dragons-and-cake123 - Tumblr blog

dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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I can't get over the fact that after many years of mcu we finally got a canon lgbtq main character, emphasis to canon and this character is a badass with the sweetest heart ever and the mind of a genius. He's got a family, he's married to a genuinely good guy and they got a kid and they're all cute and funny.

god i just love Phastos and his family so much i can't even [sobbing]

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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i saw this and… yeah… we all know why 😬

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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So one thing that’s working for the “Eternals” is that you can definitely see Chloe Zhao’s influence. Beautiful cinematography, natural lighting, and she’s a strong visual storyteller. For example, that part of the trailer where Dane is asking Sersi why the Eternals didn’t get involved with Thanos and all the other bad parts of human history. Instead of exposition, all you see is an image of Arishem the Judge:

No words, no explanation…they just let the image tell the story. Like all you need to see is Arishem and you get why the Eternals are so afraid of it. Obviously it’s CGI, but it’s in line with how the movie uses striking imagery to tell the story. If anything, “Eternals” is likely going to be the most visually stunning MCU film, even more so than “Thor Ragnarok” and “Doctor Strange”.

As a side note, for those of you who are still a little confused when it comes to the Eternals, I won’t do a detailed explanation since other people have already done it, but here’s the best summary I could come up with:

Celestials: God

Eternals: Angels

Deviants: Demons

And just like in the Bible, the angels protect the humans from the demons but, obeying God’s will, they mainly stay out of human affairs.

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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Has anyone else thought about the parallels between that line from Goncharov (1973): “If you loved me you wouldn’t have missed” and AoS in terms of lovers sacrificing each other?

Like, in Goncharov it’s used as a tool to emphasize the complicated relationship Katya and Goncharov have and the repressed yet truer love between Andrey and Goncharov, but if you look at it in terms of AoS?

This line fits Philinda especially well, during season 2 when Coulson wanted May to kill him to avoid a worse fate. He told her as much: if you care about me, you have to kill me. And to show him that she loved him, she agreed. If she loved him, she wouldn’t miss. Idk I think about this parallel a lot.

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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LET'S TALK ABOUT LOKI'S TIME-SLIPPING & MOBIUS

At his lowest, Loki seeks out Mobius 3 times:

1.) After Sylvie kicks him through the time door. S2E1

2.) After the Loom explodes. S2E5

3.) After speaking with HWR. S2E6

In all three situations, Loki time-slips.

Loki's time-slipping is driven by emotion. Specifically, as O.B. points out, Loki subconsciously time-slips to the person he wants to see most.

S2E1

This means that where Loki's time-slips to in S2E1 is NOT accidental. He subconsciously ends up where he wants to be. Notice with each time-slip, Loki gets better and better at slipping back to wherever Mobius is standing. Look at the progression in the gifs below (thanks @thesillydoll). The distance between where he lands and where Mobius is shrinks over the course of the episode. Loki outright COLLIDES into Mobius upon returning from the past with OB.

In this episode, Loki timeslips to where Mobius could be 3 times. Upon reuniting with Mobius, he time-slips back to where Mobius actually is another 3 times, for a total of 6 times!

S2E5

After the Loom Boom, Loki timeslips to where Mobius could be 1 time and where he actually is 3 times, for a total of 4 times.

Mobius is also the ONLY person for whom Loki doesn't require OB's prototype TemPad to locate and recruit.

S2E6

As many viewers have pointed out, when Loki masters time-slipping (among other time control abilities), he intentionally time-slips to a Mobius who is not yet his best friend. In addition to needing Mobius's counsel, Loki seeks his physical comfort (the handshake, a nod to when they first met). He avoids, as many have stated, seeing present Mobius, who will undoubtedly talk him out of sacrificing himself.

When Loki time-slips to Sylvie, it is in a final bid to convince her to not kill HWR. The bid fails, but Mobius's wisdom regarding selflessness and sparing life stays with him.

Of all the characters, Loki time-slips to Mobius the most, and in all occurrences--unintentional or intentional--Loki was in emotional distress.

Mobius is Loki's safe place.

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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Sure. Fine. Okay.

WHATEVER.

Normal stuff.

