#the franchise has all of these cool characters but we know next to nothing about most of them

[sweetandglovelyart]

Kirby Things I Plan to Draw at Some Point

Making a list of things I want to draw and plan to draw at some point once I have more time just so I can keep track of all of it and get people’s thoughts on it/see if anyone is interested in it. Here are all of the ideas I have under the cut.

- Susie redemption arc comic

I definitely want to draw this after I finish up Knightfall in Dream Land and I’ve started doing sketches to plan it out. The goal of this comic will be to redeem Susie and also set up a friendship/eventual romance between her and Taranza since I ship them. After the events of Planet Robobot, Bandana Dee discovers that Susie is still on Popstar and informs Dedede, who sends Kirby to stop her from causing harm to the planet again. But after finding Susie and seeing that she no longer has the resources to mechanize anything or anyone Kirby befriends her and tries to introduce her to his other friends.

They’re understandably wary of her given what she’s done to their world and what she’s done to Meta Knight, so Kirby gets the not so bright idea to try and get Susie to apologize to Meta Knight and promise not to mechanize anyone else so that his other friends will feel more relaxed around her. This goes about as well as you’d expect, Meta Knight and his crew are all still angry at her (and Susie doesn’t think that she did anything wrong at this point and doesn’t see a need to apologize) so Kirby comes up with another idea. He thinks that if Susie experiences something similar to what she put Meta Knight through then she’ll know what it feels like and will understand why he’s upset. This is where Taranza comes in.

They all go to Floralia and Kirby asks Taranza to use his puppeteering magic to possess Susie, Taranza and Susie both agree to this but Susie doesn’t find the experience of being puppeted to be all that distressing. Meta Knight is tired of her being on Popstar at this point and Susie wants to return to her home planet, so Meta decides that he and his crew will personally take her back to her home world on the Halberd to get her off of the planet as quickly as possible so she won’t harm anybody else. Dedede, Bandee, Kirby, and Taranza come along (as extra muscle in case Susie tries anything on the ship) and they set off for Susie’s home planet.

- Daroach backstory comic

An associate of one of Daroach’s old flames shows up asking Daroach for a favor. Daroach’s ex is the leader of a rival gang, and Daroach hasn’t seen her since she abruptly broke up with him many years ago when they were both young adults. I know some people like to give Kirby characters specific numerical ages, but my headcanon is that Kirby characters don’t age like humans do/different species age differently/real life years between the games releasing doesn’t necessarily equate to years passing for the characters (just look at Adeleine, she’s still a child in Star Allies even though that game was released almost two decades after Crystal Shards lmao) so I don’t like to assign characters specific numerical ages, but I do headcanon them to be in specific age ranges (like child, teen, young adult, older adult, etc.). At the time he and his ex split up Daroach and his ex are both really young adults, probably the equivalent to an 18 or 19 year old, and Daroach in the present during the events of the games is quite a bit older, probably the equivalent of being in his mid 30s. Anyways, the associate wants to bring Daroach to his ex so that he and his ex can discuss some very important matters/talk about some things that were left unresolved when they broke up.

- Short comic explaining what Taranza and Dedede were doing before they went to help Kirby defeat Sectonia

This would be a fairly short comic explaining how Taranza ended up teaming up with Dedede to help Kirby at the end of Triple Deluxe. I wanted to give my take on what he was up to after Sectonia blasted him away and how he decided to switch sides and help Kirby in the end. It’ll also explain how he becomes the king of Floralia since in my AU of things he becomes the king after Sectonia’s death and the People of the Sky serve as royal advisors/an advisory council to assist him.

- Comic explaining how Dedede and Meta Knight ended up as a couple

I ship Dedede and Meta Knight and they’re married in my AU, but this would be a comic explaining how they went from being good friends to growing apart for a while to reconciling and dating. The start of this comic will be set right after the Revenge of Meta Knight subgame from Kirby Super Star/Ultra. Dedede is furious at Meta Knight and plans to banish him and his crew from Dream Land until Kirby intervenes and demands that Dedede should let them stay, since Kirby knows that Meta Knight isn’t a bad guy even though he did a bad thing and Dedede owes Kirby a favor after all of the times Kirby has saved him in the past. Dedede agrees not to banish the knights but his friendship with Meta Knight appears to be over. The two of them end up becoming distant with each other, and during this period of time they only see each other when they’re both spending time with Kirby and end up going off on their own solo adventures (explaining why Meta Knight isn’t in Dream Land 3 or Kirby 64 and why Dedede isn’t in Amazing Mirror) until the events of Squeak Squad. After Kirby beats up Dedede and Daroach steals the chest containing Dark Nebula, Dedede finally decides to call up Meta Knight so they can figure out what to do about it (I’m going with the headcanon that the two of them fought and sealed away Dark Nebula before meeting Kirby so that’s why Dedede has the chest that contains Dark Nebula and why Meta Knight knows about it). They have a heart to heart talk with each other, clarify some misunderstandings, and reconcile and admit their feelings for one another.

- Short comic about Taranza and Susie helping each other to grieve their lost loved ones

This will be a short comic centered around Taranza, Susie, and an OC of mine who is Taranza’s mother. This will be set after Susie is redeemed. Susie and Taranza have become close friends after her redemption, and she goes to visit him in Floralia regularly. One day when she visits Taranza and his mom are about to go visit Taranza’s father’s grave since it’s the anniversary of his passing (in my AU Taranza also has a dead dad like Susie but his dad died when he was a kid so he’s had more time to process it/grieve even though it’s still painful). Susie offers to go with them to support Taranza even though it’s hard for her since she’s still struggling with the loss of her father, so the three of them visit the grave and leave some flowers. Taranza is grateful that she went with them and gets the idea to help Susie set up a little memorial for her father so she has a place to visit/leave flowers for him since he doesn’t have a grave/there’s nothing left of him. I thought it would be sweet to depict the two of them helping each other through the grief of losing a loved one. Taranza is still grieving over Sectonia too and Susie also helps him work through that but I thought I’d also give him a dead dad so the two of them could relate to each other over losing a parent (and also to create a parallel between Taranza and my OC who’s his mom by having them both lose someone they were in love with in a very tragic way).

- Comic explaining how Taranza and Susie start dating

This will be set soon after Star Allies, so the mage sisters and Hyness have been redeemed and join the cast. Susie and Taranza’s friendship has grown even stronger, and all of their other friends get the impression that their feelings for each other go beyond friendship… Dedede and Meta Knight decide to intervene and act as the “dad friends” that give their younger friends a little nudge to confess their feelings to each other. In my AU Dedede and Taranza become good friends after Triple Deluxe and Meta and Susie become good friends after Susie is redeemed and apologizes for what she did to him, so I thought it’d be nice to have Dedede and Meta give Taranza and Susie some guidance.

- Comic explaining how Dedede and Meta Knight got engaged/showing their wedding

I’ve established that they’re a couple in my AU but I haven’t actually explained how they proposed to each other or what their wedding was like, so this comic would show that. I could see both of them proposing to each other instead of only one of them proposing lmao… and instead of wearing engagement rings or wedding rings I think I’d have both of them wear bracelets instead. They’d wear their engagement bracelets on one wrist and their wedding bracelets on the other, my explanation for why we don’t see their bracelets in the games is because they’re hidden under their gloves/mittens most of the time lmao…

Is all of this stuff that you guys would be interested in seeing? I would really like to draw all of this at some point but if I get around to it it’s likely not going to be for a while since I’m pretty busy with school/work things. But I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts on the ideas I have and any suggestions for other stuff to draw! My ask box and my DMs are always open, I love hearing from everybody!

[bookishdaze]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Review. More like Rambling and Word Vomiting.

I saw it last night. Finally. After so long!

I personally thought it was good, and a solid addition to the POTA franchise. I don't think it's better than Dawn or War, but I'm willing to bet that by the time the full trilogy is out, Kingdom is gonna be looked back upon as a good beginning to Noa and Mae's story, the same way Rise, despite being most people's least favorite of the Caesar trilogy, is still an amazing intro to Caesar's story.

