#the only hole in my story is who plays the big bad guy for plot purposes

[camelots-daffodil]

My toxic trait is that if you give me 30 minutes of your time yes I will explain to you why if Merlin had revealed his magic to Morgana in season 2 the nightmare begins we could have had it all- INCLUDING a morally grey Morgana, with just a little bit of mediocre writing.

[orangemocharaktajino]

For a show that was bad pretty much from the beginning, Beyond the Star really outdid themselves by making the final episode so much worse than the rest. This was probably the worst final episode I've ever seen (other than MODC) and that's kinda impressive.

My toxic trait is if the NC scenes are good enough, I can forgive plot holes big enough to drive a bus through.

I loved Tonnam and Phupha, especially in episodes 6 and 7. And unfortunately that's where the fun ends because this bus is just too big.

I have been known to obsess over objectively bad shows before because my main goal as a viewer is entertainment. Sometimes bad writing and ridiculousness can be their own type of fun, imo.

I initially started watching Beyond the Star only because of Willi (Kita) who I loved in another high heat show with very questionable writing, Till the World Ends.

From the initial trailer of Beyond the Star, it seemed like the main storyline would be about twins Tin and Tul (played by actual twins and not simply one actor!) fighting over a man. Now, when I say man, I mean it because another thing that I was excited about initially was this cast's ages. The average age of the main cast is just shy of thirty years old which is something I would frankly love to see more of. Kind of weird for this to happen with a story about a new boyband, but hey.

The main characters and the ages of the actors who play them:

Kita - 34

Nathee - 27

Kengkla - 27

Namo - 26

Tonnam - 27

Phupha - 29

Trin - 30

Tul - 30 (obviously)

Copper - 30

Dance instructor Kawi - 30

CEO Araya - 33

CEO Kiat - 35

I didn't include the babies of the group Mawin (20) and Mangkorn (20) in this because I feel like we got more scenes of other characters explaining away their absence than we got scenes of them. They weren't even in the last two episodes at all so their story had absolutely no resolution.

Unfortunately that's kind of the case for most of the plot lines in this show. We had way too many characters with simultaneously too much going on and not enough going on. Way too much of the CEOs plotting only for them to inexplicably team up at the end. And way too much dance rehearsal footage that apparently needed to be shown instead. The last episode was chock full of loose threads.

I have so many questions

Why so many scenes of Nathee talking about how hot Kita's dad was when he was younger?

Why did they do Willi like this with this wig?

What happened with Kita and Nathee's relationship? Why did they have zero scenes in the finale?

What happened with Film's blackmail plot?

Why wasn't Nathee in the group at the end yet and previously disgraced Kita was?

What happened with Kita and Kawi being pissed about Kita's song being stolen?

Narrator: He did not deal with anything

Why wait until the very last episode to do anything with Tul and Tin and Copper? Okay, so Tul told Tin early on that he liked Copper. Tin agreed not to pursue Copper only to then immediately fuck him the very first chance he got? They decided to have a quickie in the bathtub while Tul was running a simple errand that he would be back from very soon? Not only did they not hurry, they didn't even close the fucking bathroom door????? Tul and Tin almost immediately made up after this even though apparently they already fought over a guy in the past?

Why did Kengkla even like Namo? Bro straight up told him his religious beliefs were stupid and they never really addressed this?

Did they break Namo's glasses during their sex scene? They showed Kengkla taking off Namo's glasses and putting them on the bed beside them and then a few seconds later they seemingly rolled over on them?

What was with Kengkla's pained expressions during their NC scene in the finale? Between that and Namo's unhinged smiling paired with the throat grabbing I couldn't tell what was supposed to be happening there. Kinky shit? Does Namo use cosmopolitan magazine's 2004 indian burn handie technique? Too much teeth? The possibilities are endless

Tell me this man isn't Bajoran though with his religious devotion, nose bridge wrinkles, and dangly earrings

Why even include the suicide attempt plot line? The whole thing was infuriating but especially them patting themselves on the back for solving Tonnam's suicidal tendencies by comforting him in the hospital?

You don't have to be sad buddy, you've improved as a dancer!

Narrator: It was not resolved

Also, here's where I have to admit I gave the writing team too much credit. I repeatedly thought that scenes were surely included for a bigger narrative purpose but that was overwhelmingly not the case.

In earlier episodes they showed a hidden camera in one of the rehearsal rooms at the agency that was, unbeknownst to the boys, streaming online. When they showed Phupha and Tonnam about to get it on at the agency and Tonnam specifically said he was worried about being seen, I thought that they were maybe going to be unknowingly exposed online and cause a huge scandal. When I saw the promo for the finale where it showed Tonnam on the ground with pills all around him, I thought for sure that was where they were going. I thought it was a little late for a big plot point like that but oh, how little I knew.

Why have Kengkla asking repeatedly why they're focusing so much on singing and dancing when he wants to be an actor only to have him turn down the acting job so he can be in a different boyband at the end?

Bad writing, bad directing, bad editing, bad pacing, bad dancing (perplexingly shown in slow motion which only exacerbated the lack of sync), bad singing, no character development, way too much focus on the two rival CEOs who are the producers of the show which explains so much.

The workshops must have been good though because the chemistry was the rare positive. Kita and Nathee had a few good scenes and I loved Tonnam and Phupha (except in the finale which I'm going to forget I ever watched). The kissing in the NC scenes was good all around but the lack of direction was pretty apparent. Lots of up and down and back up kind of aimlessness with too much position switching. It seemed like the actors were giving it their best but weren't given any specific instructions and were just kind of stalling until they heard cut.

The intro was catchy but I can't say the actual group they apparently built this show around promoting (in the most roundabout weird way) doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth because of this mess.

Don't watch this unless you want to try your hand at the world's least efficient way to learn the numbers 1-8 in Thai

Or you know, maybe you could just skip around to the good parts

May these guys find better writing in their next projects

Sadhu

[teslacoils-and-hubris]

alright thoughts on tf classic? Or at least the classic teams roles in the comics?

i have literally no knowledge of tf classic outside of how they are in the tf2 comics

that said i love nothing more than to share my opinions so let me just refresh my memory of them real quick-

granny pyro fucking rules if theres one thing tf2 is good for its making fucking insane women<3<3

I really have no strong opinions on the rest of them honestly. The writing fascinates me, though. because when you take a close look at their actions, they really aren't all the different from how the team acts? like. ok. bear with me here while i put on my english major hat and go all character analysis on you

(for the sake of clarity, i'll just be using mercs to refer to the tf2 characters, also under the cut cause this got longg)

what is their role in the plot aside from being antagonists? they're hired guns doing their job, which is taking out the administrator and the mercs, until something better presents itself in the form of the australium based life support thing. At which point c!heavy decides to turn tail and go rogue and get the missing australium for himself

everything they do in the comics? killing and torturing for their own gain and pleasure? nothing out of the ordinary for the mercs honestly. C!heavy is the only one that they go out of their way to make him an asshole (more on him later). The main reason they come off as such villains compared to our mercs? they play the violence completely straight.

Whenever the classic team is shown, ALL of the jokes come from them being the straight men to the antics of the mercs. If they weren't paired so wonderfully to play off of the batshit moves the mercs make. C!pyro isn't even torturing solider for information after she gets what she wants, she's just doing it because she enjoys hurting people- meanwhile Jane wants her to torture him for information he actually has so he can prove that he won't tell her. Every interaction is like this! They're professionals who enjoy their jobs as guns for hire- same as the mercs except they don't tell jokes or get naked and covered in honey while they do it. Thats the only thing seperating how the teams act. the main exception being C!heavy

He is uniquely portrayed as an asshole. He's here for a quick, easy pay (he tells grey mann he doesn't understand world domination types, its too much work), he's extremely caught up in the gain (him instantly backstabbing grey mann to get the life extender for himself, and when he yells at medic about how much he's cost them in animal parts)

One scene in particular, however, really sets him up as the Bad Guy. When he hurts Archimedes. It's sandwiched inbetween two jokes (him getting mad at medic for reanimating sniper, and medic implying sniper has pigeon blood now) so it's maybe hard to miss, but the panel where he throws Archimedes into the ground is such a stark stylistic difference that it really just pushes home that this is something Important. the panel is pure black, with C!heavy and Archimedes in bright white. a spatter of blood shows the impact and damage of the action. It really shifts him into the role of scary villain. He's willing to hurt and kill this animal that did nothing to him. presumably because he's pissed at medic and he knows it will hurt him. Medic's reaction and obvious pain makes him a more serious threat than the other classic members, because even when c!pyro drilled holes into soliders teeth, solider didn't care. Everything else the classic team has done has been an inconvience at best (ok well, except killing sniper, but that is also done by c!heavy and treated the same as this example so-)

It's a really beautiful piece of story telling! It's a fantastic way of conveying that this guy is the big bad to the reader without even using words!

