2-sizes-too-big hoodie from Black Cat Collective, CollectifxModcloth bat jumper and joggers from Snag Tights.

dream job: okay so I was a writer for several years professionally, but copywriting. I worked for Boots, a large high-street chain, for a while and wrote a lot of their email copy. Still fucks with my head that those words are by far my most-read. Now I work in equalities for local government, which can be depressing. So I will say I do not dream of labour, but I want to be published.

Tagging... @clottedcreamfudge have you done this yet? I've not been online since Thursday. Tagging @tsunderebot!

[coaadra]

4x08-09

Oh God, how angry I am. I never thought that my head would have so many different emotions about just two episodes of Once Upon a Time. I'm sorry, but if I don't express my opinion, I'll be torn into little pieces..

I'll start with who I admire in these series.

Of course it's Elsa. She is gorgeous and I cannot express all the love I have for her through words and letters. Her incredible support for Emma, revealing to everyone around her about her and Emma’s gift. And of course the final scene and conversation with Emma, which almost brought me to tears...

Unexpectedly for me, Regina and Robin Hood became the object of admiration.. Firstly, their couple looks so good and correct that I begin to love them more and more..

In addition to the beauty of their couple, I was also surprised by Regina herself and how she clearly and clearly put Snow White and David in their place..

Of course, I can’t miss Hook.. But this post simply can’t contain everything I would like to say about him. so I plan to dedicate a separate post to him, for the umpteenth time actually..

Let's move on to the second part of this post, as well as the DISAPPOINTMENT of this season, series and episodes.

OF COURSE IT'S GOLD. Forgive me for hoping for him and trying to justify him. Now it’s simply disgusting for me to even look at this person, try to analyze his actions and actions. I've probably never been so disappointed. This is so offensive and I even take it personally, because for a VERY LONG time I justified him in my head and tried to live with the thought that “he has improved, and everything that happened before is a consequence of injury.” BUT NO. He destroyed everything my expectations, conjectures and attempts to justify it.

But even Gold couldn't overcome the feeling of disappointment and anger towards Mary Margaret and David. Like are you fucking serious? Their dialogues over the course of two episodes destroyed me from the inside, and the last thing I wanted to see in the frame was their family. “It will be great if Emma is “normal”” “We’ve all been FUCKING WAITING FOR THIS.”.

That is, when your daughter literally for the FIRST TIME needed you so much that she was ready to simply spare herself the strength, you preferred to give her everything for this so that she would destroy herself not only physically, but also morally. Of course, it was the best decision to constantly consult that it would be better for her to be normal and “she would not bring any harm to others.” No, friends, it is you who will bring harm to others with your simply disgusting thinking and lack of empathy for your own fucking daughter.

It is for the fact that Regina inserted pussies into this couple that I am grateful to her until I lose consciousness, she is my queen in these two episodes, I worship her, Elsa and Hook. And I hope Mary Margaret and her prince will ride away the fuck away with their absolute disregard for their own daughter and her feelings. Because no matter how much they try to convince me now, in these two episodes this couple thinks only about themselves and how it would be less uncomfortable to get rid of the problem in the form of “Emma’s gift”

Probably the most aggressive post on my blog, but it couldn’t have been any other way. I missed the series endlessly, but I didn’t think that I would see exactly THIS.

[crucifiying]

“ on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. “

𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆: a 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄, 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄 & 𝐌𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 Multimuse roleplay blog featuring 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐌𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒. ( Angels, Demon Hunters & others ). 21+ only. 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐒 & 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐃𝐍𝐈. Written by 𝐂𝐀𝐓 - 30 / She or They / MST.

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓. Such as heavy religious themes, nsfw, violence & gore ect.

CAARD is currently a WIP, rules can be found HERE.

𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐓. Profiles will be worked on ASAP and linked. Meanwhile, short bios are attached to get an idea of the muses.