Some nitpicks. Despite the movie being 2.5 hours long, I felt like the final act came too fast? Like, I understand what people meant with the pacing issue. Suddenly we were in the 3rd act and I was like "Wait, we're here? It's done?"

Now, onto the characters! Let the fangirling commence!

Noa

I loved seeing how his journey and character started and where he ends by the end of the movie.

Him going from "That is the law" to "That is the law. But the law is wrong" was so satisfying.

And him being able to call the eagles to him by the end was great to see. By the way, THE SINGING SCENE WITH THE EAGLES???? LIKE???? It could've been so corny but I LOVED IT???

I'm so glad this movie answered the question of whether apes can sing. Yeah, I know they are only humming, but I'LL TAKE IT. APES CAN SING. YESSSS!

He was just a really nice character to follow. I can't wait to see how he'll be like in the next movie after the events of this one transformed him.

I also think he is the kind of protagonist we need after Caesar. I love Caesar, but Noa is....hmm, I guess you could say softer? More naive? I'm sure he'll get tougher as the movies progress like Caesar did, but I like this change.

Mae

I am a Mae defender. Yes, she did betray Noa in the end. I expected her to tbh. And I understand why she did it. She was right in that Proximus getting his hands on those weapons would've been disastrous.

She has probably been taught all her life nothing but bad things about the apes. She was not going to switch sides just because she met Noa. We still got two whole movies after this. She probably won't have her "redemption" until the 3rd movie. I can honestly go on rambling about her, but I'd rather save that for another separate post.

Raka

I really like him. He's great and funny. I love seeing how he talks about humans and his hopes for humans and apes.

Right before he dies, he reminds Noa "Together, strong." His final words and his necklace as a gift to Noa serve as a reminder. A reminder of a hopeful future where apes and humans can coexist. (And then Noa passing along that same necklace to Mae? Bringing a reminder of that hope for peace into her world? Ugh. So good.)

Also, "He was my village." LIKE. DID HE LOSE HIS PARTNER? MY HEART.

Proximus

I thought he was cool. He gave my mother and I a jump scare at the dinner scene where he slams his fist. Also, the way he was just in awe of the gun after Lightning dies. He has his priorities.

Soona and Anaya

Those two were so cute, and I loved their friendship with Noa.

Anaya broke my heart. In the beginning at the tunnel scene, he's all like "Anaya is not scared." But at Proximus's kingdom, he looks terrified at the dinner scene, and before he goes on the mission to climb the wall, he goes "Anaya is scared" and didn't want to go. Poor guy. He pulled through in the end though.

Although *puts on tinfoil hat* this makes me wonder if this foreshadows how his fear will lead him to make a big mistake in the future movies. Similar to what happened with Winter.

Soona was so sweet. Although I'm disappointed we didn't get more of her with Noa. I saw an interview where Soona's actress described a moment where after they are reunited, they kind of make known their feelings for each other or something like that. But...it didn't happen?

Mae and Noa

Alrighty, I'm gonna briefly put on my shipping goggles on, bear with me, because one has to be a teensy bit delusional for this type of stuff, BUT....

I sensed a....vibe? Not a romantic vibe. They are nowhere close to that yet. But I felt like there were tropes and scenes between them that simply imply a romantic path is a possible direction for their relationship. I will make a separate post about them. I wanna wrap this up, lol.

The ending

I liked the ending. It has me so excited for the future of this trilogy. Now that the humans are able to communicate with others, what will this mean? How will Mae be torn between her people and the apes? Same with Noa? I need to know naooooo

8.5/10 stars (I ain't done rambling about this movie yet. But it's my birthday, and I gotta go out and have some dinner, hehe).

[frootertooter]

Really really long ass rant/ slight analysis? (I dunno what to call this) about Arkhamverse Scarecrow's progression, design, and Rocksteady's environmental storytelling:

I seriously love the world building/design/environmental storytelling around him so damn much- Especially with Arkham Shadows coming out (they better put some cool ass Scarecrow sequences in it since it's in VR), you get to see how he started out as just a guy in a stitched up gas mask. Professor Jonathan Crane in the fullest

Nothing over the top yet (might change, Shadows isn't out yet), until then we hit Arkham Asylum- This game shows us 2 Scarecrow costumes. The one presumably before his incarceration, and the one he wears while inside the asylum.

Inside the asylum, his costume is made of stitched up chunks of inmate uniforms, he's resourceful, he has a higher pitched, cackly voice at the time. He knows his way around the asylum and creates a makeshift secret lair within it. He also knows the doctors within, and uses his experience as a psychologist to trick them during the patient interviews. He even tricks the players when you first listen to the tapes, making you assume the person speaking is the interviewer, and not Scarecrow manipulating/ using the interview tapes as a means to experiment on the doctors. He's even hinted at to have possibly worked at, or with the asylum at some point before he became Scarecrow? (goon dialogue in Arkham Knight)

Favourite quote from the tapes: "I believe he is quite sane. Just evil"

His next change, like his Asylum design, was a result of him being forced to adapt. He gets mauled by Killer Croc in the sewers, barely surviving with his face ripped apart, leg broken, and presumably his throat torn.

Although not present in the second game, the environment of Arkham City shows that Scarecrow is planning on a comeback. There's his mask hidden away, a few goons of his scattered about, and cannisters of fear toxin that you can find in Riddler's rooms and Hush's lair. He's building up connections again, getting ready for the next game.

^^ Using his masterline figure bc it's the only brightened detailed full body image I could find of him (even his in game character trophy has the brightness turned all the way down sobs)

His Arkham Knight design reveals just how much damage Croc did to his body, and how much he's had to adapt. His left leg now has to wear a brace, giving himself a notable squeaking and clacking noise whenever he walks. His right eye is now glassy since he was blinded by the attack, and much of his nose had now been ripped off. So much of his mouth was ripped apart that he can't even close it anymore. Because of his adaptability however, he uses it all to his advantage. As hinted by conversations in game, Crane likely purposefully had his facial reconstruction surgery make himself look like his Asylum costume's mask-

The gas canisters attached to his face and the tubes attached to his throat is likely is what changed his voice into a low gravely tone. His skin now looks like ripped/stitched together cloth, with string tying his lower jaw to the top (don't ask me how he talks with no lips)- He now walks, talks, and acts menacingly, a far cry from his more cartoonish acts in the Asylum.

Yet despite that, he still draws back to his knowledge and familiarity from his Asylum days in Knight. Using his psychologist background, he appeals and teams with every supervillain he can in Gotham, just as the Joker had done back then. He builds his base at the Asylum, bringing Batman over in restraints and ending the game franchise where it had all started.

God I just- he's so cool, I love the world building in the Arkham games, I love the map designs, the character changes, etc. Rocksteady did such a good job at environmental storytelling

Even the foreshadowing bit with Scarecrow's speech on the blimp in Arkham Knight blew me away ksdkfd- "What can you see? A city engulfed in fear? Betrayed by those you trust the most? Your darkest secrets revealed?" He did all that, he tore Batman's legend apart, but even then it didn't break the bat :')

Ofc I still have my issues with Arkham Knight's story (WHY WAS THERE NO SCARECROW BOSS FIGHT...) but overall the series' progression based, environmental storytelling imo is phenomenal

[colorfuldream]

Okay so I've seen it a few times now and there are people who genuinely believe the Squid Sisters have the least content out of every group. I mean, I get forgetting Deep Cuts but the Squid Sisters do have as much as Off The Hook. Sure, OTH is starting to look like favorites now but the SS aren't left behind. Here's an itemized list:

They're in every main story mode. They have three whole games about them. The concept of story mode revolves around them. Just because they aren't proactive in them doesn't make it not count. Their quips and banter are what made us care and learn about them. It did flesh them out. They don't have to actively help to be main characters and receive development. The only game you could argue that is Splatoon 3 but it has a writing problem in general. It did close their story, subtle but interesting and well-written (for what Splatoon is), across the three games.

