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ladespeinada · 3 months

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Some thoughts on season three of The Bear, hastily written after finishing it:

Sydney Adamu. My love, my life, my heart, my soul. Her frustration just grew and grew and grew throughout the season, and underpinned with that score, made me increasingly anxious until it finally culminated in that intense panic attack she had outside of her apartment (at which point, it felt cathartic.) She’s so clearly mirroring Carmy and his relationship with his old boss, down to panicking in the same spot. I want better for her, in multiple ways, up to and including healthcare benefits.

Which leads me to: why the fuck was Nat working so close to her due date, and why did no one push back against her going to pick up boxes of napkins when she’s literally about to burst. I know it meant that we got Ice Chips out of it, and an episode focused on Nat and Donna, but it didn’t make sense to me.

“I left you alone.” “So, don’t let it happen again.” “It’s never gonna happen again.” That blue-eyed, curly-haired, Grecian-faced man lied in Sydney’s face, thinking that being physically present in the same space and working in proximity means the same thing as not leaving her alone. Sydney was more alone in this season than she was in the season two when Carmy fucked off and hung out with Claire and talked about emergency room horror stories.

The presence of the Faks was overwhelming this season, which ended up feeling like purely ornamental proof that The Bear is indeed a comedy because look at these bumbling fools! They’re funny! They’re little jesters! Any and every self-serious restaurant after a Michelin Star will surely have Two Little Guys at the helm, no matter if they have no serious training or serving skills!! It’s not as if said self-serious restaurants aren’t regularly draining money on overhead costs, of which labour is surely a part of! (Why did the Computer only suggest Marcus get cut from The Bear, and not the fucking Faks? Are they not getting paid? What the hell is the deal there? These are not serious people.)

“If you fuck with Marcus, I will murder you.” IKTR!!!!!!

Why did the screen time for all of the characters of colour get minimised, especially in comparison to last season. Why did neither Angel or Manny have any major lines that weren’t just curse words, or scenes where they were interacting with others beyond washing dishes. Why did I see the Faks more than I saw Sydney. I wanted to see more of Gary’s somm classes. I wanted to see more Ebra. I wanted to see more of Marcus’ desserts. I also wanted to see Marcus more actively hanging out with Luca. I wanted more scenes with Tina and Marcus cooking together, riffing off of each other and their experiences!

Finally, some interiority for my sweetiepie Tina Marrera! That said, we mostly got a look at her past, and a limited look at her present (my girl is experiencing some massive imposter syndrome, but we don’t get to dig into it much. Nor do we get many Tina x Ebra moments which is an affront to me personally because their relationship is my favourite). I read this Slate review of season three by Jack Hamilton after I finished watching season three, and while I don’t agree with everything, I found this articulation especially in line with my thinking re: Tina and her episode: “The incessant use of flashbacks feels like a crutch to avoid characters or the show itself actually moving forward, in any direction. Dribbling out details of a character’s past like breadcrumbs is a hackish and tiresome device: Filling in backstory shouldn’t be confused with character development.”

That said!!! The scenes with Michael, especially in Tina’s episode, are incredible. Just a few minutes and you can see the shine of Michael’s charisma, the underbelly of his pain, you miss him and want him back, you see why everyone loved him so deeply. He was so magnetic in this episode, and so terrifying in Forks, and the decline in between those episodes must’ve been so painful to watch.

This might sound silly to say because it was still very much everywhere, especially in the beginning of EP2, but Chicago felt like it was missing. Or rather, the anxieties of Chicago were missing. In seasons one and two, there’s the looming threat of Chicago gentrification (in one, The Beef is hurt by it; in two, The Bear is a part of it), plus there’s the aftereffects of COVID on Chicago’s restaurant scene. In season three, we got shots of Chicago, yes, and a lot of like, Wilco or whatever, but it didn’t feel grounded in the city the way it had in previous seasons. Not quite sure how to articulate this thought, but there you go.

The “haunting” the Faks go on and on (and on and on) about is so hamfisted, and felt so out of place for a show whose writing is usually quite taut, especially in its comedic moments. It’s just bashing you over the head with the idea that omg, it’s not just the dead that can haunt the living, the living can as well! What an idea!

I really wish Claire’s character was better written, but once again, her characterisation fell flat because she’s presented in mostly flashbacks, and through Carmy’s perspective at that, and that man apparently has difficulties understanding that she’s meant to be a person and not just a concept.

The moment in the final episode, where Syd and Carm are eating with other chefs at Ever, and one of them says “the greatest mistake is working for a bad boss, such that, what it unlocks in you is the culture that you choose to create”....hilariously unsubtle but fantastic nonetheless, because it’s followed by Carm confronting his nightmare boss (David Fields! I def did think he was a hallucination Carm was experiencing at Ever's funeral), and because it’s absolutely clear that Carm is also a fucking bad boss, and Sydney should absolutely not sign those papers. (I don’t think she should go with Adam and his new restaurant either, because the vibes are off there, too.)

Along those lines: that moment where Carmy says, I think about you too much, and Fields responds with, I don’t think about you was fantastic, but also felt unearned.

Olivia Coleman’s Chef Terry saying, Service, bitches! was tremendous.

Reiterating that I wanted to see more of Luca and Marcus together. I love them, your honour.

Selfishly, I indulged and binged this season because I was hoping it would unlock inspiration for me to keep writing my Tina fic and just fic in general but I don't think it did that, unfortch.

(Last thing: yet another season with Taylor Swift but no Fall Out Boy. We continue to suffer.)

#the bear hulu #the bear fx #the bear spoilers

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waitmyturtles · 1 year

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Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: Theory of Love Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I’ll cover Theory of Love, a polarizing show that was one of the first BLs to deep-dive into viewer subversion of commonly held judgements. THANKS SO, SO MUCH to the SWEETEST ToL friends EVER for watching along with me and offering your clarity and insight: @lurkingshan, @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle, @neuroticbookworm, @ginnymoonbeam, @manogirl, and if I forgot anyone, my apologies!]

It was inevitable, in this project, that I would begin crossing lines into territories of beloved vs. utterly hated shows. I had THAT experience in FULL last week with my review of TharnType and the subsequent public and private conversations that that show, and my thoughts on it, engendered. (And it was a FABULOUS experience, let me tell you -- thanks, ALL Y’ALL, for your thoughts and input on that show.)

[Before I dive into analysis, I just want to say that: if you’re impacted by Theory of Love, particularly by way of any experiences you might have had in your own past that you relate to in the show (especially with Third’s reactions to Khai’s behavior), that is VALID AND REAL. I learned in the aftermath of my TharnType review that I need to be a bit more clear about this, especially because of how divided the feelings are on TT and ToL, so: while this review is going to feature effusive praise for this show, I am, by no means, invalidating anything that anyone felt about relating to Third’s feelings or experiences. Those feelings are REAL. And please feel free to skip this review if you need to get away from Khai, etc.!]

So, Theory of Love -- it’s another one that has a heavily divided fanbase. You’re either in HEATED PASSION for this show, as I ended up being, or you PASSIONATELY HATE this show, and/or Khai himself as a character. Things that I heard about this show as I was putting together the watchlist, and as I began to watch it, were things like, “this show features heavy misogyny,” “this show has bad friend behavior,” “Third is treated horribly,” etc.

However, almost as SOON as I started watching Theory of Love, I realized that I was about to enter into a world of subversion, where I had to have my smell test strong and ready -- and I found it to be a FABULOUS experience.

I’m going to talk about a couple of themes here regarding ToL, as I usually do:

1) The tendency that we might have to fall into a compassion/sympathy bias, and how that clouds our judgement of characters, especially regarding their personal responsibility and accountability to others, 2) The large-scale impact of heteronormativity, 3) How behavioral change is massively difficult, 4) How we as populations and societies are ACTUALLY RESISTANT, OFTEN, to people around us changing,

and more, if I get to it -- because there’s a lot.

As soon as I started the first episode, I was like -- ooooh, FUCK, we’re gonna get played, aren’t we? Third/Gun’s tears. Sobbing in the shower with his clothes on. Raging in despair over Khai’s behavior with women.

First, I ran to MDL, and saw the screenwriters -- and I was like, OHHHHHHH. OKAY. I SEE WHAT WE GOT GOING ON HERE. Bee Pongsate, Pratchaya Thavornthummarut, and Au Kornprom -- some of the heaviest of hitters, in my opinion, authors and/or ADs of some of the best writing that I’ve seen on television (Bad Buddy, anyone?). (I saw a LOT of proto-BBS in ToL, which I’ll hopefully reference throughout this piece.)

When I saw these names, I knew I was in for an experience of emotional subversion, and that’s kind of when I started flipping my lid about this show -- right fucking away. And I felt that I knew what they were doing by giving us so much of Third’s despair, hot and heavy, from the very start.

Let’s backtrack for a moment. When Extraordinary Attorney Woo aired last summer, I referenced in a few of my posts the concept of implicit empathy bias. For Third, I’d adjust this nomenclature to call it our implicit compassion or sympathy bias, in that: we were presented with a very emotionally impacted person, right away, who really served as a foil in a human character to “translate” what Khai’s behavior meant to a larger circle outside of Khai himself.

What I wrote about Woo Young-Woo in EAW is that we as viewers had a responsibility to check ourselves on our having sympathy or even misplaced empathy for her. I argued: who were we to have sympathy for her? Woo Young-Woo was a fucking badass. She was a kick-ass lawyer, she had a hot guy after her tail, and she knew exactly what her preferences were in her life. Oh, and she probably made bank at that private law firm. She earned the respect of her seniors and was someone to be admired, not sympathized with, as an autistic lawyer.

Implicit compassion or sympathy bias is a concept that therapists need to be aware of when working with clients, as sympathy or misplaced compassion could lead to an unbalanced power differential. Therapists, out of sympathy for a client, may believe that a client may not BE ABLE to change their behavior on their own or with guidance, and may lead to implicit and/or explicit condescension. AND, worse of all (in my opinion): that may lead therapists to not encourage personal responsibility and/or accountability for their clients to own their feelings and their preferences, and allow a therapist to write off problematic behavior and approaches as unchangeable and/or acceptable, even if the client COULD benefit from modalities of change.