Adam Walker - Biromantic Demisexual. Cis Male. Human. goes strictly by ‘Walker’ to most. Late 40s-mid 50s. A man whose wife and twin daughters were taken by demons. Use to work as a gunsmith providing weaponry to the government and demon hunters ( secretly ). Skilled in what he does, he kills demons out of vengeance. Performs exorcisms. 4 demons reside in his body: Abbadon, Beelzebub, Belial & Samael. Each enhance his abilities, though the more demons he kills, the more the ones inside of him eat at his soul until there may be nothing left. He is to become The New Satan, though, he still has time to revert his fate.

Michael - Closeted Homosexual. Genderless, male presenting. He/Him. Seraphim, twin brother to Lucifer. Appears as a man in his 30s. ‘The Blade of God’. Loyal to his father, used to be very close to Lucifer before his fall. Appears to most as a blonde man with his bangs covering the right side of his face with light blue streaks in them ( there are 7 eyes underneath. His main eyes are blue, the others are different colours; green, hazel, brown, ect ). Harbours guilt for not doing anything about Lucifer’s banishment from Heaven. He is hardened, loyal to God’s will ( despite secretly agreeing with some of Lucifer’s ideals before his fall ) and tries to stop Walker from succumbing to his possibly inevitable fate of ruling Hell.

Raphael - TBA.

Uriel - TBA.

Gabriel - Pansexual. Genderless. He/Him and male presenting. Youngest of the Seraphim, ( Michael, Lucifer, Raphael, Uriel and then Gabriel ). Appears as a man in his mid-late 20s. Most ‘naive’, has the entire solar system on his body int the form of freckles. They light up when he gets excited, but look like regular freckles otherwise. Brown hair, short and curled with orange in the under layers. Has orange feathers in his wings. Likes sweets and to hang around on Earth to learn new things. Misses his brother Lucifer a lot ( not as much as Michael does, however ). When a star goes out or is destroyed, it disappears from his body. If a new star is created, it’s added to his array of constellations on his form. Doesn’t care nearly as much about the Walker situation but tries to help when he can.

SIDE NOTE: My angels are related to only one iteration of Lucifer written by a friend of mine off tumblr. He would definitely be mentioned here and there.

—-

Dimitrios Antonakis - Bisexual. Cis Male. Batfolk, 28. Oldest of 4 siblings. Black bat ears and wings, hidden tail. Dark blue hair, fades from a slightly lighter colour. Orange/yellow at the very end of his braid, which is several feet long and is usually wrapped around his arm like a rope. Made a pact with an Elder God named Dgoth and ended up becoming his husband. Sees the future, has four eyes ( the bottom set is closed unless he is looking into the future ). owns a shop where he tells people their fortunes and does tarot readings. Afraid of his husband coming to his realm. Loyal to his husband regardless, however. Constantly worries about his siblings.

Juno Antonakis- Bisexual, Cis Female. Batfolk, 26. Older twin sister to Emma. Hair fades from blue to purple to pink—wears her hair in space buns. Black bat ears and wings and hidden tail. Teleportation abilities. Loud, outgoing and overly friendly, Juno is also a little on the niece side. Wants to be everyone’s friend, for the most part. Helps around her brothers shop.

Euphemia ‘Emma’ Antonakis - Demisexual, Cis Female. Batfolk, 26. Younger twin sister to Juno. Gothic. Black bat ears, wings and hidden tail. Periwinkle hair, long and curly with straight bangs, fades into a darker periwinkle. Emma sees and communicated with spirits that have a hard time moving on and helps them finish what they need to finish to pass on. Does seances and ouija boards at her brothers shop. Also is an exorcist. Quiet, blunt and comes off as rude sometimes.

Leander Antonakis - Homosexual, Cis Male. Batfolk, 23. Youngest sibling of Dimitrios, Juno & Emma. Black bat ears, wings and hidden tail. Not the sharpest tool in the shed. Skateboarder, failing college student. Airheaded, but very outgoing and friendly. Hair is a light purple that fades to orange. Doesn’t help much around his brothers shop because he is fer too clumsy to do so. His abilities turn him into a large ‘werebat’.

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: Match Me if You Can by Swati Hegde

3.5/5. Releases 6/4/24.

