#the other reason i didn't see any of those disney movies other than that they were animated

[placeofwonder]

I got two asks in quick succession yesterday, which I assume are from the same person because I rarely get asks, so I'm just gonna put both in one post!

what are you, my grandma?

I'll probably switch from my teaching degree to a master's degree next winter semester, and then that'll likely take me two years to do!

I assume this is in reference to my tags on this post? It wasn't that I wasn't allowed to consume any audio-visual media at all growing up! My parents just didn't let me have a lot of screen time and for a long time the only movies I watched were ones I watched with my family. So I'm missing some cultural touchstones (I haven't seen any of those classic Disney movies - because my mum especially disapproved of animation for some reason - and I'm fairly convinced that the people who tell me to watch them now and that I'll love them are wrong and that I just won't get the same thing from these movies because they're not associated with any nostalgia for me), but getting a lot of my entertainment from books undeniably benefited my literacy and language development (and was also just a lot of fun), so I'm not really complaining!

[kirain]

Saw your comment on a post about Sound of Freedom and I came here to say.....shame on you. Shame. On. You. Since when is child trafficking a political issue? Since when is calling pedophilia bad a political issue? If you have a problem with this movie then maybe YOU'RE the problem. No better than the big Disney fat cats who tried to suppress this movie and keep it shelved. Or theaters messing with the ac and saying seats are sold out when they're empty. Shame on you! God's children are not for sale!

I wish people would do a little more research on this topic. If Hollywood and the "powers that be" didn't want this movie being seen, it wouldn't have been released in over 3000 theatres countrywide. It's being shown in major and minor locations all across America and Canada, and the vast majority of those locations aren't having any problems.

Case and point, my own mother and her friend went to see it last week and everything was fine. No issues whatsoever and the seats were packed. The movie isn't being "suppressed". This is all a marketing gimmick from the production company Angel Studios, a Christian streaming service. The movie is jam-packed with lies and only serves to glorify Tim Ballard, the man the movie is based on, and Christianity as a whole. I truly wish this wasn't political, but it is. They made it political.

Tim Ballard has provably exaggerated or fabricated many, if not most of his "rescues", and his organisation, Operation Underground Railroad, has been widely criticised by professional anti-sex trafficking organizations (including other Christian-based ones) for years. He has accumulated millions of dollars for his so-called "non-profit" organisation, and he runs several for profit organisations on the side. Most of this money is presumably pocketed by Ballard and his cohorts, as millions is unaccounted for and only a sliver goes to OUR. It's not about "saving children", it's about money and spreading Ballard's religious ideology.

This is compounded by the fact that Ballard, before he left the CIA, was almost always the last officer to arrive on any scene where child sex trafficking was involved, yet he somehow has hundreds of stories where he's singlehandedly rescued children. In fact, the "true story" the film is based on, where Ballard apparently saved a five year old boy—who, by Ballard's own account, ran up to him, hugged him, and begged to be taken away—didn't even happen. According to court receipts from the arrest and trial of Earl Venton Buchanan (the pedophile in possession of the little boy), Ballard arrived at the scene long after the boy was rescued and taken into custody, and he was barely involved. The documents can easily be found online under the San Diego incident reports.

Ballard was also caught lying about saving one particular girl named Liliana, the literal poster child for OUR. As it turns out, Liliana rescued herself by escaping her captors when she was seventeen and being trafficked in New York. Even more egregious, every time Ballard told her story, he would lower her age to garner more sympathy ... as if her being seventeen wasn't sad enough. In one instance, he claimed she was 14. In another, he claimed she was 11. Ballard also exploited Liliana's story as a reason for needing stricter border patrols and a better wall, despite the fact that she was being abused in America. There is no evidence to suggest OUR had anything to do with her rescue.

Ballard and his "organisation" have even ruined entire legitimate rescue operations in other countries and put children at risk, like in the Dominican Republic, where he endangered the lives of 26 girls by playing vigilante, being followed around by a camera crew, and causing a shootout that effectively traumatised the children he used as a prop to lure in buyers. His response to the mishap and rightful criticism by the Dominican police was basically, "Well ... you win some, you lose some."

The children were released without receiving any therapy or rehabilitative care, and Anne Gallagher, the leading global expert on the international law on human trafficking, said that OUR has an "alarming lack of understanding about how sophisticated criminal trafficking networks must be approached and dismantled" and went on to call the work of OUR "arrogant, unethical, and illegal". Those children easily could've been shot and killed. This occurred in 2014, but Ballard still insists that his "rescues" be filmed, and he even pitched it as a reality TV show. His reasoning for this, he says, is to "spread awareness", but we all know it's because he loves the spotlight.

Entire law enforcement agencies have actually cut ties with or even condemned OUR, such as Washington State Law Enforcement, as a result of Ballard's proclivity to conflate child sex trafficking with consensual adult sex work. Ballard and OUR regularly set up sting operations and lambasted the men who showed up for kink play, publicly branding them as pedophiles, even though the men in question were under the impression that they were meeting for sex with consenting, adult women. This led to several lawsuits against OUR, all of which they rightfully lost.

Ballard's means of gathering intelligence is also questionable, as he, by his own admission, sometimes consults psychic mediums for information on missing children and asks where they're being held captive. I genuinely wish I was joking about that.

The main actor in Sound of Freedom, Jim Caviezel, also has ties to the Qanon movement, and Caviezel himself is a hardcore conspiracy theorist. He believes that Donald Trump is "the new Moses" and that "liberals [literally] drink the blood of children". This is ironic, considering Caviezel and Ballard both met Trump several times, yet never pressed him for information regarding Epstein's client list. Moreover, Caviezel and Ballard both donate to the Catholic Church, which funds the largest child sex trafficking ring on the southern border and has a history of rampant sexual abuse of children. Even more insane, Caviezel admitted to watching child porn, to apparently "get in character" for the movie. He claimed that if Ballard had to watch it, it only "made sense" that he'd have to watch it, too. To "motivate" him to fight child trafficking.

...Alright, bud.

Surprise, surprise, both men are also outspokenly anti-LGBTQ+, despite the fact that children/teens in that community are statistically more likely to be trafficked. The majority of child trafficking is not the result of random kidnappings, as the movie would have you believe. The majority of children are actually recruited into sexual exploitation by a family member or friend/boss. The majority of those children are also not generally passed around in Mexico, like this racist, white savior-oriented movie would have you believe, but they actually either stay in or end up in America. America is, in fact, the largest consumer of child porn and child sex slaves this side of the globe (and nearly the largest producer), yet the movie depicts almost every pedophile as Mexican or some other non-white race.

At the end of the movie, Ballard comes on screen and asks people to donate/buy tickets for others, so that the movie can spread awareness. This is why so many seats in certain theatres are empty, despite websites saying the seats are sold out. Whether or not Angel Studios is also shadow purchasing tickets to boost sales can't be proven, obviously, but I wouldn't put it past them. These "conspiracies" have all served to market the movie and boost ticket sales.

As for Disney trying to keep the movie shelved, that's also a lie. Yes, Disney did technically shelve the movie when they bought Fox, since it didn't exactly correspond with its family-friendly brand, but they had no problem with the movie being released under a different studio. The actual reason Sound of Freedom was in "production hell" for five years was because Tim Ballard kept trying to milk donations. Despite the fact that filming wrapped up in 2018, he kept asking for more and more and more. He used people's faith and understandably emotional response to something as wicked as pedophilia to rake in millions. That's what Ballard is really about, money and stardom. In the movie, there's even a post-credit message where Jim Caviezel says the movie was held back to "maximize its distribution and raise awareness about child sex trafficking".

Translation: Ballard greedy.

Ballard himself admitted the accuracy of this movie "isn't important", and that he just wanted to get the movie out to "spread the word". By that, he of course means the Christian word—but why should fighting child sex trafficking be tied to religion? At the end of the day, Sound of Freedom is a vanity project, and it spreads incredibly dangerous misinformation. Stranger still, Ballard left the OUR just prior to the debut of Sound of Freedom, a fact he's neglected to mention in every interview regarding the movie. It's not clear why he left, but it seems that he fled after an internal investigation into the organisation began. That's not too suspicious or anything. My guess is authorities are trying to find out were all that missing money went, and Ballard doesn't want to be there when they figure it out.

By the way, that final line you hit me with; "God's children are not for sale", the line from the movie that Ballard claims a fellow agent whispered to him while on a case, as well as the title of the movie, which another agent supposedly said to Ballard after a giant rescue operation—those were lies, too. No agents ever said that to him. The police reports for those cases, as well as the agents Ballard supposedly quoted, all said he was the last to arrive on the scene and those conversations never happened.

Ballard cannot be trusted and Sound of Freedom is based on a lie. It's a scam. Everything he does is a scam. All he cares about is spreading his ideology, making money, and looking like a superhero. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Look into his other companies, and into the ex-military soldiers and police officers who left OUR because of how poorly trained their people are when it comes to rescue operations.

Every sane person knows pedophilia and human trafficking is wrong, but giving your money to Qanon-adjacent, right-wing leaning, LGBTQ+-hating, Catholic Church-sympathising, fame-chasing, money-hungry, perpetual liar Tim Ballard isn't going to help.

The best way to help out is learning about the signs of child trafficking. Keep an eye out for any children that might be getting abused. If you suspect something, report it, don't be a silent bystander. Volunteer within your community to make sure the children in your area have food and resources, support LGBTQ+ youth, and watch the other adults around you to ensure they're not acting inappropriately. You can also donate to social programs that create safe spaces for children and even apply for jobs that specialise in these fields. Don't go to see a movie just because it aligns with your religious beliefs, feel sad for a little while, then sit on your ass and let Tim Ballard handle everything.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

One of the issues with disney movies lately is some of the disney female protagonists is the adorkable personality. Which worked with Rapunzel and Anna but as time passed on, it seem to be the norm which the problem came once Wish revealed. Although despite that issues, all but Asha have reasons the way they are.

Rapunzel and Anna have been isolated from everyone with Rapunzel in the tower with only a chameleon as her friend and it didn't help that Mother Gothel is abusive to her while Anna stays in the castle with her sister being distant to her. I am not sure she is close with any of the servants since they are servants. Of course, they are socially awkward but they improve with Rapunzel having to experience social interaction in her TV series while Anna no longer has this in the sequel.