And so: Third. Crying in the shower. Despairing over Khai bringing home girl after girl. Raging in pain over his un-communicated love for his best friend.

Now, listen, before I get further: YES, at many points, Khai was a MASSIVE asshole. He even called that first kiss on Third a “colossal dick move” (I REALLY wanna know how to say that in Thai, lol). Asking your homey to leave your place and keeping him on the street all night -- bad. At least find your best friend a couch to crash on.

But there are two things here I want to tease out vis à vis the implicit sympathy bias concept. In the first few episodes, we see Third in his absolute dumps.

HOWEVER. The ways in which he’s either NOT communicating, or trying to communicate in INCREDIBLY passive ways? That’s on Third, and Third alone. Bro, don’t write on Khai’s shirt WHEN KHAI’S NOT AROUND! Dump those clichéd posterboards! If you want someone to know your feelings, you are RESPONSIBLE, on God, for doing that yourself.

Couple that with Third’s judgement of Khai’s behavior. He looked down on Khai’s behavior ... all while belonging to a friend group that was EXTREMELY rooted in what we could call stereotypical heteronormative behavior (and I want to heavily credit @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle for bringing heteronormativity to this conversation vis à vis Khai -- thank you for letting me borrow your words, let me give you your flowers!).

I didn’t see Third condemning Two and Bone (huh huh, Bone) for doing the same thing with girls.

What I saw X, Bee, Pratchaya, and Au doing here was setting us, the viewers, up for an experience of having sympathy for Third -- and almost IMMEDIATELY being lulled into an experience where we wouldn’t, subsequently, hold Third ACCOUNTABLE for taking RESPONSIBILITY in trying to change the paradigm that he was in. INSTEAD, I posit, it would be EASY to sympathize with him, AND condemn Khai for being a booty-chaser, ALL WHILE Third, or us, were NOT holding Two and Bone similarly accountable. PSH.

And think about how easy that is! Gun’s SOOOOOO CUTE, Y’ALL, UGGGHHH. Him crying? Forget about it. Those tears, those pouty lips! Stop that man from crying, get him a Kleenex Thailand sponsorship!

And, AND, in Thailand, and in America: think about how easy it is to judge hook-up culture. It’s SO EASY. A person can be a whore, a ho, a slut, or easy. Write ‘em off.

We can talk about sexual freedom and agency in one breath, and judge someone for getting tail in the next.

I’m telling you. I was TAKEN AWAY BY THE BRILLIANCE OF THIS SET-UP from the damn start of this show. And I related to it personally, particularly from the lens of heteronormativity, because ... I related to Khai (maybe I wasn’t as much of a player in my twenties, but ya girl, ya know -- I had my experiences, okay?! ANYWAY, moving on, cough cough.)

So I had my experiences. In my majority-Asian girlfriend group, I was judged for my experiences. Why?

Because sex is judged in almost all societies (I’m leaving continental Western Europe out of this, but I welcome input from the family over there!). If you’re getting some, there are others that aren’t, for a myriad of reasons. Why do we judge? For religious and/or cultural reasons, a lack of sex education, a lack of supportive input and guidance from elders and/or friends -- the list goes on.

For being able to hook up with guys (I’m cishet), I was called a slut, a ho, a whore. From my perspective? I was doing.... what everyone else was doing. I was participating in heteronormative society and behavior, and because of the ease of my being able to socially engage with others, I was judged for it. (I don’t carry too much baggage from that judgement. I’m happily married to a man I got drunk with in a bar the first time I met him. All I can do is NOT condemn my kids for doing the same when their time comes.)

Again: ToL was NOT set up to elicit judgement against Two and Bone. The judgement -- as ferociously directed FROM Third -- was written and designed to be AGAINST Khai. In summation: I call bullshit on Third. I would argue that the brilliance of the writing here meant that we as viewers could have been lulled into judging one person for their behavior, while allowing passes for others engaging in the exact same thing. And I’d posit that ToL, above all else, provided an INCREDIBLE meta-commentary on the insidiousness of this selective judgement.

[Let me also add that I believe these messages were woven into the story in other ways. As I chatted with @wen-kexing-apologist about: I compared the name “Un,” Earth Pirapat’s character, to the title of the French film that Bone and Paan were into, Un Homme et Une Femme. “One Man and One Woman.” A message from society that all humans are supposed to be... het and monogamous? And unchanging, at that. Memorialized into media. And anything else could be judged. When, in fact: Un himself broke a mold by being in love with Two (un... deux....) the entire time.]

I would also argue that ToL was not necessarily a condemnation of heteronormativity in society. I think, instead, it served as a reflection for both what we as members of society are willing to accept or not accept by way of acceptable behavior, BUT ALSO: HOW UNWILLING WE ACTUALLY ARE TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO CHANGE.

What do I mean by that?

So, Khai. I think Khai, at the start of the show, was being Khai. I don’t know if it was clear from the start of the show that Third was gay, per se. What was only made clear to me was that Third was in love with Khai.

I’d posit that Khai’s expectation of his friend group was that all of them were heteronormative bros, all into the same thing: getting with women. Why would he have reason to think otherwise? Especially from Two and Bone, this is what the guys were into, night after night.

And it makes me wonder about how he was raised, how not just his friends, but his family, his school community, everyone around him -- how they all treated him. All of those impacts WILL contribute to how a person turns out as an adult. Khai acted this way because, in part -- society allowed him, and likely EVEN ENCOURAGED HIM, to be this way. Because he was a tall, cute, homeslice-kinda guy.

Khai is out there Khai-ing. (And, as I noted during my watch sessions, it wasn’t just Khai Khai-ing. Two and Bone were on the scene -- BUT THE GIRLS THEMSELVES were also on the scene, and engaged in their OWN agency in hooking up with Khai. Girls are playas, too.)

For most of the show, Third is NOT confronting Khai with Third’s feelings. Then Khai learns about Third’s feelings, and tries to get Third to fall OUT of love with Khai, leveraging “colossal dick moves.” Then Third ACTUALLY falls out of love with Khai, and the narrative switch of the show takes place, where we settle into Khai’s perspective and Khai’s attempts at winning back Third’s heart.

Before I get into that switch, I want to note something that I think that the majority of the BLs out of Thailand that I’ve watched so far represent really well. I often write that behavioral change is MASSIVELY difficult. In my real-life job, I very often reference the five stages of behavioral change as a means of relating to my colleagues about difficulties they’re facing in changing something that they’re doing at work. Think about not just GOING on a diet, but STICKING to a diet, if you’ve never been on one; or not just GOING to the gym, but STICKING to an exercise routine, or really QUITTING smoking, as opposed to taking a break. Those changes are MASSIVELY DIFFICULT.

What I saw in the second half of ToL was another UTTERLY BRILLIANT commentary on society: how, once we have someone under our judging eye, how we DON’T LET THEM CHANGE.

Khai WANTED TO CHANGE for Third. Many, many times, he didn’t quite know HOW to go about it. OR, to be more specific -- how to change PER THIRD’S PREFERENCES. And honestly, Third was clearly ready to just BE judgy, right? Gurl.

But, once you get a label, that label STICKS. You’re a bully. You’re a slut. You’re a whore.

You need to do a lot of damn work, in the private eye, in the public eye, to shed those labels. Think about the condemnation of celebrities (I am always referencing this amazing video by Ohm and Perth on mental health). How easy it is to write ANYONE in our lives off, and not ever look back, with a single glance.

And Third wasn’t gonna give an inch to Khai. And I had to say, I admired Khai for trying to do the damn thing. He fucked up, A LOT. Praew? Not necessary. All that unsolicited kissing? NO. Don’t do that.

But here, again, I argue that Third needed to take responsibility and accountability, too. Khai was being far more forward with his attempts at communication. And Third? For some reason, he was written as being, like, UNABLE to listen, talking over Khai, interrupting him, not letting Khai finish a damn sentence.

Both of these two DEAR characters were bumbly and immature AF. I really loved that about the BOTH of them. BOTH junior college students, BOTH learning the ropes of their attraction, especially Khai, who was ROOTED in an otherwise DEEPLY heteronormative experience.... but, again, so was Third, taught by... what, exactly, to not be the open communicator that he NEEDED to be to solve his initially unrequited love. Possibly, and likely, because there was a significant corner of society that would SYMPATHIZE with his pain, without holding him ACCOUNTABLE for that pain, as Two, and eventually Bone, did for him, before turning their attentions to Khai to help Khai seal the deal.

I really love this life lesson. To me, it’s extremely reminiscent of the kinds of life lessons that we saw in Bad Buddy, which is why I might term ToL as a kind of proto-BBS, where we see Bee, Pratchaya, and Au playing with the ideas that eventually became the INCREDIBLE foundation of BBS.

In BBS, Pat and Pran accepted, with robust empathy (NOT condescending sympathy), the fact that their parents WOULD NOT, and maybe even, COULD NOT change -- leading the guys to keeping their relationship secret.

Here in ToL, I love that the writers played with Third’s RESISTANCE to change, but also, designed him to ultimately OPEN UP to it, with Khai’s constant pushing. Khai and Third didn’t have the generational divide that children and parents do, as we see eventually in BBS. They had youth on their side. We saw in the follow-up ToL special that Third is still a jealous MF, a side of him that Khai plays up and is concerned about.

But Bee, Pratchaya, and Au were ultimately SO GOOD to Khai and Third (and Two! and Bone! and Un!), because: they wrote these characters ULTIMATELY WITH GRACE, with the GRACEFULNESS that beautiful behavioral change elicits. To witness their processes of change meant, to me, that the show BELIEVED that people CAN CHANGE, AND, AND -- that humans DO NOT HAVE to suffer from weighty labels that are ultimately just a goddamn and meaningless unnecessary burden.

CHANGE IS BEAUTIFUL, if you can embrace it, and if you can allow your loved ones around to TO CHANGE. And when you change, with your community supporting you: you CAN, and likely WILL, become a better person for it.

