i watched five mission impossible movies in two days let’s goooooo

Round 1 - Side B

firestar art by @kudos-si-do

Propaganda below ⬇️

Kirei

He fucked up so many people's lives so badly in just one decade (not on purpose) that the universe put him in the summoning pool of all world influencing souls. He doesnt really have any special powers but he does serve as a vessel for rasputin at one point. He's the guy who says "people die when they are killed"

please please please there's literally a type moon character in the gif on the top of this form so it's typemoonphobic if none of them get in but it shouldn't be her it should be kirei bc he's 50x funnier & more iconic than jeanne. funny lil murder priest who's fucking THE gilgamesh (from the epic of) in the church basement and dies in a knife fight w a 17 year old whose dad he wanted to fuck back in '94 before realizing that he was actually kinda lame and he's been bitter abt it ever since. he has an orphan torture factory in his basement but he's also canonically good at being a priest. he's so funny you should def try his mapo tofu i swear it's totally safe for human consumption and not made with any california reapers. did i mention he's a deadbeat dad.

Priest claims to be Pro Life to make Sakura Matou the most miserable girl on the planet, but he dies anyway.

bro became a catholic because he loves suffering

He’s a priest. Kind of. Not a very good priest obviously. There is something seriously wrong and fucked up with that man. It’s so entertaining.

he's gotta be one of the most insane catholic men ever with a very in-depth and interesting relationship with his religion and his relationship with god also he's the sexiest man ever to be conceptualized in the known universe and all of time

Will never forget the 40+ minute monologue in heavens feel being a thinly veiled metaphor for abortion

he wants to torment churchgoers and make them face their failures and suffering but all he ends up doing is motivate them to improve themselves. cringefail moment for him

he's absolutely insane. the coldhearted mercenary that barely reacts to anything is terrified of kirei. he's super fucked up. his ult in stay night is literally him channeling divine power into something called kyrie eleison. he's the vessel of rasputin (on account of being a priest with a huge....no i shant say) the biblical beast in grand order among other things. he gets drunk with and tops gilgamesh from the epic of gilgamesh in the church basement after gilgamesh from the epic of gilgamesh bats his eyes a little too hard at kirei in some of the horniest shot scenes ive ever seen. he also used to be a heretical "fixer" for the church, cleaning up scenes that would expose shit to the public. uhh what else. he holds cool swords between his fingers like a kid pretending to be wolverine but in my favorite route he just squares the hell up with the protagonist and they fight to the death outside planned parenthood

Firestar

Kitty jesus, he believes in starclan which is the kitty version of heaven/god and yea. All the warrior cats characters except those outside the clans or those that are atheist believe in the kitty heaven and would irl be bri-ish and christian as hell so. The authors are all older british christian women and so the way starclan is written is like undoubtedly that.

The main religion in the series is extremely catholic coded. Most clan cats believe in Starclan and the Dark Forest(or heaven and hell). There is a set of rule they must uphold and follow, where following them leads to heaven and breaking them leads to hell. Their religious leaders are sworn to celibacy, and the punishments that "code breakers"(or cats who break the rules) face are extremely similar to situations people with religious trauma have gone through.

OP notes: apparently converted to avoid getting his balls cut?? Idk. The discord yet wild for firestar so I had to include him because it's hilarious hehehe

Rewatching Avatar 2 and its fucking me up so badly how Jake literally said he had no plan to protect the Omaticaya hiding in the mountains after knowing Spider was captured by Quaritch and the Recoms, and was basically gonna give up to "save" JUST her and the kids....

Like.... how infuriating lol.

Neytiri and her children severed from her people AND her homeland all cuz Jake wouldnt sacrifice JUST himself to protect EVERYONE, including Neytiri and the kids, AND to honor Neytiri's own duty to protect her people and their land as obliged by her faith, her will, her ancestors, her role in the clan, and the wish of her dying father (who's death Jake is partially responsible for)....

The movie is set up to make us feel like what Jake did to protect his family was noble but it was just so selfish to me??? Nothing abt Jake's decision and need to leave the clan to divert the RDA/Recom's attempt to find him in the mountains needed to glue Neyriti, Neteyam, Tuk, Lo'ak, and Kiri to it. Its giving "my wife and kids are my most important assets"; terrible implications given that Neytiri is native-coded, and Jake, despite the permanent avatar body, is still responsible for the gross displacement and death of her clan barely 1 generation removed from the events of the genocide. Jake had a lot to atone for which he did somewhat in A1 by defecting and fighting alongside the Na'vi in the great war. But that atonement was homage and sacrifice to all the Omaticaya people, and by extension, all Na'vi, since he became Toruk Makto and had harbored a duty to protect collective interests of relating clans.

Like, just "wanting to protect your family" would have included everyone in the clan, as the fortress of family is found collectively among the people, who were willing to die fighting for their land and people together. As a warrior, as a legend, as a leader, and even as a father, I'd expect Jake to make the sacrifice of leaving the clan by himself an to honor the passiom of the people to fight until the end for their liberation in war. It would have been rlly hurtful for him to leave and miss out on continuing to lead the clan and raise his family, but responsible and fair, bc he knew the RDA, who returned particularly more powerful and vengeful, mainly wanted his head as the "insurgency leader" and RDA defector, and the Omaticaya were well equipped at that point to defend themselves under Tarsem's and Mo'at's leadership and prior training on RDA tactical warfare (plus Norm, Max, and other humans were still left there to help).

But throughout the movie Jake was portrayed as a force of sensibility among the Na'vi (Neytiri, and among the Metkayina) when they expressed revolutionary suicide and vengence for their fallen, and displacement. And he was seen as justified in risking another clan's stability and safety to let him not only hide from the RDA, but to call so many shots while seeking asylum, including the call to land a metalic helicopter on their land that somehow nobody remembered could be tracked. It seemed that only Jake got to determine if group-sacrifice was noble, necessary, and family-oriented if it directly preserved himself and his interests, particularly the preservation of his role in a nuclear family.

To me, A2 was skid deep on its attempt to portray collectivity, family, and sacrifice. And its was so unpleasant seeing again how Neyriti was practically silent and silenced, only to echo what Jake was thinking when she was the one most affected by the emotional turmoil of the severence from her home, the rest of her family (including the forest), her cultural duties, and her healing.

