#potential spoilers for the book and tv series in the article?

[kitchensunflowers]

Because disabled bodies are not as exploitable to capitalism as nondisabled ones, they are shunned, segregated, and isolated from the workforce. Thus, ableism or discrimination against people with disabilities is not some “natural” inclination of the “normal,” but an attitude conditioned by the labor market: we fear disablement because we fear unemployment. This fear is then further perpetuated by the medical profession. “By placing the focus on curing the so-called abnormality and segregating the incurables into the administrative category of disabled,” Russell writes, “medicine bolstered the capitalist business interest to shove less exploitable workers with impairments out of the workforce.”

Bassam Sidiki, Severances: Memory as Disability in Late Capitalism

referencing Marta Russell, Capitalism and Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell, edited by Keith Rosenthal (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2019), 17-18.

[sincerelytheintrovert]

Tamlin’s Redemption Arc

Excuse me for the long post... 

With the new TV show coming out, there are going to be more people joining the fandom from both sides: those who hate the sound of Tamlin’s name and those who don’t think he’s the worst thing. Which means there are going to be more people arguing for and against Tamlin’s redemption arc (which I’ve seen get really nasty and personal). I, personally, am completely torn.

****TRIGGER WARNING: DISCUSSION OF ABUSE AND PTSD BELOW****

On one hand, Tamlin as SJM has written him now IS an abuser and should not have any sort of redemption. On the other hand, I love when characters are on the morally grey line and have amazing growth potential. Because life isn’t two-dimensional so why should characters be?

In order for SJM (or a talented fanfiction writer) to redeem Tamlin without legitimizing his abusive tendency, a balance needs to be met. With that said, doing so is going to be VERY hard. Here are my thoughts on ways to help rebuild his character from the trash can that SJM made him:

****SPOILERS FOR ACOTAR, ACOMAF, ACOWAR AND ACOSF BELOW******

Explore his PTSD

One of my biggest criticism of SJM, it is that she does NOT know how to write healthy ways for characters to deal with PTSD. “ Feyre and Rhys pulled each other out of their trauma”. “True love” and sexy time does NOT fix PTSD.  This is such a damaging belief that is perpetuated by YA books. You know what else doesn’t fix PTSD?  Locking someone up in a tower with their only option being to climb down 10,000 steps that could potentially lead to their death (poor Nesta). For more information on how to help someone recover from PTSD see this link: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/helping-someone-with-ptsd.htm. 

People forget that in the series Tamlin is ALSO suffering from PTSD. Note how in the link above Feyre received the help she needed from the Inner Circle whereas Tamlin arguably did not receive any and continuously suffers even throughout ACOSF. This is one of the main reasons why I would be fine with a Tamlin redemption arc.  Let’s explore the source of his PTSD a little, shall we? 

1) His whole court is held CAPTIVE for 50 years and HE is the only hope- Even beyond his own court, all of Prythian was plunged into a half-century long war with an enemy who is powerful enough to capture all their most powerful High Lords. That’s 50 years of fear and hopelessness which is enough to power PTSD for at least a decade untreated. 

2) He has to send out his friends to be sacrificed constantly- I’m reminded of how at the beginning of COVID-19, doctors were begging for people to stay home because the ICUs were so full that they had to pick who got ventilators and who didn’t, essentially picking who survived and who died. Now imagine doing that for 49 years. To your friends. That is some TRAUUUMMAAA. 

3) Per Feyre’s own admission, Tamlin also has nightmares- For all the people who say “he didn’t stop her when she was starving herself”, my response is, “what if he never noticed?” because when you’re dealing with your own inner demons, it’s almost impossible to see others’ problems. 

In summary, SJM created a character that has a bunch of trauma and labeled him a bad guy (she does the same with Nesta except that Nesta gets to be forgiven because...plot?). One of the ways that a writer can redeem Tamlin is have him NATURALLY and HEALTHILY recover (no, Elain’s love cannot help him). 

Explore his past 

There are so many things about Tamlin that would make him a much more interesting character in ACOTAR but SJM never goes into it because the story is told from Feyre’s perspective. Here are some examples of his background that could be explored:

1) Explore his family issues- His brothers hate him because he is so powerful; his dad is a meglomaniac who is fine with torturing humans but beyond that we do not know more about his family or upbringing. Despite this, in ACOTAR, Tamlin refuses to become his father and opposes torture of humans. Where does this sense of morality come from (his mother? a mentor?) I believe SJM made a conscious decision to not go into this because then it would almost be identical to Lucien’s family problems. BUT if his background was fleshed out and we found that his abusive tendencies stemmed from an abusive family then THAT would add more character depth. For example, if Tamlin’s father is overbearing to his mother, a young Tamlin could equate love with “being protective”. This wouldn’t JUSTIFY his actions towards Feyre at all but it would help add more to Tamlin’s character beyond textbook abuse. 

2) Why the hell does he have a stone heart? Sorry, did I miss something or was this never explained? Can someone explain? Does he still have the stone heart AFTER Amarantha? 

3)His friendship with Lucien- Their friendship is so strong pre-Feyre, it would be interesting to read about how they build their friendship pre-murdering Lucien’s brothers as well as how they support each other during Amarantha’s era. It would also be interesting to read a story where they both struggle to rebuild their friendship and find that they have grown apart. This would also give the added benefit of giving closure to Lucien.

Explore his point of view

The final way I can think of writing a redemption arc for Tamlin is to explore his point of view. This is by far the hardest task as it could easily be turned into an “I thought what I was doing was okay so I am not at fault” (aka abusers’ favorite excuse).  But by exploring the guilt and struggle that he must be going through after the war with Hybern, Tamlin could experience more growth. This would need to be done painfully slowly so he sees the full impact of his bad choices. 

For example, I think it would be impactful to read how he helps rebuild his villages and how he has to deal with his subjects’ negative opinions of him. In the process of rebuilding his Court, he could forge new relationships (hopefully, healthy ones) and begin the process of not just becoming a less terrible person but potentially a good person. This also could serve as a great way to improve the world building in the series (which IMO needs work).

In case you’re still reading, I’ve also decided to include a short list of  how I think Tamlin’s redemption arc should NOT be done:

1) Romantic redemption with Elain- No. 

2) Quick, meaningless death via self sacrifice/ becoming a martyr- personally, this would feel so cheap and a waste of potential and since he is already at the bottom, NO ONE would care. It would be better to keep him alive.

3) Redemption through trauma- As explained above, I think he’s gone through a lot of trauma. It would be really unreasonable to expect that additional trauma could some how “fix” his problems”.

Sincerely, 

The Introvert

[aion-rsa]

The Walking Dead Season 11: Who Lives and Who Dies

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This Walking Dead article contains major spoilers.

Many of us thought this day would never come, but as all of The Walking Dead‘s characters know very well, everything that has a beginning has an end. Season 11 of AMC’s flagship zombie drama will be the show’s final run of episodes, but fortunately it’s an expanded season. Fans will get 24 more episodes, broken up into three parts, before the show — and a few of its characters — meets its end.

And it wouldn’t be a season of The Walking Dead without a few big deaths along the way. As we have in past seasons, we’ve made some predictions regarding who will bite the bullet in season 11. For the final time, here are the characters we think are on the chopping block and the ones we believe will live on to remember them after the credits roll on the series finale.

Keep track of all The Walking Dead season 11 deaths below:

DEAD

Roy (C. Thomas Howell)

Prediction: Dies

Result: Dead

Roy took an arrow to the face during a Reaper ambush.

Gage (Jackson Pace)

Prediction: Dies

Result: Dead

Gage stabbed himself in the chest twice, attempting to kill himself before being devoured by walkers in a train car. Zombie Gage was then put down with a shot to the head by Gabriel.

ALIVE

Pope (Ritchie Coster)

Prediction: Dies

I’ve never seen a guy more likely to die in the first half of a Walking Dead season than Pope, the leader of the show’s newest villains, the Reapers, who themselves strike me as filler villains for Maggie and Daryl while the real story at the Commonwealth develops. I assume the Reapers will be out of the picture by the time Alexandria needs to turn its attention to the much larger settlement in the second part of season 11.

Pamela Milton (Laila Robins)

Prediction: Dies

The Governor of the Commonwealth is poised to be the final season’s big bad. A bureaucrat hellbent on preserving the way things were before the zombie outbreak, Milton even established a caste system within her settlement to propagate class inequality. She represents everything that was wrong with the world before the fall of society and the complete anti-thesis of how the Alexandrians do things.

If you’ve read the comics, you know how Pamela’s story ends in Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s story, but the TV series is known for taking sharp left turns when you least expect it. One thing we know for sure is that the Alexandrians will have to reckon with Pamela’s rule before the series finale.

Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton)

Prediction: Dies

A Commonwealth acolyte and bookkeeper of the community, Lance is one of Milton’s chief personnel, helping her run the settlement’s government. He’s also seems like cannon fodder to me as things heat up between the Commonwealth and Alexandria, an early death that could spark a conflict between the two factions.

Mercer (Michael James Shaw)

Prediction: Lives

Mercer is loyal to the Commonwealth but there are more sides to him than his distinct orange military armor lets on. He’s one of the most interesting characters of the comic’s final storyline, and it would be a shame to lose him before we can see his story through.

Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari)

Prediction: Lives

Elijah made his debut in one of the most WTF moments of season 10 when he rescued Aaron and Alden from the Whisperers. For weeks after his reveal, people wondered who the man in the steal mask could be. When he returned in the final six episodes of season 10, the show just kind of moved on without fleshing him out, which is unfortunate since he looks so cool! I’m going to assume that the series is saving a big Elijah-focused episode for later in the season and that he’s too awesome to kill off. You don’t just introduce a blade expert in a steel mask for no reason!

Virgil (Kevin Carroll)

Prediction: Dies

Virgil has a lot to atone for after kidnapping and drugging Michonne in season 10. At the end of the season, we learn that he’s found a disoriented Connie in the woods. His redemption arc will likely include helping Connie survive on the walker-infested road back to Alexandria. Will that eventually involve a final sacrifice to save her?

Connie (Lauren Ridloff)

Prediction: Lives

Connie’s been through a hell of a lot in the past season. After surviving an explosion, a cave-in, and an entire walker horde, Connie’s made it out of Whisperer territory but is still a ways from home. Expect part of season 11’s story to be about Connie’s odyssey and ultimate reunion with her sister and Daryl.

Lydia (Cassady McClincy)

Prediction: Lives

Lydia was at the center of Alexandria’s conflict with the Whisperers for a season and a half. With Alpha and Beta defeated, and their faction all but obliterated, I have to wonder what Lydia has left to do on the show. That said, the writers have continued to find interesting ways to explore this character, and someone has to live on to lead the next generation of Alexandrians. I think Lydia is in it for the long haul.

Magna (Nadia Hilker)

Prediction: Dies

Magna was sidelined pretty quickly after her introduction. While a reunion with Yumiko seems like the logical direction for her story, The Walking Dead universe is a cruel one. She could be headed toward tragedy.

Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura)

Prediction: Lives

In season 11, Yumiko is inheriting a major storyline from the comics that likely means she’ll survive the final 24 episodes of the series. Of course, the TV show could always alter that storyline to bring a tragic end to Yumiko’s story.