Moana is mostly serious and adventurous, which overshadows her quirkiness as only shown during her time in the ocean compared to the island as she fulfilled her duty as future chief. She has some laughable moments, but it doesn't stop her to continue her goal to saved the world and she is usually the serious of the two which the other is Maui.

Mirabel's quirkiness is the way she is because of how she isolated by her family and her village didn't pay much attention to her due to her being giftless which is why she tries her best to fit in. Her main personality is being empathetic as she helps her family with Antonio being brave enough with her favorite cousin by her side, Luisa talking about pressure that Mirabel listened, and Mirabel helping Isabel to let go of perfectionist. She can also be seen sassy like how she talks about Isabel.

Whereas Asha has no reason for the need to be quirky and awkward, she seems to be accepted by her friends, family, and the kingdom before the events of the story. She could have been an introverted, graceful woman who admired the king that she wanted to fulfilled his footsteps before realizing the truth.

Raya, Judy, Elsa, and Merida are the four disney female protagonist (not counting Pixar, I only included Merida since she is a princess) to not have that personality which is why are likable. The only issues they have is the movie itself especially Raya's movie theme being the trust message that is dangerous to followed, Zootopia's twist villain, the way Elsa is handle in the movies, and the bear curse parts.

Disney TV shows also have this issues with female protagonists, but not gonna say much since I am not sure if you know or not.

I haven’t seen like 3 of the movies listed here (Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Brave) 😂 but I’ll trust that you know what you’re talking about, since I’ve seen Asha being compared to previous “adorkable” female leads like Rapunzel, Anna, Moana, and Mirabel in other Wish reviews.

The other 4 can have their quirkiness justified by being extremely sheltered and/or an outlier in their respective communities. However, this is not true of Asha, who is not only well known but also loved in Rosas—by her family, her friends, and heck, even the QUEEN.

It definitely feels like Disney got too comfortable with its formula, and in trying to please both modern audiences and older fans, they ended up pleasing no one. They’re so focused on making sequels and live action remakes now (which I guess is… easier??) 😅 I don’t know why Disney doesn’t make characters that are unique yet strong in their own ways. They’re capable of innovative characters (even if the execution of the overall stories aren’t great), as we see in Frozen and Zootopia (movies I have seen).

I did hear there was a lot of executive meddling in Wish’s production, so I wonder if this is why Asha had an unexplained quirkiness to her rather than a character that makes more sense for what she is and where she comes from. With her dad being a philosopher, I could see Asha working better as a quiet and introspective type who learns to be brave and to speak up for her own dreams and the dreams of those she loves rather than being a passive stander-by. This would actually give her a stronger character arc and growth rather than remaining static as she does in the actual movie we got 😔

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Do you think they should have went with the Chosen One plot for Anakin when they made the prequels? I've been rewatching the original trilogy and there is no mention of any prophecy. It seemed more like Anakin was a very powerful Jedi, but nothing grander then that.

Then, all of sudden the prequels are saying that he is the literal messiah of the Galaxy, destined to bring balance to the Force.

I mean, this isn't the blog for that, anon.

It's really not the blog for it not just in the sense that we talk about how things are here not how we want them to be but also because I think the Original Trilogy are also incredibly bad movies. They're not winning awards for being any better than the rest of the gang or any more righteous, they just have nostalgia, a few great actors carrying the weight (but only a few and not even some of the most important ones), a fantastic soundtrack (that admittedly is strikingly similar in parts to Holst's The Planets), and some great special effects and editing as of the time that George has tried to strip away with every passing year. It's no skin off my nose if the Prequels took some liberties to make things better (and... the thing about The Prequels is that they're not better, of course, but the plot is a lot more compelling than 'the Death Star blew up once' followed by a short break then 'the Death Star blew up twice')

But as for your question, it didn't strike me as too odd we didn't hear of it, because that's the whole thing: Jedi culture is wiped out to two known survivors (that we see anyway). And per those Jedi survivors, Anakin was very clearly not the chosen one as he did anything but bring balance to the Force.

So, you have Obi-Wan who doesn't want to talk about fucking any of it and lies through his teeth multiple times to Luke because he just doesn't want to talk about any of it. Then you have Yoda who wants to talk about it even less.

Neither is bringing up "did you know there was this prophecy where your father was supposed to bring balance to the Force? Boy, did he sure not do that".

Vader certainly isn't bringing it up either as, well, look at his miserable life and how much he hates himself and the Jedi. He's not bringing up their stupid prophecy that clearly wasn't true.

Remember very little is known about the Jedi for the common people, especially after Palpatine's taken over and spread propaganda and such. Han doesn't even think the Jedi are real and if he does it's "that weird space religion cult thing that died out???"

That is to say the prophecy is not common knowledge and especially not for people like Luke, Han, or even Leia for that matter for all she's a little more Jedi adjacent.

Even within the Jedi we see that people don't take the prophecy seriously. That was a Qui-Gon thing. He was super into that prophecy, yo, and the other Jedi (Yoda, Mace, Obi-Wan even) all sort of stared at him looking very upset for insisting on this.

And in the war, while Anakin was an exceptionally talented Jedi, he wasn't really used as a propaganda piece/seen as the only Jedi who would save them all.

The prophecy was just the reason Qui-Gon insists on training him despite his age and is one of those things that seems to have actually been correct for all that no one will ever admit it.

(@therealvinelle can correct me if I'm wrong but I'm going to lay down something that will make people very upset: Anakin being "The Hero with No Fear", seen as one of two great Jedi in the war who are doing so much for the cause more than anyone else, and the extra focus on this prophecy was an invention of Disney's 2008 The Clone Wars, not the films.)

[annymation]

What things annoyed and infuriated you the most in Wish 2023 (or Canon!Wish)?

OOOOH BOY! You just gave me permission to open a whole can of worms! Let's gooo!

Okay so here's a list:

I don't like how weak the reveal of what Magnifico actually does is. Asha finds out that he doesn't grant all the wishes, awesome, that would be a cool reveal, except, it's not a reveal, she freakin KNEW THIS! Asha herself said to a kid "It could be you someday" COULD! Asha, you said COULD, as in, there's the POSSIBILITY he'll grant that kid's wish, not a certainty! Not to mention if he only grants ONE wish per month then OF FREAKING COURSE not all wishes are granted. Okay, case in point, there's no grand reveal that the king is doing something no one knew, Asha apparently just forgot how their kingdom works.

Now hear me out, I am NOT one of those people that says Magnifico is a hero and Asha is a villain, I wanna make this clear, because although I find people who legit think like that kinda funny and I reblog their takes from time to time, I also find it frustrating that Disney managed to make a STRAIGHT, WHITE, MAN, IN A POSITION OF POWER, MORE LIKABLE THAN THEIR SECOND BLACK PROTAGONIST! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? IT'S SO EASY TO MAKE US HATE HIM!!!-ahem- But, although Magnifico is the most likable character in the movie, I do not see him as a hero, no no no, keeping the wishes away from the people of Rosas is bad, pretending that he'd grant Sabino's wish only to say SIKE was bad, saying he'd never grant Asha family's wishes was bad. So, am I saying Magnifico is a villain?... No. That's topic number 2, Magnifico wasn't a villain, he was a jerk. A jerk does not a villain make. I didn't feel threatened by that man for not a single minute, and that's including when he was possessed by the evil book, speaking of which.

That dang book both ruined and saved the movie honestly, because yeah, although it's a stupid way to make Magnifico an actual villain, but in a way that makes us sympathize with him since he's not in his right mind, and the last thing you want is for the audience to feel bad for your villain... Well, there's exceptions of course, but that's a whole other subject. But even though the book caused all this damage, it also gave us King unhinged, campy, straight up evil, fruity, voiced by Chris Pine having the time of his life Magnifico, and I loved every second of it, I ate possessed Magnifico up, I was living for every cringe cliche evil dialogue that came out of him, like hell yeah, that's what I've been waiting for, that's what it's all about WOOOOOO!!! I loved him so much I just copy pasted his personality into the Magnifico in my rewrite, although, my version is actually willing to kill teens, while Canon Mag seemed more hesitant for some reason, my headcanon is that Magnifico was fighting the curse deep down, and that's why his magic actually didn't hurt anyone, so... That's sad, hope he breaks out of the mirror and kills them all Idk

We're on topic 4 and this is not even half of my problems oh my... Anyway, Asha is boring. And I mean like, in a way that feels intentional, how did they do it? It's fascinating how she has nothing going for her, she doesn't stand out, doesn't have any internal conflicts at the start of the movie, something ALL Disney princesses have: Belle doesn't fit in with her village, Mulan struggles to make her family proud, Mirabel struggles to make her family proud x10.000, Moana wants to explore the sea but can't, Ariel wants to explore the land but can't, Jasmine wants to get out of the castle but can't, Cinderella is a victim of domestic abuse, ya'll get the idea, all these girls get their struggles that make them compelling, what's Asha's struggle that has been with her for most of her life?... Uh... Her grandpa, this dude we just met and seems pretty happy... Doesn't have his wish granted yet... Ok, what else? Oh yeah everyone in town seems to love her and dance along with her to show tourists how cool the kingdom is... Uhum... So yeah she has no compelling struggles that hook us with her from the start, and the conflict she DOES get, as I explained before, feels underwhelming.

The setting, oh the setting. Like, don't get me wrong, the architecture is pretty, but nothing about it screams SPAIN to me, where is the cultural food? Where are the bulls? Where's the stuff we associate with the Iberian Peninsula? They did such a good job in Encanto, what the heck happened? Oh and did I mention that most of the animals that appear in the forest are not even native to the Iberian Peninsula, there would be no racoons in a medieval setting there, considering they're an invasive species that was brought there from North America, something that, I assume, wouldn't be possible back then, as I don't think the americas were even discovered yet, but anyway, there they are, racoons hanging upside down from their tails, something they can't even do. Sorry for expecting biology accuracy from my disney movie guys, but you can't just make Encanto, that was freaking amazing with it's inclusion of so many gorgeous latin American animals, and then do whatever Wish is, like bruh where were the Lynxes??? They're an endangered species there, Disney could've raised awareness!!!