Truly, I can barely deal w this franchise at this point 😂💀.

this is so stupid but like so do u know about total institutions as defined in Erving Goffman's Asylums? uh if yes. do you think that reality tv shows that basically separate the contestants into a house where they are constantly on film, being prodded by producers, in some cases don't even have access to phones, etc. like is that a total institution? are reality shows inherently manipulative? do you think people dying by suicide after appearing on shows like Love Island are related to this? is there any scholarship on reality tv?

sorry if u know none of this I thought to ask u bc my initial thought was "the bachelor house is a bit like a psych ward." which is an insane thing to think. but truly I think shows like Jersey Shore, Rock of Love, Married at First Sight, Ultimatum, etc. that ply contestants with alcohol while controlling every aspect of contestants life for weeks are like. like thats bad. and then people harshly judge them for their behavior! like a psychiatrist saying a patient is very ill bc they do badly in a high level of care.

i don't think it's stupid. i don't really read much on this but yes there is definitely scholarship on reality tv---these shows are media objects and cultural productions as much as any 'prestige' drama.

obviously a tv shoot differs from an institution proper in that it's a temporary arrangement. however, the level of control and surveillance participants are subject to is something you would rarely see outside the conditions of an institution, and there is certainly something heterotopic about many of these sets as a kind of 'local institution'.

i think some of the most interesting shows have made this part of their conscious onscreen presentation. plenty of people have written about 'big brother' as a conscious gamification of the experience of being subjected to neoliberal workplace surveillance, for example. then there's something like 'secret eaters', which iirc literally had a little security camera icon on its title card even? that one didn't restrict people's movement, but if anything it did imply that doing so would have been in their best interests---because it was the unrestricted, unsurveilled eating behaviours that were configured as the result of laziness / lack of knowledge / lack of willpower, and the cause of weight gain.

so, if 'big brother' demanded the affective performance of enjoyment from those in an institution-like setting, 'secret eaters' presented the panoptic surveillance state as a benevolent kind of medical overlord, and the wayward citizen as someone insufficiently disciplined and too free for their own good. you can see variations on this latter argument in, eg, 'supersize vs superskinny', or any of the programs about weight-loss 'camps', or, on the meaner and more american end, 'the biggest loser' and even many episodes of 'my 600lb life'.

this is obviously a little different from the question of whether the shoot itself is institutional, which is essentially a question about working conditions. i watched a lot of 'america's next top model' as a teen and i remember even then thinking it was a leetle fucked up how much control the producers seemed to have over the contestants. so like, again i would say pretty much all of these shows that isolate participants in some closed house or whatever are patterned off institutional models of control, restriction, and surveillance, even though obviously they're not permanent commitments and they also usually allow some contact with the outside (grocery shopping or photoshoots or what have you).

i do also think there's something to be said about reality as a genre that often finds success by capitalising as cheaply as possible on some common social anxiety or malaise. so, the neoliberal workplace of 'big brother' and the success of weight loss shows following declarations of an 'obesity epidemic' in the us and uk. but then there's also, say, a franchise like 'survivor', which flourished in the post-9/11 years and often operated in a particular ecological niche that married body demands (strength, thinness) to the obvious survivalist fears. there was kind of a double reassurance being sold there: if civilisation collapses, you, too can learn to sustain yourself just like these starving people on a tv shoot; but also, look at how these bodies are becoming more disciplined, such that they can successfully perform physical challenges that we market as having some resemblance to military training exercises...! i remember even 'antm' dabbled in that a bit: the phrase "model boot camp" got thrown around more than once, and in the first couple of seasons there was more of an emphasis on 'fitness' and even a couple of challenges that were basically just "wear camo and pretend to do an obstacle course" lmao.

i guess to return to your initial question... there are ways in which a reality shoot often mimics, temporarily, characteristics of an institution; and then there are also ways in which it presents institutionalisation, or aspects of it, onscreen. so, without flattening the distinction between being on a reality show and being institutionalised, there's a lot to unpack here about reality as a genre that frequently constructs itself around the functions of, and justifications for, the institution.

to oversimplify (and certainly there are exceptions and edge cases) i think you could say that where scripted tv tends to rely on the closed family home or the workplace as its sphere of narrative construction, reality is more likely to construct a kind of temporary fantasy setting where contestants can be subjected to the kind of surveillance and restrictions typically associated with an institution or at least a high-control group. and this is both because of producers' need to generate 'drama', and because the shows are often successful precisely by replicating and intensifying those elements of control and surveillance that are (perceived to be) on the rise even outside of the total institution.

Quick little rant y'all can ignore (I just love ranting too much)

Unpopular opinion : it is NOT to be a hipster or to be like "I'M NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS~" but very often either I will hate or just not be interested to watch at all the newest Tumblr fandom. I really feel like a Tumblrite but sometimes it feels like I just can't enjoy or be hyped by whatever the others are hyped with without doing it on purpose, as if we have nearly no common taste. I mean sure we all are unique and loving everything others we do is boring and impossible and would prove the person is shallow and can't be true, but just, absolutely nearly every big Tumblr fanfavorites annoys me

Superwholock ? Sherlock was nice but not THAT nice and the others never interested me. HH/HB ? Loathe the characters and story. Lackadaisy ? Don't understand the hype. Nimona ? Don't care. She-Ra ? Hated it. The Owl House ? Can't stand the posts on my dashboard nor the charadesigns. Centaurworld ? I know it is one of those things that look lame in the trailer but from what I got gets deeper, but I saw it being so much overhyped I can't. Green Eggs and Ham ? Ugh couldn't it have just been the old cartoon ? Arcane ? The more people said it was revolutionary the less I wanted to check it out. SU ? I used to love it but then it betrayed me with how badly written it endes up to be. SVSFOE ? Except one or 2 arcs it was not my type and the ending infuriated me. Ducktales ? Only season 1 was good to me. Miraculous Ladybug ? It broke my heart so fuck you show. Encanto ? "Narcissic families are ok and misunderstood if they are pretty". Wendell and Wild ? The demons did look interesting and I was curious for them but sadly the main character is insufferable and Idgaf she is sad she is still an asshole but gets away with it. Wednesday ? Tim Burton understood NOTHING avout the Addams Family and flanderized Wesnesday. HtTyD ? Should have been a standalone. LOK and to be fair ANYTHING coming after ATLA books comics and upcoming series included ? Burn em to the ground. Rise of the Guardians ? Seriously the animation is gorgeous but you have the blandest plot and characters ever but everybody calls it original and groundbreaking wtf ?! Arlo the gator boy/I Love Arlo ? Ew it looks ugly as fuck and I am VERY wary of titles that self congratulate (coincidently the Lou! franchise became very shitty when it was renamed into I Love Lou Very Much so it ticks me off) makes me wanna do the contrary and hate Arlo. Carmen San Diego ? Didn't care. The Cuphead Show ? Only season 1a is good 1b and 1c are shit but because "gae devil" everybody loves it holy shit the game is better. Frozen 2 ? Admit it, you liked it ONLY because you see Elsa like a lesbian and wanted to go "HAHA GET FUCKED" to Let It Go. AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON LIVE ACTION REMAKES

Some I even actually just didn't dislike it or care at first but it was seeing all the excessive posting and love for it despite 1) not wanting to watch (I love Arlo, never I wanted to kill a gator child so much force of seeing him on my dash) and/or 2) seeing legetimate problems and flaws and yet everybody ignoring it (Encanto, I hated the end but I did like the movie itself but seeing everybody justifying the end made me loathe it) it turns into hate. But some I hate from the start but seeing everybody love it anyway makes me wonder if at that rate the problem is me and I nitpick too much or of course like everyone I just have my own tastes and what pops up on my dash is not a reflect of universal taste ?

