#to save the world. wow. very original

[bookishfeylin]

Unpopular Opinion Time

I'm not excited for The Stolen Heir, and I'm probably the only person who isn't. I think part of it is my aversion to sequels, but... I honestly don't want to return to Elfhame. The story was done in The Queen of Nothing. The Suren storyline/cliffhanger was fine as just that--a cliffhanger. I trust Holly Black, but... idk man. I'm just not excited. The Folk of the Air had a happy ending and sequels always mean disrupting said happy ending. Jude and Cardan finally worked everything out and built themselves a family and I'm not ready to see it all ripped apart.

If Cardan and Jude aren't in the book, or if they appear as a small cameo but nothing more, then I'll probably like it.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[microwaving-tesilid-argente]

.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I read over the neat handwriting scrawled elegantly onto my exam paper, a vivid red ink curling into the praise of 'good boy'. Giddy feeling of accomplishment aside, the ink seems to call to me. The letters are sharp, clean, deep. My hands simply itch to acquire such quality.... I recall the many different pens sprawled over my desk, back at Ramshackle, having bought them after discovering the many stationery and art brands of this foreign world. A few professional grade inking pens, a couple of brush pens, simple, smooth ball point pens...

But wow, this pen looks so good. I need to see it decorating my sketchbook!

"Professor, may I ask something?" I decide to (meekly) approach him one day in the hall. "what type of pen do you use for writing? It's so nice!"

I'd assume at this point most staff would be aware of my love for art, if the doodles I mindlessly draw on the sheets are anything to go by.

If you’re wondering, I used this irl luxury fountain pen as reference for the pricing on Crewel’s. It costs 1,255 USD (/thaumarks), which translates into roughly 125,500 yen (/madol).

If he doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will.

“You know fine craftsmanship when you see it.” Crewel folded his arms. “However, I’m afraid that particular writing implement is beyond your budget. Providing the name will do you no good.”

“It can’t be that bad,” you protested with a pout. “It’s okay! I’ve buckled down and dined on cup ramen for weeks and weeks before just to save up enough cash for stationary items!”

Crewel’s brows pinched, then loosened, pulling back to their original positions. He tangentially knew of your endeavors, the fruits of your labor tracked in ink and graphite doodles on every homework assignment and exam you turned in.

Those nuggets of gold, diamonds in the rough. The highlights of his busy work days.

He cracked a small smile and indulged your request.

“Very well, let’s see… This item comes from a specialty shop in Fairest City. For another fountain pen of this make and brand, that would set you back about 125,500 madol.”

Your jaw dropped, your eyes threatening to pop out of your skull. “D-Did I hear you correctly?! 125,500 madol?!”

“Yes,” Crewel replied nonchalantly. “I warned you it may be impractical to purchase on a student’s meager allowance.”

Your heart sank, face falling with it. “Urk! I didn’t expect the price to be that steep…”

There’s no way I can afford that on the monthly money the headmaster gives me! If I budget well and save for a whole year, that only runs me about…

Your fingers twitched as you attempted the mental math. Noticing it, Crewel chuckled.

“You’ve plenty of time to enjoy your school days. Someday, you’ll be that fine adult who can afford all the luxury pens they desire,” he advised with a brief pat on your shoulder, “so do not rush to grow up.

“If you inquire at the Mystery Shop, I’m sure Sam can recommend a number of affordable yet high-quality brands. He is sure to have something comparable to the fountain pen I use.”

[luvermore]

I haven't said much about S4 but I will say, I do not like the direction they took all the characters in. Especially both Ben's.

I think my least favorite part about how they go about Ben (Brellie and Sparrow) is that how they have the siblings dealing with them makes zero sense. Ben was supposedly the beginning of the end of the UA. Even though they didn’t even remember how he died. His death was such an emotional impact that their family imploded. So why does it seem like they glossed over A. Ben being around 17 years after his death and just hanging with Klaus. B. Literally saw adult him in S1 but had all of a “oh wow” reaction. Then in S2 seemed to not care when Klaus said (one of my fave scenes tbh), “Ghost can’t time travel”. I get he’s been dead forever but it just seems like there should have been some reaction.

My next issue is, when Sparrow Ben comes, they take him around like he’s their Ben. Which, in my opinion is why he could never feel connected to them. There was never a point where the Brellies accepted him for the Ben he is now. Granted there were scenes with Viktor and Allison trying to help him and Luther keeping up with him but that’s my point too. Viktor wanted to help Ben so badly because he saved him, but, he didn’t. At least not that Ben. I think they’d still try to help any of the Sparrows if they still existed and it was them inside but, Viktor’s reasoning for trying to save him, and Allison’s too was, “He’s our brother”. But he isn’t. He’s not their brother and if I was supposed to as the viewer, assume that a part of the reason they were gripping onto him is because they lost their Ben, then I would have liked to see that in the show.

I know that the Brellies are very accepting people and tend to accept anyone into their fold as we have seen with Lila and Sloane. But the thing is those two people did not grow up with them. They did not witness the death of someone they considered siblings (meaning the Brellies didn’t grow up with Lila or Sloane and watch them die). They don’t seem to even have a real reaction to the fact that when they go back to their original timeline that basically kind of erased their Ben in totality. They all parted ways when the New World was created and Ben left to his own devices and ended up in prison. So I am not going to assume that in between the years of season three and season four they were just keeping up with him.

I just feel like for a show that started it first season catapulting us into the personal issues of the siblings. It didn’t do a good job going through the motions of them in later season. In short, I feel like a show that clung to the complicated and dysfunctional family theme kind of crashed and burned in seasons three and four. It became less about the siblings working through their problems and dynamics and more about going back to a plot that never really made that much sense. There were aspects of season four that could have made for a great conversation and most of them were deleted scenes, which is beyond me.

[queerstudiesnatural]

i find it so interesting to look at sam and dean's respective views of society and people vs monsters, especially in early seasons, and then how that shifts and evolves throughout the show. like when we first meet them dean is very anti establishment whereas sam is literally studying law at an ivy league college. dean is very vocally anti police, and you're like wow for someone who was raised by an authoritarian father and is trying his hardest to please him this guy sure hates authority. he is aware of and cares about issues like racism and classism. but then when it comes to anyone non human he pretty much has no grey area, he sees them all as monsters to be put down. they are Things and they all killed his mum. whereas sam is pretty neutral about people, he doesn't even seem to be aware of systemic inequalities, he has a more individualistic approach to society. but this means he also sees monsters as individuals, just as capable of being good or redeemed.

This has everything to do with the way they grew up and the challenges they faced that affected them the most. dean's biggest challenge was putting food on the table. dean grew up poor and hungry. he was arrested for stealing, he had to use his body to get by, and he had to starve to try and feed sammy. and sam also grew up poor, but he was somewhat shielded from the reality of it. he wasn't the one who had to get food and pay for the extra week in a motel john left them in. his issues were much more personal. because sam knew he was a freak by all standards, he felt impure, and he knew in his heart that the monsters they hunted weren't too different from him. so his hope was in believing that anyone could be saved. anyone could choose to be good. where dean saw a system, with people in power and people who suffered because of them, sam saw grey individuals, and he was drawn in particular to the ones that had something "wrong" with them (max, madison, the kid from bugs, etc)

dean grew up so isolated that he couldn't be individualistic. he could only look at people from afar and that's why he sees the systems. and the violence he faced wasn't targeted at him personally, it was targeted at people like him. poor people, drifters, queer (or queer-looking) people. sam grew up trying to make connections. he made friends, he wanted an education. he tried so hard to belong.

and it's interesting to me that dean ended up being the one who formed the most personal bonds with people who were different, or ostracised, or monsters. see crowley, benny, charlie, claire.

sam tried to build communities (see his s14 arc) but every time he tried to get close to someone it ended in disaster so he ended up keeping his distance. and building a system. throughout the show he takes on leadership roles, and as time progresses he keeps his relationships more and more goal-oriented. whereas dean ends up forming personal bonds with a lot of people, and focusing less on helping oppressed people in general, and more on saving the individuals he cares about. i'm not saying they switched roles, they both kept their original views of the world, but they shifted towards a more confused and confusing moral compass that pointed somewhere in the middle and made it harder for them to understand each other. and ain't that just what growing up is like. dean cared about the whole world as a teen and young adult, but then that became too much to bear, and he had to focus his energy on his circle of loved ones. still caring about the world, but he had individual connections now and had to prioritise them. and sam still saw the potential for redemption and goodness in everyone, but he grew weary of people too, afraid of them or afraid of losing them, and he built walls. tried to help by giving himself missions rather than getting personally and emotionally involved.

psychologically speaking this show is so rich, the characters don't feel one dimensional (despite some of the writers' best efforts), and following their journey for 15 years means we saw them change and evolve, they don't remain the same people they were in season 1, but they keep some of that, and they just grow organically. sometimes i just love spn

[regulusrules]

Yo, I saw your post about orientalism in relation to the "hollywood middle-east" tiktok!

How can a rando and university dropout get into and learn more about? Any literature or other content to recommend?