The music...

Valentino was absurdly annoying, and it would be SO EASY to make a baby goat cute! Baby. Goats. Are. Cute. SO WHY DID YOU MAKE HIM UNFUNNY GOAT THAT MAKES BUTT JOKES???

Characters were unmemorable, Asha's mom didn't do anything, Sabino, whose supposed to be the backbone of the story, is barely a character, and again, it's not like Disney hasn't made likable elderly people before, Moana's grandma, Mama Coco, but my guy Sabino was just... There.

Aaaand I probably could go on and on but I can't think of anything else, feel free to share your own problems with the movie yall.

[imagitory]

Do you think Wish would have been better if they kept the concept of romance between Asha and the star boy, and the kind and queen being a villainous couple?

TL;DR...maybe.

I admit, I do really like human!Star and Magnifico/Amaya being a villainous couple as concepts -- but I don't think adding those ideas alone would've fixed Wish's shortcomings. Because I strongly believe the main reason so much of the Wish fandom has latched onto the idea of a romance for Asha in particular comes down to people feeling more for their mental AU concepts of Asha and Star than for Asha and the rest of her canon cast in the real finished product. There are no relationships in Wish -- ones featuring Asha or otherwise -- that I feel really prompt much investment or emotion in the audience.

Asha's mom and grandpa really don't have much time devoted to them, especially early on when we could establish some real history and pathos in their relationships with Asha. (Positive examples of this would be Ember and her dad in Elemental, Tiana and James and Eudora in The Princess and the Frog, or Mama Coco and Miguel in Coco.) We never even learn Asha's mom's dream even though it's picked up multiple times and the narrative makes such a big deal about Magnifico crushing it. The few lines discussing Asha's deceased father could've been cut from the story altogether and we would've lost nothing. Asha's friend group gets so little focus as individuals that it's hard to even remember most of their names. They were clearly envisioned as just "the Seven Dwarves but as teens," and honestly, them being vaguely like the Dwarfs is the only real impact they leave on a lot of people by the end. Or did a bunch of kids that went to go see the movie beg their parents for dolls of Simon and Bazeema after the movie was over? Asha and Star's dynamic can't be that interesting because Star doesn't spark any real character growth or change in Asha, nor does Asha really bond emotionally with Star. Star honestly just floats around looking cute for most of the movie, rather than doing that much of consequence. Valentino doesn't provide any significant emotional support for Asha, the way that even other cute Disney "pets" like Pascal or Pua do for isolated characters like Rapunzel and Moana. He also doesn't advance her journey in any meaningful way like Sebastian or Jacques and Gus do for Ariel and Cinderella, respectively. Asha and Magnifico's hero-villain relationship has no teeth because they have no real history prior to the events of the story (unlike Ursula using Ariel as a way to get back at her father Triton or Mother Gothel raising Rapunzel in isolation in an attempt to use her hair's magic to keep her young) and they don't serve as any kind of narrative foil to each other (unlike Jafar, who like Aladdin also uses magic and deception to try to advance his own goals, or Scar, who like Simba at the beginning of the movie "just can't wait to be king" and is focused way more on the perks of kingship rather than the responsibilities). Even Amaya and Asha can't have much of a relationship because there's no time set aside for it, and even if Amaya put in a good word for Asha with Magnifico, she didn't speak out on Asha's behalf after Magnifico vindictively cast her aside and really only decided to fight alongside Asha after Magnifico "went too far" by threatening Amaya herself (as opposed to, say, anyone else).

When my mum and I went to go see Wish, we came out of the theater feeling oddly blase about the whole story. My mum even -- upon me asking her about her thoughts on this topic before I sat down to write this -- admitted that although she "wanted to see evil defeated," and all that, she honestly just hadn't cared about any of the characters that much. She wanted Magnifico to lose because it was justice for Magnifico to lose -- not because she was actively rooting for Asha, her friends, or Rosas overall. She wanted good to triumph and evil to fail, but none of the characters and their relationships had made her that invested in seeing how that came about. And considering that every single character in every story ever written is largely shaped by the relationships they have with other characters, that means that Wish's primary failing is not a lack of romance, either for its main lead or its villains --

It's a lack of love.

Any kind of sincere, selfless, development-inducing, chemistry-fueled love. Not necessarily romantic love -- Disney's Revival work has actually shown just how diverse love can be through films like Zootopia, Encanto, and Frozen -- but real love between the characters, built on the back of history and camaraderie and meaningful screen time. Love that adds layers to their personality, fuels their choices and actions, and ultimately helps them bloom into better, more complete people. Instead I would argue that the only "love" in Wish is with ideas from past Disney projects -- that's why there are more Easter eggs and overt meta references to other projects in this movie than there are scenes that actively stir your emotions. You know -- the way Mulan does when she decides to steal her father's armor, or Marlin does when he gingerly picks up Nemo's cracked egg in his flippers and cradles it, or Cinderella's stepsisters do when they rip apart the dress the mice made for Cinderella, or Pinocchio does when he watches in horror as Lampwick turns into a donkey, or Tarzan does when he comforts Kala after he comes out dressed in his biological father's old clothes and she starts to cry.

The reason a lot of fans love these two ideas -- villain!Magnifico/Amaya and human!Star/Asha -- so much is because these two relationships, even just in concept art, prompted more emotion out of them than any relationship in the entire finished film.

Perhaps if that same level of emotion was brought out in these relationships in a real movie, that would've helped, but only if the rest of the film had also been trimmed down and edited so as to help tell a story with those two elements. Slim down the overstuffed cast. Have Asha's family actually have a point, or cut them. Give Asha and Magnifico some sort of real history and/or compare-contrast dynamic. Develop Star as a character. Give both Star and Asha character arcs. Make the music more essential to telling the story.

Without a lot of additional changes on top of those two concepts being used, I think the ideas of a hero and villain couple would've only just made the list of ideas that were only half-baked in the final product longer. After all, if Star was Asha's love interest, you'd still really have to have good writing and a lot of chemistry between the two characters in order to sell your audience on a love story between them. Not saying it can't be done -- Tangled and Elemental both did it quite well -- but just throwing the two characters together as is (namely, rather underdeveloped) and making them romantic partners by itself isn't enough. Honestly, I think a platonic or even familial-esque relationship between Star and Asha could've been just as powerful, if that love between them really came through. Just look at the bonds between characters like Judy and Nick from Zootopia or Miguel and Hector in Coco. Even keeping Star as less explicitly human could've been fine, if the relationship between them and Asha was strong enough. Stitch and Lilo's relationship is rock-solid in Lilo and Stitch, and Stitch isn't even remotely human. Even Soul did something kind of interesting with Joe Gardner and his relationship with 22 by giving them something of a mentor-student bond. Maybe a quasi-"young parent/child" relationship between Asha and Star could've even been interesting, if it was written well!

I do think both ideas had great potential in giving Wish more of an identity that could help set it apart from its predecessors -- I mean, we've never had a human character have a romance with a supernatural being or a villainous couple in a Disney animated film before -- but including them wouldn't have fixed Wish by itself.

[riddlerosehearts]

can i be honest and just say that the snow white remake deciding to get rid of the romance is SO incredibly annoying to me because like... snow white's prince is what people like to claim the princesses are. he doesn't have a canon name, he doesn't show up anywhere except at the beginning and end of the story, literally all he does is sing to snow white and kiss her, he essentially has no personality and his one and only purpose is to be a love interest. rachel zegler claims that the original snow white has no function beyond "someday my prince will come", but really, she's an abuse victim who chooses to be kind, to have hope and to dream of love, and to take control of her own life by doing housework for the dwarves in exchange for being allowed to stay with them. the prince is the one who has no function beyond "one song", other than to rescue snow white and make her happy!!

but the thing is, he wasn't planned to be such a nothing character!! walt wanted to do more with him, if only they hadn't had so much trouble animating him at the time. and i was hoping so badly that the remake would flesh him out and give snow white a truly beautiful romance with her prince, like she deserves, because there is nothing wrong with an abused teenage girl, or any girl for that matter, wanting to find true love! but disney has decided that actually there is, i guess?! i was hoping maybe they could be childhood friends who met before snow white's parents died, because in the original movie it seems possible, to me at least, that they already knew each other and that's why he was so comfortable sneaking past the castle walls and joining in on her song, and why she was so immediately enchanted by him. that maybe the reason she was surprised at first and tried to run from him was because her abusive stepmother didn't want him around and might harm him. or if not that, maybe he wants to work out a trade deal between his kingdom and hers and he comes by and introduces himself like a normal person instead of sneaking in. but instead they're just getting rid of him entirely and at this point i'm surprised the cinderella remake gave kit and ella such a beautifully developed love story instead of just removing prince charming and making cinderella some kind of shallow girlboss.

and then also, they're not including the dwarves all because peter dinklage complained that it's stereotypical to have a story about dwarves living in a cave when, um, they literally fucking don't?!?! it's kind of a pretty significant plot point that the house snow white is staying in is their house and they just work as miners 😭 i'm so tired of celebrities who probably haven't watched a disney movie since they were in diapers thinking they need to say shit like this. AND this whole decision is not even working out for disney because now they're also getting slammed by actors with dwarfism who are understandably disappointed at losing the chance to audition for those roles. when they could've just idk, kept the dwarves and taken the opportunity to be inclusive and give work to a highly underrepresented demographic instead of removing them based on blatantly false information?? and if the dwarves working as miners is still considered stereotypical/harmful, then why not... give them a different job that isn't?

sorry it's just. ugh. disney would be nothing without snow white and every single time i see promotional stuff for the remake it's all just the cast and crew disrespecting snow white and trashing it and saying they're making it better by cutting out its most important elements. i have nothing to look forward to with this movie anymore (not that i was looking forward to it that much to begin with) because apparently the only thing it shares with the original is its title character, and i'm sure she'll also be nothing like her animated counterpart.

edit because i didn't really expect anyone to see this: idk if the whole "getting rid of the romance" thing is true because after writing this i remembered that i've also heard something about the prince getting replaced with a new "robin hood-esque" love interest named johnathan?? so if they're still keeping him then there will still be romance i guess, it just won't be the classic fairytale romance snow white is associated with, and my frustration toward them choosing not to develop the prince into an actual character still stands. ESPECIALLY SINCE i also read that snow is supposed to "ride into battle with him"?! snow white?! imagine if in cinderella (2015) they changed prince charming into a roguish robin hood type and had ella fight battles with him. it would've been so weird and so far removed from the animated cinderella in a very jarring way. i hate it. also, because of an annoying tag i got on this post i also feel the need to add that i do NOT have a problem with "political correctness" or rachel zegler being latina lmao. i do, however, have a problem with her insulting the original snow white while openly admitting that she has not watched the movie since she was a child.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Animation-twitter, animation video essay youtube, etc. would probably be better off if they assumed every upcoming animated movie was going to be CRAP.

