#the one exception I’ll mention is into the spiderverse

[fleshblight]

Unpopular opinion: not every story needs a movie/show adaptation.

Some of not most books and graphic novels are better as books and graphic novels. Part of the allure of written fiction is that total separation from the real world and no amount of special effects will ever match that

So idk maybe create original stories specifically made to be told in the medium of film instead of recycling stories that have already been told perfectly well

[illicthearts]

Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse Spoilers

I just watch Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse and WHAT THE HECK?!

What is wrong with all these spider people? How can they just accept these “canon” events. That’s literally what Spider-Man isn’t about.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” Remember that everyone

Or when Peter says in civil war “When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you.” That’s like the core of spider-man. It’s one of the reason Tony and Peter are seen as such a good duo. They both can’t except that in their line of work, they can’t save everyone but they sure as hell are gonna try.

Sure Spider-Man can’t save everyone but when he knows someone is going to die and he just lets them without trying to stop it, it’s literally on him. Now Spider-Man is the reason they’re dead. And that’s not Spider-Man.

Not to mention Miguel himself, so he didn’t have a family of his own in his own universe so he just goes to the other universe where he does and takes his spot there. WHAT THE FUCK MAN! That’s messed up! Bro is pulling a Wanda. Why don’t you find a girl to fall in love with and have kids with her or adopt a child like a normal person!

Also, all the other spider people just believe Miguel? Except maybe Hobie I guess. What proof does he have?

Kang said the same thing in Loki, that if they try to change the a “nexus event” there could be major consequences. But in reality, the Kang who was saying that was the same Kang that won against all the other Kangs. The only threat to the multiverse is Kang himself, not the multiverse interacting with the self.

Albeit Kang and Miguel’s situation are every different but the gist of it is the same.

P.S. I watch it online since I couldn’t watch it in theaters, and it was recorded so the sound quality wasn’t as good and I couldn’t catch everything. I’ll watch it again when it comes out in HD and I’ll more add more to this if I have anything more to add.

P.P.S I love Pavitr Prabhakar

[gazzhowie]

My Top 25 Movies of 2023.

Sitting in cinema screens in 2023 has continued to re-enforce that it is a weird time for the industry, with huge three hundred million dollar (!) blockbusters attracting only ten or twenty people per screen on opening weekend and highly acclaimed independent movies being given no home except for a dumped VOD release. This year felt ‘tough’ being a fan of both great films and the big screen experience. 

Anyway, scaremongering over... it is time for me to dust off the cobwebs from my Tumblr account and post my Top 25 movies of this year, 2023.

[Years 2008 through to present are available in the archive.] 

As always, films listed are based on their UK release date whether that’s in the cinema or on DVD, VOD etc. Which was a tough rule to stick to this year because I thoroughly enjoyed the lean and effective b-movie action horror antics of Last Voyage of the Detmer, which could’ve earned a slot on my list had its UK release not been pulled 2 weeks prior to its date due to its European distributor going bankrupt. 

Frequent visitors know that I’ll throw out a few special mentions to all the films that I wish I could’ve included but couldn’t make fit yet believe they deserve a shout-out regardless and then I get stuck into what I think are the 25 best films of the year. Anyway, without further ado, here are the ‘also-rans’ and ‘near-misses’ separated per genre that very nearly made the final list:

Action movies that I have enjoyed this year include The Covenant which holds the distinction of being an actually enjoyable and tolerable Guy Ritchie movie, John Wick: Chapter 4 who’s bludgeoning and unnecessary excess gives way to a final hour that is part ode to Walter Hill’s The Warriors and part ‘modern action classic’ effort, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 which was uneven but still the best Marvel effort in quite some time (though that is a low compliment), the first part of the French two-parter Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan which brings John Wick-ian action to the oft-told tale, the Gerard Butler ‘Prime Exclusive’ double-bill that was Kandahar and Plane, Denzel Washington’s (“final”) entry in his Equalizer series and Thomas Jane’s cheapo Brannigan / Coogan’s Bluff b-movie tribute, One Ranger. 

Not many comedies impressed me this year but going off the ones that made me laugh and surprised me some what were the kind of delightful Woody Harrelson sporting underdog remake Champions, the vastly better than we all thought it was going to be / surprise sleeper success of the year No Hard Feelings and the ‘animals saying uncouth things’ silliness that was Strays. 

I liked a lot of horrors this year; the legitimately great (no seriously!) Influencer, the gimmick-heavy but incredibly effective No One Will Save You, the immensely fun Kids Vs Aliens, the Covid-19 slasher that you didn’t realise you secretly sort of wanted that was Sick, the semi-disappointing yet still enjoyable recalibration that was Evil Dead Rise, the Godzilla-homaging creature feature The Lake and the frankly insane / insanely nasty Project Wolf Hunting. 

Not a huge amount of animation blew me away this year but Leo was a stand-out for not just being shockingly good but for the sheer amount of repeated viewings it has gone through in my house with my boys without it losing too much. I have to also give props to Spiderman: Across The Spiderverse which was gorgeous to look at and immensely entertaining but excessive and unwieldly to its own detriment.

It was a good year for documentaries with both Milli Vanilli and The Pigeon Tunnel impressing me immensely. The former being surprising in its depth and emotion. But within the documentary form it was a banner year for the ‘biography’ approach with genuinely excellent and thorough studies of fascinating people. I loved Mr Dress Up, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, Judy Blume Forever, Hatton and Albert Brooks: Defending My Life.

Dramas I’ve liked a lot in 2023 have been Till which moved me immensely, the justifiably acclaimed May December, The Burial which was far more captivating than it had any cause to be, the Netflix survivalist preposterousness that was Nowhere, Ben Affleck’s fabulously entertaining Air which was another entry in the ‘business origins’ subgenre that continues to somehow flourish, Michael B. Jordan’s overdirected but strong Creed 3, the ode to old-fashioned 1990s studio potboiler thrillers that was To Catch a Killer, the Sky Original Dead Shot and the smart phone / techno warning Unlocked.

And in a little section all of its own marked ‘better than they had any right to be’ I’ve got to give a shout-out to Elizabeth Banks’ incompetently directed but decidedly fun Cocaine Bear, the Jackie Chan / John Cena greenscreen-heavy team-up Hidden Strike, the wonky but fun Scream 6, the exhaustive Extraction 2, the low-bar hurdling Blue Beetle and the absolutely insane (and mildly better than the last two excretable efforts) Fast X.

And now… my Top 25 favourite movies of 2023… but for those who know me to be an enormous John Woo aficionado I will make clear from the outset that at the time of compiling this I still have not seen Silent Night. Sorry. 

25. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

We must mention William Friedkin’s last film before his death - a reminder that the man was a master filmmaker across the board but specifically a master at letting the material and the performance(s) lead. Never has that felt more reinforced than with his interpretation of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial where, like what he did with his excellent made-for-tv redo of 12 Angry Men, he lets the power of one single setting, a very good cast and exceptional material (in this case a soft update of Herman Wouk's 1953 play of the same name) lead and he gets out of the way and stays there. A more fragile or less confident director at the age Friedkin was, at that point in his career / so close to the end, would've likely been tempted to go big or get flashy to show they've still "got it". There was nothing fragile or unconfident about Friedkin right up to the end. This is an impressively engrossing watch with a great kick at the end that Jason Clarke absolutely sells the shit out of.

24. Talk to Me

I genuinely thought the 'hype' machine was going to have seriously done a number on this, a la BARBIE, but thankfully that turned out not to be the case.

Directors Danny and Michael Philippou have taken a weathered and well-worn concept - that grief and trauma can be open gateways for otherworldly malevolence to exploit - and they've injected it with a fresh voice / energy, whilst respecting 'old standards' like practical effects work.

The concept is decidedly hokey and the lead character isn't particularly likable to say the least (though Sophie Wilde is excellent playing her), but the Philippou Brothers are so thoroughly committed here and the practical effects work is so impressive that it's infectious.

You're almost pulled 'in' despite yourself because the scares are so well-executed and the feeling of dread is so effectively threaded. You know you're being 'played' and you try to fight against it, but it's a mark of its quality that it gets you anyway.

23. Beau Is Afraid 

If Taika Waititi parlayed the goodwill and acclaim from a series of beloved low-budget Kiwi comedies into a mainstream career making multimillion dollar Marvel movies and becoming one of the most sought after studio hires of the last decade, then Ari Aster has used the instantly accepted and highly regarded successes of HEREDITARY and MIDSOMMER to... *checks notes* ... work through some complicated shit involving his relationship with his mother (and his father - who may or may not be an actual 'penis monster') and have arthouse kingmakers A24 pay $35 million for it.

This made less than a third of its $35 million budget back (because, come on now, how on earth do you effectively market this thing?) so it's tiring but true that the label "cult classic" has •already• been applied to it.

Look, I'm offering zero defence to accusations against the film that it is overlong, incredibly self-indulgent, ill-disciplined, carrying nowhere near the depth it claims to, tiresome and exhausting. It IS all those things. By the final stretch it is floundering haaard and there's a serious feeling of being trolled starting to set in.

But, first of all, it shouldn't be discounted how excellent and effective Joaquin Phoenix is here and Aster's wildly uneven material is greatly assisted by his casting. Secondly, it has to be acknowledged that there's moments - long stretches, in fact - where there's absolute brilliance at play here.

There's masterfully crafted moments of genuine hilarity (dark hilarity, for sure) alongside flashes of abject discomforting horror. I'd go so far as to say some of the most interesting, inventive, unique and intriguing moments in cinema this year are tucked away inside this behemoth of a clusterfuck.

People pushed hard for the extended cut of MIDSOMMER to be released. I'm pushing for the reduced cut of this.

22. There’s Something in the Barn 

 I thoroughly enjoyed and had a great time with this. It's not at all embarrassed to lean into its influences, evoking affectionate RARE EXPORTS / GREMLINS vibes without coming across like its heavily plagiarising from them.

 It’s got a terrific dry wit to it thanks to writer Aleksander Kirkwood Brown's script and which the cast, especially Martin Starr (essentially doing his SPIDER-MAN shtick here) and a very winsome Amrita Acharia, sell well. And director Magnus Martens doesn't skimp on the dark stuff and sense of foreboding either.

 There's no snobbishness to put up against this thing - it's a horror comedy that made me laugh multiple times and jump occasionally. That's a very solid success to me and I highly recommend it if the likes of RARE EXPORTS, KRAMPUS, CHRISTMAS BLOODY CHRISTMAS and SINT are favourites of yours.

21. Pearl

I'm a big fan of Ti West and I really enjoyed X, which was one of my Top 25 of 2022 and which in my review I defended by saying:

"... It's very easy to dismiss what West is doing here as just an exacting homage to THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE but it's more than that. Obviously there's overt nods to it but you could also suggest West is doffing his cap affectionately to Paul Thomas Anderson's BOOGIE NIGHTS, Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO and, yes, both Lewis Teague's ALLIGATOR and Tobe Hooper's EATEN ALIVE as well..."

This is an interesting companion piece to that movie (with a third entry, MAXXXINE, imminent) made more fascinating due to how it came into existence:

 Whilst in their Covid 'bubble' prior to production beginning out in New Zealand for X, director Ti West and star Mia Goth became so enamoured with the backstory they were creating for the character of Pearl that they wrote an entire prequel, pitched it to A24 and built filming into the back end of the original production. A high value 'two-ffer' if ever there was one.

The end result is something less blatantly and broadly enjoyable than the first (second) story but it's definitely the more curious and interesting one; if X really was Ti West's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE / BOOGIE NIGHTS / PSYCHO / EATEN ALIVE bastardisation, this is his Douglas Sirk melodrama injected with Technicolor and falsely set loose as a 'follow your dreams' fable gone really, really wrong.

It obviously lives and dies by the lead performance and, by crikey, Mia Goth is so good here. That much-memed final credits thing is lauded but it's that late stage monologue that drops your jaw a little. If horror wasn't so easily dismissed her performance would've won awards.

For years we've always considered horror prequels to be the nadir of the genre. After all, who cares if Leatherface only became Leatherface because he was made redundant? Or Jason Vorhees killing nubile teens because he got his pot farm trampled on? Or... or... how no one taking Michael Myers trick or treating turned him into a psychopath? Here though, PEARL indicates that doesn't always have to be the case.

20. Reality 

For those worrying as to whether Sydney Sweeney's tsunami of scantily-clad content across advertising and social media platforms has left her precariously overexposed (in more ways than one), along comes this fascinating and considered film to remind you that behind the bikinis, the false nails and the airbrushing is an extremely talented actress capable of incredibly powerful work.

Devoid of make-up, carrying the film nearly 70% of the time in close-up shots she can't fake her way free from and regimentally parroting the actual recorded FBI transcripts down to every sigh, stumble and gulp Sweeney is frankly astonishing in how she carries this thing.

Director Tina Satter keeps things tight in terms of both location, framing and running time (it plays as an almost real-time exercise) and as a result the film becomes a riveting, claustrophobic and maddening display (how did Reality Winner's actual charges and ridiculous sentence stand when all of this occurred without correct due process and legal entitlements being followed from the outset?) from a first-time film director showing exceptional command of her cast and her visual space.

19. Fair Play 

Chloe Domont's corporate morality play / torchlight on gender politics by way of a recalibration of the 1990s style erotic thriller is all the more astounding because of how assured and masterfully controlled it is for someone's feature directorial debut.

 Driven by two excellent performances from Phoebe Dynevor (who I'd not seen before in anything and was astonished by her) and Alden Ehrenreich (who I think is terrific and deserves treated way better by the industry), and supported by atypically great turns from Eddie Marsan and Rich Sommer, this thing has no right to be as engulfing and nail-biting as it is for what it is.

 Domont refuses to make compromises or concessions in the way she presents latent sexism, money, toxic alpha cultures, wounded pride and corporate backstabbing infecting her characters. It's a brutal, relentless ride she takes us on.

 One where the brash bloodied cunnilingus opener keeps returning to your conscience like it was heavy foreboding for what feels inevitable - these two can't keep tearing away at each other like this, surely? Not without someone dying at the other's hands.

 You keep trying to shake that feeling off, telling yourself that it's not ~that~ kind of film. But as this thing starts to barrel towards its third act it is testament to Domont, and how Dynevor / Ehrenreich are executing her material, that you come to realise all bets are off.

18. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One 

There's action movie franchises and then there's •this• action movie franchise; hitting its stride at the fourth entry, delivering back-to-back masterpieces with its fifth and sixth and now this - a seventh entry so frickin good it rides out evident flaws (and Mark Gatiss' horrendous "accent") that would absolutely fatally decimate other films!

Because it feels sacrilegious to even say this but the latest entry manages to straddle both being very good, decidedly high end, etc etc and... *whispers it* ... kinda 'samey' to what we've had since Christopher McQuarrie became 'grand master':

Still no one trusts the inherent righteous genius of Ethan Hunt, forcing him to go against one and all. Blah blah. There's excessive shots of Tom Cruise running. Yes, yes. There's elaborate stunts seamed together by a 'not as clever as it thinks' plot. Of course. And too many characters. Far too many. Confoundingly, it feels somehow a little stale and yet brilliant.

The film's 'grand' action sequence this time round has been so overexposed, so heavily spoilt (a making of dissection for it ran before the film itself at my screening for Christ's sake) that you naturally assume it'd deflate a little by the time you see it 'in context'. That's not so. Mainly because it is actually just the entrée to the main course which is the train finale.

The climax is an utter masterwork of technical execution, mixing real stuntwork with very well done greenscreen and (yes, shocking as it is to say for a Tom Cruise movie) CGI facial replacement alongside terrifically accomplished narrative construction.

 If like me you continue to be aggrieved by the presence of Simon Pegg's Benji and how he's ostensibly exactly the same character as Luther with exactly the same skillset, routinely forcibly sidelining a vastly superior Ving Rhames, then that's more evident here than ever before. So much so that they literally 'Poochie' Luther out of the film in the third act. Which is obviously racist bullshit. Also, I know I stand alone in my apathy towards Rebecca Ferguson (I really don't get the adoration for her / her character at all) and my hatred for Vanessa Kirby and all the stupid gurning that comes with her, but both are drowned out by a crackin' turn by Pom Klementieff and a performance from Hayley Atwell that you really need to believe the hype on; she lights up the screen and is a tremendous comedy player amongst all the weighty waffle.

And that's the film's biggest flaw that ROGUE NATION and FALLOUT both managed to masterfully swerve - the minute the action stops the film starts to sink under the weight of really heavy exposition. Mounds and mounds of the stuff, in fact.  I know McQuarrie and Cruise have been open about how they conceive a script around action set-pieces but this is the first time where the stitchwork is so headache-inducing having to listen to it that you start to see a wobble in the method for the first time... even more so now McQ and Cruise have started injecting all this whiffery about "the choice" and portentous context about how IMF agents work, are recruited, etc. Like, what are you doing trying to 'John LeCarre' my fucking MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movies, goddamnit?

 Still, it's the most minor of hardships considering you're never more than 10 minutes off from getting out the other side of all that exposition and getting to another sublime action sequence or a close up of Atwell's wonderous smile.

