#this image ended up being SO much bigger than I intended

[myattman]

can I offer you some atla (but they're mice) in these trying times

(click for better quality | individual characters under the cut)

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

so part of me wants to blame this entirely on wbd, right? bloys said he was cool with the show getting shopped around, so assuming he was telling the truth (not that im abt to start blindly trusting anything a CEO says lol), that means it’s not an hbo problem. and we already know wbd has an awful track record with refusing to sell their properties—altho unlike coyote v acme, s3 of ofmd isn’t a completed work and therefore there isn’t the same tax writeoff incentive to bury the thing. i just can’t see any reason to hold on to ofmd except for worrying about image, bc it would be embarrassing if they let this show go with such a devoted fanbase and recognizable celebrities and it went somewhere else and did really well (which it would undoubtedly do really well, we’ve long since proven that). it feels kinda tinfoil hat of me to making assumptions abt what’s going on in wbd behind the scenes, but i also feel like there are hints that i’m onto something w my suspicions: suddenly cracking down on fan merch on etsy doesn’t seem like something a studio looking to sell their property would bother with, and we know someone was paying to track the viewing stats on ofmd’s bbc airing, which isn’t finished yet, so i’d expect whoever is monitoring that to not make a decision abt buying ofmd until the s2 finale dropped.

but also i think part of me just wants there to be a clear villain in the situation. it’s kinda comforting to have a face to blame, a clear target to shake my fist at. but the truth is that the entire streaming industry is in the shitter. streaming is not pulling in the kind of profit that investors were promised, and we’re seeing the bubble that was propped up w investor money finally start to pop. studios aren’t leaving much room in their budgets for acquiring new properties, and they’re whittling down what they already have. especially w the strikes last year, they’re all penny pinching like hell. and that’s much a much harder thing to rage against than just one studio or one CEO being shitty. that’s disheartening in a way that’s much bigger and more frightening than if there was just one guy to blame.

my guess is that the truth of the situation is probably somewhere in the middle. wbd is following the same shitty pattern they’ve been following since the merger, and it’s just a hard time for anyone trying to get their story picked up by any studio. ofmd is just one of many shows that are unlucky enough to exist at this very unstable time for the tv/streaming industry.

when i think abt it that way, tho, i’m struck by how lucky we are that ofmd even got to exist at all. if the wbd merger had happened a year earlier, or if djenks and tw tried to pitch this show a year later, there’s no way this show would’ve been made. s1 was given the runtime and the creative freedom needed to tell the story the way the showrunners wanted to, and the final product benefited from it so much that it became a huge hit from sheer gay word of mouth. and for all the imperfections with s2—the shorter episode order, the hard 30 minute per episode limit, the last-minute script changes, the finale a butchered mess of the intended creative vision—the team behind ofmd managed to tell a beautiful story despite the uphill battle they undoubtedly were up against. they ended the season with the main characters in a happy place. ed and stede are together, and our last shot of ed isn’t of him sobbing uncontrollably (like i rlly can’t stress enough how much i would have never been able to acknowledge the existence of this show again if s1 was all we got)

like. y’all. we were this close to a world where ofmd never got to exist. for me, at least, the pain of an undue cancellation is worth getting to have this story at all. so rather than taking my comfort in the form of righteous anger at david zaslav or at wbd or at the entire streaming industry as a whole, i’m trying to focus on how lucky i am to get to have the show in the first place.

bc really, even as i’m reeling in grief to know this is the end of the road for ofmd, a part of me still can’t quite wrap my head around that this show is real. a queer romcom about middle-aged men, a rejection of washboard abs and facetuned beauty standards, a masterful deconstruction and criticism of toxic masculinity, well-written female characters who get to shine despite being in a show that is primarily about manhood and masculinity, diverse characters whose stories never center around oppression and bigotry, a casually nonbinary character, violent revenge fantasies against oppressors that are cathartic but at the same time are not what brings the characters healing and joy, a queer found family, a strong theme of anti colonialism throughout the entire show. a diverse writers room that got to use their perspectives and experiences to inform the story. the fact that above all else, this show is about the love story between ed and stede, which means the character arcs, the thoughts, the feelings, the motivations, the backstories, and everything else that make up the characters of ed and stede are given the most focus and the most care.

bc there rlly aren’t a lot of shows where a character like stede—a flamboyant and overtly gay middle-aged man who abandoned his family to live his life authentically—gets to be the main character of a romcom, gets to be the hero who the show is rooting for.

and god, there definitely aren’t a lot of shows where a character like ed—a queer indigenous man who is famous, successful, hyper-competent, who feels trapped by rigid standards of toxic hypermasculinity, who yearns for softness and gentleness and genuine interpersonal connection and vulnerability, whose mental health struggles and suicidal intentions are given such a huge degree of attention and delicate care in their depiction, who messes up and hurts people when he’s in pain but who the show is still endlessly sympathetic towards—gets to exist at all, much less as the romantic lead and the second protagonist of the show.

so fuck the studios, fuck capitalism, fuck everything that brought the show to an end before the story was told all the way through. because the forces that are keeping s3 from being made are the same forces that would’ve seen the entire show canceled before it even began. s3 is canceled, and s2 suffered from studio meddling, but we still won. we got to have this show. we got to have these characters. there’s been so much working against this show from the very beginning but here we are, two years later, lives changed bc despite all odds, ofmd exists. they can’t take that away from us. they can’t make us stop talking abt or stop caring abt this show. i’m gonna be a fan of this show til the day i die, and the studios hate that. they hate that we care about things that don’t fit into their business strategy, they hate that not everyone will blindly consume endless IP reboots and spin-offs and cheap reality tv.

anyway i dont rlly have a neat way to end this post. sorta just rambling abt my feelings. idk, i know this sucks but im not rlly feeling like wallowing in it. i think my gratitude for the show is outweighing my grief and anger, at least for right now. most important thing tho is im not going anywhere. and my love for this show is certainly not fucking going anywhere.

[buckyalpine]

Curves

18+

I got a request for this, but this is also an exact beauty/body image issue I struggle with heavily. You’d be surprised how awful people are and how quick they are to openly comment on other peoples bodies.

Also I intended for this to be a lil more soft but we ended with a lil more smut. There's both. Sorry. 

Warnings: Angst, body insecurity, bullying, fluff because Bucky is a sweet heart, Soft smutt, sexy smut, lottsa smuuutt

“Okay, boobs or ass?”

“Ass”

You shook your head over hearing a conversation between some of the new recruits at the compound; they were childish and you shouldn’t have cared about what they were talking about but it still rubbed you the wrong way. Couldn’t they at least whisper? You tried to block out their conversation, going back to your workout while they continued to snicker and stare at others in the gym. 

“No, seriously, I’d rather a girl have no boobs at all and a fat ass over no ass and big tits” 

You sucked in a breath, shaking off the way the comment made you feel. It wasn’t directed at you but it may as well have been. It wasn’t the first time you had heard someone talk about how important a nice ass was to them. You were immediately thrown back to every moment someone had pointed out how your butt was too small. Your mind was plagued with all the other comments people had made about your body in the past.  

Ass too small.

Not curvy enough.

Big chest.

Shoulders too wide. 

You never felt good enough. It didn’t help that guys from past relationships always talked about how they wished your body was a little different; there was always a flaw that had to be fixed. Why did no one ever just love you and find you beautiful the way you were? No one had ever just appreciated your body for what it was. 

You knew Bucky adored you with his entire being but you couldn’t imagine he actually loved your body for what it was. You couldn’t bring yourself to believe him when he said it was beautiful. He was perfect. Handsome. Sweet. Loving. You didn’t understand why he was with you; he belonged with someone that looked better than you. 

You sped off to the showers before the tears started, threatening to spill down your cheeks any second. You knew what the fuck your body looked like. You worked out as much as you could to try and add some side to your lower half but it didn’t make much of a difference. You always had a large chest but your butt didn’t match. 

It didn’t help that everyone talked so much about celebrating curves and yours just felt like they were in the wrong places. Everyone on social media had the perfect lower body; at the very least they seemed to be in proportion.

You felt unattractive. Uncomfortable in your own skin. 

You let the hot shower water drown out your sniffles, pulling yourself together so you could head down for dinner. The issue was silly anyway; there were bigger problems in the world and you had to move on. 

If only it were that easy. 

“Everything okay y/n?” Tony smiled at you softly, noticing you hadn’t eaten a thing, your plate untouched while everyone else had almost finished. 

“I’m okay” You gave him a strained smile, poking some of the food around with your fork, “Just tired, I think I’m going to sleep a little early” 

Bucky watched you carefully, frowning as you covered your plate with some foil and popped it in the fridge for later; he could tell something was off. You smile didn’t meet your eyes and your face had been puffy. You had been crying. 