WHEW. OH MY GAWD. NOW THAT THAT’S OFF MY CHEST! (For real, for ToL: I had MORE notes written, PAGES OF NOTES, written for this show, than anything I’ve watched on the OGMMTVC list, including He’s Coming To Me, my favorite of the old shows so far. ToL WAS SO SUBVERSIVE. UGGHHHHHH!!!)

Some final quick notes, some easter eggs that I utterly loved, that I couldn’t fit into this review in another fashion:

HAAAAAAA. (Even Khai’s social media probably reinforced the heteronormative lifestyle he had been living before falling in love with Third.)

2) The repeat of the stage/play/sound/actors theme, from ToL, to BBS, to Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars (with references to Earth’s characters, to boot!). GOD, I LOVE HOW THEY COME BACK TO THIS THEME! How not just a stage, but so much of LIFE ITSELF, is so fucking performative for the people around us (including Pat and Pran hiding their relationship, Khai bragging to the homies about girls, all of it!).

3) I had planned to include these earlier in the review, but they ultimately didn’t quite make it -- I wanted to write about a bunch of stuff just floating in my head as I watched ToL:

a) My playlist for this show (“I’M NOT A PLAYA, I JUST CRUSH A LOT,” COME AWN! Where did my mom jeans go, shit...) (And the theme of “just friends”? ToL was a total workshop on this theme for BBS. I wish they had sped up into the future to include Nanon’s song.)

b) I had a whole bunch of New York-isms that I wanted to fit into this review somehow, something that like, Dom the pizza guy on the block would say to Third if Third was crying over his slice:

“Who are you to judge?” (pronounced “whoawu”) (besides Third judging Khai, I’d also argue that this applies to the ladies, too -- who are we to judge the ladies that wanted to get with Khai), “No one owes you jackshit,” “GET IT TOGETHER, my friend,”

but they didn’t quite fit, but I feel like I should still jot them down anyway. ANYWAY!

2019, right before the pandemic hits, a year in which you have SO MUCH BL percolating, great BL like He’s Coming to Me, controversial BL like TharnType. And you have this incredibly intelligent, SHARP, subversive, sexy show in Theory of Love, that just causes RIPPLES among the fanbase. I can absolutely see why @bengiyo calls 2019 the year that BL bifurcated. ToL, like HCTM, to me, was a little ahead of its time. It was so subversive as to maybe even be a little manipulative. Because I’m in binge mode and in the THICK of the best of 2019, I know I was mentally ready for this -- but I can see why some audiences in 2019 were maybe NOT so ready.

But I’m damn glad this show was made. If this script hadn’t been written by Bee, Pratchaya, and Au, then I think Bad Buddy would not have been as subversive as it was. ToL is a phenomenal show, AND it gives me SUCH clarity into the refining of the creative process of this team that ultimately produced BBS. And in terms of layers and layers and LAYERS of meaning and depth, nothing, in my opinion, comes close to BBS. I’m thrilled that we had ToL, and the spectacular pairing of OffGun, to precede that moment.

[ToL kicked so much ass, AND I finished 3 Will Be Free last night, ANOTHER monumental show -- if I can get it together, I’ll drop a 3WBF review later this week, but if not, keep your eyes peeled next Monday.

My time tonight, I’ll be watching Dew the Movie -- another stop on the Ohm Pawat train, on which I’m a permanent passenger. Mans is such a translator of queer revelation and angst. I can’t wait. And thennnnnn, after Dew, a big one, Until We Meet Again. It’ll be my first go-around with Fluke Natouch, which I’m looking forward to; but I was informed by @bengiyo and the clown friends that this shit’s SEVENTEEN EPISODES. WHY DOES NEW SIWAJ HAVE TO DO THIS TO ME?!?! Thailand needs to pass a federal law restricting New to 12 episodes OR LESS! GAH.

But anyway, listen, we are making big progress, and inching ever closer to a major stop on this journey in ITSAY. I know @shortpplfedup is watching my shit very. closely. Annnnd, I’ll take any thoughts on this, but I kinda think that I should maybe do a Very Very Fast Rewatch of KinnPorsche...since it was KP that got me here in the first place, and I think I might have a lot more to say about it, now that I’m firmly familiar with the BL echelon. And, Tong.

Here’s the list as it currently stands. As always, feedback is welcome!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 3) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 4) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 5) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 6) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 7) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 8) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 9) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 10) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 11) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 12) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 13) Theory of Love (2019) 14) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (not a BL or an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review coming) 15) Dew the Movie (2019) (not an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but I want to watch this in chronological order with everything else) (watching) 16) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) 17) 2gether (2020) 18) Still 2gether (2020) 19) I Told Sunset About You (2020) 20) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) 21) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) 22) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 23) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS 24) Lovely Writer (2021) 25) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 26) Not Me (2021-2022) 27) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 28) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 29) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 30) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 31) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 32) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 33) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 34) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 35) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults)]

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kymantruther · 2 years

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cupid ye was more kyman than it was style

seeing as south park episodes aren’t gonna come until march, this gives me the time to talk about cupid ye…which i’ve wanted to after the episode came out but i figured i wouldn’t have enough time to. so i really planned this analysis to be after all the episodes were made for s26…but again seeing as they’re on break, i took my chances.

so this is the perfect time for me to talk about cupid ye and how the episode always read more kyman than style to me. this may sound absurd considering the episode phrases stan and kyle’s relationship in a romantic way, but i find that’s all it extends to. let’s review the episode for a bit so i can elaborate. sure, the phrasing implies some sort of romance between stan and kyle, and there’s even a scene where stan is stammering and love struck when kyle talks to him. But we don’t ever see stan act upon this. notice how throughout the entire episode stan NEVER confronts kyle about how he misses hanging out with him? i see people call kyle a bad friend for “ditching” him, but it’s a notion i never got. stan never said anything to kyle about it, kyle’s not a bad friend for wanting to have fun with someone else, it’s not ditching in the slightest (unless you’re going to try and actually imply kyle belongs to stan and should only be around him 24/7). how was kyle supposed to know stan felt this way? he was having fun with tolkien, kyle’s suddenly villain for having fucking fun??? i can only blame stan in this situation because all he did was avoid the problem and act like it didn’t affect him (when it did).

even at the end of the episode, he only confronts tolkien not kyle. this just signifies to me there’s a clear communication problem in stan and kyle’s friendship. for an unknown reason, stan doesn’t want to address things with kyle. with this fact in mind, that scene where stan is nervous to talk to kyle at lunch suddenly doesn’t look so cute anymore, in fact, it demonstrates a legitimately problem of stan’s.

it’s no wonder stan and kyle’s friendship is breaking off, stan can’t even discuss his feelings with kyle. he does nothing but mope around and feel sorry for himself when he could literally fix the problem if he talked to his super best friend.

but opposed that to cartman in this episode. what does cartman do in the episode when he realizes he did something wrong? he acts. he realizes he’s gone way too far with the rumor about kyle running hollywood and he actually does something about it. sure, stan can stand in front of kyle to protect him (which tolkien did too so even that’s not a style moment lol) but cartman’s the one who forced cupid ye (arguably himself) to take his meds to save kyle.

cartman got kyle in this mess but he got kyle out of it.

and let’s talk about the initial synopsis for the episode too.

the synopsis says cartman is jealous. watching the ep, it appears stan is jealous, and he is. so why would it say cartman is jealous? because cartman is projecting. cartman ordinarily doesn’t care if stan and kyle have a fallout, actually he typically relishes in them. but that’s only because he gets kyle to himself (ex: assburgers, cbaa). but this time, tolkien and kyle hang out. so cartman takes stan’s jealousy and acts like he’s doing it for stan and his friendship with kyle, but in reality he’s doing it because he’s jealousy. just as the synopsis says.

and i don’t think it’s a coincidence cupid me, cartman’s gay conscious, is in this episode about cartman being jealous of tolkien and kyle’s friendship. in their valentine’s day episode at that ;).

so to summarize, it’s incredibly surface level to say this episode was style. this episode was kyman to the core and just furthers the theory that cartman is in love with kyle.

#kyman #sp meta #kyman meta #cupid ye #south park meta #south park #i’m back :P #not to be anti style cuz i love style #i might talk about style’s unhealthy flaws

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flowervolcano · 2 days

Text

Oh man… I just read Deadpool (2024) #6 and I GOT MUCH TO SAY. But I’m gonna keep this Taskpool centric, I might do an overall review on the full series later but there’s a few talking points specifically about Taskpool I’ve gotta say before I forget ‘em.

spoilers beyond the cut so DO NOT READ IF YA DON’T WANNA GET SPOILED!!!

At least I hope this works. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, I don’t usually even do review type thingys but I’m really hyped ^^

Let’s begin….

Really loved the way Tasky looked here. But also find this pretty funny considering back in Despicable Deadpool he threw a guy/his wheelchair at Taskmaster.

Interestingly enough, Wade called him Taskmaster more times in this comic than the previous ones. But he’s on business mode rn so he’s definitely keeping it professional!

Because not too much later he then calls him Task-Daddy— WHY DID HE DO THAT???? Tasky, you aren’t getting out of this anymore, I’m sorry… I had to full stop and process this. We kept making jokes… we did it for months now and Wade finally said what we all been saying 😭💀

This just interested me a lot. Both of them are talking about new territory, but it’s not the same kind. I think it’s really important for Tasky because he’s never actually been a father-like figure to anyone (not even his own daughter…) but maybe I was reading too much into this—

I know this is very much in character for Tony to wanna brand more since he’s broke, likes good business, etc, but I can’t help but feel like this equals him being a dad to Ellie, why? he’s never had to brand anybody before, but he obviously saw promise in her and even if Wade may have thrusted this mentorship onto them both, he didn’t HAVE to do it like this, that he is explaining the reasoning just felt like an excuse/deflection, it was like he WANTED to have a piece of himself in her outfit but he’s just gotta act cool about it.

I won’t lie when I say this “No Killing Rule” has piqued my interest the most, because to me, rules are made to be broken. And I am intrigued to see where this leads in the future and what will unfold. It is sort of a big deal for Wade to put onto Taskmaster, and I can think about how he may react if Ellie crosses that line— I mean it is his responsibility… I’m wondering if I’m thinking too much on this!