Luke (Dan Fogler)

Prediction: Dies

It’s pretty wild that Luke has survived as long as he has. A man of the arts hardly has a place in the cruel world of this show, but he has clumsily persevered thus far. But if the writers are planning an especially bloody final season, I’d put Luke on the short list.

Kelly (Angel Theory)

Prediction: Lives

Kelly has been one of the best late additions to the show. It would suck for her to finally reunite with her sister only to meet an unexpected end.

Alden (Callan McAuliffe)

Prediction: Dies

Another candidate for the chopping block. I’m surprised he’s even made it this long.

King Ezekiel (Khary Payton)

Prediction: Lives

Yes, Ezekiel has thyroid cancer, and were he in Alexandria, that would mean his inevitable death. But the Commonwealth is a different ballgame, an advanced settlement in the comics that will likely have the doctors and surgical resources needed to save him. That is, if Ezekiel isn’t caught up in Milton’s caste system.

Jerry (Cooper Andrews)

Prediction: Dies

I love Jerry and don’t want to see the tank with a heart of gold go. But if the season needs an early death that pulls at the heart strings, Jerry is a prime candidate for a midseason casualty.

Father Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam)

Prediction: Lives

Gabriel has evolved so much since his debut in season 5, becoming one of Alexandria’s key leaders. He’s come so far and even survived longer than his comic book counterpart. I’d hate to see him go so close to the end. So I’m just going to say he lives.

Aaron (Ross Marquand)

Prediction: Lives

Aaron seemed destined to die seasons ago, too kind and trusting to survive this long. But here he is, still fighting and surviving. He’s lost the man he loves, his arm, and many friends — and it’s all hardened him into a war machine. It’d be a shame for him to die now.

Rosita Espinosa (Christian Serratos)

Prediction: Lives

In the comics, Rosita’s head ended up on a pike during the Whisperer war, but her TV counterpart has persevered. It’s difficult to predict where her story goes at this point, but since she survived her comic book death, I assume the show’s writers have something in mind for her in season 11.

Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt)

Prediction: Lives

Eugene has become an unlikely protagonist going into season 11. From a mulleted coward hiding behind his intelligence so that others protect him to the Alexandrian leading his people to the Commonwealth, Eugene is central to the plot of the final season, and I think that means he’s safe. Plus, Eugene is hilarious, and The Walking Dead can always use a little comedic relief.

Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming)

Prediction: Lives

Result: Lived

NO.

Rick Grimes Jr. (Antony Azor)

Prediction: Lives

Nah.

Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)

Prediction: Lives

I think The Walking Dead is going to end with one last big death, one last sacrifice before the credits roll on the massive zombie drama. Like Rick in the comics, one of the major characters of the TV series will likely become the martyr who inspires change inside the Commonwealth’s walls. Negan would probably be on the short list for this big moment from the comics, a villain finally choosing to do the right thing for a cause bigger than himself, a fitting conclusion to his seasons-long redemption arc. But Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently teased that he was already having discussions with AMC about a potential Negan spinoff after The Walking Dead has concluded, which means the former Savior leader is safe…unless the Negan show is a prequel.

Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride)

Prediction: Lives

This one’s an easy one: Melissa McBride is getting her own spinoff that will follow her character after The Walking Dead series finale. That means she’s safe.

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus)

Prediction: Lives

Norman Reedus is joining McBride for that spinoff, so he’s safe, too. The actor even told us what the Daryl and Carol show will be about.

Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan)

Prediction: Dies

That leaves The Walking Dead with one logical choice to pick up Rick’s final storyline from the comic. It’s Maggie. It also makes a bit of sense from a logistical standpoint. Lauren Cohan has already left The Walking Dead universe once before to pursue other small and big screen projects. She’s back for the final 24 episodes of the series as a welcome legacy character but that doesn’t mean Cohan wants to stick around for longer than that. I assume Cohan’s returned to bring closure to her character, not to prepare for a spinoff.

Let us know your predictions for The Walking Dead season 11 in the comments!

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The post The Walking Dead Season 11: Who Lives and Who Dies appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[hidethenotes]

Why I’m Deeply Concerned about Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and You Should Be Too

Let me Preface this by acknowledging Dune has yet to be released so it may very well be that many if not all of my concerns and frustrations will prove unfounded. Furthermore Dune was a novel published in 1965 by an extremely homophobic*, cis-gendered and heterosexual white man so I am by no means arguing deviations shouldn’t be made from the original text. They absolutely should especially because the series themes about human complexity and questioning authority seem depressingly timeless and deserve repeating. 

However- in the original novel the Fremen were explicitly based on the Bedouin cultures of North Africa and MENA inspired elements permeate all aspects of the culture in Dune, both Fremen and Outsider. Yet despite two adaptions (three if you count SyFy’s adaptions of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune) none have cast MENA performers or tapped anyone of MENA origin to work behind the scenes (Denis Villeneuve’s adaption included). 

This current adaption has instead chosen to cast almost exclusively Black actors as the Fremen. I say ‘almost’ because Stilgar, one of the Fremen leaders in the book is played by the white Javier Bardem.

While there is some potential narrative justification for the Fremen being Black as it’s mentioned in the book the Fremen are descended from a slave race and the term Fremen is actually derived from ‘Free men’ after several of these former slaves escaped into the desert. 

Fremen tradition says they were slaves. . . for nine generations. -Terminology of the Imperium, Dune

Though that potential justification is weakened since Javier Bardem is again white. It also doesn’t help that Paul Atreides (played by the equally white Timothée Chalamet)  is poised to also take on a leadership role both secular and religious amongst the Fremen as a long awaited warrior prophet and messiah.

MENA actors make up less than one percent of current television roles and have equally small presense on the big screen. When they are shown they usually only given stereotypical roles and rarely make any kind of headway in genre films like science fiction and fantasy. It’s a depressing lack of inclusion of people who are quite literally the inspiration for the novel. 

Which brings me to the character of Liet-Kynes who’s casting I am most disturbed by. (Spoiler Warning for the 55 year old book from here on out). In the book Liet-Kynes is a half-Fremen man who acts as not only a leader amongst the Fremen but is also able to pass largely undetected in non-Fremen society because of his mixed heritage. Something he uses to protect his people from a largely hostile ruling class but as a man of science remains deeply skeptical of his peoples’ prophesies surrounding Paul Atreides’ messianic potential. (With good reason it turns out as those ‘prophecies’ were largely planted by the outsider Bene Gesserit Sisterhood for their own ends) While he’s initially won over by Paul and his father Duke Leto’s charisma he later comes to regret giving them his allegiances realizing as he dies the danger a messiah like Paul poses to the Fremen culture’s integrity. 

No more terrible disaster could befall your people than to fall into the hands of a Hero. . . Dune, Chapter 22

Frank Herbert even has Liet’s body circled by hawks who are the traditional emblem of the Atreides to hammer the point home that the Atreides will be feasting themselves on the vulnerable Fremen. 

To put it bluntly Liet’s narrative purpose is to die leaving no room for the Fremen or the larger Dune universe the chance to escape the chaos Paul’s messianic destiny will bring. And Denis Villeneuve has chosen to cast Sharon Duncan-Brewster a Black woman in this role. Assuming Liet-Kynes’ character follows a similar narrative arc as presented in the original novel we are going to be presented with a Black woman who comes to believe a white boy is her long awaited messiah and then be disposed of.

We are in something of a long needed cultural reckoning. Where we have been forced to acknowledge how constantly we have treated not only Black people but Black women as disposable. So in addition to the deliberate lack of MENA cast in any roles let alone Fremen I find this particular change not only tone-deaf but down right despicable. Even worse the film will be including the characters Jamis and Harah. Jamis is a man who Paul kills early into his introduction to Fremen society and who’s widowed wife Harah then tries to seduce to secure her own life but that of her two orphaned children. Which smacks of a multitude of racial stereotypes. 

As a queer fan of the books who frequently enjoys dragging Frank Herbert for his authorial inconsistencies and eccentricities (he had a recurring obcession with athletically built red heads with oval shaped faces and wide generous mouths) I am all for radically altering the books’ text. But I am not seeing that with this adaption. Instead it feels like a poorly thought out attempt at diversity as conceived by three white, cis-het white men and I for one will not be watching. 

Foot Notes and Sources Cited

* Bruce's homosexuality was had never been accepted by my father, and they had never reached full rapprochement. Still, when my brother came to Seatle he broke into tears while riding in the backseat of my car. Penny and Jan consoled him. My brother told me later that he didn't cry from love, because he didn't feel he loved the man. He said he cried from what he had never experienced in the relationship between his father. I missed almost everything," Bruce said. "I never saw the good side he showed you. He wasn't there fore me." He went on to say that he couldn't watch movies or television programs having to do with father-son relationships, because they upset him so much. I told him that Dad loved him, that he spoke of him often and fondly, and that he just didn't know how to show it. I reminded Bruce of all the ways he emulated our father, and of the many interests they shared . . . electronics, computers, science fiction, photography, flamenco guitar . . . and I asked if that could possible mean that he loved Dad after all. My brother fell silent.  -Brian Herbert, Dreamer of Dune

Ramos, Dino-Ray. “Study Shows Bleak Middle Eastern & North African Representation, Reinforced Stereotypes On Primetime TV.” Deadline, Deadline, 10 Sept. 2018, deadline.com/2018/09/middle-eastern-north-african-representation-primetime-tv-mena-quantico-blacklist-tyrant-diversity-1202458101/.

Ramos, Dino-Ray. “'Dune' Trailer: Denis Villeneuve & Cast Talk How Adaptation Of Sci-Fi Classic Will Engulf Audiences On An Epic Scale.” Deadline, 9 Sept. 2020, deadline.com/video/dune-trailer-denis-villeneuve-timothee-chalamet-rebecca-ferguson-oscar-isaac-warner-brothers-sci-fi/. 

Coleman, Itané O. Http://Www.ncurproceedings.org/Ojs/Index.php/NCUR2017/Index, 2017, www.ncurproceedings.org/ojs/index.php/NCUR2017/article/view/2246. 

HERBERT, FRANK. DUNE. ACE Books, 1965. 

Herbert, Brian. Dreamer of Dune: the Biography of Frank Herbert. Tor, 2004. 

Please Donate to Black Lives Matter

[wafflesetc]

SPOILER WARNING! I thought you said you don’t mind spoilers. If you do delete this/stop reading now. Did you see the article about the end of S5? They give a bit away. I’m surprised how far go into the storyline they go. They talk how the aftermath of what happens to Claire is hard for JC to come through together. It seems potentially great angsty storytelling but I thought for sure they’d make a cliffhanger of her being taken. Guess not. Interested to see how they leave it.

LOL

I don’t mind spoilers and I have not seen the article- can you send me a DM or link it for me? 

Here’s the thing and it’s TV 101, finales=drama. The ending of Fiery Cross isn’t overtly dramatic per se, so I can see why they are dabbing into ABOSSA for the finale. As for this being hard for J/C t o come through together, I can see it. 

@gotham-ruaidh has either done a post or answered an ask about this, but Claire’s kidnapping is the one thing that Jamie promised Claire would never happen to her. But then it does. Not only is Jamie having to deal with realizing Claire is gone, thinking she might be dead, having to rescue her, and then realizing she’s been assaulted- but he also carries the guilt over the aspect that it happened to her in the first place. It’s traumatic for both of them, in many ways. 