The director of INSIDE OUT 2, Kelsey Mann, has talked a bit about the picture recently. After all, it's out in less than two months... And immediately, so much of what he's saying is either being misread or quoted out of context. Something something Anxiety is going to be "the villain", something something they cut characters Shame and Guilt out of the movie because they felt it was too heavy, something something-

And we've got other people freaking out that Pixar showed 35 minutes of it at CinemaCon... LIKE... What's THE issue? Pixar has done that before! CinemaCon attendees were treated to half-hour chunks of Pixar movies in the past, like MONSTERS UNIVERSITY. When TOY STORY 3 was coming out, Pixar prepared a cut of the movie that ended just as the toys were escaping Sunnyside Daycare... to show to college campuses across the country a month before release.

Y'all need to calm down.

This movie isn't even out. We don't know how it'll tell its story exactly. Maybe there's more here than it seems? Maybe Anxiety will be an antagonist in the sense that she's doing what she feels is right, or is straight-up malevolent. I doubt it's the latter, that would be kind of... Not nuanced? For a sequel to INSIDE OUT? Having Anxiety just be an evil scheming bad guy just doesn't seem like it'll happen, nor is it a good idea. I think director Kelsey Mann meant that by her kicking the other emotions out of the main control room, she'll be the "big bad" of the movie. Why she kicks those emotions out could be related to how anxiety tends to work within the human brain. Taking control of your brain, thinking that it's steering you to make the right decision, making you cautious of dangers more so than "Fear" does. Pixar movies have had antagonists in the past that aren't necessarily evil, they just think what they're doing is right.

I also doubt that Pixar would let out a movie that flat-out stigmatizes people who suffer from anxiety disorders, such as myself. Maybe the Shame and Guilt characters were cut from the movie because director Mann, writer Meg LeFauve, and several others just didn't like the direction the story was going with them in it. Maybe it was too depressing for THEM, not because of any concerns for kids in the audience. People tend to associate Pixar with "tearjerking storylines", maybe it's possible that this went WAY TOO FAR at one point? I don't know, neither do you. Pixar's team isn't Disney Animation's leadership. Pete Docter is less controlling than John Lasseter based on everything I see and hear, but there are probably still some ground rules and some do's-and-don'ts. But I think it was ultimately down to the director not enjoying making the film back when it had these characters in it. As a writer/creator myself, I sometimes pull back when I feel something I'm making is causing ME lose the drive to make the thing in the first place. Maybe it hit too close to home for Mann, LeFauve, someone- Just a few variables, ya know? Not just "Pixar is too afraid to be sad", "Disney's telling them what to do", etc. etc.

Maybe animated movies shouldn't have this kind of pre-release thing... How about, just... Movie title, release date, BOOM. Nothing else. No interviews with the filmmakers and cast, no nothing... Wanna know more? You have to see it when it comes out! Put that in big letters in the teaser trailer!

But if they did that, twitter and the YouTube Animation Opinion Industrial Complex would sound the alarm: "They're not saying anything... IS THIS MOVIE IN TROUBLE???"

(sarcasm for those last two sets of sentences)

You can't win. And watch... It'll come out, and it'll be disliked for some weird reason. Probably because it isn't... PUSS IN BOOTS 2 or whatever. While the rest of the world goes, "Yeah, that's was pretty solid." And said population streams it on Disney+ a gazillion times. I'm not part of this "animation fandom" thing, quite frankly I don't even know what half of these people want most of the time. It seems like every movie is an oncoming stinker to them, and it ends up being a stinker. Sometimes the worst thing ever made, a work of evil. You know I still see people raging over that completely harmless CHIP N' DALE RESCUE RANGERS movie from two years back? The fuck is that all about?

I get that INSIDE OUT is a sequel to a beloved Pixar movie, I get that the original movie means a lot to so many people. I love it myself. At the same time, I'm not gonna be weird about a sequel I never even wanted until the day they announced it. Okay, if it isn't very good, I'll just go on with my life. But we're not even there yet... It's not out... This is the only INSIDE OUT sequel. Now if we were coming up on an INSIDE OUT 3, and INSIDE OUT 2 managed to somehow upset everybody? Then I'd somewhat understand...

Others will dole out their dislike of recent Pixar movies as their reason, but you know me... I feel each Pixar movie - for the most part - is a statement of its filmmaking team. Not a Mr. Pixar person coming up with each and every movie. (That was Lasseter in a sense, lol.) If "animation is cinema", then you oughta look at these movies as director-driven. I feel the other way around reduces the films to a brand, and not the people who actually make them. INSIDE OUT is first and foremost a Pete Docter-directed film... Made at Pixar. Not a "Pixar film". Pixar isn't a person nor is it a collective, it's a place. It should be judged on how functions as a movie and as a sequel to INSIDE OUT, not up against other movies made at the studio by other people. Like I'm not here for THE INCREDIBLES or UP, I'm here for an INSIDE OUT sequel. I know, that's a very radical opinion to have. Silly me!

I just don't get it... I'm just gonna do it the old-fashioned way... I'm going to see the movie, and hope that I like it or get something out of it.

[elvisabutler]

Elvis being sad for whatever reason and reader curls up on the couch with him and tel hey watch Disney movies together to help him feel better

the happiest place on earth is here with you

summary: after a particularly rough day on set, elvis takes it upon himself to rent an entire movie theater out to watch disney movies with you. fandom: elvis presley | elvis ( 2022 ) | austin butler rating: t for a might bit of swearing i suppose pairing: elvis presley x female reader word count: 988 warnings: mention of stress. mention of sadness. elvis being extra. mention of walt disney. author’s note: happy 88th birthday to our favorite man, y'all! first off thank you for the request anon and thank you for making it before his birthday so i could have a little fluff piece to post vs any smut or grand epics i've got up my sleeves. y'all might have to suspend your disbelief a little since film and movie houses did things a certain way but i needed something that wasn't me attempting- and likely fumbling- a modern elvis take. ( seriously @headfullofpresley did some flawless work on that front so go check that out ) but while all the tech was available for him to perhaps have the movies on tape, he would have had to have something to tape it from and if i do remember right when it comes to disney and their vaults and every other thing that is a harder ask than you think. also put this as 60s elvis though trust me y'all it was hard to resist doing big daddy or even widdle 50s baby elvis. choose austin or real elvis for this i am not picky, i truly just wanted to use the robe gif while i am also in a robe writing this.

You are used to Elvis and how sometimes he can get in a mood, after all, you've been with him through a surprising amount of issues that instead of making the two of you pull apart had kept you together. Pulled you closer together, even, and yet sometimes he had a way of surprising you, a way of doing something so off the wall and minorly bonkers that you wonder just what in the hell had gotten into him. This was one of those times. It's not that he hasn't done it before, hasn't rented out a whole theater so the two of you and the Memphis Mafia could just enjoy some pictures all without having to be interrupted by fans that Elvis adores but can also be a bit- a lot- much.

It's more the timing that gets to you, since there was about as much of a lead up or a warning as a sudden thunderstorm in the South. Hell, even the time he chose to do it was a new one since normally it would be a situation that only happens in the daytime. Still, you're not complaining, it's sometimes incredibly tricky to actually find the time to enjoy the company of your boyfriend especially when he's busy filming. If he wants to pick you up in one of his cars and take you to a movie theater well you'll allow it, you'll take it.

Entering the actual theater, you're struck by the fact that there is the barest of staff and only Sonny for a bodyguard there. This was yet again a shift from the normal way he would go about this sort of thing but it was fine, in fact it was a little better than fine you thought as you allowed Elvis to pull you closer to him as he grabbed popcorn for the two of you and some Pepsis among other things.

The auditorium where you and Elvis would be watching whatever planned movie or movies he wanted to is already a little dark but you see what looks like a small little picnic set out on the ground complete with enough pillows to rival even the comfiest couch or bed in Graceland or in California. You can't help but turn to him before even starting to sit down. "Alright, E, what's this about?"

Elvis for his part instantly deflates at the question, it was easy to tell you everything was fine and act his normal way when he doesn't want to worry you. When he didn't want to worry you until you had both settled down and were relaxing. He should have remembered you know him as well as anyone ever has or probably will. His answer comes after a long sigh.

"Had- It was a rough day on set, baby. Stunts were awful, kept messin' up my damn lines, and I jus'- wanna jus' curl up wit' my baby, my darlin' and forget all of it happened. Wanna relax here wit' ya and watch some silly fun movies. Got 'em to find some real old ones, asked Mr. Disney himself for 'em."

Your eyes widen at the last statement, momentarily forgetting that yes, your boyfriend is just that famous that he can casually ask Walt Disney for film reels of his films. A beat passes before you allow yourself to smile gently at Elvis, taking the drinks and popcorn before motioning for him to sit down. "You first then. My head in your lap for the first picture, and then your head in mine until we fall asleep, hm?"

At your response you see Elvis's face light up like a young boy on Christmas or on his birthday. It's as if just the mere idea of what you propose has him giddy and releasing all the tension that was inside of him from the day's events. This is what you loved about Elvis- how he'll help everyone he can and try and make them feel alright and happy to the point of sometimes hurting himself mentally and physically. But when you do it for him? Oh, it's like you've done him the greatest honor on the planet. He doesn't waste a minute settling down on the ground, his back leaning up against the pillows as he lets out a long groan at finally being able to just sit and relax. A smile soft and gentle graces your features as you hand him back the drinks and popcorn and settle down next to him, laying down so that your head rests comfortably in his lap.

