#idk if he was a writer either but i do miss watching that show on boomerang along with the other classics... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sarahplantarthe1st · 8 months

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OMGOMGOMGGGGGG!!!! ROB RENZETTI ANSWERED ONE OF MY QUESTIONS FOR CARTOON BASE'S MLAATR QNA!!!! I AM FANGIRLING RN!!!

#I'm never getting rid of this screenshot #this guy created my whole childhood - especially the powerpuff girls and dexter's lab #but ashdjdlsjdldlsldldkfl i can't get over this!! thank u rob for responding to my question!!#rob renzetti #mlaatr #my life as a teenage robot #q&a #nicktoons #nickelodeon #twitter #screenshot #bringbackmlaatr (and mina and the count too!!)#20yearsofmlaatr #btw rob renzetti was only a storyboard artist writer and... i think director on both dexter's lab and the powerpuff girls (original)#craig mccracken created the original ppg and genndy tartakovsky created of course dexter's lab and so many others such as samurai jack #star wars the clone wars and sym bionic titan... as well as primal and unicorn warriors eternal which i cannot wait to watch!!#hopefully someday I'll ask genndy if dexter was adopted lol #besides idk if he's got twitter but... we shall see!#did i forget to mention that rob renzetti also did some storyboard/directing work for 2 stupid dogs?#idk if he was a writer either but i do miss watching that show on boomerang along with the other classics...

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leverage-ot3 · 2 months

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Is leverage redemption worth watching? I love Leverage but idk if i could enjoy the show if hardison isn't in most episodes or if the reboot sells out in some way.

okay so I showed up to this ask like four months late with a smoothie so I'm sorry about that BUT

does redemption have it's flaws? yes, I will be the first to admit that!

however, as someone who deeply loves leverage, the characters and what the show stands for, I still can find myself enjoying redemption.

there's one post that's in my drafts talking about the differences between the og and redemption and the so-called universe physics (how logic works in both shows and how they are the same/differ) and there are definitely some differences. there are some really good posts comparing them in the tags and I'll try to tag them as watch redemption when they come up!

I'm going to be really honest right now and say that (no shade) I feel like redemption s1-2 were lacking because john rogers was not a main writer for them. devlin and the others are great and know their stuff, but redemption was missing some of the grit (balanced with everything else) that the original run had. redemption is more fun and lighthearted (where the og was still fun and had comedic elements but also had a more jaded perspective). I think part of that change is the absence of nate as a character and what he brought to the table, but the other part of that is very much the way the show is written overall

I have seen some criticism about parker being a caricature of what she was in the original run (ex: how she goes to a child's psychologist and uses puppets sometimes, is overtly weird, more loud about stuff, etc) BUT I will say that I think there's some nuance to that

I don't think the child psychiatrist thing is infantalizing- some methods of therapy work for people more than others and that is me speaking as someone who works in mental health. if play therapy and stuff like that work for you as an adult, good for you! whatever works for you is more than enough the overtly and loudly being weird thing I really do think can be taken either way. in the original run part of parker's character progression was that she was learning how to interact with people normally (or at least more efficiently), but her being more out about that now can be taken as she is more comfortable in her skin and acting like she wants because she is surrounded by people who love and support her. maybe she doesn't want to (or have to!) mask all the time and I don't see a problem with that

HOWEVER! there are certain criticisms that are related to her characterizations and overlaps with her autism and I don't want to speak over the autism community about those aspects and how they have manifested in her character in redemption so I'm leaving it there

as for the hardison being absent aspect- I was REALLY afraid of that at first BUT the loss isn't so deeply impactful when you have characters like breanna and harry added to the mix. I went in ambivalent about harry and excited to have breanna (a canon queer) joining the team, but I have come to love and cherish both of them dearly and wouldn't want to replace them or lose them as characters in this found family ensemble. I think the writers handled aldis' packed schedule really well and even though he isn't there in most episodes, his presence is still very much around. parker and eliot talk about him and reference him when he's gone. so do sophie and breanna, even harry. he isn't on the screen but the relationships he's formed with the other characters and the impact he's had on them is very evident.

there are some takes from users about whether or not the ot3 was queerbait, un-canoned, etc in redemption. I have a lot of thoughts about it and a lot of them are incomprehensible but what I can say is that I have renewed hopes for the progression and canon development of their relationship now that john rogers is back as the main writer for s3

#leverage #leverage redemption #eliot spencer #parker #alec hardison #leverage ot3 #parker x hardison x eliot #leverage redemption s3 #breanna casey #harry wilson #character appreciation #watch leverage #watch redemption #jackie talks #mine #asks #answered asks #open-source-anarch3y #i tried to write the best i could but i have a bad cold and I am technically working rn so this was the best i could do :/

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stars-n-spice · 2 months

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THOUGHTS ON S3 EP 05:

as always, spoilers under the cut and my thoughts are in no way coherent or in the order of how things happen in the episode

it's just me going to be screaming about whatever comes to mind as i type this

holy shit y'all new comfort episode just dropped!