I have said this to the other Librarians, cliffhanger finales aren’t really Outlander’s cup of tea. They have a series of books the show is based off of, so most of the time people already know a general idea of what is going to happen before it actually happens. Thus, cliffhangers don’t really have their effect on OL like they do with a regular primetime drama. I didn’t really see them having a cliffhanger, but if they go for cinematic drama like they did with 5x08, we might. (But part of me doubts it....)

My guess, for what it’s worth, is that it all starts to go down in 5x11. Diana wrote the penultimate episode this season and there has been LITTLE spoken about the episode. My assumption is we will get a cliffhanger between 5x11 and 5x12, and Claire is taken towards the end of that episode. I assume the rescue will be the finale. 

I love some good angst, so bring it on! 👏🏼

(Claire’s kidnapping & rescue are some of my favorite parts of ABOSSA- I’m very excited to see this all pan out. Berserk Jamie? HERE FOR IT.)

[rahirah]

via Barb's Place MAYOR: Open your present. There. That look on your face is my reward. [The present is a knife with an intricate design.] FAITH: This is a thing of beauty, boss. MAYOR: Well, it cost a pretty penny. So, you just take good care of it. And you be careful not to put somebody's eye out with that thing, until I tell you to. FAITH: Any particular eyes in mind?

~~Choices (Season 3)~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

A Conversation with the Fae (Buffy. Xander, T, Devil May Cry xover) by madimpossibledreamer

Crescendo Nocturne (Buffy/Spike, M) by MissLuci

Something is Wrong with Buffy (Buffy, Giles, T) by we_are_who_we_are

Lonesome Whistle, Blow My Blues Away (Xander, Faith, T) by nwhepcat

Not a Fairytale (Buffy/Spike, E) by Unfeathered

Not Just a Game (Buffy, G, Fast & Furious xover) by lateVMlover

Illyria helps (Illyria, Spike, Angel, Willow, G) by Bacner

Imagine: Telling Spike you are bi (Spike/reader, unrated) by randomfandomimagine

The Asgards' New Princess (Cordelia, G, MCU xover) by Buffyworldbuilder (lateVMlover)

Dirty Jokes (Spike/reader) by chubbyreaderchan

The Perfect Moment (Spike/Reader, unrated) by writings-n-stuff

for the world to become good (Buffy/Faith, M) by rootsmachine

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Giles, T) by IBJoyful

Unused Key (Buffy, Dawn, Willow, T, Charmed xover) by btvsforever

[Chaptered Fiction]

Eyes of Gold Ch. 1-2/2 (COMPLETE) (Buffy, unrated, LotR xover) by ElzaCBoe

The Scoobies in a Marvel World 1-7/25 (Ensemble, G, MCU xover) by Buffyworldbuilder (lateVMlover), lateVMlover

Willow Season One Ch. 1 (Ensemble, T) by PleaseNo1985

Darkness Rising Ch. 8 (Buffy, M, Anita Blake xover) by Deesse

Mommy Dearest Ch 2 (BUffy, M, Harry Potter xover) by Deesse

What do you think you are, a Jedi or something? Ch 51 (Buffy/Faith, M, Star Wars xover) by Blackhat

The Meaning of Strength Ch 1 (Xander, T, DCU xover) by AxelBlade

Honeysuckle Ch. 45 (Spike/OC, T) by Mushroom99

Let the Wrong One In CH. 15 (Buffy, Giles, Spike, OC, T) by Cynder2013

More Grimm Tails, Chapter 20-21 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Twinkles

Distant thunder, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Axell

Prisoners of Love, Blue Skies Above, Chapter 22 (Buffy/Spike, E) by bewildered

Tutor, Chapter 7 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Holly

Summer's Lease, Chapter 11 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Iamblichus

Love & Thunder...& Vampires , Chapter 1-2 (Buffy/Spike, T, MCU xover) by all_choseny

Reconstruction, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, E) by EllieRose101

Eye of Eleos, Chapter 68 (Buffy/Spike, M) by pfeifferpack

Love is a Many Splendored Bitch, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, E) by MissLuci

Sleeping Arrangements, Chapter 14 (Buffy/Spike, T) by ChryshCn

Always Been Bad , Chapter 24 (Buffy/Spike, E) by DarkEternity96

Civilized monster, Chapter 30 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Axell

Divination, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Miss Marisol

It Must Be Tuesday, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Safire

Beneath the Surface, Chapter 11 (Buffy/Spike, E) by The Danish Bird

More Than A Crush, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, M) by all_choseny

These Violent Delights, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Touchstoneaf

Echoes of Beljoxa 1: Plan B (Buffy/Spike, unrated) by myrabeth

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork:BtVS Season 5 () by Cooke8008

Artwork:Buffy () by Gabraskolbe

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comments

[cozcat]

What was so disappointing about the HDM movie? I've never seen it, I've just seen people talk about how it was universally hated, was it that bad?

So this is not an exhaustive list... I’m sure many people can add onto it and I’ll probably stand by what they say because this movie was disappointing in so many ways. And bear in mind that this is from the perspective of someone who read the books first - I fucking hate this movie, but I know people who saw the movie before reading the books, and while they know it wasn’t a great adaptation, it was what introduced them to the series, so there is that attachment. I just have hatred.

(Also bear in mind - I know that it got screwed in the edit, and so my blame is not directed at Chris Weitz or anyone else involved in the original cut. But it is about the final product. Because that’s what we got. No amount of promises of what could have been make the end product better.)

But anyway. This got long. Spoilers for the full series.

It removes the ending. I think this was the biggest one - we’ve yet to see the final episode of the TV show, but in terms of the main plot of the first book, we’ve already passed where the movie ended. It cuts off what is a massive plot twist - the shock, the betrayal, the catalyst for Lyra��s journey going forward. (And it was cut off so late in the process that clips made it into the trailers, and photos made it into the merchandise - I found a visual companion at an op shop recently that includes Asriel’s intercision machine and a photo of Lyra in Cittagazze.) It gives the movie a generic happy ending. They did intend on including it at the start of the sequel that never happened - but their intentions don’t matter when you’re twelve years old and sat there wondering where the fuck the ending is.

It strips away so much of the meaning from the series. The anti-religious sentiments are fairly subtle in the first book, but they’re incredibly important to the series. They were trying to appeal to a conservative Christian audience threatening the movie with boycotts - and it didn’t work, so instead, fans of the series knew what was missing and weren’t happy, but the audiences trying to stop the anti-religious message weren’t happy either. The message becomes so much more important in the books going forward that I don’t know how they planned on making the sequels when they quite literally wage war against God.

It wasted so much potential. Well-respected cast, incredible (for the time) special effects, amazing source material, looked good in the trailers. And then we got that. The cast were underutilised, the source material was stripped of all meaning, the edits were down to singular lines being redubbed in post-production, just to sanitise it.

The original product could have been so much better. Chris Weitz tweeted the original draft of the script and you can tell immediately how much better and how much closer to the source material it was. And it’s depressing to see how much love and care were going into this movie, when it’s barely discernible in the end product, and it’s those who loved it and cared about it who bore the brunt of the blame. Chris Weitz, the cast, the crew - they weren’t out to make a generic spiritual successor to Harry Potter that gets a middling reception and no sequel, but that’s what we got in the end.

And for me, personally, my own complaints. Where I won’t name actors while I slag them off, but you know exactly who I’m talking about.

The cast weren’t actually all that good. My favourite character in this series is Marisa Coulter - and seeing her reduced to a generic one-note villain performed by somebody who had to be begged to take the role was just not good. (Seeing this article recently was fairly vindicating, gotta say.) I can barely even pass judgement on their casting of Asriel, as he’s in it for about two minutes, and we never see him in the actual big defining moment for his character in the first book. Recasting the voice of Iorek was a mistake and in the end he just sounded wrong. Lee Scoresby - one of the most widely praised castings - was passable, but I’ve honestly just grown jaded with the amount of people slagging off their casting choice in the show because of their comparisons to a man who was in the movie for ten minutes (and who didn’t fit the book description anyway so why does this need to keep coming up as an argument in his favour). Dakota as Lyra was probably their strongest casting, which is a good thing as she’s the one carrying this whole damn thing, but it’s not nearly enough to make up for everything else.

The aesthetic felt empty. I don’t think I’m alone in having had the Victorian-steampunk aesthetic sit in my brain whether I like it or not, but on rewatching the movie, it felt so empty. It looked cool, but there’s no reason for their world to be like that - I’ve been trying to avoid comparisons to the show in this writeup, but this is one where it feels apt, as the our-world-but-slightly-back-and-to-the-left aesthetic feels much more fitting than something so dated. It’s another world, that is happening at the same time, not our world but in the past. And yes, it’s a world that has had its technological and industrial developments stifled, but things still have had that time to develop - it’s not going to look like our world prior to the industrial revolution but with glowy things.

It felt dumbed down. Let’s rearrange the plot so that we have the big showy climax at Bolvangar later on, even though it makes so little sense! Let’s not kill Billy, because that would be sad, and pretend that his lost daemon is like a lost pet and that’s all the emotional depth there is to it! Let’s rename one of the bears, because nobody will remember the difference between Iorek and Iofur, and that’s the standard we’re setting for our audience!

And sure. They did some things well. Dakota was a great casting, the daemons were everywhere... okay I’m out of things that I liked. But this was a massive source of disappointment to me at twelve years old, and it was a massive disappointment to so many people who were hoping for a beautiful adaptation of a beloved book and who got a generic fantasy movie instead. I think the biggest thing in the favour of its failure is that because they couldn’t make any sequels, the rights lapsed - and we’re getting the TV show, which is giving it so much more justice, so much more depth, so much more room to breathe.

[elexuscal]

Hey I was watching his Dark Materials. I haven’t read the books and I have seen another adaption called the Golden Compass. Lots of fans of the books don’t seem to like that other adaption I mentioned. I was wondering are the Gyption boat people and allegory for something? I have seen you do an fanfic alternate universe on your fanfics. I read a spoiler about her Uncle sacrificing her bestie or something and that sucks. Though I am more wary of him because he seems neglectful of his niece

Heya! Yes, I’m a long time fan of the original His Dark Materials series- both its underlying themes, as well as its central concept of daemons. While I won’t say anything here in regards to Lord Asriel and things he may/or may not do later because of potential spoilers for anyone else reading here, I can discuss the main part of your question.The Gyptians were, in the novel, a very clearly Alternate Universe version of the Roma/Romani people. Their depiction there was rather… problematic and controversial, to say the least.

I’m going to state upfront here, that I am NOT Romani, and not an expert on the subject. In real life, the Roma are a people often subject to intense levels of poverty, discrimination, and subjugation. When they appear in fiction, their depictions range from cruel, racist caricatures, to fantastically inaccurate (usually magical fortune tellers and the like). 

His Dark Materials was, as I understand it, a more nuanced portrayal. The Gyptians were shown to be kind-hearted and heroic, and vital allies to the protagonist. But then again, they were still supporting casts to  the white, upper-class) Lyra, which isn’t great.

 And of course, they’re called ‘Gyptians’, which is an obvious play on the (in)famous slur that many people, to this day, know the Roma as. For more information, I think this would be a relevant article: ‘Breaking “Gypsy” Stereotypes: Why Roma and Not “Gypsies“’.