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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Ok but the parallel of Gamora being a scared little girl on a planet that was crumbling and was being invaded by a cosmic fascist who killed half the people and kidnapped her from her family, raising her as his own and grooming her to be his weapon in his further fascist conquests

And Loki… being a scared little boy on a planet that was crumbling and was being invaded by a cosmic imperialist who killed half the people and kidnapped him from his family, raising him as his own and grooming him to be his weapon in his further imperial conquests.

Also: “Everything I hate about myself, you taught me.”

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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Foegive me of this is a question you've answered in the past but, what are your thoughts on the scene at the beginning of Avengers 1 where Loki sort of doubles over/trips on his way out of the SHIELD base and it's never addressed?

Also thoughts on the canonicity of various myths to the MCU Loki backstory?

no worries, I don't mind answering questions twice. My blog is long and tales tales, so I understand if people don't want to hunt for answers and just reask stuff.

as far as your question goes,

SCREAMING SCREAMING SCREAMING. Do you KNOW how much I LOVE that SCENE (the answer is no because I haven't talked about it) but I LOVE THAT SCENE! That is THE scene to me. I love everything about how carefully it's handled because what you have to look for is SUBTEXT here, because the Avengers was written in a way that forces you to think. It doesn't lay everything out for you, it's intended you come to your own conclusions.

The Avengers trusts you and that is a very strange thing for media now. It's pretty rare to find one that doesn't treat you like an idiot.

Breaking this down:

The first frame with Loki is of him kneeling. That is the first thing we learn about him. I want you guys to remember that the introduction of a character is HUGE. It tells us the most important things for us to know about that character right now

So what do we need to know about Loki RIGHT THEn. Right at the start of the movie?

he's smart. He opened the portal with the Tesseract, from across space, and teleported himself to another planet. This is something no one has replicated (using an infinity stone from across space). Loki is said to "know it's workings like they never will" which says a lot about him.

Loki was GIVEN the scepter by the Chitauri, but if you watch that opening opening scene, it looks more like it's being forced on him than him GLADLY taking it. (There's this half second where the Other waits to make sure Loki is actually going to hold it. Loki doesn't reach for it until he has to. One of the most powerful objects in existence and it practically has to be shoved into his hands) Look how close their bodies are. Like bro???

-okay, then Loki comes through the portal and he is KNEELING. so the first, and I mean the VERY FIRST thing we need to know about Loki is that he is in the subservience of someone/thing else. This gif below is artwork of that moment, but still. Like. who do you think he's kneeling TO? Well, the opening scene of the Avengers showcases that the Other is kneeling to Thanos, Ergo, using the subtext trust that the director/writers have given us, that means Loki was kneeling to Thanos before he came through the portal.

And then, Loki comes out like a hunted animal, but he legitimately does not remember he's holding the scepter until Fury points it out to him. You can see him look down at it in confusion. And okay, WHY is he confused? I remember watching this for the first time at 14 and going huh, that's kinda weird he forgot he had the weapon. What this is trying to tell us is that this is not a familiar weapon to Loki AND -- it is doing something to him. It's emitting that same misty thing that it does when Loki possesses someone later. That wispy smoke is always so interesting to me because of the implications. The scepter doesn't do that unless it is FRESHLY possessing someone. And what do we know about Loki TWO SECONDS AGO?

he was kneeling to thanos.

Anyway, so Loki gives his name, is not a well man, and the scene you're actually referring to is this one:

which GETS ME EVERY TIME. I could talk aout this scene for hours. The implications of it. (Also if you've read my work YSFSLWFTCA, that man who grabs Loki's back is Nathan Swenson ;)

So I've been getting professional acting training for about 6-7 months now and one thing I have learned is that nothing makes it in the movie by accident. The director has to approve it, the editor, the producer, up the whole food chain. This was not Tom Hiddleston sneezing and then them keeping it in the movie because it's funny. So this was put in on purpose. They WANTED you to know that Loki isn't okay. And a scene like this would get like what? idk 3-6 takes at a minimum, which means that they flimed this ON PURPOSE 3-6 times. Tom Hiddleston was instructed to do this ON PURPOSE. That guy who approaches Loki's back was told to do that ON PURPOSE. Loki was supposed to be shown to be a mess physically. Like. Then they go and KEEP doing this later, when Loki can't get into the car and can barely keep himself upright. Loki doesn't start to look "okay" until Germany and even then he's not doing amazing.