“Good night” The rest of the team wished you good night while you trudged to your room. You couldn’t shake the way you felt, wanting to just curl up in bed and shut the world out for a little while. Your own little bubble where the way your body looked just didn’t matter. 

You slipped on an over sized t-shirt and crawled into bed, curling up in a ball when you heard the door click open a few minutes later. You pulled the covers higher over yourself, wanting to hide yourself from everyone, including Bucky. 

“Hey sweet heart” His heart sank looking at the little ball that stayed hidden under the covers. He so badly wanted to scoop you up and ask you what was wrong but you buried yourself further. 

“I-I’m tired” 

Bucky swallowed thickly, he knew there was something that bothered you but he respected that you didn’t want to talk about it yet. He kissed your head, giving you some space while he slipped under the covers to go to sleep. 

You couldn’t sleep. 

Your mind kept going back to the agents at the gym. 

It tore you apart. Your other teammates were gorgeous. So many other perfect recruits with toned bodies, ones that always looked perfect.  

Then there was you. The insecurity dug its heels in deeper and you let it eat you away silently. 

It had been weeks. 

Weeks of you avoiding Bucky, only letting him give you a peck on the cheek or a hug with one arm. You had stopped changing in front of him and curled up away from him instead of cuddling each night. You didn’t want Bucky to see you naked, to touch you, or feel you. You didn’t want his hands on something that felt so fucking unlovable and awful, how had he been with you so many times before, you didn’t understand. 

You were so stuck in your own head, you didn’t notice the way he always trailed after you, hoping you’d talk to him or tell him what was wrong. He missed his doll and you didn’t even look his way anymore. It broke him. 

Tony’s Party 

You stood by the couch while the team lounged around together; the seats on the couch occupied by Nat, Steve and Bucky. Bucky smiled at you softly, gently tugging your hand, pulling you to sit on his lap like you had done countless times before. 

"Baby, why are you standing, just sit on my la-

“No!” You pulled your hand away quickly, you couldn't understand why he was still with you when he could have had anyone he wanted. It felt like a sick joke.  “N-no, its okay” You shook your head, scrambling away from Bucky, hardly registering the pained expression on his face, why didn’t you want to even sit with him anymore? 

You made sure there was enough distance between your both, not wanting to sit in his lap, your insecurities seeping further. He probably felt uncomfortable each time you sat on him. 

“I-I’m going to grab a drink” You hurried off to the bar, grabbing a drink and wandering off to an empty hall trying to pull yourself together. All your emotions felt like they were at an all time high, missing the sweet soft touch of your boyfriend, hating how you looked in your dress, wishing you could look better for him, wishing you loved your own body. You downed your drink, deciding to go back to your room instead, a part of you wondering if you should tell Bucky but you couldn’t bring yourself to go back to the party. 

Bucky searched the crowd for you, feeling uneasy when you didn’t come back and he didn’t see you anywhere. He made his way up to your shared bedroom, his heart relaxing a little when he saw the soft glow of the light from under the door. You yelped seeing Bucky standing by the door, clutching your towel as you came out from the bathroom. You changed out of your dress and took a hot shower, ready to change into your comfy clothes. You stared at Bucky wide eyed, gripping onto your towel for dear life, he couldn’t see you like this, there was no way he was attracted to this. 

“Y/n? Baby, why did you leave” He shut the door softly behind him, his heart hurting when you almost looked scared, the skin on you knuckles pulled taut with how hard you were making sure the towel stayed up. 

“Sorry” You whispered, hoping to run into the closet to change but Bucky took two strides, standing right in front of you. He always loved how you looked right after a shower, his gorgeous angel, her face bare and fresh. You were perfect. 

“When will you talk to me baby” His hand tiled your chin up to look at him but you bit your lip, pulling away. “What’s wrong y/n?”

“Nothing’s wrong” You took a few steps back, shaking your head, your throat beginning to tighten. Bucky let out a frustrated huff, running a hand over his face, he had waited for so long for you to talk to him but you pushed him further away each day. 

“Y/n, I know something’s been bothering you, please baby-

“It’s nothing- 

“That’s not true! You don’t even let me touch you anymore, you’ve been so distant with me, you won’t even tell me why!”

Your heart started to race, you wanted to tell him, fuck, for weeks you wanted to cry in his lap and let him comfort you but you didn’t feel like you deserved it. It was a stupid issue and you should have been able to deal with it yourself. 

“Because- 

“Because why? Why are you pushing me away, did I do something?”

You stared at your feet, not trusting yourself to speak anymore. Bucky took a step closer to you while you continued to shrink away from him. 

“Y/n, please, just talk to me, why are you-

He stopped half way, seeing the pained expression etched on your face, your eyes glassy with tears. 

“Y/n?”

“B-ecause- You cut yourself off, breaking down into sobs, the past weeks of criticizing yourself finally taking its toll. You continued to clutch onto your towel, hiding your face with your other hand while Bucky pulled you into his arms, wrapping you tightly against him. 

“Sweet heart come here” He cradled your body, kissing the top of your head, scooping you up so he could sit with you in his lap. He sat up against the head board, careful to make sure you towel didn’t slip off, tucking you against him, keeping you secure in his arms. “Why’s my baby so upset” His lips brushed against your forehead, peppering soft kisses onto your skin, letting you cry as much as you needed. He held you until your cries reduced to soft sniffles, your face hidden in his neck. 

“What’s wrong my angel”  He stroked your hair while you swallowed thickly; you could only avoid the subject for so long. 

“I-I don’t like how my body looks” You whispered, your voice muffled while you stayed tucked against his body. 

“What do you mean baby?” Bucky truthfully didn’t understand. He understood some parts; he dealt with his own share of body insecurities. But you were fucking gorgeous, what wasn’t there to like...

“I hate how big my chest is, my butt is too small, I wish I had more curves or just different proportions” You shrugged, while Bucky cupped your face, making you look at him. 

“Baby, your body is perfect exactly the way it is-

“You’re saying that because you like me Bucky” You pouted, while he smiled softly, shaking his head. Only he knew how attracted he was to you long before you’d even started dating. 

“Will you let me show you?” His hand trailed down to your towel, kissing your bare shoulder when he felt your body tense up. “Let me show you what you do to me baby, what no one else does” His lips brushed against your cheek, trailing to your ear, kissing and nipping your neck. “Please baby, I’ve missed you so much” 

The desperation in his voice made your heart flutter, his hands roaming on your body, stroking up your thigh, moving you to lay under him. He had waited for weeks to feel his princess under him and he was ready to spend the entire night showing you how perfect your body was. You bit your lip, hesitating to let him take your towel off, your heart racing when he moved your hand away. 

“James...” 

“Baby, I’ve seen this gorgeous body naked 100 times before, there’s a reason I leave the lights on, I want to look. Fuck, I love what I see y/n, please, just let me... 

He pulled your towel off, groaning at your naked body under his, his eyes shamelessly raking up and down your skin. He momentarily got off you to toss his clothes off, crawling back on top of you, his thick hard cock bobbling between his legs. He straddled your waist, his cock sitting perfectly between your tits, smearing precum between the soft flesh. 

“You make my cock leak baby. You don’t understand sweetheart, I know I love you but fuck I’m also so attracted to you” He guided your hands to squeeze your chest together, rutting his cock in between, moaning at the way his cock disappeared between the soft mounds, “I fucking love these pretty boobs baby, so warm and soft, perfect to suck on, perfect to fuck, making me feel so good” His head was thrown back, lost in the feeling of the way your tits felt around his cock. 

You could feel your slick drip out of you while Bucky admired your body on top of you, his eyes heavy with lust, relishing in the way it felt to fuck your boobs. You gasped as he pulled away, turning you around so you were flat on your stomach, slotting his cock between your soaked folds, getting it nice and wet before rutting against your ass. 

“And this sweet ass” He bit his lip, grabbing your ass, humping his cock against you, his voice nearly a growl. “Perfect for me to grab, perfect to hold onto. You feel how fucking hard I am baby, you feel what a mess I’m making?” His cock continued to drip onto your skin, making it easier for him to rut against you harder “I have no idea what more I could possibly ask for, your body is perfect the way it is princess” 

You whimpered under him, your pussy clenching around nothing, craving to be filled by him. He smirked, loving the sweet desperate little sounds leaving your lips, he could practically smell your arousal. 

“Come here, I wanna look at this body while I make love to you”  He got off, moving to sit against your headboard. He pulled you to straddle him, lining his cock up with your throbbing cunt, rubbing his cockhead through your folds. 