Hi!! Wow, you have no idea how you just pressed a button. I'll unleash 5+ years on you. And I'll even add for you open-sourced works that you can access as much as I can!

1. Videos

I often find this is the best medium nowadays to learn anything! I'll share with you some of the best that deal with the topic in different frames

• This is a video of Edward Said talking about his book, Orientalism. Said is the Palestinian- American critic who first introduced the term Orientalism, and is the father of postcolonial studies as a critical literary theory. In this book, you’ll find an in-depth analysis of the concept and a deconstruction of western stereotypes. It’s very simple and he explains everything in a very easy manner.

• How Islam Saved Western Civilization. A more than brilliant lecture by Professor Roy Casagranda. This, in my opinion, is one of the best lectures that gives credit to this great civilization, and takes you on a journey to understand where did it all start from.

• What’s better than a well-researched, general overview Crash Course about Islam by John Green? This is not necessarily on orientalism but for people to know more about the fundamental basis of Islam and its pillars. I love the whole playlist that they have done about the religion, so definitely refer to it if you're looking to understand more about the historical background! Also, I can’t possibly mention this Crash Course series without mentioning ... ↓

• The Medieval Islamicate World. Arguably my favourite CC video of all times. Hank Green gives you a great thorough depiction of the Islamic civilization when it rose. He also discusses the scientific and literary advancements that happened in that age, which most people have no clue about! And honestly, just his excitement while explaining the astrolabe. These two truly enlightened so many people with the videos they've made. Thanks, @sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog

2. Documentaries

• This is an AMAZING documentary called Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Villifies A People by the genius American media critic Jack Shaheen. He literally analysed more than 1000 movies and handpicked some to showcase the terribly false stereotypes in western depiction of Arab/Muslim cultures. It's the best way to go into the subject, because you'll find him analysing works you're familiar with like Aladdin and all sorts.

• Spain’s Islamic Legacy. I cannot let this opportunity go to waste since one of my main scopes is studying feminist Andalusian history. There are literal gems to be known about this period of time, when religious coexistence is documented to have actually existed. This documentary offers a needed break from eurocentric perspectives, a great bird-view of the Islamic civilization in Europe and its remaining legacy (that western history tries so hard to erase).

• When the Moors Ruled in Europe. This is one of the richest documentaries that covers most of the veiled history of Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). Bettany Hughes discusses some of the prominent rulers, the brilliance of architecture in the Arab Muslim world, their originality and contributions to poetry and music, their innovative inventions and scientific development, and lastly, La Reconquista; the eventual fall and erasure of this grand civilization by western rulers.

3. Books

• Rethinking Orientalism by Reina Lewis. Lewis brilliantly breaks the prevailing stereotype of the “Harem”, yk, this stupid thought westerns projected about arab women being shut inside one room, not allowed to go anywhere from it, enslaved and without liberty, just left there for the sexual desires of the male figures, subjugated and silenced. It's a great read because it also takes the account of five different women living in the middle east.

• Nocturnal Poetics by Ferial Ghazoul. A great comparative text to understand the influence and outreach of The Thousand and One Nights. She applies a modern critical methodology to explore this classic literary masterpiece.

• The Question of Palestine by Edward Said. Since it's absolutely relevant, this is a great book if you're looking to understand more about the Palestinian situation and a great way to actually see the perspective of Palestinians themselves, not what we think they think.

• Arab-American Women's Writing and Performance by S.S. Sabry. One of my favourite feminist dealings with the idea of the orient and how western depictions demeaned arab women by objectifying them and degrading them to objects of sexual desire, like Scheherazade's characterization: how she was made into a sensual seducer, but not the literate, brilliantly smart woman of wisdom she was in the eastern retellings. The book also discusses the idea of identity and people who live on the hyphen (between two cultures), which is a very crucial aspect to understand arabs who are born/living in western countries.

• The Story of the Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole. This is a great book if you're trying to understand the influence of Islamic culture on Europe. It debunks this idea that Muslims are senseless, barbaric people who needed "civilizing" and instead showcases their brilliant civilization that was much advanced than any of Europe in the time Europe was labelled by the Dark Ages. (btw, did you know that arabic was the language of knowledge at that time? Because anyone who was looking to study advanced sciences, maths, philosophy, astronomy etc, had to know arabic because arabic-speaking countries were the center of knowledge and scientific advancements. Insane, right!)

• Convivencia and Medieval Spain. This is a collection of essays that delve further into the idea of “Convivencia”, which is what we call for religious coexistence. There's one essay in particular that's great called Were Women Part of Convivencia? which debunks all false western stereotypical images of women being less in Islamic belief. It also highlights how arab women have always been extremely cultured and literate. (They practiced medicine, studied their desired subjects, were writers of poetry and prose when women in Europe couldn't even keep their surnames when they married.)

4. Novels / Epistolaries

• Granada by Radwa Ashour. This is one of my favourite novels of all time, because Ashour brilliantly showcases Andalusian history and documents the injustices and massacres that happened to Muslims then. It covers the cultural erasure of Granada, and is also a story of human connection and beautiful family dynamics that utterly touches your soul.

• Dreams of Trespass by Fatema Mernissi. This is wonderful short read written in autobiographical form. It deconstructs the idea of the Harem in a postcolonial feminist lens of the French colonization of Morocco.

• Scheherazade Goes West by Mernissi. Mernissi brilliantly showcases the sexualisation of female figures by western depictions. It's very telling, really, and a very important reference to understand how the west often depicts middle-eastern women by boxing them into either the erotic, sensual beings or the oppressed, black-veiled beings. It helps you understand the actual real image of arab women out there (who are not just muslims btw; christian, jew, atheist, etc women do exist, and they do count).

• Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. This is a feminist travel epistolary of a British woman which covers the misconceptions that western people, (specifically male travelers) had recorded and transmitted about the religion, traditions and treatment of women in Constantinople, Turkey. It is also a very insightful sapphic text that explores her own engagement with women there, which debunks the idea that there are no queer people in the middle east.

---------------------

With all of these, you'll get an insight about the real arab / islamic world. Not the one of fanaticism and barbarity that is often mediated, but the actual one that is based on the fundamental essences of peace, love, and acceptance.

[arrowhawkart]

Alright what's up everyone! If you do not follow my personal blog fair warning: I have become very suddenly obsessed with Dragon Age and have been playing thru the games for the first time ever- so expect the next chunk of art from me to be very Dragon Age-centric

So Anyways here's Cedric Hawke, the fun little guy I made for my DA2 playthrough and became incredibly attached to much faster than I expected.

More incoherent rambles and thoughts on my Hawke under the cut- it's very stream of consciousness under there and also very very long you've been warned

[ID in Alt Text]

Just like.... wow.... okay so I've now played through Inquisition and finished Trespasser and I've gotta say DA2 really took the cake for me, like by far my favorite of the 3. (Like please don't get me wrong it absolutely had it's issues I'm not saying it was a perfect game or that all the writing choices were amazing) But I just really enjoyed the smaller more personal scale of the conflicts in DA2, I liked that Hawke was even more Just Some Guy, and like yeah the Warden and the Inquisitor aren't like special chosen ones or anything, but they are both tasked with these gigantic world-saving country-spanning quests, and Hawke? Hawke is just a guy trying to do right by his family. Like he doesn't have any world saving mission. He is just trying to Get By and that really made this game hit home more for me than the other two.

I said I was gonna ramble about my Hawke and I just ended up rambling about DA2 itself... whoops. ANYWAYS- Cedric- My Boy Cedric- I recognize that a purple mage Hawke is the most common route people go and I am by no means unique or original, but this game series is very new to me, personally, and I'm having fun anyways. (From here on out I will be talking about my Custom Hawke and not like, Hawke the player character in general)

And gosh I'm such a sucker for complicated and messy family dynamics, and DA2 does that so well. Like the Hawke family is Fucked Up. Bethany gets killed by that ogre while they're fleeing Lothering when she tries to save their mom from said ogre, and Leandra immediately turns and blames Cedric for Bethany's death- and then later in Act 1, Carver, best baby brother Carver, also throws Bethany's death in his face while they're having their own stupid argument which started because Cedric was trying to cheer Carver up and boy did that fail dramatically.

Like Cedric is witty and charming and sarcastic and kind of an asshole sometimes, and comes of as incredibly over confident and cocksure and that's because he's very much been shoved into the role of 'okay you've gotta take care of everything and if you don't everything bad is Your Fault, and since you're in charge of taking care of everything, everything bad is automatically Your Fault No Matter What Anyways.' So he's gotta playact like he has everything all together and under control, because what the fuck is his family gonna do if he doesn't? And underneath all of that he's an incredibly stressed out guy, who does not feel like he can ever let on that he's stressed and making everything up as he goes and just hoping that things work out well.