Unfortunately, the TV adaptation keeps the term ‘Gyptian’. This would have been a simple and easy change.

On the plus side, the show seems to have taken steps to make the Gyptians more of their own unique people and culture that’s distinct from real world Romani. (If any Romani, or people more familiar with this topic than I am, has anything to add, please do!)

[undertheinfluencerd]

https://ift.tt/3yIWIFS #

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Marvel’s latest, Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings, has dozens of MCU Easter eggs hidden throughout; here they are broken down. Created as the “Master of Kung Fu,” Shang-Chi is a somewhat unusual character in the Marvel Universe in that he traditionally doesn’t possess any superpowers at all. Rather, he’s simply a martial artist so skilled he can go toe-to-toe with gods and monsters. The MCU’s Shang-Chi is very different from the comics, where he’s not connected to the Mandarin at all, but rather to another crime lord, Fu Manchu, who Marvel don’t have the rights to – and probably wouldn’t use if they could, because he’s a problematic racist trope.

Marvel has toyed with introducing Shang-Chi to the big screen for over 20 years. He was one of the 10 properties Marvel originally planned to build the MCU upon, although he was dropped when the studio reacquired the film rights to Iron Man and headed in a very different direction. Still, for all that’s the case, there’s a sense in which Shang-Chi answers mysteries that have been there in the MCU from the beginning; it reveals the truth about the Ten Rings, a terrorist organization from the Iron Man films, and even features the real Mandarin after the fake version in Iron Man 3.

Related: Shang-Chi 2 News & Updates: Everything We Know

Like all MCU films, Shang-Chi is packed with Easter eggs and cameos. Some of them are easy to spot, others are a lot more subtle – here’s every Marvel Easter egg and notable pop culture reference in the movie.

Let’s start with one of the more amusing, tongue-in-cheek nods – in one scene Katy remembers her first meeting with Shang-Chi, when he expressed a vocal objection to being considered a Korean. This is a nod to Kim’s Convenience, where Simu Liu played a Korean character named Jung. Liu has suggested this was something of a challenge; as he observed on Twitter back in 2016, “everyone is Korean except for me, and I’m trying very hard to fit in.“

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were the two most spectacular events in the MCU; in the first film, the Mad Titan Thanos snapped his fingers and erased half the lives in the universe, and in the second, the Avengers brought everyone back. The five-year period between these two events has been dubbed “the Blip” in the MCU, and the Marvel Disney+ TV series have been exploring the chaos of the aftermath, with WandaVision focusing on the personal cost and The Falcon & the Winter Soldier on the geopolitical issues arising from the Blip. The Blip is referenced twice in Shang-Chi, once when Katy points out they live in a world where half the people on Earth can disappear. It’s referenced again more subtly on a poster outside her home. “Post-Blip anxiety? You are not alone,” the poster declares, suggesting there’s understandably still a lot of trauma in the world.

The Ten Rings have been an established part of the MCU from the beginning, as the terrorist cell that captured Tony Stark in Iron Man was one of them. They were fleshed out as the trilogy continued, appearing numerous times in tie-ins such as the Iron Man 3 Prelude comic book that revealed War Machine was dealing with a particularly nasty terrorist plot on the other side of the world when the Chitauri invaded New York in The Avengers in 2012, explaining why he didn’t help out. They were subverted in Iron Man 3, but Shang-Chi serves as something of a course-correction on that, playing them straight and liberally using the logo.

Related: Shang-Chi Cast & Character Guide: All New & Returning MCU Actors

The Ten Rings catch up with Shang-Chi on the bus, and their initial confrontation is observed by a familiar face. Played by Zach Cherry in Shang-Chi‘s cameo, the vlogger Klev first appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming, when he asked Spider-Man to perform stunts as he filmed them, and he returns in Shang-Chi when a fight breaks out on his bus. “Yo, whaddup y’all, it’s your boy Klev, coming at you live on the bus,” he declares, before stating his intention to rate Shang-Chi’s martial arts as he apparently practiced when he was younger. It’s really something of a shame Klev doesn’t appear more, because he gets some great comedic lines in this welcome cameo.

In the comics, Razor Fist is a low-level thug who typically works for more prominent villains – including the likes of the Mandarin and the Hood. He’s gone head-to-head with a wide range of superheroes, such as Shang-Chi, Wolverine, and Deadpool, but – although he was initially treated as a dangerous threat – he’s increasingly been seen as light comic relief compared to more deadly foes. Shang-Chi‘s version is a little different, with only one of his hands replaced by a razor-stump, which is frankly a lot more practical; the comic book character has often been mocked with questions about just how he gets dressed when both his hands are blades. Amusingly, it’s soon clear the character still likes to call himself “Razor Fist,” with that name sprayed on his car.

Shang-Chi is heavily inspired by Jackie Chan and Chinese wuxia films, and it wears its love of these martial movies on its sleeve – literally. The opening bus fight between Shang-Chi and members of the Ten Rings features a tremendous moment in which the hero uses his jacket as a weapon, a move that will be familiar to any Jackie Chan fans. All in all, Shang-Chi boasts some of the best fight choreography in the entire MCU to date, appropriate for the character who – in the comics – is called the Master of Kung Fu.

Shang-Chi’s origin story has completely changed from the comics, but certain elements of it still link to his first appearance in Special Marvel Edition #15. There, he was brought up by the crime lord Fu Manchu as an assassin but believing his father to be a humanitarian who only killed evil people. He did indeed complete his first mission for his father – before being told the truth about Fu Manchu being evil, and going rogue. The similarities end there, though, because Shang-Chi’s first mission in the MCU was a lot more personal.

Related: Shang-Chi Ending Explained: 6 Biggest Questions, Answered

Shang-Chi seeks out his sister Xialing at the Golden Daggers Club in Macau, unaware it is a superhuman fight club or that Xialing owns it. In the comics, the Golden Daggers were a criminal organization led by Shang-Chi’s sister (named Leiko in the comics), who established them as a rival empire to her father’s. Shang-Chi originally thought they were working for Fu Manchu, but gradually learned he was caught between two rival criminal gangs.

Keep a close eye on the Golden Daggers fight club, because it includes a number of cool Easter eggs. One particularly interesting fight is between an Extremis-powered soldier from Iron Man 3 and a Black Widow, giving a sense of the superhuman scraps that take place there. The Black Widow is a character named Helen, played by stunt performer (and World Wushu Champion) Jade Xu, and it seems she has found her way to Macau after being freed from the Red Room’s control in Black Widow. The Extremis soldier is particularly curious, as they were all supposedly killed, so it’s possible someone has begun experimenting with Extremis again.

Of course, the star attraction of the Golden Daggers is the Abomination, a classic Hulk villain who’s changed substantially since The Incredible Hulk. Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky was exposed to Gamma radiation in The Incredible Hulk, transforming him into a monster who rampaged through Harlem, but according to the Marvel One-Shot The Consultant he was viewed as a hero by the military, with the World Security Council even wanting him to get involved with the Avengers Initiative. SHIELD knew better, and manipulated events so as to ensure the Abomination was dropped from their potential Avengers roster, and (with the exception of one episode of Agents of SHIELD), he hasn’t been seen or referenced since – until now. The Abomination now sports a much more comic-book-accurate appearance, clearly having mutated significantly over the last decade. It’s difficult to say for certain, but when he is teleported away he appears to be going to the Raft, a prison for superhumans introduced in Captain America: Civil War. Blonsky will return in the She-Hulk Disney+ TV series.

The Abomination’s opponent in the Golden Daggers is Wong, one of the more prominent members of the Masters of the Mystic Arts. It’s unclear why Wong is at a fight club, but he appears to be a regular and has a friendly relationship with the Abomination. Wong is playing a major role in Phase 4, likely because he’s operating from Kamar-Taj, meaning he’s responsible for overseeing mystical events across the entire world – while Doctor Strange appears to have become the guardian of the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York, thus being geographically limited. Wong returns in a delightful cameo in Shang-Chi‘s mid-credits scene.

Related: Shang-Chi End-Credits Scenes Set Up 6 MCU Movies & Shows

It’s easy to miss, but the Madripoor flag is painted on the walls in Xialing’s fight club. In the comics, Madripoor is basically the Mos Eisley Cantina of the Marvel Universe, a notoriously corrupt and crime-ridden island nation. It made its MCU debut in The Falcon & the Winter Soldier when the titular heroes traveled to Madripoor and learned Sokovia Accord fugitive Sharon Carter had made her home there. Interestingly, Marvel set up a promotional Welcome to Madripoor website that did initially feature Ten Rings Easter eggs; they were swiftly removed.

In the comics, Li Ching-Lin was an MI6 agent who secretly worked for Shang-Chi’s father, Fu Manchu. A skilled and brutal warrior, he was anointed Death-Dealer by Fu Manchu and became one of his most prominent henchmen, clashing with Shang-Chi on countless occasions. The MCU has completely reinvented Death-Dealer, who is apparently a key member of the Ten Rings, responsible for training them. He was a harsh mentor to Shang-Chi but did not train his sister Xialing, as she was a girl and women were not allowed to be members of the Ten Rings.

A captured Shang-Chi and his friends are taken to Wenwu’s fortress in China’s mountainous Hunan province. This is based on Fu Manchu’s home in Special Marvel Edition #15, which was indeed situated in Hunan, and it has returned in recent Shang-Chi comics. Recent Marvel comics have rewritten Shang-Chi’s history, naming this as the House of the Deadly Hand, but these retcons were carried out while the film was in production so are unlikely to be important at this stage.

Shang-Chi introduces viewers to Wenwu, the true leader of the Ten Rings, whose identity was appropriated by actor Trevor Slattery in Iron Man 3 when he dreamed up the character of the Mandarin. Slattery’s Mandarin was a composite of a hundred legends, but Wenwu is the real deal, a complex figure who has been tortured by grief over the loss of his wife years ago. The film spends a surprising amount of time explaining the Mandarin twist, with Wenwu even discussing it at length, mocking the citizens of the United States for being so terrified of “the Mandarin” – amused so many people were afraid of him.

Related: Shang-Chi Confirms The MCU Timeline Is Completely Broken Post-Endgame

According to Wenwu, he has been known by many names over the millennia; the Warrior King, Master Khan, and the Most Dangerous Man on Earth. The second of these titles is the most important, because in the comics “Master Khan” is indeed an alias of the Mandarin. In the comics, it denoted a connection between the Mandarin and Genghis Khan, but in the MCU the timeline may instead hint Genghis Khan was himself Wenwu.

Down-on-his-luck actor Trevor Slattery returns from Iron Man 3, once again played by Ben Kingsley. As seen in the Marvel One-Shot All Hail the King, Slattery was broken out of prison by the Ten Rings, with Wenwu intending to kill him for the audacity of appropriating his identity in this way. Slattery apparently forestalled the execution by launching into a terrified performance of Macbeth, and was thus spared death, instead becoming Wenwu’s jester. Trevor plays a surprisingly important role in Shang-Chi, helping the heroes get to the mystical realm of Ta Lo before Wenwu, and he even survives the battle with the Dweller-In-Darkness in hilarious fashion.