A short story. They're the only ones who have that. That has insane development, providing a lot of details about them. Like, that's a MAJOR thing that's lore-dumping so many things.

They're in almost every concert. They're in all but two concerts. They're canon too. This gives them a lot of presence in the franchise.

Lots of illustrations. Makes sense. Of course they are with how long they've been around. Still an important sign that they're a major part of the franchise (obviously, the main story is about them). It's always nice to see them in different situations anyways. They also get some lore out of them, fleshes them out and whatever. Which brings me to my next point.

Different outfits. It's not only giving us a sense of how they dress, but it's telling a story. Said it before but, for example, we know Marie likes dressing up for Story Mode and be a mentor of some sort. If you pull that string, you can get that she's someone who puts on a façade depending on the occasion and likes teaching/guiding people, her idea of mature and cool is a traditional outfit from her hometown.

Special Fest variants. Yes, they all do. However, the thing that differentiates them is that this is outside their game and, even though they were mostly reskins, they did get fully new outfits and hairstyles which neither other groups did.

Technically, they got a DLC. Even if it's the old hub and basically promo for Side Order.

They're in Smash Bros. That's not nothing. They're not spirits, they're full-on assist trophies. They better be in it honestly, but it's still something they have over the other two groups. It solidifies their status in the franchise.

Many songs, including remixes. Obviously, but they're also on the Splatfest list which never happened before outside of special events. They started it in Splatoon 2's Final Fest and started it in Splatoon 3's regular Fests. They're trend setters! Which leads me to...

Boss Fight. Final Boss, even. Callie started it. Literally. She fought us. The fact that she was The Final Boss™ puts her above the others. They wish they were her.

Solos. They did it first. They've also got not one but two mash-ups of their solos so it gotta count. I would argue that theirs are special too as they're meant to be solo pieces while the Anarchy Poisons are always put together be it on the soundtrack or the concerts. They were made to, and it's lovely, as Deep Cut's continuing the trend OTH's set: a united group that values each other and their work over fame. Their music is made to be together. Anarchy Rainbow and its Poisons is just that, something that's all of them, always. They were also fused in every live version, and the in-game live version, unlike Tide Goes Out and Bomb Rush Blush. These were forcefully mashed up as each sang over the other, desperately trying to drown out their will and win this fight. It's only now, years later, that they get an unexpected mash-up, joyful and harmonious —which in a way is a part of their story, them reclaiming this song as they bring their solos together. The Squid Sisters are working for themselves, they now do whatever they want with their careers and what they sing, how they sing, when they sing is up to them and only them.

They're the end credits of every game. Special mention to Splatoon 3 that just sacrifices its own idol group for them. Unlike Splatoon 2, Deep Cut was involved in Story Mode and for all the 10 minutes they spent in it, the end credits should have been theirs as they sure as hell didn't get a DLC. Their equivalent was a last minute addition at that, unceremoniously added later on without much spotlight. Jeez, they could have had a second collab song instead or something!

They've got the final battle song for every game. Makes sense because it's their story and their games, it's the culmination of their work every single time. Unlike the credits, they at least shared the spotlight with Deep Cut... Hey, if Marie's their boss, doesn't that make her a part of their group or vice-versa? She better be, she's the one handling their paperwork after all (poor woman, it's a mess too and they're not spending wisely. Shouldn't have been talking about becoming a manager, Marie, you're getting roped up in too much silliness and Callie won't help).

Participation in 2 Final Fests. By that, I mean actually having a team and representing it. Otherwise, they're involved in every Final Fest.

Merch. I mean why wouldn't they have some?? But it had to be added. Special note for the concert CD and special edition. I guess I'd put there the interview bit Marie conducted in Splatoon 3's soundtrack bonuses. That's another bit of trivia/insight on her work. The Nintendo Magazine interviews also count as they're relevant to their characters.

Their song is a major part of their world and franchise. Calamari Inkantation has a special place in the lore and the franchise. It's THE song but also THEIR song.

4 amiibos. They might not give their outfits (which I kinda like because I'm not fond of how they did it for the others) but they give out gear related to their story, the game, and that we should have gotten. At least they're fixing that flaw I guess.

Storyline during the Splatfests. Not sure if it should be added but it did culminate into long lasting conflict between the two of them and started their storyline. Since it's missing in Splatoon 3, I think it should be noted. It fleshes them out and makes them feel a bit more alive, like they're affected by the results.

Most of these could apply to Off The Hook too. My point is that the Squid Sisters haven't been neglected, not from Nintendo's point of view. They're more than included, arguably the stars of Splatoon 1 and 3. The thing is that Off The Hook is the fan favorite right now so most of our attention is on them, not the others. The Squid Sisters have also been so ingrained in the franchise that we're used to it. We readily accepted they would be the stars of Splatoon 3 because they took over most of Splatoon 2 until Octo Expansion. We assumed the other two groups would get DLCs, or that Deep Cut would be involved in OTH's like in the Main Story, only to realize that Nintendo didn't give a damn and gave the spotlight to OTH alone in an attempt to replicate what Splatoon 2 did. Obviously, once we got over Side Order, we kinda realized this was unfair and that there was favoritism. It didn't help that OTH was featured in regular battles and that Splatoon 2 and 3 handled Splatfests differently, with special events and work done to the idols. We've come a long way since the first game, which itself had changed plenty during its time, so it feels unfair that the Squid Sisters didn't benefit from what the others got or for as long. That doesn't mean they didn't get a lot and weren't the favorites for a long time.

Now, I'm gonna address the thing that made me write this in the first place:

They do have a story and development. Just because it wasn't in your face doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Up until Splatoon 3, the story wasn't as obvious as it could be when it came to the idols. Marina's background is clear-cut, because you cannot be too subtle about it, but apart from some big lines, it wasn't directly stated, nor was her development in Octo Expansion (it's heavily linked to Agent 8 and the Octavian but the fact that she comes to be comfortable in what species she is and overcomes her fear of being found out and rejected should count as a story). She's fascinating and it's important to the world.

But that doesn't leave the Squid Sisters flat and boring. They had an arc! Them slowly resenting each other because of their time as Splatcast anchors, because they were always pit against each other, because of the way being an idol works, is a story in itself. It was bad enough to get Callie to free Octavio, who's a terrible, dangerous person as far as she knew then, and go to the Octarians, poor, underground enemies. The Hypno-Shades are more like heavily suggesting you to obey, we know that Callie had some sort of free will to put glitter, of all things, into their ink. She also was fully conscious of her actions when freeing Octavio, and we know this guy isn't a mastermind and world class manipulator. Marie wasn't doing much better, working a lot and being stressed. Fame drove them apart and broke Callie down to the point of going to people who wanted hers dead. She freed a war criminal. Once Marie saved her, mostly from her own despair, they decided to do their own thing. They didn't need fame or their careers. Family was more important. Tidal Rush was their solos crashing against each other, not listening and trying to sing over the opponent, until Marie blasted on a song that meant the world to them. The hymn of sea kind. The song that they won that fateful contest with when they were young, the reason why their dream came true. The song that they sang when safinf their dear grandpa, powerful enough to make Octolings give up everything and try to join the surface. A beautiful memory. Something that was theirs. And so they sang. Together. "I remember everything!" The innocent days they practiced for the contest, the terrifying ride to Inkopolis, the nervousness of their first Splatcast. But they were together. She wasn't alone. Marie had always been on her side. Neither of them wanted this. If it had been up to them, nobody would have compared them to each other. They wouldn't have been choices for their last Splatfest. It's a certain kind of cruel to ask which of the two teenage girls was the better one. Callie wasn't angry at Marie, she was angry at the system. She felt awkward, self-conscious, worthless because of her status as a celebrity, because she as a person didn't matter. Her comfort? Who cares. Take the photos, sing the songs, be careful to be perfect. She was overworked, isolated, and the only person she could count on was put in the same position and told she was a competitor.