Oh and this is also why our mercs were able to win in the end btw, the classic team was prepared for a lot of shit but they could never expect the random bullshit the mercs pull on nearly constantly. They expected guns that shot bullets not ones with a "BANG" flag then getting punched in the dick

[moonlightdancer26]

Hello There.

this is kinda weird and meta and i cannot tell if it’s written coherently so plz just hear me out

so yk how J*R admitted that, when she was writing OOTP at the same time as the first movie was being made, she made a lot of the changes/revelations we see for severus’ character bc she liked alan rickman’s portrayal so much? her only valid opinion

prior to that it is much easier to see the relationship between james/the marauders and severus as ‘slytherin vs gryffindor antagonistic’

(the prank (PoA) is imo played off more as ‘sirius was in the wrong by organising it, james did better by following severus and getting him out of there’ without input from OOTP)

anyway, this is all to say that pre-OOTP james and post-OOTP james feel like very different characters, bc one is very much good-guy-in-the-making and the other is the worst of the worst, and i think it can be brought back to J*R’s inability to write interesting slyth vs gryff rivalries without resorting to bullying and harassment from one party (the way she writes slytherins makes me want to smash my head against walls)

what do you think? bc this is coming from a kinda biased marauders stan, pro-james perspective, even though i dont hate young!sev in the slightest

i feel like a lot of my issues with this whole thing can be summed up by The TERF Bitch Can’t Write, And Now We Suffer Because Of It

I’ve heard of that claim before, and iirc I’ve seen a source of her saying that a long time ago, but could you tell where cause I’d love to confirm this? 😭 She had already had Snape’s arc planned out because during the earlier films Alan wanted to quit his role because playing Evil Greasy Potions Master might get him type-casted (since he’s played villains before) and he didn’t want that, so Rowling decided to tell him about the grandiose reveal in DH, which is what made him stay.

what do you think? bc this is coming from a kinda biased marauders stan, pro-james perspective, even though i dont hate young!sev in the slightest

I actually think that was the point. In the earlier books we’re led to believe that Snape had no good reason for hating Harry’s dad and only resented James (and Harry) because he was a popular, loved Gryffindor and a talented Quidditch player. It was a bit of a red herring, and in PoA when Sirius and Remus are introduced we’re told about the prank and since Harry already hates Snape, obviously loves his father, and wants to know more info about his parents because he now knows two people who were the closest of friends with them, he assumes Sirius is right and evil Sneep Snoop is wrong and was just being petty as per usual. So for the first five books the readers are like “yo James is the perfect awesome guy and Snape is the jealous bad one,” which is increased when we remember James is a Gryffindor and Severus was a Slytherin, we sort of get the same image as Harry and Draco. It’s an extremely black-and-white image, the dawning realisation that it might not be just a simple rivalry/jealously-issue is what makes SWM in the 5th book so jaw-dropping to all of us, because we actually realise that it wasn’t the whole story. “Snape was right all along” is a super scary realisation for Harry, especially since it makes him completely rethink the image of his father that’s been painted for him by basically everyone around him, everyone except the one character Harry despises most of all.

This isn’t to say JKR doesn’t make shit decisions in writing, I 100000% get what you’re saying, but I think this was deliberately written that way so it can to be a big build-up to the plot twist. (Doesn’t make it very well-written, but it was still her intention ig.) and tbh the fact that we have so many unanswered questions/concerns about the plot holes/arcs/writing/etc and have to fill it in with the most plausible assumptions really goes to show how overrated JKR’s writing is and how her series has been enriched mostly by its fandom.

Also dw you’ve gotten your point across very well, I always get concerned with my writing because I’m worried it just sounds like a pile of unorganised bullshit 💀

[nochi-quinn]

candela obscura chapter one episode 3: bad news: the rest of it

hand porn people come get your juice

(it's me I'm hand porn people) (you think I watched four seasons of Magicians for the plot?)

you mustn't read from the book

cool I hate it

auggie: EYYYY

edmund?

auggie's expression in his art is still so good. love character art that says so much about a character

"before each of you are visited by - " my garbage brain: "three ghosts"

oh the grey streak in charlie's hair is new

backstory, bacKSTORY

oh not the mental arguments, those are the worst

auggie my beloved

howard

howard's been high on ghosts for a week

"what were you doing?" "ghosts"

"have you had it looked at?" "I've looked at it :D"

I heard that "insight check" she didn't say

I had to step away, who drilled a hole in their head this time

okay nobody drilled a hole in their head but auggie is Impersonating a Police Officer

god all I can think of is the opening to the Lungfishopolis section in Psychonauts

"Doing well, Officer O'Lungfish! Following all posted laws, to the letter!"

CITIZENS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

do you scarlet?

give the baby cocaine

AUGGIE

the average nextdoor poster

MATTHEW I was DRINKING

nefarious something somethings

"come back with a warrant"

aw he got his hoity-toity politics niece a book

it's tusk love

it's BETTER it's HARDY BOYS

I'm something of a spooky story myself

"there's DRUGS in the WALLS"

you what your what

"they're both equally shit"

roll for ricochet

table: howard no robbie: HOWARD YES

"to make you go to sleepytime"

oh oh that one episode of doctor who

idiot's lantern! that one

oh that's very cool

we love an interactive prop

oh no irl dark

insert symmetra "fall back" voice line here

oh I hate it

OH I HATE IT

too tall. too much. too much limb.

when I step you step we step

I very much heard "crying"

I didn't ask how big the room is I said I cast oil lantern

I PUT THE TEAM ON MY BACK

ghost floaters

"only you can create forest fires"

I'm just thinking of the werewolf from paranatural

AUGGIE

[percy lovm voice] I AM EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE

"that was my kamehameha" nerd

"drive it like you stole it"

……..kara-sene

uku'toaaaaa

"I don't know the rules, I can't roleplay my way out of this"

auggie :(

lycanthropic ficus

"what do you have?" "a gun! :D" "NO"

my permanent fallout brainrot insists on hearing "deacon" instead

of "deagan"

"it's a magic gun that's bat at ghosts"

[tma voice] ghost bullet

oh I haven't been looking, I didn't realize ashley took the jacket off

stop I'm already gay

I am not immune to matthew mercer's version of slimy charm

playing dishonored be like

arlo's little dreamy voice going "I have a rifle :D"

matt that sound effect was ENTIRELY unnecessary

god help me for the reference I'm about to make

"THE BULLETS JUST KEEP GOING THROUGH THE HOOOOOLES"

elephant graveyard but for trains

"we're urban spelunking"

oh, it's filch

sounds like something someone who was skulking would say

"tetanus is the true enemy"

howard Leeroy Jenkins margrove

and then arlo had no face

[zenyatta voice] experience nothingness

"a person appears in the portal" stanford?

that is a joker from improbable island

(please play improbable island)

matthew I have never hated your sound effects so much as I do in this moment

OOF obsidian stab

you are flying through the air no matter what

FLAMING AXE

you ever grow another arm just to punch a guy

I was JOKING

"uh-oh!"