"Tell me you've got Mary Poppins first, I've wanted to see that again so badly." You ask as his hand moved to try and fiddle with your hair, almost as if to calm him more than just your presence did.

His blue eyes twinkle when you ask the question full of mirth and sneakiness that have you mildly concerned for just a brief moment before he answers. "Ya jus' gonna have to watch and find out, aren't ya?"

Your eyes narrow before you pull him down to your face for a soft kiss. "I guess I am, Mr. Presley. Hopefully you picked good ones or I'm gonna be the one leaving sad and stressed out."

His laugh- the laugh he's needed to have all day rings out as the movie starts to play. "Trust me baby, you'll be fine. Picked our favorites, not just mine."

Mary Poppins was the third picture and while you both did try and stay awake, truly you did, you both found yourself drifting off to the song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious as you stroked Elvis's hair in between bites of the little picnic he had made. The theater let you both stay, sending home their workers after they had cleaned up the front. After all, who was going to wake up the Elvis Presley and his girlfriend when they looked that peaceful together?

taglist: @eliseinmemphis, @ab4eva, @blurredcolour, @aconflagrationofmyown and @butlersxbirdy, @lindszeppelin, @powerofelvis @floralcyanide @steph-speaks @mooodyblue swear to god i will actually set up a tag list form for everyone to fill out so i know who to do what to. i just hate feeling like i'm bugging y'all with the tags if you don't wanna read it.

[numbuh-7-knd]

Inspired by this post, where I was trying to come up with non-whump/angsty scenarios for

Character A holds Character B in their arms while kicking open a door.

Which quickly turned into Desert Duo/Mumscarian fluff which then transitioned into general hermitshipping fluff. feel free to elaborate on any of this if you feel like it, I'm probably not going to do much more than maybe upload this to AO3 as is.

Scar grabbing Grian (or Mumbo, or both) to watch disney movies. they're hanging out at Scarland and Scar talks about something he's building in Scarland and how it was inspired by such and such movie (maybe it's something for the adventure area of the park, inspired by a disney attraction that was inspired by Peter Pan) and Grian says he's never seen that one.

Scar gasps dramatically, before picking Grian up and flying to the Scarland Theatre, slamming the door open only to remember that it's only a facade, probably flying into something, rushes to the castle, he doesn't have a bedroom or sitting area, and then rushing them to Grian's base looking for a spot to watch a movie, only Grian doesn't have one either, rushes to Mumbo's.

He startles Mumbo, and Either Mumbo's vault is good enough for movie watching or they involve the rest of the hermits until they find a sufficiently comfy place for movie watching, all the while refusing to put Grian down.

Maybe for added hilarity he hands Grian to mumbo for a bit so he can get Jelly or snacks, or both.

Mumbo going along with it and Grian complaining about it while not actually fighting them on it, like my cat does when I hold her sometimes and she wants to pretend she's not a cuddle bug and verbally complains the whole time while snuggling and staying put in my arms even though we both know if she really wanted to get down she'd jump out of my arms or bite and scratch me.

Scar claiming it's "soulmate privilege" when Grian complains, and Mumbo jumping on that claiming "Soul Sharing" privilage. The other hermits jump on that with those amounts them with soulmates (the ones who participated in double life) joining with their soulmates while the ones who's soulmates aren't hermits complain and those without soulmates pout about it, until someone agrees to be "honorary soulmates" with them. Grian and Scar agree that Mumbo's a part of their soulmate trio no questions asked. Cleo offers to be Joe's honorary soulmate, saying that what's one more when she already has Scott, and Joe accepts but also wants Ollie as an honorary soulmate.

Impulse and Bdubs hang out, making Etho jealous, while Tango longs for Jimmy and Zedaph feels left out. Maybe Skizz can be his honorary soulmate.

Etho misses Joel at least a little bit, but he also does not like seeing Bdubs cuddling with Impulse. Does he wish he was cuddling with Bdubs instead? Yes No, he's just... bothered by them cuddling, for some reason. It's weird! double life was months ago now! they've completed a whole 'nother season of the life series and started another one! and besides look at Zed! look how sad he is! *Camera panes to Zed, busy trying to complete Zedvancements* Impulse and Tango should be doing stuff with him not worrying about something as silly as soulmates!

Gem offers to be Pearl's "honorary soulmate" since Scott didn't want her.

Maybe BigB visits for Ren, or maybe Ren spends it with Doc, who has to be talked out of having the entire Sci-craft server over.

The Hermits end up arranging a big sleepover/movie night to invite their various soulmates or soulmate adjacent people over to the server to hang out. They build a "drive in" movie theatre in the shopping district.

halfway through the "movie night" they have to move indoors because the area wasn't spawn proofed enough. They end up in someone's base or shop with lots of pillows and blankets on the floor. maybe they go to scar's bed shop, or they make a pillow fort in the iBuy lobby.

[maplebean2003]

I went into wish by Disney with an open mind even while knowing people seem to have hated it and we all wish (haha) that the concept ideas were what they stayed with but alas here we are,anyways -

I found this movie genuinely beautiful with the mix of 3d art and 2d art it's the ONLY time I've seen it done so well as if it were concept art painted upon a canvas! It felt very much like classic Disney however it was very unmemorable and I can't see myself rewatching this

There was one song out of the whole movie that I could say I would've enjoyed hearing as a kid but now it's kinda meh

Another song slapped but not hard enough for me to want to sing it

The villain was just...super relatable and frankly I don't understand why he was seen as so bad when he had very valid reasons to be upset - did he take it too far? Absolutely

It almost feels like they forgot half way their plan with his character as I was expecting him to be MUCH worse when in reality he deserved a redemption arc

An apology even from the kingdom for abusing his powers so much and only seeing him for that alone

His song was not a villain song either it was nothing sinister or evil even so that was disappointing

The side kick goat seemed very annoying to me where they tried too hard to make him funny or even likable when he probably could've just not existed and the movie wouldn't have been changed in any way shape or form

The star was cute and I enjoyed how it was a different media form than she was but I found myself not caring if he was captured or not really as I felt I didn't get to bond with it at all in time for the ending to have any impact on me

Though that may be because I am 20 lol but I think even as a child I wouldn't have been bothered by it much

Id rate it a 3/5 but really the three only goes to the art because that's the only thing that saved this movie for me unfortunately

I wanted to like it but at least it wasn't AS bad as people made it out to be

Id say watch it once at least but I watched it in 2x speed sooo...idk lol the plot felt very simple honestly in a bad way

The characters felt human enough but just...very flat at the same time where I just couldn't connect or relate to anyone except the villain

I don't see why he got such a bad wrap when Elsa did pretty much the same thing and she got a redemption

Why's it okay for her but not this man?? Idk it was odd to me

Also Bambi was in it with John from Robin Hood in the background which I actually thought was super cute :)) Bambi is all grown now!

Anyways I'd watch for the art but nothing else

My hopes weren't high to begin with so I wasn't really let down by it

It surprised me twice at least with certain twists and one instance of actually evil action being taken where the king shatters a wish of a woman....but my shock was quickly taken away unfortunately when the wish was immediately brought back like 5 minutes later somehow which didn't make any sense to me at all :// it seemed like they just didnt want anyone to complain but I think it would've been better to depict the woman either repairing her wish with help or having a new one instead of just... immediately having it back just perfectly fine

The other scene that had my jaw drop was a surprise betrayal that I won't tell cause it genuinely surprised me as it was not hinted at in the slightest beforehand

I understand why the betrayal happened though at least so it wasn't half baked like most of the movie seemed to be

But yeah Id say 3 outta 5 or 2.5 out of 5 somewhere between those and no higher as the art was the only thing that REALLY saved it for me

Now being stingy I would've LOVED watching the original plot they had for this movie as a lil star twink guy would've been goals /gender envy to the max but alas I get why

They wanted merch to sell easily most likely so they dumbed it down and made him more marketable ;-; twink death pipeline for sure

[zelda-cooper]

Thoughts, Headcanons and Comments on Bushroot (My AU).

This here is more of a commentary blog and maybe a rant, it can also be considered as a headcanon blog and also for Bushroot fans. For those who want to, they can read it as they wish, but I'm already advancing that it's LONG and will have some low-level words (I'll censor it, but it's still worth it). Feel free to leave comments about your opinions...

So... These days I was looking at the Darkwing Duck wiki, more specifically the Bushroot one, until I got to the curiosities... And I came across this...

Then the thought came to me: "Wait wait wait... IS THE BUSHROOT A WORSE KILLER THAN NEGADUCK?!?!?! 0-0"

"WHAT THE F-"

Okay... Sorry... But actually it wasn't like that... I already knew a little bit about it because of Annie that Bushroot was in a way kind of... A bloodthirsty killer... But then a question came to me: How much was that on purpose and how much was accidental? See, I know Bushroot is a villain and is basically insane, but... Considering his personality... Do you really think he kills KILLS on purpose most of the time?

Obviously Disney wouldn't even dream of putting it in a children's series, but... Darkwing Duck tackles death a couple of times like it's nothing! Bushroot itself has "died" a few times and people speak verbally! I don't want to get into how much Disney is very childish to the extreme and how this makes current productions a little worse, but that's not my point... The point is... I don't believe that Bushroot did the murders knowingly or WANTING. And here I get an idea from another cartoon, this time a current one: The Owl House. More specifically... Willow and Gus.

I'm not going to go into the merits of how I love TOH and blah blah blah... But one thing that I found interesting about this series is this characteristic of when the character is having a breakdown or is out of control, the powers apparently get stronger and the eyes of the staff are shining. I particularly like the way Willow looks, basically it's Bushroot. Here comes my Headcanon...

When Bushroot ends up with some extremely strong negative emotion, the most common being anger or fear, he ends up losing control of his powers and this makes him completely lose reason and attack everything in front of him. Be it allies, enemies and even innocent people... And here comes a very heavy question... He may be a murderer, but he's not a sociopath or a psychopath.