Ta Lo exists in the comics, where it is a small pocket dimension numbered among the so-called “God Realms.” This is a seriously deep cut into Marvel lore, with Ta Lo only appearing in a single issue – Thor #301 – and actually explored more in Marvel handbooks than in the comics themselves. According to these handbooks, there are five interdimensional nexuses that lead to Ta Lo, each found at the foot of a sacred mountain. It is home to the Xian, a race akin to the Asgardians who have inspired China’s Taoist gods; Shang-Chi wisely ditches this idea, aware it would be culturally insensitive.

As noted by Mateo, Wenwu claims the gate to Ta Lo opens only on Qingming Jie, allowing viewers to precisely date Shang-Chi in the MCU timeline. Because this happens after Avengers: Endgame, Shang-Chi must be in 2024, and this Chinese festival day will happen on April 4 that year. The events probably take place from approx. March 29 through to April 5, which means the timeline for MCU content post-Endgame currently looks something like this:

Loki

Marvel’s What If…?

WandaVision

Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings

The Falcon & the Winter Soldier

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Shang-Chi features a wealth of mythical Chinese creatures, including:

The unicorn-like qílín, the horned creature with the body of a deer and the tail of an ox, which lives in places of peace and serenity and only appears in the real world to presage the emergence of a great, benevolent ruler. Ta Lo is presumably supposed to be the origin of the qílín.

There’s also a glimpse of the fènghuáng, an immortal bird sometimes incorrectly called the Chinese Phoenix, another auspicious creature. Interestingly, both the qílín and the fènghuáng are symbols of balance, incorporating both the male and female elements; balance is very much the theme of Shang-Chi, so the presence of these two mythological animals is very appropriate indeed. Both the qílín and the fènghuáng are associated with Ta Lo in the comics.

The beautiful húlijīng, a mythical nine-tailed fox that has absorbed the natural energy of the world over many years.

There are also shíshī, the Chinese guardian lions, sometimes called foo dogs, who assist the residents of Ta Lo in their battle against the Ten Rings.

The longma is a legendary winged horse with dragon scales, another creature whose presence is symbolic of the rise of a sage ruler.

The most prominent creature in Shang-Chi is Trevor Slattery’s Maurice, a dìjiāng – often seen to represent cosmic confusion. It makes sense a dijiang would associate itself with Trevor.

Related: Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie, Ranked Worst To Best (Including Shang-Chi)

Dragons do exist in Marvel Comics, the most famous being the alien Makluan dragon creature Fin Fang Foom; however, the Great Protector seen in Shang-Chi is nothing like a Makluan. Rather, the creature is based on Chinese mythology, where dragons – or lóng – serve as protectors rather than destroyers, and the dragon has become a symbol of status and power. Shang-Chi is likely set in the year 2024, which seems amusingly appropriate, given that is the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac.

The Dweller-in-Darkness is lifted from the comics, although he’s been adapted quite significantly. In the comics, he is one of the universe’s Fear Lords, beings who gain sustenance from the fear of creatures on other planes, and he considers the more famous comic book Fear Lord, Nightmare, to be his cousin. Dweller-in-Darkness was a terrible threat to the Earth millennia ago, in the days of ancient Atlantis, and derived great pleasure from the conflict between the Eternals and the Deviants that led to the sinking of that continent. He grew too powerful, however, and caught the attention of the Atlantean sorceress Zhered-Na, who cast the Dweller-In-Darkness into an eternal slumber from which he only awoke in the modern era – only to find himself contested now by Doctor Strange. The MCU’s Dweller-in-Darkness has been changed a lot, and is now some sort of demon, blended with the Chinese myths of the Wangliang, a malevolent spirit in Chinese folklore. The Soul Eaters serving the Dweller-in-Darkness in Shang-Chi do exist in the comics, but they too have been heavily modified. In the comics, a Soul-Eater attaches itself to a victim and preys upon them for a lengthy period of time, consuming their soul little by little. The process of soul extraction is vastly accelerated in Shang-Chi.

Shang-Chi‘s post-credits scene reveals the superhero holo-conferences conducted by Black Widow during the Blip (as seen in Avengers: Endgame) are still ongoing. This is the first time there’s been a hint Earth’s protectors are still organized in Phase 4, and it’s likely Wong only called in the people he wanted involved in discussions about Shang-Chi’s Ten Rings; Captain Marvel, with her knowledge of alien worlds and civilizations, and the scientific mind of Bruce Banner. Neither has ever seen anything like this before, with Banner confirming they’re not Vibranium.

Something has clearly happened to Bruce Banner between Avengers: Endgame and the events of Shang-Chi; the last time he was seen, the Banner and Hulk personas had combined into “Professor Hulk,” and he was stuck in that form permanently, but now he’s back as a human being. This will probably either be explained by the upcoming She-Hulk Disney+ TV series, or else it will be setup for it, explaining why Banner’s blood is used in a transfusion for his cousin Jennifer Walters. His right arm is still in a sling, meaning the injury he sustained when he used the Infinity Gauntlet hasn’t been healed. It seems Marvel are honoring the Russo brothers’ wishes for the Hulk to have a permanent injury; “It’s permanent damage,” Joe Russo explained in one interview. “The same way it was permanent damage with Thanos. It’s irreversible damage.“

Related: Every Upcoming Marvel Movie Release Date (2021 To 2023)

Wong references Kamar-Taj during the holo-conference, revealing the Masters of the Mystic Arts were able to detect whatever “signal” was emitted from the Ten Rings at the moment control of them passed over to Shang-Chi. This is pretty impressive, given Ta Lo was described as being in an entirely different universe, meaning the energy surge generated by them must have traveled through the entire Multiverse.

The MCU has always loved to incorporate classic music into its films, and the Eagles’ “Hotel California” crops up throughout Shang-Chi. The theme of the song works perfectly for the movie, as Shang-Chi has attempted to “check out” of the family drama, but he can never leave. The mid-credits scene of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings puts a more positive spin on this, though, because now Shang-Chi has checked in to the world of superheroes, and his life will never be the same again.

More: Where Was Doctor Strange During Shang-Chi?

#marvel #avengers #marvelcomics #spiderman #mcu #ironman #comics #captainamerica #thor #avengersendgame #marvelstudios #xmen #dc #marveluniverse #art #cosplay #tomholland #hulk #disney #comicbooks #dccomics #peterparker #tonystark #blackwidow #marvellegends #endgame #deadpool #marvelcinematicuniverse #loki #bhfyp

The post Every MCU Easter Egg In Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings appeared first on undertheinfluencerd.net.

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[aion-rsa]

The Horror Influences of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan

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This article contains spoilers for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is beloved by shounen anime fans for its nonstop action, absurd and over-the-top showdowns, and creative Stands (physical manifestations of one’s true self). It’s a bombastic series that defies predictions. We’re still waiting for the fifth part of the manga, Stone Ocean, to be released as an anime adaptation, and the story is still ongoing. Strangely, there’s still no confirmation that a fifth season is even coming yet.

In the meantime, however, we got something of a holdover: Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan. An adaptation of a series of one-shot chapters from JoJo creator Hirohiko Araki, it bridges the gap between the fourth season, Diamond is Unbreakable, and the fifth season, Vento Aureo. But while it follows manga artist Kishibe Rohan and what he’s been up to between both seasons, it takes on a decidedly different slant than the vanilla anime. Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan takes more inspiration from episodic horror anthologies, like that of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. It is, by all counts, a horror series. 

It’s a new direction for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, though not completely unexpected. The thing is, JoJo has always been riddled with disturbing, horrific, and downright chilling moments. They’ve just been couched between action-packed showdowns and bombastic character design so that the terror creeps in without you even realizing it’s there. Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan approaches the genre in a much more straightforward manner, though, wearing its influences on its sleeve. Both series, including JoJo to a staggering degree, are inherently spine-tingling properties, even if they don’t seem so at first blush.

Creator Hirohiko Araki is a ravenous horror fan, after all, and makes no secret of his passion for the genre. In his book, Hirohiko Araki’s Bizarre Horror Movie Analysis, he cites some of his top 20 favorite films as Misery, Alien, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The work itself is divided into several parts, each exploring a different branch of chilling media, such as “Bizarre Murderers,” “Animal Horror,” or “Sci-Fi Horror.” It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to think that, despite Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan originally being meant to be unrelated to JoJo, Araki created it to satisfy his love for the macabre.

The episode “Mutsu-kabe Hill” follows a woman named Naoko Osato, who belongs to a well-to-do family. She’s living in a house that belongs to said family along with boyfriend Gunpei Kamafusa. But she can’t be with Gunpei, as she’s already betrothed to a man her father has chosen. Plus, Gunpei is a family gardener, a profession her father won’t abide. The two end up arguing, and Nao tries to pay off Gunpei to get him to leave, as she knows her father and fiancé are on their way to the home. But tensions escalate as the two become violent. 

Nao pushes him into a set of golf clubs and Gunpei dies instantly. He’s bleeding, and while Nao struggles to figure out what to do with his body, her father and fiancé are approaching her home. No matter what she does, she can’t get Gunpei’s corpse to stop bleeding. In the end, she lives with this bizarre phenomenon, telling no one about her plight, and doting on Gunpei’s corpse, disposing of the blood he continues to generate for the rest of her life.

Several comparisons can be drawn from this episode to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” in which the narrator commits a murder, dismembers a body, and hides it beneath some floorboards. Despite having seemingly gotten away with the perfect crime, the narrator is driven insane by the sound of his victim’s heartbeat. He ends up confessing to the authorities as he believes they can hear it, too. It’s the story of an unreliable narrator whose sanity is slipping. 

Though the narrator in that story ended up confessing to ease his suffering, Nao chose to live with the consequences of her crime, succumbing to a monster that lives off of people’s affection. The stories are quite similar in tone, though with very different outcomes. 

In “At a Confessional,” Rohan recounts a story of how he met a man who confided in him while in an Italian confessional. The man spoke of a beggar to whom he refused food and instead forced to work until he died. The beggar returned as a ghost, swearing revenge on the man who wronged him, promising he’d return on the happiest day of the man’s life. Return he does, as the man has enjoyed riches beyond belief, a beautiful marriage, and the birth of a daughter. 

The beggar appears in the form of an apparition in the man’s daughter’s tongue. He forces the man to toss pieces of popcorn his daughter was eating into the air and catch them with his mouth three times in a row in an absurd challenge. If the man succeeds, his life will be spared. If not, he’s beheaded instantly.

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This tale immediately recalls Stephen King’s Thinner, a similar story about a man who’s committed several wrongs, cursed the father of someone he’s murdered — this time, because he runs over a woman while driving and engaged in a sexual act with his wife. The curse finds the man, who is obese, becoming thinner and thinner at an uncontrollable rate. 

Eventually, there are options available to the man, who pleads for a resolution. He’s informed by the same person who cursed him that he can eat a strawberry pie with his blood in it and die, or give it to someone else for him to be spared. It’s just as gruesome as forcing the rich victim in Kishibe Rohan to munch popcorn or die. 

In JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, the scares seem to come directly from a series of inspirations for Araki instead of new stories based on the media he’s obviously consumed. 