kid you not, after seeing the episode i deadass went, "Wow, I'm so glad that episode didn't absolutely devastate me!" while I was like,, sobbing

whole episode i was either crying, screaming, or punching a pillow

can't even cry anymore, don't got no tears left

ANYWAYS

I AM AN ABSOLUTE FUCKING CLOWN FOR THINKING WE WERE GOING TO GET A PROPER REACTION/CONTINUATION FROM THE LAST EPISODE

OF FUCKING COURSE THEY WERE GOING TO SKIP OVER IT AND JUST,, FUCKING DIVE RIGHT IN. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

what is it with this show and having what would be emotional reactions to heavy things off screen???

fanfic writers you know what to do

anyways,,

Omega being back with Lula :( and her new outfit is so cute I love it so much :((

THEM BEING BACK ON PABU!!!! <3333 and still sleeping in their ship lol

AZI!!!!! HE'S OKAY!!! HE'S ALIVE AND HE'S THERE AND I LOVE HIM AND I MISSED HIM :((

Crosshair practicing :( and his aim just,,, getting worse :(((

CROSSHAIR AND BATCHER ARE SUCH A DUO!! I FUCKING LOVED EVERY MOMENT WITH THE TWO OF THEM,, THE LITTLE PETS AND SMILES CROSS GAVE BATCH UGGHH

will never ever ever ever get over cross and omega's dynamic,, I love them so much and I'm so glad he's back

I don't know how many times i went, "They're all back together!!" in this episode only to remember Tech isn't there and then sob violently

BUT ECHO FINALLY RETURNS - i'm kinda bitter about how he reacted to seeing Omega again because it seemed like,, like he was completely unfazed by the fact she was captured and sent to a hidden facility conducting god know what experiments BUT at the same time,, I could see it being that Echo always knew she was more than capable of escaping on her own so he wasn't too worried but STILL

"What no hug for me?" <- AAGUUHH,, and then the little smirk Crosshair gave after Echo's response,, they have no bad blood, love that

when Crosshair started talking about the facility I fucking KNEW he was talking about Barton IV and i was in so much pain,, agony even

Was NOT expecting them to return but I'm so glad they did because it played such a vital role in Crosshair's growth and returning to it and growing even more,, just,, aguughhh

WHEN HE FOUND MAYDAY'S HELMET,, FUCK FUCK FUCK minutes before that scene i was like "i swear to god if he finds something from Mayday-"

MAYDAY COME BACK YOU DIDN'T DESERVE THAT,, YOU DID SO MUCH :((

Hunter and Cross' dynamic in this was so fun to watch but also had me gnawing on my hands

could NOT get over the fact that they brought the dog with them on the mission, idk why but that's fucking hilarious to me

OMEGA CALLING CROSSHAIR "LITTLE BROTHER" AND CROSS CHUCKLING AT IT SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!

WHEN WRECKER GAVE CROSSHAIR BACK HIS ARMOR I FUCKING KNEW HE WAS THE ONE WHO KEPT IT AGUUGHHH

god I love Wrecker so much

"Omega trusts him and that's enough for me" FUCK

he wasn't super prominent in this episode but everything he did made me love him more

WHEN HE WAS DIGGING IN THE SNOW?? fucking lost it

THE HUG AT THE END???? FUCKING FINALLY???? THE WAY HE IMMEDIATELY KNEW AND HE JUST,,, FUCK,, RAN UP TO THEM????

like you can tell the whole episode Wrecker was just waiting for the two of them to work things out

i missed all of them so much

it was so good to see them all work together

GOD FUCKING AUGUUHH

THE FIGHT CROSS AND HUNTER HAD??? CROSSHAIR READING HUNTER LIKE A FUCKING BOOK??

when he started to blame Hunter for his failures?? oh fuck as an oldest child that hurt SO much and I was so scared Crosshair was going to pull a "You're the reason why Tech is dead" card

But your honor they are brothers, I love them so much

"i said talk to him, not argue with him!" - "he started it" <- crosshair you cannot beat the youngest brother allegations

hey Crosshair probably didn't tell his brothers about his shaky hands,, ahahahahahaha,aha,,ahh,,,ha..

lmao love that being in a life or death situation and saving each other from it was what made Hunter and Cross start to trust each other

this episode was so great you don't understand

and i'm so happy nothing like,, terrible happened in it

yes I cried a fuckton throughout it but,, at least Omega is still with them and at least Echo is back (for now) and at least they're slowly starting to make up and be a team again

anyways,, nice episode,, can't wait for things to just get worse from here

#tbb #tbb s3 #tbb spoilers #tbb s3 spoilers #the bad batch #bad batch #tbb hunter #tbb crosshair #tbb echo #tbb wrecker #tbb omega

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gregre369 · 11 months

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The Lost Boys came out in 1987. And you can’t tell me that Eddie Munson would not have made that film his whole personality.

And you know damn well he would be mad jealous of how hot Steve found Jason Patric, Billy Wirth, Brooke McCarter, Keifer Sutherland, and Alex Winter. Like you know he’d have a poster up in his room that he stole was conveniently missing from family video.

Like genuinely, I see Steve waxing poetic and going on long drawn out tangents about Jason and Brooke’s hair from the movie, specifically. And Eddie just sitting there not so silently fuming. Mumbling under his breathe how SUPER nice and heavy metal his hair is.

