I hate that SEPTember OCTOber NOVember and DECember aren’t the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th months.

Lee Edelmann would approve.

i hope this hasn’t been done yet lol

Masha The Hero

Rewriting Wandavision Finale

Skip to the dashes if you don’t want to read my justification/rant. Like everyone else, I was disappointed with the finale. I wasn’t really into all the theorizing and I haven’t read the comics so I wasn’t looking forward to some big reveal and I didn’t even know about the alleged “big cameo” so take all that as you will. I wasn’t disappointed because I expected an Avenger’s level show-down. I was disappointed because they still tried to give us one.  I was disappointed with the finale because it felt like a very disjointed ending for a story that had always been very personal. As numerous people have alreadIy pointed out, this was a show about grief, specifically the grief of Wanda Maximoff, a flawed human being with amazing power. Literally the most powerful being in the universe. This show explored what someone with that kind of power might do when her grief becomes unbearable. That is the central conflict of the story, but the climax had almost nothing to do with it. We had a cartoonish military force and a random witch who wanted that power for herself despite already losing her own family in the pursuit of power. This is the heart of the problem with the finale - it stops becoming Wanda’s story and starts becoming a cheap way to set up other MCU properities. It doesn’t feel like a natural chain of events and ending this show with Wanda yet again alone and isolated seems so wrong and unsatisfying.  So in order to feel satisified, I’m pitching an alternative to the last three episodes and posting it on the internet just in case this will help anyone else get closure. I’m not saying I’m smarter than the showrunners and I’m not going to stop watching MCU properties or start boycotting Disney (though tbh we should definitely do that but that’s another topic for another day). This is just a fun exercise for my peace of mind. --------------------------------------------------

Hayward's concern about Wanda was genuine. Yes, he was lying, but what he was lying in the way governments lie all the time - to keep dangerous information out of the wrong hands. The fact that Wanda can just create another Vision - the most dangerous weapon on the planet - is a very legitimate concern... and a threat, considering her mental state. So Hayward lies to everyone, saying that the Vision in the Hex is the real one, meanwhile, he has a second team secretly working to recreate the original villain as a backup plan to deal with this new threat. When Wanda attacks the SWORD base, he feels the threat has been realized and calls White Vision into action.

While going through Wanda’s past, Agatha reveals her own grief and the loss she suffered because of her pursuit of power. She too has hurt people and is remorseful and warns Wanda that she is going down the same path. Just like in the episode, Agatha momentarily releases the townspeople from their trance to force Wanda to come to terms with the fact that she's hurting everyone. Her powers aren’t strong enough to reverse the spell permanently, but she can do this much. She reveals that the Hex is just that, a spell. An unfinished spell. If the spell is completed, Vision and the twins become real, but so does everything else. The people in town will become the parts that they're meant to play in Wanda's show, but it goes even further than that. Wanda’s spell is ripping apart reality at the seams and rewriting it in the exact same way Thanos had attempted to with the Snap.

Agatha tells Wanda all of this to force her to undo the Hex, but inadvertently reveals that Wanda really can "raise the dead" (so that her out of character “You can do that?” is legit and not just a plothole). Because Wanda can change reality, she can bring people into being who are no longer there. Fietro was just a parlour trick that Agatha was able to mimic. What Wanda doing is real. Realizing this, Wanda starts to bargain with Agatha, trying to get her to help her finish the spell so no one gets hurt but she can keep her family together. She offers to bring back Agatha's mom, desperate not to lose her new family, but Agatha is resolute. These are powers no one should be messing with.

The threat of the new Vision is neutralized like in the show, but Hayward can't just walk away. More soldiers come in, demanding Wanda to stand-down. When they get close to the twins, she starts rewriting them as we.l, inadvertently starting to complete the Hex. Agatha tries to stop her, Monica tries to stop her, Hayward is essentially dying.