Let's face it... Bushroot only killed his Bullies because they harassed him ALL DAY. This one he had a taste for killing them first! The DWD is obvious, the hero was always interfering with his plans (which I honestly think he stopped caring, because Darkwing is not one of the most competent heroes...). But it's JUST THESE people we know he wanted to kill... What about the other victims? Did he mean to kill them or was it an accident?

For me, I think that most of the victims were accidental and, after he got out of that frenzy, if he found out... I think he would go into despair with so much blood. Here is also the question of his remorse and guilt, he would probably cry in despair and Liquidator would be comforting him (although he is not the most emotional person... Then more Liquidator headcanons) or any of the other Fearsome, except for Negaduck, who shouldn't even have feelings anyway.

To wrap up this whole thread... Let's go to Bushroot's weakness... I know everyone knows that this plant zombie is basically immortal in the series, but here I thought of a good weakness for him... Fire.

Reasons? Zombie in most movies is defeated with fire. Plants are easily burned by fire. There are forests that are burned. I think you get the point... It would also serve as something for Negaduck to use as a triumph for him against Bush and could threaten him. This is something from Negaduck, but not giving too much spoiler... Basically the Fearsome Four didn't betray him before in our AU because they were constantly threatened by Negaduck, everything for the negative duck was a matter of having control of everything. He knew the weakness of the four and always used threats and intimidation to get what he wanted. And let's face it... Bushroot didn't have much attitude, so he was easily manipulated by ND. Otherwise...

Yeah, you get the idea... Anyway, I want to thank Annie for the arts and I also want to thank you for reading everything... That's it... Bye!

Arts for @anniesilveratl2

(Tea for the poor guy to relax...)

[kimbap-r0ll]

Hiiii! I just have a random thought while in the shower. How about the dorm leaders with an s/o that has the same name as Leona but with the opposite personality like instead of lazy and grumpy all the time they're very energetic and always smiling?

Thank you in advance if you did this!! And sorry about my english it's not my first language!

Hello! Sorry these are coming out so late, I'm still finishing up asks and my schedule's just getting busier each day ;-;. This is an interesting ask, I hope you enjoy the writing!

Dorm leaders x gn!reader who also goes by "Leona"

Riddle

The fact that you both share the same name crossed his mind the first time the two of you met, but he didn't think that you would be the same. Besides, he's seen more than one "Jack" in his life.

He was, however, surprised at how energetic and optimistic you were. You would run up to him and smile brightly, almost like Kalim. He liked it honestly, though he would never show it.

Once the two of you are dating, he gets to see your bright personality more. He's not used to getting so much comfort from someone nor so much warmth from another, so please give him lots of love! He's a bit touch starved too, so give him lots of hugs!

Overall, he won't treat you weirdly for having the same name as the (in)famous "Leona" and instead would see you for your personality that gives him comfort.

Leona

Haha, how did this happen? Expect lots of teasing from Ruggie!

He thinks it's weird to meet someone with the same name, and to add on someone that has the exact opposite of his personality. He finds it annoying at first, how bubbly you always are around him when he's trying to take a nap. But he starts to find himself waiting for you to appear whenever he's ready to snooze at an empty area of the school campus.

He's more tsundere than any of the other dorm leaders, so he won't tell you directly that he likes you. But, if you end up asking him first, he'll freeze up but you'll see his tail move faster. Either way he'll love hanging out with you and would want to spend more time with you (but he'll never say this outloud).

The entire school finds out that a Leona and a Leona is dating, and of course people think it's super cute. Expect him to be a grouch about it but you'll notice how his tail wraps around your leg when he mutters "how annoying" to himself.

Azul

He wondered if maybe the school had made a mistake when he saw two Leonas mentioned here and there. But when he found you, he's pleasantly surprised at how bubbly you are. He thought you might be easy to deceive, but for some reason he actually felt bad tricking you.

Floyd and Jade basically lead you to him when they find out Azul likes you. They snicker behind you, commenting how it's funny how "Azul's crushing on Leona" or something along those lines. They basically force Azul to be truthful about his feelings to you in his office.

He ended up liking you because he loves your personality. He thinks that your optimism and your kindness is admirable, and he is also touch-starved, so he really liked you when the two of you first met and you gave him a hug.

When you guys are dating, he'll basically latch himself on you, subtly trying to lace your fingers between his and trying to ask for kisses haha. Shower him with love, he needs it.

Kalim

Omg two Kalims! Except one of them is named "Leona" haha. Jamil thinks it's a funny coincidence but that's it

Kalim absolutely loves you, it doesn't even cross his mind that the two of you share the same name. He realizes this after he calls out your name and both Kingscholar and you look at him.

Kalim and you are the cutest couple the school has ever seen, even the teachers think it's adorable. You guys are like two suns put together, smiling and hugging each other when you guys see each other in the hallways. You guys have a light step when the two of you are walking hand-in-hand too, honestly it's like a Disney movie haha.

Kalim doesn't care if your name is similar to the intimidating Savanaclaw dorm leader, he only cares about your personality. Please don't annoy Jamil with him tho haha.

Vil

He immediately catches on the fact that the two of you share the same name, but he doesn't care that much. Besides, there's no way two Leonas would be the same, but he does worry if you would also be a "lazy" grump like Leona.

He finds out that you're the exact opposite and is enamored by it. You're kindness and your bright personality makes you stand out and it's something admirable to him too.

He ends up asking you out one day, and you brightly smiled at him, and it made his heart melt. He won't post pictures of you two together on his Magicam account, but expect lots of photos of the two of you together nonetheless! He might ask if you want to be his partner in a theater club project haha.

Overall though, he won't care if you are also a Leona as long as you continue to show your bright and wonderful beauty. He's not used to genuine kindness, so please shower him in it and it will make him feel like the star he is haha.

Idia

He got scared of you at first haha. "T-two Leonas?! I can't even survive in this school anymore huh, is my life on hard mode or what?"

But when he meets you, he finds you to be the cutest and most wholesome person in all of Twisted Wonderland. You're not at all like the scary lion from Savanaclaw, and even his younger brother Ortho thinks you're super nice! Of course, Idia has to ask you out!

Idia didn't directly ask you and instead Ortho low-key helped with it. He got Idia to basically spill his guts one day to you and you just hugged Idia, causing his hair to go red and for him to nearly faint haha. Either way, the two of you are super close now, often finding wholesome things to do together like just hanging out and watching anime together.

He has Ortho sure, but he hasn't seen such a bright and kind person in the school nor around him before. Shower him in lots of love, he'll be super shy about it but he'll melt under your hugs and kisses.

Malleus

He thought it was funny to see two Leonas in his class, so he ended up teasing Kingscholar about it a bit. He got even more fascinated however when he found out that you were the absolute opposite of the Leona he knew.

He doesn't find your name at all something that determines who you are, and he loves how kind you are. He's always been a lonely individual, so he really fell for you when you hung around him and even joined his gargoyle club. You might've noticed a slight blush on his cheeks the first time you two went on a walk together if you looked closely haha.

Lilia ended up getting Malleus to be truthful to you about his crush on you. He's super formal about it, but you break that by running up to him and just hugging him tightly. It's a gesture he's not used to, so at first he freezes up. Then, he relaxes, melting under your touch and hugging you back.

He loves you so much, you're just so precious! He might tease you a bit about how there's two Leonas, but it's nothing big. Also, if anyone tries to harm you, wish them luck since Malleus is always next to you.

[lcatala]

A Review Of Nimona

Despite some reservations, I really liked Nimona.

I open with the conclusion because this review starts off quite pessimistic and is rather long, so that way those of you who won't make it to the end will not leave with the false impression that I didn't like Nimona; I really much did.

I have a complicated relationship with 3D animation.

Well no, actually, it's a pretty simple relationship: I hate almost all of it.

It's not that there's any reason why 3D animation cannot be good in the abstract. I'm not a medium snob; you can tell good stories in live action, in 2D animation, in 3D animation, in stop-motion, with hand puppets, with shadow puppets, with paper cutouts ; in theory, it absolutely doesn't matter.

Except, in practice, most 3D animated films range from mediocre and forgetable to actively repulsive.

Visually, they almost all look the same, to the point that it's really hard to distinguish studio styles at all (without looking it up, between Coco and Encanto, which is Pixar and which is Disney?) Storywise, it's all very pain-by-numbers, hero's-journey crap with little deviation. But what gets those from merely nondescript to actively annoying is the tone. So so many of these movies revolve around "hype" and "cool" teenagers who constantly strike poses, raise their eyebrows, and talk in one-liners. Everything is manic and noisy, there's not a single moment to breathe, because if nothing stimulating happens on screen for more than three seconds, surely the audience will stop watching, so there's always someone gesticulating, dancing, singing, making faces, or all four at once. And everything has to be crammed with pop culture references and topical allusions so that the audience can relate.

Don't get me wrong, it's good to have media you can relate to, media that speak of modern problems and adress a modern audience in its own terms. But there has to be less insultingly condescending ways of doing it than shouting "HELLO FELLOW KIDS" over and over for 90 minutes.

Let's be clear: this isn't happening because the people involved are not competent or because the budgets are too tight. Very talented people work hard (routinely to the point of exploitation in fact) on these movies, and they actually get quite strong budgets reflecting the benefits they're expected to make.

And that's the actual problem: there's too much financial stake in 3D animated films, too many producers and shareholders breathing down the neck of everyone else, too many committees trying to craft the perfect crowd-pleaser, too many rewrites and re-rewrites, too much fear of failling to capture the children-and-teenager audience and losing hundreds of millions. So everything must be made to appeal to the widest, shallowest base as possible, and every second of screentime must be an attention-grabber that leaves absolutely no chance of anyone getting bored.

Mirroring this, there's no reason for 2D animated and stop-motion movies to be inherently better than 3D ones. They are so in practice because big studios see them as uncool and no longer profitable, which means that the only people who still make these kinds of movies have to actually deeply care about them and go in with the full awareness that their next project might well be a commercial flop that will set them back for a decade on the project after that or might even end their career.