Bonus points if it’s Kas Eddie. Phew boy! He’d be pointing out and correcting all the inaccuracies about vampires in the film and getting all stuffy whenever Steve shushes him. Everytime there’s a movie night Steve suggests they watch it. Like at this point he blatantly stole a copy from work. Obviously Eddie calls him on it one night when it’s just the two of them, after steve starts bemoaning his lack of hot vampire goth boyfriend. Eddie finally snaps and gets all in Steve’s face and asks(loudly), “what’s so great about them(their hair/general aesthetic) when you’ve got me?! Who’s an actual vampire…with great hair!!” And Steve just tilts his head and shrugs and says “you know what? You’re right.” Then proceeds to lay one(several) on Eddie.

Bonus bonus points if we have an alive reformed Billy who takes offense to Steve’s(and Eddie’s) attraction to Keifer and Billy Wirth.

Like oh my god! The possibilities are endless.

_____________________________________

Also as I was writing this I thought up of a The Lost Boys/Stranger Things crossover. (I’m pretty sure much more talented and creative people have not only mentioned this but also written it). But like the possibilities are endless.

Just hear me out:

-Vecna as Max

-Billy as David

-Eddie as Star

-Will as Laddie

-Joyce as Lucy

-Steve as Michael(obviously)

-Dustin as Sam

-Lucas and Mike as the frog brothers

-Tommy as Dwayne

-Johnathan as Marco

-Argyle as Paul

-El and Max as friends of Dustin’s who get brought into it.

-Robin as Steve’s new friend

-Nancy as the frogs older sister

-Erica is somewhere in this bc you know she’s sass the shit out of them

-Hopper as the security guard who gets killed(sorry Hop) maybe this is how El gets involved and since Maxine is her bestie so she does too.

-Chrissy, Heather and Jason possible victims. (Sorry Chrissy and Heather💔).

-Or maybe Heather and Carol are Billy’s and Tommy’s love interests before Steve shows up to rock the boat. Chrissy could either be Eddie’s friend or former flame. (Chrissy ends up with Robin)

Oooh or create new characters for Robin, Nancy, Chrissy, El, Max, Johnathan, Argyle, and Heather. Or maybe make the others some of the other vampires in the gang but like their in it against their will, so when Vecna inevitably dies Stobin bffs happens. Idk idk there’s just so much.

And depending if it’s Steddie or Metalsandwich Steve saves Eddie and/or Billy reforms.

Like idk but i love the film, it’s one of my favorites and just gives such great Steddie/metalsandwich vibes.

God just imagine how gay this could all be.

Like somebody else needs to write this. I can’t do it, idk if you’ve seen my liberal use of the word ‘like’ or not but a writer I am not.

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transmutationisms · 1 year

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this isn’t rly a coherent point just a thought but i feel like the succession audience anon might be getting at the fact that the sociopolitical commentary of the show is lost as its audience increases? imo jesse’s political commentary is very clear but i also have my commie goggles on. but i know for a fact that the show is was not written nor marketed the way i’m consuming it. maybe jesse leans that way a bit but like he’s obviously descriptive and not prescriptive in his art so there’s that, and the constraints of tv are that it has to have broad enough appeal so you can’t be shoving your politics down the people’s throats necessarily. i think it is marketed to the brooklynite class you’re describing and i think they don’t fully get it and i also think as more people watch the more its themes are ignored in favor of stuff like omg who’d make the best successor, despite that not being what the show is about at all (also jesse has told us from day one who would make the “best” successor). idk like the people who get excited abt kendall becoming ceo you know? like omg it’s a win for him! like… are we watching the same show

ok i agree with a lot of this, and i am certainly also a known user of commie goggles lol. i think the fundamental limitation with the show is, like you said, that it's more interested in a descriptive mode than a prescriptive one, which means at its best it can nail character development and political satire, but it isn't really trying to offer any coherent alternative worldview. the portrayal of logan's gender / body politics is not flattering and doesn't flinch away from either the interpersonal trauma he inflicts on those around him or the broader political harm done by liberal capitalism; the show has also always been fairly sharp i think on the fascistic tendencies of capitalism and the way the latter turns into the former—again, shown both through logan's ideology of domination, social darwinist thinking, valorising certain types of bodies, etc, and through waystar's engagement with politics and politicians. however, i'd agree that this is all motivated by a description of the characters' worldviews and by satire of them, and we would probably see more of the cracks in the writers' and showrunners' politics if they tried to put forth some kind of more active alternative political platform.

that said, the fact that people miss these aspects of the show says as much to me about the political consciousness of viewers as it does about the intentionality of the writing. people with certain beliefs about masculinity are always going to watch 'fight club' and think tyler durden rules, no matter how effectively the critique is or isn't being made. similarly, people who think capitalism is a good or necessary system and doesn't derive value from fascism, or that succeeding in business is a matter of skill and mystical genius powers rather than a game of luck and accreting wealth, are always going to watch 'succession' and think that logan rules, or that the point is to identify the person who 'deserves' to take over waystar, or that capitalist electoral politics is a noble exercise in rhetoric that has simply been corrupted by a few evil apples, or what the fuck ever.