17. Sisu 

"Sisu is a Finnish concept described as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness, and is held by Finns themselves to express their national character. It is generally considered not to have a literal equivalent in English (tenacity, grit, resilience and hardiness are much the same things, but do not necessarily imply stoicism or bravery)."- Wikipedia

The RAMBO sequels should look to this, kneel before it and weep just for being in its presence.

And we better start doing the same with Jalmari Helander, who in just three movies has done Finnish 'interpretations' of John Carpenter horrors, 80s Amblin movies and now 'lone warrior' action films to magnificent effect.

This is a gloriously ridiculous live action cartoon of violent excess and bonkers propulsion; land, water and air set-pieces of utter insanity stitched together with inventive, nasty gore.

It is outlandish in its speed, its fat-free story construction and its refusal to ever stop or give way to wimpy, silly things like character development.

16. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

I totally get Hollywood's whoreish mentality for seeing something succeed and then bastardising it to the point that what we once loved is something we become bored by - it's why we suffered through a noughties onslaught of what felt like nothing but zombie movies because 28 DAYS LATER landed well or why everyone's trying to do "shared universes" now because of Marvel.

Or why after the massive success and instant affection for INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE every animated movie of late has been plagiarising the hell out of it.

You saw the trailer for this - a heavily belated sequel to a spin-off from a SHREK sequel - pulling that very shit and it just felt a bit like your old dad after your mum's left him, spraying on the 'hair filler' and squeezing into skinny jeans to "get back out there" and prove he's "still got it"...

... and then it just casually reveals itself to be a film of massively inventive design (both visually and narratively), that's surprisingly deep and very funny - and as a result superior to both its predecessor and the entire franchise from which it was born.

You don't •think• you NEED time spent in the company of Olivia Colman and Ray Winstone as Mama Bear and Papa Bear or Florence Pugh as Goldilocks and John Mulaney as Jack Horner... or best of all ELITE SQUAD's Wagner Moura as Death... but you absolutely do! Don't make the mistake of thinking you're 'above' this sort of thing, cos I can guarantee you you're not.

It's a delight!

15. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 

It feels like I've got to be apologetic in my opinion of this if 'Film Twitter' / the critical majority is to be believed, in which case I'm sorry but I enjoyed this. I just don't think you should ever underestimate the positive impact factor(s) that can be drawn from this particular actor turning up on screen as this particular character, scored to John Williams' music. And I'm saying this as someone who's seen KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.

 I can see why people would have issue with this latest / last outing; it's overlong to the point of bagginess (there's a staleness that starts to set in from the repetition of Jones and Co landing at a location, having the baddies immediately show up, outwit them and make off with the macguffin only for Jones to steal it back) and the character of Helena Shaw is a fairly odious and unlikeable one who exists to cause more shit for Indiana Jones than is tolerable (and I was no fan for the most part of how Phoebe Waller-Bridge played her).

And then there's the 'look' of it too. Did it HAVE to have such a shitty, plastic sheen to it? It cannot be overstated that one of the most tremendous qualities of those first three INDIANA JONES movies was in how Spielberg went out to REAL locations and had Vic Armstrong and Harrison Ford REALLY ride REAL horses and jumped on top of REAL tanks or fall under REAL trucks. Here, it's pixels and screens. Again. With nothing learnt from the issues KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL generated.

James Mangold has done a commendable job of 'apeing' Steven Spielberg and there's a lot - and I mean a lot - of great action here. But the vast majority of it has the shine taken off by continually cutting into terrifically adrenalinised action sequences to insert very obvious greenscreened shots of Ford and Waller-Bridge bickering and shouting like they were really honestly / definitely / maybe there involved with the sequence when it was getting filmed.

It's infuriating because this thing is stacked to the gills with thoroughly enjoyable, legitimately well-designed action sequences - the escape from the castle in the French Alps, the Apollo 11 parade and New York City Subway chase, the Tangier sequence, the Aegean Sea set-piece, the Ear of Dionysius cavern stuff and the airfield chase - but in every single one there's moments of really quite shoddy CGI that draws you right out of the moment to remind you 80% of this was done on computers. There's not ever a moment to make you gasp in awe at how the stunt-man survived like in the original trilogy. But there's a LOT of moments that has you thinking "This thing cost $350 million?"

But all that said, Mangold making a 'fan' version of a Steven Spielberg INDIANA JONES movie is better than Steven Spielberg phoning in one. And I'm not going to lie, this thing had me from the minute the font come up in the opening titles and we got a straight-up legitimate 1940s set INDIANA JONES mini-movie (which seemed to sit as an eery bedfellow to MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7, weirdly enough) with the best... though still not flawless... de-ageing techniques I've seen.

14. The Fabelmans

It's more than a little disingenuous for all involved, specifically Steven Spielberg himself, to describe this as "semi-autobiographical" and "loosely based" on his adolescence and first years as a filmmaker when anyone who's read any number of books on the man or watched director Susan Lacy's 2017 biographical documentary can see the beats are all there, wholesale. If THIS is "loosely" then the biopic version would be the greatest invasion of privacy ever committed. This ~isn't~ a "fable", man!

I can also see with it why some have braced against it and the instant critical adoration that was applied to it, because the longer it sticks around the more muddled it becomes about what its point of view is and whether it has anything left to say. By the end it slides to a stop after 2½ hours with an admittedly wonderful (and wonderfully bizarro) comedic bon mot having scattered barely etched vignettes / sketches in its final stretch. And tonally, there's questions as to really what was trying to be said with that late 'Ditch Day' subplot and whether co-writer Tony Kushner was working through his OWN stuff within Spielberg's memory bank.

That being said, I loved it in all honesty. For the first two thirds of its running time, I thought it was •really• something special - and anyone pushing out the notion that this is Spielberg on autopilot ain't watching this properly. That cold pan cutting his [screen] father from the frame in a moment of parental happiness but leaving in his [screen] mother and her lover? That's some brutal, subtle craftsmanship there. And layered on top of choices like that is more precision cinematography from Janusz Kamiński and scoring (for the final time?) by John Williams.

The performances across the board from Gabriel LaBelle (as 'Sammy' / Spielberg), Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, [CENSORED] and Seth Rogen are extremely good. Though as atypically great as Williams is here, I'm not certain this ends up being the 'ode' to Spielberg's mum, Leah Adler, that some think it to be.

I totally understand the perspective of those that see this cynically as a 'pre-designed awards hoover' - you can't help but come away from Judd Hirsch's cameo feeling like the entire thing was written as a Best Supporting Actor Oscar clip reel - but for me it just hit me right in the chest... exactly as it will for anyone who spent some of their best summers with their dearest friends, being creative, making films, watching films, dreaming of a future that involved cinema, fending off unsupportive family and trying to hold close those that did try to help your talent flourish.

13. Babylon

As much as Film Twitter has taken against BABYLON's final moment, it must be said that for a "love letter" to cinema and the movie industry overall, Chazelle can 'sign it off' how he likes (and "SINGIN' IN THE RAIN to AVATAR" is certainly •a• take!) with no obligation to be subtle. However, considering there's NOTHING subtle about this film whatsoever preceding it, why you'd think it's conclusion would be any different is silly.

I'm a Damien Chazelle fan. I liked WHIPLASH and LA LA LAND enormously and I genuinely consider FIRST MAN one of the finest films of the last decade. No matter its flaws (of which there are several), I drew a great deal of enjoyment from this, his latest effort. Repeat viewings have put it as one of my favourite films of 2023.

It's a very, very messy film. Chazelle seems to believe the debauchery and excess of the era his narrative lands within - Hollywood's transition from silent to sound films in the late 1920s - gives him unrestrained reign with an overindulgent running time and a cavalcade of graphic content. Added to all the blood, vomit, excrement, etc etc the opening Kinoscope Studios Exec's bacchanalian mansion party is the "opening sequence of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN" of debauched, drug-fuelled, orgy sequences in cinema.

There's no real consistent throughline to any of this which makes it all the more difficult to embrace across 190 minutes and because it plays like a plethora of sketches it has massive peaks and troughs Chazelle doesn't always seem to have total control of - the vignette involving Margot Robbie's Nellie LaRoy first experience of recording a 'sound' take starts solid, gets funny, outstays its welcome and then beats you into submission.

There's a lot of excellence here though. Whether that's in Brad Pitt's surprisingly layered, moving and deft turn or through the sojourns onto the desert location shoots of multiple oscillating productions, topped off with the very 'on' appearance of Spike Jonze's 'Not Otto Preminger' Otto Von Strassberger.

I'm thinking that opening on elephant defecation and sordid acts of urolagnia is something that in retrospect director Damien Chazelle may well be regretting now critics have been "pissy" about his latest film and it's now considered the big box office "turd" of the year.

12. The Killer 

I've seen a few people talk about this as if it's "beneath" David Fincher, inarguably one of our greatest working filmmakers today. Like a tight hitman-out-for-revenge yarn based on Alexis Nolent and Luc Jacamon's comic book series is not "worthy" of him or something. Clearly these people are forgetting this is the same guy who spent 6 years in development hell on a WORLD WAR Z sequel, gave us the glorious (if flawed) bit of pulp that was THE GAME, the immensely effective b-movie in an a-picture gown in PANIC ROOM and remade an adaptation of a popular airport potboiler with THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO in amongst whatever is regarded as his "prestige" flicks.

It's absolutely a David Fincher movie; that's apparent in the droll humour, the Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross soundtrack and the clever visual flourishes - like the entire Amazon 'bit' in the final stretch.

It's a caper. A yarn, if you will. A bit of pulp, just with high end flourishes - such as Fincher's meticulous choices, Erik Messerschmidt's cinematography and the casting itself (Fassbender, Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell and Tilda Swinton).

There's this brilliant layering here between the clinical, detailed voiceover Michael Fassbender provides (that leads us to believe this is an assassin at the peak of his 'game') and the actions we physically see from him on screen (missed shots, beat downs suffered, etc) that indicate there's a little bit more than what's on the surface.

I had an absolute blast with this - a tight / immensely refreshing sub two hour, jet black comedic (the aliases!!) thriller that sits as Fincher's hat tip to Jean-Pierre Melville's classic, LE SAMOURAÏ.

... Though I do want to deduct a star off my final rating for the bit where Tilda Swinton co-opted my favourite 'go to' pub joke that I've relied on for 20 years. Now whenever I tell it people are going to say I've just ripped it off this, goddamnit!

11. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

What an absolute gem of a film!

You knew you were in steady hands because Judy Blume's 1970 source novel is just that good, Kelly Fremon Craig's EDGE OF SEVENTEEN is an instant classic and there's a dependable excellence that comes with casting the likes of Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates.

But there was always the risk that this COULD'VE got fucked up. Some idiot at the studio might have tried to modernise it. Or believe that it needed more 'incident'. Or cast someone too precocious in the lead role. But James L. Brooks clearly bodyguarded this thing correctly.

The final result is a sweet, funny and very lovely little film with an absolute sweetheart of a turn from Abby Ryder Fortson as the title character.

I genuinely loved spending time watching this.

10. 20 Days in Mariupol 

There's a moment in this - Mstyslav Chernov's truly harrowing frontline documentary of the twenty days he and his colleagues spent besieged in Mariupol after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine - involving an emergency cesarean and an unresponsive newborn that is more upsetting, more thrilling and more uplifting than the combination of every horror and every feelgood drama released in the last five years.

This is the most important and vital film you'll see this year and then never ever want to see again.

More so because as humans in this modern age we rather callously only seem to have the heart / stomach / attention-span for one 'war' at a time, and we appear to have abandoned the Ukrainian conflict to refocus our outrage on what's going on in Gaza instead.

For large parts of it we feel like Mstyslav Chernov's been given exclusive access to the pits of hell and he's taking us on a tour. This is intense and riveting, shockingly so considering the unrepentant footage of dead or dying children.

9. The Night of the 12th 

I've worked in the field of investigation for over 20 years and I can tell you this much - this movie fuckin gets 'it', man.

In opening with the title card that it does it offsets any eventual disappointment you may feel when the ending arrives. You don't feel short-changed because you've been brought in from the start to share the frustration with the characters.

There's nothing easy here. Nothing pat. Just real investigatory pathways followed with dead ends jumping out in front when everything in your gut says this lead, that lead or the next was going to be 'the one'.

It painstakingly shows that the work is in the hours. And the work can become an obsession. An obsession that gives nothing back equitable to what it takes from you.

It starts with a suitably harrowing and upsetting sequence and it ends on character uplift in lieu of narrative resolution. It also sits as one of the best movies about the art and reality of investigation in modern cinema.

8. The Creator 

If there's anyone out there still 'over crediting' Tony Gilroy for the success of ROGUE ONE - one of the best (and the last great) STAR WARS films - this is the "fuck you" exhibit.

Gareth Edwards' sci-fi action epic doesn't entirely land its thematic intentions and hampers itself somewhat by placing dramatic reliance on the anti-acting vessel that is Gemma Chan, but by crikey is it an enthralling and gorgeous-looking ride. (John David Washington remains a magnetic watch, though I do wonder because he sounds so much like his dad whether we're all just hooked on the idea that they've 'prequelised' Denzel?)

You're gifted something here that feels like 1982 Ridley Scott and 1993 James Cameron have got together to play with action figures and do a sci-fi Vietnam movie... it's glorious stuff!

Full of some of the best effects and well realised set-pieces of the year, it's the old 'protect the child' trope given a beautiful lick of paint thick to feel make it feel just about unique enough and a) stand out in an ocean of comic book movies and sequels, and b) probably make Neil Blomkamp go "Ahhh. That's how you do this? Riii-ght!"

So of course no fucker showed up to watch it!

7. Close 

I don't really have friends. I don't have the sort of 'personality' that lends itself to people being able to find me tolerable at the most basic level - at least for more than a couple of hours at a time anyway. 

I've come to accept and acknowledge this fact the older I've got in life. I've always tried to make friends / keep friends etc but the type of person I am seemingly lends itself to being easily used and/or quickly put down.

It wasn't always like this though. When I was a child there was a boy who saw something in me that others did not and could not. He was in my class and lived close by my grandparents, where I spent most of my time. We were bonded by our loneliness amidst a sea of heads at school as much as our shared sense of humour. Even at a young age I came to appreciate this friend for simply •liking• me and we quickly became inseparable.

On the last day of school, with a vast and limitless summer ahead of us before separate high schools would provide an inevitable divide, we had an argument. A silly, stupid, ~nothing~ argument - significant enough in postscript that I can still recall it now 31 years on - that degenerated into shoving and me accidentally banging his head off a bathroom wall during lunchbreak.

We left school that day with our friendship impacted and the first week of the summer holiday's heavily damaged by him not being by my side in it. And on the very night that I finally decided I didn't want this to continue any longer... that the very next morning I would pick up the phone and ask him if he wanted to go ride bikes in the dene... he died.

An asthma attack. A fuckin asthma attack.

He died not believing that I was his friend and that devastated me. It still does. 31 years later, I think about Neil at least once a week. I see clips of talent show magicians and KNOW that'd have been him. I've tried all my life to replicate a friendship like it and I've never succeeded. But can we ever generate that closeness in adulthood towards someone like we could as children, when we were free of responsibility and bonded by limitless possibility?

I've frequently wondered what my life would've been like if Neil had still been in it, telling myself over and over that this would've been one of the rare pre-teen childhood friendships that lasted.

I miss him and would give anything to be able to deliver the apology to him that he deserved then and is still owed now.

So... all THAT said... it goes without saying that this deeply human, carefully etched and very naturally drawn drama hit me like a train travelling at 150mph.

This is one of the most effective and important films about grief, trauma-processing, adolescence and friendship that there's been in some time.

It really is a brilliant piece of cinema that should be shown in schools to every kid from twelve upwards.

6. The Eight Mountains 

Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch's adaption of Paolo Cognetti's novel is a (both visually and emotionally) astonishingly beautiful effort with two fascinating and textured performances from Alessandro Borghi as the adult Bruno and Luca Marinelli as the adult Pietro.

It's an intimate epic; a careful, patient and quietly profound treaty on friendship, life, love, ambition, Buddhist concepts, ancient Indian cosmology, growth, nature and the weight of legacy.

Come for the stunning footage of the gorgeous Italian Alps, but stay to be deeply moved by something really rather special, wholehearted and sincere that steps right over whatever BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN esque expectations or assumptions you may well carry into this.

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 

I've never understood anyone - especially the aged fanboys frequently responsible for ruining the STAR WARS and MARVEL 'discourse' - who's shown territoriality over the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES as a "franchise".

The reason this ramshackle 1984 indie comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird has blown up into five television series, seven films, multiple video games and a range of toys / merchandise for four decades is mostly down to the way it sorta reinvents itself every five or so years. Which means there's some form of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 'content' now for all of us in one way or another.