But I often call it a curse because everybody seems to have fun and it's as if I am doomed not to like and it looks like what the audience usually loves is just not my type, which sucks because I don't have many people to vent about it, not many people to gush about the obscure things I love because I am cursed to really invest myself in old fandoms I only find about now or stuff that don't even interest much people but fit my specific niche tastes, dashboards flooded with "OMG GUYS WATCH IT IT IS *SO* IMPORTANT AND THE BEST EVER" making me want not to whereas only 3 likes on posts of franchises I love that are barely known or loved... Probably why I have so many obscure fandoms actually. I am SURE it is subconsciously why I wanted to give a chance to Elemental and Avatar 2 since nobody talked about it in good or at all here !

I am not even sure and just like me those who love these franchises and are part of these fandoms must just have their own specific intersts peaked of course and if so it is absolutely alright ! But often I see they all have a pattern and I feel like, like when I ranted in my posg that defends Elemental, that they will love it and adore it just for ONE element not matter the rest hence why they only talk about that one element that irritates me when I am flooded in posts praising it but really it is just that element. "Omg so much representation" ok cool what is the plot "it is a trans allegory" yes but more precise ? "it is so GAY (affectionate) and girl power !!!" yes but ? The characters ? "Oh the characters are minorities some are LGBT half are POC and some even have a disability and they fight heteronormativity and traditional beauty standards" ok ok I GOT it but what are they like as people !?! "there is a canon gay ship in it I love them little blorbos" I DON'T GIVE A SHIT DAMMIT WHAT IS THE PLOT AND HOW ARE THE CHARACTERS "also it has a varied cast and is made by minorities and women !" Ok bye now I won't be able to help but see it being loved only because of those and not for its story and it will make me bitter about it as if there is nothing else but that to defend because it implies the scenario itself isn't that special for people to only talk about the Christmas present package rather than the content

It is very occasional I will actually get curious because it IS my type thanks to Tumblr : WOY, Pinky and the Brain Undertale, Good Omens, TDC : AOR. It needs to strike a sort of special chord in me to go "uh !?! A modern cartoon that feels like an old cartoon with funny designs and animation and funny characters !??! Uh !?! 2 gay mice that were probably not meant to be gay but they accidentally cracked many eggs in their portrayal and to think I was not interestee when I thought Brain was bidimensional and didn't give a shit about Pinky like I thought ??! Uh !?! Fun skeletons and a macho fish woman with cute pixel style !? Uh !?! Angel and demon are friends and were on Earth for years looking for a kid !?! Uh !?! In that prequel it shows one reformed Skeksis being actually good helping Gelfling and in a relationship with his Mystic ??!" And other Tumblr favorites I loved like idk FNAF, MLP FIM, Spiderverse, Puss in Boots 2, The Bad Guys and usually in general most popular big studios block buster animated movies I loved and others did were stuff I found by myself which Tumblr just coincidently did too so it doesn't count. Some I even discover them years later when the hype died down and nobody speaks about it anymore (reinforcing my idea that IS probably wrong that they don't even really love it but just go "OO SHINY" when something is new and pretty) that I can notice and love years later or at least late a franchise, like I don't wait on purpose I just really discover it at this moment or something peaking my interest only happened recently or peaked my attention now

Those aside most of the time I will really not be interested, a third of the time because "I am told to so I don't wanna" and it has to be myself or it will feel like a chore like when I am recommended stuff IRL I will actually postpone even if if I had not been recommended I would have started watching it earlier (I heard from a friend this looks like a symptom in a type of neurodivergence but I AM NOT SURE), a third of the time it really doesn't look or sound like my type of story at all and I keep wondering why there is nothing new for me and why everybody is so hyped by it, and a third I actually give a try and I end up straight up hating it or just finding it meh and overrated. I just need to find my own fandoms myself, even if they are obscure, that spark my interest, hoping they don't become bad in the end (SU, Ducktales, the Cuphead Show, Miraculous Ladybug etc. Sigh) which happened too many times already and makes me even more wary force of experience about what is popular since even when I myself find it becomes shit people still love it. And of course they totally HAVE the right to never would I harrass and police what people have to like and dislike, but it kind of feels lonely at times and sometimes it makes me think if something is wrong with me not to enjoy what seems to be enjoyed by everyone else and if it is my fault ; and thinking that even makes me anxious and guilty feeling like I am ranting for nothing and people will think I am an attention seeker making me even more gjulty and so on which becomes a vicious circle with my anxiety

20 questions for fic writers

Sures, I'll bite @the-bar-sinister!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 49 on my TheTentacleCommander main 2 on SerpentineAndWet 1 on SoftTentacledJazz (which I will get back to!) and 1 on Waymaiden Jelecia (shelved for now) so in total: 53

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?  471,114 in total spanning all accounts the huge bulk being under TTC.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Resident Evil. I'm very much a ride or die writer when it comes to fandom longevity lol

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Electronic Brawling (the Nem/Reader fic I wrote over a weekend, 322) Tentacles Are -Not- Toys (Until They Are) (the Nem/Jill I wrote over a weekend, 288) To Teach a (b)oy (the femdom Jill/Nem fic I wrote cause I wanted to just be as kinky as possible about it, 138) Need. Excite. Take. (a morning warm up I did for a Tyrantfucker chat, 130) Teaching the Devil (my 'serious' drabble that turned into a longfic/1st part of a myth arc around Nem/Jill and all the whatifs that could happen, 105) *yes, I'm aware the smut is what sells lol*

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! I love receiving them and answer, especially in depth ones.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Ah, ha haha this one's tough. My main ship (Nemesis/Jill) is in my hands intentionally angsty so many do end on that note. If I had to chose it'd be a tie between After The Fall - Where Nemesis *really* struggles between caring for her and wanting to hurt the absolute fuck out of her. Necromancy - It's hard surreal/dreamy on purpose (also a fic staple of mine) that ends with Nemesis having done all he has to make Jill 'happy' is so deeply unhappy with himself in the end - but still continues to perpetuate the lotus eater world he's crafted for them.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?  Where the wild things... - a really hard surreal dream fic of where Nemmy's head was at halfway through the 3rd arc. He has such an idealized, near childlike hope which is big for a generally angry and resentful creature. He clearly wants the world with Jill, where the chase benefits them both but a lot of the edges - like her own traumas - are shaved off. It's telling his dream was inspired by a children's book about dealing with anger, fear and finding/seeking comfort. But it's happy in the sense he gets that comfort he wanted so badly throughout his creation, and that when he awakens, it's with him now determined to reunite with her and their offspring. (con't after the cut)

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not really? When I was on ff.net I got snippy comments (I was a young babby then) but looking back it was just what we'd call today fanpol wanking to wank. These days I assume ppl are aware what I'm about so if I were to garner hate, I'd just laugh and write Nemmy fucking Jill even harder in unfortunate places. I can always go darker, kids.