And like he tries to do the right thing- by god does this man try. He brings Carver with him on the deep roads mission because he and Carver work well together! Carver wants to go! He loves his little brother, there is no one he would rather have by his side than his little brother! There is no one he trusts more than Carver to have his back! Carver and Cedric are incredibly close, (yes in the game's friendship/rivalry system Carver was locked in at full rivalry but that absolutely does not mean they weren't still very close and also friends). Like Carver is the one person who actually recognizes that the way Leandra projects all of her own issues onto them, but like mostly Cedric, is really shitty! He acknowledges that after apologizing for his part in the argument I mentioned above. And then of course Carver ends up getting the Blight during the deep roads mission, because nothing can every go right for them. Thankfully Cedric brought Anders along, so Carver is able to become a Grey Warden instead of DYING, but he has to leave, and Cedric doesn't even find out whether or not Carver survived his joining for months. And of course Leandra blames Cedric for this, she begged him not to bring Carver along with him, and he did anyways and now she's never going to see her youngest son again and it's all Cedric's fault. And that's how Act 1 ends and I just.... Auaghghghghhhh-

And then we've got Act 2, and like mid-way through Act 2 is probably the high point for Cedric. Things peak for him here and then it's all one big snowball downhill from there. So like, Cedric romanced Fenris, because this man is addicted to difficulty, and of course was going to immediately be infatuated with the guy that makes hating mages half his personality. (I mean it wasn't immediate, it was more of a slow build, mutual-trust, to friendship(and yes once again Fenris was at full rivalry but I stand by what I said about the friendship rivalry system earlier), to lovers thing, especially considering three years pass between Acts 1 and 2) And yeah, Cedric doesn't hide the fact that he's very into Fenris, and Fenris definitely hasn't seemed opposed to this. So after Fenris kills Hadriana and then they have that fun little argument that ends with Fenris pinning Cedric to the wall and kissing him 😳- Cedric is like, riding the high of what was probably the first positive physical affection he's gotten since Carver let for the Grey Wardens three years ago. And then of course the following morning Fenris immediately breaks things off with Cedric, so what Cedric thought was going to be the start to a romantic relationship, just ends up being an ill-fated one night stand. And like! Cedric does not begrudge Fenris this! He completely understands Fenris's reasons, he is not upset with Fenris at all! He is still just completely crushed though. So yeah, things peaked for Cedric for like one very short night and then start speeding downhill. Because not long after that is when his mom is killed by a fucking serial killer. As if things weren't already fucked enough for Cedric, already having lost his twin younger siblings.

Also side note- I love the fact that DA2 is portrayed as Varric telling the story of Hawke's life to Cassandra, and that we know Varric is an unreliable narrator. Because like Leandra's last words to Hawke being that she's so proud of her strong boy- at least with how Cedric's relationship was with Leandra up to this point- felt so so out of character for Leandra, and I love the headcanon that that's Varric giving his bestie some closure narratively that he never actually got in reality. So like that's canon for Cedric. Because that was Leandra's decapitated head frankensteined onto another woman's body- and magicked into a reanimated corpse that absolutely did not seem like it had any conscious thought- like she was already dead before Cedric showed up. There were no final words. There was no nice narratively satisfying ending to that one. And I like it better that way tbh........

We're just gonna like skip over the whole qunari invasion subplot because I am. Not a fan of how that was handled. Writing wise. Like what the fuck was that. Like I have THOUGHTS about it but they're not gonna go on tumblr. Anyways. Moving on.

Champion of Kirkwall! Yay! Meredith knows he's an apostate mage and is just Waiting for any half-decent excuse to either bring him to the circle, make him tranquil, or kill him? Not yay! Cedric is absolutely good friends with Anders, and has been helping with the mage underground every chance he has. People in the city have been whispering about making him of all people Viscount and he has no idea how to feel about that, like he'd rather not, but who else is gonna do it? And who else would do it and actually give a shit about mages and elves and just like lower class people in general? Like this incredibly stressed out guy does not need more added to his plate, he really doesn't. But he's definitely thinking about it. I mean hey! It's not like he's got any family around to take care of at this point right? Why not just take that eldest daughter syndrome thing he's got going on and use it to fix the city?

The one bright spot for him here is that hey, at least he and Fenris get back together. That one's nice. They both deserve something positive and comforting after all the shit they've been through.

And then Meredith is trying to invoke the right of annulment and Anders blows up the fucking Chantry. And Cedric can't even blame him for it. After 6 or 7 years of painstakingly working to try to find peaceful ways to improve the lives of mages and getting blocked at every turn, with the knowledge that Meredith has been getting worse and worse and worse, and has been actively looking for any excuse to invoke the right of annulment and just kill every single mage in Kirkwall? And Grand Cleric Elthina has been absolutely no help, and has absolutely been subtly on Meredith's side the entire time. Like at a certain point, violence really does feel like the only option left. When you've been backed this far into a corner.

So obviously Cedric takes the side of the mages, doesn't kill Anders, is honestly like 'my dude, my buddy, my guy, my best pal(aside from Varric, and my boyfriend Fenris) why didn't you tell me? I would've helped you on purpose.' He's elated when Carver shows up during that final push to the Gallows, like the whole situation is absolutely shit, and it'd definitely be better if his beloved brother was no where near danger, but he's a Grey Warden now so that's not even an option anyways. So it's just nice to have him around even during such an intensely stressful moment. Honestly everything is so unbelievably fucked at this point that Cedric isn't even stressed anymore. Like things literally cannot get worse. He's kind of riding the high of things not being able to get worse. Or maybe that's just adrenaline. Who knows. Aveline and Sebastian both leave, Cedric is unbothered. Doesn't even try to convince Aveline to side with him later either, like he's never really gotten along with her, and he did not like how she treated Carver. Fenris and everyone else stick around, and that's what matters to Cedric, like all the people he was actually close friends with stick with him in this moment (Fenris, Varric, Isabella, Merrill, Anders, & Carver)

And then yeah, they save the mages, defeat Meredith, leave Kirkwall with the renegade mages. Everyone goes their separate ways due to one reason or another, except Fenris. At least Cedric does get to keep one positive close relationship around.

[lc-holy]

Miraculous awakening Live-blog:

Originally I didn't want to watch the film because I know I'm not going to like it, but since I've seen a lot of people talking about it, I thought I'd make up my own mind.

(I watch the film in French)

Fu's voice is a little less cartoonish than in the series. But what intrigues me is who is Fu talking to? Is he breaking the 4th wall by talking to the audience?

He could also have said: "this film is a Jeremy Zag fanfic, it's not canon to the series".

So Marinette in the film is ashamed of her father? I can understand that she's a teenager, and that her father is a bit overprotective.... It's a bit cliché and déjà vu but hey.

Wow, Sabine and Marinette's discussion in the bakery... it was too weird and unnatural.

First song... it's so weird... I don't understand what's happening? We see Marinette taking a bike, going in all directions, but finally coming back to the bakery...

And I have the impression that the lyrics don't match what we see on screen? I have the impression that the song wants to show us that she's weird because she's clumsy like in the show, but at the same time she doesn't say it clearly.... I find the song lyrics too vague and empty... I don't understand what this song is trying to tell me...

Oh, Gabriel! His design is my least favorite at the moment. Mostly because of his tiny shoulders! In the series, his shoulders are broad, which gives him presence.

Oh, it's nice to see how Gabriel's clothes are made. After all, in the show, Gabriel doesn't want to leave his house and does everything by phone. I think it's nice. But the scene didn't even last 1 minute...

Alya saving Marinette was pretty good here.

So Alya likes to film people making fools of themselves? I thought her passion was journalism and superheroes! And Marinette smiling? If I were her, I'd be afraid she'd film me without my knowledge and post it on the Internet.

Well, the dialogue is awkward, but I understood what Alya meant xD

I don't quite understand Marinette's montage, which is supposed to show us her clumsiness...  I don't think Marinette is all that clumsy, actually. She's supposed to be the school's disaster girl, but she hasn't done anything really catastrophic.

Wow the miraculous butterfly giving end-of-the-world flashbacks.... I wasn't expecting that.

But why is everyone laughing at Marinette! She hasn't done anything particularly embarrassing...

First interaction between Adrien and Marinette, it's pretty sweet. I can see why she has a crush on him, he's one of the first people to be nice to her (although there was Alya too, but hey). But Adrien disappearing while putting the books away! I burst out laughing. Did he run away or what? He hadn't even finished putting the books away! And the fact that he said afterwards that he found Marinette too weird? Is that why he ran away?! It makes the scene less cute...

Adrien: "I'm used to it, I work alone all the time." I don't understand why he says that? Why does he work alone? In the show I can understand, he's home-schooled, but here I don't understand what they wanted to tell us about Adrien with this sentence...

So in the film Adrien can go out whenever he wants, ok.

Fu is very strange, but it's funny. Fu giving her the ladybug's miraculous is almost the same as in the show, except that in the show fu gives her his miraculous because she saved him but also because he saw her clumsiness and lack of confidence.

I thought it was funny at first, but fu is starting to get creepy, and I feel like I'm watching a parody of miraculous here.