like, i'm not saying the writing is perfect or denying that it hits a wall in terms of actual radicalism. but i do think there are certain critiques the writers consistently and clearly make, often specifically via satire, that large swathes of the audience simply don't pick up on because they're approaching the text through their liberal capitalist ideological lens. you can see this, for example, in the journosphere's takes on the cruises storyline, which by and large completely failed to engage with the broader critique of capitalism as inherently producing death, exploiting bodies, and specifically preying on those deemed other or marginal—namely sex workers, migrants, women, etc. these points were very clearly made in the show and the meliorist viewpoint very clearly satirised (eg, in 'argestes'). ultimately, though, you can't rescue viewers from their own liberalism and you can't make them read the text from beyond those parameters. it's an issue of political consciousness, and although it can certainly be exacerbated by bad or milquetoast writing, even an explicitly radical piece of art will be interpreted through that liberal lens by people who are liberals (anyone remember the reviews of 'sorry to bother you'?)

i also would add that, in my opinion, this season has actually been more willing to overtly engage with the political threads than season 3. viewers can no longer hide behind the idea that the problem starts and ends with logan as an individual. matsson and his people have consistently been characterised as staking their own worth on their supposed biological superiority, with specific references to athletic ability, bodily strength, élite education that forms a class barrier, and the general idea of racial and genetic superiority ("nasdaq master race," "shallow end of the gene pool"). i'm aware there are many viewers, including on tumblr, who are not stringing these things together and seeing an overall discourse on capitalist eugenics and racism—but i do actually think that the satire here is being laid out pretty clearly in front of our faces. is this a show interested in exploring imaginative political alternatives? no, and you could convincingly argue on that basis that its fundamental stance is more self-satisfied snark than anything resembling actual leftist politics. i think, though, that this would be pretty evenly true since day 1, and that, at its best, the writing does hit on some key aspects of how capitalist spectacle functions, the power abuses it creates and enables, and how these things are inherent to capitalism writ large rather than being a unique pathology of the roys or waystar.

ultimately i love to see art that is actually communist / leftist in nature, is interested in alternatives to capitalism and ways out of our current political economic arrangement, etc. 'succession' is not that, clearly. part of the reason i do shit like blog about it is because it used to annoy me so much that no one was connecting certain more radical dots (like the obvious path from the show's historicised thinking -> a critique of capitalism as contingent) that are implied or allowed-for by the writing but never unpacked or explicated. so, often what interests me in the show is at least as much the lacunae left in the writing as the things it explicitly says. again, commie goggles. i also would tentatively agree with you that it's primarily marketed to people who are basically liberal and milquetoast, for reasons of profit motive, although again i honestly take in so little television advertising that i don't have much that's cogent to say about this angle of things lol.

i'm certainly not lying to myself that this show is any kind of radical statement of communist party values—i just also think that there are points of actually interesting satirical critique that the writers are very deliberate about, and that the guardian-new yorker-industrial complex is pretty much inherently going to miss these points or ignore them, for reasons that don't necessarily reflect one way or the other on the actual quality of the writing.

anyway, it was maybe goofy to write this out like an hour before the election episode airs, but these are certainly questions i will continue rotating after i see it lol.

#blood sacrifice

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avelera · 1 year

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My head's kind of brimming with a bunch of writing advice thoughts so IDK instead of trying to make a nice formal post thought I'd just word vomit for a bit:

Hurt/Comfort: As a subgenre is attractive because it has a plot arc built into it. We start with hurt (inciting incident) and move to comfort (resolution). Many fic writers who don't think of themselves as being "good at plot" should realize that hurt/comfort describes a plot. A plot doesn't need to be saving the world. It can simply be "what problem (the hurt) is solved by the end of the story (with comfort)?"

On Emotional Character Beats: Some character introductions are more emotional on the re-watch. The one I'm thinking of is Dream's reunion with Lucienne in 1.01 of The Sandman. When they embrace, it's Dream's first physical contact with someone who cares about him in 106 years. It's powerful, but at this point, if one isn't already a Sandman fan, the moment doesn't land as heavily as it will on the re-watch because we haven't been given much reason to care about Dream yet. In part, because he's kind of an asshole for much of the beginning of the story. In part because he spends most of the first episode before that reunion either not speaking or speaking in a very cold, reserved way.

This speaks to a larger question (one I lack a solution to but which haunts me daily) of how to make characters likable as quickly as possible. The movie "Up" has an incredible intro where we learn to love Carl and know his entire tragic backstory in about 3-5 minutes. It's a feat of efficient storytelling. Yet with Sandman, I didn't feel that I very much liked Dream until episode 6, when we're introduced to people who like him, people like Death and Hob who were sad when he was missing and worry about his health, and we see Dream unbend enough to show he likes them in return. That is... quite a long time to ask an audience to engage with a piece of media before we're shown a reason to like the person who is, ostensibly, the main character. But after 1.06, 1.01 hits a lot harder.

Sometimes, there's no way around this. If the inciting incident for your story is something bad happened in the past and we open with the after-effects of it and then the plot is about unwinding what happened then, yeah, that opening of the character stumbling away from some horrible situation, bloody and in pain, isn't really going to land until the creator has earned the emotional connection of the audience to the character, and that might take a while.