9. Do you write smut? *stares at the camera deeply* Yesss? All the smut? They tend to range from soft heartwarming lovemaking, to conflicted should we be doing this, to rapey horrors, just weird monstery shit and then the kink. Just kinky shit all over the place. Very character study leaning.

10. Do you write crossovers?  Nah. I already have a lot in my head just handling one franchise!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?  Not to my knowledge but with the way I write it's gunna be a pretty fun time in pulling off imitating my voice as I sound high on my own fumes about a decidedly rare pair no one seems to wanna admit liking rofl That and all the formatting hell

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?  Yea! In Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?  Nah, I'm too much of a prima donna to share billing /jk I just don't like collabing unless it's for an rp but I'm also never say never about such things!

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? *stares even harder at the camera* I...I'm the longest running one trick pony about having a parasitized Tyrant try to not murder with prejudice the most well trained person on the RE cast I make no secret about this :3 Also let me note my other most liked ships I have written on: Weskertine, Creva, and the Ada and Carlos tour. Valenfield ig (I do truly like em but they aren't as exciting to write for in comparison but I indeed do write them sometimes). Note these are for canons, I have loads more favs but they are ocs.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I have like 15+ wips in my drafts. I don't wanna pick one cause it's just painful to look at them begging to be finished. The ones on my account I have every intent to finish. Mostly because they are related to the AU and it wouldn't make sense if I didn't finish them.

16. What are your writing strengths? The sex lol (and being weird with it). I've been told my imagery and word play in general is stellar.  

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I feel my dialogue could be better and it's where I struggle (unless it's my muses Nem, Jill, Trent and Zeus as they are the ones I've written for the most in fic/rps) so I always try to improve on that always.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Don't wanna. I tried, hated not knowing if the language was correct (looking at you, Carlos) so just did ye old << >> to imply he's not speaking English.

19. First fandom you wrote for?  Resident Evil. I am nothing if not persistent. (like my first fic was like in 2005-6? I think?)

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?  Again another tie but it's a 3 way *eyebrow wiggle*! A Slumber Recalled, A Devil Held - this was my 'can I do something soft but pained at the same time' fic. It's a revisit of the time they finally after 20+ chapters did the do, and it's from her pov instead. A lot of re contextualizing and 'wow both of these people have baggage and are doing this not out of love but to feel heard and it *hurts*'. Proved to myself that I can write something hard hitting without a single cry of physical pain. St. Valentine - where what was to be a simple Valentine's Day fic became a fun sacrilegious love poem from a very not at all obsessive Tyrant and then had an added chapter of the reverse side of Jill sounding mentally not all there almost fragmented in her feelings towards what this was between them. So much enjoyable word play was had. Necromancy - discussed above but has my brand of word play, leaning on the fourth wall/formatting/surreal and increasing uncomfortable.

------- All my writer mutes, have at! @damadisangue @naerwenia @coiled-dragon @s-dei @lmshady @azulas-daddy-kink @depraveddove @unchartedperils @sweet7simple @goth-automaton @dekujin @katophoenix (If I missed one of ya or you do write also join in :D)

Hi! I see where U reblogged my tangled crit posts 👀

I dont hate it, it just doesnt hit as well as it should. I prefer the barbie version. And I prefer Disney Rapunzel with ROTG Jack because not only they the same age but i find the parallels a bit more fascinating.

I remember seeing a arrow toy Rapunzel themed at Target, just recently I found out she was going to use a bow and arrow beforehand XD much much cooler than a frying pan!

Which begs to question! Why is the franchise so off with its girl characters? Gothel's entire motivation is staying young, Cass ended up a mess, Ariana is underwritten. And Rapunzel barely has another girl her age to hang out with. It's just Cass.

I get it. I disliked the movie at first because of the movie itself and how badly it was written but I started to hate the movie because of the rabid, racist fans and how badly they treated patf just to prop this movie up back in the day. The fandom is still pretty bad from what I seen.

The Barbie version is one of the best adaptations of rapunzel I have ever seen. It’s so good and it holds up perfectly well today except for the animation of course. If you get a chance, you should check out rapunzel’s revenge. It’s a great rapunzel comic and Disney took elements from that version as well.

I definitely agreed that Jack Frost and rapunzel would make a good couple. I liked them way better than him and Elsa and definitely would be way better than creepy dream.

Oh I saw that now in stores and I wonder why they made it when Merida is right there. I did hear that the series writers wanted her to have the bow and arrow but Disney didn’t like that idea. Probably because they wanted her to be helpless and didn’t want her to be taken seriously with a weapon. I remember looking at some Lego sets and I saw that rapunzel had a bow in a set for the series. So I think that rumor was true. Yeah, I would like the bow and arrow way better than that dumb frying pan. I guess it doesn’t matter since rapunzel wasn’t shown as a threat with the frying pan and it was more Flynn’s weapon in the movie.

Yeah, it’s so weird how this franchise is targeted towards little girls and all the female characters in it is just off and can be really offensive. Gothel is a walking outdated stereotype of many, rapunzel has no flaws, gets overshadowed in her OWN movie and couldn’t even drive the plot of the movie! It’s hard to believe this movie was made in 2010, it belongs in the 50s.

I have limited knowledge of the series characters but is cass the one who they made a villain and has blue hair like she’s some anime character? If so, It’s bad because I think I seen people say that she’s a villain because of how she looks and they turned a friendship into a bitter one just in a sake of something dumb. Do the writers think that girls have to be catty to each other or else it’s unrealistic? It’s a weird choice for a franchise targeted towards little girls. Ariana is the queen, right? I think I reblog a post about cultural appropriation in the movie and they mentioned her name. But really? They could have had a good plot point about rapunzel and her getting used to a good mother after what she’s been through. But they thought it was better just to focus on the king, have him be even more abusive to rapunzel than gothel was (reading her diary, following her everywhere and locking her up in a fucking tower after she just got out of one!!) and say that it’s ok because he’s doing it because he loves her.. I also “love” how the queen basically did nothing about this and just say supportive things rapunzel behind the king’s back like that means anything. Disney really needs to hire women for this franchise because this is just embarrassing and sad in this day and age.

scott pilgrim vs the canon

boy you better have this tagged against spoilers because otherwise this is going to ruin a lot of stuff. all im going to say is, this show cannot be watched without having read the comic first so. keep that in mind.

scott pilgrim was the seminal work of my generation, it was the thing that defined us and the internet to a large extent after it came out in full back in 2010. now we are all here back again, in our late 20's, 30's and even 40's to take a second look at this franchise after everything that has been going on.

and this franchise had things to say.

i went in expecting scott pilgrim the comic, this time more lavishly (and faithfully) adapted than the movie could have ever been. suffice to say i was not dissapointed at all because i didnt get that in any way what so ever.