“Bucky please...” You could feel your heart face, your body heating up with the way he let his eyes trail up and down you. 

“Hmm, don’t rush me princess, you kept me away from this pretty body for way too long” His cock hitched against your core “God your beautiful” He pushed his cock in slowly, pulling your hips down, moaning at the way your walls fluttered around him. You could feel his cock throb, holding still to keep himself from cumming, gripping tightly onto your thighs. “You feel that baby, the way my cock is throbbing in you, can’t even control how much cum there is for you” 

His words made you moan, draping your arms around his shoulders while his lips smashes on to yours. 

“Just feel me baby” He held you close to him, rocking his hips up, one hand  your cheek to make you look at him, the other stroking your back. “Feel what you do to me gorgeous girl, no one else makes me lose control the way you to, you make me so fucking hard, make my balls feel heavy, you make me cum so hard” 

He pulled you flush against him, his hands rubbing down your back, grabbing onto your ass, gripping and squeezing the soft flesh, groaning. “You feel so good princess, you feel me dripping in you?” 

“Fuck Buckyy” You could feel the band in your belly start to tighten, your clit starting to throb, begging for some relief, your orgasm right on edge. “Gonna cum, please”

He started to fuck you faster, guiding your body to bounce on him, meeting his thrusts, sweat beading at his forehead, jaw slack watching the way your boobs bounced each time he slammed you down. He could feel his balls tighten against him, he’d started off his climax as long as he could but he couldn’t hold it off anymore, not with how you looked moaning and clinging onto him. 

“That’s right princess, moan for me baby, say my name sweet heart” His eyes rolled back each time you called for him, he loved nothing more than his pretty baby coming apart for him, he was going take you apart and put you back together all night. His hand trailed down to toy with your clit, rubbing soft tight circles onto your sensitive nub making you clench around him, strangling his cock. “Make a mess on my cock baby, want you to cream all over me, give me your cum babygirl, I want it, fuck, I want it” 

“JamesJamesJAMESFUCK I-I’m GONNa-JAMES”

“Who do you cum for baby, who do you belong to”

“YOU, Fuck Bucky, you, wanna cum, pleaseplease Bucky I-

“Cum for me angel” He sped his fingers up, thrusting into you harder, moaning with you as you fell apart, clinging onto him while he fucked you through your high “Fuck you’re mine baby, this beautiful body, your beautiful soul, its all. Fucking MINE” 

He started to chase his high, his arms wrapped around your body, his blue eyes locked with yours. You could feel every vein, every ridge of his cock harden in you, his thick length swelling, moaning louder, ropes of cum bursting from the tip. 

“Look at me pretty babyyy, you feel how much m’cumming for you doll, fuck, it’s so much, this pretty body is going to be the death of me” You nearly came again watching the way Bucky fell apart for you, clinging your body, his hips rutting into you, milking every single drop out. His moans turned into soft whimpers, overstimulating himself, refusing to leave the warmth of your body. He stayed inside you, moving your body with his to lie down, pulling the blankets to cover you both. 

“You truly are beautiful y/n.” He pushed a strand of hair away from your face, his thumb caressing your cheek. “Even if you don’t believe me today. Or tomorrow. Doesn’t change the fact that your body is perfect the way it is” 

You smiled softly, your heart feeling a little lighter, though all your insecurities hadn’t faded away yet. Bucky could read your mind, continuing to whisper to you while you nuzzled into his warmth. 

“I’m forever amazed your mine. I’m forever amazed I get to show you off and call you my girl. I’ll never get over the fact that you let me look at you, touch you, feel you, make love to you. I’m so lucky baby. I can promise you, I never once looked at you and thought about wanting to change anything. You had me smitten from day one” 

“You like me” You shrugged, mumbling against his skin. “Feelings influence how you feel-

Bucky rolled his eyes, cutting you off with a kiss to your lips, confessing his dirty little secret shamelessly. 

“Baby, I had my hand down my pants thinking about you way before we started dating. Nothing to do with feelings, I can show you how I used to- 

“Bucky!” You buried your face in his chest, giggling while he smirked, fully prepared to give you another show on the spot. “You little perv” 

“I am, just for you though” He snickered, showering you with kisses, his hands softly caressing your body, loving every inch of your skin. “There’s no doubt I’m utterly in love with you. But I also love the way you look. I love this body. I love the way you make me feel. I don’t care how big or little your ass is. It’s all mine. These beautiful boobs? All mine. This gorgeous waist, soft thighs, silky skin, all mine. You’re gorgeous my angel. I’ll remind you every single day for as long as I breathe” 

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[abibliophobiaa]

beyond — chapter six preview

releasing on 6/30/2023, 12pm EST.

——

“Figured I’d get in a workout because Charlie is napping,” you explain, stepping further into the room, stopping in front of the endless rows of dumbbells your husband keeps on a rack against the fall wall of the room with wall to wall mirrors reflecting your nervous image back at you. “And also because it’s raining, so I couldn’t go outside.”

“Uh huh.” He takes a final gulp of his water and places it down onto the floor beside him, about to start more bicep curls when he catches your image in the mirror. “Looking for something?”

Maybe it’s your inability to figure out what weight dumbbells you should start with. Maybe it’s because you’re already forgetting the layout of the TikTok workout you watched earlier that evening you intended to try. Maybe it’s the fact you know you want to start lifting weights, if only to help with your running and dog walking business (some of those bigger dogs get a little rowdy). Maybe it’s the fact you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing. As a result of all of that, your teeth pinch against your bottom lip, skin taut between, meeting his stare in the mirror.

“I’ll probably just hop on the treadmill. Go for a walk,” you decide, cowering away from his curious stare to rush to the farther corner of the room where the cardio equipment is.

The present set up has a treadmill, elliptical, stairmaster, and spin bike. More than you’ll ever need, but you’ll never complain because one of the perks now in being married to Steve is that you were able to cancel your own membership and save a little extra cash every month. Hopping on, you tap on the large screen panel to set your leisurely walking pace, pop a pair of headphones in your ears, and drown out the sounds in the room.

The plan works.

For all of five minutes.

Because you’re minding your own business, bobbing along to “Bad Girls” by M.I.A. as you strut across your runway slash treadmill belt, when Steve decides to lift his weights once more. Uses his knees to help prop them up, going right into a set of overhead dumbbell presses.

And damn it, if the sight of him when you walked in hadn’t sent you into orbit, this certainly does.

From where you’re standing you can see his back. The constellation of moles you never really paid much attention to, but now want to mark the path of with your fingers. Want to trace them like the stars in the night sky. With every overhead arch, his sinewy back ripples, muscles in his arms straining, veins sparking to life beneath his skin. From where you’re standing you can see the lines of his abdomen, the sweat pooling across ridges, clinging to those perfectly sculpted divots. Can see the way his chest jumps with each movement, making your thighs clench.

Only—one's thighs shouldn’t clench on the treadmill.

Except yours do.

And promptly send you crashing onto the belt, skin ripping from your kneecap in one rapid swipe.

A giant, gaping black hole in the floor would be a good escape right now. That or a meteor falling from the sky, with its target directed at your head. Anything to rid yourself of the mortification of your current dose of reality.

Steve’s already dropping the dumbbells by the time you fall onto your rear, nearly crashing into the glass window in the process, your trembling hands clutching your scraped up knee.

It burns. A white hot heat that has your eyes prickling, embarrassment burning like a heated iron in your chest. And to make matters worse, Steve utters out a soft “baby” as he drops down in front of you, and that might as well signify the end of all life function. Because not only have you fallen off a treadmill ogling your increasingly “not-so-fake-husband,” but now he is calling you “baby” on top of it all.

“Baby, let me see,” you realize he’s saying as you come crashing back to reality, the hazel of his eyes growing darker as he crawls closer on the floor, trying to inspect your knee. With a reluctant sigh, your hands fall away, revealing the freshly torn skin. “That’s a mean looking burn. Come on, let's put something on that.”

“I’m fine right here,” you argue, back pressing against the mirrored wall.

“Why?”

His brows lift high on his forehead, left hand curling over the unbroken skin of your left knee. You can see he’s wearing a black silicone wedding band today, not his usual wedding ring, and yet you don’t miss that simple gesture. Always wearing that symbol of your union, while your own are presently sitting high enough in a ring holder so Charlie won’t be able to mistake them for very expensive doggy chew toys.

“It’s gonna hurt like a bitch.”

“It’s a little burn, and then you’ll feel better,” he promises, giving your knee a little squeeze. “I’ll be so gentle.”

“Steve.”

“Honey.”