What's interesting to me, beyond the obvious implications toward bodily harm - torture! :) - is the timing. Loki immediately topples when Clint hands the Tesseract to Selvig. There's something about Clint doing that that seems to cause him physical pain. That could be a coincidence, and I bet it is because it's not brought up again in the movie that the Tesseract exchanging hands gives Loki physical pain, but it is interesting.

Another interesting point is that Clint looks away, Selvig doesn't care, but that sheild agent Immediately moves up to put his hand on Loki's back to support him. And Loki doesn't flinch. That always struck me as weird, right, because even people who don't have trauma flinch when someone touches their back and they weren't expecting it. And Loki clearly wasn't? So why didn't he twitch at least a little? Tom Hiddleston is too good of an actor for that to be a mistake.

So to me that means that Loki just... doesn't have feeling in his spine at that moment. Or he was in too much pain to even register it. Loki was clearly tortured with some type of heat. If you watch him in this scene he's displaying all the signs of heat exhaustion. So I kinda think that maybe Loki got burned so badly on his back before this happened that he just... doesn't feel anything anymore. It had to have been recent for walking to nearly send him toppling, but Loki's back is a source of issues for the entire movie.

That is why this scene is here from a directing perspective. to SET UP Loki's back problems. The extent of them are left vague, but I think when Tom Hiddleston and Joss Whedon sat down to talk about Loki for the Avengers, one of the things they must have agreed on was that Loki was not in good physical condition and they planned to show that THE ENTIRE MOVIE. I don't know if they talked about torture or Thanos, but they talked about SOMETHING.

But I just...idk. That guy grabs Loki's back to support him in an effort to help and it's just so interesting to me. Because how does the mind control WORK then? Selvig is obsessed with the Tesseract. He almost seems possessed by that rather than Loki. Clint goes completely silent and doesn't do anything except the mission. THIS GUY immediately comes to take care of Loki, and Loki himself is ruthlessly efficient with one goal in his mind. So it's interesting. Subtext! :D

So what do I think about this scene. I think that Loki was tortured and his back is giving out and I LOVE THIS SCENE BECAUSE IT IS SO DARK BUT TRYING NOT TO BE.

Thanos' immediate response to something not going his way is torture and he knows Loki. Knows him well enough to pick his brother out of a crowd in Infinity War and leave him alive until the end. Knows him well enough to make his death personal. Strangulation is a crime of passion. Thanos hurt Loki and he knew Loki, and the idea that Thanos made sure that Loki wouldn't see the torture coming - by doing it to his back/spine - is just an extra layer of awful. Thanos left Thor alive. On purpose. He could have killed him. He didn't.

That was Loki's punishment. Leaving Thor alone. Because Thanos knew that would hurt him the most.

But Thanos also chose to kill Loki, and in infintiny war, while hunting the stones, Thanos doesn't make any unnecessary bodies. Which to me, means that Thanos had to kill Loki because he saw Loki as a threat.

So anyway, somehow I'm talking about Loki and Thanos again, who are my favorite horrible duo and I love talking about them because their relationship is so so messed up. I wish that the Loki series had DONE something with Thanos and Loki, but they didn't. :/

But why Loki's back? Like Thanos started with Loki's head in the post-credits scene of Thor 1:

why did he move to Loki's back? Also the fact that Thanos was having Loki hunt down the Infinity Stones through astral projection and/or enchantment is just so messed up and I love it. Wish it had been explored because THIS ^^^ was the giant beast I wanted poked at in Loki season 1.

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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I am 95% certain that what Loki says in this scene:

Is what Loki would have told Mobius in this scene:

But Mobius never got to hear it. He didn't want to hear it because there wasn't a scenario in which he could imagine (or accept) Loki not coming back.

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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something.. something. interrupted confessions

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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LET'S TALK ABOUT LOKI'S SHOES (ACTUALLY, HIS WHOLE WARDROBE)

Production costs aside, clothes tell the audience about how characters think of themselves.