Vibes: Emma, heroines who gotta learn, slow burn, friends to lovers

Heat Level: 2/10

Mumbai-based Jia spends her days writing silly listicles for women's magazine Mimosa. On her off time, however, she works on her anonymous blog, giving what she thinks is very real talk... even if she's in denial about her own true feelings. She wants to get upgraded to a new column--but the only way she can is by helping her coworker find love. Thing is, Jia herself doesn't even realize that her longtime family friend Jaiman has a thing for her. Maybe... more than a thing.

Alright--if you're at all familiar with Jane Austen's Emma, I'm sure you can tell that this is an Emma retelling. I've actually been seeing a lot of Emma retellings lately; but that's not a bad thing for me, as Emma is by far my favorite Austen.

The skinny on this one is that, at least from my perspective it's very cute and well-written. It's a romcom with wit, and there's certainly a lot of chemistry between Jia and Jaiman. I love the setting (it's shockingly rare to find an English-language romcom novel that isn't set in America, and even harder to find one set in India). I enjoy the tone. It's not reinventing the wheel; it goes in the directions that a lot of Emma retellings do. For me, too... I don't mind that it was closed door, per se. However, there were moments cut off in a way that left me thinking "but why?"

The answer is that it was the author's prerogative, and that's valid. I just feel like we were kind of left in a place where there was teasing--and if there wasn't going to be anything, why tease, I suppose?

But nonetheless--if you want a light, fluffy romcom that happens to be closed door, and if you love Emma, I would recommend this.

Quick Takes:

--One way in which this book differs from Emma and that Jia and Jaiman have what I'll call a near-miss about a year prior to the novel's beginning. To me, this was really clever. First off, it swerves away from the typical Emma setup, adding a little tension that I really appreciated. Second, it makes Jia a more interestingly human character, to me. She knows there's this tension, she knows there's something between herself and Jaiman, she just doesn't want to confront it.

--Personally, I think modern Emma retellings arguably work better in a setting wherein matchmaking is still a thing. Jia is nothing if not a consummate matchmaker, and I feel like this plays so well in a book set in Mumbai, where matchmaking is a feasible career (not that it can't be in the west--but it's less common, obviously).

--Like I said: this is a slow burn. Jia and Jaiman have known each other since childhood. Feelings have been there for a long time. So while I understood, and to an extent I mean, it's there in the material... I just wanted them to kiss. I wanted something to happen. Although the book is closed door, that doesn't mean they can't get together earlier in the novel (I'm thinking of a closed door romance by Alexis Hall that I enjoyed not so long ago). It did drag a bit for me.

And ultimately, for all the theoretical tension, that lack of interaction in a romantic sense did keep it from going as far as it could have. I don't mean sexually--I mean as a love story.

That being said--if you're not sure about sex scenes, if you like a slow burn, and you want an Austen update that makes sense... This could be great for you!

Thanks to NetGalley and Dell for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[savingthrcw]

okay, I need to make a list because it's the easiest way for me to stay on top of things, since I keep getting distracted, and these things will get priority over all others (with long pauses when my body says it's time to rest):

-fixing Janey's bio and make links and pages (I thought her name was Jane! I thought Janey could only be a petname! No!) and if @hqlfbloods gives me some Cooper-Janey interactions I'll cry forever (and that goes for other rpers too, even if it needs some plotting to be fully OUCH as a reunion) << somehow I've already done this

-answer asks from hqlfbloods, IF ANYONE ELSE sent me one and I didn't answer, I didn't get it! Feel very free to send me more so I can get used to my new characters as well as re-used to the old ones!

-tried to determine which replies to my answers are going to be kept by my rp partners so I can put them in the thread tracker ?!! < adding them when I get a second reply

-plot with @misfits-of-zaun as soon as possible and check out new blogs to decide who to follow (I will read rules, bios because like I say in my rules I have a HARD time saying no so I need to know if they can work BEFORE I follow, I will check out your threads and blah blah) << I checked out the blogs

-starters for @protectxthem and @aamusedly and @brckensteel, IF ANYONE ELSE ASKED FOR A STARTER please let me know, I think I'm all caught up but I could have missed one! << done some of these too plus some extra starters

-send 'hey let's plot!' messages to new people, probably, if I don't lose my energies at random again << done this too

-maybe make a separate Fallout page for my oc Emma at @smiletimeisrunningout instead of keeping it in the sci-fi section? and answer to asks there too!