So when it was announced that Nimona, a webcomic I had really liked for its quirky, original, both humorous and dark tone, was going to be adapted by Blue Sky Studios, who had afflicted the world with not one, not two, not three, but five Ice Age movies, well, I was not happy at all, because that seemed like worst possible match. It was hard to imagine them doing anything other than remove anything remotely interesting about the story and turn it into a generic seizure-inducing mess with poop jokes because that's all that they do with their movies.

I feel bad about it retrospectively, but my first instinct when I heard that the movie was cancelled was to rejoice that we had been spared from what would certainly have been a complete disaster and a terrible insult to the original comic. And the revival of the project, while it was always a positive for the actual people involved, left me largely indifferent.

Who would I have had instead to adapt this into a movie? Why, Cartoon Saloon of course! A fantasy story about a free-spirited, hyper-active, shapeshifting red-headed girl and the friendship she seeks with another outcast character, leading to a fight against the instutions of law and order that turn out to be corrupt and evil? Why, they would have loved making that movie.

Except they did make that movie. What I'm describing is not just the premise of Nimona; it's also that of Wolfwalkers, the absolutely amazing 2D animated film that Cartoon Saloon released in 2020, as the third part of their "Irish Folklore Trilogy" (following The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea).

Ok fine then, if Wolfwalkers already exists, it would be redundant for Cartoon Saloon to make it again, so I guess Nimona can be in its own thing; if it doesn't work out, I'll just rewatch Wolfwalkers.

Then I saw that ND Stevenson, the author of the original comic, was actually really enthusiastic about the project — which in itself isn't a definite proof, many times has a creator be enthusiastic about an upcoming adaptation of their work only to get burned when the actual thing came out, but at least it was a positive sign. Maybe I was going to give this movie a chance.

Then the movie came out, and I saw a lot of positive reviews from people who I trusted not to be easily swayed by any old crappy animated film just because it had some queer representation. Ok, ok, fine, y'all win, I'll watch it.

So I watched it and… I actually had quite a really good time.

I liked that there actually was a conscious stylistic choice in the animation, this sort of 3D-2D hybrid technique, like very-advanced-cel-shading seems like it's a lot more flexible when it comes to actually give an animated movie a distinct, signature style — and it blends in a lot better than pure 3D, as seen on how Ghibli has used those techniques for complex individual shots since Princess Mononoke in 1997 — a movie mostly made in 2D traditional animation, but that has a number of digitally made shots seamlessly incorporated using those 3D-painted-over-to-look-like-2D techniques. By the way if you like Princess Mononoke, you should also watch Wolfwalkers, it has a number of similar vibes!

I liked the humor! For the most part, it worked, and some jokes were actually pretty clever in their absurdity, like having Nimona pull out a polaroid picture she's somehow taken a few minutes ago just for the sake of a visual gag, even tho we've already established that this is a futuristic fantasy setting (which is also a thing I like, the worldbuilding was pretty cool) where everyone has smart phones (but it also works as a subtle early hint that Nimona is much, much older than she seems).

I liked that queer representation was front but not center: several main characters are openly, explicitely queer, but this isn't a plot point, this isn't something that they have to defend or call attention to. It's just a normal character trait, and the problems, drama and obstacles these characters face do not stem from them being queer.

I liked the story, the themes it went for and how it executed them, twisting traditional feudal fantasy and hero's-journey tropes but without being heavy handed and obnoxious about it, showing that you can play with a genre and pick apart its problematic implications without being a scatological edgelord about it (yes I loathe the Shrek franchise, why do you ask?)

It still has some of the things that make me strongly dislike modern 3D movies, but it's contained. It's here and there, but not to the point of ruining the story. Yes Nimona is an out-of-control nuclear-powered goblin, but the movie actually goes into why she is like that, and suddenly it's a lot more interesting to have a character be manic and constantly at 11 because she has a lot of pent up anger and insecurities about being alone than just because that's a quirky character trait to throw in randomly; and the movie does manage to have a few quiet and reflexive moments, and those matter a lot in the story.

I am of two minds about its qualities as an adaptation. On the one hand, even if this is a very different story from the original, the themes are there, the spirit of the original story is there; different media have different strength and what would work in comic format wouldn't necessarily work in an animated movie. Having the movie tells its own story makes it less redundant compared to the comic, more complimentary — you can know the one by heart and still get surprised and awed by discovery when you get to the other. And updating the material can be good; people always complain about Disney's track record of sanitizing fairy tales, but I can assure you that you don't want to see a faithful adaptation of Sleeping Beauty on screen. In general, an adaptation making significant changes to the story isn't a deal breaker for me, some of my favorite movies massively depart from their source material, usually for the better.

On the other hand, it seems to be almost a constant with animated adaptations that the source story is going to get discarded. It gives the feeling once again that the people involved in making these adaptations do not take the medium seriously and cannot imagine that these stories could stand on their own without needing heavy rewriting, that they can't see them as deserving a faithful adaptation. I understand why a lot of these changes happened for Nimona, but I still regret some of the stuff from the comic. Like yeah, it's very clever that in this version, Nimona has essentially no origin story and actively refuses to talk about how she came to be, but then we miss out on this absolute wham moment from the comic, Ballister telling her "Nimona, you forgot your own backstory!"

So in the end, I have to take the movie for what it is, rather than look too closely as what it is an adaptation of. Those are two different takes and stories on the same characters and themes, both with their strong points, and I think I can live with that.

So in the end, I had a pretty good time. It had some small issues, it's probably not the best version possible of that story, but it's still far, far better than anything I was expecting. I you loved it, I do still recommend checking out Wolfwalkers as soon as possible if you haven't already, you might well love that one too.

[marciabrady]

A LOT of what we take for granted in media and pop culture nowadays can be traced back to Snow White more than any other Disney film I think. Theme parks, merchandising, most cartoons, naturally most animated films, heck even anime and other live action films...A person doesn't have to be into Disney but they have to understand / respect Snow White's legacy.

EXACTLY. People are reacting to the desecration of one of the most historically and culturally impactful films of all time. And it isn't like it's just niche fans who are upset, since I know people are saying "who even liked Snow White, you all are using this as a reason to hate a 22 year old woman!!!" (Which btw in and of itself is such a ridiculous statement). But I guess people don't realize that the original director's son literally said that his dad and Walt Disney would be rolling around in their graves, with what's going on. And idk I'm just so sick of the horrible takes that are blindly supporting Rachel. I keep hearing a mixture of the below:

"Why are people upset at her- she didn't write or direct the movie? She's just repeating talking points Disney gave her!" First off, no one held a gun to her head and told her to grimace into the camera or to call Snow White's Prince a stalker or say that she never connected with the movie as a child. Those were her choices and that's her personality coming through. Secondly, it's been confirmed that she has had input on her role and *surprise* her portrayal of the character she was cast as. And third of all, people are upset at her because of her comments, but also because she's a mascot of this movie. She was literally paid to promote this film and be a face for the movie (she herself said that her name was above Snow White's on the title and people needed to get over it)- meaning, if the movie did well, she would've gotten most of the praise and attention, and if it didn't, she would've gotten the pushback. Just because there's a negative reaction doesn't absolve her from the responsibility of that title she chose to take on and was ready to reap the rewards off of.

I have also been seeing people say, 'She loves Snow White!' No she doesn't. She loves being cast as a lead in a Disney movie and took selfies in front of merch because she sees it as a reflection of herself. She hasn't listed a single quality she likes about the character- just why it's problematic to her, outdated, and how she wants to change everything about the personality. Not only that, she literally said she just watched the movie once as a kid and never picked it up again...like, why are people reaching and trying to put words and feelings in her mouth when she's already indicated the opposite?

"People are dogpiling on this poor woman because people hate girls!" I disagree. I think the reason everyone's having a kneejerk reaction is because this is the 100th live action movie no one asked for, and they've been spoon feeding us this incredibly reductive antifeminist take masquerading around as progressivism while not actually giving us anything pushing edge or revolutionary or edgy or meaningful in terms of representation. They're responding to trends 20 years too late and the movement has already progressed, and people have realized how harmful a lot of these takes were at the time.

"She's just a kid! She shouldn't be held responsible for what she said on the red carpet, she's too young!" She's an adult who was cast in a production that, at this point with post production, is going to cost half a billion dollars. She got paid millions for her role. She is bringing to live action the film that this entire company, one of the biggest in the world, is based off of. She has a team of PR agents, of representations, of communication experts training her on how to speak and promote the movie. Also, again, she's an adult! This infantilization of her for her unprofessional behavior is, frankly, insulting. She was given big shoes to fill, and you can't accept that responsibility and all that money, only to cower and say you aren't fit for those responsibilities once the heat comes on you. Furthermore, it wasn't that long ago that I was 22 and I didn't talk like that lol I had better sense than she did at like five. I don't even think 9 year olds would talk as disrespectfully about she did about a school assignment, much less one of the most important roles in cinematic history.

"People hate her because of her SAG strike comments and because she dared to stand up." No, people hate her for demanding streaming money from a movie that hasn't even come out yet, when all she's done is disparage the original creation fans are so upset about, and for being a hypocrite. Again, she's going to demand streaming rights for "standing in the dress of an iconic Disney Princess" when only a few months prior, she snickered and laughed at the Prince's scenes potentially being cut out in post production, saying "That's Hollywood, baby." Did she feel bad for her costars, there, when she was joking about it? I doubt he would've gotten paid residuals if his scenes all got cut. Maybe he should tell Rachel, "That's Hollywood, baby," if she doesn't get any money. And just to confirm- I do think actors should get residuals and compensated fairly, which goes without saying. It's just gross to see someone undermine the work of so many creative artists and talent, but be so quick to try to profit from it. Again, the way she was snickering and laughing "That's Hollywood, baby" makes me feel particularly uncomfortable.

[sketchfanda]

Kirishima's Mystique:Virtual Sensuality

In the cozy little apartment that our resident Hero College trio shared and called their love-nest, Kirishima eyed the device he held in his hand before him. It was his birthday and of course Mina and Maya seemed to always go all out as he examined the gift they'd given him. Some sort of headgear or headset device, like those old virtual reality goggles as they bore the distinct logo indicating they'd been made on and came from none other than I-Island. Looking at his grinning girlfriends who seemed very eager no doubt to see what he thought and if he was going to try them on.