And one of the most impressive - but not THE most impressive - things about this film is how it incorporates something from everything that's gone before without becoming a complete mess. The spirit of the comic book source material is front and centre alongside the legitimate effort of the 1990 movie adaptation. The "that'll do" crappy clart of its sequels is avoided whilst the huge scale of the maligned Bay-ified 2014 - 2016 movies is represented. It definitely captures everything about the first Saturday morning cartoon that enamoured the property to us way back when.

It's a glorious effort. It truly is. I watched it with my son and his friends and the huge grins on their faces was infectious. I struggled to think of another entertainment entity that has moved so effortlessly through the generations like this has.

It's a visually resplendent film. It takes the reconfiguration of the animated form a la the SPIDER-VERSE movies and delivers a surprisingly more focused and tighter effort than the latest SPIDER-VERSE sequel. It is dripping with an energy and confidence that will surprise you, as well as a whole heap of heart and humour that will delight.

Yeah, there's moments here and there where the energetic visual styling becomes a little too cluttered in its action sequences but it is a minor grumble against what is a surprising instant masterpiece of its type:

A sweet and funny teen movie walking in the shoes of an animated giant sized comic book blockbuster wearing the coat of a New York conspiracy film, drenched in classic East Coast hip-hop and a score by by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and performed by one of the most impressively eclectic voice casts of recent.

(Within a roster of Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, John Cena, Ice Cube, Natasia Demetriou, Ayo Edebiri, Giancarlo Esposito, Post Malone, Rogen, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr, Nicolas Cantu and Brady Noon, it is Jackie Chan that absolutely steals this thing by a considerable distance!)

4. Asteroid City 

If you aren't a Wes Anderson fan this is not the film that is going to convert you. An immaculately stylised and composed metatextual 'Russian Nesting Doll' celebration of the construction of art and the art of storytelling? No way. No how.

There was elements of it that didn't work for me but what •did• work I was head over heels in love with. The [CENSORED]*constructs felt almost like afterthoughts and didn't particularly resonate. A lot of reviews hit Anderson for being unfocused and overindulgent, and I kinda can see where they're coming from. But only with regards to that particular element.

[* censored by me and hopefully by everyone else because they've done a wonderful job of hiding the story construct from the marketing]

The rest of the film is primo Wes Anderson in his most astonishingly stylised form with his attention to detail never more sharp.

A complaint that must be noted though is in the casting, where the usual 'Anderson Players' appear to have ran a 'pyramid scheme'; bringing in actors who's casting has attracted other actors to the point of it being too cluttered an ensemble in too lean a film to let everyone truly shine. Despite all the plaudits, I think Scarlett Johansson is well out of her depth here. And I just think if you're going to hire the likes of Steve Carell (replacing a Covid-addled Bill Murray at the last minute), Margot Robbie (who should've played Johansson's part, and vice versa) and the sublime Sophia Lillis but barely use them properly it's almost a crime!

When it's funny it is hilarious. When it is delightful it sits as a heavenly confection. And when it wobbles it still isn't as ponderous and disappointing as some of the lesser elements of THE FRENCH DISPATCH.

3. Oppenheimer 

I found every plaudit for this to be true and what a reward it was to receive as cinema lies stale in its current state, crusted with the stale decay of innumerable shitty-sheened superhero movies and sequels to things no one was asking for.

Here's a mature, complex, expertly constructed character study of great depth and intelligence; a film primarily made up of scientists and mathematicians thinking and squabbling amongst themselves whilst a non-linear deep betrayal born of immense pettiness plays out almost as an appendices to the traditional biopic... yet, thanks to the music of Ludwig Göransson and editing by Jennifer Lame, it moves like this insanely kinetic action thriller instead.

The ending stretch feels almost ~too~ trite and neat though, it must be said. Although maybe I'm tarnished by a feeling that no movie should depend on the cripplingly irritating overacting of Rami Malek to play last-minute 'saviour'.

Cillian Murphy is frankly outstanding here and whilst most critics have the Best Supporting Actor Oscar locked for Robert Downey Jr (who's brilliant and who's Lewis Strauss receives a 'kiss off' by Nolan here that almost feels like a Marvel Cinematic Universe esque tease for a sequel about Strauss arranging the JFK assassination!) it would be good to see Matt Damon get some recognition here as his General Groves very nearly steals the whole movie with very little.

The casting is so sumptous overall that every scene induces a "Hey! That's..." as the likes of Kenneth Branagh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, David Krumholtz, Matthew Modine, Benny Safdie, Jason Clarke, Michael Angarano, Jack Quaid, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, Macon Blair, Tom Conti, James D'Arcy, David Dastmalchian, Dane DeHaan, Alden Ehrenreich, Tony Goldwyn, Alex Wolff, James Remar, James Urbaniak and (is it a spoiler to say?) Gary Oldman as Harry S. Truman roll out to 'play' for one or two minutes.

It's the sort of movie so stacked and packed even at 3 hours that it puts Emily Blunt (as Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer) in such an undercooked and underdeveloped role you wonder why they cast a 'star' in it... until that clearance hearing scene near the end where she goes and delivers the impact of a... well... an atomic bomb and you think to yourself "Oh. That's why they cast Emily Blunt!"

It's a gorgeous-looking - Hoyte van Hoytema's cinematography is luscious - cinematic achievement by Christopher Nolan, where his visual ambition and clinical cinematic technique have really come together once again to remind you the term "modern great" as a filmmaker is well earned.

2. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 

A "great time" - seeing as the film itself had my beloved GAME NIGHT's Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley at the helm - perhaps. But a resoundingly delightful time that left me instantly eager for more of these movies and DEFINITELY future revisits of this one? I'm shocked at just how brilliant this was.

I can't believe that one of my favourite films of the year is a 'fantasy heist action comedy adventure' based on the infamous tabletop role-playing game.

Especially considering I've never played nor have any frame of reference / interest towards the tabletop game (my sole DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 'knowledge' stems from the 1980s cartoon series - which gets a pretty terrific nod here!) and one-third of the cast is made up of actors (Michelle Rodriguez and Regé-Jean Page) I can't normally stand.

I've been a big Chris Pine fan for a long time now and his performance in this only increases the fandom. And I've flat-out crushed on Sophia Lillis since IT and she's pretty tremendous (if a little underserved) here. The whole cast - yeah, including Rodriguez - are pretty wonderful with Hugh Grant clearly having a grand ol' time, a "big star" mid-movie cameo that'll only land depending on your opinion of this diversive 'talent' and Justice Smith very nearly stealing the movie out from under Pine.

This thing is built within the framework of a marriage between THE PRINCESS BRIDE and the aforementioned GAME NIGHT. It's ostensibly LORDS OF THE RINGS meets OCEAN'S 11; a series of ever escalating challenges and heists that are thrillingly executed within a film that's very, very, VERY funny. The opening prologue is a complete statement of intent ("Where's Jonathan?") that tells you exactly the movie you're going to get.

Killers of the Flower Moon / Godzilla: Minus One 

Simply astonishing to indulge in - there's such a deft, surprising delicacy to elements of Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon that's all the more astounding considering the abhorrent subject matter.

That comes mainly from the performance Lily Gladstone provides this film with. In a sea of tremendous work - and by God it's both magnificent to see Robert DeNiro be great again and for Leonardo DiCaprio to finally do something in my eyes that lives up to his [overstated] reputation - she is working on some other stratospheric level.

Comments about the length by some don't resonate with me. I certainly didn't feel it, necessarily. It's probably the length it needs to be to do justice to the masterful source material its adapted, deliver a legitimate love story (of which, don't be fooled by its toxicity, this is), a film of weighted historical and cultural context AND a true life / true crime procedural.

It's surprisingly less gratuitous than you'd probably expect too. Especially considering we're in the hands of our greatest living filmmaker, someone who's never shied away from presenting us with absolute violence of an uncompromised nature.

There's also these splashes of jet black comedy occasionally popping up too - like the horribly bleak but darkly funny scene in which one henchman asks a lawyer about whether adopting then killing his Osage wife's kids would make him a benefactor of their riches. When the lawyer rightly points out it sounds like he's confessing to planning child murders he replies not unless the lawyer's answer would be affirmative.

This is a film that consumes you. It pulls you in and drags you down - you're in the presence of pure evil and weak character, and Scorsese expertly holds you there so escape feels as impossible as justice must have to the Osage.

It's very easy to 'throw around' the term "masterpiece" when it comes to Martin Scorsese. Mainly because the fucker keeps effortlessly making 'em. But by crikey this really is one.

Equally majestic as a piece of cinema, but in an entirely different form and genre is Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla: Minus One.

By concentrating on making an interesting drama with genuinely well-etched characters (that just so happens to have a giant radioactive monster passing through intermittently) equal to a barnstorming blockbuster creature feature (that allows itself to be infected with enthralling drama and character development), this steps up in the year of the Godzilla franchise’s 70th year to take the position as its best entry [by a considerable distance] in its illustrious history.

Buzzing with some of the best set-pieces of the year soundtracked to a thumping and all-consuming score by Naoki Sato, there’s genius in recalibrating a Godzilla movie – of all things – in order to develop an incredibly touching human drama and social commentary about what makes a family, what is the true definition of patriotism and courage, what real service to one’s country presents as and how to find air to breathe / the will to go on in a post-war Japan where unrelenting despair hangs in the atmosphere wherever your head turns and ‘fear’ manifests itself as a skyscraper-sized lizard-of-sorts.

We know we’re being played with the cute kid and the manipulative makeshift family relations, but that doesn’t stop it being wonderful. The marriage of sincere impacts caused by war and loss with sci-fi fantasy (but no less tense) fantasy action shouldn’t work, but they very much do. This thing is firing on multiple levels and it succeeds across the board to stand as the best blockbuster of the year.   

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a Letterboxd link for this whole thing if you're that way inclined.

Tell your mum I said hello.

See you next year...

[i-revolve-around-you]

I think it's about time I wrote a proper introduction post

Hey y'all, welcome to my blog! I'm a tumblr veteran but decided to start over on a new account recently. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

🎵 the basics 🎵

nick ~ 28 ~ he/him ~ bi ~ white author ~ musician ~ gamer ~ nerd multi-fandom/shitposting this blog will be (mostly) SFW, but i still would rather not have minors following me. i just prefer interacting with adults, sorry. it's not personal. my likes, however, will be N/SFW, so be warned

my messages and ask box are always open! feel free to hit me up!

more info (including other links, and a list of fandoms/things i like) under the cut

tags: my ramblings | my face

🤩 a bit more about me 🤩

heya! the name's nick. i've been on tumblr since like...2011 or so? i was really big into it in my college years (2012-2017) but after The Great Tumblr Porn Ban of 2017 I've sorta been drifting in an out. When The Great Twitter Debacle of 2022 happened, I decided to migrate back on a new account so I could start fresh.

this account was immediately suspended because of my side-blog. which was a bit too unsafe for work for tumblr's guidelines ig 🙄 not mentioning that they had just recently updated their policy and everything i was posting was PERFECTLY FINE under them but w/e

so i started another one lmao and that's the one that you're looking at right now! my other account has since been restored but at that point I was already situated over here so like. whatever i guess. lol

i'm currently 28, and bisexual. semi-recently out of the closed as bi, actually. for years i identified as gay, but over time i started realizing "actually...i do kinda like girls?" i still identified as "gay" cuz it was easier than saying "so like i'm bi-sexual but mostly homo-romantic but also maybe potentially demi-sexual but only when it comes to real people?" then around 2020 it just kinda clicked with me, and the label of "bisexual" just felt right

anywho you didn't come here for my full life story. here's just a little bit more about me:

i'm a total nerd. i love video games, playing Yugioh, DND (just starting to get into that one), etc. i'm a writer. i've written several fanfics (some of which i'm really proud of, some of which i'm...less), and have a goal of one day publishing a novel (my main genre is YA contemporary with queer themes and characters). i'm a musician. i actually got my bachelor's degree in music (BA in Music). my main instrument is drums/percussion, but i'm learning a bit of guitar and can play a little bit of piano. i'm also a composer/songwriter, though haven't been writing as much these days. if i write anything cool i'll be sure to post it here!

🎭 the artist formerly known as 🎭

previous account: @excuuuseme-princess other previous urls: musicdork, sincerely-whelmed, futuremehatesme, @nickplayswhat, @spearfeld, among others, probably

🔍 other places to find me 🔎

tumblr sideblog (N/SFW, seriously be warned): @fadingfast1 twitter: @libromancerfire n/sfw twitter (again...be warned): @whatifitspriv tiktok: @libromancer_fireburst ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkjaden825698

⚔ fandoms/things i like ⚔

Books 📚

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz

Darius the Great is Not Okay / Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

TV shows 📺

Arrowverse (especially Legend of Tomorrow [r.i.p. 😢])

Doctor Who

Travelers

Manifest

Movies 📽

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

Love, Simon

Cartoons/Anime 🍞

Yu-Gi-Oh! (DM, GX, 5Ds, ZeXal, Arc-V, currently watching VRAINS and Sevens, have yet to start Go-Rush)

Code Lyoko*

Video Games 🎮

Resident Evil (played all mainline games, some spinoffs, faves are RE2make, Village, and Revelations 2, Ethan Winters is my husband)

Horizon (Zero Dawn, Forbidden West)

Persona (mostly 3 and 5, still need to finish 4, but Kanji is bae)

Fire Emblem (have played all except FE1, 2, 3, and about halfway through 5 but keep losing interest, Engage was FANTASTIC, but Ike is my favorite character)

Zero Escape (999, VLR, ZTD, Sigma Klim is my husband)

Life is Strange (particularly LiS2, but I love them all)

The Legend of Zelda

Golden Sun*

Music Artists 🎼

Paramore

Neck Deep

The Wonder Years*

Other

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG

*fandoms/media I was once very involved in, but not as much anymore, still enjoy though fandoms/media i consider to be some of my faves/am very active in will (try and remember to) update as new things become relevant to me lmfaoo

[ao3feed-toshinko]

What's Up Danger? Um... Actually, It's Deku

by Anon9876

Alright, fine...

I'll do this one. More. Time.

My name is Peter B. Parker, for the past twenty-two years, I thought I was the one and only Spiderman. Turns out, I was wrong. I got sucked into another universe, hung out with some other versions of me, mentored the crap out of Miles, and saved the day, like I always do.

Except... for some reason, the Super Collider decided to send me back to his world the, uh, scenic route. And this one's... probably the weirdest. This time, I wasn't dropped into an alternate New York, I was dropped into an alternate Japan, where everyone has superpowers.

But there's gotta be a Spiderman here, right?

Words: 6116, Chapters: 1/3, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Spider-Verse (Sony Animated Movies)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Uraraka Ochako, Peter B. Parker (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Nezu, Class 1-A (My Hero Academia), Tsukauchi Naomasa, Rhino (Sort of), Mentioned Holland + Maguire + Garfield Spidermen, Mentioned Miles Morales - Character

Relationships: Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako, Peter B. Parker/Mary Jane Watson, Midoriya Inko/Yagi Toshinori | All Might, (IMPLIED)

Additional Tags: Multiverse, Canon Divergence - Movie: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018), Not Across The Spiderverse Compliant, The Thematic Idea of Spiderman, Peter Thinks Midoriya is Spiderman, is he wrong tho?, Teen Romance, Relationship Advice, Peter Parker's Sage-like Wisdom, Parental Peter Parker, The Classic 'Nezu Finds A Hobo And Asks Him To Teach At UA', The Hobo In This Case Being Peter, a touch of angst, a touch of fluff, Todoroki's conspiracy theories

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54815143

[ao3feed-izch]

What's Up Danger? Um... Actually, It's Deku

by Anon9876

Alright, fine...

I'll do this one. More. Time.

My name is Peter B. Parker, for the past twenty-two years, I thought I was the one and only Spiderman. Turns out, I was wrong. I got sucked into another universe, hung out with some other versions of me, mentored the crap out of Miles, and saved the day, like I always do.

Except... for some reason, the Super Collider decided to send me back to his world the, uh, scenic route. And this one's... probably the weirdest. This time, I wasn't dropped into an alternate New York, I was dropped into an alternate Japan, where everyone has superpowers.

But there's gotta be a Spiderman here, right?

