#tl;dr: he's a jerk

[randomnameless]

Something that really bothers me about the rose coloured glasses vis a vis tellius and fe fans (ESPECIALLY from 3h fans who learned about tellius later) is that many like soren purely because of his main ship (i mean i like ikesoren too but come the fuck on) and jokingly characterise soren as a stereotypical nasty mean limp wristed sarcastic gay man instead of a deeply flawed branded angry at the world and definitely trauma bonded to ike, but micaiah is still absolutely getting raked over the coals over the blood pact and not being ike’s fangirl

Well,

Jokes often involve flanderisation, so Soren being flanderised to oblivion when people joke about him isn't something I really care about, but maybe that's because I'm not really fond of Soren to begin with lol

What annoys me more is when some people try to rationalise Soren's anger and backstory by either pointing at Almedha or Deghinsea being responsible for everything, and I'm like, what.the.fuck?

Almedha's just, idk, I won't call it sexism, but damn - that woman loves her son who is the only reason why she hasn't completely lost her mind over 1/losing her powers 2/being casted away like trash by her "BF" 3/being rejected by her dad 4/thinking her brother was tortured and abused to death because of her actions 5/being separated from her beloved child.

Deghinsea being "uwu bad bcs he's the reason why brandeds are rejected by both beorcs and laguz" is another take I really am not fond of, and iirc I wrote a post earlier this year about it? But to some people who buy the "Crusts BaD" as the reason why Fodlan sucks, I guess they need to have someone to name and pill all of the world's nonsense rather than, well, in Tellius' case, realise that the worldbulding and the lore really sucks, to the point where the duology touted as the most "against racism" of the franchise, is pretty much way more racist than anything Tru Piss can throw us (yes, because in Tru Piss we have characters rejecting coexistence, in Tellius, it's the world mechanics - whenever a Beorc and a Laguz coexist too much, the Laguz dies...).

As for Miccy,

Just like, imo, Soren gains some "new" attention and "uwu excuses for why he's being a snarky jerk at times", Miccy used to be bashed when FE10 was released (with all the Mary Sue accusation being thrown around!) because she was written to be a sort of foil/antagonist to Ike, and when the party reunited, she was demoted to a "soul-jar" role, let it be regarding the greater plot, or, even, her own backstory!

TBH, for people who didn't play FE10, if Ike is the bestest thing since melted cheese, Miccy, who opposes him, must be BaD and so you can pile everything you don't like on her, hoping to see it stick.

Or even worse, I've seen posts here and there comparing Miccy to Supreme Leader and how misunderstood uwu she is, which is the worst insult poor Miccy ever received since FE10 came out rofl

[emelinstriker]

Starscream ♡ Kiss The Spark

He may be in denial over certain things, but his spark says otherwise. Also I know this ain't a canon way of humans bonding with cybertronians, but eh, this is how I always saw it as a possible headcanon. Btw, "Kiss The Spark" was supposed to be a little one-shot series for each Decepticon, which is why there's more than one.

[TL;DR] A simple examination of the spark chamber turns into a sparkbond with a human.

♡ ~ Fluff ~ ♡

"Will he be okay?" You asked the cherry red medic, worried about your lover's current state. The seeker was lying on Knockout's operation table because he took a heavy blow from an Autobot.

"Well, his physical state isn't instable or anything, but he did receive quite the blow to his chassis. His spark might be damaged. And this is why I asked for your assistance", Knockout responded as he brought some potential tools over to the table. You gave him a puzzled look and he raised an optic ridge at you. "You two are Conjunx Endura, right?"

You tilted your head at that question. Humans couldn't physically become a Cybetronian's Conjunx... right? You crossed your arms, avoiding eye contact. "...Not exactly. We agreed on our relationship verbally, but we don't think a sparkbond is possible."

He hummed in thought before returning to check his tools. "Well, either way, you're the closest he has to a Conjunx Endura. Therefore I'm asking you to be the one to examine his spark and spark chamber." Your mouth hung agape at his request. But... wasn't the spark a Cybetronian's most sacred possession? Their entire life essence? Their heart and soul?

"I-I don't think he-" "Oh please, he wouldn't mind being touched like that by you. He most certainly would shoot my own if I accidentally touched his spark." You gulped and he noticed your uneasy posture. "Don't worry, doll. The procedure will not be taking up a lot of your time and he most likely won't suffer from any further injuries. Just follow my instructions as best as you can. Best case scenario would just turn this into a simple examination."

Letting out a nervous sigh, you reluctantly agreed to his request and climbed your way up to the seeker's chassis. Giving the medic one last glance, you lightly held your hands on top of the grey mech's Decepticon insignia. His spark chamber opened up to you with ease as if his spark was awaiting you.

And there it was- a brightly glowing sphere.

"Alright, doll," the red mech started, "check around his spark chamber for any possible dents or even leaks. We do not know if any of his most inner energon spill. The opening shouldn't have any dents either." You grabbed ahold of the edge of his spark chamber, making sure to not touch his spark as you got closer to examine the insides of his chamber. Squinting your eyes at the brightness, you tried looking around the walls.

"...I don't see any energon. Although, I believe there's a potential dent on the right side of the opening, but none in- WOAH-" Suddenly you were interrupted by his spark reaching out towards you with some strange bright rays, acting like little tendrils. Startled, you backed away from his chassis while the tendrils seemed to retreat as you went further away.

"Uh- Knockout?!" You really needed an explanation for this. The medic just started laughing at both the discovery and your awkward misery. "Knockout, this isn't funny, you jerk!"

"Oh my! He really does want to sparkbond with you, even while in stasis!" He was now clutching his tank at the irony. "Breakdown owes me an energon cube!"

"W-Wait, what-"

He wiped an imaginary tear from his optic before he slowly started to calm down. "You know what? I think you can deal with his spark chamber without my instructions. I don't want to interrupt your sparkbonding experience with your Conjunx, doll. Simply write down any possible damages and we'll fix it afterwards."

And with that he casually walked out of the room, smirking. What a prick.

Now surrounded by silence, not counting the slight energy sound Starscream's spark was giving off, you decided to just get it over with. You mustered up your courage and got a little closer to his spark. Again, trying to avoid touching it while attempting to get a good angle to see if there was any damage further to the top of the chamber. And yet again, the tendrils reached out to you once more. They gently wrapped themselves around your head and pulled you closer to the spark. The spark and its tendrils started giving you the feeling of comfort as you let yourself be lead even closer towards your lover. You closed your eyes due to the intense light as your lips touched his warm spark in a kiss. You stayed like this until it started making weird sounds, startling you.

Suddenly, you were able to feel what seemed to be Starscream's memories or present feelings while in stasis. His anger towards the Autobots, his fear of Megatron and Predaking, his sadness over his insecurities, his love for you... You felt it all in one big wave of emotions. After it was over, finally you felt like you could breathe again. You gasped as you swiftly retracted from his spark. However, you then noticed that you now had your hands on it instead.

"Uh-" You were about to call Knockout for his knowledgeable advice, when Starscream's optics onlined. You looked up at him in worry, frozen in fear of him now hating you for touching his spark. But you didn't expect his optics to look so... out of it. His facial expression held a mix between confusion and what you could only describe as having a hangover. And that's when his optics looked down, staring at you. You suddenly panicked as you swiftly retracted your hands. "Oh my gosh, I'm so, so, sorry! I-I don't know what-" Starscream simply interrupted you by using his talons to gently push you towards his spark once more. Confused, you stared him in the optics.