At first I just wanted to add this in and say isn’t he just gorgeous here? But then I realized the dialogue is something to poke at. He’s somewhat pulling her leg here, but I also think it could be interpreted in a few different ways; he’s never gonna admit that he’s protective of her, but he is. It’s not just hit reputation that he’s concerned about okay?

I also think it may be how he’s worked with Wade for a very long time, but with her, it’s a whole new world. It could go a lot of ways, but I’d like to think there’s a part of Taskmaster that is going to miss working alongside Wade and he doesn’t wanna confess. But being around Ellie is just gonna be a reminder.

Being around Ellie might remind him of his own daughter that he knows nothing about. And maybe he feels regretful about this. Idk maybe he doesn’t even remember her at all… depends on the writer.

—————

Loving the dynamic he’s got with her so far. They’re goofy and silly and I love to see him being the funny guy in the situation while Ellie is more serious. Nice change from Wade & Tasky. Really appreciate Ellie is her own person and not just a Deadpool 2.0, I think Tony likes that about her too.

Finally. Love seeing these two interact. A lot. This is something I will REALLY miss now that… well you know… now that stuff happened…. And at this very moment NEITHER TASKY OR ELLIE KNOW THAT WADE IS DEAD OH I AM SICK!!! (Also why did Wade look extra cute here… there was zero reason for it. Thank you Artist!!!)

Uh yeah and these were my little thoughts and such. I might of jumped over things and I’ve never really done posts like these. But this issue really itched my brain and so I wanted to discuss stuff a little haha. Hope y’all enjoy and ofc enjoyed the new issue!!!

#deadpool spoilers #deadpool 2024 spoilers #deadpool issue 6 spoilers #taskmaster #deadpool #deadpool 2024 #taskpool #spoilers #marvel #marvel comics #can confirm that taskmaster now really is the dad that stepped up RIP wade I love you

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multi-fandom-of-madness · 1 year

Text

Darkness At The Heart Of My Love

Pairings: Papa Emeritus IV/Copia X GN!Reader

Type: Fluff that turns to angst w/ no comfort

Summary: Copia had just begun his reign as Papa, and was overworked. He needed to get away from the ministry and all of it. He found someone along the way. Someone who showed him love and happiness. It was perfect, until things changed, and then things descended into chaos.

Warnings: Mentions of character death, heartbreak, use of Y/N, google translated Italian

Word Count: 3,619

Notes: I’m debating on whether I want to make this into a short series. I already have the second part written, but I don’t know how I feel about the plot I previously had for the third part. I originally did this as a self insert, so if there are pronouns that don't correlate with a gender neutral reader, please let me know I will fix it asap. Also I'm sorry for the way the song lyrics copied over, you're just gonna have to deal with it (unfortunately).

Read on AO3

When the summer dies

Severing the ties

I'm with you always, always

Will you walk the line?

My path serpentine

Remember always

That love is all you need

Tell me who you wanna be

And I will set you free

There's a darkness at the heart of my love

That runs cold, runs deep

The darkness at the heart of my love

For you

It was a September afternoon. The leaves were just starting to change and the air had just started to relieve itself of its hellish temperatures. Summer finally started saying its goodbye.

The Clergy had been on Copia’s back recently due to his most recent accomplishment of being in talks to become the new Papa. He knew that they just wanted everything perfect, but he was struggling to believe he could live up to their practically impossible standards. It had been an impossibly long day, and he knew that he needed a break before he snapped, inflicting the wrath of Sister Imperator.

He drove around, just trying to clear his head until he found a café. A small little thing that looked very simple. He didn’t bother to check the name or the reviews before walking inside.

“Good afternoon! How can I help you today?” A chipper voice called out to him. His head snapped up from his phone as he set his eyes on them.

“Oh, hello. I-I’m good. How are you today?” He responded, his cheeks reddening slightly as he stumbled over his words.

“Well, it would be better if it were time to go home, but honestly I can’t complain too much,” the cashier responded. “What can I get for you today?”

Copia looked over the menu for just a moment. “Could I just get a black coffee and a blueberry scone?”

“Sure thing!” They smiled as they told him the total and grabbed his scone. They handed him the bag, and his hand lingered for a moment. He held his breath once he realized what he was doing, and grabbed the bag.

“Grazie,” he mumbled as he walked over to the other end of the counter to wait on his coffee. He watched as they poured the coffee, entranced by their every move.

“Here’s your coffee, sir,” they called as if he wasn’t jumping at the chance to talk to them again.

“Thank you,” he said, taking it and finding a seat. He was the only person actually sitting down, everyone else who came in got their orders and left. Copia knew that wouldn’t do for him. If he left, he didn’t know what would have happened.

He sat for a while, eating his scone and sipping his coffee. It was peaceful in the little café. Soft music played over the speakers, and the scent of freshly baked treats filled the air. It was nice.

“I’m heading out now! I’ll see you guys later!” He heard them call, apron off and bag in their hand. He watched them walk towards the door, and jumped up, not really knowing what he was doing.

“Excuse me, but I was just wondering if you-if you had any plans today. It’s been a long day, and you seem like you would be nice to talk to. Only, if you want to of course! I just thought you were gorgeous-I mean you seemed nice. Not that you aren’t gorgeous of course! I’m sorry, I don’t really talk to people outside of my work,” he rushed his words. He was slightly shaking, scared of what they would say.

“I don’t have any plans,” they smiled. “There’s a park right down the road, I could take you if you wanted.”

A look of relief washed over his tired face. “Really? I-well, I would like that actually.”

“My name is Y/N,” they said, holding out their arm.

He looped his arm in theirs, internally smacking himself for not asking their name earlier. “Copia.”

“Well, Copia, it’s nice to meet you.” They squeezed his arm lightly as they left the café. He smiled and looked at the ground.

The park wasn’t far at all, just about a ten minute walk. It was pretty, especially now that the leaves were changing their colors, shedding their summertime glow. There was a winding path that had trees scattered along with a few bushes surrounding them. The flowers on the ground were already wilting, but the scene was still beautiful nonetheless.

“So, Copia, what brought you to my little café?” They asked, their head tilting as they continued to walk arm in arm. Copia found it refreshing to not have his title used to address him for once. It seemed to be all he heard now.

“Well, work has been getting to me. Sis-My boss likes everything to be perfect. It’s just the way that the company is run. I’m beginning to take on a new…new mantle, and in order to properly take it on, I have to be perfect. It is a lot of stress for one man.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sure it is stressful. May I ask where you work? I might be able to help, or at least provide some comfort with a little more context.”

He was hoping they wouldn’t ask that question, terrified of scaring them off. “Well, it’s a, uh, ministry of sorts.”

“Oh, so you’re going to become a priest. I guess that could be difficult. Not living a life of sin and being perfect for God and all of his followers.”

“Well, not exactly,” he admitted to them. “Are you religious?”

“I’m not entirely religious. I’m sure there’s a source of something out there, but if it is, I haven’t found it. I don’t judge religions though.”

“Well, that’s comforting,” he sighed. They gave him an odd look. “Our ministry isn’t exactly…Christian.”

“Now I'm a little bit confused.”

He laughed lightly at their response. “It’s a Satanic church. We preach about the word of Satan, and it’s a fun little gig we have going. We use a band to spread the word. Maybe you have heard of it?”

“That's interesting. What is your band called? I’m not sure whether I would have heard of it or not.”

“It’s called Ghost, we are pretty popular,” he teased. He wouldn’t be sure whether they’d heard of it or not, and was surprised by their reaction to saying he was with a satanic church.

“No, I don’t think I have heard of it actually.”

“Well, what kind of music do you like? I can help be a good judge of whether it would provide entertainment. It’s, eh, not really your basic music.”

“I’ll listen to almost anything, honestly. I’m always down for a good tune.”

Copia was taken aback by this a bit, a pleasantly shocked look on his face. “Well, it’s a rock band. A pretty good one if I do say so myself.”

“Maybe I’ll give it a listen later.”

They continued to walk for a minute in silence before Copia piped up. “So, what do you do for fun?”

“I don’t really know. I like to read, watch TV, listen to music, and all the basic things.”

“What about video games? Any of that interest you?”

“Not really. I never got into gaming.”

“Interesting.”

“What about you, Copia?”

“I play a game or two here and there, but with the Ministry, I don’t get much time to myself.”

“Oh, I’m sorry that sucks. You can always call me up, if you want some company. I don’t really do much other than work. Here,” they said, sticking their phone out to him, “put your number in, and then you can text me whenever you get too stressed and need an outside source for comfort.” Copia took the phone, put his number in, and sent himself a message to make sure he didn’t put it in wrong, then they continued on their first walk of many.

And that is what they did for months.

They texted back and forth often, called, and even went on quite a few dates. Copia had yet another long day, and knew that he could trust the person he now proudly called his partner. He called, asking if he could spend the night at their apartment, and of course they said yes.

Copia made his way to their apartment, using his key to get inside. “Dolcezza? I’m here, amore.”

“I’m in the bathroom! Just got out of the shower!” They called, and he walked that way. He still had on his paints, which still shocked them sometimes, but they were beginning to grow used to it. “Well don’t you look handsome?” They teased, noting that he was in a hoodie and sweatpants.

“What? Oh, heh, yeah I guess I am a beauty. But you, amore mio, look stunning.” He grabbed their hips, pulling them into a kiss. They had on a plain black t-shirt and a pair of black shorts to match. Their hair was wet, and before the kiss they were drying it with a towel. As they kissed, they dropped the towel in favor of wrapping their arms around his shoulders while his arms crossed around their back to pull them in.

“Well, someone missed me,” they said as they pulled away, leaving their arms around him.

“I always miss you,” he said, pressing a lighter kiss to their forehead.

“You’re so sweet, Copia,” they hummed, staring up into his mismatched eyes, nothing else but adoration showing.

“I love you, tesoro.”

“I love you too. What brings you tonight? Anything special?”

“No, just a long day. Needed a way to relax,” he hummed, looking at them.

“What do you want to do?” They asked, leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek.

“What do you say I treat you to a dance?”