SAVE US GHOST BRAIN MAN

the softest "oh no"

BE THE SPRIGG YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD

HOWARD'S NO COWARD

LEEEEEEEROY JEEEEEEENKIIIIIINS

"what is the exact light temperature of your ritual"

noooo let arlo do her cool trick shot

summon the spirit of percy

hey matt what the fuck

howard's made of ghosts

"I feel strange" because you're made of ghosts

I enjoy that ashley stays in character voice the entire time she's playing. like she's just auggie now.

okay what matt said was cool but I also like the idea of auggie not being able to rely on being able to physically fight his way out of shit and having to actually read the situation

hey robbie what the f u c k

bad news: the rest of it

[mile-minute]

So, I never really had a place to share this so here goes… Some background on where A Different Pace came from! (For those out of the loop, ADP is that long Flint/Graham novel up on AO3 HERE )

It all started with this Toon, Soggy Nell, who says this little tidbit in Flint’s taskline…

I thought it was just WILD! So, of course, my mind went to ‘what if she got away with it’. At the same time, as I still had just started playing really, I didn’t know too much about the lore, so I was playing with the idea of the Androids AU where some of the cogs had more human origins. At this point ADP was two stories, the ‘Flint finds Human!Graham’ story and then the ‘Captured Flint’ plot. Part of my creative process is to sketch out little moments, so the very first sketch became this comic integrating that NPC text…

Somewhere along the line Nell got turned into a mouse, but the sentiment remained. Obviously, that didn’t translate directly to the story, but if you’ve read it, you know exactly what scene this is from. And speaking of the taskline, at the time I was in YOTT and reached Winston… what a shock that was! It’s really the first time that the Toons pretty much commit a war crime in response to the Cogs… thus the plot was born. To what extreme can either side justify? How far can they go before a rift forms. The Wizards, in my opinion, crossed that line, and frankly the Suits crossed it a long time ago- something for our not quite so programmed Androids to mull about than act on. Thus, the two stories became one and I realized this thing was growing legs. Many, many legs~

It was almost too perfect… So of course I had to toss some gunk in the gears! The primary of which being a bit of a misunderstanding between Flint and Graham when one of them finally confessed their affection for the other. Of course, the feeling was mutual, but Graham has a way of jumping to conclusions, and Flint tripping over his own words… Cue that visual of Graham standing there, literally bearing it all for Flint, and being let down… He pulls his robe shut, you can see the exact moment his heart breaks, and Flint has NO IDEA how he’s going to fix this. Meanwhile, there might also be an entire Lighthouse in his way!

Art by JamiPurple for me of this moment, it was too good not to have illustrated!

Chip was another character I was immediately fascinated by. I thought he could be a great glimpse into ‘pure’ suit culture and just how self-destructive it was to the Suits, and maybe Flint could help him overcome that, even if just a little… At this point i don’t remember where it originated, but the idea that Chip and Flint are ex-lovers really just catalyzed this plot point, and made it fit in pretty seamlessly with Flint’s own journey of healing after his capture and escape!

Next, let’s talk about the superstar- Graham! I could only keep his ego down for so long, and know he needed some big event to really blossom and show off. Cue the Banquet! While important for the plot, this was also such a fun excuse to dress him up in something fancy!

But, amid all that glitz and glamor, I also wanted to make it PAINFULLY obvious how much of a toll all of this has taken on him, too. He’s a performer, for better or for worse, and he was just at his rock bottom. But, I had plans to make it worse. Plans from his past… The reason for the Android AU- the story of Graham’s rather sad human past, of a man past his prime and in a rough place, unsure of where to go from here…

No, even worse! Skin peeling off his face worse. First though, there needed to be a reason for this! Cue that B-plot with Tipps’ call center. The original outline had that shaking out much differently, but some last minute tweaks filled in a lot of plot holes, and let that little guy shine! Plus, it let me highlight a really unique aspect of this fandom- many of our Toons are Cog sympathizers to a point. Not full turncoats, but willing to work with the bad guys if it means peace.

So that takes us to the final battle, and the rescue squad!

I just thought this looked badass LOL! And am a sucker for a big fight. I really enjoyed writing what a ‘real time’ toon battle may look like, gags flying everywhere and the Suits able to really use their abilities.

Anyways, of course the ending was a bit of a reset of the status quo, it is a MMO after all, but I wanted to give both sides a bit of a ‘win’ so Flint got his safe haven, and the Toons operate a little more democratically now. Oh, and Winston finally got those repairs he needed <3

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me, I hope this was a fun bit of insight! More than happy to answer any questions you have about this story, feel free to comment them below if you want :)

[davekat-sucks]

After reading your recent posts about wanting to distance yourself from homestuck eventually makes me feel bad too send asks because it means more homestuck is being streamlined to you

About a year ago i dropped homestuck after losing interest once again (this happens on and off) and only got into it recently because i currently can't really play video games at the moment so i ended up returning to homestuck. I think a big reason why i can get back into it so easily is because its FREE all you need is an internet connection and you get the massive amount of content from the comic and fandom, there's just soo much too engaged with even if it's not all good. Despite all my problems with Homestuck i still do like it but one thing i wish is What Pumpkin would just let it go, HS2 and Hiveswap are dumpster fires. It feels like they're milking a dead cow, this series would be better off if the poor decision making stopped at the comic itself. I just want it to be left untouched by a company and have it be supported by the love of the fanbase. I'm homestucked out but i like the character enough and shipping them as well will probably keep me hooked for awhile.

I guess I'll throw in what i was originally going too say anyway. I think homestuck took a massive drop in writing quality after murderstuck. Like why is everyone just standing on the meteor? You guys aren't going to get more serious after all that? Was there any reason as to why no one could've texted John or Jade while separated? I genuinely don't remember there being a reason. I thought Kanaya coming back to life was stupid, the Gamzee and Terezi thing gross, Rose being an alcoholic then drunk making out with Kanaya also being gross, Karkat and Dave being bystanding asshole during all this, Wayward Vagabond being practically a stuffed animal, like what is this? After murderstuck you could definitely feel the decline but there where some decent moments spread out afterwards with Caliborn being the main one stealing the show. I think Hussie really liked Caliborn, you can tell he had so much fun writing him. I like to believe Hussie went wild with Caliborn because he could get away with all the edgy stupid stuff with him because he's a villain, Hussie had obviously gave into the demands of the fans and i think even he got tired of it, Caliborn was the perfect blank slate for him to have some real freedom in writing again, Caliborns character is really in line with Hussies older sense of humor. Despite still giving into demands every other time, Caliborn got too be want Hussie actually wanted. Oooh Caliborn how you almost saved Homestuck, at least you get to be the best character in the end.

It's fine to still send asks about Homestuck here. Moving on doesn't happen overnight and I'm often sticking around more to speak out about the flaws. From the series itself, the fandom, or the current culture that surrounds it. It can be applied to other groups like those who like anime, comics, video games, etc. Homestuck is just one niche I focus on because I'm familiar with it. There are many other people online that talk about these similar topics that do it better than I ever could. But I agree that WhatPumpkin should just let the base webcomic end just there. No need to focus more on Epilogues, Homestuck^2, or Homestuck Beyond Canon. Let people interpret their own endings. Homestuck may not have been able to leave a mark in media history like what Undertale or FNAF did, but it's better to let it end there as it is. The story really felt going down after Murderstuck. Cascade was probably the only greatest thing left behind. Then Act 6 kicked in. There are many plot holes and questions to be raised about it. From things like why can't Dave/Rose or the other living trolls on the meteor use Trollian or any of their communication devices like they had before? There's nothing said about their travel to the Alpha Session will block communication between the two parties. I hate how Dave and Karkat stood on the sidelines as Rose/Kanaya and Gamzee/Terezi go through hell with their problems. Why wasn't Wayward Vagabond doing more to try and communicate with the others? Can Town and being a mayor is his dream, but we have seen him become a leader of his own to his own people. WV had communicate with John to act as his Exile, so why not the same with Dave, Rose, and the other living trolls? Where was he when the others went into the Dream Bubbles? Carapacians are not allowed there? Is still on the meteor to 'protect' the base? Was that the only time they left him alone like he was some housepet? Wouldn't it be better to have Wayward Vagabond that's now revived, stay on the Prospitian ship that John and Jade were on so that they could be with Dave and Rose? Wayward Vagabond would have a better time to try and get all the Carapacians to be ready when they arrived in the Alpha session. Where were the Carapacians by Post Retcon and Collide? By Post Retcon, the ones on the Prospitian ship and those with Roxy should be alive by then. Casey also was there to summon undead consorts during Jake vs The Felt fight. Wouldn't that mean the other consorts were still there Prospitian ship that John and Jade were on, could have joined the battle? There are too many plot holes and vague answers still around because of Act 6 and Post Retcon that it makes people question the quality and how the story was leading up to this. I do believe as well that Caliborn was the only way for Hussie to let himself use his old edgey humor. Dave and Dirk were there, but those two had their character development and he needed another being to stand in his place. Other characters that fit would have been dead and he had to come with some bullshit reason to bring them back. So it's better to make an original OC than to reuse another character. Caliborn really was the best as he really made lots of changeups and excitement to the series. If not only in narrative standpoint, but also in meta in the sense that he was able to change the website readers would be on. You had to be there with old flash to see him banging on the console that the link and panel you were trying to read, shook with every hit and everything gets scrambled and falling apart. Calliope hasn't done anything like that despite that we are suppose to root for her as the good guy that will join the heroes. Caliborn is just that amazing. Act 6 may have been carried by people like Dirk and Roxy, but Caliborn flexed it up high like Atlas did with the World.