But I can't help but feel that while liking the character from the start isn't always required (for example, Dream is meant to be an emotionally distant character who is hard to like, and it adds texture to the story that we take a while to like him, even if that might also lose some audience members before we reach that point) I can't help but think it is possible to earn the initial affection of the audience efficiently enough that we do feel bad, or are at least emotionally intrigued by learning how the hurt happened and eager to see the comfort happen for a character we just met.

One way to make an instant connection with a character is to make the character love something or someone. Not just love like dutifully love certain family members, but I mean adore another person, or a cause, or an idea. We love characters who love things/people. Having a character who loves the plot-relevant thing or the plot-central person, makes the audience see that thing or person through the eyes of someone who loves them. We learn to love Dream when we see people like Death and Hob love him. We learn to care about the plot-relevant cause (Enjolras and his obsession with the Revolution in Les Mis) or the plot-relevant thing (Newt Geiszler and Kaiju in Pacific Rim) when characters are obsessed with those things.

This is why, in theory, were I the one rebuilding Sandman from scratch (disclaimer: I am dirty shipper trash for Dream/Hob) I would want to see either before the fishbowl or immediately after it the people who missed Dream while he was gone. The people who saw him as a person and were worried about his absence. The people who love him and the people he loves such that 106 years of confinement was not just an inciting incident for the plot (ie, everything Dream needs to fix now that he's back) but an actual tragedy because of the amount of time that was stolen from him and the people in his life who were hurt and scared and worried while he was gone, so we can learn to like him.

(Edit: It should be noted, though, the reunion with Lucienne is the first moment we get of someone who loves Dream and missed him and suffered without him reacting to his return, which is an effective tool at making us like a character. We love Dream more through Lucienne's eyes and vice versa. I personally think we needed more moments like that before we, say, saw him dissolve Gregory in what was effectively our main character sacrificing someone's beloved pet in Ep. 2, but your mileage may vary. Different stories are making different points and Sandman doesn't require us to like Dream. That said, it's a risky move to have an unlikable main character and not one I'd suggest for anyone other than an expert at the craft of writing.)

And finally, last craft point that's in my head, this sort of relates to:

Don't open a scene with dialogue. Now, this is one I'm skeptical of, my teacher instructed me in this and I think it's not always correct. However, it was tied to a larger point, which was that dialogue unmoored from setup, character, setting, etc doesn't really earn the emotions that we're asking of the audience. It mostly confuses them. Setting the scene with even a single paragraph before the dialogue tells us who/what/where/why/when/how so that the dialogue actually lands as needed.

Similarly, to tie it to the above, we the author are often emotionally engaged in our characters, especially our OCs. By the time we finally introduce them, stumbling away covered in blood from the inciting incident that kicks off our plot, we are emotionally connected to them. The hardest thing sometimes can be to step back and realize the audience doesn't give a fuck yet about our super duper special OC. We have to earn that love, otherwise who cares about the fact this character has suffered? This requires setup, breathing space, time and an inherent arc of some sort (think: the intro to Up). It doesn't have to be before the character stumbles away covered in blood and kicks off our story, because that can mess up pacing, but it should be placed at such a time that when we think back to that moment, our hearts clench because we now have context to feel what the author wanted us to feel about the suffering of their special blorbo OC. And if you can manage to make our hearts clench at that opening scene of their suffering while it's happening, so that we don't need to backtrack and see the scene with new eyes, then you are IMO effectively a storytelling god. It's not easy. But it is possible!

#maggie rambles #writing advice #writing #the sandman #sandman meta

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marley-manson · 3 days

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scattered thoughts on season 2 of xena after marathoning it over a few nights.

-- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is so fun lmao, it didn't even occur to me that the vampire ladies could've been hypnotizing Gab until I saw it mentioned in a tumblr post lol, I 100% just took it as Gabrielle being attracted to them. I mean one of them even has a buzzcut.

-- Xena is great because it's a true genderswapped cheesy genre show, complete with extremely bland one episode love interests who die to provide our heroes with manpain. Also Xena totally subconsciously let Callisto kill Perdicus, come on. Loved Gab's rage afterwards <3

-- Lucy Lawless and Hudson Leick are excellent at playing each other. Hudson Leick is so good as Xena that I always forget Lucy Lawless isn't actually in Ten Little Warlords lol, and Lucy Lawless' Callisto is great too, especially when she's playing Callisto pretending to be Xena.

-- Love Ares' first episode as a mortal too. Love that he's scared of rats, a decent fighter but still needs Xena to save him a few times, and the moment where he contemplates having actual blood on his hands for the first time is *chef kiss*

-- I'd skipped Miss Amphipolis when I first watched Xena because I'd heard it was transphobic, and then saw a post praising the episode for its progressiveness so I was like hm I guess I'll give it a shot. Honestly, it had its good elements, but yeah I think the criticism is warranted. Awesome if it's true that Karen Dior was openly HIV+ when she and Lucy Lawless kissed here, love that. And if the idea was that Miss Artiphys was more a drag queen than a trans woman it's not too bad I guess? But if she was meant to be trans then yikes, terrible depiction, lots of 'he's really a man' shit (plus the name c'mon). And the lack of clarity doesn't help either way.