"Please, hold my spark again..." His voice sounded desperate to have you this close to him. Reluctantly, you lightly layed your hands on it. The seeker seemed satisfied, but something was still missing...

"Put your chassis over it...", he added. You stared at him, surprised by his request, but did as he asked. You took off your shirt, as to not have it bother his most vulnerable part, and placed it on the side of the table while you were slowly starting to get cold. It wasn't cold for long however. You climbed a bit further up his chassis so you could lie down over his spark chamber, with your chest making slight contact with his warm spark. Now you certainly weren't cold anymore.

Not the most comfortable position to be lying in but hey, you got to be closer to your love. The tendrils emerged once more, and this time they seemed to hug you by wrapping around you, securely holding you against Starscream. Said seeker used one servo to trail a digit up and down your back, seemingly content to finally have you be this close.

The comforting heat and emotions his spark was giving off suddenly got you very tired. So you closed your eyes and drifted off to sleep in your Conjunx Endura's embrace.

Bonus:

"Wow, Starscream..." That voice. That unnerving voice. "I only asked them to check your spark chamber for any dents, and you want to suddenly try sparkbonding instead in a rather desperate way", Knockout said as he walked closer to the table the seeker was lying on. He then added, "And here I thought you couldn't sparkbond with a human. Guess Shockwave will have something new to examine."

The seeker glared at the direction of the red mech, scoffing at the medic. "If either one of you tries to touch them, there will be dire consequences, Knockout." He snapped back, slightly tightened his grip on you as you kind of curled around his spark.

The red mech smirked at your Conjunx's sudden protectiveness. "I didn't say I would touch them. Although, I do hope you two are done soon. I'll still be needing that table to fix you up, after all."

[ Masterlist ]

[sfstranslations]

how hard(?) would you say it is to translate? Ive been kinda curious about that, like does anything get lost in translation/ just not make that much sense without knowing the og language? or anything like that? 🤔

Hm, maybe 7 or 8 on a scale of 10? Though it can easily go higher at times, haha. (Always when Sung Hyunjae is in a scene because his name is a misspelling and it pisses me off.* This is a joke. Only half, though.) Basic word-by-word dictionary lookup is simple, which is why machine translators can do it well enough. But then you have to string all of it together in a sentence where you:

figure out and find a way to convey any difference in connotation between this specific chosen word and other words that mean the same thing (think the connotations of "regal" VS "royal" in English), and

do the same as above, but on a sentence-wide level translating the nuance of a particular grammar/sentence structure (thousand and one sentence endings in Korean, I swear -_-), and

make sure distinct character voices are retained or translated from the original Korean (think Song Taewon's stiff formality VS Han Yoojin's more casual speech VS Sung Hyunjae's middle-aged rich guy-type speech), and

make sure this sentence flows with the overall paragraph/chapter.

All those priorities have to be juggled throughout the chapter and add up to make it a fairly hard task. It definitely gets easier with practice once you're more familiar with the language (especially the nuance/connotation stuff), though, and I did get lucky in that my native language shares some aspects with Korean so the grammar is easier to intuitively grasp. Of course, I'm still learning, so I do have times I need to call in more experienced speakers for help.

(I definitely wouldn't say I'm good with the language period. Recently I've tentatively picked up a new novel—people following my personal blog will know which one—and it turns out I'm familiar with the way Geunseo talks and familiar with the vocabulary typical to dungeon fantasy novels, but kind of. Majorly hopeless when it comes to other stuff. The phrasing is juuust off enough that I keep getting tripped up and taking thrice as long to understand what's being said.)

There's definitely stuff that wouldn't make sense in English—certain idioms, cultural stuff, and all that, but that's why I try to localize wherever possible and add footnotes with relevant info/links if not. And there is stuff that gets lost in translation—you can look at the chapter titles from 302–307 for an example of that, where the joke is much more immediately obvious in Korean but had to be translated differently as chapter title VS in-chapter text messages and lost the clear parallel. I also remember being grumpy back during the virtual reality dungeon arc because Yoohyun would use 네놈 (ne-nom but typically pronounced ni-nom, a derogatory way to say "you", LMAO) towards Sigma and there was no concise way to get that across in English except having him be aggressive and direct. Especially since he isn't the type to swear by word of god, so I couldn't have him addressing him with "asshole" or "jerk" to convey it.

TL;DR: Fairly hard to translate, but gets easier with time, and there is stuff that's lost or difficult to understand, but I do what I can to make it understandable in English!

--

* Sung Hyunjae uses "ae" at the end, but that implies it's 성현재, which is wrong—the correct spelling is 성현제, which should be "Sung Hyunje". (If you wanted to go the full Revised Romanization route, it'd be Seong Hyeonje, but I've weathered my share of name changes and that's a step too far even for me.) I've been meaning to make a poll about changing it like with the Lauchitas spelling, but I keep forgetting.

[nite-puff]

anyways now is the time to say that kodaka talking about taka’s “childhood friend” out of nowhere does not take away from taka and mondo’s friendship. i’m willing to make the argument that, if anything, it adds to it.

someone just made a post translating kodaka’s bluesky post (i’ll link it right here. i find it to be really interesting), and a buddy who can also translate japanese to english came to a similar conclusion. tl;dr: this “friend” was a little shit who pushed taka around and was generally inconsiderate of him until he moved away. it’s also important to say that this guy was also very different than taka. some would say that they were polar opposites.

so just think about it. kiyotaka was part of a toxic friendship with someone who constantly undermined him and took advantage of him. and the feelings of friendship were one-sided. he was bound to realize that hey, this isn’t how friendships are supposed to feel like. most likely that realization came after they split because i feel like taka would’ve been the type to call out this friend on his behavior if he noticed it beforehand.

who knows? it might’ve played into why taka didn’t build those types of relationships much after that?? it could’ve been a serious possibility that taka was scared to make another friend because something like what he had with that boy would happen again. he just thinks that he is incapable of having a normal friendship because no one sees him as a good contender to have a normal friendship with. maybe he even tells himself that it’s fine and that friends distract him from studying, so it’s actually GOOD that he won’t make anymore friends.

then he meets mondo. this other boy who is so different from him and seems like the type to be weak enough to get a laugh out of taking advantage of others. and he hated him for that.

but then he gets to know him, and he finds out that mondo is so much more than that. he’s caring and passionate and a fighter for the things he believes in and the people he loves. while he may come off as a bad egg on first glance, taka knows that he is so much better and so much stronger than that boy he once knew. and for once, he’s able to open himself up and let someone else be his friend again. and it’s the best decision he’s ever made because mondo is the best friend he could’ve ever hoped for.

i’m sorry. mondo is not only the friend that present taka deserved, but also the friend that past taka deserved. so yeah, honestly it’s a neat detail. i know that kodaka only mentioning it now may make it seem retcon-like, but eh. it doesn’t take away anything from taka’s story and personality. i feel like it adds a lot more. thanks for coming to my ted talk.