[tsfs-dragon]

Been thinking more about this.

When it comes to Xenoblade Chronicles 3, it feels crazy that I have to dislike it. The games that came before in the series were masterclass in setting, characters, story, gameplay, the works (can't say anything for X as I didn't play that one). Yet with XBC3 a lot of things felt mid as an okay thing with much of the story elements just being trash and ultimately the main reason I would put this game really low on a list of my favorite games.

Big factor being that at the end of the day XBC3 really means nothing to the Xenoblade series. Sure they try to say along the lines of "no this all really happened" but none of it feels that way in the greater lines of the story. Hell one could say it was all a dream and it would hold up just as much. It's as if there was no real impact that 3 had on the story relevance of 1 and 2. If the reset machine just worked as it should have then you would get the same result. All the stupid lore stuff that only existed in 3 was wiped out, making all that meaningless. Could have worked lore in a natural way that highlighted both of the past games without having to change everything that gave those worlds their identity. Things like death has no real point in the game making any time when someone dies in 3 just a big old nothing that makes anyone look like a fool for being sad over. When one character "died" I knew I would have this character in the party at some point since it showed on the hero list, along with knowing another character would live. Making their big death scene nothing but a dumb mess meant to manipulating you to feel sad when there is clear reason not to do so. So really what stays with the series after the events of this game that can't be explained as a dream? Cause that is way more likely what what the story itself insisted.

And I believe I talked about it before but damn so many plot holes. From reconning the games before with shit that never happened, to somehow changing the laws of the reality when said thing that can change the laws of reality DOESN'T exist in either reality anymore. They try to make music important with a job like offseer, but really seems like something that could easily be taken out of the narrative and the story wouldn't suffer. What point is there to the two nations being at war and not like several or something? And don't give me the excuse of "well that's cause one nation represents XCB 1 and the other XBC2" because that doesn't count for anything on a narrative level, could have had several nations with mixes of people from all over and it would have been the same. Don't forget the bad guys failing to kill someone cause they for some reason don't know the obvious weak point that they had no reason not to know. And let's not forget the bad guy who has a skill that can be used to spy and spread discourse to many people, even the main characters, but never uses it aside from that one time. I think he used it in a battle once but that wasn't using the skill the way it can be used for the story. At the end of the day makes it feel more of a badly written fan fic than form the minds of the people who brought us XBC1 and XBC2.

Now one of the sad things that came to mind. Let's say that the characters of both sides were kids right before the world went to shit. This makes Eunie and Taions relationship a bit of a problem, which is sad because these two were my favorite pair out of all of them. But as the world being back to the way it was meant to be, you have Eunie who is a High Entia who are a race with long lives similar to elves in most fantasy series... who also age slowly too. After all the first game showed a High Entia child being 40 years old. With Taion, he seemed to represent Blade Eaters in the team, but that seem like it was something that was implanted on him for war which anyone who wasn't a Blade already would have had done to them. Meaning that Taion in his world would in all likelihood not have been a Blade Eater. So while Taion would age like a human normally would, Eunie would age like the High Entia she is. Which would make it when Taion is an adult Eunie (while being older) would still be a kid as for as High Entia aging goes. And THAT doesn't paint a pretty picture of the idea of these characters being reunited.

Really though am I the only one who things of these things when it came to play the game? It's not that I really want to, but it's just so bad that I can't help but think about this.

[nayialovecat]

What is the most surprising hidden talent of

- Bendy

- Jack

- Joey

- Alice Angel

- Your favourite OC

... And their biggest fear?

Nice question. Let's check if I remember...

Ok, Bendy... hmm... it's a spoiler a bit, but he will discover some an artists talent he have. For now he likes play games and is really good in winning.

Jack - for my readers it may not be surprising, but for the characters of SATIM even very much - the trapmaster and mechanic has a surprisingly great talent for writing texts and their corrections. Hmm, it's probably a story spoiler too, because exactly, you'll find out about it in about 2-3 strips :D

Joey? This is where I'll surprise you - in SATIM Joey can draw and he's not bad at all. Unfortunately, due to the many illness, his hands are now shaking too much to hold a pencil or pen too long…

Alice Angel is a woman of many talents. She can sing, very good cook, invent and solve puzzles, as well as perform complex surgical operations, such as trepanation of the skull, amputation of a limb, sewing a hole in someone's body, removing parts of organs, and then putting someone back together so that they still will live… As I said, the woman of many talents.

Brody is probably still my favourite, so let's take a look at him… Aside from the obvious talents seen in the comic, perhaps the most surprising thing is his incredible memory. Not only has this guy not forgotten his human life, but he also remembers who everyone around him was and can recognize them with great efficiency in inky, memoryless beings. Don't ask how he does it. It's just huge talent. Now second part, about fears...

Bendy said once that his greates fear is that Joey win.

Jack... hm... I really don't know but I guess that Henry a little :D

Joey's greatest fear has already happened. Now he lives only by hating those he blames about it.

I think one of Alice Angel's fears is being hurt by someone again. It's… quite a big plot spoiler, but there's a reason this character hides in the shell of a mean bitch.

The only thing fearless Brody is afraid of is that the sky will fall on his he… wait, not that story X"D In fact, Brody's only fear is one thing: that someone will hurt his sheep.

[duhragonball]

#10?

10. The Dragon Ball series isn’t exactly known for being consistent with its story, its characters, and various other things. Which inconsistency irritates you the most?

I suppose GT is the one that I keep coming back to. I'm thinking about doing a liveblog of GT and Super next year, and I keep wondering how I'm going to cover GT Episode 1 without going into a long, long rant about all the plotholes involved with the Black Star Dragon Balls. The idea of defective Dragon Balls might have some merit, but what drives me nuts is how those things have supposedly just lain around for years without anyone ever mentioning them. The people who should know about them seem unaware, and the people who do know about them shouldn't be aware of them at all. But that's a discussion for another time.

Turning to Dragon Ball Super, it irks me how casually they keep abusing the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, despite the whole gimmick of a person only being able to spend no more than two years inside the thing. I assume that someone decided the rule no longer matters because of how Buu discovered you can escape through the power of screaming, but the bigger problem is that characters will spend years training in there and never seem to get much out of it. Like, the big development in the DBS manga is that Frieza recently spent a whole decade training in a HTC-like environment, so now he's presumably ultra-mega-super strong. And that's fine, that's how Dragon Ball works. But sooner or later the next bad guy will show up, and the next power-up will come along, and it'll make Black Frieza seem like a minor upgrade from Golden Frieza. And that's fine too, except it'll look really stupid that Frieza spent ten years of his life working for such small gains.

Other than that... one thing that really grinds my gears is the way fans refuse to accept that the original Dragon Ball and Z aren't all that inconsistent. A story like this is never going to be airtight, but a lot of the supposed inconsistencies are due to filler scenes produced by people who didn't know how the story was going to play out, or fan misinterpretations.

For example, I remember being on this discord server a couple of years ago, and someone was running down all these plot holes in the Cell Saga. I went through each one, explaining how they were actually pretty easy to rationalize. Why didn't Trunks kill 18 instead of fighting Semiperfect Cell? Because as much as Trunks hates the androids, he's a good man who couldn't bring himself to kill a defenseless person. Why didn't 18 blow herself up when she had the chance? Because... she didn't want to die? Why didn't Goku take the medicine when Trunks told him to? Because he told Goku to take it when he got sick, and he didn't get sick until the day of the battle. Stuff like that. But I didn't really convince anyone, because they'd rather be smug and pretend they poked all these holes in the thing.

Another example, I just saw a twitter thread of people arguing over whether Goku turned Super Saiyan because of Frieza killing Krillin or because of Frieza threatening to kill Gohan next. And it's like those things literally happened one right after the other, so I'm pretty sure it can be both. But it's not even a dialogue for some fans. They just want to pick sides so they can dunk on the other side for being "wrong".