Words: 6116, Chapters: 1/3, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Spider-Verse (Sony Animated Movies)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Uraraka Ochako, Peter B. Parker (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Nezu, Class 1-A (My Hero Academia), Tsukauchi Naomasa, Rhino (Sort of), Mentioned Holland + Maguire + Garfield Spidermen, Mentioned Miles Morales - Character

Relationships: Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako, Peter B. Parker/Mary Jane Watson, Midoriya Inko/Yagi Toshinori | All Might, (IMPLIED)

Additional Tags: Multiverse, Canon Divergence - Movie: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018), Not Across The Spiderverse Compliant, The Thematic Idea of Spiderman, Peter Thinks Midoriya is Spiderman, is he wrong tho?, Teen Romance, Relationship Advice, Peter Parker's Sage-like Wisdom, Parental Peter Parker, The Classic 'Nezu Finds A Hobo And Asks Him To Teach At UA', The Hobo In This Case Being Peter, a touch of angst, a touch of fluff, Todoroki's conspiracy theories

source: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54815143

[starlightshore]

replying to all those who gave recs on d*sney +! bit of a long post because of all the responses ^_^;

bonethievery:im not sure if its on disney+ but star vs evil is good (i watched it on hulu but it was a disney xd show). idk a lot of disney shows.

oh i used to watch that show! i don’t really feel like finishing it tho, i'm watching a lot of plot heavy shows rn and i’m going to burn out soon.

bonethievery:That being said, this is not a Disney show or on D+ but if you like wander over yonder you might like Kid Cosmic! It's on Netflix, made by the same person!

oh i do plan on watching that! they got a 2nd season coming out soon and a 3rd season planned! I plan on watching it once season 2 is out :>

soothedcerberus:Looks like you’re planning on watching all the good stuff, and I can’t remember if you seen it or not but I definitely recommend treasure planet 🥺

;-; i want to watch it! i remember i saw it in theaters and can’t remember it so i look forward to it.

kizzerific:I don't like the MCU, but I did enjoy Wandavision. It's an examination of grief and trying to reconstruct what you love with honestly top-notch effects.

mayyybeeee. i’m really tired of the MCU* and i’m super burnt out on super heroes in general, though i have heard good things and the themes of that do resonate with me. i might watch it, i dunno yet tho.

(I actually do like Guardians of the Galaxy 1/2 and Thor 3 tho)

uselessundertalefacts:I like phineas and ferb and Milo Murphy’s Law a lot :)

sadly i doubt i’ll have the stamina to watch both shows within a month ): but thank you for the rec! i heard they’re both good shows ^_^

obnoxiousavian:If you’re into documentaries, there’s quite a few of those (as well as some “vintage” shows). Personally, I like the animation and theme park history stuff like the imagineering story (goes over how all of the theme parks were created), The Story of the Animated Drawing (from the 50s, talking about the history of the medium, narrated by Walt), Inside Pixar, and the Pixar Story

oooo i’ll check them out! i know i’ve seen one of the pixar documentaries before so i’m unsure which one though. i’m not really into the theme parks, but who knows maybe it’d be fun hehe. (i do like Defunctland on occasion, but that's despite the topic matter)

potato-arts:Duck tales is an awesome series I highly recommend it

OH YEAH! i wanted to watch that one! i saw a few episodes of season 1 back when it was airing but i moved out of my dad’s and couldn’t get back into it without cable. its a good show ;-;

krippyman:2017 spiderman

maybe! as above i’ve mentioned i’m burnt out on super heros, so that includes spiderman. (exception being spiderverse) but i’ll probably give it a shot -i liked the early 2000s spiderman cartoon so at the very least it’ll be a nostalgic trip hehe.

Anonymous asked: I think fish hooks might be fun to watch :] its pretty goofy and slice of life stuff if you like that type of stuff

i’ll give it a shot! also its really nice u picked an older/obscure show. i hate how time makes shows disappear! people pour their souls into these shows and a perfectly decent/lovely show can be forgotten because it’s not one of the “greats.” not everything has to be an spectacular adventure show to be remembered.

thank you all for the recs! it was such a nice surprise to get so many thoughtful answers ;v;

[thedragonemperess]

hi i am having Thoughts about your jatp x spiderman into the spiderverse au

because on one hand, miles!julie because main character energy, and i think having the boys be transported into her dimension would most definitely fit with the way that the boys were summoned via CD

and then on the other the personalities don't exactly match up? no offense to miles, but julie seems to keep her cool much better than miles, and i think their senses of humor are just generally different. thoughts?

The more people talk to me about AUs, the more I realize that I think of them very differently than most do.

When I think of AUs, I usually think of the characters taking roles of characters in whatever piece of media you're using as the AU.

It's more or less like a stencil to me.

What I want to trace, I'll trace, but if I want to do something that I can't do with the stencil I'll get rid of it. Then, I color in the picture.

But yeah, I see where you're coming from. If you want to pick a character who matches Miles, then Julie is definitely not the character you should be picking.

Luke could work, because of his issues with his parents.

Carrie could work, because Trevor could very easily fit into the spot of Uncle Aaron.

Alex could work, because of his issues with his parents and their senses of humor are really similar.

Reggie could work, because he's probably the most book-smart character in the show.

No character in JATP is a perfect match for Miles. I'd be upset if they were. It really depends on how you're writing the AU and who you want this to be focused on.

However, if you want to do it how I was thinking, I'd say Julie is the perfect choice for Miles.

Listen to this:

"After a series of events in which our protagonist loses course of their life, they gets mixed up with a group of strangers that basically appear out of nowhere. These strangers have seemingly nothing in common, except for one thing. They use that one thing to get along, create a special bond, and team up. Eventually, our protagonist is forced to step into their greatness and help save the day and overcome the antagonist."

That little blurb can almost definitely describe thousands of movies and tv shows, and Julie and the Phantoms and Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse are just two of them.

How you figure out who takes whose role is really up to how the writer wants to set it up. There are probably more ways to figure it out than the two I mentioned, but those are the biggest ones coming to mind and the ones I see most commonly used.

I hope this helps!!

[everlastingfable]

a jumbled mess of my thoughts about voltron

This’ll probably be the messiest post you’ll ever read. I’m done trying to finish this and edit it into something coherent, so I’m just combining the 3 drafts I have written out into one massive post. I doubt anyone will read this whole thing, but each draft is a sort of rewrite of the last, so there’s a lot of overlap. But there’s also a lot of new thoughts too as I kept thinking about this. There’s also a lot of unfinished thoughts.

There’s mostly negativity in this btw. This fandom had/has an amazing ability in making you think that this show was utter garbage. on par with riv//erdale or s//pn, but it really wasn’t. Like many shows they had weak points, it was never perfect, but it’s much better than we’re told to remember it as.

Intro from Draft 3 because I liked the way I started it:

This is all of my thoughts about Voltron, the show itself and the fandom. I have tried to write this post out for over a year or two now, so it was originally intended to be my final thoughts about the show. Obviously, it’s evolved since then into whatever this is. There may be some things that I’ll be wrong about, because I’m not about to dig through hundreds of discourse posts and old interview videos to prove a point that I doubt anyone’s gonna care about. This will 100% be based on my thoughts, opinions, and experiences.

That said, I don’t even know how to begin to describe how much I love this show. I’m probably one of the few people who have no regrets about enjoying this show as much as I do. I’d wholeheartedly recommend watching it, because it’s genuinely a good show. Voltron did the unimaginable for me. I don’t usually enjoy sci-fi stories. I especially don’t enjoy mecha stories. Yet somehow, Voltron combined the two and made a show that I loved so much I can’t stop thinking about it even though it ended over 2 years ago.

Draft 1: thoughts about a year after it ended without rewatching any seasons since it ended

It’s been about a year since voltron ended. I never wrote my thoughts about s8/the show then so here it is now. Because I decided to wait a year I honestly don’t remember a lot of specifics. But I still have a lot to say about it. This is very long and is basically everything I have to say about this show. I love voltron. It’s been an important part of my life during college. 90% of all papers I wrote were about voltron. But as much as I love it, I won’t deny that it fell apart at the end. 

Note: I tried to categorize these thoughts so I don’t get off topic and can talk about everything fully. But because they overlap so much there’s definitely some minor repeats when I connect two parts but decided to hold off talking about it all the way until the right section.

PRODUCTION

This is something I’ve expressed concern over while it was airing, but in a span of 2 and a half years, they premiered 78 episodes. That’s a lot, especially when you consider that production for s3 started after s1 premiered. There’s a lot of really good voltron review videos out there that aren’t just “oh I’m so cool I hate voltron” but there was one that talked about how the production was a mess and the writers couldn’t make up their mind for the endgame ship. And while that doesn’t sound like an important issue, it really does show when it comes to how characters are written together and (I think) the fandom war. 

Summarizing what that video said because I don’t remember who made it, the writers/producers never made up their mind on which ship was supposed to be endgame (klance, sheith, allurance, kallura). And this really does show in the show itself. I don’t like klance. I especially hate it because of my experience with the fandom, but I won’t deny that they were sometimes written romantically. The same goes for sheith. And that’s the problem. 

I don’t think the world building parts of the show was fully developed either. Shiro was supposed to be a teen like everyone else but then he was an adult. His and keith’s relationship was honestly vague for a good while. I don’t think anyone really knew how each characters’ relationships with each other was supposed to progress. Was allurance always supposed to be endgame? Because they didn’t really interact that much until like season 6, and then it was kinda sudden from what I remember. There was very little, if at all, parts where we were shown oh allura might like lance romantically. Keith’s relationship with the main cast didn’t exist for like 3 seasons. It was messy. 

Speaking of which, keith disappeared for a good portion of the show. I assume it’s because steven yeun was busy. Which is fine but then I think about how quickly voltron came and went, I wonder why they couldn’t slow down a bit so they could still have steven voice keith during those episodes. Maybe it’s because of how much I love keith, but he honestly felt like a central character to me. 

If I think about teen titans, for example, this show also had 5 main characters. Sometimes certain characters would get a spotlight for a season, but all-in-all they were fairly equally represented. It didn’t feel like robin was the main character. But that’s how I feel about voltron. Keith, and shiro to an extent are the main characters. A good portion of the plot relies on them. Shiro got kidnapped, keith leads them to the blue lion. Shiro is the leader with keith has his right-hand man and they mostly interact with each other. So when shiro “dies” and keith takes over, it starts to feel like keith is now the main character. Now he’s the leader and the arc is about him growing into becoming the black paladin and stopping lotor, who is his main enemy. But then he disappears. 

Again this is most likely because of my bias towards keith, but the episodes after that felt lackluster. Lance didn’t really get his character growth to become a good second-in-command. Because that development was supposed to be based around keith. :P. A big part of lance’s growth is to learn to stop needing to feel that he’s better than keith. And him accepting keith as the black paladin was a huge part of it. But with shiro as the leader again lance loses that development. Keith’s not in the picture anymore, and the person in-charge was already in a leadership position and has nothing to learn by being there. 

Before I go way too deep into my thoughts about the plot/characterization, I do want to mention the animation. The fighting scenes are amazing and one of the most beautiful 2d animation I’ve seen. That is, when it is actually animated and not just the camera panning on a still image. Here’s where my biggest concern over the time comes in. 2 years is absolutely not enough time to animate that many episodes. I was genuinely worried for the animation company because it could not have been a good experience. And yes, we got more episodes sooner, the quality definitely dropped and it’s a real shame. Who knows when we’ll get another american cartoon in this style. I love this animation style but it takes time and a lot of skills to do, so not that many companies do it. I honestly wished they took their time with the show not just to get more time to animate, but also to flesh out some of the plot.

PLOT

As hunk said in one episode, they don’t linger on dramatic events that just happened. This show is very fast paced, and that’s not a bad thing. But they never took the time they needed to really feel the weight of everything that happens. Keith’s galra heritage reveal was basically swept under the rug. So was the shiro clone, lotor’s death, zarkon’s death, naxzela, and so many more. In general, that was a big problem with how the episodes went. If it wasn’t for the sheer number of fanfics covering those topics, they were really swept under the rug. It honestly kinda felt like the writers didn’t know what to do with the aftermath of their reveals. But some of these were pretty essential to the plot of the story. 

Keith’s part galra! So he doesn’t look it but there had to be obstacles with voltron forming the coalition. He’s part of the race that caused this war. I honestly think we should’ve seen that reveal become part of the plot, or what was the point of it? They could’ve just as easily wrote keith to be a regular human just like everyone else. Taking the time to add that part of his character needs to have some significance in the story. And yeah, they had krolia appear but she wasn’t really a significant character except to kinda magically fix keith’s problems. In general it felt like they forgot parts that they were foreshadowing with keith. Why could he turn purple sometimes? Did that quintessence he was hit with fix him or help him hide the galra parts? Why does he look so human? What is up with him having that quintessence sensitivity? I’m all for shows ending with some questions unanswered because sometimes it’s impossible to answer it all and let it feel natural, but this just felt like they forgot or decided it’s too much of a hassle and just ignored it.

Okay going into more specifics now, s8 was kinda meh. It especially felt bad because it came out the same day as spiderverse which had a very similar villain motivation, but objectively done better. I think honerva’s motivation came out of nowhere. We see in the flashback episode that she was so intent on getting knowledge that it literally destroyed daibazaal. So, it was established that her motivation is knowledge. Even though she lost her memory and regained it, as haggar she was still very focused on quintessence. We know she was gathering a lot of it, and maybe they said it and I forgot, but we never knew why. Family wasn’t really shown as a motivation for her. Even with lotor it didn’t seem like she wanted to be a family again, but instead was using him for her own unknown motivations. Anyways, the season felt awkward. And the new dynamic they had really needed more time. The last season should’ve expanded to be at least 2 more. It would’ve fit a lot better imo. S1-2 would have zarkon as the main villain, s3-6 would have lotor, and s7-8 would have haggar, who was also the puppeteer throughout the entire show. But she didn’t appear for s7 and her motivations didn’t really make sense in s8 so it evidently felt rushed. There were also so many major characters in s8 we needed more time to see them interact. 

So the ending with allura becoming constellations. Gonna be honest that whole last part had me confused. Especially with the fact that I barely remember what happened, why are the old paladins like trapped in the lions? I could excuse the other 4 but zarkon? Especially a zarkon that’s not corrupted? It was weird and didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and that’s all I’ll say about that. I don’t even want to try to suggest an alternative because I think that whole last half of the season is so messy it can’t be fixed. But it was so obviously pandering to the fandom it hurt. Lance getting those marks was so obviously referencing when people wanted lance to be altean in response to keith’s galra heritage. The shiro/curtis kiss was very “look see he is gay and not just because we said so” while nice, was very weak (why wasn’t keith in the shot?).

Despite my complaints, I remember liking s8. I really liked the addition of the atlas, even though it didn’t feel like we were watching voltron anymore sometimes. S7 had to be one of my favorite episodes since s2. Not to say that s7 is better or worse, but I really like it because it felt like a genre shift. I usually don’t like space sci-fi or mecha stories. Voltron somehow managed to combine the two and make me love it. S7 did not feel like either of those. First, a good half of it took place on earth. And I believe two episodes didn’t even have the main cast, and when team voltron finally made it to earth, voltron wasn’t even there until the final battle. I genuinely loved it. I think it was a very well done invasion/apocalyptic story that doesn’t get told in animation that often. But if I think about s7 with the rest of the show, it was awful. It broke up the tone the show usually had and it was a very different way of storytelling that voltron didn’t have before. It wasn’t a space sci-fi mecha story, it was an apocalyptic action story. Voltron was so unimportant they sat on a moon for episodes. It stopped becoming voltron and started becoming a spin-off. 

I do have to add that I absolutely loved the color themes in s7. We already had purple for the galra, but in s7 it was very obvious that alteans are themed blue and earth is themed with orange. I loved it so much and it was great. I do like that they gave shiro something to do. Honestly not killing him off in s2 made him an awkward character afterwards. But I didn’t like that they brought back sendak. There was no explanation for it and it wasn’t good imo. He didn’t really do anything besides conquer earth then die. Haggar was also absent the entire season which definitely didn’t help her storyline in s8 because we didn’t know what she was doing the entire time except abandoning everyone who was loyal to her. 

I’m usually not a fan of time skips, it has the tendency to gloss over character development or create glossed over recap. Honestly I wish voltron spent more time over the blade of marmora massacre or just the bom in general. They received no rest. Literally everyone part of that group died except for kolivan. Speaking of that episode, there was no explanation for how keith was able to know where macidus was about to appear and that honestly bugs me. There’s so much about keith we don’t know. He has so many abilities we were just never told. 

Again a lot of problems within team voltron is that there was never any follow up on things that happened, like keith leaving the team. He becomes the black paladin and no one bats an eye. Lance did make one comment about keith leaving but then it wasn’t ever mentioned again. I get that the writers/producers wanted the dynamic the original had, but they didn’t take the time to work up to it. Keith wasn’t a natural leader, but he suddenly is because he spent 2 years on a space whale with his mom and a space wolf. Like I mentioned earlier, voltron feels like keith is the main character but then they dropped him for a few episodes, realized that he’s important and added him back in while saying “oh he went through a time skip so he grew into the role he needs to be in now”. It feels like a cheap pay off.

I’d like to specifically talk about my thoughts on each season and work back but honestly I don’t think I can remember s3-6 separately. So they’re being chunked together. 

Lotor had the potential to be a really great villain. But he had to be foiled with keith. They have a lot of similarities that I think could’ve really played off well together. Lotor isn’t really allowed to have a leadership position. Yeah he was technically in charge while zarkon was recovering, but haggar didn’t really allow him full control. But, he was a great leader. He knew how to read his enemies and form an alliance. Meanwhile, keith had a leadership position thrusted to him, and frankly he wasn’t a good leader. He tends to keep to himself so he never really has to make decisions with a team. It could’ve been great, but shiro had to still be in the story. I’m honestly conflicted about this because on the one hand, I think it really ruined character developments for the main cast, but then I loved the clone shiro plot line. I think keeping shiro prevented keith from growing. He was able to remain dependent on shiro instead of actually bonding with the rest of the paladins. And of course he had to just go awol. Also, lance didn’t really get to have as prominent of a role as I think he could’ve had with keith. 