Loki's shoes in the S2 finale raised a lot eyebrows, but I find them quite fitting: they are comfortable, practical, and most importantly, they are humble. The camera brings this to our attention to communicate his evolution in character.

Loki has always dressed well, often times ostentatiously. Whether he is at war, passing as a Midgardian, or held captive as an Asgardian prisoner, Loki communicates his social class and sense of superiority through clothing. For him, clothing armors his fragile sense of self and against others' opinions of him. He intends to be perceived as deadly charming but ultimately unapproachable.

His attire in the first Thor movie is roughly equal parts green and gold, signifying his royal status. His style is dressed down for his brother's misadventures in Jotenheim, yet overall both silhouettes are lofty, princely, but not hardened or threatening.

In Avengers, Loki's look has more black and leather, with exaggerated emphasis on his shoulders meant to intimidate as he assumes the role of villain. The silhouette is very hard, heavy, and edgy. Gold detailing is prevalent as well. Combined with the goat's helm, this is Loki's most pretentious outfit, which speaks to an undercurrent of low self-esteem and a compulsive need to impress. There's no mistaking he is the main antagonist of the story.

In Thor 2, Loki's attire is similar to Avengers but the overcoat is exchanged for a less bulky version (perhaps conveying he is less guarded now that the effects of the Mind Stone are no longer influencing him). Loki's role likewise pivots from the harsh lines of a villain to the more flexible edges of a reluctant villain-turned-ally. This aligns with his character arc when he protects both Jane and Thor, seemingly sacrificing himself.

In Thor 3, Loki's silhouette is streamlined even further. The overcoat is done away with in favor of what appears to be a leather doublet, pauldrons, and vambraces. Gold accents are minimal. While stylish, Loki's attire is more practical than showy, and his helm serves the dual purpose of protection as well as weaponry. At this point in his arc, Loki has become a full antihero, joining his brother's side in rescuing as many Asgardians as possible, and eventually dying in a vain bid to protect Thor from Thanos.

The TVA does something very fun and interesting in taking away Loki's ability to dress himself. Since Loki cannot use his magic in the TVA, he is forced to wear the same clothing as his captor/advocate, who eventually becomes his best friend and peer.

Perhaps, on a subconscious level, this helped Loki to feel included. We know by his pwn admission that Loki fears being alone and desperately craves a sense of belonging. At the same time, he intentionally dresses to put people at a distance, thereby protecting himself from potential rejection at the cost of isolating himself further.

When Mobius gives him that TVA jacket for the first time, Loki seems uncharacteristically pleased. It is not an attractive jacket by any means, yet he neither scoffs at it nor refuses to wear it. Instead, Loki puts it on and is content when Mobius says it looks "smart" on him. He continues to dress like Mobius and, indeed, mimic some of his mannerisms such as placing his hands on his hips. Without clothing meant to push people away, Loki opens up, has more fun, and makes friends.

Loki's choice of attire as he assumes the mantle of God of Stories (and time) is fascinating. Setting aside the clear design inspiration from the comics, Loki's silhouette is soft, remarkably so. His colors are earthy hues of green, and the only bit of flare are the light gold trimming and crown. The look brings to mind the garb of sages and wise wizards rather than royalty or warriors. He's powerful yet approachable because there is humility in his bearing. And that humility springs from a well of healthy self-worth, self-love, and a deep love for others.

The shoes are not meant to be attractive. They are meant to help him ascend the throne, nothing more.

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dragons-and-cake123 · 2 days

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A breakdown of the Death Star fight and why Rey stabbed Ben

Took me a while to figure this out, so maybe I’m late to the party but if not, hear me out.

At a first view, I didn’t really understand why Rey would stab Ben when he’s most vulnerable (he’s not even looking and he has dropped his saber) making herself look like a coward and so OOC, especially because soon after she cries over him and heals him.

BUT! The whole sequence on the Death Star had several details that I just didn’t seem to understand, and once I put all of them together I realized everything might be connected to The Stab ™.