Oh, and the whole Power Level thing. Vegeta demonstrated the futility of scouters way back in 1989-- The Z-Fighters can raise and lower their fighting power at will, so the readouts on the Scouters are useless. Vegeta destroyed his scouter as soon as he reached Namek. Ginyu stole Goku's body but couldn't replicate the same power levels that Goku had just used. Frieza claimed he had a power level of one million, but he had no technology with which to measure it, so how would he know? Goku became a Super Saiyan in spite of the testing performed on him as a baby, which predicted he would be a low-class fighter. The whole thesis of the Saiyans-Namek-Frieza arc is that you can't reduce battle power and fighting spirit to a number, and every character who tried ended up getting killed. And yet this point continues to sail over so many fans' heads.

But it is what it is, I guess.

[yanderefairyangel]

I think the people who complain about Engage's story are probably salty that Fire Emblem as a franchise doesn't follow 3h, specifically Edelgard's story of "all dragons bad, humanity good. All Dragons should be eliminated" shtick. They probably should've got that message when the devs said Edelgard is the bad guy and her route is the the hegemon route, but people clung too hard to "death of the author" and now they have to face reality. I haven't gotten to Engage yet but seeing a lot of the stans invalidated after years of their toxic and dangerous behavior does give me some schadenfreude.

I gotta be frank anon, I get why people don't like the story has it's very generic. If you ask me, Engage is still better constructed than Awakneing and Fates because it has at most 4 plot holes in the main story and only 2 big one and it did make me wish to strangle the writers. Engage to me is a "meh i have seen worse but I have seen better". The premise is kind of boring, the first Lumera's death is emotionless. There were moments enjoyably bad like Alear becoming the Fire emblem was the best thing in my entire life. But when I see what the writers wanted to do : they succed. I FREAKING LOVE ALEAR. THEY EVEN MANAGED TO BEAT ROBIN!! AND ROBIN WAS MY FAV AVATAR. Alear's storyline is sso good, it's the most interesting part but the problem is : the rest of the cast.

First you begin with the Stewards, but then you move with Alfred who gets the spoltlight stolen by Diamant, etc, etc. That's no good. The characters only appear superficially and that coupled with the supports grinding having become shit ever since 3 houses make it hard to interest the player in investing time into unlocking them which is a pity, because past A support, all characters got a lot of depth. Some even before. To it's credit, Engage had a much bigger cast than 3 houses so it explain why like Awakening and Fates, some of them ended up being into the background. 3 houses had 4th route so this coupled with the fact that each class had a small number of students made it easier to make everyone participates in the plot. I'd say that seeing the objective, I understand the focus on Alear, Veyle and their family. But it could have still saved it's cast by trying to make the paralogues about the units rather than the Emblems or make 2 kinds of paralogue rather than recycling the Awakening and Fates formula. But I still really enjoyed the story despite it's enormous flaws, and I think it's a bit unfair to call it this bad, when it is at worst mediocre.

As for 3 houses, not gonna lie : it's just decently written. The characters are what make the game shines, but the story in itself can either be exciting either doesn't interest you much. While playing Engage, i was not really eager to look fowards the next chapter, but it was still an enjoyable experience. 3 houses got me excited for some and not for others chapter, but it's not well written game per se.

If i could explain why, then i will say this : people will say, Fell Xenologue is better than main story, and I will disagree. Here is why : while playing I was really into it, but even after the end, it fall aparts and I saw all the holes in it. Same things for 3 houses. People tends to forgive more easily a story that has plot holes and bad construction if it has something interesting than a solid one, albeit a bit dull. That's why so many people who were shitting on Awakening and Fates now claims it's superior to Engage. But let's see, if i try to sum it up what i have :

Awakening : local crown prince recruits amnesiac person to makes them tactician and goes to war.

Fates : amnesiac child have to choose between people who are neither their actual family

3 houses : local mercenary gets hired as a teacher and has to play the arbitrary between 3 teenaged war criminals

Engage : young dragon child has to save the kindgom from the evil dragon that turns out to be their real dad.

We can all agree that Engage summed up in one sentence looks way less dumb then the previous. But the differenc is that the 3 had an execution that tooks more risk and made thing more interesting, to the point the flaws got overlooked. Awakening had a strong arc with the Plegian, the Valm arc was a filler and the last boss arc got a lot hyped. But they all feels so disconnected. Same thing for Fates, and it's worse knowing that it being a route, feels had to be connected and when it did ... plot holes all the way. 3 houses did not do better. Engage had the beneficts of having only one storyline and one goal : Sombron, always Sombron. Unlike for the 3 games where you had to fight a boss before discorvering the real ennemy, thing that 3 houses did better than Awakening and Fates, Engage was straight to the begining. Hence everything around Sombron feels more solid, constructed, it's simplier and better. This strategy allowed to avoid uncessary acts and to got strike right here, even if it did some mistakes with the Solm arc where you lose your ring because E.Veyle managed to steal the rings... don't ask me how. But each arc was at least connected and not dispateched. Making the whole thing handle like a block, even if some parts need polishing because Engage's biggest flaws was that it hold back a lot!! I will make a post on this btw.

But for 3 houses, I personally think it's way too overrated for what it is. Yes it is a good game, but there is still better. There were sooo many way to improve it. The first one was Byleth, because Shez prouved they were capable of having a self insert!! They wanted to go Personna, but it's not how self insert works IS !! I speak as VN enjoyer, you can't have the self insert without personality even if the player can choose what they say!! Just to give an example, The Murder of Sonic the hedgehog did better. The story is simple but enjoyable as heck !! The gameplay choice was just stunning as it matched with the Tails Phase and the Sonic phase being reprsentative of the character and even the self Racoon insert was fun because they were a relateble character and you could choose what they did nevertheless but the choice showed there was consicentency !! Byleth had none of this. Moreover, they are incredible passive, Shez too. I would have loved it if Byleth's relevance was not just limited to who they choosed to guide, but also HOW they did with depending on your decision, several endings !! like in classical VN. Just as an example : Claude in Hopes joing Edie in 2 routes and Dima only one Dima's route.... WHY THE HECK CAN'T SHEZ CHOOSE WHO CLAUDE SIDE WITH IN CLAUDE'S ROUTE ?!!

As for the "death of the authour" only dumbass uses this to excuse headcanon. The death of the author is a literary concept proclaimmed by Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault in order to STOP studing every pits of the author 's personal life to study a literary text, in order to stick to the text and the text only ! The only limitation it has is that it can tend to neglect the intentio auctoris of the text and it can lead to a reading different then what the author intended such as JJ Rousseau's reading of the Misanthrope to be the tragedy of Alceste instead of a comedy mocking Alceste. Not an excuse for weird agendas and pushing an interpretation over the others but an attempt at seeing what the text says. It was in order to favorise the intentio operis, not enter into the anarchy of intentio lectoris which is saddly the dominant in fandom. However, it's not so uncommon to see a villain being a hero : J. M Barrie intented Peter pan to be the devil's spawn... he is now a well beloved character by many and a symbole of childhood innocence. But sometimes, you have to listen to what the writters said to understand a story. Even if you don't like it.

So to came back to the main point : i 100% understand why some people don't like Engage's story but, from what i know the devs wanted, they succeded in their projects. And it's what matters. Could they have did better ? yep. But there is no point comparing Engage to 3 houses knowing that it did not wanted to be like that, it wanted to be what it is : Alear's story. So now i am 100% aware that it lack replay value, the characters got dirtied on and a lot of stuff. Like I said my personal ranking is : 1- Alear 2- Rafal 3- Veyle 4- Nel 5- Sombron 6 - Lumera and 7- Sommie. The dragon are what makes Engage worth talking. The characters deserves to be given a chance because there is good character : Alfred, Hortensia, Mauvier, the 4 winds. But the main story did they them too dirty to appeal. Yeah the excution has objectively flaws, but it isn't too the point Engage is that bad of a game.