this is in some senses the modern cannibals of the scott pilgrim franchise, perhaps less cynical and bitter. this is an examination of this story from a slightly askew angle. this is a what if that takes itself to another level.

those who say that this "feels like fan fic" are half right, but if so i want to see what fan fics they are reading because i never saw a fanfic that take the world and its characters so wildly out of context, put them in outrageos new situations they would have never been in, do some genuine crack slash ships and yet still feel so genuine, so true to the original. just because none of what is happening here happened in the comic that doesnt mean these arent the characters we know and love and that this isnt the world and the mood and the vibe that that we all grew up with.

the brian lee o malley style is so incredibly hard to capture. its this wonderful mix of over the top anime/cartoony action mixed with incredibly grounded, down to earth, super chill vibe. we've seen the wonders that came out during the 2010's made by other artists inspired by it or directly trying to emulate it, and yet none of them were able to capture it quite right and this show is the bona fide real deal. it made me remember why scott pilgrim captured me so much back when i read it as a teenager, its a mood impossible to reproduce and yet reproduced all the same here in this show.

wonderful.

the animation is of course out of this world. the voice acting could do some work but im willing to let it slide considering that they went with the original cast from the movie.

this story feels almost like an answer to the observation many people made at the end of the comic and specially the end of the movie. that scott and ramona were obviously not meant to last. that they were still too young and too messed up as people and the relationship was probably going to end badly. the show examines all that with raw honestly and concludes at the end that, sure, maybe this is not going to work out. but that doesnt mean they shouldnt give it their best shot.

as i said at the beggining, this has to be understood as an addenum to the comic. it starts as an adaptation, it lulls you into thinking its a wacky what if and ends up being a covert sequel. with that in mind, this show understands that you already understand and know who scott is and what his deal is, so it chooses to focus squarely on ramona and the exes, and let me just say. the exes are the fucking break out stars of this show. i love every single one of them. the fact that each of them get their own little mini arc and a chance to either redeem or at the very least become genuenly sympathetic was absolutely brilliant. these guys are amazing.

this story in general just presents such a feel good, likeable, chill athmosfere, where even villains who seemed irredeemable can still have just a calm conversation with the hero and just chat for a while. share a coffee, wind down.

if i had one single complaint at all is that i was a little sad by the implication that scott wont learn his lesson at the end of the original story and will continue to be kind of a clueless immature douche. but it is tempered by the fact that this story still has a lot of sympathy for young scott and it makes the case that the guy still very much deserves a chance.

so yeah

loved it, great work, it tried to do something super weird and it somehow succeeded. good job 9/10

Minette watches Medici, part 20 (Innocents)

-Hey, look! Another (mostly) good episode! The Medici truly are at their best when they are more morally ambiguous. I did have some problems with this episode, once again because of Lorenzo, whose corruption arch wasn't very well handled, but much like Alicent in Hot D, many moments of that arch are good, even if the arch itself doesn't come together in a coherent manner, like at all.

-RIP LUCREZIA T, YOU WERE THE BEST FEMALE CHARACTER IN THIS FRANCHISE AND PROBABLY THE BEST CHARACTER PERIOD, YES EVEN BETTER THAN MY KING FERRANTE, FUCK YOU, FIGHT ME.

-Beyond my endless love for Lucrezia T, her final episode too was nothing to scoff at, like some moments were cliche (especially the Incurable Cough Of Death), but overall she got a great sendoff that cemented her as my absolute favourite. Her engaging in some light embezzlement because Lorenzo is just that bad with money? Fun, interesting character beat. Mentoring Clarice into becoming her successor? It's a bit surprising she didn't even try sooner, but still, pretty cool! Her being reminded of Giuliano when Giulio gets into fights? Amazing, no notes. Like that minisubplot was indeed very cheesy, but surprisingly emotionally effective. Hell, they did the "dying person deliriously running after someone and collapsing" AND "dying person sees a tragically fallen loved one as a some sort of psychopomp" - and I didn't roll my eyes once!

-Speaking of: I wish Giulio was just plain better developed, because there are interesting kernels of characterization here that I'd adore to see explored. Like for a show that loves to just plain spell shit out, Giulio's sword was such a great storytelling device - I mean, teenage Giulio gets so little screen time, but when he decides he maybe wants to become a priest? You absolutely get it. There are also some hints of him growing closer over the years to Giovanni at least, if not Piero, but again, not enough to really see it clearly.

-Lol, I recognized another child actor in this! First Adam from Good Omens as baby Lorenzo, now Tewkesbury from Enola Holmes as teenage Piero... I have no point to make here, I just think it's funny.

-Riario continues his uninterrupted streak of being a pathetic little thug that is only ever a threat because his uncle is the pope and he's... Let's be real here, only about as brutal as any IRL condotierro, but that's just enough capacity of violence to be a genuine menace. I also love his relationship with Caterina, like he knows what he has in her and clearly wants to be a wife guy so badly, but he's too much of thuggish manbaby to ever show affection towards anyone, even her. Like the same way Rüstem can never not be creepy, even when he means well, Riario can never not be an absolute douche.

-Speaking of pathetic little bitches - Lorenzo and pope competed for the title of Italy's Biggest Primadonna, and Lorenzo scored an unquestioned victory with his "I'd rather have innocent people slaughtered than apologize to you". Like, fuck dude, I know you technically didn't do anything wrong, but there are lives at stake! Swallow your pride, goddamnit! The worst part is, he then apologizes anyway - so that the head honchos at the conference pay attention to him, because he's afraid the pope might be getting a win with the whole conference taking place outside of Florence thing! BTW I am still not sure how Lorenzo being a center of attention for a hot minute erases pope's contributions to the conference, or really what those contributions are considering it doesn't even take place on his territory... Is he some kind of chairman here? I am so confused. The whole conference doesn't make any sense anyway, like is it supposed to have ended some particular war or whatever? Would it be that hard to throw in a few words about how, say, France and Venice were at war and now they and their allies are negotiating the peace terms?!

-Oh, I see Lorenzo didn't restore signoria after the peace as he promised! VERY interesting. Or it would be if I had any idea why the fuck is he doing something so blatantly terrible and against everything he professed to stand for even a couple of episodes ago. Is he afraid of what might happen to him and his family if he loses absolute power for even a second? Well, that would be interesting, if the show so much as hinted at it, but it doesn't, rendering the whole corruption arch a fucking joke.

-I do think that in a vacuum, Lorenzo letting all those people be massacred by Riario was pretty interesting both as a political move and a character beat. Like, even the characters were like "damn dude that's COLD". I don't love Bernardi once again being Lorenzo's shoulder devil, but at least the dude's characterization is consistent... And now the showrunners are teasing us with his backstory. Well, ladies and gentlemen, consider that bait swallowed! I truly can't wait for what they are going to do with it.