Also Gabrielle's mild homophobia was a weird choice, and I didn't like that she only won after every other woman turned down the crown lol - I get the point that none of them really wanted it or enjoyed the pageant while Artiphys did, but I feel like that point could've been made without putting her in last place.

Kudos to the director for objectifying her just as much as any other woman though lol.

-- They should've given a little bit more time to Xena and M'lila's relationship in Destiny, since her death is the catalyst for her going evil, but unfortunately it felt like a very arbitrary final straw. It was funny though that M'lila died for her because she just knew it wasn't Xena's time to die yet lol. Like c'mon, at least imply they got close off-screen.

-- Also Xena 🤝 Dennis Reynolds: because of the implication. I'm actually torn on how much that's intended lol, because on the one hand they certainly do not frame Xena as an actual rapist here, she's still sympathetic and Caesar's still the ruthless villian. But on the other hand the predator/prey metaphor when she was coming onto him was incredibly on the nose (she even says "cutting off his path of retreat" like, yikes girl); Xena later points out that crucifying her was an overreaction and thinks she must've fucked with his head; Caesar has psychosexual nightmares about her in another later ep (ie killing him mid sex basic instinct style); and Caesar's "all those who prey on Rome" line is basically the payoff to his earlier "I am Rome" thing, essentially a coded way of phrasing "prey on me," which fits the sex thing more than the hostage thing, since that was literally preying on Rome.

Idk, I'm curious what the writers were aiming for here. Maybe some of it's just meant to suggest that Caesar has a crush and is mad about it lol, but it's eyebrow raising.

-- Also also: the montage of Gab and Xena at the end of Destiny is so ridiculously romantic <3

-- I love that Xena agrees to only possess Autolycus when he gives her permission, then bodyjacks him whenever he says no anyway. Autolycus is a delight in this ep. And I love how the show does everything it can to make it clear that it's Xena kissing Gabrielle in Autolycus' body, from Bruce Campbell's acting demonstrating exactly when he regains control of himself, to his "Seems like you two worked things out" in repsonse to the kiss, to him not noticing his hand was still on Gab's ass lmao.

-- A Day in the Life is still such a ridiculously good episode.

-- Can't believe how almost explicitly gay Blind Faith is even with the rest of season 2 to compare it to. Like okay maybe it's not quite The Quest's kiss, but something about Gabrielle's conversation with the gay dude where they both very overtly use ambiguous pronouns for the people they love feels like a step beyond. It's not just two close characters who love each other, it's lesbians situated specifically in a gay solidarity context, idk. I love it.

-- Also I cite this a lot but idc, I still fucking LOVE that Xena is temporarily rendered blind in this episode and she is still never physically challenged by anyone in a fight lmao. Like you'd think as a plotpoint it would be a way to have her uncharacteristically defenseless and reliant on this one-ep dude to defend her, right? Nope, she still outclasses him, all she needs him for is to watch out for cliff edges.

-- Also also I love that this annoying dude sees her as an idol and it's just accepted as obvious, absolutely no commentary on a dude modeling himself after a woman. She's Xena, of course aspiring warlords desperately wanna be her.

-- Ulysses here to reassure the straight audience after the tidal wave of gay we've seen in the last few episodes, but it can't even do that right because Gabrielle and Xena still 100% interact like they're hooking up and catching feelings but not exclusive.

-- The Price would be a perfect episode if it weren't for the racism in the depiction of the antagonist force, man, it's such a blot on an ideal Xena story. Also Xena is at her absolute sexiest here. I'm usually more of a Gab girl, but fuuuuuuck her hardass sadistic commander persona has me like 🥵. Hits the perfect balance of serious and dark, while her warlord flashbacks tend to be a little too exaggerated and campy to be truly sexy to me.

-- Also another episode where I love how men relate to Xena. She shows up, they find out she's Xena, and they immediately go "holy shit please take over, please command us, you're our only hope."

-- Cecrops is one of my favourite one-ep characters I think

-- Comedy of Eros is dumb but fun lol, I always enjoy how the show flips the script for Xena's occasional heterosexual turns, in the sense that she's the active participant, acting upon the men and going for what she wants. It is a relief when it stops being earnest and starts being solely for the sake of manipulation though lol, and I'm glad we have Cupid to blame for this one too. In fact, I think all the genuine reciprocated het is behind us now, right?

-- I love the fake out where Gabrielle nearly sees Xena first before Joxer gets in the way. I feel like I've seen some writer say once that they considered having Gabrielle fall in love with Xena for this episode, but they decided against it because they didn't want it to be a joke she gets over, and I am 100% behind that reasoning. It would've felt cheap imo. But the tease was cute lol, they know what the audience wants.

#xena #marley on xena #text post #didn't really want to liveblog as i watched but now i feel like this is too long so idk...