——

see you friday! 💍

[sepublic]

As Dana clarifies, this wonderful bit of concept art was never intended to be an episode, so I probably shouldn’t look too much into it... Specifically, how Eda is framed and all that; Eda may or may not have been intended to come across as a more antagonistic force at first, but this image and the original concept poster from 2018 might simply be intended to be misleading; The big subversion that Eda isn’t evil!

Pilot Hunter, as we’ll call him, has round ears; Which, makes me wonder if he and Prince William are connected? Pilot Willow still had pointy ears iirc, so did William evolve into Pilot Hunter, or vice-versa, before going back to Hunter; Or were they intended as separate characters from the start? Regardless, this makes for some fascinating Pilot AU material; And Hunter’s round ears are probably a reflection of him being the clone of Caleb, another human like Luz! Would this have been brought up with Hunter and/or William?

I’m honestly fascinated by the thought and development process for Hunter from this; Was he always intended to be a clone, of ‘Obron’s Puritan brother??? Hence the outfit... Was Obron always meant to be a human witch hunter;

Did Dana ever intend for Hunter to be introduced as early as S1, and under what contexts? What role would he play in the story, what would his dynamic and arc be like with Luz? Would he still be connected to Obron, was Obron initially a VERY different character from the menacing body horror colonizer we got??? Would Hunter have been like Lilith in a sense, more a nuisance/minor antagonist that occasionally teams up with our protagonists and doesn’t have any real quarrel, until the Emperor forces him to do so later on?

Lilith was a lot younger in some concepts, too... Did Eda always have a sister, and was Lily initially that? Did Lilith end up taking Hunter’s initial role to split up their arcs and flesh out both? Would Hunter have started off as some kid trying to bite off more than he can chew and openly hunting witches, only to not really succeed and be considered just a nuisance (like an antagonistic King); Esp since he’s mostly just a kid who doesn’t realize the implications of what he’s doing nor does he want to hurt people, just impress his uncle? Would Luz see him go on an inexplicable, paranoid tirade on witches like Jacob Hopkins, and Hunter wouldn’t be taken seriously, until we learn the tragic background behind his bigotry? Willow was already finalized designwise for the pilot, would her relationship with Hunter have happened a lot sooner? Hunter looks about Luz’s age, was he aged up a bit to make his child soldier status more reasonable, esp with the context of him being a public figure?

Makes you wonder how S1 and the show as a whole could’ve gone had Dana been allowed to go full-throttle from the start... That said, I do appreciate the changes we’ve gotten to Hunter’s design since then, and Dana did talk of limitation breeding creativity and whatnot. Still, if Hunter was always intended from the beginning, I wonder if the same applies to Raine, Darius, Alador, Odalia, and others, and how they were initially designed, would’ve been introduced... If they would’ve had bigger roles or not, how they would’ve factored into Luz’s journey if introduced at the beginning of it, etc. Also, I guess Pilot Hunter could be reimagined as another Grimwalker that Belos killed, alas; Same for William.

[genshin-scenarios]

Electrifying Tales (Royalty AU)

Characters: Scaramouche, Cyno

About: Royalty AU headcanons, with different reader concepts/narratives for each of the guys!

For similar content with Diluc, Kaeya, Childe and Xiao, I have an otome-isekai post from a while ago!

Scaramouche acts as your personal knight - a skilled warrior from Inazuma who you recruited after a demonstration one day. At least, that’s the story you tell others when asked about how you met.

In truth, the real story starts on a rainy day when an elaborate kidnapping scheme occured. You weren’t the main victim, but rather found yourself hiding within enemy ground by accident - after some loops and complications, you ran into Scaramouche, who pretended to be one of the knights dispatched from your faction to find the missing nobles.

He really just snuck in to steal some documents for the Fatui, but other than being stationed in your kingdom for now, there weren’t any other missions for Scaramouche. Thus, meeting you was a convenient coincidence that allowed him to build his own cover story.

He’d intended to just lead you into a trap and sell you out to the kidnappers, but gained a new idea upon learning of your noble status. Instead Scaramouche helps you escape, even acting as the ‘hero’ of the entire event along with you - sharing the credit for outsmarting your enemies and rescuing everyone else so you’d be stuck in the middle of a conspicuous story with him.

Things like these grow trust between comrades, right? And implicated you with him, especially now that he was building a positive image for himself.

You’re quick to catch on that Scaramouche isn’t who he says he is (a lower noble from Inazuma, who offers an oath to you in return for ‘saving his life’ during the chaos from a stray dagger.)

Finding this interesting, you agreed and ended up appointing Scaramouche as your personal knight - deep down, you’re aware that the stray dagger you pushed him from was noticed by him all along, but something in you wants to trust that he wouldn’t put you in immediate danger for now.

You try dragging him along to the most mundane of chores, waiting for Scaramouche to get bored and finally show his true intentions. It takes a while, and you’re no more innocent about scheming things under the table either, but from what you can tell Scaramouche hasn’t sold you out at all. He takes care of tasks efficiently, even advising you with your plans in a huffy attitude that only you were privy to (for others he was cold or polite, or even amicable to lower people’s guards).

He’s two-faced and easily annoyed, but other than using your agreement as a perch until his bigger plans are set in motion, Scaramouche hasn’t been taking much advantage of you. Until the Fatui sends him a long-distance mission worthy of his full attention, he’ll play as your partner for just a while longer and perform his tasks in the dark.

After all, you did ask him to bring you to a festival in his homeland one day. So even if he’s had to depart as your knight by then, he’ll still manage it as a cloaked stranger. And if you get caught up in more trouble during then and he has to rescue you… it’ll be just like old times, right?

A shadow assigned to you from a young age, Cyno’s family is highly ranked amongst the nobility and known for their combative prowess, keeping the kingdom in line in places where regular security doesn’t reach (black markets, usurping illegal organizations, etc).

In a way, the both of you were meant to work together from the days you were born - that is, because your own family was the other side of the coin in charge of the technicalities: allocating searches, keeping track of political balance… Though your outward appearance wasn’t that of a warrior’s, you made it up with your sharp intellect and cunning. Together, you and Cyno were quite the unbeatable pair, but…

When you discover that the royal family is the main cause of corruption in the kingdom (using other nobles as scapegoats), you and Cyno have to make a decision: commit treasonous acts for the sake of your values (and the citizens that suffer as a result), or turn a blind eye.

Okay, well– even if you weren’t already on board with treason, Cyno certainly was. It didn’t matter who his targets were; they would face judgment all the same.

Honestly, the same goes for you, who has racked up quite the amount of betrayals and sins through your time keeping order for the kingdom. But - on one quiet night, within the safety of your room, you’ve already clasped Cyno’s hand and promised him to face both your fates together, whatever that may be. But before then, you’d chase what you believed was worth fighting for.

Even if it required faking a fallout between the both of you to slowly set your schemes in action, you’d go through with it. Even though there’s a bit of hesitation in Cyno’s eyes as he pins you to the ground with his spear narrowly by your head, worry flickering in his eyes, you cup his cheek and whisper that it’s okay. Because the world is already enraptured by your make-believe narrative, and soon the both of you could go back to normal after you struck your enemy where it hurt the most.

…You had no plans for either you or Cyno to be sacrificed (you’d even take risks to rescue one another if the risk appeared), but if you could choose what you’d be in your next life, perhaps you’d like to fight by his side instead of weaving webs in the royal court. Or maybe you’d want a much calmer existence, where you’d travel to unfamiliar places with Cyno and uncover little secrets about forgotten places.

Right, an archaeologist or researcher. Maybe one in the future would find traces of your story a few centuries later - you sure hoped they’d interpret you in a favorable light when that happens.

[zerm2v0hg]

'RWBY' Volume 9 ending Rewrite

So, I followed Volume 9 of 'RWBY' as it came out a bit more intently, watching clips from each episode as they came out on YouTube, and I found myself increasingly impressed by what this volume was doing and the direction it was going in, compared to what came before in the previous three volumes. Then I watched the final episode, in full, and… I was let down, to put it mildly.

So, in a bout of passion, I started listing down the complaints I had and things I think should’ve been done differently in V9’s last couple episodes to create a satisfying conclusion that doesn't turn the whole volume into filler.

So, below, I present to you below, How I Think RWBY Volume 9 Should Have Ended.

----

So, the cutoff point where I start changing things is after Episode 8.

I think at this point, there should be a prequel episode, chronicling Alyx, Lewis, Jaune and the Cat’s original adventure across the Ever After. It ought to expand on Alyx’s character and show more of the Cat’s relationship with her. And it would answer some questions the show left unanswered, like what Alyx saw in the Herbalist’s weed, what she told Lewis after poisoning him, and what the Cat was doing while all this happened.