-Oh, look, a decent Lorenzo x Clarice scene! You know, once in a while these two remind me that they can be a good couple, and then go back to their old ways of being boring and devoid of chemistry. Honestly, making them join a polycule with Lucrezia D can only improve things.

-Oh, hey, Caterina is doing some cool shit this episode! Nice.

-...okay, I'll admit, that was one hell of a cliffhanger right at the end.

I think the 2nd half of Koei Games are the parts where they shine the best. As someone who played many Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors, the gameplay hasn't improved much unfortunately, but the story telling has been much improved. SW Sanada Maru (Spirit of Sanada) is a horrid boring game at the beginning, but somehow morphs into THE best depiction of Yukimura in a video game. It also played a huge role in Capcom axing SB because their competing game (Yukimura-Den) couldn't stand up in comparison.

It's been a hot minute since I last played a mainline Musou, the last ones having been Dynasty 8 Xtreme Legends and Samurai 4 Special. I do not recall much about the latter (save for the fact it was really fun to play), but 7 has remained stuck in my head as one of the Musou games with the best story presentation among the ones I have played. I think about the introductory cutscene to the Battle of Fancheng with Pang De dragging the wooden coffin a whole damn LOT. I'm really sad I couldn't figure out how to make the game work properly on my current laptop, shit's really badly optimized for newer computers bwhahah.

I really, really miss Sengoku Basara... I have fond memories of me bringing my laptop to my Italian literature classes in uni and getting so damn bored with the professor's lecture that I'd just fire up Dolphin and play SB3, to this day one of my favorite musou games ever. I hope Capcom'll take a chance one day and try to revive the franchise, what with the recent wave of revived/remastered IPs, but who knows what the future holds in store for us.

Anyway, it's really impressive how much Samurai Remnant's story picks the pace up around the second half of the third chapter. I found it pretty tame up until that point, especially because I couldn't help making comparisons with EXTRA's pacing, which I'm hugely nostalgic for, but after that? Damn, what a fantastic crescendo. My only remaining gripes at this point (narrative-wise, since I could spend hours going off over how much of a fucking slog battles are with every enemy being an immovable damage sponge and the absolute mess that are Master-Servant duo battles, or the fact YOU CAN LOCK YOURSELF OUT OF COMPLETING A SKILL TREE DUE TO THE ARBITRARY WAY ROGUE SERVANTS ARE TIED TO THEM) is that some of the Rogue Servants really got the short end of the narrative stick by being FGO-bait filler with little meat to them, whereas others got more going on for them than some of the main Servants (it sure was funny for Jalter to be featured prominently, only for her to turn out to be such a lobotomized version of her character, lacking basically any of the traits that endeared her to the fans, that she ends up being the most boring Jeanne ever, which is one hell of a feat to achieve). That aside, I'm excited to see what the route(s?) I haven't checked out have in store for me (I am currently about to finish the Rat route).

Round 1 - Resurrect Bracket (Losers Bracket) Side B

ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to [make it to the finals]

Propaganda below ⬇️

Kirei

He fucked up so many people's lives so badly in just one decade (not on purpose) that the universe put him in the summoning pool of all world influencing souls. He doesnt really have any special powers but he does serve as a vessel for rasputin at one point. He's the guy who says "people die when they are killed"

please please please there's literally a type moon character in the gif on the top of this form so it's typemoonphobic if none of them get in but it shouldn't be her it should be kirei bc he's 50x funnier & more iconic than jeanne. funny lil murder priest who's fucking THE gilgamesh (from the epic of) in the church basement and dies in a knife fight w a 17 year old whose dad he wanted to fuck back in '94 before realizing that he was actually kinda lame and he's been bitter abt it ever since. he has an orphan torture factory in his basement but he's also canonically good at being a priest. he's so funny you should def try his mapo tofu i swear it's totally safe for human consumption and not made with any california reapers. did i mention he's a deadbeat dad.

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Priest claims to be Pro Life to make Sakura Matou the most miserable girl on the planet, but he dies anyway.

bro became a catholic because he loves suffering

He’s a priest. Kind of. Not a very good priest obviously. There is something seriously wrong and fucked up with that man. It’s so entertaining.

he's gotta be one of the most insane catholic men ever with a very in-depth and interesting relationship with his religion and his relationship with god also he's the sexiest man ever to be conceptualized in the known universe and all of time

Will never forget the 40+ minute monologue in heavens feel being a thinly veiled metaphor for abortion

he wants to torment churchgoers and make them face their failures and suffering but all he ends up doing is motivate them to improve themselves. cringefail moment for him

he's absolutely insane. the coldhearted mercenary that barely reacts to anything is terrified of kirei. he's super fucked up. his ult in stay night is literally him channeling divine power into something called kyrie eleison. he's the vessel of rasputin (on account of being a priest with a huge....no i shant say) the biblical beast in grand order among other things. he gets drunk with and tops gilgamesh from the epic of gilgamesh in the church basement after gilgamesh from the epic of gilgamesh bats his eyes a little too hard at kirei in some of the horniest shot scenes ive ever seen. he also used to be a heretical "fixer" for the church, cleaning up scenes that would expose shit to the public. uhh what else. he holds cool swords between his fingers like a kid pretending to be wolverine but in my favorite route he just squares the hell up with the protagonist and they fight to the death outside planned parenthood

Soap

Religious trauma coded. Popular hc that his family is Catholic.

He's gay and has a funny hair cut. Is that not enough to be Catholic?

he was such a bad bitch they had to kill him off in the third game bc he would've mopped the floor with the main antagonist otherwise. rip soap keep thotting it up in heaven we miss u every day

`!!!6ths -- propaganda by my kitten

also another random thought i had about tnr while i was watching the finale episode. i wondered how different it would be if the humans and the dragons actually decided to keep living together instead of it basically having the same outcome as in the 3rd movie, where they separated and took on their own separate lives? ( this post became long asf so im just gonna put it under a cut oop, & it also contains spoilers for tnr s8!! )

lemme explain — when httyd 3 came out, i remember that there were (and still are) a lot of disagreements with its ending since the whole message of the franchise seemed to be about two different species living in harmony and working together especially after their centuries-long history of being enemies, and a lot of fans voiced that the ending of the 3rd movie kind of betrayed that message. of course, the franchise's argument was that it wasn't safe for the dragons and the humans to be together because there will always be greedy humans out there to harm the dragons — in the context of the show, sledkin's and buzzsaw's "arcs" (if you can even call them that) were sort of modern reflections of that danger that could come to the dragons with their existence being public knowledge. of course, we can see this throughout the original franchise as well, from viggo and ryker to drago and grimmel and their respective allies and armies.

basically what i'm trying to get at here is if this series decided to take an alternate route and have the dragons and the humans live in harmony together instead of separating (again), would that have been a chance to "undo" the 3rd movie's "mistakes"? or was it better for the series to go the more "traditional" route and take after the 3rd movie, expressing that even after over 1000 years of humans and dragons living apart, it's simply not safe for the humans and dragons to live together because of the loss of the secrets of the dragons, for the world not knowing about them and in turn not knowing how to take care of them and protect them from the evil of some humans? (of course, i'm putting everything in quotes here because i am attempting to describe everything from a non-objective standpoint, including opinions about the 3rd movie in particular which i am still grappling to come to any conclusions with for myself.)