I don't know much about the Eddie discourse and I will continue to remain as ignorant as possible as i personally am not that interested by that specific topic which in my opinion seems to have scared a lot of fans way for the 3 houses fan bases. But while Engage has indeed it's flaw, the hate towards the story is exagerated, especially as there is a lot of good things in it when you dig it up. Rather than blaming it on 3 house, id' say it's typicall FE behaviour since people were so busy on hating on Awakening they would not even admit it did saved the franchise, quality of the game or not, it did ! They di the same thing for Fates despite it's popularity, they even did it for 3 houses !! and then Hopes !! Now it's just Engage's turn to be the scapegoat which is a pity, because again it's not a bad game, the gamplay is good and I have been into the seires more for the strategics aspects than the story in itself, so when I am bored i grab the game and go! I totaly get why it won' t appeal to many, but still : I HAD FUN. And that's what matters. Sure, it felt like the dev did not put too much heart into it at times, but still i can feel it was intented to be for fun which makes sense, it's an aniiversary game. Would Engage be shorter it probably would have had less backlash but it still did great and I am thankful for that. But there again, Fe game always had a simple story : beat evil dragon to finish the war. Then game always managed to handle it their own way, varrying from very bad to quite good. 3 houses isn't near Shadow of Valencia however, and it was a simple story too, and it still sold less then Engage so... anyone burrying the game now is couting their chicken before they ever hatched, or in that case the dragons. There is not much place to say ngl, but still, it's been barely a year since it came out. 3 hopes did died faster but it still get some content from time to times.

Edit : I also think Engage had the curse of being released at the end of the holiday, in autumn, yk ? when people go back to work and have less times playing... especially in a post pandemic era, unlike for 3houses duology, that came in summer and then you had the pandemic to play it all day, and.. do fanworks of it all day. Would it release in summer times, the gameplay would have helped gained replayability points, it did for 3 hopes, it would have did it for Engage too since it would have give a pass time. See how Engage was the only game ever since Fates to not release in summer times ? Fates came out during summer, Three houses too, and 3 hopes too. At the end it's a like or not, but I am not gonna lie, the story works better if it was a movie then getting interrupted. It's more a grab popcorn and enjoy things then have fun on the play ground with unit, which I repeat would have been perfect for a summer release.

[maroonghoul]

Horror Movie’s I just watched: May 2023

Shorter list this time. Here we go:

Resurrection (2022) I saved this one for Mother’s day because I heard the main character was a Mom. I was a bit afraid it wouldn’t factor into the plot that much, but I was reassured, especially with the final scene.

This is another one, kinda like Censor, where the whole thing might be in the protagonist's head. Where she’s so wound up tight at the beginning that her daughter’s accident only starts the ball rolling in her head some nightmarish fantasy of the worst case scenario. It helps that we never got any confirmation about whether of not Tim Roth’s character was a hallucination or anyone else can see him. Hell, given that we never get a flashback with him and his first lines is him saying he doesn’t recognize her, there’s a disturbing possibility that he is real, but is some poor guy who just looks way too much like her ex and she’s hallucinating everything he said. And that final reveal about the baby actually being inside him is too surreal and supernatural to not have heavy implications if it wasn’t in her head.

Granted, like the best of ambiguous films, the story works regardless if this theory is right or not. The point is, externally or internally, this character is tormented. I feel like the moral of this story is; Girlbossing can only help you in limited ways. When it come to trauma as severe as this, try to find therapy. Though given our culture, she still probably couldn’t. It’s not fair.

Mad God Here was a movie I couldn’t take my eyes off, and I still feel like I missed a few things. That’s how striking the imagery was. I don’t know what I can add to what’s already been said about the themes that others haven’t already. Cycles of violence not solving anything, the de-personification of mass labor, civilizations rising and falling again despite the sacrifices; those are what I can glean. Also, being reminded at various points of Eraserhead, Fallout New Vegas, Metropolis, and Cemetery Man. Probably not even half of that was intentional. 

It just wows me. Any one of the creatures in this could be the centerpiece or high point of any other film. Stop motion really has become a lost art. Sure, we know now a big reason why studios heavily prefer CGI, despite how good it actually looks, is cheaper and faster to make then any other effect. But works like this show that, if you’re actually comfortable letting film take as much time as it needs and use as much money as possible to make it look good (Better there than some executive’s overstuffed salary), you’ll allow a lot more variety in how each film is made and look. Gee, it’s almost like time crunches and trying to save money is actually bad for the product. WhO kNeW?

Scare Me I recognized the male lead, Josh Ruben, from CollegeHumor. And after that, this whole movie, to me, played like an extended Hardly Working sketch. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.

I was worried a whole movie mostly about two people (briefly three) telling scary stories, and not actually showing us the stories, would look too cheap. Thankfully, there were some technical flourishes. The performances, including the bits their characters acted out so they’re effectively a performance in a performance, are good even if the stories themselves are hit or miss. 

The first werewolf one is just goofy, but that’s intentional. The Grandpa one is ok, even if it’s a touch ableist at a point. The troll’s a bit fun. And the “deal with the devil” one has a fun payoff. 

What this actually ends up being about, insecure white male (maybe?) getting violent with his more successful female colleague was pretty inevitable given how passive-aggressive they both are. Honestly, that they’re both such a-holes help kept what would be a too uncomfortable situation pretty light. You can mark this as another case of “actor known for comedy taking a serious villain role to show their range” movie, like Robin Williams. This was effective enough here, though I don’t know if it would work for him outside of it. 

Final note (and mild spoiler for two films), can’t help but felt like the mid-credit scene reminded of the very end of the 1982 movie Death Trap. Not sure if that movie was a direct inspiration for this. I saw that for the first time about a month ago so it’s fresh on my mind. Outside of that, this is pretty much a good hang-out horror movie. Especially for fans of the old College Humor.

That’s all for now. I’ll probably have less films to talk about next time, but I’ll try to make up for it in July.

[agentnico]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) Review

This film features the MCU’s first use of the F-bomb, and I must say its inclusion works for a great joke. However Marvel fans better be prepared, as this is nothing compared to what Deadpool is going to bring to this cinematic universe. Don’t you dare PG Deadpool! Disney don’t you do it!!

Plot: Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill must rally his team to defend the universe and protect one of their own. If the mission is not completely successful, it could possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.

Fresh off the heels of their very entertaining Holiday Special that gave us the gift of Kevin Bacon singing Christmas songs, the Guardians return for what is pitched as their final outing for this version of the team, as well as the final time James Gunn directs them before fully embracing his new head-of-DC duties. Look, we all love these characters, so of course even though the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself is stuck in a bit of a rut at the moment, there was no chance I was going to miss this final hurrah for these galaxy saving a-holes. 

I’m happy to report that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a very enjoyable superhero flick and a very satisfying conclusion for its heroes. What works for this movie is what Marvel itself currently lacks - focus. There are many characters here to balance yet Gunn manages to give each and every one of them a moment in the spotlight, whilst also delivering a tale filled with emotion, humour and heart. In a way it’s like the recent Thor: Love & Thunder, only it’s not a pile of crap. Unlike that movie, Guardians 3 manages to find a perfect stability between its comedy and dramatic heft, and the result is a super entertaining movie. 

Naturally the big focus is on Rocket and his tragic backstory, and yes there is some animal cruelty involved so be warned, but that dark element really rose the stakes for this film and made you really care and understand why Rocket is the way he is, whilst also providing the perfect motivation for our team to proceed. In terms of the backstory, yep, it can be at times hard to watch. But also the animal characters are really adorable. A scene between an intelligent raccoon, a rabbit with artificial legs, a walrus with wheels and an otter with metal arms really got to me in a way I didn’t expect. My heart of stone was touched. What was also effective in relation to the backstory and even the present story was the villain. Chukwudi Iwuji was fantastic playing a truly despicable and downright horrible antagonist who had no moral compass. All too recently Marvel has been trying to give all its villains an element to root off, so it was nice to see one that was simply a bad guy full stop. And Iwuji infused this character with terror and evil. And look, he was much more menacing than Majors’s Kang who is supposed to be the MCU’s new big bad. 