Now, onto changing Episode 9.

After the events of the previous episode, we still get Ruby communing with the Blacksmith in the Tree’s soul-limbo-space-whatever – that pretty much remains unchanged in this episode.

But before we see WBYJ for the first time in this episode, we cut to a scene on the Curious Cat-Neo rushing to the Tree. They stop, coming out of their pixellated-teleportation-stream thing, and as Cat!Neo grips their head, we see flashes of images to hint at what’s going through their noggin: the Two Brothers, the Cat’s beginning, the Cat watching the Brothers fight over the Jabberwalker (basically specific images from the Blacksmith���s flashback of the Ever After’s origin in the actual episode, but in quick-time here); the Cat’s travels with Alyx’s company. We also see: Neo, the Vanille family, Roman, Ruby, Cinder, Neo’s clones killing original Jabberwalker. Cat!Neo recovers, and they comment that there’s still just enough of Neo’s own heart left in her to try and resist them, but it won’t be enough. Cat!Neo follows it up with a remark directed at Neo about all humans being broken, weak, confused creatures that break everything they touch, and Cat!Neo continues onward.

Next, we still get Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jaune riding on Juniper back to the Paper Pleasers’ old land: now, here’s where I make changes. Weiss, Blake and Jaune are talking about what happened back at Neo’s mansion, and Yang, who’s been quiet for a while, explodes in grief-fuelled anger, lashing out. Blake tries to comfort her, but Yang pulls away and guards herself. After calming, Yang probably says something at this point which, while not intended to be mean-spirited, makes it clear that Ruby’s critical words directed at Bumbleby in Episode 7 are now playing in Yang’s head, as is the way Yang picked got defensive against her own little sister before she flew off and committed suicide by tea. Blake, for her part, is struggling to know what to do given the root of the problem, while Weiss tries to reassure Yang that she tried her best for Ruby – although it’s clear that Weiss doesn’t quite believe her own words.

WBYJ come across the Genial Gems, and their spirits are still reinvigorated by this. Jaune takes more or less the same message away, that he did in the episode, while WBY have an epiphany about how the world is bigger than they thought it was, and that just because they often thought they were in the right didn’t mean they really were, and that the important thing is that they learn from their mistakes and grow better from them into people who don’t repeat them. Then they arrive at the Tree.

From here, the episode’s Tree scene plays out the same way, with WBYJ finding Ruby’s Tree-cocoon and confronting Cat!Neo at the door. Although I imagine Yang’s reaction to Ruby’s cocoon has just a touch more tears and difficulty convincing Yang to stop trying to tear Ruby out, and I would maybe adjust Cat!Neo’s line about what they did to Alyx to, “What anyone would do to a broken, lying traitor.”

From there, everything from the first part of the battle against the Cat, to Ruby’s soul-searching in the Tree, all plays out mostly the same for the rest of this episode. However, I’ll move the cutoff point of the battle against the Cat between this episode and the next one: instead of this episode ending the battle on Weiss’s friendly fire hitting Jaune, it’ll end the battle on the Cat being forced out of Neo and taking on their final super-mode.

On an additional note, there’s an extra part of the battle, shortly before Jaune tells WBY to burn the leaves, where Cat!Neo summons Neo’s Jabberwalker clones to fight and Cat!Neo reveals while laughing about it that Neo did indeed kill the original Jabberwalker.

Now onto changing Episode 10.

The opening scene with Summer, Taiyang and Raven remains the same. Now, the resolution of Ruby’s soul-searching is something I’ll really change; because the show’s resolution of it to me felt absolutely tacked on and unsatisfying.

“Choose for yourself one who can leave your burdens behind, or choose one who will be enough to bear them.” When Ruby is looking at the various weapons, she notices a red light, coming from a group of cases on one side of the circle of weapons, and she walks towards them. The weapons here aren’t like all the others: in the central glowing case is Crescent Rose, and in the adjacent glowing cases, she sees other versions of Crescent Rose that look slightly different. Ruby makes her choice.

“I choose… the me who will be enough.”

Cue “Guide My Way/Red Like Roses, Pt. 3.”

Ruby emerges from her Tree-cocoon. She’s still her, except… her Atlas-arc combat skirt has been replaced with a new one, she has an emblem that’s similar to Summer’s but not the same, Crescent Rose is now slightly changed (called Crescent Rose Mk. II here), and her cloak has changed to look more like a pelt made out of a wolf or Beowulf.

The New and Improved Ruby joins her team in kicking the Curious Cat’s ass down, and we get a first good look at Ruby’s new fighting style. Then when the Cat is lying defeated on the ground back in their original form, their rant is a bit different: the Cat rants about how their makers one day just up and left them without any explanation of WHY they were abandoning them, they scream about how they gave and gave and gave their heart freely to help other Afterans and they got nothing for it in return while no-one ever fixed their heart, and when the Cat opened their heart to Alyx she just broke it even further. The Cat screams something along the lines of, “HAVE I NOT EARNED THE RIGHT TO BE SELFISH?!”

New Ruby tells the Cat with a stone face to retreat now, or have their ass kicked by RWBYJ again (making it clear they can go another round with the Cat who is already exhausted), assuming that Neo who is still lingering nearby doesn’t attack the Cat first. The Cat heeds Ruby’s warning and flees.

As an additional note, I like to think that maybe when Ruby is sending the Cat away, she probably tosses her scroll to the ground in front of them, a silent offer that the Cat can take it and satisfy their curiosity by learning anything stored on it to stave off the Cat’s madness temporarily – just a small gesture of pity.

Once the Cat is gone, WBY express relief at seeing Ruby safe, but none more so than Yang who pulls Ruby into a hug, and then they start admiring Ruby’s new look.

Neo says goodbye to Illusion!Roman, and she walks away from RWBYJ. A couple of the team are ready to go at Neo again for all that she’s done to Ruby and the Ever After, but Ruby stays them with a gesture of Crescent Rose II, saying that they won’t be seeing her again. Cue Neo’s ascension.

When RWBYJ wonder if they made things worse in the Ever After, Ruby says she isn’t sure. They note that Neo killing the Jabberwalker for good before she ascended has got to count for something, even if that was her work instead of theirs. Then the sound of wood splintering draws RWBYJ’s attention to another of the Tree’s cocoons nearby, which hatches a giant, bipedal mouse.

Cue the reunion with Little as Somewhat, and Somewhat and Juniper parting ways with RWBYJ. I imagine there’s a bit more tears on account of the bittersweet flavour created by Little/Somewhat having no conscious memory of the time they shared with Ruby, and a little more of a heart-to-heart between Jaune and Juniper as they say goodbye to each-other. I also imagine that just before Juniper departs, Ruby gives Somewhat directions to find their way to the mouse village where Little started the volume.

EDIT: RWBYJ begin filing into the door, one-by-one. They don’t know that the Curious Cat is approaching under the shade of an overhead branch, eyes narrowed as the Cat focuses. Four of the group enter the door. The Cat pounces, and they merge into the last person’s back just before they hit the portal. Flash to white.

RWBYJ arrive in the Blacksmith’s workshop, but the scene a little cut down compared to the episode. The whole lengthy story about the Brother Gods’ origin is cut out, although their statuettes are still present. RWBYJ might still take note of the Brothers’ statuettes, at which point the Blacksmith simply tells them something along the lines of, “Your world was not the first one where those brothers made remarkable achievements. Nor the last.” When Jaune asks the Blacksmith about Alyx’s knife, the Blacksmith’s answer heavily implies that they are what Alyx became after she ascended. Jaune smiles and tears up. And no, Jaune does not get de-aged.

EDIT: When the Blacksmith sends RWBYJ through a portal to Vacuo, they arrive in the middle of the desert, on a dune overlooking a town-sized makeshift encampment of the refugees from Atlas and Mantle. RWBYJ comment that it’s a mess, and Ruby replies to her teammates that it’s a mess that they’re going to clean up, flashing them a reassuring and very Ruby-like smile. As RWBYJ are overlooking their destination, we see one of the team’s eyes abruptly flash with a hint of a familiar chequered pattern, and we zoom in on them…

…and we see a familiar pair of cyan cat-eyes within their mind or soul, while a familiar voice cackles loudly. Something along these lines: “Oh, I’m here! Oh, Remnant is FINALLY HERE! And the first Relic is so close ALREADY!”

EDIT: Then we cut back to Vacuo as the Cat's host shakes off the momentary odd feeling she had, none the wiser. Blake turns to Yang and they hold each-other’s hands, although Yang hesitates to take Blake’s by a second. Weiss points out a few Grimm in the distance that are giving the camp’s watchposts trouble. Ruby unsheathes Crescent Rose II and, with a nod to her team, they head in with her at the lead.