Okay, the akumatization scene could have been interesting, especially with the parallel when Adrien finds the black cat ring and the failed marriage proposal. But the akumatization is so quick??? We don't have time to feel all the frustration of the akumatized character, who cries and suddenly growls a little because he's not happy. We don't see Gabriel feeling the negative emotions. And no pact between Hawkmoth and the akumatized? okay...

And we're talking about the fact that Adrien didn't have to do much to get his miraculous? It just came to him because he's the chosen one. The same goes for Marinette... in the end, the fact that she saved Master Fu's life was for nothing, since the miraculous come magically to the chosen ones.

Wow Calm down tikki... I have a feeling she's going to be radically different from tikki from the series. I feel more like tikki with Plagg's behavior.

Tikki's rap is weird, I don't know if I like it or not xD

Marinette: "First a song, now a yo-yo and then what? A dinette?" Huh? You know you can be humorous and still make sense. Maybe it's just the French translation.

Is the yo-yo alive?

Huh?! Chat noir is here?! But we didn't see Plagg and Adrien meet! We didn't see Adrien transform! We didn't see Adrien's reaction when he discovered the miraculous....

Chat noir: "A young girl doesn't hang out in a place like this at this time of night" How to destroy the charm of Chat noir's character in one line... But it's a different story, so the characters are bound to be a bit different, so we'll let it slide.

It's a shame we didn't get to see Adrien's reaction when he found out he'd been chosen to be a hero, because he seems to be playing the super-mysterious hero by hiding in the cathedral. So far we haven't seen much of Adrien, except that he looks sad to have lost his mother.

Chat noir is a bit strange? As we haven't really been introduced to Adrien, we don't really understand why Adrien suddenly changes personality...

He made a joke without being insufferable! Phew, it's Chat noir all right. And then he calls Ladybug assistant... Chat noir... I believed in you...

Alya says Ladybug is strong, even though she's done absolutely nothing so far.

The lighting effects are really nice.

Oh my, the careless whisper music started when Chat noir took Ladybug's hand! What's that music?

So Ladybug and Chat noir didn't beat the akumatized person, the butterfly simply left the object. Which makes me think that Tikki didn't explain how to purify the akuma! She should have explained this to Marinette instead of telling her to trust herself.

So it's Fu that explains their power ok. But even after falling in love with Ladybug, Chat noir still wants to go it alone?

What's with the characters in this movie disappearing like that?! Is master fu a ghost?

Plagg is so pathetic?! What did you do to him?! Is this his first on-screen interaction with Adrien?! I feel like they introduced him to us as if we already knew him.

He farts and burps, yay.... It's the quintessence of humor. (I'm not against fart jokes, but in movies it's always complicated to make jokes like that).

Stop farting plagg!!!! Aaaaaahhhh!!!

So is Hawkmoth a separate entity? But then, who is Hawkmoth? And is Nooroo kind?

Nooroo: "These powers aren't meant for this" Nooroo says this when Hawkmoth tells him he wants to cause chaos to get Ladybug and Chat noir's miraculous back. So Nooroo's power can also be used for good? like in the show?

Uh... what year is the film set in? Are there any prisoners in the catacombs???? Are people still selling newspapers in the streets? What's going on?

I'm sorry, but the akumatizations in this film make no sense....

Nino tells Adrien to be super mysterious to seduce the person he loves. But this scene should have taken place before Ladybug met Chat noir! Chat noir's behavior would have made more sense!

Why doesn't Adrien want to stay with Marinette? Because he thinks she's weird? (#notmyAdrien)

Well, their discussion is actually quite cute.

The action scenes are nice, but we need to stop using unnecessary slow motion. Why slow down when Nino confesses to Alya?

Ladybug still had a plan to beat the bad guys, even if there was no Ladybug vision. Wait... Isn't there a lucky charm?

But don't akuma go into objects?! They go into people! Oh okay... it wouldn't be very kids friendly to break their leg to get the akuma out of their body anyway...

Meh... the way she purified the akumas was not impressive at all. And she didn't do what she did in the show and get the akumas that formed Hawkmoth's head. It would have been cool to see this scene with this animation. Well...

oh? Chat noir became a little more humble all of a sudden.

Parisians still read newspapers? Don't they have the Internet?

Ladybug and Chat noir advertising cars? The subtlety of this ad xD it made me burst out laughing.

The rooftop scene is very cute, too bad it ends with Chat noir blocking Ladybug against a wall.

Tikki forced Marinette to touch Adrien's hand to bring him closer and now that Marinette wants to ask Adrien to go to the ball, she tells him to stay focused on her mission? She was fearless from the start and now she's cautious? Why is that? Tikki's behavior has changed completely...

Do the earrings flash in case of danger? It's not very discreet, but okay.

So Chat noir pretended to be in danger to get Ladybug to come?

Wait, wait... Chat noir tells his life story here?! And his secret identity? oh... that’s right... From the beginning, they never talked about the importance of keeping their identity a secret... So if it doesn't matter, why don't they already know who they are!

Adrien: "Since my mother died, I've sworn not to get attached to people, so as not to suffer" Ok Gwen Stacy.

Joking aside, we see so little of Adrien interacting with others in this film that this sentence is a little surprising. And he has Nino, doesn't he? Isn't he his friend? In fact, we don't really know what their relationship is, since they've only exchanged two sentences.

In all the songs, French lip-synching is catastrophic....

"Every day you save the world with that mask but the girl wearing it saved my heart" "How could I have imagined for a second that she could love me, behind my mask hides an empty and abandoned heart" Chat noir throwing out corny quotes he found on the internet xD

And stop farting plagg !!!! I promise you I love plagg in the series but here he is uninteresting and insufferable!!!!!!

Ooh... Gabriel are you okay?

Adrien gets angry with his father, but he doesn't care that he's in a terrible state?

Oh! Adrien "tutoie" his father in the film.

And we've never seen Chloé and Adrien interact with each other... Are they childhood friends or not?

And Marinette loses hope again ...

Stop with the careless whisper music, please.....

No, just no ... even if Adrien is heartbroken, he'll still turn into Chat noir to save Paris ... now Adrien is just selfish. He turns into Chat noir just to see Ladybug. This scene really made me angry...

The fact that they say they're "stronger together" is starting to get on my nerves. It's so cheesy.

Chat noir cataclysm is a liquid?

Hawkmoth masters the force?!

Tikki: "Get up, Marinette, don't let your fear paralyze you" No, but you have to stop using phrases like "go and believe in yourself!". Marinette has a head injury and has to be taken to hospital.

So there wasn't even a final fight? Quite simply: Oh no, Chat noir is my son! I'll stop being mean!

Gabriel's story told in a minute. I prefer Felix and Kagami to tell it, sorry Gabriel.

Gabriel: "The only power stronger than death is love" Gabriel, even you don't deserve to say such corny things...what have they done to you, poor guy...

I heard Fu was more competent in this movie than in the series. And really...I don't see how...he served any purpose other than to explain their power. He didn't even choose the heroes.

Ladybug: "the power of love will be there to protect you" ah yes, the film completely assumes its cheesiness.

So there's no Miraculous ladybug: it's the power of love that literally fixes everything.

Didn't we even see Marinette make her dress?

Has Adrien turned into Luka or what? Instead of playing guitar chords, he's playing cheesy poem quotes!

This final scene is long....

This identity reveal sucks... my god... no impact.

 I'm not giving a score because I don't like to rate films. But here's my general feeling:

This is fan fiction written by someone who can't write. I tried to detach myself as much as possible from the series, but even though I knew nothing about Miraculous, everything is too vague and unexplained. The relationships between the characters are bizarre and unlovable.

Marinette is an empty shell who tells us nothing except that she doesn't trust herself.

There's nothing charming about Chat Noir, who thinks only of Ladybug and has nothing heroic about him.

The relationship between Gabriel and Adrien is non-existent.

Chloé is useless.

Plagg just farts...

The final battle is non-existent... ! ! !!!

Yes, you don't write a series like you write a movie, but here instead of taking another direction to make a parallel universe to Miraculous the series, they just took away everything that made it fun. They didn't add anything or develop anything differently, they just took things away.

The music in a musical should tell a story, but here it's the same thing all the time... and it doesn't tell much either.

If you like the film's music, I think you might enjoy the film, because it's watchable. It's not horrible, but it's forgettable and cliché.

I'm not going to talk about this movie again, I'm clearly not the target audience. I'll leave it to those who will like the film. I will only continue to watch the series and the special episodes.

[jennagrinsoverml]

Any good fics featuring Marinette or Adrien akumatized?

There sure are! (And wow did I ever get a lot of asks for this!) Now, to be clear, I won't be reccing any Chat Blanc fics, since that's a category in and of itself (and as a result this list favours akumanette). But let's have some akumanette and akumadrien!

Confessions by @spuk-goodness

S04 Alternative beginning where Marinette shares her biggest secret with her partner and where 'We are a team' means 'I love you'.

Or the one where Hawk Moth notices that Marinette is a bit overwhelmed and decides to take advantage. A new akuma appears in Paris the very next day and Chat Noir has to fight by himself. Where could his Lady possibly be?