(also shoutout to edge for pointing out that this “friend” could be the reason why taka’s knee-jerk reaction to doing something he thinks is wrong is to beg for someone to hit him. yikes. but it’s a possibility.)

[brain-rot-central]

In Sonnet AA is just a more powerful Astarion or the ascension changed him drastically in some way?What do you make of Mephistophele's deal (or any deal with a devil in general)?

So... My interpretation of Astarion is that UA and AA both exist within him from the start.

Throughout the game we see the two sides of him warring for dominance. And tbh, he's kind of an asshole from the get. Like, he isn't a nice person. He's a jerk, but he learns compassion as the game goes on because someone (Tav/Durge) finally extended a hand to him. Someone finally sees him. It's the theory of "love breeds kindness" being displayed.

The ascension route his him choosing himself despite this, strictly out of fear of another being having control over him again and it exacerbates all of his worst qualities since he's delving deeper into his paranoia. He's walling himself off, basically. Regressing, which happens a lot with abuse victims.

And as much as he tries telling himself that the ascension "killed the weaker version of himself," all it really did is shove that part of him down beneath six feet of dirt. He never made peace with it so much as he views it as an embarrassment and a source of shame. But when it comes to Tav, that part of him screams the loudest. And he hates it, because it reminds him of how weak and vulnerable he felt.

Basically reminds him that the concept of love makes him uncomfortable because to love someone is to be vulnerable. You'll do and withstand things you normally wouldn't with other people. Love is an opportunity for you to be softer and to have someone hold you. That scares the shit out of him, because he's no longer totally in control. You essentially become a willing participant for the other person, and you hope that they'll continue to extend the same courtesy to you.

I also don't agree with the notion that just because he's ascended, he now suddenly knows everything. Nothing about the ascension changes what has already happened to him, or his experiences. He may put on an air as if it has, and the whole point of it is to distract you from the realization that he still doesn't know shit about being an ascended/true vampire (his first humanoid blood was the PC and that was literally like... one/two months ago).

The man has zero idea how to turn someone and it's probably a nerve-racking experience for him, which is why he becomes so personally offended if you refuse his offer to become his consort. Because in a way, it's him being vulnerable with you. He has no idea what he's doing but he's willing to try if it means you both get to spend eternity together. He's essentially proposing to you in the only way he knows how. He also doesn't know SHIT about any of his powers/abilities yet.

He's a little fledging vampire who's been given the keys to the Lamborghini, essentially. But heaven forbid anyone else see that.

I don't think he lost his soul in the deal. I think moreso he's riding an insane high of 1) finally being free of Cazador's influence and 2) no longer having the insatiable hunger that plagued him for 200 years. For the first time in two centuries his mind is completely clear and his own again.

But I do believe there are some trade-offs to the ascension. Like for instance, uncovering a werebat form if he's too emotionally charged/cannot control himself. I also hc that he eventually starts hearing the voices of those sacrificed during the ritual, especially if he delves too deeply into a dark path.

TL;DR: the UA/AA versions of Astarion exist from the beginning and I still think they exist post-ascension. Just with the ascension, he's letting the worst qualities of himself win. I don't see that as a permanent thing.

The deal with Mepho changes nothing about him on a personal level; he doesn't lose his soul in the deal but there are some consequences of the deal -- becoming grotesque and/or hearing voices of those sacrificed in the ritual. He feels good and it just reinforces the arrogant behavior he displayed early on, as it's a point of regression for his overall development.

[fflewddur-feanorion]

I've been reading a lot (A LOT) of Night at the Museum fic and have come to the conclusion that McPhee is criminally underrated. Yes, he is a grouchy and awkward British guy who doesn't understand how idioms work. But also... he cares about the museum so much.

Every time he's being a jerk to someone (which, admittedly, happens a lot) it's because he's worried about the exhibits. He's been protecting the museum in his own way since long before Larry showed up, and he's doesn't even know that the exhibits come to life! He only knows that they were real people once, and that people today can learn something from them, and that's enough.

The third movie? This is peak McPhee. He's willing to commit minor identity fraud to send a bunch of wax figures (and also a dead guy) halfway around the world. Who does that? Who even does that?

Look at the end of NATM 3. Look at this face.

The exhibits he's been watching over for years are alive! They're dancing and laughing and existing in a way he thought was impossible. And he's not worried about them getting hurt or breaking anything or (god forbid) messing up the floor tiles. He's just happy. And I think that's beautiful.

(tl;dr: I am very emotionally attached to this sad grumpy British man.)

[cnwolf-brainrot]

I'm curious, what do you think of X-Men: The Last Stand? Are there things you would do to improve it? Besides having Nightcrawler actually in the movie of course. xD

Sorry it took me a minute to get to this ask because I have A LOT OF THOUGHTS, this is a FANTASTIC question because I actually literally just rewatched that movie!! (yes, it was for Weapon by Name. No, it wasn't for anything plot-related, it's cause I've been having a hard time writing Hank McCoy lol)

Very short version: I like some parts of the movie, but I definitely have ideas on how to improve it!

This is going to be a long post so my improvement ideas will be under the cut! But first:

What do I think of the movie? I mean... it's not the best. There are a few enjoyable moments, but it's just genuinely not a super well-written film; it feels unbalanced in a lot of places, leaves out a lot of things I would have liked to see addressed from the first few films (*cough* yes I'm talking about Kurt *cough*) and feels like it doesn't properly give focus to the Phoenix storyline at all. I think one of my biggest problems on a re-watch was the fact that Jean literally does nothing. She has no motivations in the movie and only a handful of dialogue lines. HOWEVER, I do love the mutant cure plot line, and I feel like it makes a fantastic focus for a third X-Men movie! I also think I can blame this movie for my love of Warren Worthington! There are definitely parts of this movie that I do enjoy, there are just things that could have been better! Now, a break-down:

Things that I like/would keep the same: - The Worthington Industries/Cure plotline (I find the mutant cure to be an extremely interesting X-Men plot, and I enjoyed how it was handled here for the most part. I'd make a few small changes to balance it with the rest of the story, but this is something that I'd want to see MORE of rather than LESS of) - Most of Warren's story (again, this is a plot that I LOVED from the movie, but needed to see more of. This goes back to the unbalanced feeling I mentioned, and I'll talk more in a bit about how I'd fix it) - Hank McCoy (honestly I love Hank in this movie, I don't think I have any changes) - Mystique's ending (I actually love how this movie handled Mystique. It's short, simple, shows just how much her abilities mean to her with her casual shifting even while she's captured, and I personally feel that her turning her back on Magneto when he turned his back on her was a very in-character moment. This whole subplot was great, no changes)

Things I would completely take out: - Juggernaut (he was an unnecessary addition to an already packed story, he really didn't add anything and if he's going to be in a movie I think he deserves more screen time) - The whole plot line with Xavier having hidden Jean's true powers from her. (It just makes Xavier a bad mentor figure in my mind, and I'd prefer it if there's just a quick explanation of there being weird energy readings at Alkali Lake or something that could have brought her back.) - The weirdness that was Kitty and Bobby sort of flirting (I feel like this was shoehorned in just to add a romantic tension between Bobby and Rogue. Kitty and Bobby have little to no chemistry and any that they do have just makes Bobby seem like a jerk to Rogue. I have a proposed fix for this subplot, which I'll address in a bit, but I would completely remove romantic implications between these two) - Xavier's death as it was (I feel like there was a strange imbalance between his death and Scott's, so to increase emotional impact I would like to streamline it and get rid of that scene)

Ok, now what would I do to improve it?