my views retain a considerable separation between the original franchise and this show, mostly because, in this series in particular, we have. ahem. capitalism. particularly the really nasty late stage "i'm gonna control every aspect of your life" capitalism. as many of us may know, many capitalists will stop at nothing to procure their earnings, even if it means exploiting living beings for their profits and developments. sledkin's whole "arc" was a demonstration of this, her desire for fame and money and profit leading to an eventual disregard for the well-being of the subjects she was studying — and eventually using — to get her fame and her profit. her lack of ethics in her practice shows just how much she was influenced by this system, and in turn caused her to develop a disregard for the well-being of the dragons, the subjects of her study (besides the dragonsite ofc). to me, it kind of demonstrated how these systems make the ethics within scientific research very difficult. like sledkin, if you only care about the money, it's likely that you probably don't care about the safety and well-being of the subjects you're studying. which in a sense, is also a reflection of the villains of the original franchise — they wanted something so badly that they didn't care who they hurt in order to get it.

anyways i didn't mean for this to turn into a whole fucking essay, just a post for me to explore my thoughts about this show now that it's finally ended. and idk to those who bothered to watch this last season what are y'all's thoughts??? lol

My Manga/Game Translation Wishlist

I'm gonna keep this to my 6 most wanted, and also try to keep it to less-mentioned ones. I don't think I'm unearthing anything crazy or whatever, but I don't just wanna reiterate "Oh I really hope Boku No Natsuyasumi gets a fan translation!" Like, yeah, everyone wants it and it is already getting one. Anyway: Super Wrestle Angels

I think there's a PC98 version that is more polished, but I came across this one first. Its like Princess Maker but the stats are way more systems-heavy. The art is so cute! They finally made sports franchise sims but for women. God Bless. Catcher in the Rhyme

Only the first two of thirty chapters are translated, by akiba detectives too, and god did I fall in love. Classic CGDCT but the cute things is fuckin battle rap. Also its yuri and has a canon trans character. I want to read this so fucking badly but no one wants to translate it on account of all the rhyming and puns that turn it into a nightmare. Power Dolls Series

The first game by some miracle actually did make it to america, but almost no one cares about it so none of the sequels ever did. Very crunchy Super Robot Wars inspired gameplay with cute girls and cool mechs (many of which designs inspired Xenoblade) Keep the end just a little longer

This mangaka is, I think, one of the most impressive up and coming talent. Only one chapter of her anthology is translated and I read it like 5 times just because the art is so mind blowing. It has gay robots and lush overgrown cities. I need more of it! Dracula Detective

I have a soft spot for stanky FMV games, and this one is about a time travelling vampire detective who kills nazis. whats not to love Mansou Futou no Distopia

I read the mangaka's Vampires after the Doomsday and I adored it. I checked out if she has anything else and she has an action fantasy sci fi manga where its all lesbians who kiss each other to fuckin fuse their powers. its not just fanservice its also because they love each other. If I get this i will extend my lifespan by double

Hi,

For the weird asks: 58, 62 and 66

Hi Slimeel! <3<3

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

Oooh this is a hard one. Writing, baking, I have an unusual talent for befriending arboreal snakes that I am told are horribly grumpy to other people, and I can burp at will which is a neat party trick (if a bit gross) adsfjgkjsdkgg

62. seven characters you relate to?

Oooh ooh oh. Hm. This one requires some thought. Trying not to pick characters that I think are super obvious sjfkdsbjgk

Probably...

Hermes (FFXIV: Endwalker, if you're familiar with Endwalker's plot you probably understand how much this says about my mental state, I promise I'm fine)

The Pale King (Hollow Knight, I really hate that he's on this list and I want to shove him into a blender for it but I'm trying to be honest, and he's the character I took one look at when I played and went "Oh god I hate you but I fucking get you" and I keep getting him on personality tests, which doesn't help my self-esteem at all)

Lady Maria (Bloodborne, I identified with her really hard when I first learned her story and it's not just because she's a 7 foot tall amazon lesbian icon -- drowning in regrets is sort of my thing, ah)

Vivi Ornitier (FFIX -- Vivi was probably one of my first real comfort characters, because I can relate so badly to how painfully shy he is. I know I disguise it well online but I am extremely easily intimidated by people and made frightened and I don't stand up for myself at all as a result, I just run screaming into the horizon. I relate a lot to trying to grow enough to stand up for oneself.)

N (Pokemon Black/White -- Listen, I'm. I have no explanation for this but I do relate to N on a deeply personal level and I love him very much for it. He's one of the few on the list I actually really like.)

Grimm (Hollow Knight, okay I was trying really hard to pick from different franchises, but if I leave him off this list I feel like it's criminal, because I love him so very much, he is my heart character in that game and also I have so many opinions and headcanons about him and they sometimes spill out, so uh, here he is)

Asher (Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter -- I'm gonna preface this as I relate to him in everything up to and including Narcissus in Chains and after that the author took a nose dive on his character that I did not think was remotely in character for how she'd portrayed him up to that point, and I've come to hate the character since. But in those early books? Whoo nelly. There is a reason I am named after him.)

If you want to know way too much about me, this cutscene says a ton. Yikes

The fact that most of my favorites aren't on this list is a crime against god. Sorry to: Hollow, Djura, Volo, Emet-Selch. Forgive me, loves of my life.

66. favorite flower(s)?

Orchids, without anything else coming close. I'm such a huge fan of white orchids in general. My ex girlfriend got me an orchid plant that lived for a really long time and I tried so hard but I am a plant murderer so it ended up dying but jhsdjghdg I love them.

The MCU has the tendency to go for a plot twist without considering the long-term unfortunate implications on the characters involved. Tony creating EDITH then giving it to a teenager looks bad when you think about it. There are no words for how bad Steve's ending is no matter how you interpret it. If he was Peggy’s husband the whole time, than it means he allowed everyone who cared about him to think he was dead and allowed all these terrible things to happen (Hydra, Thanos, etc) just to play house with Peggy. And even if he did go to an alternate timeline and presumably prevented all of the above, it still leaves another Steve Rogers frozen in the ice and he's stolen that Steve's life. Strange goes straight to casting a reality-altering spell, blames Peter for messing it up, but doesn't consider that maybe just maybe he should have explained how the spell worked first? (There's a reason why when the trailer dropped people speculated it was the Strange from What If because the Strange we've been following with all that character development couldn't possibly be that reckless and stupid). What If showed us Ultron- possessed Vision instantly killing Thanos - so does that mean OG Vision was capable of killing Thanos the entire time? And why didn't the Eternals help out in the fight against Thanos? WAY too many logic failures in this franchise.