“What do yo-” before they finished, Copia removed them from where they leaned on the counter, dancing with them out to the living room. They laughed as he spun the both of them around, one hand holding theirs while the other rested on their waist, kissing them while he dipped them.

They were absolutely in love, and that was easy to see. They had only been to the Abbey a few times, but any sibling of sin, ghoul, or anyone who crossed their paths could see the love on their faces.

Soon, the rings on their left ring fingers became evidence enough. Copia, being the romantic he was, proposed to them about a year and a half later.

The air was warm, spring just beginning to settle in, as they walked through the park they first walked at. They walked there often now, finding comfort in the atmosphere. Little did Y/N know that Copia had a surprise waiting for them. It wasn’t uncommon for them to go on picnics, especially not if they were sunrise or sunset picnics.

They walked the winding trail, arms linked together, as Copia nervously led them to their destination. In the other hand, Y/N held a picnic basket that had all of their favorite things, as Copia’s hand nervously fiddled with the small box containing the second most precious gem. The first being his beloved.

The sky was a gorgeous pale blue, the clouds outlined with pink and orange as the sun began to sink past the horizon. Their normal picnic spot had been set up to look very different.

Copia had to pull a few strings, but the trees were decorated with lights, and all of their favorite flowers formed to make a walkway that led to a small platform that was covered in more flowers.

He walked them towards the destination while one sibling of sin hid in the bushes to capture it on video and get the most perfect photos.

Y/N was in absolute awe. It looked like something out of a movie. “Is that for me, Copia?” They asked innocently, unsure of whether this was just for them or someone else.

“Yes, carissima. This is all for you.” He walked up to the platform, letting them take the first step. He steps up next, bending down on one knee. “I knew from the moment I laid my eyes on you that I wanted to be the one you loved. I have cherished every moment, every laugh, even the fights, all because I got to spend that time with you. You are the love and the light of my life. I love you beyond words, Y/N. So please, will you marry me?”

Crying, Y/N lowers themself to be level with him. “Yes,” they cry, holding his face in their hands and kissing him. “A thousand times, yes.”

Copia’s face lights up as he takes their left hand off his face, slipping the ring on, then pulling them into the closest hug they will ever feel in their lives.

Will you spill the wine

To summon the divine?

I'm with you always, always

Now paint a pair of eyes

And let's watch as it dries

Remember always, that love is all you need

Tell me who you wanna be

And I will set you free

There's a darkness at the heart of my love

That runs cold, runs deep

The darkness at the heart of my love

So bold, so sweet

The big day was here. The day where Y/N and Copia would pledge their love in front of everyone.

Marrying a Papa was a big deal. Everyone in the Clergy would gather to watch the occasion. The reception, however, was for close friends and family members only.

“Are you ready?” A voice called from behind Y/N . It was their father. He wasn’t entirely on board with the concept of marrying a satanic pope, but once he realized just how wonderful Copia made them feel, he accepted the relationship, and welcomed Copia with open arms.

“I believe so,” they said, using one hand to hold the bouquet of flowers, the other smoothing down their outfit.

“Then I believe it’s time,” he said, taking their arm in his as the doors opened. They looked up to where Copia was standing in awe. He had on a gorgeous suit and his paints were on. Tradition is that they wear full regalia, but he didn’t want to remember this moment as Papa, just as Copia. He finally was able to compromise with just using his paints, so he took what he could get.

They could tell that there were tears in his eyes. He was always the sentimental type. They smiled as tears welled in their eyes as well.

As they reached the altar, their father smiled at them and kissed their cheek before sitting down. Copia reached a hand out to them as they walked up the stairs, handing a bridesmaid the bouquet of flowers.

“Hi, you look gorgeous,” he whispered excitedly.

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” they said, giving him a wink. The officiant began speaking, signaling the ceremony had begun. There was a bottle of wine, two chalices, and their rings on a small table next to the officiant.

A little while into the wedding, both of them poured wine into the other’s chalice, crossing their arms as they sip. It wasn’t the most necessary part of the ceremony, but it was something that they decided to do. A symbol of their joining together.

They slipped their rings on after, officially combined as one.

They walked back down the aisle, arm in arm, smiling like children, so happy that they found their perfect match. Neither of them wanted to get their outfits messed up, so as their chosen guests filed into the reception room, they changed into simpler, yet still formal, outfits.

“I am so happy that I have you now,” Copia said, coming behind Y/N to wrap them in a hug and leaned his head on their shoulders.

“Until death do us part,” Y/N responded in a joking tone.

“Not even death could keep us from each other,” he said, kissing their neck. Y/N turned around, wrapping their arms around his shoulders, kissing him.

“I would never let that happen,” they smiled.

There's a darkness at the heart of my love

That runs cold, runs deep

The darkness at the heart of my love

For you

“Are you excited? It’s your last concert of this tour. I’m so proud of you,” Y/N said, kissing his cheek as they helped fix his robes.

“It has been a blast. I’m sad to see it come to an end, but that just means we can start new journeys now,” he smiled.

“You’re going to do amazing.” They both walked to the side of the stage, waiting for the cue that they were good to go. “Do you hear that? Copia, they love you.” A smile rested on their face, their head leaning on their husband's shoulder.

“No one could love me the way you do, dolcezza. They may love me, and I may entice them, but my eyes are only for you. I am only for you. I will be with you always,” he said, listening to the crowd’s chanting.

“It’s time. I’ll see you after the show, my love.”

“I love you,” Copia said, kissing them lovingly before walking on stage, the crowd screaming their heads off.

Y/N made their way to their designated spot above the crowd. There was always one section where they would stand and watch, no one else to bother them. The crowd was extremely reactive tonight, everyone having the best time. Even the ghouls looked to be having the greatest night of their lives.

They smiled, singing along to every song. Occasionally, Copia would look up to where they stood, and they waved each time.

He bounced around the stage, everyone enchanted by his every move, but now the concert was coming to an end. He looked so content and happy performing that neither of them wanted this to end.

“Now this song is very special to me. I used to sing this song, worried about the pain another would cause me, or a pain that I would cause another if I let anyone near me, close to my heart. I said no! No relationships!” He paused, looking around the crowd then looking up to them. “Now, I know that I was wrong. I wish I could have figured this out sooner, but when I stepped into that little coffee shop, I’m glad it took all the time that it did. For the past few years, my love, my beautiful, my angel, my partner has been by my side. So now, I sing a new song of love. Love for the one I am so glad to be able to call my partner. For my Y/N.” He pointed at them as the crowd cheered at the mention of their name, causing them to grin and blush. "This is Darkness At The Heart of My Love!” The crowd cheered some more as the opening notes played.

He sang beautifully. His voice was perfect, and his movements bewitching. Everything about this performance proved Copia was a masterpiece. Y/N leaned onto the railing, singing and watching as their lover made his way through the song.

“Remember always that love is all you need. Tell me who you wanna be, and I will set you free,” he sang as the song drew near its end, looking up to Y/N as he did.

There's a darkness at the heart of my love

That runs cold, runs deep

The darkness at the heart of my love

So bold, so sweet

There's a darkness at the heart of my love (my love)

That runs cold (runs cold), runs deep (runs deep)

The darkness at the heart of my love (my love)

So bold (so bold), so sweet (so sweet)

Y/N didn’t notice the security coming behind them, but they recognized similar strange figures standing on either side of the stage, stalking towards Copia.

Panic flooded them as they turned to run to try and save him, though it was a waste of effort. The security guards behind them grabbed them, forcing them to watch the events unfold.

“And all this time you knew that I would put you through the darkness at the heart of my love for you!” Copia sang, unaware of the men behind him while Y/N struggled.

When the summer dies

Severing the ties

I'm with you always, always

The men came behind Copia, grabbing his arms and legs, pulling him away from the microphone. A look of fear filled his face.

Paint a pair of eyes

Let's watch as it dries

I'm with you always, always

“No!” They screamed out, watching him get dragged off stage, struggling in the same way they were. “Copia! Please! No!” People in the few rows below them turned, watching the tears streaming down their face as they continued to scream.

Sister Imperator walked out on stage, beginning to say some words, but Y/N couldn’t make it out. The guards let them go, and they crumpled to the ground, shaking and sobbing, feeling utterly broken. “No,” they cried quieter. The crowd was painfully silent as they watched Sister. “This can’t be happening. No. Please.” A few siblings of sin walked toward them, lifting them off the ground, walking them back to a car.

They took them back to the ministry, and they cried the whole way there. They brought them to bed, changing their clothes and making them comfortable. They listened to their cries, sad looks on their faces.

They said nothing now, laying in the bed them and Copia would never share again. They held his pillow close, crying into it.

He was gone, and they wouldn’t get him back.

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imaginespazzi · 1 month

Note

Firstly, I want to say thank you for uploading your fics to AO3 😭 love tumblr but the formatting is so ass and difficult to read at times lol

Anyways to Chapter 5 review/thoughts we go!

Paige talking to Azzi and Stephie thru the phone during her wedding had me cryingggg. Her calming down Azzi, Azzi saying P is gonna be a wonderful wife, and P saying that Azzi is going to be an amazing mom was one of my final straws 😭

I love the way you wrote the dynamic between Paige and Drew, along with Paige and Katie! Drew acting like a big baby but knowing what’s the TRUTH for Paige hit hard. And then Katie still caring about Paige, even when Paige and Azzi aren’t talking shows that Paige will always be considered family to the Fudds no matter what.

STEPH CURRY CAMEO??? I did not see this coming haha but I LOVEEEEE it. Can’t imagine how weird it was to see how Paige and Azzi were acting… I know the tension was crazyyy lol

This part in the chapter really left me in shambles:

“Scares you?” Paige scoffs, “I’m not the one who broke your heart Azzi.”

“You don’t think I know that? You don’t think I’ve lived with that guilt for the last 8 years? Jesus fucking christ Paige. I’m not scared of you. I’m scared of me,”

AZZI NOOOOO BE STRONG GIRLIE PLSSSS STOP SECOND GUESSING EVERYTHING AND SAY FUCK ITTT 😭😭 let yourself be vulnerable Azzi omg

And then lastly, PAIGE KISSING AZZI?!?! I fucking gaspedddd Nivi 😭😭 I know next chapter is going to start with Azzi pushing Paige away and getting mad at Paige for kissing her and I will not be able to handle that.