Fresh Start is the two of them reconnecting away from show business. Going back to their roots. They stop being idols afterwards, they don't sing much anymore. They get their own careers. Callie slowly finds the strength to be in the spotlight after so long and goes back to acting, unlike Marie this seems to be more of her thing. Marie keeps on with her podcast, now using it to hype Callie up. Splatoon 3 even shows us that Callie is some sort of spokesperson, announcing that an Inkopolis stage will undergo reconstruction. She's rebuilding her career on her own and making it her own. The Squid Sisters, while some of the most people in the world, weren't recognized in the Splatlands. Sure, Shiver and Frye probably didn't give a damn about Inkopolis musicians but Big Man is a fan, he's even showed them their music, and he still didn't recognize them. They're known for their music, their names possibly for themselves. Splatoon 3 is the only game not to give them a story, even its details don't imply much. But the previous two games did.

It's a story of two girls who got famous too soon, too suddenly, and got eaten by showbusiness. It's two young women taking their power back and breaking free from the idol life. It's a family that managed to heal from the damage fame caused over the years.

I dunno but I think it's beautiful and I'm a sucker for stories that criticize being an idol and family coming together. The Squid Sisters' entire thing was being idols, that's their entire concept, especially identical ones which is dehumanizing enough. It's fitting and not something you'd expect out of Splatoon of all places but it's the kind of franchise that gets surprisingly deep and dark in its smallest details.

No, they're not neglected or underdeveloped. Their story is there, just not as flashy as you'd expect. Their presence is something we're so used to that we don't clock it anymore, moreso when the other group gets attention too. Splatoon 3 didn't handle the writing well, as fun and silly as it gets, and it shows in a lot of ways. It's easy to go "so what was the point of the Squid Sisters being there?" when the story didn't bother doing anything with them for once but they weren't the only one neglected nor did they not get content in other ways!

[emeraldhazeart]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you so much for the tag @hikamaus 💚 This looks really fun.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

At this moment, I have 32 works on Ao3 (most of them oneshots)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

At the time of posting this, it's 146,576, but I'm very close to posting the next chapter of Solace

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Undertale right now, but I also occasionally write for Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons and Sonic the Hedgehog

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Leaving a Mark

2. Robin's Nest

3. Solace

4. In Your Corner

5. Riding Therapy

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I love responding to comments! Even if it's just an emoji, I try to say thank you in reply, so they know I appreciate them taking the time to leave a comment.

I know there are some comments that I haven't gotten round to responding to, and those haunt me. Please know that it's either because I don't have the spoons at this moment, or because it's been so long that I'm shy about replying. But I genuinely do appreciate each and every comment I receive. 💚

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably No Man's Land (which also happened to be my first Undertale fic)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I've got to say Photograph for that one. It still brings tears to my eyes rereading it, but they're happy tears.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No one has said anything directly to me, but I did stumble upon a comment someone left elsewhere saying that one of my fics wasn't their thing because they "[didn't] like how the story is being told".

That really hurt at the time, especially as there was no other context as to why they felt that way. But my friends gave me encouragement and support.

Please be aware that anything you say online can eventually find it's way to the author, so please be kind.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I don't, sorry.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really. I've written crossovers featuring characters from separate games in the same franchise before, but nothing that spans entirely different franchises

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I would be delighted if anyone enjoyed my work enough to want to translate it

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I would love to 💚

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Do Canon Character x Reader stories count? No?

Hmm... I can't think of any that would be my OTP. I generally prefer familial/platonic relationships, tbh

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

None of my WIPs are abandoned. But probably most of the original stories I've started and then never finished over the years. It's just much harder for me to maintain motivation when I don't have anyone reading my work and cheering me on.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've always loved painting a scene or an emotion with words.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Oof, so many 😅 one thing I struggle with is wanting to post what I've written straight away. Sometimes that can work, like freshly baked bread. But most of the time it's like a plain cake: it needs time to cool, and then be assembled/decorated/finished in order to get the best experience from it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'd only do it if I was totally confident that I'd gotten it right. A common or short phrase would be my limit otherwise. If I really wanted to write dialogue in another language, I'd ask someone fluent in the language to help me with the translation and proof read my work.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I think it was actually Legend of Zelda. I was about 12, and my brother, his friend and I made ourselves LoZ Ocarina of Time OCs. We started writing a fic of them, but never got very far.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Probably Photograph. I'm a sucker for a moving reunion scene, and that fic genuinely brought tears to my eyes as I was writing it.

No pressure tags (I'm going to try to avoid tagging anyone that @/hikamaus already tagged 😅) : @sneakyfox55 @hannah-heartstrings @lizzie-tempest @robanilla @thebeckster and anyone else that would like to have a go 💚

[gallyg]

The Killer Inside: Amanda Young in Saw X

Amanda is a weird character. Her first act as a disciple of Jigsaw is to assist with the bathroom game of Saw I by kidnapping Adam Stanheight. The struggle to subdue Adam leaves Amanda a panicked mess, which she is visibly still calming down from when she delivers Adam to the bathroom. When the game is over, Amanda can't stand the thought of Adam slowly starving to death, alone in the dark. She violates John's command. She breaks the rules. She kills Adam. John sees all of this and says nothing.

The next time we see Amanda in the chronology of the classic films, she appears to be a fully-fledged Jigsaw killer. If you think about Saw II's plot twist and take it seriously, everyone in the nerve gas house was a bit player in the real game, Eric Matthew's game. Amanda calls Eric "[her] first test subject," which means that John was actually assisting Amanda on this particular Jigsaw operation by talking to Eric for two hours. What a cool, supportive dad. And Amanda seems so much more confident in this one! Saw II was one of the more elaborate schemes pulled against law enforcement in the franchise, and Amanda was the mastermind at the core of it.

For contrast, though, consider how legitimately scared and traumatized Amanda is by Xavier's rampage and Laura's death in the nerve gas house. Was that all an act? I don't know. Recall that five minutes after being locked in the bathroom, Eric Matthews beats the shit out of Amanda and calls her "nothing, bitch," sending her into a PTSD doom spiral that ends in her attempting her second off-book murder. Was that an act? I don't think so. Amanda in the Saw II era puts on a great show of being the next Jigsaw, but it is an illusion.

Saw X explores the path from Amanda's Saw I-era anxiety to her Saw II-era mask. The intermediary step proposed is an interesting one; what if Amanda simply expressed her misgivings to John, attempting to reason with him? "Perhaps," Amanda seems to think, probably subconsciously, "if I had simply asked John if I could free Adam, he would have let me. Nobody had to die." And so Amanda pleads to John that Gabriela isn't so bad that she needs to play a game, that her soul is not so thoroughly corrupted that this is the only option left. John does not hear these pleas.

This is extremely interesting to me for a few reasons. For one, it suggests a capacity for emotional intelligence Amanda has not previously demonstrated. The Saw movies don't explore Amanda's life before being arrested and framed by Eric Matthews, but DVD commentary for Saw III suggests that that film was made with unspoken assumption that Amanda holds a deep-seated anger within her, originating from her experiences growing up with an abusive father. This creates a picture in the mind of Amanda being someone who never had a chance at a normal life at all. But in Saw X, we see Amanda expressing her desires with expectation that they might be considered fairly. She learned that confidence, however small, from somewhere, however distant. Her life could have been different.

How tragic, then, for Amanda's concerns to be fully dismissed. She was an abused child, wrongfully convicted as a young adult, became a heroin addict in prison, and was then tortured by John Kramer. There's no way Amanda has a surplus of people in her life that she would feel comfortable opening up to, especially considering the few pre-Jigsaw relationships of hers we know of.