---

So, that’s my rewrite of Volume 9’s ending to fix the problems I had with its ending.

EDIT: I wasn't sure which teammate to have the Cat possess (or rather "infiltrate") to get to Remnant. The original idea was Weiss, because I thought she might still have enough "space" in her soul for the Cat to slip in on account of losing her home kingdom, and I initially went with Blake being the host because of her cat ears and so she'd have something to do besides work out her and Yang's relationship in V10. I chose to go back and leave it up in the air which one the Cat infiltrates.

HOW does the Cat get into one of the heroes when they needed to wear Ruby down all volume long? Well... admittedly I didn't think this through as much as I normally would, since this whole rewrite was a work of passion, but from the Cat's agreement with Alyx, I'm guessing that a mortal can somehow carry the Cat through the door to Remnant without being worn down in spirit to an empty host, and the Cat's elaborate plan with Ruby was based partly on the Cat refusing to trust that any human would ever willingly do that for the Cat after Alyx didn't. This new recourse was probably a last-ditch effort by the Cat which had no guarantee of working, and the Cat probably got lucky because of the timing of the hero they possess hitting the portal - I'd probably have the Cat in the final scene express surprise that it actually worked, and even then it's admittedly still a bit of an ass-pull without foreshadowing. I think the Cat seriously has to catch a person with their mental guard low in this scenario to get inside them in this "Plan B" way, and that the Cat can't fully take over them like they planned for Ruby or Neo so much as they just sit inside like a parasite in this case, to explain why the Cat didn't just body-jack any of WBYJ and felt they needed a hollowed-out Neo.

From here, I imagine Volume 10 would be about further fleshing out the new Ruby and the heroes adjusting to her, the heroes helping the survivors of Atlas and Mantle with the fallout from V8, and the Cat turning their eye to the Relics.

Oh, and I think the Cat will absolutely have a connection to the Relic of Choice, and they will have to be on Salem’s side at some point if only briefly.

[dsumpsbluey]

My review of Bluey Seasons 1 & 2 DVD (A side post of sorts)

This post is my personal review of the Bluey Season 1 & 2 DVD set released in the USA around 2022. The preparation for this post ended up putting me on a DVD rabbit hole I didn’t think was possible before, so with that out of the way, let’s get to it.

The DVD Set itself: 4 discs containing all 104 episodes of Bluey Seasons 1 & 2, including a collection of shorts and Australian cuts of episodes that were altered/censored in the USA. My copy of the DVD came preowned from ZIA Records for a whopping $12, about half the regular MSRP ($25). I bought this as a means of preserving copies of each episode from the collection for my personal offline enjoyment. Currently, I’ve been using them to supply the screenshots for the Unofficial Bluey Timeline.

Quality: Well, I expected the episodes to be of lower quality due to them being on DVD’s, an obsolete format for quality when compared to their “blu”-counterparts. But while first checking each DVD to see if they worked, I’ve noticed that the quality on the season 1 episodes in particular really sucked. Each episode AFAIK was interlaced, which makes it a pain to view the episodes in any resolution bigger than its intended resolution. The interlacing affects pretty much anytime there is rapid movement, either from the characters or the camera; the times where the show looks normal is during still images, unless said stills are in the middle of a movement. Because of this, the look of the episode feels off while watching on a high-quality monitor, which in my case is my laptop display, and sometimes my phone. You probably need to play these on a CRT to not notice, but I don’t got one lol. I especially noticed this while making some content for part 2 of the UBT (coming soon).

I assumed that all the episodes in the collection would look like this until I inserted the season 2 DVD's, and found no interlacing?! Like, aside from the low quality, these episodes for season 2 look pretty good. Not only that, but even the season 1 episodes included in the “Australian originals” extras are noticeably better than their season 1 counterparts. To demonstrate, I made a video that displays the intro from both season DVD's to show the noticeable quality difference of each. Take note of the motion on Bandit and occasionally pause on some frames to find signs of the interlacing I'm talking about. Obviously, since both videos are low quality and squished down, the differences are hard to spot, but trust me that these are more noticeable in a fuller screen.

When paused, while the S2 video shows a freeze frame, the S1 video often suffers from some graphical like blurs, after images, and that pesky interlacing.

While researching, I found an archived reddit post from a year ago that also made observations of both season's DVD's I didn't notice, and found out that all of season 2, intro and episodes, were slowed down slightly, due to them being "Disney releases". After making some personal observations, I can safely say that Disney did indeed slow down all their episode releases. Now I can never look at Bluey the same way again; once again curse those darn Disney overlords for tarnishing our show. I found while making these comparison videos, that I had to make the season 2 footage faster by 104.25% speed (in adobe) to match.

Also, during research, I found out the season 1 & 2 disc set has a different set of discs, perhaps from when it was a Target exclusive. This video from Bentendo I watched before purchasing my copy had disc art that looks different from my copy.

Bentendo's copies from their video, notice how both season 1 & 2 share the same decal art

By comparison, these are my personal copies of the season set

I had to make sure my copies were legit (doesn't hurt to try). Sure enough, I found some Mercari listings of the set that had the new decals, though not plenty since most were still sealed copies. What I could only assume is that the set I got is an updated version that still came around 2022, as both disc copyrights share the same year. If I remember correctly, season 2 of Bluey wasn't previously out as a separate DVD release before the season 1 & 2 disc set here in the US. Perhaps my copy makes usage of the season 2 discs made for that separate release, but that doesn't answer why the season 1 discs are different. AFAIK, these decals weren't used in any prior release of season 1, so perhaps they're also new versions? If that's the case, why are they so crappy? With that knowledge, I'm not sure if any versions of these discs are any different quality-wise, as Bentendo's video only took recordings straight from their tv, and I ain't buying every episode again for the sake of finding out.

Other than that this DVD set is well worth it for those who don't pay for/want to watch Disney+. I sure hope in the future that the season 1 discs get the season 2 treatment it needs by the time season 3 does come out. I wanted to make this post since the DVD media hasn't been documented as much as I thought, so good to have it out here. Shout out to those I researched, their sources are embedded to the post. If anyone's got some knowledge about the DVD's in particular, leave a reply; I'd love to learn more about this. Anyways, got to get back on the UBT grind.

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review: Cult of Chucky (2017)

 Cult of Chucky (2017)

Rated R for strong horror violence, grisly images, language, brief sexuality and drug use (unrated version reviewed)

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2023/08/review-cult-of-chucky-2017.html>

Score: 3 out of 5

Not counting the 2019 remake, Cult of Chucky is the last feature film in the Child's Play franchise, and a film that, above all else, demonstrates that at this point Don Mancini was already envisioning its future as being on television. A lot of its biggest problems feel like they stem from it being overstuffed with plots and subplots, the kind of thing you'd throw into a television story to bring up the runtime to something you can justify spending several episodes on, and it ultimately ends in such a manner as to indicate that they did not intend for this to be the end, not by a long shot. And indeed, television is where this franchise ultimately wound up, with the TV show Chucky premiering four years later and by all accounts doing the franchise some real justice. Above all else, this movie, for better or worse, feels like Mancini setting the table for where he ultimately wanted to take the franchise, less a full story in its own right than a setup for a bigger, meatier adventure to come.

That's not to say that this is a bad movie, though. For as many problems as it has in the storytelling department and as much as it feels more like a two-part season premiere than a feature film, it still feels like a pretty damn good two-part season premiere. Chucky gets some of his old sense of humor back (just read the tagline on the poster) but is still a scary villain above all else, the psychiatric hospital setting was very well-utilized and avoided a lot of the unfortunate pitfalls that you normally see in horror movies of this sort, and while the supporting cast was a mixed bag, I still enjoyed Fiona Dourif's performance as Nica, especially towards the end of the film. Word of warning, though, it's also a movie that relies heavily on franchise lore. If Curse of Chucky was made to appeal to both longtime fans and complete newcomers, then this movie leans far more on the former to the point of being pretty inaccessible if you haven't seen any other films. If nothing else, I recommend at least watching Curse first, largely because this movie follows on directly from its ending. (So, spoiler warning.) Overall, if you liked Curse, then I can see you enjoying this movie too, though I wouldn't recommend it if you're completely new to the series.