Paige giving golden retriever energy in this chapter so much and I love it lmaoooo. You know the TikTok audio that goes “fuck it, guess we both ain’t shit”? Idk why but a lot of things that Paige does with Azzi reminds of that audio LMAO

Anyways, great chapter as usual Nivi! Excited to read about next chapter and hearing more about the Paige/Azzi/Olivia dynamic and backstory. Plssss continue to update on Mondays like you are a blessing on a dark Monday morning 🙏

You're so welcome babes. AO3 is definitely a lot easier to read on, so I'm happy to make things easier!

That phonecall scene had been brewing in my head for a while and I'm very happy it evoked the emotions in y'all that I was trying to.

The Paige x Fudds dynamic is one of my favorites because I just think it's so sweet how they basically just looked at her and went "oh Azzi likes you? Perfect you're one of us now!"

I'm a Celtics fan4life but I have such a soft spot for Steph and his cameo was planned right from the beginning.

AHHH I know everybody expected Azzi to push her away so I'm really curious to hear your thoughts about chapter 6 and what you thought of Azzi's reaction!

#ask #fic talk #sorry i'm answering these so late but i really do appreciate you <3

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initiumseries · 1 year

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Across the Spiderverse Review

Okay! I will preface this saying, I want to see it a second time because there was SO MUCH STUFF, and it was beautiful and amazing and I just think there was so much detail in all of it that I need another watch so I can absorb what I missed in this pass. That being said, this will mostly be a stream of consciousness kind of thing but I will try to keep it into pros and cons. Naturally, there are **SPOILERS** here.

I’m going to start with cons because there were so few and I want to end on a good note.

Con #1: We start with Gwen’s story. I came to see Miles Morales. The last movie we spent a lot of time with Peter too, and I just don’t like that Mile’s really interesting story is split between these secondary, less interesting, white characters. Miles is going through this huge crisis of identity, and I’m wasting time sitting here watching Gwen lamenting her own issues, only for her to turn around and betray Miles the way she did? Pass. I’m not interested in Gwen’s interiority, I don’t care how much she’s struggling with trying to do the right thing or whatever. This is Miles’ story. Let me get into Miles’ interiority. I felt like most of the time we were watching Miles instead of getting into Miles’ head, and going through those rollercoaster of emotions with him, and watching him struggle. Gwen gets a voice over about herself, her life, her best friend Peter, a LOT about Peter and a little of her friendship with Miles, Miles’ voice over is weighed down by his feelings about Gwen and rehashing what we already know. Like, a whole sketchbook full of Gwen? Really? Ugh.

Now onto the pros:

Art Pros: This movie is fucking beautiful.

I LOVE that every universe has its own design style, and I LOVED how they made sure every web slinger had his own way of slanging them webs. Such amazing detail. I saw a storyboarder on twitter talking about how his approach with Gwen, since the note was that she be more like a ballerina, was having Gwen swing like a gymnast and use banned gymnastic moves in her webslinging. LOVE.

I found out from a friend that Miles is animated on 2s and Miguel is animated on 1s and some other characters animated on 3s and 4s and that means nothing to you if you aren’t in animation, but again, the care and detail? Miguel being animated on 1s means his movements will be sharp, precise, piercing and fast. Which sums up his personality (barring the unhinged element). Miles being animated on 2s, how we normally would animate classically, means exactly that. I just think that’s SO WONDERFUL. *full geek out mode*

I’m OBSESSED with the fact that you can see Spot’s construction lines??

I geeked out SO HARD when I saw these because it’s SO cool and fun, and construction lines are something you usually hide, so to include it I was like...oh this is ART art.

This kind of animation????

The bowed legs, the reach in and wiggle?!?! The wiggle!?!??! THIS children, is what we call character animation.

His hand just...flopping off the shelf? The impact of his weight as he leans on the shelf? GUYS. GUUUUUYSSSSS.

These are small details but oh my god do they elevate a scene. These animators deserve ALL the awards.

Hobie. Now Hobie...he’s gonna be in both story and art. Because omfg.

When I found out he needed a hidden secret rig underneath his actual rig, before I saw the movie, I was like...why on EARTH would you do that? And then I saw the movie and was like...oh. YEAH. Sometimes you do that. And the results? Fucking phenomenal. Hobie said he was inconsistent and his style kept changing. BRILLIANT STUFF.

I love a tasteful meme jokey joke.

Okay! I have to cut myself off, onto story pros:

I love that Mile’s crisis of identity isn’t just rooted in his being spiderman and Miles. His mother being APPALLED he has a B in spanish, and then trying to talk to him in spanish and not just spanglish was such a nice additional layer to everything else going on with him. I love that when he finally works up the courage to tell his mother he’s Spiderman, he’s in the wrong universe (which I’ll get to).

Miles wanting SO badly to be a part of something, and then finding out there’s a whole universe of spider folks, and just the successive disappointments in Gwen as he found out more information was good. I also like that because he wants so badly to be involved, he’s not being critical, and it’s Hobie who keeps trying to help him gain some perspective despite him being jealous over stupid Gwen.

I love that Hobie says, I hate the AM and the PM (I did NOT catch that the first time! Hahaha brilliant). Him stealing throughout the fight over the collider? Then seeing the pay off later with Gwen? AMAZING. Him quitting when shit hits the fan? Perfect. Hobie is a fave.

THIS moment.

The fact that when Miles finally figures out that Miguel means for him to let his canon event of his father dying go through without interruption, and decides he doesn’t actually want to be a part of this new crew, it’s Hobie’s advice and Spider Byte’s choosing to not stop the machine, that helps him. After the serious disappointment of the white people around him, it’s Black people he just meets that step up to the plate to support him, young Black people on top of it. That wasn’t an accident and is a very typical experience. I am already shipping him and Spider Byte and i NEED that to be a thing in the final movie.

I actually really like the idea that Miguel is a villain. He’s so rigid in his thinking, and so myopic, he refuses to see there’s any other way to do things. So while he thinks he’s the good guy, and is leading the good guys, he’s leading them astray, and I think it really speaks to how sometimes you can live long enough to see yourself become a villain and have to stay constantly vigilant and interrogate yourself a lot and not be closed to a new way of doing things, like Miles. MAN did that fight scene where he rips Miles to shreds about being an anomaly HURT. So good.

Miles’ father struggling to relate to him, only for us to realize that he has a bigger impact on Miles than we think, especially with the way it seems like Miles is pushing him away. But then, we meet, fucking PROWLER MILES?!?! SO. FUCKING. GOOD.

I noticed right away, when Prowler!Miles started talking and the way he rolled his Rs, even how he’s wearing his hair. With his father gone, Miles’ mother’s influence on him culturally is very clear. Not a bad thing, just a beautiful detail. His uncle’s influence on him leads him to be the prowler, where his dad kept him on the straight and narrow. I LOVE THAT. I love the possibility that Miles meeting himself in this other universe could solidify for him that saving his father is the right thing to do, the necessary thing to do. Or it could shake his confidence. I guess we’ll find out.

Miles being sent to another universe was SO FUN. They’re very clear this machine uses your DNA to send you where you belong!! Why did it send him there? The theory that it’s because the spider that bit him was from another universe and that it altered his DNA so he ends up here, and I think that’s a salient theory and I love that idea. I think it’s so perfect and thorough.

I loved that there were so many little moments in this movie that were subtle, but making a clear, progressive statement. This movie was so CLEARLY made by artists, for artists, but also for fans, for the average movie goer, and people who just like good stories. To be able to fold all that in together is amazing and fantastic, and there’s more I’d like to say but this post is already really long and I’ll be seeing it again and will be gushing about it then too. But if you haven’t seen it, or are on the fence, SEE THIS DAMN MOVIE.

1500/10

#across the spiderverse #miles morales #hobie brown #pavitr prabhakar #fantastic movie

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starryeyedreviews · 11 months

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Little Chef - Full Review

Author’s note: ok so i know i had just listed down games i was gonna review and this isn’t one of them, but i saw Rock Paper Shotgun (shoutout to them! one of my favorite curators for sure) talk about this and gave it a try and it was SO cute ✨

Warning! Very minor spoilers in the screenshots, so if you want to play the game completely blind maybe don’t focus too hard on the background haha

Little Chef is a 2D physics-based game where you can mix ingredients to figure out different recipes. It takes place in an adorable little kitchen with objects you can interact with, allowing you to pick them up and drop them in the pot to cook. You can take the time to experiment with different combinations of ingredients, or get hints from the names in the recipe book you’re given.

The ingredients you have to work with are pretty common, so it’s not too difficult to figure out which to combine to make which food. Recipes range from needing 2 ingredients up to 5, making the latter recipes a little trickier to get. Successfully making a recipe results in lovely golden smoke from the pot, with your finished product popping up on screen, and the corresponding recipe unlocked in your book.

The book also includes a section for “failed” recipes, which you can also try to complete. A few of them require specific ingredients, while the others are just happy accidents from mixes gone wrong. Finding all of the recipes in the book, including the failed ones, gets you a congratulations screen, calling you a Master Chef! Perhaps a little reminder that your failures are part of what makes you successful 💜 (or that being a completionist pays off, haha!)

Surprisingly, the things you can place in the pot aren’t limited to just the edible. Most of what you can find in the kitchen can be moved around, and some even picked up, so it’s inevitable that a lot of us will try tossing those in the pot as well. This mechanic makes for some funny interactions and captions in the recipe book, giving you all the more reason to try and find them all 💫

The captions are another part of what makes this game such a treat to play. Each recipe gets its own caption, lovingly written like a slice of life. They make the game feel so much more personable and charming, and were what enticed me to get every single recipe just to see what the character had written.

As the game is free, it still has room to grow and be fleshed out. I’m sure if given the chance, the devs would add more recipes, and maybe some audio. Currently the entire game is silent, but in my opinion it would benefit from some ambient noise, maybe little bits of sound design like a “plop” when the ingredients are dropped, or a “ding!” when the food finishes cooking.