HONESTLY if I were to completely rewrite this movie, I would have to go back and rewrite X2 as well because I don't feel like the foundations were set up well for the type of Phoenix Saga that I would have liked to see. HOWEVER, I'm already rewriting X2 in Weapon by Name so there's no way I'm doing that again. Instead, here are just a couple of semi-quick changes that I would make to the movie, WITHOUT changing any of the previous canon.

First of all, let's talk about Scott. Scott Summers is the backbone of the X-Men and he was done DIRTY by this movie, so let's at least make it a bit better. Going based off of what has been established for him by the canon of this set of films, we have basically three character traits for him: he's Xavier's star pupil, he's the leader of the X-Men, and he's in love with Jean Grey. SO, instead of having him sulk and shirk his teaching duties at the beginning of the movie (which goes against two of the three things established about him) we instead go the opposite route. The movie opens up with Scott leading the Danger Room session, and we see that he has basically thrown himself into his work after Jean's death. Storm and Xavier express concern about this, even Logan can tell something is off, but Scott continues to drive himself and the new X-Men (Bobby, Kitty, Rogue, and Peter) into the ground as a way to try and avoid his grief

Speaking of the newbies, let's pause the Summers angst and talk about them for a moment. In the actual movie these four get completely sidelined (I already talked briefly about how Kitty is just used as an awkward romantic device, and Rogue literally disappears for days without anyone questioning where she is/misses the whole final fight scene, and yes I'm happy that Peter and Logan have a Fastball Special, but that's literally the only time he contributes to the movie). I wish that we had gotten a little bit more of the four of them in X2, but again we're not changing anything from that movie here. What I propose as a way to improve them as characters in this movie alone is to treat them as a unit. I think that if the four of them were treated as friends and shown in the first Danger Room scene having a bit of banter/generally joking around and working as a team, it would establish to the audience that these people know each other, like each other, and have a reason for being on the team together. In addition, setting these four up as friends in the first scene with them also helps fix Rogue's whole character arc.

I was genuinely upset with how the movie handled Rogue; it boiled her entire character arc/want for the cure down to "I want to be able to touch my boyfriend". I think this is a huge disservice to her character, and I think it can be hugely improved in just this first Danger Room scene. Instead of having the moment where Kitty saves Bobby, we replace that with a moment where Kitty is in trouble and Rogue reaches out to help her. Bobby or Peter then jump in and pull her back because her gloves fell off in the exercise; if she'd tried to help her friend, she would have only hurt them both. Now Rogue's eventual desire for the cure isn't built on teenage horniness; it's built on a fear of being dangerous to those she cares about.

Now, back to Scott. With this re-written version that focuses more on him trying to drown himself in work rather than just being sad and mopey, I think that a good way to get him to Alkali Lake would be for Xavier to have a talk with him. Xavier pulls him aside and basically says "you're hurting yourself by avoiding this, Scott. Take a few days. Take a breath. Allow yourself to breathe." This is what results in him going off to Alkali Lake and Jean's revival happening.

Personally, I wouldn't kill Scott here. I would let him come back to the mansion with Jean and everyone gets a reunion... however, Scott and Logan both start to notice something is off about Jean. She seems just a bit too on-edge, will zone out occasionally, things will float around her without her even noticing that she's controlling them, and there's the whole fact of she should be very dead.

Scott is concerned for Jean and trying to find a way to help her. Logan, on the other hand, is beginning to wonder if this person even is Jean at all, or if this is just some creature that is trying to look like her.

Now, a quick aside for some thematic values of the movie. I'm sure there are some in the original movie, but I had a hard time finding them honestly. What I would like to be the main theme of my version would be the concept of monster-versus-man or the "beast inside". This theme would primarily be shown in the contrast between Logan and Jean, as they are (or at least SHOULD BE) the main two characters. However, every key character could be shown to be struggling with their "internal beast": - Rogue, who is struggling to be close to anyone because of her mutation (an example of how this "beast" can be harmful to others) - Warren, who tried to get rid of his mutation long before the cure was invented (an example of how denying that beastial nature entirely only serves to hurt himself) - Scott, who keeps his mutation carefully contained to try and please the people and ends up paying for it (we'll talk about his fate in a moment) - Ororo, who is at peace with the wild, natural nature of her mutation (an example of a good balance between the man and the "monster") - McCoy, who is the literal embodiment of the "beast" and can't even attempt to hide, but still contemplates how it would be to feel more human (another example of balance, but with more longing) Every part of the "cure" plotline would help amplify this theme, and keeping that in mind for every character's decisions throughout the film would give it a far more streamlined and dynamic feel

Speaking of streamlined and dynamic, let's talk for a second about Magneto. I'm torn on what to do with our man Erik. Half of me is tempted to completely write him out, because I think he completely overshadows Jean in the original movie and that he's half of the problem with how it doesn't feel like a Dark Phoenix film, lol. However, he's also the best X-Men antagonist and it would feel like a disservice to him to leave him out of the climax of the trilogy, especially when the cure plotline is something that he would never stand to the side and watch.

So, I think that here we still have Eric gather his forces and start making threats over the cure. However, we cut the scene with him and Jean and Xavier in Jean's old house. Instead, we have the X-Men go to confront Eric just before another attack. This is at a public support rally for the cure, and remember Scott is still alive here.

Just before this scene, we should have a scene between Scott and Jean, where they talk about the changes that Jean's been experiencing. Scott's worried about her, and Jean tries to tell him she's fine (and that maybe this new power isn't a bad thing). In this scene we have the moment where Jean uses her powers to let Scott see without his glasses -- only he flinches away the moment he opens his eyes, and basically tells her that it doesn't feel right. He also tells her that the old Jean -- his Jean -- didn't need all of this power. She was content with things they way they were. We see a big example of that "inner beast" theme here, focusing on that contrast of how Scott wants to keep his powers under control in order to fit in while Jean has almost limitless power at her control, and she doesn't see a reason not to use it to make their lives better.

Now, back to the X-Men versus Magneto. As they stare him down, Jean tells Scott she could end it. She could wipe the minds of everyone in the crowd around them, and change them all to mutant supporters. She could change everything with just a thought.

Scott, of course, tells her no. He wants to try and solve this peacefully, the way that Xavier would (it's important that Logan overhears this line).

In the middle of Scott trying to diffuse the situation, one of the anti-mutant protesters tries to take a shot at Magneto. This causes immediate chaos, and another protester takes aim at the X-Men. Magneto deflects the bullet coming towards him. Scott is hit.

Oh goodness I hit a text block limit I didn't even know Tumblr HAD text block limits ok then.

Now, with this being the way that Scott dies, Jean actually has a reason to go berserk and give into the power she feels. She tried to follow Scott and keep it contained, and the attempt at peace got him killed. She ends up killing multiple innocents here, and when Logan tries to reach out to her she turns and leaves the X-Men behind.

Professor X's funeral scene is replaced by Scott's funeral scene. In the original movie it felt unbalanced to have such a focus on Xavier's death and no focus on Scott's, so as previously mentioned I think we should take Xavier's death out entirely. Plus, because of the nature of Scott's death (being killed by an anti-mutant protester), now the whole school is buzzing with unrest about the cure.