These seasons are also when the lions stopped being sentient robots that specifically choose their paladins to just really cool spaceships. We don’t get that level of bonding that was so prominent in s1 and 2. That’s also something I’m conflicted with. I think the lion swap was a great way for character developments, but it also removed a lot of it. It kinda made the bonding feel useless. The swap also changed the dynamic of the group. Instead of shiro and allura being co-leaders, and everyone else feeling like they’re on equal footing, it felt like Keith was the leader with lance being a needed right-hand man. Hunk and pidge were off doing their thing and allura was a leader but also not. Maybe if they had spent more time working with this dynamic it would’ve felt better. But they didn’t and it didn’t. Voltron also implied that allura was the only one that could control the castle ship, but then she goes to become a paladin and who’s driving the ship?

I do wish we could’ve gotten more about the altean colony and the reveal about lotor’s plans, but that got overshadowed and forgotten by the clone shiro reveal. Maybe I just missed it, but I wasn’t sure what the galra empire and lotor were collecting quintessence for. Was it just to make mechs to rival voltron? Lotor’s death was also very unclear. 

The coalition was a much needed thing, but I think very badly executed. They were gathering people from malls. These people are regular civilians who probably don’t know how to fight or fly a ship. I thought it was really weird that they were just getting regular people (aliens?) to sign up like they’re applying to be part of the army. But we never see them maybe join the rebel force matt is part of to learn how exactly to help. I think about avatar and how they also had a rag tag group of people to fight against the fire nation, but these weren’t just regular people living in a village. They were either warriors or very skilled benders. The voltron coalition was just regular people. That genuinely annoyed me because the voltron show just felt like those army propaganda ads, but exciting. Not to mention it was a very hard to watch episode. 

It was definitely making fun of how the fandom complains about how characters are getting reduced to a certain characteristic. But it wasn’t done in an entertaining way like the ember island players episode from atla because some of those were legit complaints (like hunk being the fat/food guy) and that stuff wasn’t resolved. Like the ember island players made fun of sokka constantly talking about meat or katara crying all the time, but the show made it very clear beforehand that these characters are much more than that. Is hunk really more than the food guy? As far as the show mentions, the only things he’s done was make the machine to help find the blue lion, and help save the balmera. All of which was in season 1. After that hunk honestly took the backseat in voltron.

I mentioned earlier, but the time skip on the space whale felt like we were cheated out of keith’s character development. I mean we got development, but we didn’t get to see it. The vlog short showed that keith believes a lot of his problems stems from not having a mom (and a dad) in his life. But instead of seeing keith learning to trust and open up to people despite having so many people in his life leaving him, we get a cute montage of him with his mom. As if it makes sense that two years with his mom would fix everything. (side note, I know a lot of people were saying how obvious it was that krolia was keith’s mom, I genuinely did not know until she said so at the end of that episode).

I’m not gonna talk about my thoughts on s1 and 2 because I’m pretty sure I live blogged those and honestly I don’t think I remember it. 

CHARACTERS

Now I’m finally talking about the characters and I’m starting off with keith as if I haven’t talked about him enough already. I love keith. He’s undeniably one of my (if not the) favorite characters ever. And he’s obviously a fandom favorite if we’re considering the two biggest ships in the fandom. Or maybe he really is just the secret main character of voltron. We know so much about him, for someone who loves keith, it’s great. We basically know his entire backstory, and yet we know no one else’s (except maybe lotor but even that’s iffy).

I never rewatched a single voltron episode since it ended, and I can’t watch any of the connected shows (meaning shows that have the same ppl that worked on it or the same fans, think dragon prince and she-ra) because the fandom was the absolute worst one I’ve ever been in and parts legit trigger me. I am fascinated with fandoms. I love it. I chose my major because it was the closest I could get to just learning about them 24/7. But the voltron fandom was so incredibly toxic and over two ships? Honestly the fandom itself was a major reason why I couldn’t get super invested in the later seasons. I get afraid when it seems like a certain ship might happen. I actually hoped that certain characters just didn’t interact. (I’m not gonna get much deeper in this because I don’t want to touch this topic with a ten-foot pole, at least not now) Aside from that, I think that the plot and characterizations for voltron got really messy post s2. The lion switch was never handled well imo, and post switch the lions lost that sentient personality that was established in the first two seasons. It also didn’t make sense aside from the writers wanted everyone in the original lions. Or at least, we never got the proper character developments into those roles. Keith left right after becoming the black paladin. 

I think another major problem with the show is how some decisions felt like pandering. I remember hearing that they didn’t kill off shiro because he was a fan favorite, so he had to stay for marketing and to make more money. But then keeping shiro alive would’ve derailed the original plot idea. I wish I could see how the story would’ve played out with shiro staying dead.

Draft 2: rewatched the show then started writing this

So I wrote a draft of this like a year ago, realized I don’t remember the show much, so I rewatched the whole show and started rewriting my thoughts.

Pre-rewatch thoughts: It was a good show that was poorly executed

Mid-rewatch thoughts: it’s a really good show that just has some weak points (the second half of lotor’s arc, team voltron’s importance in season 4-6 it feels like a lot of filler episodes until keith shows up again)

End-rewatch thoughts: it's actually a really good show. It has some weak points and some really strong points. Season 8 was confusing though. I went through most of it going yeah okay I guess that can happen.

Final verdict: it's a genuinely good show

What went wrong

It ended on its weakest season, which was also the most abstract and different season. While the main antagonist changed throughout the seasons, it still continued to be the galra empire. Even when lotor joined, the team was still fighting fractions of the galra empire. Meanwhile, season 8 didn’t have any conflict with the galra. The antagonists were honerva and the alteans, who are very different types of villains compared to the galra. There was also little build up to that change. Sure, we got to experience that briefly in season 3 when they went to the alternate reality, but I don’t think that was built up well. Also, the protagonists and the audience are just not prepared. We don’t know how the alteans work like the extent of their abilities, but we were given dozens of episodes to learn about the galra. As a result season 8 just wound up with me feeling confused and thinking “uhh sure I guess they can do that, that makes sense maybe?”

It could not pick who its protagonist is. Yeah the five humans plus allura (and coran?) are the main characters but most shows with multiple major characters still focus one one character as the protagonist. Like atla has aang, adventure time has finn, umbrella academy has five. Voltron just never picks someone and the group constantly changes too, so you end up having to not focus on any character for the sake of time. Of course not all shows do that. Teen Titans had each season focus on a particular member of the team, and tbh I was wondering if that was what they were planning for the show, especially when season 2 was so Keith focused but guess not.

It feels like they did not have the time to fully flesh out the story. Voltron came and went so incredibly fast. They had 8 seasons (technically 6 if you group up the halved seasons). But also the show only lasted 2 years. It honestly horrifies me to think of the time crunch everyone on the team was going through, especially the animators. You can see the drop in quality as there were very few scenes that involved actual animation for the middle bulk of the show. So then, how much time did they have to develop the story, in addition to execs telling them what they can and can’t do. There’s so many arcs that seemed to start then get forgotten, and I don’t blame the writers for that at all. Although I wish we could’ve learned more about Lance and the Altean sword and Keith with his apparent quintessence sensitivity, they probably just didn’t have the time to plot those out.

It had too much outside influence. Such as, the writers wanting to kill off shiro, but then being forced to keep him on the show because the execs said to. And honestly, the fandom. For example, the whole last episode with Lance getting the Altean marks (an obvious omage to ppl wanting Altean Lance).

What went right

There’s a reason why the show became so popular (aside from being a reboot of a popular 80′s show) and it’s because of the characters. I’m not about the whole “we become attached to characters because the writers did them wrong but we fans can see the potential and that’s why fan works are better” bs that I see going around this site all the time. The first season particularly wrote these characters so well. They’re relatable but also intriguing enough for you to care about what’s going to happen to them. 

Some thoughts regarding popular fandom discussions:

It’s a plot-driven show with character-focused fans

I like to think of there being two ways to tell a story: by being character-focused or plot-driven. Plot driven shows are ones like atla, young justice, legend of korra, etc. There’s a conflict that gets introduced and the story revolves around that conflict. Character-focused shows are ones like adventure time or we bare bears, they’re less concerned about a plot line and focus more on the characters interacting with their world. Of course all stories incorporate both parts, just some focus more on one than the other. So, here’s where I think a lot of the issues about voltron and the fandom comes from. Voltron is a very obviously plot-driven show but the fandom is very character-focused. I won’t deny I loved the episodes about keith. Season 4 and 5 were hard for me to watch because I missed my boy. But that’s where the arguments come from. People get upset that their fav isn’t in the spotlight

It didn’t queerbait

I understand watching a show for representation, I really do, but voltron is not that show and that's okay. Not every show has to be revolutionary in its representation of marginalized people. I won't pretend to know the harmful tropes for marginalized people. My consumption of media is not usually diverse. But I will stand by my stance that a large part of voltron's later seasons is about the casualties of war. So of course a lot of people died. I also firmly believe that the producers had a much easier time adding diversity to their own created characters than the main voltron characters, because of rights and all that complicated nonsense. So as a result the ones who were more expendable and could die were also the same characters that they could add diversity too.

I’m gonna add the definition of queerbait here so we’re all on the same page:  Queerbait is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ representation.

But here’s the thing. We were told at comic-con or one of those cons that Shiro is gay, and he had a boyfriend. They actually gave us that. Yeah it wasn’t as explicit as She-ra got, but that’s another point for later. There was no lying about it. Shiro is canonically gay, and his boyfriend was Adam. If anything, this whole thing came out of wanting Keith in a relationship with Shiro or Lance. Yes. I will admit, there are plenty of scenes between Keith and Lance, and Keith and Shiro that can be read as romantic. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but did any of the cast members tease the possibility of Kl//ance or Sh//eith (VAs don’t count, sorry but they don’t really have a say in the story)? Because unless they did, and they did repeatedly, the fandom queerbaited themselves. So many people in the fandom were so certain that Keith would be in a relationship with one of them, there was basically an all out war. Even if there was a chance, did you really think the creators (who were pretty active in early fandom days) would continue that development? It was so so toxic they were forced to shut off any possibilities of that.

In regards to minority characters

Again, I'll admit vld is not the place to go for real, proper representation. Their characters tend to be characters that happen to be a part of a minority rather than a minority character. wtf does that mean? Well, you can swap (earth) races for just about any character and it wouldn't make too much of a difference in how they act. There's some lines that wouldn't work like Lance's "I'm just a boy from Cuba" but other than that there would be no significant change. Of course this goes down to preference. Would you want a minority character whose struggles reflect those in real life and as a result be defined by that aspect of themselves, or do you want a character that just happens to be a part of a minority group but whose life is not really affected by that? 

Draft 3: months after the rewatch, mostly an attempt to reorganize the previous two drafts

I’m gonna start with the negatives just to get the ranting off my chest. Season 8 was bad. Yeah. No argument there. Although I wouldn’t say it was bad in the same way Game of Thrones and Supernatural was bad. Rather, it was an interesting and complex premise that didn’t have the build up it needed and honestly needed a few more passthroughs to iron out some parts. At worse, I felt it was confusing to the point where I just accepted whatever new worldbuilding thing they threw at me. The issue with Season 8 vs Seasons 1-7 is that Season 8 had a completely different villain, and a brand new cast dynamic. We got 7 seasons (65 episodes) developing the Galra as the villain. We got to learn who they are, their motives, how they operate, etc. Not only that, but they were pretty basic and easy to understand villains. They’re conquerors. They don’t have any sort of magic, they really just use brute force to attack and enslave the planets. In striking contrast, the Alteans in Season 8 weren’t conquerors. They didn’t care about controlling the universe. They also had magic abilities that our main characters don’t understand and didn’t explore. Season 8 had villains who could create illusions, mind control, and manipulate quintessence. The Alteans are leagues beyond the Galra in terms of complexities as an antagonist, but they didn’t get nearly enough time to be fully developed.

Also, Season 8 essentially doubled the cast size. So despite the fact that we have yet to see much of Keith-as-the-black-paladin Voltron group dynamic, now that screentime is being balanced with the MFE pilots and other Garrison characters. Essentially, there were too many characters, and too little time to flesh out the ideas of this season. A side note, Haggar’s (Honerva?) motivations were lame. I think it would’ve been much more interesting if her plans were just to continue the research she did 10,000 years ago with the rift. That would’ve also brought back the rift monsters which we never got an answer for. What even are they? Instead, her goal to have a family again is really weak. Even in the flashbacks she never showed any care for the more familial aspects of her life. It didn’t make sense for that to be her drive. It also didn’t help that Season 8 came out on like the same day as Spiderverse and the antagonists for both had the same goal, but Spiderverse did an immensely better job.

Another thing that didn’t make sense to me was Keith giving the speech to the rest of the Galra. He is not the right character to give that speech. Sure he’s Galra, but he didn’t even know for most of his life. For him to say “we” like he’s also a citizen of the Galra empire feels so weird. He never grew up with the Empire’s influence, and we never saw him experiencing Galra culture with the Blade. He learned about the Galra as an outsider, and despite the fact that he’s part Galra (he doesn’t even remotely look Galra), I don’t think that gives him the authority to say a speech like that. The speech is similar to Zuko’s at the end of ATLA, and that makes me feel like it would’ve been a lot better had Lotor said it. I think even Kolivan would’ve been a better fit than Keith. 

The more I’m writing about Season 8, the more I’m remembering just how messy and confusing it was. Additionally, the last bit of Season 8 was so obviously pandering to the fandom it gives me second-hand embarrassment. Lance getting those marks was so obviously referencing when people wanted Lance to be Altean in response to Keith's galra heritage. The Shiro getting married was just to make it more obvious that he’s gay, but had no build up. (There were definitely more but I didn’t write myself a list and I’m not rewatching that season)

Second, “Voltron queerbaited”. [this was posted before here]

Speaking of which, Voltron premiered summer of 2016 and ended in winter of 2018. That’s about 2 and a half years where they aired 78 episodes. That’s stupid fast, especially for an animated series. I’m constantly worried about what the people working on that show had to endure. For sure, Season 3 with Shiro coming back wasn’t written until at least Season 1. I recalled the execs demanding that Shiro not be dead since he was a popular character. It’s honestly concerning how little time they had to work on the show, and it unfortunately showed. In the later seasons, a lot of the shots were just still frames that moved across the scene. And the plot line with Lotor could’ve used some work. Although, I think Shiro being forced in there was also a reason for it being so shaky.

I honestly hate Seasons 4 & 5. I cannot tell you what happened because my brain keeps erasing it. Obviously, the lack of Keith had a huge impact on my opinion of those seasons, but it also felt like a whole lot of filler episodes, and not the fun ones with character development. With Keith mostly out of the picture, and Lance becoming the right hand of Voltron, that should’ve been a great time to develop Lance to become a second-in-command. To have him go through an arc where he overcomes his insecurities. It would’ve also been an amazing time to develop his and Shiro’s relationship. But we didn’t get any of that. 

I genuinely believe Keith was supposed to stay the black paladin and Shiro wasn’t supposed to come back. Keith would be an amazing foil to Lotor. They’re both half-Galra. They’ve both been given a new leadership role that they don’t want. The middle arc always felt so weak to me, and as I mentioned earlier, the Allura/Lotor interactions were awkward. It feels shoehorned in because someone has to interact with Lotor and I guess the writers decided Allura was the best option?

Season 3-6 felt like the epitome of what happens when showrunners are forced to do whatever the execs say and have no time to properly develop their story. I’ll forever be bitter at all the character and relationship development we lost because of that. We never got to see Keith really learn to open up to the team and start to trust others. But Keith still had to get to that point, which is why I assume they had the time jump for him. It’s so disappointing because we lost what could’ve been a great character development. It also made Keith being the Black Paladin again feel cheap. We didn’t get to see the struggle he had to be the leader Shiro saw he could be. He was just suddenly leading them and they worked like a proper team.

Voltron also had a lot of plot holes. Now, I don’t expect shows to answer every question, because it’s impossible to tie everything up and leave no questions unanswered in a natural way. But, there’s a lot of things that felt like the beginning of a plot line or honestly needed some answers. Like, Lance shifting his bayard to a sword. What was the point of that if it was never mentioned again? It felt like that was an important start to an arc for him that just got forgotten. Also, what was up with Keith’s quintessence sensitivity? How was he able to sense where that druid was. How did he know he could summon his bayard to him. I think the part that bugged me the most was that Keith was the only one who did that. Also, Keith’s eyes becoming slitted during his fight with Kuron was never addressed, and I really wish it was. It felt like such a throwaway moment that could’ve been interesting to explore more. Although I’m not too upset with that one as I think we were given enough to piece together a reason for it. 

[icequeenoriginal]

The Meaning of FamILY

Note: I am so sorry for this taking centuries to come out, I blame laziness and writer’s block. So here it finally is, @khadij-al-kubra, the fic you requested. Again, I am so so sorry this took so long to get out. Also, this takes place a year after Intimacy and All Its Forms. Also Happy Late One Year Anniversary of this AU’s blog. 