Little Chef reminds me a lot of Little Alchemy with the way you experiment, but shorter and much cozier. On the Itch page (which I’ll link below), the devs cite Potion Craft, Bartender: The Right Mix, and Doodle God: Alchemy Simulator as inspirations, which I could very much feel throughout the game. I really hope they continue developing this game, and as always can’t wait to see what they’ll do next 🌠

Short but sweet -- I give it 5 stars out of 5! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Play Little Chef for free on Itch here!

If you have any questions/suggestions for me, please let me know! My asks are always open ✨

~ Gabi 🌙

#starryeyedreviews #game review #cozy games #cooking games #cooking simulator #little chef #indie games #wholesome games #click and drag #cute games #free games

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the-final-sif · 2 years

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I’m sorry, this has been bugging me a lot as a misunderstanding that people aren’t getting. Dreams not taking legal action against Amanda. He will take legal action against anyone in the future however there’s no confirmation he’s doing it now. I see it as he doesn’t wanna attack anyone and is just waiting until this blows over. As for Amanda, filling a police report and filing a lawsuit are two different things. If she’s pressing charges then dream is informed of these charges, and that is when legal action is taken. I feel like many people are operating on forming an option because they believe this will be resolved soon, however I don’t see that happening. I think there isn’t gonna be a resolution to this situation at all

To be clear, Dream's exact statement on the matter:

I will also based on your advice pursue legal action towards people using my name to spread disinformation or those that are misrepresenting facts, lying, faking things, or falsely abusing my name and image.

He doesn't say it will only be action taken in the future, he's saying he will pursue legal action against people. That doesn't mean he's for sure taking legal action against Amanda, but if he thinks he may want to at any point in the future, or he's having his lawyers investigate the possibility, then keeping quiet is the best thing to do. Even if he's not taking legal action, having lawyers/a PR person review the situation and fact find is going to be the best play.

Amanda has said that she's gone to the police. She also was asking about (and to my knowledge talking about) consulting a lawyer. Her boyfriend stated he was calling lawyers. We don't currently know if any of those things are true, no police report has been provided, and we don't know which if any lawyer would represent her.

Let's be clear, based on what's been reported, even assuming it's all true, I think it'd be very unlikely for Dream to face any kind of criminal charges. The evidence will be very difficult if not impossible to recover, and that's assuming it exists. Also, to be clear, while Amanda could file a report and request charges be filed, she would not decide whether or not he should be charged. Only DAs/prosecutors do that.

That doesn't mean there's no value to filing a police report anyway, police can at least evaluate and create a record of evidence provided, and may be able to get warrants for certain information, assuming they decide to take up the case. Those police reports will then often become a matter of public record people can refer to. That is assuming she did actually file a report.

Since Amanda's BF also was saying he was calling lawyers, that could mean one of two things (assuming he did actually call lawyers), either that they want to attempt a civil lawsuit (difficult but not impossible if there is legitimate evidence that could produce) and want evaluation, or that Dream's lawyers worked quickly and sent a cease and desist (or they were afraid of a cease and desist/defamation case coming) and wanted help preparing for a defense.

So yes, a police report and filing a lawsuit are two different things, but they're both forms of legal action and they aren't mutually exclusive. In any case, even if this doesn't escalate to an actual court case, I do still think it's best that everyone involved consult w/ a lawyer before they say anything else on twitter.

We may not ever get a full resolution, but I do expect at least some clarification and further information about the situation to come out.

#sif answers #Anonymous #dream discourse #discourse #sif speaks

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weirdthoughtsandideas · 8 months

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Mean Girls 2024 reviewed by this random girl with weird thoughts

(Although I think my thoughts for this aren’t that weird).

Spoilers!

THE GAY ENERGY. THE QUEER GIRLS ENERGY. How many girls are smitten with Regina?? Cady had heart eyes the first time she saw her, GRETCHEN is… oh my gosh. Plus all the random girls in school.

I feel like lots won’t bring this up cause sadly Rise of the pink ladies were not that well marketed (PLEASE WATCH IT AND WATCH IT NOW!!), but when I saw ARI NORTATOMASO in the classroom I was like CYNTHIA’S DESCENDANT ??!! >:0

CANON LESBIAN JANIS!!!!! Finally!! But I am not sure how I feel about just giving her this random girl as her date to the spring fling.

I kinda wish to get more scenes with Cady and Janis. Idk personally ever since I read this chatfic from 2018 where they got together over this conversation I’ve kinda had a thing for them

(I’m not joking when I say this fic has been a huge inspo for me to start writing fics of my own. Like. Thank you person who wrote it. You’ve orphaned your account now but this fic will always be in my memory)

I’m not saying I needed them to be gfs in the movie just that I wanted some more moments :>

So the movie lacks a lot of the iconic moments from the 2004 film, but it’s supposed to be an adaptation of the musical anyway. Also if they just said every iconic line again it would just feel like an exact copy of the movie and that wasn’t the point.

Cady’s songs lack a bit for me. In the musical, she sang so loudly and expressed so much, but she sings so… quietly… here. I guess it’s a sort of choice for her character, and maybe this worked better for the movie format - musicals become different on stage and in movies, you can’t always be as theatrical on film as you can on stage. But, I just didn’t feel her emotions at all in the same way.

REGINA AND JANIS’ SONGS, THO? YEA. THEY SLAYED. I do feel sad they cut Gretchen and Karen’s parts out of Meet the plastics. Also that they cut Damian’s songs… Stop is literally such an important song because it gives advice not only to Cady but also to everyone watching?? I remember hearing it in 2018 and I personally felt like it could help me to not send too many texts to people, because when people didn’t answer I got nervous and sent even more. But then… some songs maybe don’t work as well in movie format, I don’t know.

Also because Janis is canonically gay now, I’d rather be me is officially a queer anthem!!!!! 😁😁

Not sure how I feel about changing ”Janis is a space dyke” to ”Janis is a pyro-les”. It doesn’t sound as good in the song lol. But, in the musical, Janis’ sexuality was more ”up to interpretation” and so got called that because when asked if she was a lesbian, she replied ”I AM A SPACE ALIEN AND I HAVE FOUR BUTTS”. An incredibly funny line and really had the early 2010s random humor going for it. But, when wanting to make her explicitly gay, they needed something better, and I understand that.

Now, many people see Regina as a closeted lesbian herself. I get it, since she has no chemistry with any boy and it seems like she just dates them for publicity. No boys except for Damian have personalities (did Shane even have a line?? He was just. There.) But, I am a bit insecure. Because at times it seems like she was one of those homophobic girls in middle school. I’m just gonna go from this movie alone, as I feel like in the Broadway show and in the 2004 movie that’s other kinds of discussion (the 2004 movie especially feels more like she actually was homophobic tbh). In the 2024 movie, Janis came out to Regina, and Regina put a rainbow pin on her stuffed animal as an ”ally”. Also Regina and Janis kissed. Regina did it to see how her boyfriend reacted, and it was at the expense of Janis. Regina then had her stuffed animal with a pride pin talk in a mocking voice and it was clear this was to make fun of Janis. Janis then got so mad over this that she set Regina’s backpack on fire (ok Ámbar Smith whatever works for you). From this story, I am a bit unsure if this came from a place of Regina maybe wanting to tease her boyfriend and then it got out of hand, or maybe she was curious about kissing Janis but she was like 12 and repressed those feelings. Because she supposedly wore a Pride pin as an ”ally”, that’s much more than what a homophobic would do - but, her bullying of Janis definitely contributed to homophobia. Regina is a mean girl, so we should not excuse her actions even though she is slaying. Closeted lesbian or not, she did some homopbic and harmful things.

Regina in this movie sometimes felt like she was just doing a bunch of things without care. In some ways, I think Regina is just living on some sort of cloud and there was all this anger inside of her and she didn’t know what, and it’s possible she just does not know how to handle all the popularity because she’s like 16. So she hides behind a lot of layers and just does stuff for the thrill of it, maybe trying to get some sort of enjoyment in life, but nothing is enough. And eventually she snaps and watches the world burn. Maybe this is why all the songs she has in the movie, including the ones that originally had more singers, only had her singing now. Showing that, even when she is around people, she is alone… (yes, the other girls sing in world burn but they don’t sing to her in the same way) and she has not found her real place in the world and she acts like she knows it all but she doesn’t really. And everyone keeps telling her how great her life is. If her life is so great, why does she feel so unsatisfied?

They didn’t ruin Revenge Party which I appreciate. I also loved that they added the deleted lines from the musical. I wish that Cady has more power in her voice when she shouted ”ONE CANDY CANE PLEASE” but oh well.

The way they all reported on the incidents at North Shore high like it was national news… like, my schools has meme accounts and stuff, but never that we reported on the stuff like it was celebrity gossip lmao. Then again I don’t even live in America so idk what’s going on over there.

I do like how Janis and Damian are the narrators. It’s possible a lot of things that happened was their overexaggerated retellings of what actually happened. Maybe this is just them telling freshmen about tales everyone tells them as they start high school.

School buses keep being the top 10 scariest jumpscares. Laughed out loud tho that instead of focusing on Cady and Regina’s argument, they just argued in the backround and then Janis finished up her song as Regina just gets hit by the bus in the background

I’ll probably have more to say in the future.

#mean girls #mean girls the musical #mean girls 2024

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letamreviews · 1 year

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Mini Review - The Blackening (2023)

i really like it (high tier?) 🤔

Quite a Black-ass funny-ass horror, but much more of an interesting Black movie than a horror. Like, the main horror is in the racist murderer at a cabin in the woods. Like,... I'm not even gonna explain that. You either get it or you don't. Which brings me to the main thing I wanna say. This really is for Black people. I wouldn't recommend it for people who aren't in some way "Black" (biracials, getcha ass in here).

I'm serious when I say this isn't for Euros. Like, y'all really shouldn't* watch this unless you were out of the blue invited by Black people or are yourself very involved with Blackness in some way. (whatever dafuq that means) Should full-on Euros who have no actual exposure to Blackness see this movie? Absolutely not. Everything's dangerous in the wrong hands, and some of y'all asses are gonna do the absolute wrong shit with this. Intentionally or not.