We start the film with... well, here's the big problem I alluded to earlier. We really have three separate plots, with one of them getting more screen time than the others but all of them competing for attention and not really coming together until the very end. The first and most important concerns Nica Pierce, who's been institutionalized after Chucky framed her for the events of the last movie. After five years of punishing electroshock therapy to convince her that she did, in fact, have a psychotic break and kill her family out of jealousy of her sister, Nica is moved to the medium-security Harrogate facility under the care of Dr. Foley alongside a group of other patients: a man named Malcolm with split personalities (some of them celebrities like Michael Phelps and Mark Zuckerberg), an old lady named Angela who thinks she's a ghost, a woman named Claire who burned down her house, and a mother named Madeleine who killed her infant son. But the actual first scene brings us back to Andy Barclay, the protagonist of the first three movies, now an adult who the last film's post-credits scene revealed was still alive and had been awaiting Chucky's return for years. On top of that, we also have Tiffany Valentine, who put her soul into Jennifer Tilly's body at the end of Seed of Chucky and is now working with Chucky towards some nefarious goal.

While Nica's story is central, Andy is treated as a secondary protagonist, and one whose scenes rarely intersect with Nica's or seem to leave much impact on her. While I was pleasantly surprised with Alex Vincent's performance as Andy given how long he'd been retired from acting before this, his entire character felt like it could've been cut from the movie with minimal changes, like Mancini was setting him up to have a greater role in the follow-up he was working on but didn't really do much to integrate that with the story itself. Only at the very end does he ever interact with Nica, after Nica's story is finished. A more interesting direction might have been for Andy, who we see has been keeping track of Chucky for all these years and at one point tried to prove Nica's innocence by showing Chucky to Dr. Foley (he dismissed it as creative animatronics), to get in contact with Nica before and during the events of the film, letting her know that he's the only one who believes that she's not insane and that there really is a killer doll on the loose. This would've given him more to do over the course of the film rather than spend most of it at his house, and having them know each other would've added more weight to what is, in this movie, their only scene together. Instead, the two of them are kept apart for far too long, producing a story that constantly shifts gears and pulls me out.

Fortunately, the meat of Nica's story was still good enough for me to enjoy. Mancini gets a lot of mileage out of the hospital setting, portrayed as a landscape of creepy, ascetic white hallways that makes me wonder if he ever had a bad experience in an Apple store. More importantly, he avoided taking the easy route with the other patients and presenting them as threatening forces in their own right, an all-too-common depiction that plays into some very unfortunate stereotypes of mental illness. Even though it's made clear that Harrogate is a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane, meaning that its patients each did something bad to get sent there, they are presented as human beings first, whether it's Claire distrusting Nica for having (allegedly) done far worse than she did, Madeleine's repressed feelings of guilt over her crime leaving her easily manipulated by Chucky, Angela finding a way to piss Chucky off when they first meet, or Malcolm finding himself vulnerable to attack because he doesn't know if he can trust his own senses when he encounters Chucky. Mancini felt interested in developing these people as actual characters, not caricatures of mental illness, and it meant that I actually cared about them when Chucky started going after them. Madeleine especially was one of my favorite characters for the dark directions her story ultimately went.

The kills are exactly as over-the-top as you'd expect from a movie that proudly flashes the word "Unrated" on its DVD cover, with highlights including a decapitation and somebody's throat getting ripped out alongside the usual stabbings. Brad Dourif's portrayal of Chucky, meanwhile, brings back some of the sense of humor he had in the past without making this an outright horror-comedy. His argument with Angela early on made it clear that this wasn't the deathly serious Chucky of Curse, but the insult comic who frequently mocked and taunted his victims, complete with some outright one-liners as he scores his most brutal kills. There's one scene late in the film where we're finally introduced to the titular "cult" that I'd hate to spoil, but may just be one of the single funniest Chucky moments in the entire franchise (and one that makes me give some well-earned props to the animatronic work). Mancini also likes to indulge in a lot of flair behind the camera, much of it influenced by a love of '70s giallo, and while it can be distracting at some points, it otherwise made this film feel lively, especially when paired with the austere environments the film takes place in. Again, this was a movie that felt like it had a bigger budget than it actually did.

The Bottom Line

Cult of Chucky is a movie for the fans, for better and for worse. If you're not already invested in the series, you'll probably enjoy the main slasher plot but find yourself scratching your head at some moments. If you're a fan, however, you'll get a huge kick out of all the callbacks and Easter eggs this film has to offer, and eager to see what the series does next. (TV, here we go!)

[iceiclehorned]

Continued from here

@nekasu

Ei may have done some horrible things in the past, but she intended to hold a higher standard for herself as an Archon born anew. She would not hurt Neka by any means, nor did she have the intention of killing him. She cared about him, despite not showing it very well. After all, he was there when Makoto reigned and he was loyal to her until the very end. Now that is what she appreciated about him. Her sister meant the absolute world to her and she never would’ve thought for a second that Makoto would not have been here today. Slowly, she was accepting the facts and moving on, remembering her sister in various ways to keep her memory alive.

The Electro Archon did not want Neka to assume that she was going to use him to balance out her emotions. Rather, she kept her mental image clear. While part of her liked the idea of having the cute Kitsune by her side, the bigger part of her had decided he deserved freedom. She would eventually show him the new Inazuma the same way the traveller showed her the new Inazuma. She would also introduce him to dango milk! So many different things began to rush into her mind at once that it was difficult to keep a mental note of.

Would Ei be against settling down with Neka? … no, not at all. Though, it would take a lot to get her to admit that. While she did not think that she would be … able to satisfy him as a partner, she had read her share of romance novels since her day out with the traveller. The notion that two men may fight for one damsel or do big, extravagant things to impress someone they loved … Ei was pretty certain she would be able to do that much for him. She did heavily doubt that anything between them would spark that way due to his … distaste toward her, anyway. Yet she could not stop her brain from wondering.

Neka’s teasing had caused her face to go slightly darker in colour from the cute shade of pink it had been before, and she could not do anything to hide it. “W-well, if that’s the way you wish to go…” stammering, she had lightly pushed his head back into her chest, though it was gentle and she had meant it playfully - Ei was just … new to the process of teasing and fun. She was nowhere near Miko’s level, and she often wondered why he would not choose Miko as a mate. She was fun and beautiful, wasn’t she? “Ahem … no, no it would not be me cooking. I am against cooking anything myself, though I can make tea.” She pridefully spoke, almost happy that she was capable of doing something in the kitchen.

It was not like she was not capable of loving another, she had just locked her heart away for too long. Besides that, as her main focus had been to get stronger, it never crossed her mind that she could feel anything other than grief and determination. While grief was the worst possible thing she had to endure for many years, she had now learned to open up her heart. This was thanks to the traveller and Miko, though more so the traveller. If it were not for them, she would not have opened up her plane of euthymia. She hoped that she would be able to open her heart completely to Neka and prove to him that she was capable of being … a suitable Archon.

The way he stared into her eyes had captivated her. She had almost lost her soul to those eyes. Beautiful, bright and .. hypnotic. She gently brought her palm to his cheek and continued to watch him, brushing her thumb back and forth to soothe him. “Beautiful…” Ei very quietly muttered without realising. My, those eyes were capable of bringing almost anything out of her. He looked so … peaceful. The Neka she had known from before. Her heart continued to race in her chest, and no matter how hard Ei tried to fight it, it would not stop.

[napneeders]

tagged by @yerbamansa

(I'm filling this expressly about fanfiction because the rest of my writing might operate a bit differently and I haven't done a lot of it for a while.)

Do you write in order? Almost never. Maybe something that will come to less than a few pages will accidentally end up being written in order. If I ever did a longer multi-chapter fic I'd probably still have to finish most of it before I could even consider publishing the first chapter.

How fully formed does your writing come out the first try? Not very. A lot of sentences do come out the way they will end up being, but as for the bigger picture, I usually only find out where exactly it's going on the way.

How many drafts do you go through? hard to define what constitutes a draft tbh. I don't ever finish one version and start from the top, though; I'm usually writing new stuff and editing previous stuff at the same time. I create a new copy if I decide to take something in a different direction than what I've already written but want to keep the old version.

Tell me about your process. it is a mess! I'm not a big planner and I often find that if I have too much of an outline, actually writing it gets boring. I usually start with a thought or image or sentence, and even if I have an overall idea, it will change or be filled in as I see where the writing takes me. Often, at its most satisfying, in that way where at some point you realize "oh this was what I was writing towards all along".

Like I said, I write and edit at the same time and move back and forth and all over the place a lot. Depending on the piece I might also write scenes without knowing how they connect or even what order they'll end up being in.

I do my damnedest not to do any hard work, so if something is not coming out I move on, maybe with a few notes on what should happen, and hope that it will come to me later. Trying to force it doesn't get very good writing out of me. In general I'm enjoying taking a desire path through writing.