Thank you @theromnempire for editing. You’re the best!

Names of side characters belong to @hi-i-love-u-bitch. This AU belongs to @ask-spiderverse-virgil and @sugarglider9603

Trigger Warnings: Deaths mentioned, two past minor character death, crying (Let me know if I missed anything)

Pairings: Prinxiety and Logicality

~

Roman was ushered into the living room by his older sister. He couldn’t understand why. Normally when his father came home, he would see Roman sitting at the kitchen table, doing his homework and his father would walk over and ask about before changing out of his work clothes.

Maybe it was a celebration! Or maybe a surprise! But…why was Amá crying?

Roman’s mother looked up and locked eyes with her confused, innocent son. It made her burst into more tears and Roman ran to comfort her.

“¿Amá?¿Por qué lloras mami?” Roman asked while tilting his head to the side. 

Lupita couldn’t help but smile at Roman, almost forgetting what had just happened. She frowned, and more tears fell as she realized what she had to do now.

“Roman ...mi Valiente chico…tengo algo que decirte...se trata de tu padre…”

~

Roman woke up with a start like he did every year on this day. It’s always the same memory that would wake him up like clockwork, ending right before his mom said the words that shattered his world forever. Roman’s brain liked to torture him but pretend to forget the worst part.

He decided not to think about it and just dressed. 

Roman never noticed how quiet the house actually was on this day. Any other day of the year, even if he was the first to wake up, there was some kind of noise. It could be anything from the humming of the ceiling fan or people rushing to get breakfast ready. But today, nothing. All the sounds of the apartment were swept out as if the family occupying the house needed a reminder of what was happening

Maybe Roman just lost his touch with reality on this day. He was never sure, not that it really mattered. He knew the world did not stop just because he is in a shitty mood. Did that ever make him feel any better? No, but it gave him a false motivation to get up and get ready for school.

He walked to the twins' room, like every day, to get them ready for school. Any other of the 365 days of the year, the twins would already be awake, fully ready to run around and make Roman’s morning even more hectic. Today, both had a blanket over their heads and he could hear his little sister sniffling.

He wished it was because of a cold. It never was.

“Vamos, es hora de levantarse,” Roman said, just loud enough for the twins to hear, worried if his voice went any height they could hear how broke it was. 

“NO!” both Jenni and Marco shouted, pulling the blanket simultaneously over their heads. Roman wanted to laugh at the sight, badly.

Instead, he sighed “No no, you guys gotta get up and go to school.”

“NO!” Marco shouted 

“It’s a bad day today!” Jenni cries

“I know guys but we can’t miss school,” Roman said softly.

“We’ll go to school tomorrow!” 

“Yeah, when it’s not Papi’s death day!”

Roman inhaled sharply, it was the first time of the day someone acknowledged what the 17th of February meant. The house somehow got even muter, if that was possible. His sister and brother burst into tears and Roman felt his face heat up. But he couldn’t cry, he was-

A soft, reassuring hand landed on his shoulder as he took a step forward. 

“Amá…” Roman said, his voice strained

Lupita’s eyes were full of storms of sadness, threatening a downpour. “Roman ... ve y desayuna.”

Roman shook his head. He could do it, he had to. His mother had enough on her plate. “Pero Amá--” Lupita cut him off.

“Está bien. No te preocupes por eso”

Roman sighed “Okay.” He was too tired to argue. This day seemed to already take so much out of him and it had hardly had started.

Roman sulked to the kitchen and made himself some toast. Something quick, easy and he was least likely to get sick from. He stared absently, unfortunately making eye contact with his father in an old happy family photo. He sucks in his breath as silent memories began to haunt him like they always do. He hated those more than any amount of his siblings sobbing or screaming in agony. He could tune those out with music, his one constant. These just got louder and louder no matter what he tried.  

What snapped him out of the pitiful void was a vibration from his phone. He pulled it out to reveal a text notification from Patton.

Bestie <3: I’ll be on the fire escape in a minute! Alex stole my sweater again :(((

Roman frowned, had he really taken that long to get ready? He hadn’t even made anyone’s lunch or even breakfast. He wasn’t even sure he was ready to talk to anyone today. Much less to get their glances of pity. Constantly hearing “sorry for your loss” got old quick. Besides, he didn’t want to bring anyone down, especially his best friends, just because of what today is. He sighed and texted Patton back:

Romaine Lettuce :): It’s okay. I’m gonna swing over to school today, go on without me.

Roman saw that Patton had read his text but he didn’t reply. Roman didn’t think much of it, he figured he was still chasing Alex around, and just grabbed his toast as soon as it was done in the toaster.

“Amá! I’m heading out to school! I love you! Bye!” Roman didn’t wait for a reply and ran up the stairs that lead to the roof as he put on his costume. Web swinging always seemed to calm his nerves, or more accurately, distracted him. Something about one mistake and you can fall to your death really makes your other problems seem small. As he was about to fire his first web, a voice shouted for him to halt. 

Patton ran up to him, also in full costume “Wait for me!”

“Pat?” Roman asked, not trying to hide his confusion. “What are you doing here?”

Although Patton had the mask on, It wasn’t hard to tell he was smiling. “I’m going to swing with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know but I want to head to school with you like I always do.”

Roman felt a mixture of happiness and guilt swirl around in his stomach, creating an unpleasant cocktail make just for him. Not that he knew what a cocktail tasted like. 

Roman gave a small smile behind his mask “Okay then Pat, I’ll race you” and took off without another word.

They swung without another word, which relieved Roman. He didn’t want to be asked about how he was doing, the answer was obvious and Roman was tired of being asked it.

Unfortunately, this feeling did not last and Roman quickly returns to his self-pity and dark thoughts. Roman was so lost in his brooding thoughts of the bombardment of sympathy that he would receive through the day that he did not see the tall building in front of him. Thankfully, Patton did and webbed Roman quick enough so that he landed on the roof.

Well...landed is a generous term here. With how fast Roman was going, Patton had to quickly web him and throw him on the roof of the building.

Patton landed gracefully next to him. He placed his hands on his hips and said: “Okay, that’s enough swinging for you, mister!”

“I’m fine Patton, I just wasn’t paying attention this time.”

Patton shook his head, “You’re distracted, understandably so and I know you don’t want to talk about it, even though you should, but I won’t make you. It’s not safe Roman! I can’t let my best friend get hurt again! Not on my watch…”

Roman could see the agony swept into Patton’s eyes. He knew that memories of the year before, bad ones brought nothing but pain, were swarming Patton’s mind. Memories of Roman avoiding him, the fighting, the robot battle, all were tearing Patton down. It was a look far too familiar to him.

Roman ran to Patton as he began to shake. Roman muttered an apology that seemed small to himself but was perfect to Patton. Once Patton was able to calm himself down, he hugged Roman tightly, to show he was never going to let him go. 

“Let’s walk to school okay? I know a game we can play. It’s called “Beautiful Things’. As we walk, we point out the beautiful things we see and why we find them beautiful. Alex and Georgie made it up after Frankie…passed…and we played it all the time”

Roman raised his mask just above his lip to show that he was smiling “That sounds great, Patton, I’d love to.” 

So they snuck off the roof, changed, and walked. They pointed out birds, children, babies, and music playing from cars. Roman had no idea that such a simple game could bring him so much calm, but it did. He never realized there is so much good in the world, that was what they, as heroes, fought for. 

When they got to school, Roman headed to his locker. To an outside viewer, it was nothing out of the ordinary. But for the four, it was breaking the sacred tradition. First, they would meet at Logan’s locker as it was the closest to the entrance. Then they would make their way to their own lockers while catching up with one another. Finally, they would arrive at homeroom to get ready for the school day. 

However, as Roman watched Patton saunter over and embrace Logan, his feet didn’t want to go anywhere except towards an island of isolation. He didn’t want to ruin the happy mood, especially after making Patton think of Frankie so early in the morning. What best friend forces you to remember your dead brother?

He opened his locker and slowly pulled out the books he would need until lunch. When that took less than a minute. He stared at the objects he taped onto the door of his locker over the course of the year. At the top was a small mirror that he suddenly did not want to look into. At the bottom is a whiteboard with reminders of tests written by Logan, supportive messages from Patton, and quick doodles by Virgil. He felt the tug of a small smile on his lips, though it went away quickly.

He had only begun scanning the dozens of photographs he had before two arms snaked their way around his waist. He felt warmth in his chest as his boyfriend’s lips were pressed on the space between his shoulder blades.

“Morning” Virgil said, tiredness leaking into his speech.

Roman smiled softly and leaned slightly into the touch. “What leads you to my neck of the woods?” Roman asked as if he did not already know the answer.

“I needed to escape before I drowned in the puppy love.”

It wasn’t the answer he was expecting so he pressed on, “What do you mean?” Roman turned his head slightly to look at Virgil. Virgil, without lifting his cheek off Roman’s back, unfortunately, removed one of his arms from around Roman and gestures to his right. 

In distance, Patton has Logan’s shirt held carefully in his fingers, playing with the buttons as he talked to Logan. Logan watched with nothing but love and appreciation in his eyes. Roman couldn’t help but sigh at the couple, he was part of the team that got them together after all. One of his best accomplishments, if he’d say so himself.. 

“It’s so sweet...disgusting.” Virgil continued. Switching from resting his cheek on Roman’s back to his chin, he looked up and said, “Now give me my good morning kiss.”

Roman chuckled and happily obliged. When they pulled apart, Virgil asks “I’m going to ask you a stupid question.”

“No question is stupid, love, ask away.”

“Are you okay?” “I stand corrected.” Virgil elbowed Roman in the side, both happy for their spider-strength for the opposite reasons. 

“I mean it, Ro. I know you hate being asked that question, especially today, but I rather you get annoyed with me than let something happen like last time. So I’ll ask again, are you okay?”

“I am.”

Virgil raises an eyebrow “Am what?”

“Fine.” “I asked you if you were okay”

“Same difference.”

“Big difference, people only say they’re fine when they don’t want to admit they aren’t okay.”

Roman just looked away, having nothing to really say, plus he didn’t want to argue. Virgil sighed and hugged him again. Roman doesn’t push away, the pressure behind his eyes getting more and more unbearable. His emotions were already becoming too much for him to handle. He hugged back, relishing in the warmth of another person. It was stupid, in his mind, since Virgil was just hugging him moments ago. 

With a sigh, Roman pulled back. He brushed his knuckles gently against Virgil’s cheek and whispered “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay because I’m sorry too,” Virgil said softly.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Virgil couldn’t help but smile at that. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t. And with that, I’m going to spend this whole day cheering you up.”

“Virge…You don’t have to. Really! There’s no reason to-“

Virgil suddenly poked Roman chest, silencing the boy. “Do you remember the day that marked the anniversary of my grandpa’s death?”

“Of course I do, you were so upset. You didn’t even want to leave your room”

“Yeah, and you know what you did? You broke into my room, like some lunatic by the way, wrapped me up like a burrito-“

“It’s called a blanket burrito for a reason.”

“Don’t interrupt me. You wrapped me up, put on all my favorite movies that I wasn’t even aware you remembered and fed me snacks as we cuddled. Not even Logan had thought of doing that, he would just let me lie under my blankets while he just sat in the room.” Virgil paused to smirk before continuing  “And I was never more grateful for you than at that moment.”

Roman’s face began to heat up. He couldn’t help it. No matter how big or small the compliment that Virgil would give him, he would turn into a blushing schoolgirl, ready to throw himself at Virgil and pepper him with kisses. 

He opted to just hug Virgil again, a silent thank you. They were in public after all. They had some class.

Virgil embraced him for a few moments before the warning bell went off. “Listen, I’m going to make sure today is not going to be total shit for you.”

Roman chuckled in response, “Thanks, stormcloud.” Roman took a step to walk to his class but stopped when Virgil firmly grabbed his hand, “Huh?”

“What? I can’t hold my boyfriend’s hand as we walk to class?”

Roman chuckled, if there was one thing he knew about Virgil is that despite his boyfriend’s wariness of physical affection, Virgil always saw things through. Roman gently squeezed Virgil’s hand, absorbing the love that came from that simple gesture. Logan told him a few months ago about Love Languages and how physical touch was definitely his. It was a nice bonding moment for him and Logan, and it made Virgil really happy. Roman was rewarded handsomely for it.

Compared to every other year since his dad died, this was actually a pretty good day. Virgil would bring him to every class, even the ones were Virgil’s classes were nowhere near. Virgil had to keep reassuring Roman that it was fine, “I will just use my invisibility and sneak in. It will be funny to see how confused my teachers will be.” It made Roman genuinely laugh, something seemingly unachievable on this day.

The classes he did share with Virgil were the best. Virgil left his non-writing hand resting on Roman’s shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze whenever he felt Roman quiver, shake or tense up. Which was often since their teacher would not stop shooting Roman sympathetic looks, even after Virgil glared at her. Other classes that Virgil wasn’t in, Virgil would wrap his hoodie around Roman before he headed off to his next class. People would focus on this action and how cute it was that Roman would forget, even for a few minutes.

Around lunch, Roman’s mood changed from melancholy to calm, relatively speaking. He wasn’t walking with his head down, and even partaking. The numb and somewhat painful feeling in his chest was still present, but it was no longer the black pit sucking his emotions into it like usual.

Already seated at the lunch table were Logan and Patton, whispering and smiling at one another. Before Roman could announce his presence to the couple, Virgil tugged him back. He nearly made Roman fall backward in the process, but they both knew it wasn’t intentional. They always forgot how strong their spidey strength actually was.

“Sorry!” Virgil said instinctively though he did start laughing as Roman caught himself.

“What was that for?” Roman asked once he regained his balance.

“I needed to tell you before I forget, I asked Thomas if we could borrow his living room for a movie night and he said yes. Ask your mom if you can stay over.”

Roman smiled, “That sounds great”

Virgil smiled back as the two sat in their normal seats. As soon as the two entered Patton’s vision, his eyes light and he pushed a plate covered in tin foil towards the couple. It wasn’t anything uncommon, Patton using any excuse to make people food, from “Virgil had a headache” cookies to “You saved a bus filled with little kiddos and the city still won’t give you a key!” double chocolate cake. Roman removed the tin foil to reveal donuts. It shocked Roman, he had a bit of an expectation that Patton would make one of Roman’s favorite desserts; like he always did in years past.

Roman looked up at Patton puzzled and Patton reached over the table to squeeze Roman’s arm as it rested on the cafeteria table. “I know you don’t want to make this day all about you, so I made something we all consider a normal snack. Is it okay?”

Patton’s eyes read desperate and Roman, half because he wanted to be a good best friend and half because he did not want Patton to use his Empath powers, smiled, and nodded.

“This is perfect, Pat.”

 Patton pulled back so he could properly muffle his squeal of delight since they were still in school and he did not want to get into trouble for “starting a disturbance.”

Logan whispered to Patton “You told me it was because you did not have enough time to make Roman his favorite cake.”

“...I can have multiple reasons” Patton whispered back, glad that Roman and Virgil were too busy bickering about the best Avenger to listen in. 

Everyone ate their lunches and donuts, just enjoying the time they had together. Logan commented on how he heard that Roman and Virgil would not join them on patrol and he hoped that they “don’t burn down Thomas’ apartment”. That earned him a look from Roman, a “Logie!’ from Patton and a kick in the shin from Virgil all at the same time.

“It was a simple precaution!” Logan shouted, only to be told to quiet down by the cafeteria monitor.

It would later become a memory they would always look back on, Virgil even including it into his best man speech at Logan and Patton’s wedding, much to Logan’s dismay.

~

Once lunch was over, Roman snuck into the bathroom and sent off a text to his mom asking if it was possible if he could stay over at Virgil’s, adding that if she needed him to come home then it would be fine. He didn’t want to be selfish. 

Roman figured he would get his reply by the end of the day since he knew his mom would be really busy at work and he wasn’t exactly sure when his mom had her lunch break. He put his phone in his pocket only to scare himself when his notification sound went off in the silent password. He pulled it out and his phone and had a new text from his mom.

Amá: Of course you can, Your sister is watching the twins today, go have fun. It’s what Papí would want. 

Roman smiled, a single tear fell down his face. His mom was the best.

~

Roman’s afternoon classes came and went, nothing exciting or saddening happened of note. Though it wouldn’t have mattered, the prospect of cuddles and Disney movies filled him with so much excitement and joy. 

As faith would have it, he had no play practice since their show season had just ended and Mr. Bell always gave them a week off so he could tie up any last loose ends and decide the dates for the next auditions. This gave him an extra two hours to spend with his boyfriend, perfect!

Roman ran up to Virgil’s locker and bounced on his toes as his boyfriend got his stuff together so they could head off. Virgil smirked and tilted his head to Roman, “You seem excited.”

Roman smiled and nods “I’m really excited for tonight”

“Oh?” Virgil teased “What’s happening tonight? I can’t remember anything important”

Roman lightly punched him in the arm “You’re so mean, remind me why I love you again?” “It was your choice to get into this relationship, Princey, don’t forget that” Virgil waved his hand as he spoke and Roman, to Virgil’s surprise, quickly snatched Virgil’s hand.

