#this should not have been my takeaway

[trek-tracks]

Theory 1: Karl Urban just really enjoys being banished from large tracts of land

Theory 2: Grima Wormtongue is Bones' ex-wife

[seyaryminamoto]

Fic-to-Art #34: The development of Sokka and Azula's relationship

When you move to a whole new country, that's when your patrons are going to vote for the prompt that makes you want to go completely bonkers and that you would draw ten years worth of art for. Yep. So you try to condense that impulse into something you can finish in... 1 week? Sorta?

I honestly barely know how I managed to do it that fast, but hey, made it on time for the end of October, so here goes! A little walk through the history of these two and the evolution of their relationship in Gladiator.

The first GIF is mainly about Part 1, the second one's first two pieces are Part 2, the third piece is Part 3. The last two GIFs, of course, are both meant to be Part 3, with the final GIF being meant as a symbol of hope in many regards. I'm guessing some of you guys will pick up on a funny little hint about just what kinds of hopes we're talking about here...

Anyway! Now I hope you guys enjoyed these crazy artworks! It's a Halloween miracle that I finished them on time, haha. If you'd like to be part of the creative process behind these pieces, a 1$ pledge on Patreon is enough to make you eligible for suggesting prompts and voting on polls, as well as reading Gladiator snippets 6 days before the next chapter goes live!

[fearandhatred]

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[water-weaving]

looking at my Life's Work, Essential And Irreplaceable, and wondering why the hell something like 30% of my poems are about. laundry. dude WHAT

[number1villainstan]

SOMEONE SHOT TRUMP AND MISSED

[onewholivesinloops]

They write this off as Nadeko simply being unlucky because "she just so happened to be killing snakes in that specific shrine", but I really think she did it purposefully because she wanted the curse her classmate placed on her activated as a way of self-harming and placing herself into the love interest/damsel in distress role to be saved by Araragi.

[angelofblackblood]

I’m so tired.

[mirandahamilton]

what were your thoughts on seven kings must die?

LOADED ass question lol

controversial mayhaps but i liked it well enough! in the sense that i was entertained, and i did get some satisfaction from my viewing experience.

positives:

i really loved the updated intro/credits!

finan's narration was a cool change

the acting! it was all hitting for me :) i think harry especially did a great job, imo he had the most character work to do and i really felt his conflict (maybe this is gay bias but idc). the new actress for eadgifu did a really good job as well, her character was consistent and i enjoyed her interactions with uhtred

the action sequences were very well done and i loved the battle

sets, costumes, hair/makeup...all looked great!!

the ending! loved the callback, and although i wish we'd seen more charcaters in valhalla ik most of the actors weren't available so it's cool. really enjoyed the ambiguity. althoooooough unlike most ppl i don't think uhtred went to valhalla at the end (would love to chat/debate on this one)

uhtred getting stabbed at the final battle....lowkey i was emotional esp when sihtric and finan found him and he was serving cunt dead

aethelflaed shoutout :( miss my wife and i think they did the female characters so dirty but i would have turned it off if they went to aegelesburg without even namedropping the queen

i really enjoyed osbert & edmund being besties (BUT their stories should have been more developed)

i go into my critique below lol but i won't apologize for unironically vibing with the catholic guilt evil homosexual drama. in many ways it hit for me and i shan't be issuing an apology

i loooooooved the new locations, especially the shetland islands

problematizing the christians 🙏

negatives:

WHERE the abject fuck were any of the women characters???????? STIORRA? hild? aelfwynn? aelswith?? eadith???????? like??? not even a shoutout????? make it make sense. this was the most offensive thing for me and i won't be getting over it anytime soon thanks

i wish we'd heard something about cynlaef and aelfwynn!!! wasn't he like besties with aethelstan?? would have been so easy to make it work smh

pacing :/ it was impossible to tell how the story was meant to be moving through a concrete sense of time. a quick look at the wikipedia for king aethelstan shows that there were years between his coronation and the battle of brunanburh, yet the movie makes it seem like from beginning to end the story takes less than a year? and it's also unclear how much time has supposedly past since the end of s5. it started off pretty slow, but regardless i was admittedly engrossed by the halfway mark

sloppy evil gay drama :/// like in some ways. listen. i am not complaining lol. but i think it would have worked much better with more breathing room. ingilmundr was just so clearly intro'd as a villain, and i would have preferred seeing some more subtlety and cunning over a period of time, plus some actual internal conflict for him. by his last line ("i grew fond of you, but my love for my people prevailed") it seems as though he did have some genuine affection for aethelstan, and even though he completed his mission in the end i wish there'd been more depth there.