Beyond just rebuffing the plea to free Gabriela, John then goes on to belittle Amanda, asking her how she will ever handle anything if she can't handle this ("this" being, again, not torturing a young woman, possibly to death, for being a drug addict). Remember that Eric Matthews belittling Amanda is what drove her to attempted murder. This is a real pain point for her in the Saw II era, and we see the seed of that pain point here in Saw X. John Kramer is another abusive father figure.

The second reason I'm fascinated by this moment of Amanda requesting an alteration to John's plan is because of how this frames the arc of John and Amanda's relationship. First, in the Saw I era, Amanda's insecurities are unhidden yet undiscussed. Then, in the Saw X era, her insecurities are expressed but ignored. Finally, in the Saw II era, Amanda hides her insecurities behind a mask of confidence.

(Not to get ahead of myself, but this trajectory aligns well with Amanda in the Saw III era desperately clinging to this mask while her insecurities have only grown stronger. Compare how Amanda talks while expressing her doubts in Saw X vs Saw III. In Saw X, Amanda tells John that drug addictions are complicated in a timid tone that comes across as almost rehearsed. She's careful with her words. In Saw III, Amanda says "I can't do this" between sobs and later delivers the iconic "fix me, motherfucker" speech while literally trembling with rage. In Saw X, she is asking to be heard. In Saw III, she is no longer asking.)

The final reason I love Amanda in Saw X so much is that it gives a bit more depth to her philosophy as a Jigsaw killer. While Amanda would like to spare Gabriela, she thinks Cecilia should skip her test entirely and be put into an inescapable death trap. She doesn't phrase it quite so directly in the moment, but that is what she's telling John when she says that Ceclia "doesn't deserve anything."

Thinking about Amanda's list of victims and her reactions to their fates, this lines up perfectly. Amanda has no problem with Adam or his comparatively minor crimes, and it hurts her to see him suffer. Kerry is arguably an accomplice in Eric Matthews' crimes, and Amanda shows up to watch the angel of death trap go off in person. Amanda is stone-faced as she watches Obi burn to death, but sheds a tear for Laura as she succumbs to the nerve gas. With this framework, the ambiguity of whether these reactions were authentic is gone.

This all speaks to Amanda's motives being just as multifaceted as John's. The need for revenge, the need for release, and the need for approval were always there, but Amanda hasn't always felt all three as intensely. The emotions that led her to suffocate Adam were the same emotions that led her to shooting Lynn. Her cruelty is her mercy. Her love is her hate. In Saw III, she's the only one who's honest about it in the end. Saw X shows us the moment she learned to hide it.

As one final note, I also like that Amanda is a baby dyke in Saw X. I cried sapphic tears of joy when she pulled off that pig mask, and I never got tired of watching her stomp around in her combat boots. But I like the character development a little bit more, sorry.

[rotisseries]

🔥 okay tell me abt sidlink

ok it sucks so bad. first of all I'm sorry to sidon he's very sweet and cool and I am about to just rip him to shreds.

anyway he is the no.1 most boring character in botw I'm sorry. of the ones with any effect on the plot. like there is one other notable male character people will ship link with (revali🫶🫶🫶) and he is far more interesting. that is better. anyway so sidon is VERYYY boring, but he's hot and sweet

so people want to fuck him so they just use link as their SELF INSERTTTTT AND THEY SHIP LINK WITH HIM AND ONLY TALK ABOUT THIS GUY TO THE EXCLUSION OF ANY OTHER CHARACTERS BUT ESPECIALLY ZELDA. and listen. this fish is gay. maybe even gay for link. this does not make the ship suck less. because link and him have next to nothing going on. where is the flavor. but mostly because again. it results in fans who COMPLETELY ignore zelda. not only in the franchise named after her btw but specifically in the games that are the most "about zelda" that a zelda game could POSSIBLY GET. I cannot stress enough how much botw zelda is the most fascinating character with an incredibly interesting arc and she does just get relegated to link's platonic wingwoman bestie. and that's if people are being kind. like ok for example link and zelda live together in totk. we're not gonna go over the details you've probably seen them before anyway from me but they do. but technically, there is just a *smidgen* of plausible deniability about this. technicallyyyyy it's theoretically barely possible if you're fucking blind, that link doesn't live in the house with zelda. the house in question was link's first. so after totk there were SOOO many fandom """jokes""" about how zelda just kicked link out of his house which grates on me for multiple reasons 1. because even if you don't ship them I think their close bond is really important and it manifests in things like the fact they live together. why can't they live together and just be friends why. do you even know what they went through together of course they live together. this is a dilution of the importance of platonic bonds. 2. after botw, people (reddit gamer dudebros in particular, I do not want to unjustly assign blame to sidlink shippers on this although I am sure some participated and/or were aware of this well enough to remember it when totk came around) would RIP into zelda about how mean and terrible she is, because she has the audacity to initially dislike link. they said she was SOOOO mean and awful to him. "zelda kicked link out of his own house" jokes just grate on me cause they remind me of this again. y'all want her to be a bitch soooo bad. 3. this pissed me off the MOST because this is the ONLY time and the ONLY way I would see people talk about zelda AT ALL. totk is even more zelda centric than botw. we are wasting our fucking time talking about that stupid ass fish when zelda has CRAZY and INTERESTING shit going on. in conclusion. fujoshi disease dot jpeg. shipping sidlink is for losers who would rather die than talk about women for 5 minutes

[brianwashere]

OUHH I just found your blog while browsing the HLVRAI tag! Benrey's become a big comfort character for me recently and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind writing a romantic Benrey x GN/NB reader who has bad overstimulation issues? have a wonderful rest of your night/day :]

HADNBSSJFJSJKD AHHHHHH MY FIRST HLVRAI REQUEST OH MY GOD IM PUMPED

A/n: sorry these next few fics are gunna be short bcc I’m trying to get through my inbox!!

Also I used some personal HCs of Benrey—him being non binary and using he/they/xe/it and he’s autistic

**I do not own any characters or part of the franchise from HLVRAI or Half-Life**

Pairing: Benrey x overstimulated!gn!reader

Genre: hurt/comfort (???)

Summary: go to req

Tw: overstimulation

We All have Rough Days

The cotton on your shirt felt like sandpaper; too stiff and too rough to be comfortable. You swallowed and pulled at the collar.

Today just sucked a little more than usual. Nothing was particularly wrong but it’s vibes just weren’t right from the second you woke up next to your partner.

Benrey could tell something was wrong but xe didn’t know how to approach the situation so he ended up giving you some space, not wanting to crowd you. It wasn’t sure what you wanted them to do and he was worried about messing up and making it worse.

About midday he actually tried talking to you.

You were sitting at the small kitchen table with your head laying on the smooth wood top.

“You uhhhhh—you don’t look too swag there player 2.” They said as gently as they could manage.

You let out a pained noise in response and you hoped xe would understand. Words weren’t exactly coming to you right now.

“Would you uh—would you mind me smoochin you?” Benrey asked, looking uncertain.

You lifted your head up from the cool surface of the table. He noticed your droopy eyes. It looked like being cognizant was a chore. You wanted to say yes, desperately so, but the idea of the texture of their lips on yours made you cringe.

You shook your head sadly. You really wished you could kiss him. Benrey seemed to understand though and relaxed his uncertain posture.

“Yeah that’s alright, player 2.” He smiled comfortingly, flashing his pointy yellow teeth.

You sighed and flopped your head back onto the table.

“I love you, Benrey…” You mumbled.

Benrey nodded in affirmation before realizing you couldn’t see xem.

“I love you too.” They said back.

You smiled contentedly, you were lucky to have such an understanding partner.

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Trolls World Tour

So I'm learning more and more that the Trolls franchise is not what I was led to believe for such a long time now. Because I really did actually like the first one a good bit. So how does its sequel hold up? Well...