One-shot. Akumanette. This is a different take on akumanette than we usually see, which I loved. I absolutely think it makes sense for an akuma to target Marinette with how overwhelmed she is, especially in early season 4, and I love the way that it was handled here.

when you weren’t mine to lose by @bugsandchatons

Change is a scary thing, especially when it feels like nothing has stayed the same.

It’s been a year since Marinette became the Guardian of the Miracle Box - a year of struggling beneath a burden she never asked for, a weight that has her leaning on her partner more and more as the hours fly by, of letting him come to her, too, when he needs a soft place to land. A year of falling for the boy who takes on the world by her side with a smile made of sunlight, and fighting the growing urge to tell him what he means to her.

After all, they’ll have time enough for that when Paris is safe.

But when the unthinkable happens, Marinette learns the tragedy of loving someone quietly, and the lines she’ll cross to save him.

Multi-chapter. Akumanette (Akuma!Ladybug, really). This is what happens when Ladybug loses Chat Noir. It hurts in all the best ways and the writing is absolutely gorgeous and somehow we still get a happy ending!

Lovelace by @p-artsypants

Convinced that he's unlovable, Adrien is quickly thrown for a loop when Marinette confesses her love for him out of the blue. An akumatization and reveal later, he changes his mind about being unlovable.

One-shot. Akumadrien. I love when Gabriel is a horrible bastard and that results in Adrien being akumatized, and this fic is aboslutely perfect for that! It's also an original take on akumadrien, which I love.

Echoes of You by @kittinoir

In the day time, she’s Marinette - a normal girl, with a normal life. A normal girl, with a normal life. A normal girl, with…

Multi-chapter. Akumanette. Marinette gives up the miracle box and her memories, and Chat is frantic trying to figure out what happened to his Lady. (And the love square content, including a lot of Marichat, is fantastic!) Meanwhile, Chloe is trying to do better following the events of Miracle Queen.

A Different Approach by ShawnaCanon

Adrien finds out Ladybug's true identity. Since Cat Noir has been thoroughly friend-zoned, he figures maybe he can woo her as Adrien. But that means doing it without his mask. And that's scarier than any supervillain Hawk Moth could throw at him.

Multi-chapter. Akumadrien. It takes a while to get to the akumadrien, but I really enjoyed the journey. This poor boy is so romantically inept, but ultimately that's not what leads to his akumatization. This is a different take than we usually see and it's very much Adrien that is akumatized, rather than Chat (or any kind of Chat Blanc variation).

A Sound of Thunder by Tempomental

“Bye-bye, little… actually, that’s your line, isn’t it? Sorry.”

Ladybug stared at the man in front of her. Tall. Shaggy, but not unkempt blond hair. Oh yeah, and he was wearing a Ladybug costume.

“Who - who are you?”

“Oh, right, sorry.” He drew himself up to his full height and proudly announced, “My name is Adrien Agreste, and I’ve come from the future to rescue you!”

Multi-chapter. Akumadrien. In our time, Adrien and Marinette use their traditional miraculous. However, Adrien also comes back from the future to help out with the ladybug miraculous. It’s extremely intense and well written and every time I thought I had spotted a problem in the writing, it turned out to be a plot element but holy shit I thought I was going to die with how intense this is. If you like plot, you will absolutely LOVE this fic.

some truths are as loyal (as the shadows we lead) by @carpisuns

When Marinette wins a design contest hosted by Gabriel Agreste, it seems like a dream come true. Until everything goes wrong. (A Marichat akumanette fic)

Multi-chapter. Akumanette. This was actually the first akumanette fic I ever read and it gave me a bit of a taste for it! @carpisuns is an amazing writer, and I always enjoy everything she gifts us. This is no exception! My favourite part of this was seeing just how much it took to break Marinette, as well as Gabriel being The Worst.

too little, too late. by @madibug

“Ladybug.” Chat’s voice cuts in like molten steel. It’s a tone that Ladybug hasn’t heard him use with her before and so it surprises her into turning to him and - It feels like smacking into a wall. Chat is no more than a foot away from her but when their eyes meet, it hits her just how much distance has grown between them. Her heart hiccups out of rhythm, as hearts often do when something feels… wrong.

Multi-chapter. Akumanette. I really enjoyed this one, especially all of the different plans and how the crew adapted. This is @madibug's answer to the Ladybug version of Chat Blanc, and it's really creepy and interesting!

fleeting. by @agnes-writes

e·phem·er·al (/əˈfem(ə)rəl/), adj. - lasting for a very short time. But no matter how fleeting Ephemeral's powers may make things, the damage has already been done. And Ladybug pays the price. OR: A drabble based on what I want to happen in Episode 100: Ephemeral.

One-shot. Akumadrien. I really enjoyed this alternate imagining of Ephmeral! It was written before the episode aired, so it's not entirely consistent, but it's still really interesting and well done.

And, for a bit of a self-rec, The Closest Thing to Love features akumanette, if you're interested in fake dating and PRPR 😊

[crystaljellie]

My Post about Jimmy and Joel!! Finally!

So Jimmy and Joel know each other in their original world, as co-workers, they both work at the same cafe as it's right next to their uni.

They got isekai'd completely randomly, like they just went to sleep woke up the next day and BAMM, Grian standing over them as they're lying on the grass. Grian actually very quickly clocks that they're not from this world after originally thinking oh new race? Then realises, 'ah now watcher shennangins.'

He drags Joel and Jimmy off somewhere to hide and explains the situation to them and they're both sooo confused.

Grian kind of disguises them? He starts by making Jimmy a pair of fake wings, but then the next morning once Jimmy tries to take him off (They stayed over night) They just... don't come off, and then he realises bam he's a canary avian now, and Joel has become a woof elf? Well problem solved about being disguised.

Grian's plans for getting Jimmy and Joel out of here have backtracked a little bit, because now he needs to teach Jimmy how to fly and Joel how to handle his magic. So he calls in Scar who has taught a lot of baby avian's how to fly before, So Grian and Scar work on helping Jimmy with his wings, and then Grian helps him through some of the more complicated wing work.

Scar and Joel both being elves now work on magic together, Joel gets the hang of it really quickly.

And then Grian gets bored and sends them off!! Into the wild, tells them to find someone who might help them, he tells them bout the different realms but not the different worlds.

So Jimmy and Joel head off together.... but when crossing the ice realm they get separated in a snow storm, Jimmy takes shelter in Etho's house on accident. And Joel ends up finding a portal to the fey wilds.

So Jimmy and Etho chat for a bit and Etho points him in the direction of the southern realms after walking him out. Jimmy also walks a bit through the no lands (lands that do not belong to any realm) which is where he runs into Scott tending to his flowers. At this time Scott is not expecting anyone so he's still mostly in his starborn form but quickly switch back to looking like a sea elf when Jimmy arrives. And it's gay, it's really gay, Scott is obviously flirting with Jimmy and Jimmy's like "Wow..... pretty..." and Scott shows him some magic. After hanging out for a while Jimmy tells Scott about his mission to look for 'help' in the southern kingdom but didn't specify why. Scott is suspicious but is more so annoyed that the royal order has been brought up, but like, he's gay and decides, 'no Jimmy is not dealing with the royal order on his own I'm going to help him'

So walking to the kingdom they run into Owen, short chat and then Owen says he'll wait for them outside the city in case something goes wrong, which defo puts Jimmy on edge.

Other things happen Jimmy meets the royal order, and he recognises Martyn, by all means he shouldn't, but he does.

Uhm other things happen too which ends up with Jimmy going with Scott to the sun realms in search of something to save the southern kingdoms. I love flower husbands

All the while Joel is in the feywilds, where he meets Lizzie and is trying to figure out how to leave.

Sorry I'm Jimmy brained I have nothing else for Joel rn

[foxwitchaine]

Bright Heavens Institute - A TWST Fan Game

So, it's been a while since I last made the announcement that I was doing a TWST fan game. Has it already been over seven months? Wow, time flies. Unfortunately, due to outside circumstances, I'll be taking the Patreon page down. I'm bummed, yeah, but it's not like it wasn't a learning experience in itself. If anything, I learned I had to plan it out a little better than I did, the fan game itself included.

This does not mean the game is being canceled. Oh, no. Far from it. I'm simply taking some time to reorganize my thoughts, establish a skeleton, and figure out where to go from there. I'll be six feet below the ground before I even think about cancelling this game, and even then I'll find a way to become a ghost and finish it. I'll be nice and share the post I made for those who didn't get to see it, though.

Copied from original Patreon post, with references to Patreon removed:

Hello hello! Fox Witch Aine/Aine Hayes, here. This is a solo project I am working on aside from Miraculous Ladybug, Genshin Impact, and Honkai: Star Rail. It is an entirely nonprofit project done solely out of passion and not for monetary gain. Not like I can even get away with that, with how draconian Disney is about their IPs.

But!