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emblazons · 1 year

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I think the thing that makes me sometimes "doubt" Byler endgame is how the writers seem to treat Will in the narrative by either making him nonexistent, sidelined and unimportant overall with often minimum screentime. Idk. A lot of ppl tried to explain why it was necessary for him to be sidelined but that resulted in the audience thinking that Byler has no chance of becoming canon and that Will is just a useless background character. Add the monologue moment in S4 and Mike constantly talking about all in S4, how do you explain the duffers will make the narrative fit in what they have showed so far in the show? Most ppl will think Byler came out of nowhere and if Will gets a huge moment regarding fixing/saving the world ppl will think it came out of blue and there was no buildup. It takes really pains to prove Will's importance and Mike's love for Will. And not sure if the writers will manage that.

—so I’ve answered some version of this kind of doubt several times on this blog before, so I’m going to direct you to those posts, so as not to reinvent the wheel:

Will's Taking a Backseat in S3 + Dustin companion piece

The Duffers, Show v Tell, and people missing subtext

The Duffers Aren't Writing "Casual TV"...they're writing for themselves and people like them

Why people assume ST is written poorly (like other shows)

General Audiences, Media Literary, and "Catching" Byler

Why I Don't Understand "Duffer Doubt"

On: "Objective" Byler (and ST) Commentary

The Duffers, the "GA," and how your value system affects how you go about interpreting (or missing things in) media

Mike & Will's 3 season arc (and how it fits in the wider narrative)

On: M&R being "2 Straight White Guys" writing a queer story

+ a cut for more thoughts about how Will really wasn't all that sidelined lmao

That said: if I’m honest, I fundamentally disagree with the premise that the duffers somehow need to “make the narrative of Will fit into s5,” as though he hasn’t been integral to the Hawkins connection to the UD since literally day one.

That, combined with the fact that he was barely even in season one outside of flashbacks (and yet still managed to carry all of S2) + hasn’t really been sidelined at all if you know how to read emotional beats and not just “action” ones? Like, sure, him not being front and center was true in S3, but given that he is the center of all of Mike’s emotional decisions across all of S4 and is now quite literally holding the “main relationship” (which it’s not, but we’ll let that go) together…saying he’s not central to what’s to come given his active connection to El, Mike, every single Byers, the rest of the Party and now Henry/Vecna as we file back into Hawkins is insane.

IMO, the real problem (and at the risk of sounding like every byler critic on the internet) is that the show is made of an ensemble cast who have all had their rounds in the spotlight over the seasons…which means that Will is not going to always be at the fore front of the action, because this is not The Will Show and not every season is written with his story as its primary narrative core. That said, if you are paying attention to the emotional and even supernatural beats of the show, you can clearly see where they’ve set Will up to hold an important and even critical role in the final season—

—especially given that characters like Henry and Vecna didn’t even technically exist 2 seasons ago, and yet now hold primary weight in the story and in the minds of this “general audience” people love acting like matter most to the Duffers (even tho they have repeatedly said they don’t lmao).

I personally do not give a damn about what “the GA” thinks is possible given that half of them were mad when Will was central to the story in S2 (the 'S2 was my least favorite season / the season I don't watch much of people) and half of them couldn’t even tell he was gay, despite being plain as day to anyone who doesn’t need every single beat of the story spelled out for them….and that the duffers literally and repeatedly make fun of people for doing I throughout the show.

All that said...I respect your right to doubt, but…of all the things I could doubt The Duffers being able to pull off in the minds of this nebulous “GA” everyone thinks is so stupid they haven't picked up on any subtext or plain narrative (which I could make a strong case they aren't...which is why they pitch such a bitch lmao), making Will central to the 5th season after all the pains they’ve taken to flesh out both his connection to the UD and his romantic feelings/sexuality is not one of them.

It's not as nearly "blindsiding" as people seem to think it is—because the second you stop thinking everyone is heteronormative, you realize a lot of people who just aren't as loud as the naysayers on the internet see it plain as day.

#finally getting to the marathon of asks in my inbox lmao #that said... I'm not sure how many more asks like this I'm gonna answer tbh #I don't know how many ways I can say the same thing like #its giving someone trying to evangelize a person who has made up their mind not to believe LMFAO I'm not gonna convince you #not if you're not open to being convinced...or want to tunnel in on your doubts to protect yourself #I can't reinvent the wheel lmao #asks

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blue-raeofsunshine · 18 days

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here’s a really long analysis of cady’s arc in the mean girls musical because i think my favourite version of cady heron is the version from the stage musical.

while the original movie version is absolutely brilliant of course, there’s something about the way the stage musical portrays cady’s arc. i feel like each of cady’s songs really progresses her arc in a way that isn’t done to the same extent by the movie. obviously i know that’s partially because the writers of the stage musical had time to improve on the original and truly think on how to portray cady’s arc.

in it roars, cady’s dissatisfaction with her life in africa and her initial awkwardness in high school is showed brilliantly. though we do see cady’s awkwardness in the movie, we don’t see her feeling less satisfied with her life in africa and I thought that was a brilliant addition.