This is where we would have the scene where Bobby comforts Kitty, but unlike the original where's it's a "romantic" beat between those two we have all four of the younger X-Men outside iceskating together. Scott was their teacher so they were all fairly close with him, and they talk about it together. They also talk about the cure, and how they don't want to take it after Scott's death... Rogue is the only one who speaks up for the fact that the cure wasn't what killed Scott, it was just the people in support of it. We also have a moment here where everyone ends up knocking into each other as they skate, and that is where Rogue's jealously comes from; simple, human interaction that she isn't able to experience.

She leaves early, and Bobby notices. They have a conversation that only serves to upset Rogue more, and this is where we have a touch of their relationship because yes, it's important to her and she does want to be able to get physical comfort from her boyfriend, but now it's built on top of the other ways it has affected her life. He mutation has hurt her relationship with her family, her friends, and her boyfriend instead of only putting the focus on her romantic life. This conversation leads to Rogue leaving to try and get the cure.

But putting them aside for a moment, let's focus on Warren. I really liked the skeleton for Warren in this movie, but he still feels very flat and stilted because we don't get much depth to his character. To fix this, I would have developed a friendship between him and Leech. Both are prisoners here in Worthington Labs in their own unique way. Both have the illusion of choice (Warren could theoretically say no to his father, and Leech is shown to be comfortable and humanely treated which means he probably had at least a bit of autonomy) but neither have true freedom. I think it would give a level of depth to Warren's character if we see a scene of him sitting with this kid, maybe even moving just close enough that his wings go away, and Leech asking him if this is what he really wants. They could talk about the cure, really give the audience an inside perspective on what would go through the mind of a mutant to make them want to take this, and also bring up another running theme of freedom and what it looks like. ALSO we could have them talk about the complicated relationship between Warren and his dad, which would make Warren saving him at the end of the movie more impactful. Also, it would add another level of depth to the look of pure longing that Leech gives Warren as he watches him fly away after the attempt at taking the cure.

Now, in the original movie I felt like it was a bit awkward for Warren to just show up at the Institute without any real reason to go there. That could be fixed by tossing in a comment about the Institute along with the aforementioned Leech scene, but instead, I think it'd be interesting if Rogue was already heading over to try and get the cure as Warren breaks out. She sees him flying away, and makes the decision to follow him instead of going to get the cure. They end up talking (this could be off screen or on screen, either way) but end up showing up to the final fight last minute together.

Before we get to the final fight through, let's talk more about Jean. Now, at this point I think we've already made her arc better by giving her the earlier scene where she talks with Scott, plus hid death causing an actual emotional impact that would turn her against humanity. I feel like one of the biggest problems with the original movie is that they don't give Jean any screen time, which to be fair they tried to cram a LOT into this movie. However, it is literally supposed to be a Dark Phoenix movie, so I think she should get at least one scene where we really see her struggle with the new beast inside of her. This would start out as a solo scene where we get to see her go somewhere away from civilization, probably into the middle of the woods or something, where she can let go for a minute and literally scream out her grief. We see objects floating around her and turning dangerous in the wake of her anger (maybe she accidentally kills a few animals, something catches on fire, etc), and I'd love for her to have some dialogue that brings into question for the audience whether this really is Jean, or if the Phoenix Force is something else entirely.

Magneto would show up halfway through her breakdown, and try to give her the same "you could be powerful, you could get revenge" speech he does in the original movie to get her on his side. But, Jean doesn't fall for it; instead she says he's going to manipulate her the same way Scott did, and that she's not going to make the same mistake twice. Her reasoning doesn't entirely make sense, but that's where the Phoenix comes in; now that she's latched onto the idea of people hurt the ones I love because I tried to hold back, the Phoenix is using that to make her completely loose control and cause the chaos that it craves.

Magneto attempts to talk her down once he realizes that she's becoming a danger to mutants as well, and this escalates into a fight between the two of them. Honestly, I think it would have been interesting to see Jean kill Erik here; as much as I enjoyed him being de-powered in the original version, I feel like having Erik out of the picture would give more focus to Jean as the climax. She kills Erik, and then turns her sights to Alcatraz to try and take out everything that she perceives as harmful to her people (though at this point, as seen with Erik's death, the Phoenix has blinded her to the point that she can't truly see who her people are)

The X-Men are still in the wake of Scott's death, but they find out Jean is going to Alcatraz and that she killed Erik (because of course Xavier would be able to sense that) and they gear up to go fight. I think we should also get a moment between Bobby and Logan here talking about the fact that Rogue isn't there with a ton of guilt from Bobby, and Logan basically accepting that she's made her choice.

Also, Xavier goes with them to Alcatraz. Everyone is a bit hesitant, but he makes the point that he knows Jean's mind better than any of them, and that at the level of power she's at they might have to take it to an astral plane battle in order to defeat her. Plus, Jean has taken both Scott and Erik from him. He can't sit on the sidelines of this fight, not when he feels responsible for her spiral (again I would like to take out the "Xavier hid her memories from her" thing and focus on the fact that he basically raised her from when she was a teenager, BUT you also could keep that plotline in here)

So now we actually have the final fight, which is just the X-Men and the army VS Jean. For Jean of course this feels like betrayal, since the entire reason she's here and fighting is because humans (like the soldiers the X-Men are standing with) killed Scott. This also gives us a chance to see just how powerful Jean is, because it's literally like 100 to 1.

Now the rest of the fight goes similarly with Kitty rescuing Leech (though she's fighting against the building collapse, not Juggernaut) and Warren coming back to save his father (with the added detail that Rogue comes with him). We also get a reunion between Rogue and Bobby and Rogue helps Kitty save Leech. I'd also like for there to be a sweet moment mirroring the opening Danger Room scene where Rogue reaches out to try and help Leech just like she'd tried to help Kitty, and she's actually able to touch him and save him. At the same time, she also uses her powers in the fight to help, and she doesn't lose her powers at the end of the film.

The fight with Phoenix comes down to Xavier trying to get into her head, and they duke it out in the astral plane. We get to see here that this isn't really Jean any more; Jean is almost completely gone, it's the Phoenix that has overtaken her. We have a bit of dialogue here about how the monster has taken over to reflect that "internal beast" theme, and haha I lies we didn't entierly take out Xavier's death, I think he should die here. It looks like all is lost, until Logan comes up behind her and finishes the job similarly to the movie.

Logan's character arc ends with accepting that he is a beast, and that he can use that to protect those around him. It means he has to make the hard choices, but unlike Jean he's able to come back from that beastial mindset and actually process the grief with the rest of the team.

So THERE WE GO!! I think that's how I would rewrite the movie!! I like a lot of parts from it, but I think it could have been improved! Sorry this ended up being a much longer ramble than I intended and there's still things I could have fleshed out more, but this took way too long to type out so I'm just leaving it here.

TL;DR: If I could make improvements on this movie, I would have given Rogue more of a character arc, Scott a more satisfying death, and Jean the spotlight she deserved. Also, I would have given the film some identifiable themes that actually relate to the character's actions.