It would actually be pretty nice to share and stoke excitement for this project, as it's become near and dear to my heart. It would mean so much to me if word got out that there's a Twisted Wonderland fan game with an original soundtrack, beautiful Live2D models done in the style of the main game with gorgeous original designs, and a compelling story featuring seven playable characters.

That's right. Seven playable characters. While the game's writing is still in the planning phase (I've since constructed a working plot skeleton), I have a solid idea of the overall plot progression and the personalities of all 30+ girls attending this school.

Did I say "girls" and "school" in the same sentence? I did.

In fact, this entire project is set in a fanmade school called Bright Heavens Institute, featuring all-new original characters aside from the boys and teachers at Night Raven College, Royal Sword Academy, and Noble Bell College. Just like the aforementioned school, Bright Heavens Institute is a magic school. But a school with an all-female student body. The girls are all weird and wonderful and I love them so much. 

The lore of the school goes like this (subject to change in final game):

Bright Heavens Institute was founded by the Queen of the Deep, who worked with a scholar from the surface world to fight back against a mercenary who dared to desecrate her people's way of life.  By fusing with the Abyss Crystal (I gotta come up with a better name some time), the Queen of the Deep harnessed its power to save her people from a volcanic eruption. To honor her memory, the school's founders erected a statue of her and continue her teachings to this day.

Easy enough to understand, I hope.

Just like Night Raven College, the school is separated into seven dorms:

Floraspina - the cottagecore dorm. Based on Bambi, the girls in this dorm are mostly woodland beastwomen. But be warned. They may seem delicate and lovely, but they are not to be trifled with. Every rose has its thorns, after all, and these girls are the very embodiment of that saying.

Vermewilde - the Amazon dorm. Based on Tarzan, the girls in this dorm are an even mix of humans and jungle beastwomen. It is essentially the female equivalent of Savanaclaw, with a heavy focus on sports. Their star athlete Taraji Chalo is also the captain of the school's Spelldrive team.

Sireciel - the pirate dorm. Based on Peter Pan, the girls in this dorm embody the strength, beauty, and spirit of the open sea. There are humans, mermaids, and Fae in this dorm. While the housewarden has an intense focus on propriety and manners, the confidence of these girls is second to none.

Phaluverie - the dream dorm. Based on Winnie the Pooh, the girls in this dorm are a bit spacey. But just like Floraspina, they're not to be underestimated. They have a longstanding rivalry with Octavinelle due to beating a past housewarden in an interschool academics match. The grudge is still carried to this day.

Lanekema - the nerd and geek dorm. Based on Lilo & Stitch, the girls in this dorm focus on engineering and technology. It is essentially the female equivalent of Ignihyde with a Hawaiian theme. While they do collaborate with Ignihyde a lot, there's a noticeable tension between the housewarden and her vice housewarden.

Hypnocreux - the goth dorm. Based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the girls in this dorm are quite spooky. Nonetheless, under the leadership of their current housewarden, their magical prowess is nothing to sneeze at. Count on them to know the ins and outs of potionology and poisons.

Magigranda - the diva dorm. Based on the Fantasia shorts, the girls in this dorm are the cream of the crop in Bright Heavens Institute. Populated by Fae, half-Fae, and humans, they are the female equivalent of Diasomnia. It helps that their housewarden, a diurnal swan Fae, is engaged to Malleus Draconia himself. That's not to say there aren't dissenters, though...

As you all can see, I have high hopes for the outcome of this project. I'm not expecting it to blow sky-high in popularity, but it would mean a lot if word got out that there is a Twisted Wonderland fan game in the works made completely for free. I'm expecting at least a two-to-three year production time. It's already been in planning since... early 2022, at least. I know for sure I will be releasing the project entirely for free once it is done.

Yes. Free. A fan game with gorgeous graphics and music will be published for download entirely for free. The OST will be released for free on Bandcamp (where you can download the songs) and YouTube (where you can listen for free without downloading), there will be livestreams where you can hang out while I work on the project (once I finish setting everything up). And I will accept feedback and critique if people have something to add to make this even better. I look forward to seeing where this will take me once I can put more focus on it.

Thank you for staying with me for this long. Until next time.

Tagging my mutuals: @neoninky, @animemimi1141

[clay-tries-his-best]

! atsv spoilers !

when i sat down in my theatre seat to see atsv im telling you i was being the most autistic fuck you've ever witnessed. you could practically see the sparkles in my eye, dude.

the spot. my godddd he's so silly. the marketing ploy to make him seem like the side villain from the trailers was so fucking smart. I really thought that Miguel was going to be the main villain considering him fighting miles in pracgjcalky every trailer ever and being in the post-credits scene of itsv. and miles dealing with having to be everywhere at once was very realistic and gave me the classic "oh my god this poor boy this is painful to watch". oh and gwen's beginning scene of the drums just gave me the feeling that the movie was going to be fantastic. like, betrayal, amazing visuals, more gwen?? already a wonderful start. also the fact that the spot's whole reason to turn into a major villain is that nobody, not even the person who caused his disfigurement, would take him seriously- like- HUH???? perfect. wonderful. bro just wanted miles to pay attention to him for a little while.

Pavitr and Hobie were also really great additions to the spider team. Despite the fact that Hobie's accent was so thick and deep that I couldn't understand what he was saying a good third of the time, he still managed to work his way into my top 5 characters of the movie. THAT is good character building. At first I thought he was going to be the stereotypical love rival, considering his first mention was miles getting jealous of him and gwen being friends. I was worried that was how the story was actually going to go when he upstaged miles by breaking done the collider force field, but hes actually a really chill and cool guy. pretty sure he even roots for gwen and miles, so that's pretty funny. Pavitr was also super funny with a great character design. " Chai means tea, you're just saying tea tea! " was probably one of my favorite lines / jokes from the whole movie. His world was also very pretty and SUPER detailed. Props to every artist for Mumbatten.

Miguel and Peter B.'s dynamic was really fun to watch as well. This cryptic emo ass mastermind vampire who has watched people die and destroyed a universe next to this middle aged man in a pink fuzzy bathrobe who's oogling over his daughter. also, the line where Miguel said " I've had the right amount of you today " to peter b instead of " I've had enough of you " like the normal saying goes was kinda queer. just saying. but yeah, great villain, and I do want to see him in the final battle against spot, but I eventually don't want him to be the one to beat spot, y'know? If it was to be anyone, it's obviously going to be miles. Whether it's just miles or miles and gwen or miles and the gang gwen assembled at the end of atsv (WHICH HAD SPIDERNOIR YESSS SPIDERNOIR FANS LETS GOOOOOOO I HAD THE STUPIDEST SMILE ON MY FACE WHEN I SAW HIM IM TELLKNG YOU), in the end it's still gotta be miles.

the collider scene with the spot was really cool. spot may be silly, but he's not dumb enough to be " saved " by his archnemesis who only cared about him when he was about to become a transdimensional eldritch horror. boss move. his final form was really pleasing to look at because you can just see the detail that went into it. Looking at some screenshots, I noticed there were a lot of eyes and I'm pretty sure I saw a version of spiderman (original world 1610 peter, possibly?) staring at miles / the audience. despite him not showing up for another hour, hour and a half, I wasn't mad. If a movie can avoid showing the main villain for that long and still have them integrated properly, just, wow. blown away. oh and this part made me even more interested because his beginning ost, spot 1, I think? his random beats and tunes sounded more silly and disorganized and clumsy, like him trying to take the atm. near the end, he got spot 2, which was more shrill and frightening. I'm not musically trained, and I could still tell that it was scarier, and to me, they sounded very similar. To not have too far of a difference between the two and stroke two entirely different chords is just. ugh. wow.

don't even get me started on prowler miles... RAHHH THE CHARACTER AND WORLD DESIGN FOR UNIVERSE 42!!!! it was so beautiful and scary and breathtaking because there is. no. spiderman. when miles's mom didn't know what he was talking about and gwen wasn't really outside, it hit me like a brick in the head. and alternate aaron??? hello??? he made me physically uncomfortable because of how terrifying his face was. i couldnt even tell if he was wearing makeup or he was just that dramatjcally shaded. the turn miles does to see that it was his dad painted on the wall instead of aaron.... GRAHHHHHH

as an aspiring artist, I can say nothing but wow. that movie, the fact that it was 2 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES???? HELLO??? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WORK THAT MUSTVE TOOK??? unbelievable. and you know that sony felt bad for making us wait on a cliffhanger, so they probably were around 3/4 done with atsv and started working on beyond, so we didn't have to wait as long as we would've if they finished atsv and then started beyond. I'm so glad that those 5 years in the Sony team paid off, because that. was. amazing. my depression is vaporized. im going feral, going wild, going insane. i will not think of anything else until beyond is out. can't wait to see my bbg spot have his villain moment in March 2024!!! <333

[creatingblackcharacters]

One of my favorite Black characters is Élodie Rakoto from Dead By Daylight

She is one of the survivors in the game and her backstory is both very sad, but also highlights her determination and hope. Her parents were wealthy, originally from Madagascar and moving to Paris, where Élodie spent a lot of her childhood exploring the city learning history.