-drafts! on all blogs! and a bunch of icons for a commission and possibly study some math at some point today?

-reminder everyone that I'm basing my Fallout characters on the TVSHOW only because I only have vague memories of the games, as much as I liked them, and I certainly didn't complete enough question to know all NPCs, because I don't want you guys to get disappointed! I can't replay if I'm roleplaying here! For Lucy rpers, also, my Fallout OCs and AU characters for now are only Stella and Janey respectively.

if I'm missing something, hit me up!

Also I'm making Maximus icons on the side, if you want let me know if you think they are whiteashed or okay or too dark:

[wits-writing]

Five Miscellaneous Favs of 2022

Felt like doing quick looks at five pieces of media that caught my eye during 2022. 

Not a ranking nor limited to any specific medium, just five things I loved last year that I wanted to talk about with a focus on things I felts were lesser discussed overall in the year.

Because while I could talk about how great Everything Everywhere All at Once, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, or RRR were, I also wouldn’t be bringing that much new to the table by discussing them.

Let’s start with something that hit towards the end of the year:

Matilda the Musical:

What a delight this turned out to be!

The engrossing stylized visuals of this film adaptation of the musical stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s original children’s book grabbed me from the word “go.” A stage director moving on to direct the film adaptation of their own theatrical work, as is the case with Matthew Warchus here, can and has led to mixed results in the past but here those theatrical instincts shine. Each musical number manages an appropriate scope to get across the emotional impact of the scene and make sure the viewer can appreciate the stellar moments of choreography from the ensemble of child performers. A visual language that lives up to the nature of Tim Minchin’s music and lyrics for the story.

Major highlight of the cast is Emma Thompson as the despicable Miss Trunchbull, performed and presented in a way that makes her the perfect villain for a movie that’s essentially “Baby’s First Antifa Uprising: The Musical.” An authoritarian running her school as a surveillance state who will change her own supposedly sacred rules on a dime in order to never appear as if her power is starting to slip.

Representing the kinder adults of the world in this movie is Lashanna Lynch’s Miss Honey. Any take on Matilda as a story will live and die on how much you buy into the found family aspect of the relationship between the title character and Miss Honey. This film playing into that handily as Alisha Weir’s Matilda finds the first adult to see what’s remarkable about her love of learning in her teacher and Miss Honey finds a reminder of what it means to stand up for yourself and others in an unfair world in her new student. A mutual sense of inspiration beautifully summed up in the new-for-the-movie finale song “Still Holding My Hand.”

Mad God:

Okay, time for a bit of a mood shift…

According to my Tumblr Rewind for 2022, my personal blog’s most popular post of the year was a screencap from a Slash Film interview with Mad God director Phil “You had one job!” Tippett.

This one:

And in that post I described it as a “beautifully blunt” summation of why Mad God paints such a bleak picture of its world and those inhabiting it. Later in that same interview he specified by relating it to how when there’s a tragedy, American news media shoves it in people’s faces on repeat. A process that normalizes the pain and horror of these events and limits people’s ability to imagine a world without any of that. A depressing downward spiral where terrors can never be escaped, only recreated ad nauseum until the end of time (and even beyond that.)

Anyway, I found Mad God to be a ton of fun and it was easily my favorite animated movie of the year!

Probably feels bizarre to go from the previous description of the movie’s world to calling it “fun.” But that’s the balance Tippett managed to strike after the multi-decade process of getting it made. A sickening, compelling contradiction to entice a niche stripe of viewer, because this was certainly anything but a movie made with broad appeal as a concern.

A playfulness comes through in moments like the mindless homunculi that keep this dystopian society running trudging along until a piece of the machinery they work around splats them against a wall, Wile-E-Coyote style. Monster designs that genuinely disturbed me exist alongside ones that are oddly charming in their unconventional designs and mannerisms. The most purely playful elements of the movie take the form of easter eggs to VFX filmmaking history that are featured among the apocalyptic landscapes of some shots, like a statue of Robbie the Robot that features in one shot.