Kirishima:"Okay so what exactly is this?" *You couldn't lame him for being curious and wary. For one they already ha plenty of games consoles and two? Mina and Maya usually liked to be more saucier and spicier when it came to his birthday. Like the time they arranged that little weekend in Maya's home in Jagua or the time they got him a stripper.*

Mina:"That oh sweet man of ours is a very special gift custom made and ordered by the lovely Melissa Shield back on I-Island. As you might gather it's a virtual reality headset but this one's very special. It's total sensory immersion.*The bubblegum duo couldn't help but giggle at the adorable puzzled look on his face. No doubt he didn't have a clue what that meant and really could they blame their himbo? It took a while for them to get the gist of it when Melissa explained it. But once they got an understanding, well..*

Maya:"Meaning handsome you're not whole being is uploaded into the game. It's got a few devices in there keeps your body safe and sound while giving you just the right feedback. It'll make you literally feel like you're in the game and believe you us, stud, you're gonna love this game."*the shapeshifting bombshell added as she provided enough context. Yes it was exactly as said, soon as Kirishima put that headset on and it powered up, he'd find his 5 senses all experiencing a whole new world. One they were sure he was going to enjoy especially thanks to the customising and modifications Melissa made. That girl definitely earned a solid from them that's for sure.*

Well when they put it like that of course, Kirishima didn’t see any reason to doubt them, shrugging as he put on the VR headset. Taking a seat on the couch as he felt his body go into a relaxed state as his gift powered on, it was almost like drifting off into a dream. Closing his eyes briefly before opening them to find himself no longer in his living room but rather a sort of limbo. All around him from above and below to the sides, front and back was a clear blue sky with stray white clouds gently floating in the breeze and the floor a calm gentle ocean reflecting it like a mirror.

Kirishima took in the scenery around him, practically feeling a warmth akin to summer and smelling the fresh air. This really was like being in a whole other world but how exactly did this game work? Was there a tutorial or the like? What was he meant to do next?

??:"That's where I come in...."*The sturdy himbo flinched, jumping a bit as he turned to face the source of the voice that had suddenly spoken up. Seeing a blue glowing ghost-like woman levitating before him and he could only that damn she was quite the looker. A curvy toned body seemingly nude with her modesty preserved by digital patterns akin to that old Disney movie Tron.*"Hello there, pardon the sudden shock, welcome to Oasis. I'm Cortana, your admin AI and general tutorial guide and instructor. here to oversee your enjoyment and time here with the game. Nothing too major or serious, you play it however you want to. Just think it and it will happen, want to be a dragon in a fantasy world? Then go for it, maybe you want to be a pro-wrestler or a shark? Hunt down dinosaurs? All possible for you and of course the time you spend here amounts to only seconds back out in the real world..."*The azure digital babe spoke gently yet matter of fact-like, demonstrating an example of the VR world's potential as she held out her hand and made a single lotus flower bloom in her palm.*

Kirishima:*briefly shook his head as well as calmed down that voice in his brain embodying his libido. No doubt stirred by the sight of the more than easy on the eyes AI girl as he thought her words over.*"Anything anyway huh?"*He'd mused as he looked out at the tranquil limbo around him, which within seconds became replaced by a perfect replica forming of UA campus, from the school to the gymnasium and Heights Alliance dorm. In awe at how quickly the game played to his thoughts all the Cortana simply smiled...a distinct little mischievous twinkle in her eyes.*

Suffice to say that it wasn't long before Kirishima was giving Oasis a whirl, trying out being a shark as he swam in the ocean or took to the sky flying as a dragon. It was surreal for sure and felt incredible while Cortana maintained vigilance, no doubt ensuring his overall health and well being here in the virtual world. Time truly flied as he had fun as he caught his breath, relaxing on a simple, calm and tranquil grass field, Cortana sitting beside him cool, calm and composed as ever. Her digital form giving off quite a nice calm ethereal glow to it as she found the sturdy himbo look her way.

Kirishima:”Hey this has been great so far and all but if you don’t mind me asking, what would be fun for you? I mean if you got any ideas or anything, I wouldn’t mind trying them out.”*Asking sincerely as he was curious to see if the AI girl was willing to do more than just observe and ensure his own enjoyment of Oasis. Little did he know of course the moment he asked that question, was just what Cortana had been waiting for. Her azure eyes twinkling as she grew a playful little smile. One that reminded him of the kind Mina and Maya would give him during…..”certain” times.*

Cortana:”Well as a matter of fact…”*The admin AI's grin widened with sensual delight as with a snap of her fingers and a wave of her hand, the scenery around them changed. Oh how familiar it seemed to Kirishima as it bore a resemblence to one of the pleasure suits of Ms.Midnight's love hotel (that used to be a brothel of course, they didn't call her the rated R heroine for nothing). The queen sized bed, the luxury bathroom and the lush view of the skyline, all identical. Cortana taking delight in his reaction as she could tell his brain was working out the mental gymnastics*

Kirishima:*blushing even as he put the dots together.*"So I'm guessing this is the actual surprise part of my present here huh?"*The sturdy himbo got his answer of course in the form of Cortana’a playful smile as with another gesture, the lines in her body reformed in a different pattern. Leaving her torso utterly exposed before him, naked and ready to give herself to him. Her graceful feet nearly gliding along the floor as he found her pressing herself against him. Arms draping around his powerful shoulder as she pulled him in, pressing her lips to his. For a virtual girl, she sure felt and tasted damn well real enough.*

Cortana:*moaning deeply into the make out she initiated, purring as she felt Kirishima respond by grabbing and squeezing her indigo booty. Her tits rubbing against his firm pecs with delicious friction before she soon broke their liplock. A strand of saliva between them as she panted sensually, eyes twinkling with mischief.*”Ms.Shield was given very thorough instructions and details from your two lover girls in regards to my personality and programming. So feel free to be as rough as you’d like with me….”*With thtat said, she snapped her fingers as Kirishima found his clothes disappear in a flash of pixels, as the AI girl gently nudged him to fall and lay back in the bed.*

The indigo babe licked her lips at the sight of Kirishima in the nude, drinking in his sculpted, training enhanced muscles but especially his rising cock. That length and girth stirring before her to salute her as she climbed onto the bed, straddling his waist as her luscious digital booty hotdogged his sex-meat. Purring as she caressed his chest and abs while leaning down to kiss him once again, as they began to make out and indulge in a little heavy petting. Tongues dancing together as Cortana began to display the amount of sexual knowledge and experience she’d been provided in her programming first hand.

Deep throated came from The Indigo AI babe particularly as she felt Kirishima’s hands grab and squeeze her luscious, bubbly ass his cock pulsed and twitched. Her meaty buns feeling the raw hot desire coming from that length as her virtual pussy began to grind against it. Warm, sticky nectar coating his shaft in a soothing lubricant shower as her tits massaged his strong chest. The AI admin and her player soon rolling around the bed, deepening and intensifying their makeout as their combined arousal skyrocketed.

It wasn’t long before their movements soon came to find them in a 69 position together, occasionally shifting on their sides to one laying atop the other. Cortana moaning with wanton ecstasy as she was performing stunning fellation on Kirishima’s cock, her virtual body not bound by limits snd therefore able to deepthroat him with no problem. Head bobbing away lewdly in sync with the penetrative plunging of his tongue deep into the folds of her slit as he lapped away and drank up her flowing nectar. The sturdy himbo experiencing first hand that sex in this virtual world was just as much a thrilling sensation here as it was back in the real world, Melissa definitely knew her programming.

But as delightfully erotic and pleasurable as the foreplay was, the moment Cortana had that length and girth of his penetrate her was when things really got fun. The indigo digital goddess moaning and gasping passionately as she rode Kirishima cowgirl style, his hands grasping where her waist met and connected with her hips as she found his red eyes glued to her bouncing tits. Her asscheeks clapping snd jiggling with every impact of their loins engaging in the primal dance men and women have done since the dawn of time. And loving every second of it, there was no doubt as much as sexual knowledge had been input into her data, actually experiencing the act of sex itself was even better.

it’d helped that Kirishima was a more than willing and able partner of course but given the intel she’d been provided about him, that wasn’t surprising. Nor was he content to simply stay idle and let her do all the work as he proceeded to assert dominance and show the blue bombshell first hand his depth of sexual prowess. Pouncing on her as she found herself in a mating press, screaming with ecstasy that is when she wasn’t making sweet sloppy tongue kisses with the stud jackhammering away into her. Orgasms rocking her digital form before she found it only getting better from here on in.

Doggy style, spread eagle, full nelson and more as the thicc toned virtual babe was out through a kama sutra marathon by the Herculean himbo. To say nothing of the delight when she got anal, it certainly helped that her own sexual sensitivity had been tinkered with enough that anal and oral sex wasn’t just in par with getting her pussy hammered, her entire body was one whole erogenous zone. One that the red riot stallion couldn’t get enough of as he couldn’t help but lose track of time. Minutes passing into hours within Oasis which amounted to just a few seconds back in reality which meant the lair could have themselves a marathon.

Which they most certainly did of course and Cortana could only imagine how much fun her player would have once they went from this bedroom to more exotic locations like the beach. Or especially when the next level of his surprise would make itself known soon as they decided to join in in the game. But no rush of course, they had all the time in the world. As back in the real world, Kirishima was laying back on the couch, headset on and a blissful smile on his face as his girlfriends sat on either side of him.

Maya:”Looks like he’s having fun but thst pats to be expected….so Pinky resdy to make this a 3 player game?”*The shapeshifting bombshell grinned at Mina as they both held up their own copies of the VR headset. Of course Melissa was kind enough to provide them with the means to connect with their boyfriend and enjoy Oasis together. They more than owed that blonde a solid that’s for sure. Nothing says happy birthday boyfriend like this….until they decided to try and top it down the line.

Mina:Ooh you know it…”*The bubblegum acid babe quipped in reply, the duo sharing a kiss as they began to slide their headgears on. It wasn’t long before they were soon laying beside their man and joining him in making his birthday present even more fun and spicier than it already was. Making this a very happy birthday for their Red Riot and making sure Melissa got some very well earned reviews…*