I write shorter pieces light on the plot, though, so that's probably more forgiving to this approach.

Because I read my shit so much while writing it, doing a final read-through can feel like a bit of a chore. At that point I usually listen to the whole thing via text-to-speech, which makes it easier to catch awkward sentences etc. etc. (I know some people read their own work out loud - I might do this with poetry but with prose I'm too impatient and also I get too wrapped up in my own performance instead of actually focusing on the text.)

I tend to have a "deleted scenes & extras" document even for short fics. "Extras" are usually bits that are never intended to be part of the actual fic, such as working through motivations or character history in more overt language or writing from another character's pov to work out a scene I'm stuck on.

--

I don't remember who has done this! consider yourselves tagged!

[clairethecutepup]

Weekly Update: 5/1/23 - 5/6/23

Entertainment/Art Progress:

Man, I really do believe my work speed doubled, at least, when it came to my new tablet. I dunno if it's the bigger touch screen or the ability to use my computer's mouse, but something seems to be making my work on it more progressive and easier.

Speaking of, I'm nearing the outlining (and possible end) of the "Chapter 1" image for Getting Your Goat. I mean, it'd feel too disorganized to not have that matter of "divider" between comic sections/chapters, ja? Plus, it makes it feel more like a real comic, when it's finally all together. However, I'm feeling the urge to sketch traditionally, rather than outline on the tablet and digitally. I dunno what it is, but I feel easily peeved off with sketching on the tablet... Yet, coloring and outlining? I feel right and happy as rain.

I'm also doing another "writing practice" to help further ease any tedium of drawing and fully original writing, so keep your eyes peeled for more "fanfiction," per se. Hey, just a little something to tide me over, while I excitedly await Peach Creek to finally make its official debut. I've kinda fallen out of using NovelAi for assistance, during "dry spells" and all that with writing... Eh, why pay for the privilege when you can come up with an idea of what to do next, for free, if you're willing to be patient? Also, be prepared for a majority of Ed Edd n' Eddy themed ones, in that regard; but allow me to warn you right now, the canon characters they'd focus mostly on are Sarah and Jimmy, and follow a 2nd person narration of you being an alternate version of Claire that joins them in either simple antics or learning self-improvement. Sure, it involves everyone else, too; but if not something you'd read for fun, I'd say read it to critique and tell me how to do better, so my original works can benefit from that improved sense of quality.

Personal Life:

Well, I've gotten back into Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and it's certainly a nice experience to relive. I recall abandoning it for a couple years, but I've decided on resuming that matter of escapism. I mean, it doesn't take up too much time, you can play at your own leisure... It's a nice little matter of relaxation, when you just want a small break from things and also don't want to get sucked into playing for longer than intended, having to "complete missions" and all that.

I've also gotten my mother into Invader Zim, and it's nice when your parent can share fondness for a beloved cartoon series. She really seemed to enjoy the Gir shirt I got her for Mother's Day: it uses Gir to convey different emotions, with them listed under each picture.

I'm hoping that dedicating each weekday to a certain muscle group, instead of working them all on both days of the weekend, will not only help me better build them up and tone them, but also allow for more time on weekends to further speed up creative work progress.

Misc.:

Since my tablet functions as a replacement monitor (I can only use my traditional monitor or tablet to display things), I've also taken to using it as a new "game device" with my Steam list. I feel like I do better in the likes of Pizza Tower and all that, with the closer screen and tilted angle. So, yeah, that's a pleasant, yet admittedly "unorthodox," use for a tablet screen!

[demonsofdevildom]

Shower thoughts of a bird.

-

Stays at the castle were a bit more frequent when Lucifer was expressing more towards the one that be considered a mate of a dragon royal and it been another stay once again for Pride, even more so when heated desires of breeding bloomed at times and resulting Lucifer having to take the stay to be longer than intended after such times with Diavolo. Especially once more when having to nurse such a sore body underneath the soothing warmth of a hot shower to try chase away the heated mess that still lingered and lingered that it surely did like it always did, given that slight swollen form after dealing with multiple rounds of breeding before heated desires ebbed to exhaustion and leaving Lucifer being a bigger bird afterwards even due to how much the dragon would release if being honest of it. Especially when allowed that female form to take such rounds this time and somewhat flustered of how it have such an effect on her with how things still remained within due to her mate being so keen of her taking so much seeding after their heated love, “M-Mrmm… despite the long time passed of confessions it’s still quite hard to be the one that… deals with the aftermath of such love, not that I’m complaining of it… hah… far from it honestly.” wobbling about on her feet when enjoying the shower to wash away her soreness and bring some relief to her swollen form that she sported due to retaining so much seed in herself from the night before. Flushed skin when softly running a wet hand along her swollen form with that soft coo of how things could be between them and actually not fussing much as she thought she would at being like this when around Diavolo either. Sighing to herself while purposely taking time with the shower before rubbing soaps on her very form after some time enjoying the water and a bit flustered of how when moving about would make the seed slosh or churn in her when overly full of seed really, despite being fussy of her image most of the time it was different on being like this when it came to the dragon royal be it in either form that Lucifer end up taking seed in really along with being a quiet mess after it all happened. Even when the thoughts of asking if bringing up the idea of bearing an heir for said royal be at the tip of Lucifer's tongue but Pride never could bring it forth due to faltering a bit. "Would he... want an heir at all? Hmm... I would... love to bear one for him though, I wouldn't mind using this form or my usual male one to..." turning red when pondering such thoughts outloud and shaking her head but making that cute bird noises on spending quite the while in the shower, "I'm n-not sure if that even be a thing to dare ask about right now, ah what even am I thinking of asking that? Am I really such a foolish demon to try to think of this? Haa... although I do find myself thinking of it when my mind wanders while working, hmm..." busy talking to herself in the shower while not noticing that said demon likely be heard this bird talking about such things and likely finding the whole thing adorable with how Lucifer be right now.

[fruiteggsaladit]

Oh dang Lupin III Albatross wings of death MAY HAVE inspired YYH volume 18 cover art where Yusuke Kuwabara are on mini-airplanes? Cool

The Lupin episode aired way back in 1980 so the timeline does match up for it to have served as inspiration, Togashi has commented in the past that he's been inspired by Ghibli movies and Miyazaki in particular(?), both MCs are smiling kinda nervously.

Togashi's facial expressions for characters are hard for me to interpret I realise; initially I saw Yusuke's smile as something excited bc Kuwabara's expression is so stressed-out-looking; they're foils of each other, and so it felt right to assume that Yusuke is purely excited in this image.

Next to consider though is the content of the volume this image belongs to: How They Spent Their Year, and the beginning of the King's Tournament and its lead-up. Yusuke chose a tournament bc that's what he's most comfotable with participating in, and feels like the simplest solution to avoiding outright war. Combining this context with what may have been its inspiration, Yusuke's grin now feels a little tense, like smiling from nervousness.

The way his body is posed, it looks like his elbows would be jagging into his stomach. It doesn't appear as if his forearms are resting on a console (granted, we're given no information about that and so this is pure speculation, but it feels like most aircrafts don't encourage its pilots to rest their arms anywhere, keeping the arms free and hands on the steering wheel. Easier to WRENCH oneself away in case one needs a sudden turn? This rings true of any vehicle I think...)

He is sitting like he's driving a bumper car! He and Kuwabara, actually. The association meaning he intends to drive into another pilot? Or is he excited to be soaring in the sky at all?

Which is a lot more intentional on Yusuke's part than Lupin's! In the episode, Lupin uses the aircraft to crash through the guns on the bigger aircraft, damaging it so it belatedly and comically loses most of its wingspan. Having turned upward, it stalls and begins to descend, to everyone's mild anxiety. It finally crashes through, conveniently trough a pre-made hole there through which we spot Fujiko, biting her fingers as she watches the aircraft fall down on top of her. They do all survive, having fallen into a comical pile of limbs and bodies.

In that shot, Lupin isn't so much grinning as much as I assumed at first, and more like gritting his teeth with stress - as they fall, the wheel is torn off its console, Lupin having tried to the very last second to somehow miraculously getting it to fly again. Before this though, his expression had been in a triumphant smile, having taken out the guns.

It's hard to figure out expressions sometimes! I think I wanted to end on the note that it was interesting to be thinking about Yusuke's grin in this image from the perspective of a playful grin, to being an anxious stress-smile. Depends on how the viewer wants to interpret Yusuke! A badass who never feels any fear whatsoever and says "fuck you" to authority bc they have no power over him, or someone who passes very well for that kind of figure and is misinterpreted as much a battle-obsessed badass both in-universe and by consumers.