But ome fateful summer her family went to a private island to meet with other members of a secret society that fights against the influence of the big bad of Dead By Daylight, The Entity, Élodie and the other kids of the adults in the group were expected to mangle and attend events together while their parents talked, but Élodie didn't fit in with most of them, so her & a couple of other kids would hang out away from the others doing their own thing & were known as a group as The Pariahs.

One fateful night though her and her friends found the abandoned site of someone messing with the powers of The Entity, and after touching a strange marking Élodie was compelled to finish it, which opened some sort of portal into The Entity's realm known as The Fog, things were dire but the kids parents arrived to save them, but ultimately they themselves ended up going missing.

In the aftermath of her parents going missing the thing Élodie turned to for comfort for her grief and depression was fond memories of her grandmother back in Madagascar and of scents from there and stories her grandma told her about heroes from their home.

Élodie dedicated herself to finding her and her friends parents, traveling the world and learning about the occult, within canon she is called "The Occult Investigator" and is one of the few in lore to actually know anything about The Entity and the history of how it's influenced the world or others it made go missing.

Eventually when Élodie was attacked & nearly killed while investigating a catacomb by a group that serves The Entity she had to recreate the symbol from long ago that caused her parents to disappear which is what then brought her into The Fog, making her a survivor in game.

One of the things I like about her is how smart she is, the way she tries to solve her problems is by researching them and her gameplay reinforces that she is a very clever individual that's good at surviving intense situations and good at playing social situations to her favor, a skill she learned as a occult investigator.

I also like that she canonily dealt with depression in the aftermath of losing her parents, and clearly it still deeply affected her into her adult life but she also found ways to be productive about the issue and some skins in game mention that while she struggled with relationships due to her grief she had a couple of years worth of happy romantic relationships.

I also just have a really big soft spot for any occult investigator/detective, it's a really fun archetype and I really enjoy what Élodie brings to the table in that regard.

Gotta be honest, not only is this the first time I heard of Dead by Daylight having Black people, but I also never knew it had lore 🤣 I only ever knew it as the game HC and his bros played running around screaming to avoid hooks. So this was a revelation all around! I love her name. Élodie. It's unique. Goddamn this is deep, I actually feel really... Stressed for her rn?? Wow. That's... I want her to be happy 😭

Hot Chocolate: I .... Had no idea.... That Dead By Daylight... Had backstories like this 🤯🤯🤯. I love the game, the concept and now the fact that there is lore! I'll have to get back to playing it one day. Anyway, as I always say, it's nice to see Black people in different spaces; So to see that Élodie became an occult investigator to find her parents AND is one of the more knowledgeable survivors makes me happy. Go occult Black women 🙌🏾🙌🏾.

[spaceorphan18]

Ahh, I didn't know you liked Bridgerton! (I was away from tumblr for a moment and just now catching up on your blog) I'm obsessed with Penelope and Colin. How did you like season 3? I always love reading your thoughts! I saw so many people complain but I mostly really enjoyed it. I wish it didn't have so many random plotlines, and I didn't like the insta-baby but overall they're my favourite couple in the show haha.

Hi Nonny! Welcome back to the Tumblr! <3

I hope you don't mind me indulging a little with your ask, lol. If you've followed me for any length of time, you do know I can't shut up - but I realized I haven't really said my actual thoughts on the season, etc, I just started meta'ing and haven't looked back. So, pull up a chair, Nonny, as I chatter non-stop for a bit about Bridgerton and my thoughts on season 3, lol.

I'll put it under a cut to save the rest of your souls....

Part 1: How did we get here?

Am I big fan of historical romance? No, not really. Did I expect this show to ever have a grip on me? Not even a little bit. How in the world did this happen? Idk - it appears that favorite tropes and character designs and dynamics seem to transcend genre. And I'm an old sap.

The tl:dr version is that I watched Seasons 1 and 2 after Season 2 came out. It was fine. Not a huge fan of Season 1, I did like Season 2 though. And then kind of forgot it existed. Eloise was by far my favorite character - because I liked her spunk. And the friendship between Eloise and Penelope was the best part of the show.

And then I was reminded that Season 3 dropped and did not expect the shock that I got. I went in completely blind - I hadn't seen a single promo. I did know, because I looked up the books when I originally watched, that it would be Pen and Colin's story. But I was kind of fascinated at how they were going to go about it. Penelope was not a stereotypical leading lady. And Colin was very boy-ish looking in the early seasons. How was this going to work?

Oh man, the glow ups. The glow ups got me. Pen is so, so gorgeous this entire season. When she's wearing her hair down, omg... Or that one look where she's like a housewife writing in her journal. God damn, girl. She can get it. And then Colin... ha. When he got out of the carriage, I was like - oh shit. It was the pirate coat. A good pirate coat will always do me in.

But more than that - really, the dynamics of the characters just really sold me. I love friends to lovers. I love the angst and the pull. I love the whole she fell first he fell harder. I love that I unintentionally just go for the same kind of characters and their dynamics over and over and over.

And then, you know, between the first part and second part, I rewatched the first two seasons, which was helpful. (Though, still not a huge fan of season 1.) Was addicted to the promo tour (my god I love a good promo tour). And @ckerouac - got me to watch Derry Girls which really cemented my love of Nicola Coughlin. And, you know, once you start going down a hole, you just have to keep on going until you get to the other side.

Idk how we really got here, Nonny, but here we are! Lol

Part 2: My thoughts on Season 3

So, briefly, I just fell in love with Part 1 right off the bat. LOVED IT. Part 2, honestly, I felt disappointed after seeing it the first time. (I remember episode 6, in particular, thinking - wow that was not a very good episode).

And then... I rewatched it and then rewatched it again after watching Seasons 1 and 2 and kind of started to take it a part a bit, and it's grown on me. A lot! I actually do really love the season as a whole and appreciate what we've got...

Breaking it down a little more:

Pen and Colin's story: I still do think the first half is stronger. The whole Colin helping Pen find a husband, Lord Debling (who is a doll), Colin figuring out his issues, that carriage scene... ooff, all really, really good. The second half - there just needed to be more. At first, it was hard to watch them go through a wedding while being mad at each other, but I feel like now that I've had time to digest it all, it is /so/ good. It's a really, really fascinating dynamic going on there. I could and probably will go on at length about it later... a couple of things, though

They just needed more. The plot was so delicious. I did love the conflict over lady whistledown and I wish we had seen that tension played out better and resolved better. The end of episode 8 was a bit to fast. I swear - Season 4 better have some solidly good Polin moments or idek... They've been such a big part of the show as a whole, I hope they get to continue their development, even if it they go back to their Seasons 1 and 2 focus.

The season works better if you remember what happened in seasons 1 and 2. I had zero memory of the plots from the first two seasons going in. I didn't realize Colin's personality had changed. I couldn't remember any of the Polin moments in the first two seasons. This third season makes a whole lot more sense being built from what came before it, and honestly, I kind of love that. It makes the story more layered and engaging.

As for the insta-baby, I mean, they set it up at the beginning of the season, but it wasn't something I needed to enjoy the couple. I do wonder if they'll go back and explore that 9 months, or if things will pick up after post-baby.

Also, on perhaps a shallower note? I thought the actors had great chemistry. And I have so much respect for Nicola Coughlin for allowing herself to be presented in such a way. She is GORGEOUS in every aspect and the backlash over her body is ABSURD. If you can’t get on board that a larger woman can be seen as desirable than you can fuck right off because she is amazing.

Poor Luke Newton has gotten some push back, too, which I think is a little unfair. He's not expressive the way Jonny Bailey is, but Colin really isn't Anthony, and is much more an inward character. And the awkwardness of his attempt at rake-ishness in the beginning is supposed to be awkward. Colin isn't smoldering like the Duke from Season 1, either. He's a sweet, romantic kid who adores his bff-turned-wife, and the whole season (I mean, can we talk about the all the mirrors?) is about cutting through the bullshit we do to try to mask who we really are.

The thing about Luke Newton that I really appreciate is that he really understands who his character is and keeps that front and center. Colin is trying to be something he's not, and the real Colin slips out unintendedly, and that kind of subtly is hard to play.

The absolute best moments were when they laughed together - they both really shine when Pen and Colin are allowed to be the sweet friends they've been all along.

Anyway tl:dr - loved their relationship, and my heart will just be broken if we don't get more good development as the seasons continue.

Penelope and Eloise: The fact that this relationship was angled as another romance per se was also delicious. As I said above - Pen and Eloise were probably my favorite dynamic pre-Polin and it was devastating to watch them work their relationship out. But again, it was all so delicious. I loved it and thought it was perfect.

The Featheringtons: I LOVED THEM! They were perfection. I love that they leaned into some really good comedy with the sisters. Not only were they able to show off Nicola's excellent comedic skills, the family as a whole was just a whole delight. I loved the sisters. I loved their husbands. I even liked Portia - and, honestly, I wasn't a huge fan of her in earlier seasons. I loved that they linked Pen and Portia, it really made them seem like mother and daughter.