Roman smirked back “I am very aware, and I am so happy to have you.” He then kissed Virgil’s knuckles.

Virgil cursed his cheeks for the blush that always came when Roman did something romantic. He pulled his hand back and nervously giggled “Oh shush, let’s get going already.” 

Man, did he love that boy.

~

After swinging over to Thomas’ apartment with Patton and Logan, Roman and Virgil quickly went to work on their pillow fort as the two other spider children spoke to their spider dad about the details of the patrol. 

Once everything was set up, Thomas said “Great. Patton, you and Logan get my snack bag and go to the bodega on the corner, there is money in the bag so don’t worry about using your own money. Meet me on the roof in half an hour.” 

Patton and Logan nodded and left to get their favorite snacks. 

Thomas turned to Roman “Hey, Ro? Before you guys start, could you come with me to the roof?”

Roman was confused but agreed. He was a bit nervous, he felt like a child about to get yelled at and tried to think of what he could have done wrong recently.

Once they got to the roof, Roman asked, “If this about keeping your apartment clean, I promise Virgil and I will not burn it down. Logan already gave us the rundown.” 

Thomas put his hand on Roman’s shoulder and softly smiled “I can feel you stressing out, even without Patton’s power. Don’t worry, I trust you. I just wanted to tell you something. Sit with me” Thomas patted Roman’s head when Roman released a sigh of relief. 

The two sat on the edge of the roof, Thomas in his Rainbow Weaver costume with the mask on and Roman in his civilian clothes. 

Thomas gazed over the city before saying “I know you are probably expecting me to give you a speech about grief and how to handle it, but I hated those speeches at your age when I got them because of my Aunt Patty. In fact, you remind me a lot of myself when I was younger, and I’m not just talking about being a fellow theatre geek. I never wanted to think about when she died and I would throw myself into helping people, with or without the suit. One thing led to another and I ended up beaten and bloodied in an alley on the anniversary of her death. When Talyn and Joan found me, I swear my Aunt Patty possessed them to yell at me for it. I thought Talyn might kill me themself.”

Roman laughed “I can see them doing that.”

Thomas chuckled and nodded “Oh yes. But what they and Joan did instead was patching me up and we had a FRIENDS marathon, ‘the police will handle crime for now’ Joan said. I broke down after three episodes because I love my friends so much. So before I start crying again at the memories, I just wanted to tell you that your friends--including Joan, Talyn, and I--are always here for you. Don’t make the same mistake I did and forget” Roman threw himself at Thomas for a hug “Never again, I promise.”

Thomas hugged back “Thanks, kid. Now go have fun.”

~

Virgil looked up from his phone when he heard footsteps coming towards him “What did Thomas want? Hey, are you okay?” Virgil pops out from under the fort and cups Roman’s face to wipe the tears away.

Roman smiles “I’m fine, really. I’m just...thank you, for putting up with me”

Virgil kisses him “It’s not putting up with you, it’s loving you. Ready to start Tangled” “Of course my love”

~

Tag list (Ask if you want to be added or removed):

@corkeecoderyt @per-seph-o-nee @3milystuff @asymmetricalgarbage8888 @fairytailtwists @sanders-sides-rebloger @mycatshuman @sanderssidesfluffyangst @unikornavenger @0callmevirge0 @gloomingwitch @roxiefox24 @ijustreallylovesanderssides @unisaurioamorfo @nadja-chamack16 @angelic-cali 

[mylovermylovermylove]

Most visually appealing movies!

So I saw someone on twitter today asking what the most visually beautiful movies were and the more I thought about the question the more movies I thought of. So I decided to make a list of some of the movies that I find most visually pleasing!

(In no particular order)

1. Into the Spiderverse

Spiderverse was the first movie that came to my mind when I saw that question on Twitter. This film has such a unique animation style that is done so ridiculously well, with brilliant use of color and comic book effects and just ugh I love this movie so much and the animation is some of the best I’ve ever seen

2. Paprika

A very trippy movie that is as bright and colorful as could be, Satoshi Kon’s Paprika embodies just how chaotic, nonsensical, and wondrous dreams can be. Paprika takes full advantage of being animated, creating mind bending effects that are so confusing but also so beautiful to watch that you just can’t turn away

3. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Of course there was going to be a ghibli film on here. While all ghibli films are gorgeous and definitely deserve a spot on this list, I decided to only go with one and I gave that spot to Nausicaa. The background and scenery in Nausicaa is breathtaking, with the toxic spores looking like fairy dust and giant insect creatures seeming like mythical creatures from a storybook. Maybe I’m just biased because I got to see Nausicaa in a theater, but it’s a stunning movie to see

4. Atomic Blonde

Finally a non animated film! Something that always stuck with me regarding Atomic Blonde as a film was definitely how gorgeous of a movie it was to watch. This is definitely me being a sucker for neon lighting, but the use of color and shadow in this film is phenomenal, and it was very pleasing to the eyes to watch because of it

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel

I’m sure you all knew a Wes Anderson film was going to be on this list. Like Studio Ghibli, Wes Anderson is known for creating visually beautiful films. But I definitely think the shining gem of his works in terms of visuals was The Grand Budapest Hotel. The movie is bathed in a pastel palette with pops of deep purple all over, not only contributing to his classic dollhouse aesthetic, but just making the entire thing remind you of a beautiful cake

6. Twilight

It’s 2020 and it’s time to stop hating on Twilight. While I wasn’t a fan of the aesthetics in the other films, the first Twilight—in my humble opinion—was gorgeous. I’ve always been a fan of Catherine Hardwicke’s directing style, and her tendency to use filters over her films, and Twilight was no exception. The blue tint the entire movie has is a perfect visual cue to set us in the cold, dreary world of Forks. Not to mention, all forest shots in the film are very beautiful as well. Whether you love or hate the movie, you gotta admit, it’s very pretty

7. Perfect Blue

This one gets two gifs because this is one of my all time favorites and these are both insanely gorgeous shots that I couldn’t decide between. Also, Satoshi Kon is on this list twice. I’ll admit I have a bit of a thing for his work. Perfect Blue is a very intense movie, and it’s realistic animation style sets the perfect backdrop for the films twists and turns. The film is already a very vivid experience, and so having a simple and realistic but still beautiful animation style to put it against is the perfect contrast. The colors still pop, there are some amazing shots, and the color red is used unbelievably well throughout the entire film. But it’s never overdone to the point of distracting from the plot. It’s a perfect enhancer for the emotions of the film itself, while still being beautiful on its own.

And as a bonus

8. Made in Abyss (not a movie)

While Made in Abyss is a series and not a movie, I definitely think it still deserved a place here as a bonus. Made in Abyss is one of the most gorgeous anime series I’ve ever watched, with jaw dropping backgrounds set against a tear-inducing soundtrack. The panoramic shots in this show give me chills. It’s so utterly gorgeous, it (almost) distracts from how dark the contents of the show actually are lol

[id-rather-be-an-outsider]

Sunflower Dreams | pt II

Aaron Davis (Spiderverse) x Reader

word count: 1332

a/n: hey ya’ll so sorry for the delay, I know somebody asked about a part II. I’ve decided that this is gonna have a LOT of parts, I’ve just been caught up w life (depression, mom fired me n threw me out bc I called her out on her homophobia so I had to figure out where I was gonna live, school, more depression, Amino, I got a kitty and more), but I’m gonna try and put out chapters semi-regularly. ultimately I’m gonna need inspo for them, so it’ll happen when it happens, but yakno. I’m gonna try to be inspired more often. I’ve had this chapter finished for 6 months, just was extremely preoccupied w all my other shit n forgot to actually post it. oOpSiEs? anywho. enjoy

THREE MONTHS LATER

I heard the familiar knock on my door again - Aaron Davis. I doubt he would’ve realized how exhausting it is for me to see him. Or any human being, really, but I would never tell him that. Not when he would check up on me just to be nice.

I dragged myself out of bed and pulled the door open, letting him in as routine. “Good morning, Aaron.”

“Good morning, y/n, want to take a look at what Miles made you today?” He said as he walked over to the base of wilted sunflowers on my table and replaced them with fresh ones. He says it brightens up the room, and that yellow is the color of happiness. Sunflowers happened to be my favorite flower, which he didn’t know. Yellow also happened to be my favorite color, which he also didn’t know.

“Sure.” I accepted the tiny canvas painting Aaron handed to me and studied it for a minute before placing it down, to later be hung on my wall with the rest of the pieces he’s made for me so far. Yellow tones around Spider-Man. Miles knows I take a special interest in his art. It’s the one thing that I could genuinely invest myself in a conversation for those days.

“Not very talkative today?” Aaron asked. I looked at him, and he nodded in understanding. “I know,” he said, “It’s hard. But you’re gonna be okay.” I shrugged, not knowing how to respond.

He stayed long enough to make me breakfast, then left for work. When he was standing at the door, he looked a little different. I didn’t quite care enough to put my finger on it. He said, “If you need anything, just call me, okay? My boss won’t kill me for taking a break to make sure you’re okay.”

Quietly, I said, “I’m fine. But.... thanks.”

He got a look in his eyes, but walked away without saying whatever thought had crossed his mind. I shut the door after him and returned to my bed to sleep some more.

It was a mistake. And inevitable.

I dreamed about him again. I ran to him, hugged him, kissed him. I cried. I told him how much I missed him and why didn’t he ever call me when he landed, why did he leave me in the air like that, I was so worried, but it’s okay because he was here and everything was fine again.

I held his hand for a long time, like we did in college, just saying nothing. Walking somewhere together, sitting down, sleeping when it was too hot to cuddle. We didn’t need words.

And we still didn’t need them now, except for wait, wait, he was leaving again, going on a plane, I knew how this would end, I knew how this would end. I screamed for him to stop, I warned him about what was to come, come back, come back, but I must have lost my voice because no sound came out of my mouth, and he didn’t stop. Come back, come back, come back.

He never came back.

I woke up with tears on my face. My throat felt raw, like I’d been screaming again. I probably had been.

It was dusk out. Suddenly, I didn’t want to be alone. I climbed up the fire escape and knocked on Aaron’s window. It took awhile, but he answered.

“Y/n? Are you okay? Are you- are you hurt? What’s wr-“

“Can I sleep here tonight?”

He looked surprised, to say the least. “Ummm... yea...” He held his arm out to help me in, politely ignoring the tear stains on the shirt I’d been wearing for three days straight. He’s nice like that.

A few minutes later I was curled up on his leather sofa, wrapped in a fuzzy blanket with a bottle of aloe juice to drink.

“So...” Aaron said, “What is it that brought you to me?”

I almost didn’t say, afraid it would come back too big and hurt again. But I figured, he’s been here for three months. Probably won’t press me that much given my track record for sharing things. “Bad dream. About....” I didn’t need to finish the sentence. He got it.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“No it’s not.”

I wanted to argue that yes, it was fine, but I knew I would get nowhere, so I left it there. He turned on the TV, put in a Planet Earth movie. We both watched quietly, and eventually I drifted off to sleep.

This time, I woke with a dry face. No dreams. I stretched out in my bed, and yawned. I opened my eyes, and - I wasn’t in my bedroom.

My mind was still foggy, so it took me a minute to remember. I was able to recollect my thoughts enough to realize that Aaron must have carried me to his bed and tucked me in, still wrapped in the fuzzy blanket. I felt tired again, so I decided to doze for awhile longer before I got up.

When I finally climbed out of his bed (which was hard - it was extremely comfy), I tiptoed out to his living room, and found him nowhere. I looked around and saw an imprint of his body on the couch with a pillow and blanket - he must have slept there.

I saw a note in the kitchen. In a pretty script, Aaron said:

Gone for a couple days. You can stay here if you want, but if not, make sure you lock the door on your way out.

A few days later, Aaron knocked on my door, and I opened it tentatively, seeing his eyes light up when he saw me.

“Y/n! You changed your clothes! And showered! And washed your hair!”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I said, “Well, I figured I couldn’t wear the same outfit for a week straight.”

As per usual, he gave me a new cluster of sunflowers, and had another painting from Miles.

“Miles is starting school, y’know,” Aaron mentioned casually. “When are you starting?”

“Not til the end of the month,” I replied, “University and grad school students go back later normally... if they’re on the quarter system, that is.”

He nodded. Then, “Why are you going to school? You’ve never told me anything about it, other than the degrees you already have and the one you’re going after now.”

“I’m opening a business.” Saying it made me cringe. Why did I ever think it was a good idea? Why was I still committed to it?

He said nothing, hoping for me to elaborate, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to.

“Okay, lil’ mystery lady,” he joked. I knew it bothered him that I didn’t share, but I also knew he likely wouldn’t press me for more detail. I was right.

He got to work making the perfect breakfast - chocolate chip waffles with bananas, chocolate syrup and whipped cream. He never let me eat healthy breakfast. I think he thought the sugar would make me happier, which I won’t deny. Science works like that. I’m also pretty sure the reason he came over almost everyday to make me breakfast was to make sure I ate, which was probably the only reason I ate.

We sat down on my loveseat sofa and turned on a movie. Comedy. He laughed out loud and I let a smile or two slip, but anything more than that was no-no.

When it was time for him to leave, he asked me, “Hey uh, my family is having a reunion lunch this Sunday after church. Miles is gonna be there, and I’m worried about you being lonely, so you can come if you want. Just show up on my doorstep at 11:30 and I’ll take you with me.”

I nodded, said I’d think about it, and shut the door after him.

There was no way I’d be going to it.

[shanghai-lu]

Collabs are fun to do because there's other work with similar themes, but I'm so dumb and I literally left them to the last minute and I don't write anything that's 'short' 😭😭😭. It really is your own idiocy that does u over

Action films are super cool, I really like ones where it mixes with sci fi too. Like Tau for example, it's a nice concept honestly. Spiderman: into the spiderverse is 😳 bc i tend to gravitate towards animated stuff as well.

Jaehyun in a spy film? Brb I'm getting someone to fund that vision like rn bc i need to see it. I would go for something with Winwin (since hes expressed interest in acting) and having him act as criminal/serial killer just to see how well he would do in it w his flower boy image (maybe like VIP but a bit less graphic ☠️)

Do you listen to any other kpop groups? And do you have any physical albums of any group, if so, what pc did you get?

- ss

Don't worry too much! Get some coffee (or your personal go-to drink), put on some music and take it one paragraph at a time~ in sure you'll get it done in no time!✨

But yeah.. everyone's their own worst enemy. I too have procrastinated some work and now I have to either rush it off or ask for a deadline extension and neither are favourable options 😭 why do we do this to ourselves??😑

I tend to gravitate to live, not animated, but that Spiderman Into the spider verse might change that because it was brilliant 🥺

Jaehyun as a James Bond figure... I'll join you to pitch the idea to investors ASAP

And omgoodness WinWin as a serial killer or criminal????? I'm in love with the concept???? And don't even mention the way his flower pretty boy smile and laugh would contrast with his criminal lawless side????

I listen to any song I find good tbh but a few artists that feature often is EXO and Red Velvet. And actually I don't own any Kpop merch except a bracelet I got from a friend who is a huge BTS fan that has "Army" letters that dangle from the chain😊💜💚 How about you?

[avatarconner]

About Kindred and The Order

With seeing my last post to you, with seeing how things are, with how Kindred and the Order are presented,do you still believe that it’s actually the holy grail as you abd webweilding try to claim it is? I mean, throughout the series, Kindred never even did much before his reveal. Beside a few of the things you’ve mentioned last time, Nick Spencer never bothered to make Kindres anything interesting. Nothing involving his character, his traits, his psychological issues,nothing that made the guy anything interesting. Nothing that could’ve expanded his story a bit before the reveal. All throughout he history kept saying how he’s gonna plan on something big and how he’s gonna do his things to Peter. But, he never did. Both you and webweilding say that he’s the best mystery since Hobgoblin but, he really isn’t. He never did anything that put him as interesting or mysterious as he should be. In fact, he wasn’t even subtle about his mystery the moment the absolute Carnage tie in happened. And after Kindred’s reveal, Nick Spencer revealed that he actually gave up on trying to put in a mystery the moment people guessed who he was. And with that, with how it’s presented, that’s just a Really unprofessional thing to do. And with how the latest issue turned out, it just played that we all don’t know who he is for some reason. 

I also like to talk about the Order Of The Web. Since their appearance, they claim to serve some importance to Peter. But, the thing is, they never did anything interesting. I mean, Miles, Gwen, and Julia are fine. But, the rest never did anything. Nothing that would serve any importance throughout. The best way this would’ve turned out better for them was if they brought in Kaine and Ben into this. But, for some reason, despite sharing the same issues as Peter and The Order,they never appeared. Not one appearance they made. I mean,you would think the two important Spiders of whok Norman caused trouble with would appear. But, they didn’t. Abd with them around, the dynamics between the Order would’ve been a lot more interested had Ben and Kaine argue with their morality and just delve into their psychology. Throughout, the story never gave us a reason for their absence in this. And throughout they should given us an explanation or something with them. 