We once again follow Poppy and Branch, this time on a quest to stop Barb, the Queen of the Rock Trolls, from stealing the six strings that create all music types in the world of the Trolls (Rock, Pop, Funk, Classical, Techno, and Country). Barb's plan is to unite all Trolls under Rock exclusively, so its up to Poppy (who is struggling to learn what it means to be a good queen) and Branch (who's struggling to confess his feelings for Poppy) to save the day.

Yeah, pretty simple, very "questy" premise here, kinda feels like the structure of a video game in a weird way? Like our crew rolls into the various territories of the other Troll tribes and we get to see a little taste of who they are and how they live but none of it is really that in-depth, which is... fine, I guess, whatever. There are certainly some... interesting themes they're trying to get across here, like historical rivisionism and even overcoming racism??? I think?? But of course, because this is a kids movie, its all very simplified into "we're all different and that's ok!" because well, they're not gonna make it that complicated for the little kiddo brains this is clearly targeted for.

As a result, we get a much simpler movie than even the last one, which was already pretty simple. The characters from last time around are all pretty much the same as before, Poppy is still upbeat and eternally positive (though her arc here is pretty satisfying of her learning to listen to others and that she doesn't know best all the time), Branch is still The Best Character in this goddamn franchise, the side characters are all just... there. And as for our new characters, none of them really stood out that much except for Barb. She's a pretty fun villain! Very punk rocker, very sassy and sharp, and she even gets a few good moments to give her depth by the end and make you ok with her eventual redemption. She's cool.

The music is a little more varried this time around too, because well, it has to be given this movie's premise. So we get some tastes of country and funk and rock alongside the usual pop, which is still the most prominent genre for sure. There are even hints of classical, raggae, even goddamn k-pop because lord. Though I will admit, when they started singing Gangnam Style I think I lost about three years off my life jesus christ.

The visuals are just as lovely as the last though, dedicating itself to an even more arst and crafts asthetic than the last. The homes of all of the other types of trolls are really fun and varied and fit nicely with the style of music they're trying to embrace. There's nothing too fantastic going on here with the animation, but its still very nice to look at all the same.

So yeah, Trolls World Tour is... fine. It's perfectly watchable, just like its predecessor was. I would dare to call it mid, which explains the score I give it below, I guess. It just... exists. And that's all I can really say about it.

Overall Rating: 5/10

Verdict: WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU TWO ALL MOVIE?!?!?!?!

Previous Review (Abominable)

Next Review (The Croods: A New Age)

[corellianhounds]

For the character ask game… 25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? (Din, Grogu, Boba and Fennec—all, some, or just one if you don’t want to do too many 😉)

I LOVE this question tysm 💕

My first impression of Din was colored by intrigue; I knew next to nothing about the show going into it, but I’ve always loved silent stoic masked characters, and then they made him a cool, capable lone gunslinger type?? Awesome, I’m already into it

And then as the first episode went on and we get the religious/cultural aspect of his code going into the covert, the deference he gives the Armorer and the mere GLIMPSES of his past in the flashback (all of this sequence of scenes scored by Ludwig Göransson’s incredible soundtrack), I was suddenly SUPER invested in this guy. They’ve already made him complex and interesting and I’ve loved every second so far, what’s next??

And then they introduce the kid at the end. And he’s possibly the cutest thing to come out of Star Wars. And you know just from looking at him what his species is meant to imply. And the second Din shot IG-11 I knew immediately what kind of story this was going to be and I was hooked

I was a fan of Star Wars before season 1 of The Mandalorian, but season 1 made me a Star Wars Fan™

I was also super intrigued by Fennec and was really impressed with Ming-Na Wen (no surprise there, she’s a great actress) and I was SHOCKED that they legitimately killed her off bUT THEN WE GET A POST-CREDITS SCENE!! I’M ALL IN BABEYYY! GIVE ME MORE OF HER!

As far as first impressions go of Boba Fett, I was passingly familiar with the character beyond surface level canon lore and I’d read half of one book where I really loved his character (The Mandalorian Armor by K. W. Jeter, Boba’s characterization there is solid and a lot of the basis for how I’ve always viewed and written him), but his reintroduction via “The Tragedy” was one of THE BEST character intros EVER. It’s one of the best fight scenes in terms of how it was shot and how he’s depicted; Fett is framed as and successfully shown to be a POWERHOUSE of strength, skill, intimidation, and sheer stage presence. It’s one of my favorite sequences to come from Star Wars, especially season 2 of Mando. I was so jazzed about it I was scream-texting my sister and I could just KEEP going on about it. Boba Fett in that episode is SOOOOO GOOD

Aaaaand… Then season 2 finishes and we get TBoBF.

I still love Mando and the kid as they were originally written, but I don’t love what they’ve done with the story and direction of this (and adjacent shows). Season 2 was messy and I wasn’t as big of a fan but I thought “okay maybe the story’s just going in a different direction and I should see what the creators have in mind” but by TBoBF I realized (with all four of those characters) OH, no, the showrunners didn’t have a cohesive game plan or long term story planned out with any meaningful thought, and by season 3 I realized I was pretty much done with whatever direction the original creators were taking the characters. I have better ideas and creators of something I used to like aren’t above criticism and they’re not immune to fans expecting better of them. You have control of one of the biggest franchises on earth and you can’t afford better writers? I don’t care about production quality or quantity of shows if the stories themselves are bad. Do better.

(Also not only are the stories not great, it sucks to see TBoBF, a show led by two veteran actors and people of color, be as badly written and received as it was. It, like many things, wasn’t the actors’ faults. It had a bad script and bad direction and now it seems like Boba’s character— one that has had a long and LASTING cultural presence— is being put on a shelf because the show wasn’t received well, but Disney/the Star Wars producers aren’t admitting to their role in its failure.)

These actors deserved better, the source material deserved better, and I’m disappointed by how quickly it went downhill and, in my opinion, isn’t salvageable based on how they’ve handled all of the original story hooks and character arcs. I have zero excitement for the movie and aside from Andor (which is not without its own flaws in other ways) I’ve haven’t enjoyed any of the other Star Wars shows in the last four years 🤷‍♂️

So I guess I’m short, love the initial characters, dislike the present depictions based on later material

Ask Game

[cecelianonymous22]

Okay i had to talk about this

So

Final fest just got announced a few hours ago

Squid sisters and oth look fire, more pearlina, new amiibos, the setting looks really cool and i like the visual of your inkfish being covered in ink splotches

However

The Splatfest theme has me concerned

Past vs present vs future

Now obviously present isn't going to win so its essentially just past vs future

Why is this concerning to me?

Im big into lore alright, i know almost every piece of lore (except about the bands), that kind of thing

I think no matter which side wins, I feel like its going to be really regressive going into the next game. For past, quite literally. it would probably be a load of retconning like Alterna was. But for future, i also feel like it would 1) mess with some sort of continuity or 2) just be really poorly executed

Which ties into another reason why im nervous about this last fest: the Splatoon devs most likely have in mind what side they want to win, and if that team doesn't win, we'll end up with a weird half-in half-out game like Splatoon 3

Let me explain

Chaos vs Order was HUGE

It was a big deal for a lot of different reasons, but everyone knew it would decide the fate of the next game.

I firmly believe that the Splatoon team wanted Order to win. Genuinely. Possibly they expected Order to win. So when Chaos won, they had to scrape together concepts and make the next game

Which leads Splatoon 3 to having (in my opinion) an uninspired main hub (whose chaos elements are rarely explored) and uninteresting idols (who i love but they feel so shallow to me compared to the other idols)

I think it's likely Alterna was meant to be the order-oriented story mode. Because if you remove the tutorial area, there's nothing "chaotic" about 3's campaign. The pristine, high-tech stages complete with an AI main character all scream Order.

Dont get me wrong, I think it's narratively fitting that Mr Grizz, the only one of three neutral parties in chaos vs order, is the antagonist of the most thematically ambiguous campaign.