Some stories get by more on a vibe than a carefully constructed narrative and Mad God’s vibes are unlike anything else you’re likely to see.

Bee and Puppycat: Lazy in Space:

Speaking of vibes-based entertainment but on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Bee and Puppycat finally returned this year with a new season on Netflix with an abundance of lo-fi chill at its disposal!

The season, subtitled “Lazy in Space”, has three episodes retelling the story of the original Cartoon Hangover season in the new animation style followed by 13 episodes of original material.

In a universe filled with gorgeous pastel space-fantasy scapes, what keeps the series compelling is everyone in the main cast trying to live the best life they can. One bizarre circumstance after another happening in the periphery of their personal journeys. Exemplified by the show’s approach to doling out information with regards to worldbuilding, everything delivered in pieces tangential to what the focus of a given episode is actually about. This goes doubly for the backstories of the titular characters. Even when we’re given an episode to explicitly flesh out Puppycat’s mysterious past, it turns out to be a nonlinear narrative more concerned with the roots of his attitude than in being a lore-dump. Meanwhile, everytime we get new information about Bee there’s always another layer or three yet to be dug into beneath her unassuming appearance and general ADHD tendencies.

Delivering all that in a balance between high concept scenarios and low-key, chill presentation will keep me coming back to this show for any and all future seasons.

Goodbye, Eri:

2022 could reasonably be argued to be The Year of Tatsuki Fujimoto

Aside from Chainsaw Man Part 2’s manga beginning and season 1 of the anime hitting it big, the mangaka released two one-shots through Shonen Jump in the past year; one was Just Listen to the Song which was written by Fujimoto with art by Oto Toda and the other was Goodbye, Eri, wholly done by Fujimoto.

And it was the best comic I read the entire year.

The story of high schooler Yuta taking the gift of his smartphone as the first step on his path to becoming a filmmaker. His first project being a documentary about the last days of his mother’s life, followed by a narrative covering his artistic evolution as he’s called on to do the same for his classmate Eri.

But a plot summary doesn’t get across why this was the best piece of sequential art I read all year. Fujimoto’s talent at using manga as a form to deliver stories elevates Goodbye, Eri as the narrative framing at hand reflects the premise itself. Every single panel is in the aspect ratio and point of view from Yuta’s camera with Fujimoto’s art emulating novice camera work along the way. One of my favorite recurring details is certain panels clearly meant to represent Yuta having shaky hands as he’s filming.

Like any comic, art and writing feedback into each other to maintain this narrative conceit, as characters will stop on occasion to ask if they should redo a lineread or we’ll see bits that were filmed but not included in previous sequences. It’s playing around with the diegesis of the story to craft Goodbye, Eri’s main theme about how we choose to remember our lives. What bits do we hang onto and what sort of impression do we want to leave other people with after we’re gone.

A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society:

You know the feeling when you find the right band/album at the right time in your life?

That was my experience with Tobias Sammett’s Avantasia two years ago as songs from their album Moonglow were in my youtube recommendation. Even after listening to a decent chunk of the band’s discography, Moonglow remained my favorite. Tackling themes of alienation and creating one’s self while running a full gauntlet of the many forms of Metal. I find a lot to love in the rest of the Avantasia catalog, but none of the albums as complete works topped what this one had to offer for me.

Set all that up for the sake of saying…

A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society exceeded Moonglow and became my favorite album of the year (and possibly my favorite piece of media from 2022, period.)

This even being a possibility was something that gradually built up in my mind as the singles began to roll out. The first release, “The Wicked Rule the Night (feat. Ralf Scheepers)”, was a good hard metal track but it wasn’t until the second single, “Moonflower Society (feat. Bob Cately)”, hit with its amazing animated music video, directed by Jess Cope, that I knew I was in for something special.