*Pre-Edit: I heard a room of Black people (including some cast members) completely disagree with me in Way Up With Angela Yee’s video (timestamped).

Now that I'm done talking to the non-Blacks, let's get on with it.

for the African Descended

Y'all, this some shit. God damn. So glad I just happened to see this in a small theatre filled to a third with mostly Afros. Got to enjoy the reactions almost as much as the movie. Is it great, though? As a Black movie, yeah. As a horror movie, nah. As a Black horror, yep. As a Black comedy horror, hell yeah. And to be real, I don't think non-Black reviews/opinions/criticisms should even be taken into account for this one. Like, I read 7 recent reviews on Letterboxd before getting to Darryl Buckhanan's and seeing all the convincing I needed. This ain't for everybody. And I'm glad it ain't. Let ma ass be. Real talk,... how many o'y'all would'a failed that shit? 💀

Real talk, I didn't trust this movie to not be for Euros because of the director (Tim Story). Here me out! Of his 23 movies listed on Letterboxd, I've only seen five: Barbershop (2002), Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Think Like a Man (2012) (they just had to put Rihana’s abuser in this 🙄), and this one. While I enjoyed all of the other four, I 1) haven't seen his other Black-casted works and 2) strongly suspected Shaft (2019) of being made for Euros everytime I saw its preview in theatres. Never bothered to confirm that suspicion, but I don't feel the need to. Fortunately, that review convinced me of this one and I saw it yesterday.

Side Notes:

Would not recommend watching 3Peat Presents: The Blackening - Uncensored before the movie if you're already interested. If you ain't, then go ahead and ask yourself if you want a feature length film inspired by this 4 minute Comedy Central skit. (the answer is yes)

Already saw it and interested in hearing some of the cast and crew talk about it? Here ya go:

‘The Blackening’ Cast on How a Comedy Short Turned Into the Feature Film | TIFF 2022 - The Hollywood Reporter

list of Critqal's mini interviews with the cast

THE BLACKENING Hilarious Cast Interview | Grace Byers, Antoinette Robertson and Sinqua Walls - Jake's Takes

The Blackening "World Premiere" | Cast Q&A TIFF 2022 - Antoinette Robertson

We Can't All Die First! Dishin' All Things, Horror & Comedy with The Blackening Movie Cast! - Dish Nation

The Blackening Interviews: Dewayne Perkins, Jermaine Fowler, Tim Story & More - JoBlo Celebrity Interviews

The Blackening Cast and Writers on Subverting Horror Tropes and Cracking Up on Set | TIFF 2022 - Collider Interviews

The Blackening Cast Talks Chemistry Between Cast Members, Horror Movies + More - Way Up With Angela Yee

The Cast Of 'The Blackening' Speaks On Creating A Horror Film From The Black Perspective + More - Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM

Waitin' for my favorite Afro streamers to talk about The Blackening. fuckers better come on

Happy Juneteenth, mofos

Pre-Edit: I realized while listening to interviews and doing my Crew Data that this movie probably won't fully succeed unless Euros watch it too. That’s the business side of it. I’m speaking on more of a personal matter in comparison. meh 🤷🏿‍♂️ Shortly after typing the above, I heard a room of Black people (including some cast members) completely disagree with me in Way Up With Angela Yee’s video (timestamped).

Tests:

I’m gonna skip 4 crew tests and hold off on posting Crew Data for now. Here’s the test process for the other 16, though.

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bboisawesome · 1 year

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I just finished the 10 episodes of Dragon’s Rising on Netflix, so I wanna talk about it.

Just to let y’all know, I enjoyed it. ^^ I’m gonna put a read more thing if y’all haven’t seen it yet and don’t want spoilers.

OKAY! So, I finally finished Crystalized and got into Dragon’s Rising. My quick review of Crystalized was…meh. It was okay, not the worst season, but not my fave. Also, I hate Harumi so anytime she is on screen I am filled with rage. But enough about that, I’m talking about Dragon’s Rising.

First, I want to address the whole, “I don’t know how that happened but it did thing.” Such as Arin teaching himself Spinjitzu, and there being two fire elementals. (Or she has heat? I guess? Idk) Usually if that happened in a show, and they were like, “I don’t know how it happened it just did.”, I would totally count it as lazy writing, and I still kind of do. But I feel it works a bit better in this instance, because we are in a completely new world in a way.

If they were to try that in the regular world of Ninjago, I would completely write it off as lazy and stupid writing. They’d have to find someway to make it work or else it would just be contradicting to past lore, and I know Ninjago hasn’t been the best at keeping lore consistent and stuff, but having two elemental masters wield the same element that aren’t related would be a pretty big lore piece to mess up.

I feel that can be more excused with the whole merge. It’s obvious the merge has changed how the realms work. Some rules seem to be non-existent now, ((such as the cloud kingdom)) and new rules have been created. It’s not just Ninjago anymore, it’s a new world and some of the things we know about Ninjago don’t exist anymore. That’s why I feel this works a lot better. Even if it’s still not totally explained, we still get something, and that is that the merge has changed things, we just don’t know everything it’s changed.

So with that out of the way, I want to talk about the new characters, world building, and all that good stuff.

I’m gonna start with characters. And a good place to start is our new main characters.

Arin, Sora and Lloyd. They seem to be the main three. We have Kai and Nya, and later Zane. But these three as main characters provide a nice dynamic, and I believe an interesting angle to introduce this new world to us.

First, I want to start with Lloyd. Lloyd is a familiar character, a sort of anchor for Ninjago fans that helps ease them into this changed setting. ((The other ninja can also attribute to this effect.)) We all know Lloyd, we know his story, we know who he is, what he does, etc. He is someone we know a lot about, who is also learning about this new world that the merge has created, and dealing with the parts of Ninjago that don’t exist anymore. But there’s a nice familiarity to it that I think let’s people know that some of the old Ninjago is still there. It’s just moving on into a different stage of life, in a way. Lloyd kind of does the same, as he becomes a teacher, or a master. He’s moving on to the role Wu once possessed. Ninjago has dabbled about Lloyd becoming the new Sensei in the past, but I always thought it’d be weird if he became the new Sensei to people that already know Spinjitzu, and have trained for years longer than him. Sure, Lloyd did assume the role of team leader, but he never really went up to the same role as Master Wu. Now he’s finally going through that step of his journey with Arin and Sora, and we get to see him figure it out along the way. We get to see him use what Sensei Wu taught him to teach the next generation of ninja, and help pass the mantle over. ((Also, love watching Lloyd be a little cringe fail while figuring out how to do that, love that for him. ^^))

Next, there’s Sora. I think she adds a nice contrast to Lloyd, as she is completely new. She’s not from Ninjago, she’s from Imperium. She’s spent years growing up with the events of the merge, and she’s taken that time to explore this new world as well. Then her new tech powers pulls her into the world of Ninjago, as well as her friend Arin. She’s a wonderful way to help introduce this new world that we know nothing about, and helps bring insight to the main antagonists as well. I am also loving how close she is to Arin, in a world where they became abandoned or alone, they found each other! If there’s one thing Ninjago provides well, it’s found family, so I’m glad to see that carry into Dragon’s Rising. ^^

Finally, there’s Arin. I believe Arin is a nice middle ground. Unlike Lloyd, Arin is a new face. He grew up around the crossroads, just like Sora, and helps introduce parts of this world we aren’t familiar with. But, unlike Sora, he does come from Ninjago, something familiar to us and to Lloyd. He knows a lot about the ninja, stuff that happened to Ninjago, and many other things. He’s a very nice mix between old and new, and I think that’s a perfect representation for the new world of Dragon’s Rising. Also, I think it’s adorable how much of a fan boy he is, and for being self taught he isn’t half bad. I think I agree with Lloyd when I say that with more training and guidance he will be very good at being a ninja.

I also think the world building is very cool! We get some of the old Ninjago stuff, the monastery, Cloud Kingdom, stuff like that. But we also get new places, and we get the interesting concept of how the different cultures and lifestyles of the realms would interact when smushed together. The crossroads is a nice representation of that, specifically the carnival! Having an event for all of the different realms to come together and celebrate parts of their worlds was amazing. Not to mention, it’s also an opportunity to mourn what was lost during the merge. The merge may have invented a new world that provides opportunities for some, like Sora, but it was also a huge event that tore people’s lives apart, like Arin. Everyone finding a way to come together and celebrate what they once had, while also celebrating the new things they have is a wonderful bit of world building for the crossroads. You get a good sense that this is a place where the different realms really do come together, not just physically, but spiritually, in a sense. They come together as a community, some as a family.

You also get the nice contrast of Imperium, a place so bent on keeping things how they are supposed to be. They’re stiff, brainwashed, and overall just plain dystopian. Even it’s own citizens are afraid to step even a bit out of line, and it could be for the simplest of things, such as not wearing shoulder pads on a Tuesday. It’s very stark contrast to the colorful and wild world of the crossroads. Everything looks nice and orderly in Imperium, but no one is free. Not to mention the whole harming living dragons for energy thing. And the leader just seems very narcissistic. It’s all about what she wants, she doesn’t care what’s actually best for the city or for her people.

Then you have some of the other places, such as the part of the realm of Madness, and the Cloud Kingdom. We get to see how these different areas that are more separate have been dealing with the merge. Overall, it’s nice to see all of this setting being expanded upon.

So, yeah, I enjoyed Dragon’s Rising. I’m excited for more. I might talk about Nya, Kai and Zane soon, but personally I don’t think I have much to say, so I’ll leave it out for now.

I also would talk about Ras, since he seems to be building up to something more interesting, but I wanna see where that goes first.

Also, Riyu is adorable.

Aaand, I think that’s everything? Everything I can remember or properly type out without being confusing anyway.

#dragon’s rising rant #dragon’s rising analysis #dragon’s rising #ninjago: dragons rising #ninjago lloyd #sora dragons rising #arin dragons rising #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #ninjago zane #riyu dragons rising #ras dragons rising #words about stuff #a really long unnecessary essay

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