Finally, Vision shows up and silently confronts Wanda. She cries that she can't lose him again. He sadly delivers that line she originally says in the finale, "Family is forever" or something like it. Monica's "don't become a villain" speech gets reiterated and eventually Wanda gives in and starts reversing the Hex. As Vision starts to disappear he holds her and the twins, ever calm and reassuring. "We've said goodbye before" and she finishes "we'll say hello again".

In the aftermath, Wanda is alone again and weeping. Hayward, now back in his right mind, starts issuing orders to take her into custody, but Monica stands in his way as Agatha approaches. They wait and watch as Agatha embraces Wanda and helps her up. She looks back at the crowd gathering around them and then she and Wanda disappear in the blink of an eye. Hayward angrily accuses Monica of defying orders, misuse of funds and resources, aiding and abetting a terrorist and a whole other string of legitimate accusations but she calmly stands her ground, continuing to defend Wanda and explain her grief. They share some memories of Monica’s mom to reach common ground and Hayward relents as Jimmy reminds everyone that the real work has just begun.

We see SWORD ship out as the FBI comes in to help the townspeople rebuild their homes and deal with the aftermath of this traumatic experience. Jimmy approaches Agatha’s house and knocks on the door, Fietro opens it with a casual “You took your time” and steps aside to let him in. Back at SWORD, Hayward oversees the decomissioning of White Vision as Monica is escorted to what we assume is a sort of detention center to face repraisals. Instead she meets a skrull who hints about her newfound powers and delivers the “an old friend of your mother wants to see you” line and continues escorting her into what turns out to be a spaceship hanger. 

The end credit scene isn't Wanda alone in a cabin with the book, but Agatha and Wanda together. Agatha is teaching her and helping her heal. We already know that Wanda is the more powerful of the two, but we can see in the look on Agatha’s face as Wanda does the crazy hovering while reading the Book of the Damned thing that she is still very much concerned about the extent of Wanda’s powers and what she will do with them. A kettle whistles on the stove as Wanda hears the cries of Billy and Tommy. Agatha comes back into the room with mugs of tea and depending what the showrunners need to set up for the next with additions to the franchise, she shares a look with Wanda or Wanda and the book are gone and Agatha looks stricken. 

My favourite genre of movie is 'vapid girly teen flicks from the 90's and early 00's that actually have important feminist and socially conscious messages'.

Some examples;

Don't be afraid to break the pointless and sexist rules society has imposed upon you, especially if they stand between you and your dreams.

Learn to recognise your self worth beyond the trappings of success.

Recognising and working to correct your white privilege, is not only the right thing to do morally, but will also lead to a more diverse and exciting playing field.

You absolutely do not have to sacrifice your femininity or sense of self in order to make your way in a traditionally masculine field.

I like when an article thumbnail features a pic of a woman conductor, as it is the closest I will get to living in a world where newspapers write feel-good human-interest stories about a local witch who is proud to show off her new spell.

Stop-Motion Moana

“We can rebuild her… We have the technology… We know the way!”

A few months ago I ripped apart a Moana doll and made it into a stop-motion puppet using a kinetic armature kit.  

The walk cycle above was the first thing I animated with this puppet, and was just a throw-away practice test with no green screen. I had never done a walk cycle in stop-motion before and soon discovered how difficult animating a straight-ahead cycle within a localized space with no retakes could be.

I showed the cycle to my dad while he was holding my Moana puppet in his hand and he seemed more impressed with this crappy test than the actual animation I did on the movie! I think the combination of him holding the puppet, and then seeing it come to life on the video before him was what blew him away. I guess that’s the appeal and magic of stop-motion. :)

Here’s a second test I animated for fun:

I read that it’s best to have the foot joints nice and tight to hold the weight of the puppet, and have the arms looser.  It’s amazing how much weight those toe and foot ball-joints could hold for the falling poses:

#iconic

youtube.com/watch?v=tc-jMrxgPsw&t=47s

I’m right and I should say it

This is hilarious 🤣🤣🤣🤣

The Backstreet Boys performing I Want It That Way together from each of their homes is exactly what I needed today.