If you read this whole thing holy cow thank you this took me several hours lol

[snowandglasslabyrinth]

Damn, the Velma show really sucks. All the characters seem wrong and one-dimensional. There’s nothing funny, I genuinely laughed once and it’s because sarcasm gets me always. Also, specifically it was Velma’s line after climbing the wall to perform a break and enter into Fred’s family’s mansion.

Velma is painfully mediocre as a character, she is contradictory and evidently treats people poorly, laughs in Norville’s face when he says he has a crush on her, and just seemed really mean and poorly written. I also really hate the fat phobic jokes. That’s not right, it’s not funny, it’s just in poor taste and mean. Having it so that she eats french fries out of the garbage is insulting and just pointless. She’s got some massive crush on Fred cause he’s ‘hot’, she’s fairly shallow as a character but loves to point out (see ep. 2) that all the other characters are shallow. People in her school think she’s ugly until she wears revealing clothing, then everyone pays attention to her - in my humble but angry opinion that is a bad message to spread to young adults and teens.

Norville is a whole case, the drug references and jokes are neither funny nor entertaining and after his ridiculous and clunky line about being anti-drugs early in the first episode he pauses as if the audience needs a moment to laugh. It was awful. I get that it’s meant to be a play on the idea that Shaggy was a stoned character but that doesn’t mean it’s funny.

Daphne is vapid, and she’s always been a little bit vain (the stereotypical girl character to an extent because in the original series she was a round character full of depth) but in the show she has become a high schooler obsessed with sex who treats everyone horrifically. The obsession with sex is a thing for all of the highschool girls in the show, I don’t know who had that kind of experience in highschool but I certainly didn’t so it feels uncomfortable and inappropriate (also feels like that because they anime bubble censor a bunch of naked teenage highschool girls as they talk about sex in tv, that shouldn’t have been allowed.)

Fred is just a douche. I mean I know that’s a choice that the writers made but I strongly hate who he’s become (and yes I know I’m supposed to hate him but I think it’s supposed to be because he’s a jerk not just because he’s poorly written uninteresting and a man child that acts like a stereotypical ‘macho’ man). And the amount of times he calls himself a ‘puss’ is annoying and, unfortunately for the show, still not funny, so only sarcasm points for comedy right now.

Some side character notes: Velma’s dad’s girlfriend is an awful and boring stereotype. The show leans on cliches and stereotypes heavily I.e. any character in that show practically. The other students are boring and not memorable. There’s a moment where Fred stands up for Velma and accidentally cuts a student’s foot off, reminiscent of the comedy in those bad adult cartoons that are overpopulating Netflix right now (Paradise PD, Hoops (is that what it’s called?) and others). If I didn’t mention other characters it’s because I don’t remember they exist.

Okay tl;dr the show sucks, it’s not funny, I loved Scooby Doo as a kid so this hurts me, I hate what they’ve done with the characters.

So, I know I usually don’t make my own posts or write reviews but I literally got 10 minutes into the second episode and had to stop because it was bad, very bad. The first episode was bad enough but I thought I would torture myself and then I gave up because I just couldn’t anymore. Thanks for reading all of this if you have, and don’t watch Velma.

:)

[petitprincess1]

Do you feel like Jaz was rewriting in ep 2

I'm assuming you meant Jax from TADC, but no. This is the same exact shit that happened with Stella from Helluva and even Alastor from Hazbin. Ppl seen to get really shocked when assholes turn out to be assholes. The whole thing is stupid.

"Alastor was so silly in the Pilot!" Damn, I didn't know that being a silly goose absolved you from murder x3c The dude is a serial killer and radio personnel. Obviously, he is going to be incredibly charismatic, but don't forget that he is in Hell for a reason. Besides, Al still has silly moments in the show, but he never hid his true intentions. He is proud to be piece of shit.

"Stella was a victim of abuse!" You can really tell who has the power in an argument. The first time we see Stella, she's the one going apeshit and throwing things (people) at Stolas. Not only that but she doesn't even care for Via's presence, while Stolas noticed immediately. Hell, she's frowning in the Loo Loo Land portrait. Even Via knows that they argue a lot, considering she asked Stolas "are you two done yelling for today?" The one-time Stolas defends himself is at the end S2 EP1 and it was to catch Stella's hand, which she was shocked by. Her being able to strike him shows that this isn't the first time she has hit him, while knowing that he doesn't defend himself.

"Jax is a psychopath!" Yeah, Goose admitted this a while back, saying that the fandom will be divided when they see his true character. It's not their fault that you thought your headcanon was going to be true. Most shows already have a few episodes written before they launch production. Never forget that a Pilot is a proof of concept and not everything within it will remain canon. Not that that pertains to this, however. Jax was still an asshole in the Pilot. Literally mocking Pomni as she spiraled and constantly harming the characters, nor caring for their feelings.

TL;DR: Ppl need to realize that their headcanons are not actually canon and not to get lobotomies when these jerk characters are first introduced. Just bc you didn't view the character as a terrible person does not mean the writing is bad or retconned. You just stayed in your head a bit too long and now are throwing a tantrum when things didn't go your way.

[the-ultimate-supreme-gremlin]

So spoilers for DRV3 under the cut AJWJDKDK

Why is it that when people make pregame content they forget about how they acted in the prologue? Like obviously if you wanna write them like that go ahead but it confuses me on how that’s the MAJORITY. I think it stems from the audition tapes at the end of the game but that’s always seemed strange to me.

Like I’ve seen most people write pregame Kaito as an absolute dick who would beat up people regularly (basically a bully), but we don’t really see that in the prologue. In the prologue, we don’t get much sure, but from what we do see, he’s not acting brash or rude at all. If I remember right, he even sounds worried (or is at the very least still panicked about the situation) when he questions if Kaede and Shuichi were chased by “that monster” (exisals). Sure, we don’t really know his thoughts for that line but you don’t really say that if you care for nobody but yourself (in my opinion at least).

(I REMEMBERED RIGHT LETS GOOO)

This isn’t even mentioning Kokichi, who acts so different from fanon pregame like what. Pregame Kokichi is usually characterized as a whiny teen who can’t handle confrontation and is an extreme introvert. But one of his few lines in the prologue is him volunteering to go back out (where they all just ran for they’re lives) to see what’s happening before getting shut down for his safety. And he doesn’t say it scared either, he says it pretty calmly (not saying he’s calm but he’s clearly not panicking nearly as bad as people portray him).

(I know his name (and Kaito’s earlier) is question marks but it is his voice when he says it please believe me lol)

Honestly, it kinda bums me out that not a lot of people take the prologue into account! Sure, Kaito’s audition tape makes him look like a violence hungry jerk; however, it wouldn’t surprise me if he (and everyone else) was just exaggerating to try and get picked. If you liked a show, and you want to be in it, you wouldn’t say “yeah I find this show cool, killing looks okay on screen but I think it could be fun.” You wouldn’t get picked (or at least have a lower possibility). They probably acted more like what they thought Team Danganronpa would want for their show.

Anyways, sorry for how long that was (especially considering I don’t make posts like this ever???) but I was replaying V3 earlier and it just occurred to me. Like even Kaede is meaner than Kaito in the prologue (she tells Shuichi to shut up when he starts panicking lmao (she apologizes later tho)). That’s not even mentioning Shuichi but this is already long and probably full of punctuation errors lol. Sorry if it got incoherent at all. I’m very tired.