As mentioned prior, all characters get their moment to shine. It was nice seeing Chris Pratt return back to the goofball teenager attitude, as the character of Star-Lord was kind of ruined in the Avengers films and even in the Holiday Special he seemed off, but here Pratt makes Star-Lord once again the loveable idiot, and it was great seeing him back. Also his rapport with Gamora was very interesting, as following Endgame the original Gamora had died and was replaced by an alternate universe past version, so she doesn’t recall her romance with Star-Lord, so he is stuck longing for something he can never have which leads to both emotional and humoristic moments. Dave Bautista’s Drax and Pom Klementieff’s Mantis continue their fun banter following the Holiday Special, and Groot is, you know, still Grooting. At least it allows Vin Diesel to take a little break in between his endless Fast & Furious movies. Karen Gillan as Nebula brings her solid deadpan delivery, Sean Gunn’s Kraglin gets more opportunity to enjoy being part of the main group now, as Maria Bakalova voices Cosmo the Dog, and Cosmo is great. Just don’t call her “a bad dog”, she doesn’t like it. 

Visually this is one of Marvel’s best looking movies, especially since even though there is green screen used, it is pretty smooth. What’s more there’s a lot of practical effects used too, and I even read on IMDb that this film sets the record for the most makeup appliances used in a single film, having more than 23,000 prosthetics used across more than 1,000 actors. And I’ll always pick practical effects over CGI. In terms of negatives, there aren’t many. Will Poulter is introduced as Adam Warlock, and he seems the most shoehorned in, as his arc and inclusion feels very pointless and inconsequential. Will Poulter himself is solid playing yet another baby-minded caricature, but I feel like Warlock should have been saved for later or maybe introduced in an earlier movie. Also the soundtrack - it’s by no means bad and there are a few bangers, but it’s got nothing on Awesome Mixes Vol. 1 & 2. 

James Gunn emphasises yet again that without him Marvel is going to struggle, especially when it comes to continuing the storylines of some of these characters in the future, but nonetheless Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a wonderful ride and a great caper to Gunn’s trilogy, bringing lots of great humour, character dynamics and emotion, and gets you hooked on a feeling...one last time. Oh, and Gunn finally managed to properly show Nathan Fillion’s face in a Marvel movie, and that in itself is a win!

Overall score: 8/10

[someonemultifandom]

My thoughts

Long text and it's just my opinion, xd, sorry for the writing, I'm not american

Well, it all started in January 2023, when Inside Job was canceled. I was pretty devastated and remained fandomless for like 6 months, until August 2023

Inside Job had a special place in my heart, the characters, the cast, the plots… Pretty weird I found it by searching Family Guy on Netflix. What pissed me off is that Netflix renewed it and then canceled it despite renewing it. It just makes me so angry. There was so much hype, so much potential… And it’s gone. Xd. Anyways, after seeing some fanart I found what I would consider my Inside Job’s replacement: Digman! I’m serious, this thing has somehow managed to fill that Inside Job hole in my heart, even though those might be shoes too big to fill for this series. Anyways, Digman! is what I would consider a mediocre series, which is way higher than promedium. Inside Job is an excellent series, where characters get developpement, plots work well and bring stuff to the story and the characters interact with each other since the main cast is quite large. In Digman! quite the opposite happens, the main cast seems to only be made out of the protagonist and the deuteragonist, like Inside Job but at least there Brett and Reagan talked with other people than themselves. In Digman! most of the time is either Rip or Saltine talking, also Saltine isn’t that much of a character since she’s so flat in terms of personality, like, you’re the deuteragonist, why don’t we know your family name. Reagan is so relatable at some point and she gets a great developpement through the series, even in the first part. Rip on the other hand get poor developpement and at last, he only changes a bit for the most stupid reason: he believes that anyone who bothers him is caring for him, which is kinda dumb to be honest since he’s literally told that he’s always wrong and others know what’s best for him. Now to the deuteragonists, there is Brett for Inside Job and Saltine for Digman!. Brett is such a loveable character that is so relatable, he’s a yesman, he’s hot, he has a tragic past, yet he’s still a nice guy. He got a great developpement through the show as he realized he doesn't have to change to please people and that his opinion matters, healing a bit of his family trauma at part 2 and learning to let go of his best friend just so she can be happy. Then we have Saltine, please what even are you. Saltine has by most people the most attractive design but according to them it is just because she doesn’t fit the artstyle and I don’t even understand what that even means. She’s such a flat character that even the support characters have more personality than her! She barely does anything on the series apart from saying the obvious, and triggering Rip’s traumas in ep 2 for some reason. The only time she played an important role was in episode 4 where she met Trisket, another archeologist assistant and they both became friends, which is nice and it was the moment where she had the most personality somehow. But overall, the only thing she does is state obvious things like saying that exploitation is bad and that snakes are dangerous, which is kinda pointless because there’s no need to explain that. I get why Rip seemed so bothered by her in episode 1 because oh my god, she’s kind of obnoxious. We don’t even know her family name! She’s the deuteragonist and we don’t know her family name. The only thing we know from her is that she's a bit of an inventor, she’s a college student, and her parents don’t support her choice of studying archeology, which I understand since what kind of horrible parents name their child after a cracker. This too few compared to Brett whom we know useless stuff about him that at least puts in value his past and personality. But I like both, Inside Job might be canceled, it might never have an end but at least I found something to replace it inside my heart. Something that brought me joy. Something that makes me hype for next season. Something. Digman! might not be the perfect show, but please, give it a chance. Also, whatever will happen in season 2, pls don’t be any romantic, Inside Job already traumatized me so much xd

[lordoffireandflame]

Angry opinions on Downpour

Downpour was fun, I have angry opinions on it.

I think a major issue with Rain World: Downpour is that it spits in the face of the old game's themes. Like, when you play the old game, you FEEL helpless, you're a reasonably intelligent tool-using prey animal that is in an environment that your species isn't suitably acclimated to and you will die if you don't adapt.

I've seen people argue that the reason why the other slugcats are so overpowered is because an iterator made them so, but that just has has the same vibe as 'a wizard did it'. The Hunter made sense as essentially a supersoldier compared to the other slugs, it wasn't overpowered, you were still hunted, but you were reasonably fast and strong.

The ones that make the most sense are Rivulet (Rivulet should have just been able to breathe underwater and not just thirty seconds, the stress should have been on the more advanced water predators, not the drowning. Hell, have the Rivulet be immune to leeches) and the Saint (at least until it got God powers).

Other issues:

Artificer just feels like it was made by a guy who didn't know how to behave around scavs, died one too many times and coded in this abomination. This was the only campaign I never finished (unless you count the modded attempts). The story feels infantile and pathetic.

Gourmand's okay. I hated the story, though. Not much else to say here other than it feels too... well, 'feel good' for Rain World.

Spearmaster was ok, the only slugcat where I actually killed a red lizard with just spears.

The Saint was so fun, zipping around the structures was legitimately the best part of the game. WTF was the rubicon, though.

-Okay, I need to talk about the new Survivor and Monk endings. The base game is extremely nihilistic and vague, there's barely any good feelings here. And that's okay! Art doesn't really have to make you feel happy or satisfied. The new endings completely change the tone of the base game and, as said before, makes everything all 'feel good' instead of the enlightened struggle in the base game.

They gendered No Significant Harassment D:

Just the plot holes in general.

I actually liked the idea of Five Pebbles missing the ancients in his cities, but it clashes with what Moon said in the base game. You could make the argument of faulty memory or just being unreliable but... I don't see any reason as to why she would specifically be wrong about that one specific detail when we believe everything else she says.

Bad dialogue, 'And as your Big Sis, you know how protective I am of you!~' for example.

Honestly, I really don't like Five Pebbles' characterization here. In the base game he is best described as cold, condescending, but overall polite. He only turns rude and extremely patronizing during the Monk's campaign while barely keeping that veneer of helpfulness, he's annoyed and tired and wants to be left alone. I get his behavior in the Spearmaster campaign, but the others? Ehh... he's just kind of an asshole. Especially towards the Gourmand. I get it, Gourmand is showing obvious signs of gluttony, but if Five Pebbles was insulting the Gourmand for that sin, he should have been just as cruel towards the Artificer (yes, he calls her a barbarian and a beast a few times, but that isn't enough) for embodying violence.

My god do I hate the developer commentary. 'We didn't want to make out Five Pebbles to be seen as a villain, we wanted to make him morally ambiguous ' yo, anyone who has ever played the game and has read the lore knows Five Pebbles is morally ambiguous. Don't think we're stupid.

Looks to the Moon felt flanderized as well. People make her out to be some 'nice girl' in the base game. She can be nice, but she is still an iterator and has the similar attitudes Pebbles has. A better description of her is that she is polite, not necessarily nice. In the DLC she's turned into... well, I don't really know how to describe it other than it feels like the character traits the fans hyper fixated on got more and more exaggerated.