The first JoJo arc, Phantom Blood, sets the stage by introducing a swath of Gothic horror elements. It introduces the eventual vampiric rise of DIO in a Victorian society, which directly references classic novels like Dracula and Frankenstein. There’s even a serial killer named Jack the Ripper, who faces off against Jonathan and his allies, pulled straight out of history — a perpetrator of grisly murders who ends up transformed into a zombie. The undead are also a major component of Phantom Blood, likely due in part to Araki’s love for classic zombie cinema.

In the arc Stardust Crusaders, Jean-Paul Polnareff finds himself de-aged by a Stand user named Alessi. A young woman named Malèna nurses him back to health, up until Alessi uses his Stand, Sethan, unceremoniously de-ages her to that of a fetus outside of the womb. A few of Araki’s favorite horror movies of all time, including Basket Case, center on body horror, which doesn’t make this narrative decision surprising. But for those reaching that point in the story for the first time, it’s chilling in a way that even some of the most nightmarish films can’t even touch. 

While the visual of a fetus itself isn’t as offensive as some gnarled, disfigured victim, its implications are disturbing, to say the least. A fetus outside of a mother’s womb will eventually succumb to a slow death, especially one of Malèna’s apparent age. That makes Polnareff’s eventual victory over Alessi and his Stand so bittersweet.

The entirety of the fourth arc, Diamond is Unbreakable, plays out like a classic slasher flick with the introduction of Yoshikage Kira, a man with a powerful obsession with hands to the point of fetishism. He murders women with “beautiful hands,” then keeps the hands as his “girlfriends.” It wouldn’t be a stretch to compare Kira to classic killers like Psycho‘s Norman Bates or The Silence of the Lambs’ Hannibal Lecter, as Kira is believable and charming when he isn’t committing grisly murders.

Most of JoJo’s Stands are horrific on their own, and even though their story arcs enhance their terrifying power, there’s a fair amount of fridge horror to be found in these beings. The Freddy Krueger-like Death 13 can kill you in a nightmarish dream world while you sleep. Metallica (yes, named after the heavy metal band) forces you to cough up razor blades or have scissors burst from your chest. 

Another Stand, Green Day, can secrete a deadly mold that will rot and destroy the flesh of anything it touches in an instant. Lastly, Rohan Kishibe himself has a fairly disconcerting Stand: Heaven’s Door. It allows him to literally read someone like a book, then erase parts of their being, or add in what he pleases, like the ability to learn a new language as his pal Koichi asks in Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan.

It’s easy to see how Araki has masterfully melded horror into every space when it comes to both JoJo as well as Kishibe Rohan. With that in mind, it’s strange that the former has been relegated only to a series of one-shots when it shows so much potential as its own project, in which Araki gets to stretch his Rod Serling-esque legs or impart some very Argento-like stylings into his works. For now, we can appreciate what’s there — and continue finding parallels to additional well-loved classics in the genre. 

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Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan is available to stream on Netflix now.

The post The Horror Influences of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[swordsandrayguns]

Science Fiction And Fantasy Fans Should Write Reviews

Writers, especially indie authors like yours truly, always ask for reviews. Why? Is it just to be annoying? Truth is, on ebook retailers, reviews = increased visibility. Even Google has indicated reviews affect search engine returns. So that is honestly a big part of why authors ask. Some of us also ask because we really want the feedback. I know I do, but I can’t pretend like that is why all authors ask. Because of that, I always feel kind of sleazy asking for them. It is like a waiter not so subtly reminding you to tip as they present the bill. However, I think there is a good reason we (all of us) should write reviews for books we read. I believe it helps the overall science fiction and fantasy community.

Hear me out; I know this sounds like me trying to justify asking for reviews but I really mean it is for the good of us all. See, I am old enough to remember the fan organized science fiction newsletters and fanzines, although I was too young to actually participate in that culture. I do, though, distinctly remember when conventions and other fan gatherings were the only time you could see obscure science fiction and fantasy shows/movies and find certain books, magazines, etc. Back when “anime” was “Japanimation,” for example, the 24 hour viewing room at the local convention was your best, maybe only, chance to see stuff like Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star, Macross or Dirty Pair. If you were lucky, there was a club in your area that gathered monthly and crowded around a TV to watch untranslated VHS tapes traded with other clubs or laserdiscs purchased through friends in Tokyo. I was in one that met monthly at the Pantera’s in Webster Groves. Pizza and Captain Harlock in Japanese makes for a great Saturday afternoon!

Today, there are thousands of anime options out there… you don’t even have to buy them. They are on YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, etc… How do you decide? How do you cut through the madness? Same thing with books. Actually, it is even worse with books because you have all the independent authors and small presses available, too. Back in the day, if you were a science fiction and fantasy fan, you were a “science fiction and fantasy fan;” there were no distinctions and Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain books sat to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation titles and nobody even thought about putting them in separate sections! You read what was at the library or on the paperback rack at the bookseller of your choice because that was all there was! Hardback science fiction was pretty much just from the Science Fiction Book Club (if you had that kind of money/were old enough to enter a mail order contract). I don’t even remember if there was a dedicated fantasy book of the month club; you probably just had to hope the Science Fiction Book Club would throw you the odd bone. If you were lucky, you had maybe a dozen titles in that spinning paperback rack (because science fiction and fantasy probably shared the real estate with Louis L’Amour westerns, spy and detective thrillers and romance novels) and whatever you hadn’t already read at the library. That was it! That was all you could get unless you had spare cash for expensive mail order or could swap books with friends. If you were really lucky some selfless fan would donate a paper grocery sack of their paperback cast-offs to your library and keep you going for weeks! 

But in 2021 Amazon alone dumps about 18 bajillion-million books in your lap (bajillion-million is really a word; they had to invent just to describe Amazon’s book catalog). There are physical books, ebooks, web only stuff and audiobooks. At the same time, the science fiction and fantasy meta-community is now fragmented into at least a thousand distinct fandoms. You do not have to be a science fiction and fantasy fan anymore; you can get very, very specific about your tastes. You only like martial arts stories framed with video game conventions? It’s a thing. Prefer historical novels told from an extraterrestrial point of view? It’s a thing. Female driven tales of magic set in the modern day as a metaphor for larger social problems? It’s a thing. Robots versus dinosaurs? Stories of Elvish warriors with a well defined and unique culture? Belgian post-apocalyptic comic books set in America? They already made that into a TV show. 

How do you cut through the noise and find what you really want? How do you figure it all out? You only have so much time you can read and you have to budget it as carefully as your money… maybe even more carefully. After all, even if you are not buying, most libraries participate in e-book lending systems that still dump thousands of titles in your lap for free. How do you choose between the 400 books with spaceships, lasers and/or dragons on the cover published since you started reading this article? Reviews are your answer. Scratch that; good reviews, written by other fans, are your answer! 

I used to shy away from writing reviews for two reasons: one, I always felt like I should write a dissertation on a book and two, I kind of didn’t want to admit to how many Star Trek books I end up reading because Simon and Schuster sells a new group of Star Trek ebooks every month for 99¢*! And even as I started to adjust my attitude and realize why book reviews are good for the science fiction and fantasy reader communities, it isn’t like anyone needs a review to discover Star Trek, right?

Let’s be real, that is probably fair. It is really, really hard to imagine someone stumbling across Star Trek, Star Wars or Game of Thrones in book form without any previous knowledge of the franchise… and I imagine things for a living! If you are pressed for time or nervous about writing reviews, it seems reasonable to not worry about the big franchises so much. On the flip side, if you are a serious Star Trek or Star Wars reader, for example, you could post reviews mentioning if a story felt true to the series, where the book would fall in the chronology of the overall series, which characters from the shows/movies appeared and the like. Some readers want to know these things and that is really what I think reader reviews should address!

Some of you are nervous about posting a review because you are nervous about sharing your thoughts and writing. I get that (for me it is that I feel obligated to write a dissertation as a matter of respect to the author and the work they put in). I suggest you just write a review as if you were telling a friend about the book. That is essentially what you are doing anyway; true, you probably haven’t met a single person who will read that review but just the fact they are considering reading that book with spaceships and lasers and dragons on the cover makes them part of the big science fiction and fantasy community, so they certainly could be a friend!

When it comes to writing a review, the only rule is no spoilers! You are not trying to re-tell the story, just help potential readers figure out if it is what they want in a story. I honestly suggest answering any questions you wanted answered when you were choosing the book. I think it is fair to mention other, possibly better known, properties the story brought to mind. Not necessarily compare, but more in terms of categorization. “The title suggests this book would be something like Doctor Who, but it made me think more of Blake’s 7 with a dash of Space: 1999,” or “This story reminded me of Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar stories and Greek mythology.” Would you read either of those books? Would you not? That is what I am suggesting we try to do with reviews. 

I think it also might be a good idea to mention any content concerns. “This seemed kind of R-rated for the Star Wars universe,” “The author does not shy away from violence,” and a simple “Contains adult language” could all be tremendously helpful to other readers. This is the only time you might bend (not break) the no spoilers rule... If there is something in the story you believe could truly upset a reader (a racist character, sexual assault, the bad guy kills dogs), mention it if you must. Just try to respect the no spoilers rule to the best of your ability. 

Some people might not want to speak negatively of a book. Maybe you realize just because it was not your cup of tea this does not keep it from being the story that will change someone else’s life or maybe you just believe if you don’t have anything nice to say, be quiet. That is 100% okay. You could only review books you truly like. That is still going to help the community of readers. Or, you can stick to reviews that do not pass judgement. I am advocating reviewing books as a kind of crowd sourced categorization method for the overall and heavily segmented science fiction and fantasy community. With that in mind, I do not believe a “review” has to offer an opinion or judgement about a book, only information to help other readers decide if it is something that may be of interest to them. 

This leaves one big question: where do you post a review? That is a good question and I believe the answer is wherever you would look for information about what to read next. The logical place to start is wherever you got the book. Pretty much every book retailer, be they online or brick and mortar, has a web presence that will let readers post reviews. Some will even automatically ask you for one. That seems a perfectly logical place to post a review, but if you are reading library books there may not be an opportunity to review titles (although my library system does post reader reviews, yours might not). There are social media options, Goodreads springs to mind, but there is no reason you could not post your thoughts on books to Facebook, Twitter, whatever. There are also websites and blogs which take reader reviews. You can post on as many or as few as you want (but please post a review somewhere!)… Personally, I guess I would think about the level of privacy and anonymity I want. As a reader, I did not really think that way but as a writer I do. I will admit I am afraid some Goodreads members, for example, may permanently discount my own writing because I read comic books or assume because I posted reviews of the 1950s Tom Corbett, Space Cadet novels my books are going to be of that shiny silver rocket ship brand of science fiction. I have actually kind of abandoned Goodreads for review platforms were I am anonymous. I do not use my name on Amazon, for example, so I post reviews there. In setting up profiles in other platforms I am careful now to stay generic. Goodreads requires a name, so if that bothers you find another place to post reviews. 

I mentioned the fanzines and conventions earlier in this article. Sometimes I hear people kind of mourning those days, when the science fiction and fantasy community felt like more of a community because it was so much harder to get access to materials and merchandise. Maybe this is the complaining that all generations start as they decide the next generation has it so much easier, but I can say as someone in on the tail end of things, back in the day the science fiction and fantasy community did kind of feel more like a community. Whether you went all in and organized a club, convention or fanzine or just participated by attending or subscribing, fans had to go out of their way to participate and find the things they loved. Nobody was accidentally a science fiction and fantasy fan. Writing reviews, making that little commitment, means you are participating and contributing.