TL;DR Fanon pregame DRV3 doesn’t usually take into account how the character acted in the prologue and it bothers me.

(Again, if you like to characterize them that way, that’s fine. Everyone has headcanons and such. I’m just expressing some of my thoughts :D)

[jellogram]

Seriously I'm tired of the thinkpieces about how it's soooooo sexist to say Georgia O'Keefe's paintings look like vulvas. They DO look like vulvas. Why is that an inherently sexist thing to say?

Give me a second to rip apart this essay from Cracked.

Why are you assuming that I'm "reducing" her work by stating that it looks like female anatomy? Why is that a reduction? Why is that considered belittling?

Surrealists used phallic imagery all the time and it's usually portrayed as an emotionally deep exploration of sensuality. Would you call a sexual interpretation of The Persistence of Memory a "reduction"? It looks a whole lot less like genitals than much of O'Keefe's work.

What a strange connection to make. It's possible he was a jerk about this, I don't know, I wasn't there. But it's bizarre to blame "thinking a painting looks like a pussy" on the fact that he's a man.

I remember thinking the same thing when I was a ten year old girl looking at art history books, despite never hearing anyone else point it out. Was I being nasty too? Or is the resemblance just so strong that anyone who knows what a vulva looks like can recognize it?

You also make a point to mention that they are "her pretty flowers" and they are being "perverted" by this man. How is that not deeply insulting? You are portraying O'Keefe as this innocent, feminine victim, and her husband as the perverse aggressor who is tainting her "pretty" work by making it sexual. Do you not see how deeply sexist that is? You make her sound like a child who was incapable of realizing the connotations in her work.

Maybe she DID intend to paint genitals and claimed she didn't, for whatever reason. That would be her right. Or maybe she really was just painting flowers, and they happen to look like vulvas. That still doesn't make it sexist to analyze them from that angle. That's a FASCINATING comparison to make.

Isn't that a complex thing to think about? How flowers look like human sexual anatomy? You could write poems about that. It doesn't take away from her art at all.

And I'm not fully discounting her own explanation, her denial that they are genitals. Art is ultimately subjective and the viewer has a choice to agree or disagree with the artist's interpretation of their own work. I'm not ignoring her because she's a woman. I am just acknowledging my right as a viewer to form my own conclusions, the same as I would with any other artist's work. And regardless of her intentions, they fucking look like vulvas okay.

tl;dr It's not sexist to say Georgia O'Keefe's paintings look like vulvas. It's ACTUALLY sexist to think that this comparison is insulting or belittling in any way. Stop assuming anything erotic is dirty and that being compared to erotica must be insulting.

[blabberoo]

Saw the first ep of Dead Cells Imortalis

Honestly i easily get excited with things. Especially this one. But oh man do i have a lot of things to say and im trying to hold it back 😭

So its blabbin' time.. (spoilers first ep)

Yknow, this feels like those game trailers that does exposition of the introduction of the plot of it... But slightly extended. And it just leaves it underwhelming.

The pace is very quick (possibly budget issue who knows). I dont think i got enough time for Laure's character introduction. She felt like shes just.. there?? (I guess shes literally lore expositor 😭)

I'm kind of ok with Bobby, because they left him as he is, or how i always thought of him. Still an apathetic jerk who has a death wish (WOOO LOVE THAT IN IMMORTAL CHARACTERS MY FAVORITE SOUP ✨✨)

The part where Bobby and Laure started to work as a team only got told through a narration voice over. (Ig with background visuals) So not much back and forth between characters :( Till the end..

Love Bobby's little dialogue at the end (i love how much of a jerk he is screw me), but it felt like its too early for that. Well, knowing how short these series would be i guess they would cut a few things. And i guess that was needed for Laure to strike a deal with him.

And honestly, with how bare and simple the story is so far, it is still possible to have Bobby mute. There are other shows that had already done that. The game itself did. And with the first episode, I could still see it work with him not saying a word.

Laure tells him the deal. Bobby nods and gives a thumbs up.

Laure witnessed him walking away when guard said she'd kill her if he leaves.

Laure calls him out. He turns to her smirking, and continues to walk away. Laure calls him a liar.

YKNOW HOW FUN THAT WOULD BE??!?! JUST HIM MAKING SILLY GUESTURES?!?!??

(i swear i am so tempted to rewrite the whole ep with him mute)

I guess except for that whole Bobby dialogue at the end (and maybe the lead up to the death deal)?? But perhaps the show can express that more in later episodes??

All in all, i guess im a bit frustrated. Because I really do see the potential, and the potential makes me very excited over it. But thats just that: potential. I love Laure's conflict with her own religion and i love how she weighs on what's important to her in the moment. I love how Bobby doesnt care about anything much, because all he sees is that familiar hell and wanting to see a way out. But almost half of it seemed to be resolved in the first ep.

I'd honestly take those short, whimsical silly nature of the game trailers. If they've kept the old artstyle, i woudnt have mind if it was shorter or lesser episodes. But if theyre gonna keep this new style and make a lore heavy story out of it, at least maybe commit to it?

Perhaps im just jumping to conclusions right now since it's just the first episode, and im just fresh out of it. I've only seen it twice. So my only hope was they expand on these characters rather than just plot tools to keep the show going,.. or maybe im asking too much lol.

TL;DR.

First ep impression:

Pace way too quick. Not much character build. Guessing on budget issue. Love the idea, but a bit poorly executed.

Anyways thats probably it... Some thoughts i might keep for later.

And i just wanna say i screamed giddily at this image...

[quins-makeshift-menagerie]

I joined this blog a couple of minutes ago and I'm now realizing that I have a lot of story to catch up on, so could you maybe give me a quick run down of everything that has happened so far?

(I asked this same question on your "Joys Of Reality" blog but then I noticed that it was a side blog so now I'm re-asking this question here lol)

Gonna be real even a quick run down leaves a lot out, so I recommend reading it from the beginning if you have the time(link can be found in the blog’s pinned post)

That being said I will make an attempt

Zeus and Mnemosyne are trapped within an abandoned facility, in a digital program(they’re romantic partners)

With the help of various people they manage to create phsyical bodies for themselves

Something goes wrong in the process, Mnemosyne is left in a coma for several months

The fear and stress causes Zeus to mega evolve, alerting Fuji(OG Mewtwo) to their location

The duo are brought to Mirage Island, where they get aid from Fuji and Joyce(First movie Nurse Joy)

Agnita(the sample donor of Mnemosyne’s body) catches wind of Mnemosyne being unwell and helps them recover with some speedy gene therapy

Mnemosyne eventually wakes up, the duo is now free to experience life as flesh and blood

Sometime around this point Janus(OG Mew) makes their way to Mirage Island since “what why is there another Mew I’m the only Mew”

Mnemosyne gets pregnant

Seeing as Mnemosyne has no idea how to handle a Mew’s power and is now trying to bring more into the world, Janus offers to help them get to know the basics so they(and the unborn mittens) at least don’t blow the place up

Mnemosyne goes into labor

Various factors cause their first born, Calliope, to be born premature and weak, it’s expected she won’t last the night

Janus begrudgingly gives Calliope a boost, they’re alive and well but still pretty frail compared to their siblings, Clio and Erato