First of all, it starts on the Falcon after the revelation that Rey is a Palpatine. I don’t have footage of that, but Rey is seemingly talking to herself and she looks hypnotized. She says something like “he (Palpatine) killed my mother. And my father. I’m gonna destroy him”. Finn is there and he goes “this is not like you, Rey” and indeed it is not. But Rey says the infamous line “everything keeps telling me that they know me, but no one does.” and the convo ends at that.

Fast forward to Endor and the DS wreckage. She enters the throne room and finds the sith wayfinder and Dark Rey in a side-room hidden behind a wall that opens as soon as she stops in front of it. Dark Rey tells her not to be afraid of who she is, they fight, and Dark Rey shows pointy teeth and tries to bite her (it may look ridiculous but remember the pointy teeth for later). Rey falls behind and out of the room, the door closes, the sith wayfinder rolls on the ground until Kylo takes it.

Yep, Kylo’s there and Rey jerks up in an unnatural way.

From this point on, she looks rigid and completely out of it (and if you watched the movie and saw how much Ben changed when he got rid of the dark side, how he suddenly wasn’t rigid or controlled anymore, you might get a sense where this is going).

Kylo tries to convince her that the dark side is in their nature, but Rey doesn’t really seem to listen as she only demands he gives the wayfinder back. But the way she demands it… is creepy, to say the least. She speaks in hissing whispers and her eyes are wide and fixed.

Kylo destroys it and she snaps. She screams and she immediately attacks him with all she has. They bring the battle outside, where she keeps being very aggressive and keeps showing her teeth in more than one instance (remember Dark Rey?).

But then, at some point, she starts looking like she has no idea what she’s doing or why she’s there? She looks exhausted and confused to say the least.

Rey and Ben are equals in the Force, that’s why their battle could go on forever, but somehow, Rey starts losing? She doesn’t even look convinced of what she’s doing.

What point I’m trying to make? Rey is possessed by the dark side, but she’s fighting it. That’s why she starts aggressive, but then starts to crumble. She has an inner fight going on, but she can’t really get rid of the influence of the dark side, until…

Leia calls out to Ben, he’s distracted. He drops his weapon. Rey takes it and stabs him. At the same time, Leia dies, seemingly giving her energy to Ben (but this is for another meta).

As soon as this happens, Rey snaps out of it. She’s herself again. She looks down and sees what she’s done to Ben.

She proceeds to heal him and she looks like she’s extremely guilty for what she’s done. I’m not sure he knows what happened to her, but I would say he does understand something. I’m speculating maybe they were both influenced by the dark side since the Death Star might be one of those places where the Dark Side is very strong.

In this moment, Rey realizes she’s a danger to herself and others. Her dark side can take over any moment and make her do horrible things. That’s why she runs away, but not before telling Kylo that indeed, she wanted to take his hand. But Ben’s hand. Which leaves him speechless (but again, this is for another meta).

She jumps on Kylo’s fighter and you can see her processing (looks at how she shakes her head) what has just happened and making one final decision (to isolate herself on Ach-To).

That’s it! It bugged me that Rey would just kill Ben in cold blood like that and then suddenly act like she didn’t know what she was doing, so I put some thought into it. The problem with this movie is that everything is skimmed over so you don’t really get a sense of anything when you first watch it.

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dragons-and-cake123 · 4 days

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im sorry but this is what I see every time I read this comment

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dragons-and-cake123 · 4 days

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dragons-and-cake123 · 4 days

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probably my favourite bit of the fandom's treatment of Crowley is the almost paganistic way of choosing the pronouns. you may generally go the easy route with he/him most prevalent in the show, but we all understand it's in the loosest way possible, barely attached to her presentation. he's a demon, c'mon. you need to feel out the vibes, look at the weather and the current state of affairs, it shall be revealed from the Energy around. he's such a nerd, they're more beautiful than a wine-dark sea, she's my wife. I want them upside down sleeping on the ceiling she would lead men like sir John Franklin his Arctic expedition. on occasion it's a drawn out snake/hiss, other times a dark glasses grin emoji will suffice. don't even get me started on Nanny, I dare not utter the name without bowing down in reverence first. what a gift that keeps on giving

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dragons-and-cake123 · 4 days

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