I hope I have convinced you to start reviewing books (or podcasts or movies or whatever part of science fiction and fantasy you love) because it is going to help us all find the next things we love. And also, despite our thousand fandoms today, I personally would love to see the science fiction and fantasy meta-community become a little more of a community again. 

Thanks for reading. It really does mean a great deal to me just to get some other people thinking about this… if you have enjoyed this little article, if you find yourself agreeing with me please take a couple minutes out of your day and review the next book you read. Let me thank you in advance for the person you are going to end up helping to find their next read!

* If you are unaware of Simon and Schuster’s monthly selection of 99¢ Star Trek ebooks, you can find them here, I don’t get a piece of this or anything, just sharing: https://www.simonandschuster.com/startrekbooks

[scrawnydutchman]

Why “The Ricklantis Mixup” Should be Awarded (SPOILERS)

So for those followers of my blog about entertainment (with a primary focus on animation) may have read before, I made an article about Season 3 of Rick and Morty. The article highlighted some issues the viewing public had at the time (when the latest episode was Pickle Rick), and was all about me giving my take on why people may have been disillusioned with the way the series was going. In it I proclaimed it was possible that the show was running out of ways to surprise us as an audience: that it’s gone so far in establishing it’s own sense of charm and storytelling that audience members aren’t reacting as much as they did when the show first launched and that the show was losing it’s core ability to surprise us. Allow me to refute my statements.

I was VERY wrong.

Because holy SHIT was “The Ricklantis Mixup” a good episode. Before anyone points it out, I know the news of this episode dropping is long past and there’s been another decent episode to come out since then (and another episode dropping tomorrow no less), but I don’t care. This episode is a storytelling masterpiece that deserves to be talked about more. Not only is it hilarious, not only is it shocking, not only is it everything we love about any Rick and Morty episode, but it manages to accomplish in 20 minutes what some television programming fails to accomplish in entire seasons. It truly is groundbreaking in multiple areas and sits with me in a way no Rick and Morty episode has ever done before or since. That includes my all time favorite episode “The Rick’s Must be Crazy”. So let’s break down why this episode is just so amazing into 3 different sections: Worldbuilding, Voice performance and storytelling from multiple perspectives.

1. Worldbuilding

When developing a narrative in a fictionalized world, an important but often overlooked aspect is making your setting believable and interesting. The location in which all the events take place is a character onto itself, and is enriched by the architecture featured, the societal system inhabiting it (if any), and of course the world’s inhabitants. Batman wouldn’t be as interesting without Gotham city, it’s villains and it’s cops. Another point about worldbuilding is that often times in order to do some substantial development you have to step away from your main characters for a time. Let the audience know what’s going on in the universe besides the misadventures of Rick and Morty. This episode does precisely that (but not without a classic misleading teaser from the writing staff). We’re treated to finding out what ever happened to the now disbanded council of Rick’s and the Morty’s left without Rick’s in an episode that is a “Tales of Springfield’ kind of narrative where we just follow the everyday lives of Ricks and Mortys just trying to cope in a new society they’ve created complete with an economy, a democracy, a justice system and prejudice. We get to see what life on the Citadel is like from multiple perspectives from Morty’s living in the Ghetto to Rick’s coping with middle class jobs that undermine their intelligence . . . and a Morty running for president. Not only are we treated to multiple perspectives but we’re also given a mesh of different genres, including a buddy cop homage, a political drama and a buddy road trip adventure following a group of runaway Mortys. In just 20 minutes they manage to establish a convincing and compelling world that eerily mirrors our own in spite of only featuring two kinds of people in it. The irony is this Citadel world is more like city life than the actual stand in city that the Smith family live in. What’s cool about each of these stories going on is that while they seem disjointed and unrelated, they all prove to contribute to a larger overarching conspiracy, leading to the biggest plot twist the show was ever given us. It gets especially grim in the last minute when in just a few flashes we learn how all the characters we got attached to lives changed and they don’t even completely understand why. All along the way we get sprinkles of commentary about prejudice, morality, the meaning of life, what it truly means to be happy, whether or not we can escape being cogs in the machine known as society, and so much more delivered in that signature “Rick and Morty” way where the answer is hilariously pessimistic. It’s the last thing I would have expected from an episode titled ‘The Ricklantis Mixup’ but God am I glad I got it. It makes the universe of Rick and Morty infinitely more fresh and immersive than it would have been had they never gone this route.

2. Voice Performance

So let’s talk about the voice acting for a second. This episode is comprised entirely, ENTIRELY, of different versions of Ricks and different versions of Mortys, with the only exceptions being a quick voice clip of a young Beth and a narrator for the “Simple Rick’s” commercial. That means JUSTIN ROILAND IS 98% OF THE DIALOGUE IN THIS EPISODE. That alone should earn him an Emmy for outstanding character voice-over performance. I can’t imagine how his voice must have felt after pulling off an episode like this. What’s interesting about this is that while you’d think listening to the same two voices for twenty minutes would get incredibly annoying and would make your ears hurt, especially since this guy is most noted for playing comically annoying characters like Lemongrab, surprisingly this episode never suffers from that problem (in my opinion). I think what contributes to this is the fact that despite everyone having the same voice their personalities and overall characters are JUST distinct enough to let us know who is supposed to be who, even if we aren’t watching the visuals. Plus each character is just so engaging that it makes the voices easy to look past. Not to mention all the different accents and speech patterns Justin put on to make this episode work. The overall execution of this episode through dialogue and visual storytelling is excellent, but of course a major contributor is just how natural every character feels. For one man to be single handedly responsibly for pulling that off is no small feat.

3. Storytelling from Multiple Perspectives

So as mentioned before, this episode’s story is told from several different perspectives within the citadel. This further compliments the world built for us because we get to hear different opinions on how it is, and we get to see how different kinds of people cope with their situations. Following each and every character around in this story is a blast, and it involves some genuinely heartfelt moments that immediately creates sympathy within the audience. This show has an uncanny knack for that. We get to visit different locations, see Ricks and Mortys in different occupations, and every nook and cranny of this episode is a distinct parallel to how things are in the real world. Every character also gets their own unique conflict. The Morty cop is so deeply troubled and disillusioned by the abuse done to him by Ricks that in order to survive he got hard and ruthless, not even sympathizing for other Mortys. The Rick cop shows initial implications of prejudice towards Mortys but is revealed to be a by-the-books golden boy officer who learns that everything he was taught will only increase his likelihood of getting killed. We see a Rick assembly line worker struggling with finding his own happiness because he knows his potential is far greater than just assembling packaged processed desserts. We see a group of schoolboy Mortys run away from their prescribed destiny on the small smidgen of hope that they can change their lives for the better. And of course underneath it all is a harebrained scheme from a certain evil Morty to take hold of the citadel . . . and winning. This episode goes above and beyond in creating a believable world with a slew of likable characters, and tells a story in a very progressive and interesting way where everything neatly ties together in the end for, once again, the best plot twist this show ever threw at us. 

Man oh man, WHAT an amazing episode. It goes in a completely unexpected direction, creates a much more interesting world than we could have ever thought, gives us a whole lineup of lovable characters and executes the most mindblowing ending we’ve seen in a long time, performed entirely by one man . . . all in 20 minutes or less. Try to pitch this kind of episode to any other board room and the board would call you insane, but the Rick and Morty team pulled it off. I really hope the time comes when this episode is majorly recognized as some of the best and most effective entertainment tv has seen in the long time.

[thesethingsofours]

Watchmen, Anchors & This Extraordinary Being

As anchor episodes go, what makes Watchmen’s This Extraordinary Being so… Extraordinary? Beside the rest, it’s a masterclass of meta. 

© HBO

In its entirety, HBO’s Watchmen is deserving of tremendous praise: “woke” without patronising, intellectual without pomposity, indulgent without narcissism, complex without confusing. Its best trick is to make the fanciful believable, laying on just enough familiarity and pseudo-science to imagine we really could be watching a parallel version of our own reality. Many of the ideas originated from its source material — Alan Moore’s seminal 1980s graphic novel of the same name. But successfully adapting, updating and elaborating on those ideas is no simple task, notwithstanding the presence of showrunner Damien Lindelof, and his history of intricate storytelling (Lost, The Leftovers, Prometheus, Tomorrowland).

The series follows Vietnam-born Angela Abar (Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk) as Sister Night — a highly-skilled police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Masked vigilantes are outlawed, but several are now openly integrated into the police force. Ironically, all Tulsan police officers now wear masks to hide their identities — a reaction to a white supremacist terrorist attack on officers in their homes, several years earlier. The KKK-like “7th Cavalry” responsible for the attack were forced underground, but have re-emerged, threatening to re-boot their police-killing operation. Dr Manhattan, a blue, atomic, god-like super-human has long-since disappeared to reside on Mars, and (oh yeah) the world appears to be in occasional overlap with a portal to another, squid-filled dimension.

© HBO 

If you are familiar with previous iterations of Watchmen (either from the novel or Zack Snyder’s 2009 movie), you’ll recognise some of these elements and be unacquainted with others. Set 34 years after the novel, the surviving characters have evolved in tandem with their invented surroundings. Given George Floyd’s recent death and the recent focus on Tulsa (via Trump’s floppy rally and heightened awareness of Juneteenth), the intersection of the setting, white supremacy and policing makes this version unavoidably topical. Beyond that, the original thematic similarities are maintained — what if superheroes (with the notable, dick-swinging exception of Dr Manhattan) were just exceptional people, without supernatural powers, but with typical human flaws? What if there had been a different chain of presidents and major events in the latter 20th century? What if we better understood quantum physics and could put it to use?

Does Your Anchor Hold?

Every season of novelistic, modern TV has that episode, anchoring the entire show. In a typical 8–12-episode affair, it tends to appear around two-thirds of the way through. In a good show, it allows the other episodes to tread lightly on otherwise clunky exposition and foreshadowing, resolving unanswered questions from the first two acts, while constructing intrigue for the third. In a great show, it will go further, offering up an ambitious concept with cinematic exposition and efficient storytelling. It can virtually stand alone — a piece of poetry amidst a wealth of narrative, specifically memorable beyond the whole. 

Often it is played out in a context outside the conventional environment or characters of the show. At its best, it can even make the finale seem underwhelming (which, despite our natural (perhaps biological) craving for a climax to signal a conclusion, is no bad thing). On the other hand, it can just as easily go underrated, without the major twists or revelations offered elsewhere.

© HBO

It’s the cradle into which the show’s fundamental ideas are birthed. For everything to work, it’s the point the show needs to reach. The list is increasingly extensive, but a few examples, recent and historic, are listed at the end of this article.

Joining the anchor pantheon is Watchmen’s Episode 6 — This Extraordinary Being; a significant reason for the show’s recent 26 Emmy nominations. The episode itself is up for 8 categories: direction, writing, cinematography, original music, picture editing, sound editing, sound mixing AND supporting actor (Jovan Adepo; Fences, When They See Us). Wowzers.