Also Callie’s blind(?). Another side effect of being premature, but it’s okay she’s got Oops, her seeing eye ‘mon

Seeing as all is well, Fuji heads out to find this other Mewtwo he’s being told about

There’s a kinda interlude here where we spent some time with Janus TL;DR Janus is very old, very tired, and isn’t ready to be Callie’s grandmewther even though Callie is PERSISTENT

Mnemosyne has a VERY bad time in a VERY bad dream with a VERY bad pile of slop that totally isn’t relevant to the story(he is, his temp name is “Goopy”, people love him for some reason)

Joyce gets super worried after watching Fuji’s vitals spike while he’s away

Joyce fails terribly in thinking Fuji went and got himself killed after he’s late coming home(man is late ONE TIME-)

Surprise! Fuji isn’t dead but his main and secondary neck have some pretty bad wounds that are Concerning™️

Double surprise! That Mewtwo he went to go find? Yeah she’s a feral little kitten that tried to divorce Fuji’s head from his body

Her name is Bellatrix(Movie 16 Mewtwo)

She’s very grumpy, enjoys pecha juice, and has now grown very attached to Joyce. Still thinks Fuji is a jerk tho but they’re working on that

[bruciemilf]

hi! I’m new to the batman/batfam fandom and new to reading superhero comics and I was wondering why Tom King sucks? I’ve seen posts for quite a few people expressing dislike for the guy and was just wondering if there is a TL;DR on why he sucks? I have read a bit of his stuff and liked it. So just curious if he is someone to avoid going forward

So here's the thing, I'm not well established In the comic book settlement to give a non-petty answer. But I'm going to explain why I, personally, find him completely insufferable.

Tom King is guilty of the same offense a lot of men working within comic book media are. Sexism, misogyny, racism, homophobia, the works. This isn't exactly breaking news, but it's enough.

But what I TRULY fucking find so unfortunate and so enraging and what fills me with absolute wrath is that he's the perfect embodiment for male mediocrity.

Male writers can jerk off the most bland, uninspired, unimaginative piece of shit writing, and demographics of even more mediocre men eat It up. I've never once looked at an issue Tom King wrote and found something I could objectively like.

I don't think people realize how rare that is. Even in media that's majorly characterized as bad, you can find at least one aspect you like.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S is boring, but you have Joey. Rick and Morty is edgy, but it's funny. Avengers Endgame was a fucking mess, but it had Tony.

Tom King has NOTHING. And I really need people to understand that.

Meanwhile, female writers in DC are constantly overlooked, criticized, unfairly judged for even the SLIGHTEST mistake. I NEED others to understand how absolutely ridiculous it is that Batman hasn't been written by a woman yet.

I dislike Tom King severely because he gets praised for being nothing. He's the Kim K of the DC world to me. But female writers have to be EXCELLENT in order to be considered GOOD. It fucking sucks.

[knightotoc]

Best Star Wars scenes of the '20s so far:

(I was going to include the Baby Yoda and Trilla reveals but those were both in 2019!)

5. Yord's Indirect Mind Trick

In the first episode of Acolyte, arrogant Jedi Yord Fandar raises his hand to threaten a Neimoidian with a mind trick. The alien's companion quickly gives Yord the information he wants before he can cast the spell.

This is my favorite scene in Acolyte, as it shows the sinister side of a mighty Jedi Order, where the threat of magic is just as powerful as magic itself. It reminds me of the social dynamics in some Arthurian literature, and I always appreciate when SFF shows what ordinary people think of our powerful "heroes." Acolyte pulls its biggest Jedi-critical punches, but this one lands.

4. Leia Asks Obi-Wan about the Force

"How does it work, the Force? What does it feel like?"

"Have you ever been afraid of the dark? How does it feel when you turn on the light?"

"I feel safe."

"Yes, it feels like that."

An unexpectedly tear-jerking moment in an occasionally frustrating show, this scene accomplishes a bunch of great stuff. First, it centers the by-far most neglected central character of Star Wars, Leia, and her too-often offscreen journey with her own powers. Second, it shows a more vulnerable side to Obi-Wan: through didactic empathy with a child's fear of the dark, he tells us that he, too, is afraid of all the awful shit that happens to him. His coolness is a front, and his bravery is real. Third, it adds an emotional layer to the Light Side's role in the universe; Yoda's "luminous beings" metaphor is just as beautiful, but much more cold.

3. Tsubaki's Prophecy

In the final episode of the first season of Visions, jaded old Jedi Knight Tsubaki is haunted by a nightmare of death, which comes to pass by his own ironic hand. It reminds me strongly of Anakin's vision in the second half of Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars from 2003, but without the kinda offensive "primitive natives" vibe.

Visions is an awesome format for including more artistic and unusual creators in Star Wars, like the similarly-named and just as wacky Visionaries comic book from 2005. It's great to be able to make these comparisons to the 00s, the best era of Star Wars.

I especially appreciate when these odd short stories get to be tragic. Singular voices that acknowledge sadness and darkness feel even more daring now under Disney than they did under George Lucas, who after all seems like quite a pessimist himself.

2. Crosshair's One-Handed Shot

I've already written a long post about this moment in the Bad Batch finale; the tl;dr is that, for once, Star Wars actually acknowledges the consequences of amputation. Crosshair, a sniper who has none of the magic powers or institutional support of other Star Wars amputees, has to take a high-stakes shot at his own baby sister's handcuffs before the attached villain drags her into a chasm. It's incredibly exciting and feels earned and genuinely empowering. Star Wars is one of the worst culprits of the fantasy robot prosthetic trope, which I've really begun to despise, and this scene moves away from that in the most satisfying way.

1. "I can't swim."

Andor #1 of course!!!!!!!!!

[rosecorcoranwrites]

"Free speech" this, "free access" that. The real reason not to ban books is it gives them a completely unearned mystique.

I'm reading Lawn Boy for the Banned Book Club at my library and it's basically a white, straight author writing about what it's like to be a gay, half-hispanic guy who's Not Like Other Guys (TM) because he's sensitive and likes reading and isn't a sexist jerk (though I have counted 3 instances so far of the narrator misogynistically describing women's bodies, and I'm not even half way through the book). Also rich people bad poor people good. Everyone is racist. Narrator describes his special needs older brother the way a eugenicist might. Also it's totes "not awful" for two ten year olds to give each other oral sex why would you think that?

(For the record, so far that is the only child-sex content, and while it's not pedophilia, it does strike me as a symptom of a larger problem in society, namely telling gay kids who had sexual encounters as kids (with adults or otherwise) that that's totally normal. Our society isn't grooming kids to become gay, but it sure seems like there are a heck of a lot of adults who are trying to groom and over-sexualize gay kids. Think about if the book has a heterosexual oral sex thing between two kids; everyone and their uncle would assume one or both of them probably did so because of previous sexual abuse by an adult. But if it's two boys, you shouldn't worry your pretty little head about because... IDK, the gays are more likely to be sexual at that age? Like, how is that not an extremely warped view of gay kids? Let them be kids, too.)

TL;DR this pretentious, tryhard book would have been rightfully resigned to the dustbin of history in a few years if it hadn't been banned. Banning a book is like giving it a badge of honor. Please stop doing it.