The narrative set out by the music video, along with the lyrical content of the song itself, put into focus what Paranormal Evening was about. Especially in how it interacted with its predecessor in Moonglow. If that album was about alienation then this one was going to be about choosing where you want to belong. Whether it’s a conventional path or one that seems off-putting from the outside but could ultimately offer wonders in a future once thought unimagineable. A theme set even more into focus with the third single from the moment I saw its title, “Misplaced Among the Angels.”

A central conceit that reflects Avantasia’s virtue as a group, Sammett assembling performers from across all walks of rock/metal to create something beautiful with each album. New and returning guest performers for the group enhancing what Paranormal Evening has to offer. 

I have lost count of how many times I’ve listened to A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society. Enjoying it more with each playback. Each track lifts up the others and puts me in a state where the album closer “Arabesque” hits as hard as any song I’ve ever listened to has!

If you like what you’ve read here, please like/reblog or share elsewhere online, follow me on Twitter (@WC_WIT), and consider throwing some support my way at either Ko-Fi.com or Patreon.com at the extension “/witswriting”

[thelonesomequeen]

Love all this discussion RE: acting/movies/agents, etc.

Way more fun (for me) than the fandom fighting.

Anyways, some random thoughts w/respect to Mr. Evans. The discussion about ensemble casting has been done, but one thing that struck me during the talk about Jeremy Strong is just how many talented actors in that general age group exist. I'll go with the around mid thirties all the way up to the getting a little crispy Leo D. (I'm kidding sort of with him--he's still 'young' per se, but I wish Scorsese had cast a younger actor in Killers of the Flower Moon). Fifty isn't really 'old' but it starts to show differently on people's physical form and thus IMO begins to change one's script offers. I digress.

So, in that mid-thirties to fifty cohort, think of some of the best actors world-wide and it's a larger group than in the past. Note: no scientific research was done to back up that claim. Some of that may be due to the Biz (FINALLY) very slowly beginning to bring in more diversity (keep going because you're not there yet, studios) and some of it could perhaps be to something discussed on your blog earlier-- the streaming networks?

Streaming has opened up eyes to more shows (along with socials like X/insta), IMO and despite the negatives to streaming, some actors may perhaps gain a bit of a following due to a show and that makes them a little more competitive when names are tossed around the table. That used to happen in the days of my grandparents (like the soap opera/or themed tv large cast shows) but it just seems like there's MORE now (almost too much more but again I digress).

Case in point--Regé-Jean Page is a fine enough actor, but w/o Bridgerton I wonder if he'd have made as quick a leap into other high profile discussions (like 007). I have to wonder if streaming has helped actors who have talent but being that it's so hard to get one's foot in the door having a vehicle helps to just plow through it because the viewers are behind the wheel saying, "hey pay attention to this guy, he's good!"

To me, for Chris that means that regardless of awards interest, anytime there is a role, there is a range of people whose names are also being considered--from Benedict Cumberbatch and the rest of the UK crowd to the homegrown talent like Austin Butler (younger but I'll hedge on him) to Lewis Pullman to Jake Gyllenhaal to the two Ryans among others. It's a tough field and always has been, but the 'relegation' tier between film and it's A list B list and television has been blurred more than in the past. Now you have Eddie Redmayne starring in not only the FB series and Oscar nominated roles in film, but once again appearing in the film/streaming category with The Good Nurse. If you're a solid talent, then you might have a miss here and there, but too many strikes at the plate and you may get sent to the minors. It's just my opinion and sure I don't know what the man thinks, but it's his life and I'm a fan of film and actors/actresses so I'll give most anything a view, regardless of critics/general sentiment. I sat through Aloha recently because I had missed it the first go round and I'm a fan of Emma Stone but yeah, that was a hot mess of a plot that was.

Sorry for the length. TLDR: Chris is in a competitive business and he'll have to figure out what he wants if he hasn't done so already (not like I have the man in my contacts) and go from there.

*Side note: I almost ended up with an entire paragraph on the MCU but that really deserves its own discussion and I've clogged up your ask box enough with this soapbox oratory on Chris and the competition.

This is actually a very interesting take, thank you! 🧜🏻‍♀️