But to have an entire order-esc campaign AND TO HAVE SIDE ORDER (which i could go on another probably controversial rant about) feels kind of redundant, and i to this day am upset that we didn't see more chaos elements beyond the hub, idols, and ig you could count the salmon run plotline? Idk man

Anyway, what im saying is im worried a potential Splatoon 4 would have the same sort theme confusion, where we wouldn't be able to just explore the aspect of the team that won and then maybe wait for DLC—we'd have a weird blend of the two that try telling their stories at the same time and end end up being ultimately underwhelming.

And lemme just say, this isnt hate, these are scattered thoughts ive been marinating on for a while because i love the Splatoon franchise. Its one of my special interests and ive been playing since the original. But theres so much i just straight up dont like about Splatoon 3 that im worried will continue in a sequel

I dont want to spark controversy, just constructive conversation. Be aware that it is 3 AM at the time of me writing all of this and its completely a train of thought type thing. I can get my thoughts together in the morning if anyone wants but yeah, im just worried

[momokodaisy]

Like yeah, I know John had a wife, but sex still played no role in his films, just pure love. So it was disappointing for the first episode of ‘The Continental’ to have three sex scenes — one happening off to the side in the most lifeless 1970s New Year’s Party I’ve ever seen (people looked more shuffling than dancing), then young Winston has one mostly kept offscreen, so I though ‘okay, that’s a little better’, but then they have two detectives outright naked, showing their backsides and doing the act onscreen for a solid minute, and I was like WHY. This is the ‘John Wick’ franchise. You’re appealing to the wrong people here, we really don’t need to see that. It literally had nothing to do with the plot. And my non-asexual friend hated it too, so I know it’s not just an ace thought in this case. The opening fight was pretty good though.

So I have not seen any part of the Continental TV show, nor will I ever watch it, so I can't give my 100% Verified Critic TM opinions, and thus I will be going off your testimony, Anon. And uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah. It sounds exactly as bad as I expected it to be.

First, just for context for others who maybe haven't seen the films - sex is not at all a thing in JW quadriology. There are no sex scenes, John has no love interests, I don't even think there's an instance where a character catcalls or makes a reference to getting laid. The most sexually charged scene, arguably, is a quick shot of Ares touching John's butt during a patdown. Even the scene where a woman removes all her clothes is written and shot intentionally un-sexually charged as possible and is instead far more sad and tragic. So yeah, throwing sex scenes and sexually-charged nudity into a """""John Wick"""" tv series is. fuckin stupid.

The real problem here, though, isn't that the creators are making unnecessary sex scenes, that's a symptom of a bigger issue. The issue is that the show is not at all interested in what made the John Wick movies work. The John Wick movies are pure action camp, they are over-the-top depictions of guys fighting each other in brutal and violent ways, just done artistically. Rule of Cool is law, and that makes for some of the most stunningly gorgeous visual cinema to date. The JW films can be summarized as "pretty man in suit do murder" and as long as it looks good, that's all that it needs to be. Sure, Kolstad and Stahelski added some crazy worldbuilding that gets more and more ridiculous as the movies go, but again, this is just an excuse for Keanu Reeves to get in a black suit and pretend to shoot a fuckton of stunt guys. None of this needs to make sense. The world John lives in does not need to be logical or realistic, it just needs to service the next action scene. Because, let's face it, this is a classic Greek tragedy unfolding before our eyes, John nor anyone else is gonna have a character arc, there aren't subplots that need to be tied up by the end. We're just here for the spectacle. And that's ok.

However, we live in a disgusting timeline where studios feel the need to a make cinematic universe out of everything, so instead of just fuckin…. giving Kolstad or Stahelski or literally anyone the money and resources to make more projects, they try to come up with shit from an IP. And all Lionsgate really has going for it right now is The Hunger Games and John Wick, so they want something with JW franchise names we know. Hence, a backstory about Winston and the Continental, which literally?? no one asked for?? ever????? If anyone actually cares about Winston's original rise to power, or what John did to hide Sofia's daughter, or what exactly happened in the three-men-in-a-bar-with-a-pencil story, we fanfic writers have already gotten to work on that, I don't need a panel of executives doing that for me. And a part of the appeal of the John Wick underworld is that it's there, it exists, it's just how the world works, and we do not question it. The moment we start asking questions about how it works proves that we've lost the point, which is YO BRO JOHN'S SWORDFIGHTING THE IRON CHEF GUY WITH KATANA IN A GLASS ROOM THIS IS SO SICK

So. yeah. doesn't surprise me at all the sex scenes felt out of place and don't work for a John Wick spin off. Nothing about this premise works as a John Wick spin off. Put shit in, get shit out.

[penforthewin]

I wonder if we'll get Noob Saibot in the next game. It'll be sad to see Bi-Han die but Noob Saibot is so cool. I'm also very curious about the fates of other characters like Stryker and Kabal (love kabal) in this timeline. I want to see Jade! And I can't wait to have Shujinko and Hanzo as playable. I'm just very impatient for the next game lol

I think Noob has been confirmed for MK1's dlc, so your wish may come true soon. Jade has been referred to as Countess Jade by an interaction between Kitana and Geras, so we know she's bebopping around somewhere (yay!)

I'm curious to see how characters like Stryker, Kabal, and other characters like Kano and the Black Dragons could be introduced. If Liu Kang's treatment of Shang Tsung (bro was just a loser lmao) and Quan Chi (bitterness justified imo), he probably tried to erase the Black Dragon organization and give Kano a more low-key life.

Kabal's arcade ending shows that he's happy to live his life with a wife, kids, and a dog. Yes, he's super rich and armed to the teeth at all times, but we expect nothing less from MK11 Kabal. (Found this meme while looking up his ending to confirm the existence of the dog, and it's too funny to not include. Thank you, TyrionGoldenLion on reddit)

We already have Stryker in a way, so we can expect him to have a role in the new era. With Kabal being his partner/homie, we'll hopefully see him, too. Kabal has also appeared in Mortal Kombat Onslaught, so NRS isn't ready to throw his character away just yet.

Kung Lao's ending focused on him training Shujinko, so much so it feels like it's just as much his ending as it is Kung Lao's. And he already has a character model, so he may show up in the dlc. Dunno if he'll be like Shang Tsung and just be cosplaying as a senior citizen or will have the same backstory as the og Shujinko, but we'll find out.

I think if we see lil Hanzo, he should be the new Sub-Zero.

NOW HEAR ME OUT! Bi-Han becomes Noob Saibot somehow, so now we got a Scorpy but no Subbo.

Now, what's a franchise to do? Kuai Liang already has the Scorpion mantel (which makes as much sense as making Bruce Wayne the new Superman and pretending it's not a big deal, but that's another conversation), but's there's no longer a cryo to the pyro.

Well, Hanzo pulls the good ol' UNO revserse card and becomes Sub-Zero in Bi-Han's absence. I think this is the safest option for NRS, and turning Hanzo back into Scorpion would probably require for the former Scorpion to either A, discard his power and become a cryomancer (which would make the change ultimately pointless and would wreck his gameplay) or B, kill Kuai Liang off. Fans seem conflicted over him being the new Scorpion, so killing him to "fix" this is a bad idea.

Besides, Kuai Liang and Hanzo Hasashi have great chemistry as enemies AND allies. Their conflicts are meaningful and intense, and they're unstoppable when they join forces. But as usual, I digress.

In Smoke's ending, Hanzo looked like a young teenager and was MUCH smaller than Smoke. I can't imagine middle schooler going up against the roster, mostly because of his stature. But that's purely from an animation standpoint. Ferr/Tor worked, so maybe they could find a way for a kid to realistically hold his own against some like Shao or Havik.

Tldr: I wish I could use this material and brain power for a college essay.

[thirddoctor]

There was so much going on that I’m not sure I can give an exhaustive review but here are some thoughts:

It was fun! It had a lot of energy and kept me invested the whole way through! Considering all the plot points it was juggling, I expected it to be way more of a mess, especially after what happened with Flux, so I was pleasantly surprised.