WARNING: DEPENDING ON YOUR TOLLERANCE LEVELS, WHAT FOLLOWS POTENTIALLY CONTAINS (LIGHT) SPOILERS. YOU COULD PROBABLY READ IT ALL BEFORE WATCHING THE EPISODE WITHOUT ANY MAJOR HOO-HA, BUT IF YOU LIKE TO GO INTO EPISODES COMPLETELY BLIND — I FEEL YOU. JUST SKIP TO THE LAST PARAGRAGH, NO HARD FEELINGS. WHEN YOU’VE WATCHED THE SHOW, COME BACK AND GET FILLED IN.

This Extraordinary Episode

As anchors go, what makes This Extraordinary Being so… Extraordinary? Well, in addition to drawing the story threads together and answering a wealth of pent-up questions, it’s a masterclass of meta. A meta Beretta. A meta Matryoshka. A full meta jacket.

© HBO

It opens with a big storyline reveal on “An American Hero” — a fake, popular TV show within Watchmen, which portrays a fictionalised (and inaccurate) version of the (also) fictional story we ourselves are watching unveil. Phew. Maybe read that again. 

[Incidentally, this is just the self-referential rollercoaster making its initial ascent. Keep your hands and legs inside the episode at all times.]

It quickly progresses to depict one character’s experience of another’s memories; including memories within those memories; and the occasional reversion to the show’s reality. If that weren’t enough, among the fiction, chunks of your and my actual, human reality continue to land, in the form of real-life people, events and societal norms. Cleverly, the effect is to blur what is true versus what Angela, the other characters and we, the audience, perceive to be true. This not easily achieved (nor easily explained), but simply put, in This Extraordinary Being, it is seamless, sumptuous, and sensational.

© HBO

The audacious concept of “Nostalgia” — a pill that contains a person’s harvested memories — drives the episode. Tremendously cinematic, it’s filmed in rich, crisp black and white noir, with flashes of colour emphasising critical moments to pertinently fuel the story. Constantly on the move, the camera switches between first and third person, accentuating the feeling of simultaneously experiencing several perspectives. There are very few gimmicks or effects — it’s traditional film-making, reliant on great camera work, acting, direction and editing. Hard cuts and smooth transitions are cleverly blended, with flashbacks quietly interspersed, allowing the story to move at pace. Beautiful pacing is one of the episode’s most impressive achievements.

Back to the action, which is precisely detailed. Playful, symbolic flourishes compliment heftier motifs, often subtly relating to previous episodes or our own cultural reference points. Note the lettuce in the grocery store, the (real-life) Bass Reeves, Will painting his eyes white (compared to Angela’s black), the piano playing in the (again traumatic) cinema, the comic book reader on the sidewalk, the Alt-Right “OK” gesture, the destructive and restorative functions of fire. All these pieces efficiently collude to inform the present story, as well as crafting Will’s personality and guiding his behaviour.

© HBO

Adhering to it all is deeply affecting music. Its simplest impact is to aptly recall the early 20th century era in which the memory is set. But the romantic, haunting, crooning over both tender and violent moments consummately mirror the emotional state of the protagonist. In particular, I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire, by the Ink Spots (1941) — with lyrics variably ironic and literal — will infiltrate your dreams for some time afterwards. Between the ballads is the show’s thematic, dramatic, western movie piano music — a tormenting echo in Will’s psyche, recalling both his mother and his hero. Reminiscent of Birdman (dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2014), chaotic, thrilling solo jazz drums play whenever he escalates the power of his own agency.

With these ingredients blended, the scenes all underscore the internal and external conflicts of the characters: between blacks and whites; rage and serenity; integrity and corruption. The underlying messages of racism, history, and technology essential to this version of Watchmen are wonderfully extolled.

© HBO

Notably, there are no plans for a second season of Watchmen. Rather than a question of HBO’s reticence to renew (I’m sure they’d love to), Lindelof himself has stated his intention for the show to end where it does — his exhaustive love-letter to the ever-extending Watchmen epic. As much as we have become accustomed to the fulfilment of our insatiable desire for sequels, we should be grateful that this symphonic limited series and Its Extraordinary Episode will exist in illustrious isolation. Like Nostalgia, some things are best consumed in small, perfectly measured doses.

Watchmen is available to stream on HBO Max (US), Amazon (UK, £11.49), HBO Go (elsewhere).

Other Anchor Episodes for Your Viewing Pleasure:

Sopranos Season 3, Episode 11 — Pine Barrens (HBO / Now TV) Mad Men Season 4, Episode 7 — The Suitcase (Netflix) Atlanta Season 2, Episode 6 — Teddy Perkins (Hulu / Amazon) Better Call Saul Season 2 Episode 7 — Inflatable (Netflix) The Wire Season 3, Episode 7 — Back Burners (HBO / Now TV) Bojack Horseman Season 5, Episode 11 — The Showstopper (Netflix)  Westworld Season 2, Episode 8 — Kiksuya (HBO / Amazon) Succession Season 2, Episode 8 — Dundee (HBO / Now TV) The Marvelous Mrs Meisel Season 2, Episode 7 — Look, She Made a Hat (Amazon Prime)

[mycelebritylifeus]

The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman admits playing game with shock ending was a ‘miscalculation’

The Walking Dead talks playing games with that shock ending

*Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead comics and potentially its TV adaptation.

The Walking Dead creator has admitted he made a big mistake playing both fans and retailers when he abruptly ended the comic book series in 2019.

Kirkman promised The Walking Dead had plenty of life in it after killing off Rick…

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Okay lets dismantle this one for the road. But it’ll take a few goes to do it properly

To begin with what a charming header image. 

“He may have abandoned his alternate universe of the same description, but Miles Morales is, without a doubt, the ultimate Spider-Man.”

 SPOILERS!

There is more than a little doubt.

 “In just a few short years, the webheaded wunderkind has stolen the shine from right underneath Peter Parker’s nose. ”

“His adventures hearken back to the high school heyday of the original wall crawler (soon to be returned to on the big screen in “Spider-Man: Homecoming”) while offering a completely new, modern and unique perspective of the teenage superhero.”

 Why does this make him better?

 Peter Parker grew in popularity under John Romita Senior when he had LEFT high school and was in college. Most adaptations which have the option of choosing tend to either begin with him as or quickly progressing him into a college student.

 Spider-Man the Animated Series only briefly showed him in high school in a few flashbacks.

Spider-Man 2002 began with him in high school on the cusp of graduating and then advanced him into college by the half way point of the film.

 Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 depict him as a college student.

 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 depicts him as a college student.

 The only major TV and film adaptations which have not had to do things for the sake of synergy which have actively chosen to make Peter a high school school are:

 -       The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series

-       The Amazing Spider-Man 2012

-       Spider-Man: Homecoming.

 The Ultimate Spider-Man Tv series might also be counted but it was released the same year as the ASM movie meaning there was likely a desire for synergy there.

 The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series was the first major adaptation which chose to make him a high school student when they didn’t have to and they did it because they were the first attempt to truly replicate the Ditko run and differentiate themselves from all previous adaptations.

 The ASM movie was retelling Spider-Man’s origin and also desperately seeking out any uniqueness amidst the fact that they were covering the same ground again. So they had to make him a high schooler and keep him there.

 Spider-Man: Homecoming similarly wishes to depict Spider-Man’s early days as it’s depicting the early days of the Marvel universe as a whole and it makes no sense for Spider-Man to have been publically active off screen for any length of time.

 Furthermore another CBR article actually listed over a dozen reasons as to why the 1980s (a decade where Peter was never a high school student) was the best decade for Spider-Man ever.

http://www.cbr.com/1980s-greatest-spider-man-decade/

 So what’s the big deal about Miles harkening back to the early days of Spider-Man?

 Or should I say what would be the big deal because between his mother dying, SHIELD having anything like a presence in his series, Venom, Blackheart and frequent crossovers and events and big events which might potentially shape the Marvel universe, there is more than a few elements unsuitable in Miles’ adventures if he is in fact harkening back to the simple down to Earth days of the Ditko era where Spider-Man was just living his day to day life, trying to make ends meet and coping with regular life ups and down.

 And...completely new and unique perspective of the teenage super hero?

 How so?

 It can’t be in so far as he is the first teenage superhero ever. Well over two dozen characters preceded him.

 It can’t be that he’s the first teen hero or hero in general to have spider powers or call themselves Spider-Man.

 It can’t be that he is the first teen hero or hero in general to have spider powers in post millennial society because we’ve had Mayday Parker/Spider-Girl and Ultimate Spider-Man do that.

 It can’t be that he is the first poc teen hero. There have been shittons preceding him and shittons more after him thus he hardly offers anything unique even if he was the first out the gate (but again he wasn’t....at all).

 Well okay maybe Miles is ‘unique’ as a take on the teen superhero because he is the first teen hero who’s taking over the legacy of another hero...whoops no he isn’t. See every Robin ever.

 Let’s tweak that. He is unique because he’s the first POC teen hero to take over the legacy of another hero...oh hello Cassie Cain what are you doing here over 10 years before Miles Morales was ever dreamed of.

 More tweaking? Okay. He’s unique because he’s the first POC teen hero to take over the legacy of another DEAD white hero who’s superhero identity was based upon a creature usually thought of as an insect and who Steve Ditko had a hand in creating.... Miguel O’Hara and Jaime Reyes? Who are they?

 AH! Could it be that he was the first poc teen hero who offers an African American perspective of regular life as a teen?

 Oh no wait no he wasn’t. There is quite a lot of stuff in his life which takes him away from just being a normal teen and even if there wasn’t Virgil Hawkins got there first too (and did it better). Not only was he actually created and defined as a character by black creators but here is what John Semper Junior (himself a black writer, story editor, and producer, with work including ‘SPIDER-MAN THE ANIMATED SERIES’) had to say about the character:

 “... I was one of the writers and story editors of the animated "Static Shock" TV show some years back (for seasons three and four), and I was nominated for an Emmy for my work on that show, so I have a warm place in my heart for this young super-hero character. In fact, I've always considered him the first black "Spider-Man," which made it very easy for me to segue from one show to the other....”

 Yes, Miles sure is unique all right. Nobody like Miles has ever existed before in comic books ever.

  “The creation of Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, since his debut in 2011’s “Ultimate Fallout” #4 Miles has gone on to utterly dominate “Spider-Man” across all media, with appearances in video games, the “Ultimate Spider-Man” animated series and a movie in the pipeline.”

 Yeah dominate all media. Because as we all know he was utterly vital in all those Spider-Man video games that have come out since 2011. He was sure as heck the lead of every Spider-Man movie appearance since 2011. He was totally the main character in that crappy Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon.

 He’s just so DOMINATING you guys!

 “As well as doing the usual superheroics to a tee, Miles has opened the character up to a wider, more diverse audience in the process.”

 Opened up what character to a wider more diverse audience? Spider-Man?

 Surely most people on Earth knew Spider-Man long before 2011.

 And doing superheroics to a tee?

 I don’t think having spider sense, invisibility powers and a venom blast that if used in combination means every fight should last 2 minutes is doing superheroics to a tee.

 Nor is just being handed your superhero costume or being fairly quickly accepted into prominent paramilitary/superhero organizations despite little experience.

 “But why stop there? Here are 15 ways Miles Morales is a better Spidey than Peter Parker.”

 Here are 15 ways CBR will make bullshit points for the sake of clickbait!