For all the Stuff you said about Nick Spencer as well as other previous writers, you guys sure don’t seem to find anything here with Kindredabd the other two Spiders. 

Honestly? yes. 

Look I won’t pretend that the mystery is perfect, it’s not even the best mystery in fiction I’ve seen for Spider-Man (Spectacular’s Goblin twists are top for me) but I still think it has a good buildup. 

First thing we know is that Kindred knows Peter’s secret identity, meaning that only a few people alive could be him. In fact when Charlee Cooper appeared she was a suspect since she knew that Peter was Spidey and possibly could use tech like mysterio to simulate powers. Not to mention that her re-introduction is a parallel to Kindred’s introduction with his first words being off pannel, and her meeting MJ are shown off pannel.

It also works since, because it’s a comic, for the longest time Kindred could have been a SHE. 

Moving along we see that Kindred has a certain view of Peter when he reconciles with Felicia. He’s angry because Peter’s pulled another person into the insane life that peter leads, endangering someone else (that comes into play later). I also want to point out a little something here, when we see all the photos of Kindred’ targets in his tomb, Superior Spider-Man is there....clearly Spencer was either uninformed, or Gage just didn’t bother to tell anyone, that Superior Spider-Man would be wrapped up in his own book (Thank god). 

After this the next big appearance is in Hunted, while Peter has a feaver dream of someone killing MJ, Kindred is in her home watching over her. Peter senses something is wrong and rushes home to find MJ fine, Kindred tells him that he’ll never hurt MJ or the people he loves, because Peter will do that himself. 

This is where Kindred’s motivation and dislike for Spider-Man becomes clear, he believes that Peter endangers those around him by being Spider-Man and needs to be stopped.

The next thing we learn is huge since its from Mysterio, a character who Died (not in Spider-Man but Guadian Devil by Kevin Smith) and came back to life in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by Peter David when Pete’s ID was out and the second Mysterio (surprisingly another Kevin Smith creation) targeted the school he worked at. He’s asked the big question that no one ever bothered to answer. How did Mysterio come back to life?

Beck explains that he went to hell and there he was tutored by a Demon and eventually brought back to life to do as the demon said. This is the biggest clue since this means that Kindred is someone who is dead, knows who Peter is, and cares about the people around him. This narrows the pool of suspects down considerably.

Then we get to absolute Carnage tie in, which for a moment I want to just praise spencer for making a fucking Tie in to an event that he had no writing control in both engaging for that event and tie into his own story in Spider-Man. Tie ins suck for the most part and he managed to make his relate to the story he was telling, that’s clever.

Anyway in Absolute Carnage, we learn that kindred has ties to Norman Osborn based on the talk they have with each other, and Norman knows who knidred is. We also learn that both Kindred and Peter were present at a welcome home party for Harry Osborn which had a bunch of old Spidey friends in attendance including Gwen, Flash, Randy, and others.

And then we get to Sins Rising, where he summons Sin Eater back from the dead so that he can set things in motion while Peter is at a low point with MJ being gone.

We later larnthat the goal of Sin Eater was to gather the Sins of Spider-Man’s villains and use them to turn the Order of the Web into monsters, which Peter feels resposnible for and offers up his own life in exchange for theirs, because of course he would. And Kindred knows this.

Kindred is thoughtful, minipulative, and knows Peter. So it absolutely makes sense why it’s Harry.

Before Harry died in SPSM 200, he made Peter’s life hell because he thought he was responsible for all the suffering in their lives, his dad dying, Gwen, her dad, and he just dogged Peter as much as he could. Your considering that Kindred is a brand new character when he’s the evolution of another character we know, Harry Osborn. That’s his History, there’s all his psychological issues. That’s the mystery, which character could Kindred Be? You figure out everything once you figure that out.

He kept saying he had a plan and he does! We’re in the middle of it! The endgame is still unclear but you can’t say you hate a story until it’s finished. 

What made Harry’s reveal so shocking was that....well, Harry’s alive! He has been since OMD. And he’s been a good guy! I’ll be honest I thought Kindred was going to be Flash Thompson since he ticks off a lot of boxes except for going to hell, he was hero but I figured that maybe someone (mehpesto) wanted to screw with him? But no, Harry Makes complete and total sense.

As for the Order of the Web, I’M ACTUALLY TOTALLY WITH YOU ON THAT!!!! 

Anya, Jessica, and Julia have nothing to do with Spider-Man, and all they really do is dilute the brand. Gwen should honestly stay in her own universe where she came from but Marvel took the wrong lesson from Spiderverse and such again so now she’s going to college at ESU......on earth 616....despite having an entire world of her own which SHE FUCKING LIVES ON. She’s trying to be like Miles is now, but can’t be because Gwen being dead is one of those things you don’t touch.

Silk also.......I feel bad, people like her but fucking Slott made her just so Peter could have no strings attached sex with an attractive young woman. I’m glad she’s getting her own series again and focusing on her heritage from what I understand. 

Ben and Kaine have way more right to be here than any of them, hell I’d love to see Kaine again. Ben i understand since last time Peter saw him, Dan Slott made him the Jackal for no fucking reason and completely ruined his character. 

And I think maybe tonally it might not work, Sins Rising is ultimately a prelude for Last Remains, and that kicks off with all the people Peter feels he’s inspired (Which admittedly is true) become monsters, Kaine’s entire series is him dealing with the fact that he sees himself as a Monster, and Ben’s is......actually I didn’t read his unfortunately, but he was more like Kaine than Peter. So they’ve already dealt with the idea of their own sins, Peter hasn’t, at least not recently I think.

But I honestly thing this Order of the Web should be torn down. Peter, Miles, Jessica (whose doing her own thing and doesn’t even have a passing relation to Spider-Man outside her name), Ben, Kaine, and MAYBE Madam Webb. Gwen should just stay in her own dimension and Silk I think is actually moving to china or something? 

I really hope we get something with Ben and Kaine soon, if Pete and MJ get married I’d love to see the three of them patch things up and Have Ben be Peter’s best man since....you know Flash is dead and Harry’s an asshole.

[vanaera]

“uni is hell and i wanna cry” never related to something so quickly oof😂 but yeah music has gotten me through it too!! im also part of the music 24/7 club😂✋🏻 (i even have a water resistant speaker for the shower, and a sleeping playlist when i say 24/7 i m e a n it ahah) but anyway, i’ve never listened to the ones you mentioned! (except for bts bc..) any specific songs youd recommend? ☺️

OOOF OKAY I'M JUST GONNA LIST MY FAVORITES BC I LIKE A LOT OF SONGS SO HERE I GO (I'll exclude BTS songs bc ya'll know a lot of them already)

Lana Del Rey - Carmen, Off to the Races, National Anthem, Video Games, Lust for Life, Tomorrow Never Came, 24 Hours, Shades of Cool, Bel Air, All her albums. JUST. PLEASE. IT'S ART

Lorde - 400 Lux, Hard Feelings, The Love Club, Ribs, Royals, Supercut, Liability, The louvre, Perfect Places, the wHOLE Pure Heroine Album, Melodrama Album (basically ALL HER SONGS)

Oh Wonder - Technicolor Beat (this is my favorite from their Oh Wonder album bc the song on-pointly DETAILS what it's like to fall in love)

Lotte Mulan - Breathless (I LOVE how the small details in her lyrics paints a vivid picture of the sweet feeling of being euphoric about someone with just a girl lying on her bed, happy about her date), Wake Up Next to You (this.is.a.tear.jerker), Valentine's Day (THIS IS SUCH A FLUFFY SONG OMYGOD) *I heard about Lotte Mulan when I was watching Kismet Diner, a 10 min short film used by Cornetto for their advertisement (watch it, it's SO BEAUTIFUL)

Us the Duo - No Matter Where You Are (this song is THE VERY ARTISTS' WEDDING VOWS FOR EACH OTHER), Already Mine (this perfectly tells the story of loving your SO again when times get rough), Make You Mine (FLUFF OVERLOAD!), Goodbye Forever (THIS IS A GREAT BREAKUP/I'M-DONE-WITH-YOU SONG)

The 1975 - Robbers (the MV for this is TOO AESTHETIC IT CAN BE A FULL FLEDGED FILM), Please Be Naked (This is just a very sincere song and you CAN understand all it wants to convey even when it has NO lyrics), Be My Mistake (this is very sad...and real), Sincerity is Scary ("why can't we be friends, when we are lovers" ; the title alone IS ALREADY GOOD MYGOD THIS HAS AN AMAZING SYMPHONY) *If you want to go onto an alternative genre marathon, just listen to them

Joji - Slow Dancing in the Dark

Marina and the Diamonds - Lies, Primadonna, FROOT (a very sensual song told in a very artfully suggestive manner and I'm LIVING for it), Blue, Starring Role, How to Be A Heartbreaker

Florence + The Machine - Between Two Lungs, Cosmic Love, Never Let Me Go, St. Jude, Ship to Wreck, Over the Love, Howl, Skyfull of Song (GODDAMN, THEIR SONGS ARE SO POETIC YOU'LL FEEL THE MEANING OF THE SONG BEFORE YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND THE LYRICS. YOU HAVE TO REALLY TAKE A MINUTE AND UNDERSTAND EVERY METAPHOR FLORENCE SINGS. Also, Florence is definitely one of the greatest vocalists out there and ngl, I don't doubt why no contestant EVER sings her songs in singing competitions without flopping in doing it)

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours, Love Someone, I Won't Give Up

Train - Marry Me

Howie Day - Collide

Tessa Thompson - Shed You

Kendrick Lamar - Loyalty, DNA, Love (JUST LISTEN TO HIS DAMN ALBUM OMYGOD)

DEAN - 130 mood: TRBL album and lisTEN TO ALL HIS SONGS DAMN THIS GUY IS AMAZING

Heize - And July Album

Epik High - Sleepless in _____ Album, Here Comes the Regrets

The XX - Together

The Great Gatsby OST

Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (oof the theater kid in me is jumping out)

Dear Evan Hansen (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

Daniel Caesar - Get You (ft. Kali Uchis)

Post Malone & Swae Lee - Sunflower (THE SONG IS SO GOOD AND SO IS SPIDERMAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE PLEASE WATCH IT)

Dodie - Would You Be So Kind?

Noah Cyrus - Make Me Cry

Bon Iver - Skinny Love, I Can't Make You Love Me

[doux-amer]

Thoughts on the different boroughs of nyc? Thoughts on christmas movies? Thoughts on into the spiderverse??

Oops. I rambled on in my response to the first question so I put that under a cut, and I’ll answer the next two here:

Christmas movies - I don’t have a strong feeling about them either way? I don’t hate them, but I don’t love them either although I guess around Christmastime, I do want to put on a Christmas movie and get in the mood. I have some favorites. Also, you need to include one or two movies at the very least that take place during or mention Christmas but don’t actually have anything to do with the holiday in your top Christmas movies list or else it’s invalid. Like…Die Hard (which I haven’t watched to this day. SORRY. I’m lazy)? Iron Man 3? KKBB? Something? 

Into the Spider-verse - SO GOOD. I’ve been waiting for it to come out ever since they released the trailer because I’ve never seen animation so fresh, innovative, and fun before. I love how much they pushed the boundaries and went to new places animation-wise, I loveeee the character designs, I love the colors, I love everything. I’m so happy we got a Miles movie because I wanted Miles to be in a movie and well, I wanted him to be in the MCU because did we need another white Peter Parker? NO. We literally had 3 in the past 15 years. At least make him not white. He’s not representative of a nerd from Queens anymore. Anyway. Miles. MY SON(SHINE). HE CAN BE FULL-OUT AFROLATINO? Not just black? Like????? AFROLATINOS EXIST. LOVE THAT REP. LOVE HIS PARENTS. His dad is a big goof and embarrasses his son, but I love that he can show feelings and cry. And I was ambivalent about Gwen showing up, but I loved her!! She felt like a real girl (ugh sorry, I have :/ feelings about Spider Gwen as a concept and I was afraid she’d be written in a “what a man thinks is a cool but relatable girl” way). I love the other spiders. I can’t believe I finally care about Peter Parker, but I got emo over blondie (did you know he was nicknamed RIPeter by the art team lol?) dying and I was so fond of Peanut Butter Parker. I mean, Peter B. Parker. But uh….I have a hugeee soft spot for reluctant mentor/dad/older brother figures who take young kids under their wing especially if they’re hot messes so this was a very unsurprising turn of events. REALLY enjoyed Doc Ock and Kingpin which is not…something I expected. I liked Spider Ham too which…same thing. I never cared for him before. I didn’t care for Peni Parker the way she was depicted in the movie. :////// Yay, Asian/anime stereotypes. Yikes. :/// She’s not even like that in the comics so it’s a puzzling decision. I’m looking forward to the trailer. OH, UNCLE AARON. :( Um. The music! SO GODDAMN GOOD OH MY GOD. The post-credits scene which made me laugh out loud, but this entire movie made me laugh out loud which is rare. Cute, heartfelt, and just. THE ANIMATION IS SO GODDAMN GOOD. I’M LOSING MY MIND.

Boroughs under the cut:

Bronx - no one goes to the Bronx if they’re not from the Bronx unless they’re going to the zoo or Yankee Stadium, they work in the food/produce business, or want seafood in the boroughs. Also, the Bronx has gotten safer over the past few decades, but to be honest, one of the first things that’ll come to a native’s mind when they think of the Bronx aside from the zoo and the Yankees is crime/safety lol. :x Like…all us kids who grew up in the boroughs, especially before the 2000s/2010s (idk what Gen Z kids think of the Bronx? But this is 100% the case with older generations) think of it as the dangerous/shady borough if we had to pick one. But idk, mainly you think of it as that borough that’s far away that you don’t go to except for the reasons stated above and I’m like, “Oh yeah, I know a bunch of people who live/grew up/work there.”

Brooklyn - Damn, I don’t remember what my thoughts on Brooklyn were as a kid because now it’s like “GENTRIFICATION!!!! GENTRIFICATION!!! HIPSTERS! WHITE PEOPLE DISPLACING EVERYONE!” The place where everyone in their 20s live when they move here or move out of their parents’ house. Where the parties are at, I guess, except I don’t go. That or “the place where all my friends who are POC are from if they’re not from Queens” lol. I get too lazy to go deep into Brooklyn, but there are some good places to go to! I just haven’t explored it much. Oh, Steve Rogers now. That’s been a thing for years because I’m Steve trash. :))))

Manhattan - Dirty, stinky, nasty, and rat- and pigeon-infested, but it’s home. So much stuff to do, see, and go to! So many great restaurants! So many museums! If you’re a cinephile and bookworm, you’re happy. Whatever you’re in the mood for, there’ll always be a place that’ll fit your mood. Peaceful, airy areas? Busy, lively ones? Historic places? Skyscrapers everywhere? Every neighborhood has its own personality. I lovelovelove all the architecture. It tells the history of the city, and there are just all these different styles from different eras next to each other. Every time I leave, I’m wowed by how quiet and chill it is and don’t miss it and then I come back, as soon as I see a glimpse of the city or I set foot in it, I’m like “OH MY GOD???? I MISSED YOU.” There are a few things that I think of when I think of what the city means to me, and this is one of them; it captures the essence of what it means and feels like to be a New Yorker (and I’m not afraid to admit that I cried reading it, but that might also have been because I read it on 9/11 a few years back and yesyesyes, it explains everything).

Queens - Home! Birthplace. HM OKAY, I’M REVEALING TOO MUCH. But yes, this is absolutely unsurprising considering I’m Asian lmao. Where the Asians are at. Where the best Asian food is at because eh lol Manhattan’s food ranges from whatever to good with some stellar restaurants, but there’s a plethora of cheap authentic eats in Queens. White Peter Parker makes me mad as a Queens native even if it makes sense for Forest Hills fdofidhfioshf. I ranted about it a few years ago on here along with some facts about Queens’s diversity because fun fact: it’s the most diverse place in the world per capita!!! You have no idea how many non-English speakers Queens has and the sheer number of foreign languages represented here. The number of immigrants!!!! “UGLY” BUT I LOVE IT BECAUSE THAT MEANS TRANSPLANTS FORGET QUEENS EXISTS AND I’D LIKE TO KEEP IT THAT WAY (also, transplants have weird thoughts about Queens unless they’re Asian themselves and sometimes even if they are). GET AWAY. I’m mad about Amazon. GTFO. 

Staten Island - dumpster of NY. That’s legit the first thing that pops into any New Yorker’s mind both in a literal and figurative sense because that’s literally where the world’s largest landfill was located until several years ago. Figurative because uh…sorry, but who goes to Staten Island? I try not to go there and I don’t even remember the times I’ve been there. People who live there know Staten Island is trash lmao. Also, this is the whitest borough and I mean that literally too. Also the borough that votes Republican all the goddamn time and voted for Trump although we switched it to blue during the midterms (wow????). FEHIFHWOHFIWEA everyone from the other boroughs looks down on Staten Island a lot and that’s nevah gonna change!