I thought Thirteen’s regeneration scene was sweet and very fitting for her character. In a version of the show where she’d had better writing throughout her run I’m sure it would’ve made me emotional.

Seeing Ace and Tegan was fun, plus the other companions at the end, especially Ian. William Russell has been long overdue for a return to the show, and I’m glad he finally got one, however small.

Also nice to see most of the surviving Doctors back. I went wild when Paul McGann showed up because I’d kinda only been expecting Peter, Colin, and Sylvester.

Jo Martin of course always kills it in the role and I wish we could’ve had her as a full time Doctor.

Not sure why Vinder was there but I like the character so I can’t object too much. I guess we can finally lay the “Vinder and Bel are the Doctor’s parents” theory to rest, thank goodness.

Also not sure why they brought Ashad back if they weren’t going to do anything interesting with him. He was a cool villain! Probably the best in the era! I wish they hadn’t killed him off so unceremoniously in S12. I don’t care about boring clone!Ashad who’s just acting as the Master’s henchman.

As for the Master himself, I’m not sure I can begin to articulate all my thoughts - some are positive, some are negative. His plan was very convoluted and I still don’t understand parts of it. Also I don’t think they say why he actually wants to steal the Doctor’s body (besides as a means of killing her and ruining her reputation). I can make some obvious assumptions (for example, he wants her potentially unlimited regenerations, he feels inferior to her because of the Timeless Child stuff and wants to be her, etc.) but I don’t think any of that is ever hinted at.

Seeing him in Jodie’s costume was fun though.

Maybe I’m simply a killjoy but I thought a lot of the references were cringe. idk I’ve just had my full of that kind of thing lately from all the major franchises so hearing the Master repeat the “I always dress for the occasion” line or make a Master’s Dalek Plan joke (that everyone including Big Finish had already made years ago) does nothing for me. Maybe I need more joy in my heart but I don’t care about the “blossomiest blossom.” It just feels like pandering.

Moving on to the companions, I’m sorry but Dan and Yaz’s exits were so funny. What... what was the point of Dan? He’s fun, I like him, but why was he here? He’s just some guy who’s just kind of there until he just kind of decides to go home. He never even got to be a plasterer. 😔

And Yaz leaves... because... the Doctor’s going to regenerate? That’s it? Like, after all this time, after showing how devoted she is to the Doctor, this is the reason she goes back home? Obviously Mandip Gill is leaving, but in universe it comes off as really weird. Companions have stuck around when the Doctor regenerates plenty of times. Clara and Rose do! Lots of Classic companions do! Is Yaz just that attached to Thirteen’s face?

Also they didn’t even reference Thasmin ahdjsdgh sorry guys

Literally how is anything about Yaz’s character resolved by this ending? Is she still a cop? What’s her relationship like with her family these days? Is she even still speaking to them regularly? Will she ever tell them the truth about her life? Does she finally feel confident in herself instead of having to rely on the Doctor? There’s just... nothing.

I wish my boy Ryan had shown up but Graham is always fun, it was good to see him.

Anyway I’m hyped for next year. I may not always see eye to eye with RTD, but the man definitely knows how to write. And Ncuti Gatwa looked great in the brief glimpse we got in the trailer!

8/10 overall. I think it was a decent sendoff for Thirteen!

[pigtailedgirl]

Let's here it for Captain America...except, hear what?

So back on the MCU shit, I'm still upset about the push of Captain Carter and have alot of jumbled thoughts on the why.

Rather than step into the debate on details on the validity of why Disney pushes her and my take; which faux feminism, still going strong against Stucky and being scared off, not caring bout Sam and scared of addressing him and racism, ignoring anything Sharon, and all that jazz...

What I find interesting and alot damning as well, is Captain Carter versus even herself, Agent Carter.

Agent Peggy Carter is actually the better and more realized character. Because in that one Peggy was treated as having definition on the whys and how she shaped into. From young age, from actions in CATFA, from her series being about her. It took the time to focus on her actions and emotions, moral and physical choices, and making a story for her.

Audience gets to judge those choices by the bad impacts, aka letting Hydra fester in, but at least there is ownership for a character, role, plot, and woman to form reaction to.

But in Captain Carter, the stories are not her own. Even changed to place her into the role, it's doesn't give her a unique role or character. It's doesn't do the work to put her there.

Because an Agent and woman who came up to be head of Shield, and the interactions and decisions of that is more interesting, are stories and is character driven, are actionable for hero or villainy than a botched re-work of Captain America.

She owns nothing as Captain Carter. Her stories in what-if a steal of OG. Her upcoming place as a woman in both really have no weight, so feminism out. Her Captain-ness? Why and how and who, with relation; not Britain, not America, not Shield related, not military...so what impact is it on her and others?

I keep coming back to what moral role does she represent? For her stories to have impact or point to the audience? And to make a character impact of to have character herself?

People liking her amounts to she looks cool it seems. And that is superheroes toddler takes. Playing with the cool new toys. Which I think is alot of current MCU as driven by intention. There is no intent to have character or moral driven works coming out of any of the franchise, but to sell you the audience the next cool thing.

Which is why Captain America, the very moral and historical part, has been silenced. Cause he was not that in moral. Steve's point ripped out cause it's not a fit. Sam's not given, Sam absent, because he is a character and Captain America that would have one. TFATWS so weird because it wasn't given weight or honesty on whole.

Insert Captain Carter...the perfect nothing. Who because she's now a strong female lead you shouldn't critic? Like what? That's the exact point, is she's only critic able because there is nothing to her! It's why people have to go what about Sam and see what was robbed off Stucky or original plots, see where Steve has been trampled on to insert him but take the why of him out...the character and role itself of Captain Carter is that hollow. For her, in comparison, and for a thinking audience. Us all if we looked.

Heroism, and the point of Captain America has stepped out. I'd like to know why and sit these makers down, these lovers of current, and ask them why or what's going back in? I'd like the audience to wise up and start doing that more that judging each other over like of. Ask what is likable and heroic and inspiring about MCU characterization lately.

What are we looking for it to say to us and start saying why is it working so hard not to.

???

[lmelodie]

got distracted by cartoons, have a late ask game ask!!!!!

i wanna know! #s 5, 7, 8, 12, 25, 26, and 30!

Is that too much? MAYBE! But I feel like at this point in my internet life and our interactions and such, this is just to be expected ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(I will not be chill w/ q's next time fr fr)

(i am lying)

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

Oh I post SO MUCH of my stuff. The doodle dumps are to blame mostly. Thats gotta be an 80/20 ratio on stuff that sees the light of day. This website is my dumping ground and i will use it like a fucking landfill.

Here's an ANCIENT doodle of the actual canonical characters of this franchise for the trouble.

(Small Buddy with elf shoes is a whole staple fyi)

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

As per last ask, Comic artists! I do not have any will whatsoever to be stylistically consistent at all! I appreciate the people who can so many characters that many times AND convey a story. Cheers to that bro, could not be me.

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

I don't know about any other projects I've abandoned but here's a character I've abandoned! Kinda, not really. Its Death! Death WILL make an appearance in CC, in the finale, but they've gotten a redesign as of late so here's what they used to look like

Thye used to be VERY self-inserty, but now their gonna be a lot more god like and much more ambiguous. Just you wait til Lucy meets them in person >:)

12. Easiest part of body to draw

Hands! People say their hard, but I think I've done enough studies to where I can crank out a decent hand like nothing. Love drawing hands.

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

I don't remember ever receiving a direct comparison to something pertaining to my art 🤔 Now I'm curious as to what it reminds people of!

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

Most of my pieces are pretty straight forward. We do it for the sillies here. I'm really blanking on this one! I dont do too much hidden meaning in illustrations, if I want something to look cool im gonna try and make it cool. Not a lot to interpolate lol

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

Probably a tie between these two!

It's probably because i starred at both of them it until my eyes bled but I like em! The lighting on Mera and Kills and the rock bridge on the wild west one scratches my brain itches.