also, fwiw and as other people have said, unhinged to go 5 seasons with no queer characters only to haphazardly throw a couple in the follow up film...and have them be villains!!! gay people CAN be villainous lmao but idk how intentional they were being about any of this

overall just felt rushed. there were a lot of parts that would have benefited from some breathing room and dramatic build up. plus we didn't get to connect with a lot of the characters, and the writers were relying on viewers to care based on the tv series -- mostly fine for our mains like uhtred & co, but a real disservice to the newer characters. even finan and sihtric didn't do much besides follow uhtred around, which is par for the course but i wish they'd had individual arcs. ingrith's death didn't hit that hard bc she barely had lines. aelfweard's too, and he needed to be built up as more of a threat (even tho his death is mainly supposed to serve as a character moment for aethelstan).

hollow villains! i wrote abt ingilmundr above, but anlaf and astrid were so 1 dimensional. and the writers could have tried a little harder lbr. and let astrid SPEAK

ALDHELM. ok. his death was such a waste. james did an incredible job, but it felt so meaningless. oooh ah uhtred was upset. but he was upset already? and it didn't make him turn his back on aethelstan????? so tell me quickly what did we accomplish

aethelstan's redemption....i feel like he went from being a villain to back to besties with the squad in 2 seconds and i think it should have been fleshed out more. like i'm fine with them reuniting and i was rooting for it but i think we could have gotten more of aethelstan realizing his mistakes and showing remorse, and demonstrating that he has changed -- uhtred will probably always have his back, but besides Realizing Things he didn't really do anything to show that he has grown and prove that he's different and better than edward -- this was an issue throughout the movie, but it stands out the most with him since his actions drive most of the plot

no offense but where tf did uhtred get his little army from

[alexiethymia]

Sato's charm and power is so great that not even 'would be asexual maybe if not for Ran so basically Ran-sexual' Shinichi is immune.

[ziracona]

I didn’t know literally all the companions you can take to the Fade in DA2 sans Anders will sell you out and try to kill you and their friends for a demon deal I’m losing my shit. I knew Merrill did bc she did it to me but apparently anyone but JustAnders will ditch your ass to make a deal with a demon and I’m absolutely going insane

[shaydh]

This weekend reserved for studying/ rehearsing so I can achieve a baseline of speaking like a normal human person for an interview

[indigo--montoya]

so was anyone gonna tell me Edgin was a rogue or was I just supposed to figure that out for myself

[castielmacleod]

Remember that fucking deranged montage at the end of 15x19 featuring all of Sam and Dean’s dead friends set to a song literally called “Running on Empty”

[bi-moonlight]

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[carmenlire]

if I can be honest lol I feel like shit and lowkey like everyone hates me because I'm so annoying:/

[szasfuckingwife]

“Yuji, get your ass over here!” Sukuna yells. His nephew is spending some of summer break with him and he can’t for the life of him understand why he doesn’t clean up. I mean, it’s his apartment.

The teenager grumbles out of the guest room (practically his room) and rubs his eye, “Uncle, you can’t just yell at me when I’m sleeping…”

Sukuna points to the scattered dishes and opened packs of ramen on the counter, “Felt peckish last night?”

Yuji shrugs, “You said to make myself comfortable.”

His uncle has never been so provoked to hit a teen in his life. Forget the takeaway meals and home-cooked meals Sukuna had fed the boy. Because apparently, instant noodles from the corner shop tasted better, “Yuji, you didn’t even clean up. God, my girlfriend’s coming in like twenty minutes and now the place is a mess…”

“Y/N’s coming?” Yuji suddenly fixed his posture and stood up. “Like now?”

Sukuna’s brow raised at how his nephew immediately went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower. And how when he came out, he put on his best casual fit and used some of HIS cologne, that was way too expensive for Yuji to use.

Sukuna couldn’t even get into the shower as quickly as he wanted to because he was trying to scrub the burnt pot that Yuji used.

That boy can’t cook a thing, Sukuna thought.

But just then, three knocks came from the door. Sukuna knew it was you because even after giving you his apartment key, you still choose to knock. Yuji raced to the door and opened it.

“Hi, Y/N!” He grinned.

“Oh, hi! I didn’t know you were staying over. Your uncle didn’t mention anything..” You scowled at Sukuna causing your boyfriend to roll his eyes.

Sukuna gave you a chaste kiss before sitting you up on the countertop, “Please try use your influence to make him be more tidy.”

“You’re such a mom, Sukuna..” You chuckle, “He’s just a teenager. You were probably the same, giving your brother the same flak.”

He rolls his eyes once more, “When we have a kid, they’re not turning out like that. They’ll be neat, respectable people.

Your cheeks grow warm as you note down how he said ‘when’ instead of ‘if’. “He’s not that bad, Kuna…”

Sukuna only dead panned you before asking if you want anything for breakfast. Before you could answer, Yuji loudly yelled, “Choso said he’s coming for breakfast too! Should I call my dad to come?”

“NO!” Sukuna responded.