I don't like the new Echo names, they make too much sense. The base game Echoes' names seemed nonsensical, and that was part of their charm.

Honestly, I don't really feel like a small animal trying to adapt to an unfamiliar environment, I feel like the hero or a villain, which isn't what Rain World is about. It's about survival and adaptation that ultimately leaves to enlightenment.

There's more to say, but I'm done for now. I enjoyed the DLC, but the story issues were glaringly obvious the more I thought about it. The accessibility options were a good add on, but the story and characters. Saint was the best one by far.

Yeeks <3

[allthefilmsiveseenforfree]

Dear Evan Hansen

You may have seen some ~online discourse~ about the film Dear Evan Hansen, an adaptation of the 2016 Broadway musical, and you might have wondered what all the hubbub is about. I mean, it’s a feel good story about a senior in high school, Evan Hansen (Ben Platt), who has some pretty severe anxiety and depression. While trying to fulfill an assignment from his therapist to write a letter to himself, his letter gets picked up by another student, Connor (Colton Ryan) - and later that day, Connor kills himself. Connor’s grieving parents and sister Zoe (Amy Adams, Danny Pino, and Kaitlyn Dever) are desperate to learn more from the boy they think was Connor’s best friend - after all, Connor’s suicide note was a letter addressed to “Dear Evan Hansen.” And, as you can imagine, Evan tells them about the unfortunate mistake and sits with them in their grief as they struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives. 

Just kidding! He lies to them, repeatedly, elaborately, expansively for months, constructing an entire false friendship with Connor that never happened, and ingratiating himself into the wealthy nuclear family he never had, in large part because he wants to get into Zoe’s pants! THIS IS THE PROTAGONIST OF THE STORY. Oh, and it’s a musical so there is a lot of singing and crying and singing WHILE crying and sometimes crying and not singing at all. But the #inspiration, you guys. 

Things I liked:

Pretty much everything but the story and Ben Platt’s performance. The supporting cast is stacked, and all of them do a great job at elevating material scraped directly out of a diaper worn by someone who just chewed their way through a copy of the DSM-5. 

A couple of the songs are damn catchy - “Waving Through a Window” and “You Will Be Found” are standouts for a reason - and here’s the thing, Platt sings them well. But as you’ll discover, there’s a lot more to a movie musical than just singing your part. 

Stephen Chbosky, the man behind every deep thought I and a lot of people in my generation had in 2006 after he wrote The Perks of Being a Wallflower, is a pretty good director. I particularly enjoyed the fanvid-type cuts in “Waving Through a Window” in conjunction with the lyrics, and his use of interstitial shots to flashbacks (and sometimes flashforwards!) is a neat little bit of shorthand that I thought was used sparingly enough to be effective. 

Amy Fucking Adams. She’s holding on so hard, so desperately to the idea of who her son could have been, rather than the reality of who he was, and she is full of such deep pain that is masked by an almost endless supply of patience with Evan and relentless positivity. All this made me want was Enchanted 2 even worse than I already did. 

Super into everything Zoe wears - the costuming department did a great job, and now all I want to do is live in mom jeans and baggy sweaters.

Did I Cry? I teared up a couple of times because I’m not a completely heartless bastard and when Amy Adams offered Evan Connor’s college money, my heart broke for the lie Evan had thrust upon her, and Julianne Moore’s song got me good, because she’s just a single mom to Evan who is doing her goddamn best. 

Things I hated more than the time I dropped a frozen gallon container of fruit cocktail on my pinkie toe in my parents’ garage and it turned black and I thought it was gonna fall off:

Ben Platt is 28 years old. He originated the role of Evan Hansen on Broadway, so in many respects it makes sense that he plays the role in the movie, except for the one kinda sorta important thing where he looks like a wizened old crone standing amongst a sea of children doing his best twitching, cringing Hunchback of Notre Dame impression. If you want someone to convincingly play 20 years their junior, hire Paul Rudd. Otherwise, please don’t ask me to believe that this supposed 18-year-old has crow’s feet. 

And that twitching nervous energy is a huge part of the black hole at the center of this film - he’s playing to the cheap seats and walking through the halls of his high school like a wet chihuahua. It’s an excruciating acting choice to watch - he doesn’t just have anxiety, he is on the verge of a nervous breakdown seemingly every second of every day. Like honestly, where is only-mentioned-never-seen Dr. Sherman, because this young man’s meds are NOT WORKING DR. SHERMAN. 

There’s such a lack of self-awareness on behalf of the writing, directing, and performance by Platt. There’s one song, “Sincerely, Me,” that offers the only glimpse of commentary about what Evan is doing, by pointing out the malicious ridiculousness of him writing a series of fake emails as proof of his and Connor’s friendship. 

Also what high schoolers email this much?? I know this was written in probably 2014 or so, but has a bitch never heard of a text? Even a DM? This whole plot is constructed around the premise that high schoolers are just constantly, constantly emailing each other. 

Everything - and I mean EV-ER-Y-THING - about Evan’s relationship with Zoe is so creepy and disturbing that with a soundtrack change, this could easily be a horror movie. He attempts to get her to like him by describing to her all the things her brother noticed about her - oh wait, I’m sorry, all the things HE noticed about her while he was skulking in the shadows following her around for years, watching every move she made, and it ends with him singing repeatedly “I LOVE YOU” because following a girl around and never having a conversation with her or knowing her at all is love, right? This was clearly written by the same people who chose “Every Breath You Take” as their wedding song because Sting is hot and they never actually listened to the damn words. 

And it gets about 10 billion times worse when Zoe goes to Evan’s house alone, takes him up to his room, and sings “I don’t need reasons to want you” and that was the moment I was that person I hate in a movie theater and I pulled out my phone to Google who wrote the music and lyrics to the musical (we were in the back row of the theater no one was behind me THIS WAS AN OUTRAGE EMERGENCY) and of motherfucking course it was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, 2 men who heard about meeting an actual human woman from a friend one time but otherwise are unfamiliar with the concept. 

Lastly, enormous serial killer vibes from Evan sending unlabeled flash drives anonymously through the mail with no note in an attempt to right his wrongs. That’s not catharsis, that’s how the next installment in the Saw franchise starts, with Evan in a Billy the clown doll mask showing up on the screen and asking if you want to play a fucking game. 

Also, I know it’s not possible for the narrative to justify this in a way that could be satisfying based on Evan’s actions, but what is with this thing where single working-class mom Julianne Moore is turning down rich people’s money for Evan to go to college? Like, obviously we can’t have that happen in the movie but in real life, fuck your pride! Take those rich people’s money!

I also know how movies work but nothing annoys me more than a giant group of high schoolers all getting beeps and boops to indicate text notifications all at the same time because I don’t know a single person under the age of 55 who keeps their ringer on. That shit is on vibrate AT MOST, and I feel like that’s a millennial thing. 

The emotional climax of the film is obviously Evan’s WAY TOO LATE confession, but the idea that it’s prompted by Connor’s family suddenly getting a lot of internet hate is, frankly, laughable. If Sandy Hook taught me one thing, it is that no tragedy is immune from trolls who live only to cause other people devastating emotional pain on the internet. That shit starts day 1. Apparently no one involved in this production has ever been on Twitter?

Also it feels like there should have been a dog somewhere in this movie and there was no dog, so points off for that too. 

Perhaps Dear Evan Hansen isn’t nearly as deep as it aspires to be. Perhaps it’s a morality play, a simplistic message of “Don’t lie, kids, lying is bad!” Major studio movies wrap themselves up with a nice bow at the end so everyone can feel good about themselves and leave with a happy ending, but the moronic cruelty on display here makes that feat feel impossible. We’re left with Evan in an orchard, reading Connor’s favorite books and staring into the big blue sky with all the self-actualization he’s earned now as a lil treat. And if Evan Hansen looked like an actual 18-year-old, it would be a lot easier to extend more empathy to him and his not-fully-developed prefrontal cortex, but it’s a little harder with this fully-grown, weathered man who was old enough to remember seeing Liar Liar in theaters. 

Dear Evan Hansen, 

Get some actual help and a haircut and maybe you can grow up enough to have an actual healthy interaction with any other living person, ever.

Sincerely, 

Me

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