Colin and his family: There were some fascinating dynamics!

Colin and Eloise: yes, the third part of the platonic love triangle I loved their dynamic during the season. Eloise never really knowing how to handle Colin. The fact that they're close and yet awkwardly so. The fact that they both care so much about Pen in different ways and how LW just hangs over both dynamics. Ooff, so good.

Colin and Anthony & Benedict (and let's throw George in here, too): Love it. Wish there had been more. The brothers are hilarious and wonderful together and just I ate it all up with a spoon. Also, as an aside, I love that George is slowly coming into focus. The kid is adorable.

Colin and Francesca (and let's throw Hyacinth in here, too): Hilariously, Colin and Francesca speak zero times to each other during the whole season. Isn't that weird? Really, their plot lines do not intersect except tangentially for family moments. It's so weird. I feel like I have no sense of this dynamic. As for Hyacinth - I adore her, and I feel like she has more personality than Francesca :P

Colin and Violet: I kind of loved this. She's a mother who understands her kids. And even though Violet wasn't around that much for the A-Plot, I like what role she did have to play in getting Colin to act.

Alright, so the rest of the subplots... It did feel like an abundance of them, but was there really more than previous seasons? Or was it the fact that Pen and Colin usually were subplots, and now that they're the main focus, everything else kind of shifts awkwardly around them?

Anthony and Kate: I love them to pieces, and wish there had been more of them. Their dynamic remains sexy and smart. Kate remains one of the best characters on the show, and is such an intelligent woman. I'm so glad she had wonderful, insightful conversations with her new family. I really would have loved to have had a Kate and Penelope scene. Also, the India thing was awkward - I lol'd because it clearly was written as an 'out' for the couple. But it's ultimately fine. But yes - bring back Kanthony in future seasons. I really don't care how much Jonathan Bailey is doing other things.

Cressida Cowper: I thought she was a fantastic villain, and the fact that she was so wrapped up with Eloise was kind of delicious. I don't think they needed to linger on her private life as much as they did. But I was fascinated that there seemed to be some queer coding in there, and wondered, for a bit if she was going to be a lesbian. I also think her ending was a little weak and she just kind of scampered off without any reprieve. I do wonder if she'll be back, tbh.

Francesca: Oof. It was intriguing on first watch but I find it incredibly dragging on subsequent watches and have a tendency to skip over it. I think this is the one plot line that really could have been cut down. I understand that it's set up but it was kind of meh for me. However, I am totally fine with her love interest being changed to a woman. Let's do this bisexuals! Speaking of which...

Benedict: My god, it felt like the show doesn't know what to do with him - and I am hoping Season 4 is his, because they NEED to do something with Benedict. So, to be clear, I LOVE that they made him bisexual. But the woman he was with was so boring, and I just did not care - because I knew it ultimately wasn't going to go anywhere. And, what was with the never ending orgy? Did we really need to cut back to it ten times? Please, show, give Benedict something interesting to do.

The Mondriches: Look, I feel bad saying it, but these people ultimately served no purpose to the show and could have been lifted right out. I'm sure the actors are lovely but if they're not going to directly service the story, then why are we wasting our time? Though, at least they really aren't the ones taking up the most time.

The Queen: They could have played up the rivalry between her and LW a lot more, and they just didn't. It felt... a little anticlimactic. Also, now what do they do with her as a character? Meh.

Violet and Lady Danbury's brother: I just don't care. I get it. I get that Violet should have something to do outside her children. But there are already a million plots, and not everyone needs to have their own individual story. By the time they threaded this in around episode 3 it did feel like too much.

Did I miss anything?

So... that's how I felt on everything. I have seen commentary about the pushback on Season 3. There are some things I agree about and a lot I don't.

About the actors: I disagree, Nicola and Luke are a delight, and they don't deserve the pushback they've been getting.

About the subplots: It is too many, and I do think they should have either made the season longer, or cut a few things.

About Polin not being as steamy: I think Daphne and Simon's soft core porn-a-thon set an expectation that doesn't necessarily work when you're going for other tropes. I did like the steamy scenes we got (though the last one should have been longer -- we better get some happy sex in season 4 or I will be annoyed) but Polin doesn't have the same dynamic as (what is their shipper name??) Daphne/Simon. We were never going to get the porn-a-thon.

Kanthany didn't either in Season 2, I don't know what to tell people. I appreciate that they're servicing the story they're telling and not just relying on sex. But, I will say, it is still the romance genre, based on books that do feature a lot of sex, so I can understand disappointment in some respects. There is a reason people watch these things, and when it's not met, it can be frustrating.

Idk, what else are people bitching about? (that's rhetorical) I think two years is too long a wait for a show like this. And the anthology aspect of it can make it hard when the focus shifts. People adored Anthony and Kate and to shift it to a very different type of love story can feel jarring, especially, I think if you've spent the past two years digesting what we've already had.

And then there are some people who are just never happy.

And I mean, I already feel a little 'meh' about Season 4. (It'll be Benedicts, there are so many hints...) I'll continue to watch, but I am incredibly sad that this was the year my favorites got to shine. My only hope is that Pen and Colin continue to occupy a space in the story... lord help us, though, in that it doesn't take another ten years to finish...

So.... them my thoughts! I'm sure I'll have more of them as I settle into this bright new world.

Omg, how cute are they????

[justheretoposttrash]

day 6 of being unhinged about fictional 2d men:

i definitely wouldn't call hawks's phone usage symbolic, but i would call it *organic* in how it reflects or emphasizes each section of his character arc!

when he's being used as a tool while acting as double-agent, the phone is one of the vehicles through which he wears his masks, receives orders from either side, and honestly i'd imagine it's a source of stress considering the situation he's in. his fans assume he'd use a phone for what most average people would--for actual relationships and genuine communication, obviously--and ask if he's talking to a girlfriend or something while he's talking to dabi. and needless to say, honest relationships and communication are very much not the name of the game at this time for him, lol. at the end of the day, it's about allowing himself to be used in the ways he deems necessary for achieving the best outcome. his character is nothing but performance after performance from his very introduction, a double-agent from the start, constantly scrutinized, and his phone usage reflects that.

(tangent: appropriately, as a constant peformer, all of his core relationships with other characters initially hinge on some tension surrounding belief---tokoyami believes in him but is also frustrated to know he's being used/that there's some disingenuousness to their relationship at first; twice believes in hawks wholeheartedly, and ultimately too much; dabi never believed in hawks at all; and endeavor is frequently left to question hawks's performance, but ultimately believes in him with a great deal of faith.)

the toxicity bubbling underneath hero society is represented in a multifaceted way through endeavor's, the commission's, and hawks's own wrongdoings, which all intersect and come to a head with dabi burning him. in the aftermath, hawks carries the consequences of herodom directly on his body, and his phone emphasizes the severe state he's in, filling in for his voice at a time when his voice has been literally taken away. this is a low point where a lot of characters grapple with betrayal, guilt, and judgment--and it's also a time of resilience.

his phone is a practical thing after the raid, strictly business for the most part--typical of a side-character in a shonen conveying information to the audience--while he is also working hard to pick up some of the pieces of what's been broken.

he avoids using his phone to reciprocate when tokoyami keeps trying to reach him. a relationship with tokoyami that isn't at arms-length is a commitment to being more open and vulnerable to someone who looks up to hawks rather than the other way around, and based on thought patterns and dialogue during the final war, it seems hawks seriously struggles with the idea that he's someone worth looking up to.

at midoriya's retrieval, there's a bit of standing to the side and remarking "wow look at what those crazy kids are doing", again á la shonen side character, but also a moment that has hawks distantly interacting with a model of what emotional vulnerability and intimacy looks like. him bearing witness to 1-a getting midoriya back ends up being critical to his understanding of one for all after uraraka's speech, and the whole ofa-connecting-peoples'-hearts-thing is a pretty transparent vehicle for one of mha's main ideas: that reaching out to others, even when hard, is what saves them and makes the world a better place. suddenly, hawks's original goals of saving people and creating a peaceful world become intertwined with being emotionally open to others (while his work as a hero up until this point, alongside his trauma, has had him doing the very opposite).

and *finally* as of 430 he's using the phone more like how a person normally would--for personal communication and relationships (and some job stuff still, but even so). with endeavor's retirement, there is no more pretense/obligation to the betterment of society to fall back on as to why he reaches out. enji is no longer the number 1 whom so many rely on, and when hawks offers him his support, it can serve no other purpose than simply being something for their personal gratification. hawks isn't propping enji up as a powerful public figure who needs to succeed, but talks to him because that's what hawks genuinely wants to do. and considering that enji has had no insight into hawks's lil thought bubbles prior, this is the first real moment that he can have direct confirmation of that fact. and with that, hawks did it! he talked to a friend! it's a start ☺️👏👏👏👏👏

i see all this is more serendipitous than super 100% deliberate, but when one writes a character arc that actually ends up going somewhere, then that character's interactions with even everyday objects will naturally come to parallel wherever they're at in their arc.