I mean, the MCU is owned by Disney and often or not, they love plot twists, the implications half the time not even thought out, so are we surprised the MCU fell down that path? Like, when it comes to E.D.I.T.H, they wanted to somehow make Tony present in Far From Home, so what do they do with him dead? Have Peter get a dangerous technology from him that is never once called out as Tony having made a dangerous technology again with his ego showing in the name ('Even Dead, I'm The Hero') and then having said technology be not only given to a teenager but then said technology is used to ruin said teenager's life at the end of the film as a plot twist/cliffhanger ending that next film would fail to tackle fully. And for Steve's ending....well, next to every single problem you listed with that plot twist, it also means he technically made out with his niece in Civil War (what is it with the MCU and incest???), because MCU wanted to do a ship that was as dead as Peggy that badly that they didn't think through any implications. The whole spell in No Way Home no matter what, is stupid. You could argue that Strange at least wanted to help Peter (because fuck Multiverse of Madness trying to spin it as being like Wanda cause Strange wanted to HELP a child while Wanda wanted to KILL a child), but the way they went about it sooo stupid. He never once tells Peter prior about the spell or check if he wants certain people to remember, he just gets straight to it and blames Peter for the bad aftermath, and again, like Far From Home, we need a stupid plot twist/cliffhanger ending with Peter telling Strange to erase Peter in general from everyone's minds. Like, they were that desperate to now and try to do a good Spiderman, that they did a stupid plot twist whose implications I guess we will see be explored soon with whatever BS Spiderman 4 is.

What If...? is a whole ass mess, but the fact that Vision could just kill Thanos with that much ease this entire home makes Infinity War look completely stupid as dude could just slice and dice Thanos with ease. And for Eternals....in real life? Because MCU hadn't thought of them at the time and only decided to shove them in Phase Four. For in MCU? Who the fuck knows with this team. MCU didn't put much thought into it really. And some plot twists that made no sense really I can name right now: Wanda being completely evil after Endgame cause of robot dick and then children that were never real in the main timeline, Sharon being the main bad guy at the end of TFATWS because for some reason the MCU likes to fuck over Sharon in writing, Sylvie in Loki as a whole and of course its ending, Venom in the MCU because it's clear no one knew what to do with that plot twist in No Way Home given it was dealt with in a end credit scene and the WHOLE bullshit with Taskmaster in Black Widow.

Like, you'd think if they want the MCU to keep going, they'd be more careful with these plot twists and such, but no. They don't. And it keeps happening as a result, with only plot twists being good in films like Black Panther and Shang Chi and Winter Soldier and maybe Moon Knight, but beyond that, MCU just keeps doing logic failures.

arkhamverse as its own universe is a media where they can afford to shake up the status quo, so its soooo disappointing that the utrh plot thread ended like That, considering that utrh's own ending had to be shitty in order to maintain the status quo (joker still gets to run around doing whatever). like the more i think about it the more apparent it becomes to me just how Freaking badly arkham knight adapted utrh cuz like wow. you ended an amazing franchise like this?

utrh had many conflicts, and a prominent one was an arguement of ethics on why the joker was still permitted to live and run wild in spite of the fact that joker killed him, batman's robin. in a meta sense, its (likely unintentionally) also a commentary and attack on how jason was able to be removed from the status quo yet the status quo of a batman and a robin and a joker kept turning its wheels without him.

but arkhamverse as its seperate universe isnt binded to the status quo, the joker gets to die and it ends with batman being unmasked etc etc etc. and this is one of the biggest reasons why arkham knight is so narratively unsatisfactory bc like... how could this utrh plot thread have ended? theres no joker to kill, so where does jason's story go?

arkhamverse was too married to its conflict with batman and joker, which on its own isnt a bad thing, but then it tried to keep the gas pumping after the joker died. this is why after 3 games (or 2 depending on who you ask) without even a passing acknowledgement of jason todd's existence, arkhamverse suddenly decides to bring jason in bc his canon conveniently exists in the intersection between batman's and joker's canons. adapting death in the family was easy work, hell theres hardly any substance in the original story and its really just a long winded work to stuff a kid in the fridge. so the game does just that. but unlike ditf, utrh is actually trying to say something. it's a story about father and son, about avengeance and revenge, about the morality of killing, etc.

...except now with a dead joker, there is hardly anything to say at all. and so arkham knight as a character narratively does nothing, and his impact on the storyline as a whole is so extremely shallow. he serves to initiate and then pad out the continuation of batman's and joker's conflict, and also other plot conveniences like bringing in a whole militia and all that. but thats really the extent of what he does. just like utrh, jason receives no proper closure in this game.

and whats really annoying is that HE COULDVE!!!! FUCK!!!! arkham knight's (and honestly? the entire franchise's and batman's mythos is general) overarching theme is FEAR, batman relying on fear to intimidate and exist as a vigilante, batman's fear of losing control to the joker inside of him, batman being born from the fear he felt when he lost his parents (and also fear of bats lmfao), his fear and grief from losing jason, etc. AND JASON!!!! jason's torture filled HIM with fear and hatred! and you know what one of the final quotes of the franchise is?

Scarecrow: Without fear, life is meaningless!

and you know what the ending of the franchise, as a closing love letter to batman's mythos, shouldve been an encapsulation of?;

It's without fear, that life can begin

bc like as much as batman's mythos is about fear, it's also about HOPE....

(too lazy to put batman's relation to hope in my own words so im borrowing other people's words instead LOL. both screenshots are from The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon, but the 2nd pic is referencing one of the nolan films. idk which one)

arkhamverse shouldve ended on a note of HOPE, jason's reform into the red hood shouldve been the highlight of the ending, not a barely glanced over sidenote. the fact that jason can continue living without being consumed by the desire to kill bruce is the biggest fuck you the baman could give to the joker, showing that batman as an entity was able to save a boy so far gone, and that jason still has hope for his life and future in spite of all that has been done to him, but instead it just gets glossed over! WHAT THE FUCK!!!! arkham knight was too obsessed with giving batman and joker an extremely epic interactive final finale cutscene (which ngl is so epic lol BUT NOT THE POINT) that it treated it's literal titular character as a side character similar to the likes of gotham's most wanted! WTFFFF.

(and instead of using the full knightfall ending to actually expand on jason's fate or reformation or whatever, we instead go thru 243 hellish riddler trophies to receive an extremely childish oh Ha ha Batman Can Never Die cutscene. like firstly the idea of locking the full ending behind all the riddler trophies is so unbelievably fucked and secondly FUCK UUUUUUU. full knightfall protocol shouldve been the default ending AND THEN 100% completion shouldve been some proper resolution on jason's end AT THE VERY LEAST.)

despite the potential to become something amazing, arkhamverse sadly became not unique in being another batman media that fails to become something phenomenal all due to it not properly acknowledging jason todd as a character and merely using him like a tool for dramatic but ultimately shallow story points. sad!