stupid with love is such a brilliant song. i didn’t truly appreciate it until i watched the new movie :/ anyway getting her internal monologue on aaron and her history with love is a brilliant insight. and honestly i appreciated her crush on aaron a lot more in the musical because of this song. also i liked the bits like ‘do you have an eraser?’ ‘i would love to’ because they’re hilarious

apex predator is an interesting one. i haven’t watched the musical in a while but i’m pretty sure in the stage version gretchen finds out sbout cady’s crush on aaron in this song. so seeing cady’s realisation that she’s not entirely safe with this new “friend” of hers. i don’t remember getting as much of cady dwelling on this in the original movie but i liked seeing it in the musical.

stupid with love (reprise) is a song i don’t have too much to say about, but i liked cady pretending to be bad at math being more of an accident here. it seems to show cady as a little more sympathetic, but still a bad person because of her keeping up the act

i also don’t have too much to say about revenge party apart from it being a good montage of cady, janis and damien’s plan. and the focus on cady ending up with aaron is interesting, showing how cady’s fixated herself on getting with aaron. cady also only agreeing to crack gretchen because of aaron is interesting. the musical puts a lot of focus on cady trying to use manipulation as a way of getting aaron (the taking down of regina, her pretending to be bad at math and the party scene). and i liked that focus.

fearless. this sows the seeds for cady becoming the new queen bee, with gretchen instantly turning to admire cady. we also see this with regina’s part, in her observation of the ‘new hair, new skirt’ - representative of cady’s personality changing. it also shows a bit of manipulation on cady’s end (i did it for me, sure, but also for you) but mostly i think she’s just happy she won. idk i don’t listen to fearless enough to analyse it

am i the only one who imagined a timeskip between fearless and stop? anyway

stop shows cady’s fixation on aaron; talking about her failing math and damien saying ‘my god girl, he’s just a guy’ showing that damien and janis have started to pick up on cady’s changing. also showing that cady can’t stop herself from fixating on aaron. which again. i think that’s very prominent in the musical

more is better is a song i’m salty about being cut from the new movie. i could soend an eternity analysing ut, like the start when cady stops herself from talking about the animals she observed because she fears it will be cringe. or the slower speed of this song contrasting the faster paced songs she sang at the start of the musical. or the fact tbat she’s adopted regina’s sentiment of ‘more is always better’. the mentions of stars and how cady almost sounds wistful. showing that she doesn’t want to be trapped in the role of queen bee anymore either. and showing that she misses the simplicity of her old life. then her bringing it back to the way she’s started dressing. and then that moment when aaron sees that cady has become a plastic; except i liked it more in the musical because you could see the lead-up to his realisation in the verses samg before. when aaron drops the line ‘i would prefer the girl you were’, i believe cady truly realises that she wants to change. obviously the janis bit adds to that as well, but this moment is very profound. then aaron turns cady’s own words back on cady and cady finishes by repeating his sentiment; that she should have thought everything through properly. i might make a post just about this song tbh.

someone gets hurt (reprise) i mean what do i say. this is the big moment where everything falls apart for cady. where she loses her two best friends. and realises she’s become plastic. this paired with more is always better earlier makes these moments incredibly profound.

do this thing is about cady embracing herself again. its a nerdy song, with kevin’s rapping and cady hyping herself up, telling herself she can do it. this song is cady rebecoming herself. also the fact that she solves the final problem in front of aaron, instead of him being absent like in the original movie makes her win more profound. and her realisation that leads her to her speech in i see stars. when watching clips of that song cady seems so genuinely happy and i think that’s what makes this song brilliant.

i see stars. a brilliant finale to the musical and casy’s arx. her realisation that everyone is beautiful and deserves to be seen. and loved. it’s a beautiful song that i sing to motivate myself. the passion in cady’s voice as she sings it makes me trult happy as well, as you can tell she truly believes her own words. its a brilliant song and the rest of the actors joining in at the end makes it more beautiful; she’s convinced everyone of her words. also the line ‘it’s me and you, not us and her’ makes me so happy; showing that people don’t have to gang up on each other.

in conclusion, i’ve said my piece. cady heron is incredible in the original movie and the stage musical, but the way all her songs show her arc in the musical make me prefer it ever so slightly than the arc in either of the films.

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wonderlandmind4 · 9 months

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i've returned to talk about daredevil AHA, i swear to fucking god i WILL SUE I WILL SUE FUCKING KEVIN FIEGE I WILL SUE THE WRITERS omg i just needed foggy and Karen back AND THIS IS WHAT I GET OMG IM NOT BELIEVING IT FOR A SECOND BRUH

Hi friend!! I’ve missed you.

Okay so. I am holding onto hope that:

1- The first half of the season (if that rumor of the first part being episode 1-9 are true) will be when the blip happened and during the blip, which would give the excuse and reason for Foggy and Karen NOT being there. It’s now seeming like Matt never got snapped away- which I would LOVE to see how they do that with his senses cuz that shit would be so so tragic in Matt’s pov having no idea what’s happening and nothing he can do to do stop it- so Matt doesn’t get snapped, but Karen and Foggy do- so their firm….is also gone. It would be too painful for Matt to continue that business without them.

Due to these reasons and pain and guilt and PAIN and Matt, because he’s Matt, will somehow blame himself for not helping in a battle he had no idea was happening and stopping it. He may go into a depression again, maybe this is where and when he meets Kirsten or something. But during the 5 years of the blip, he decides to work for/with another firm, or start a new one again.

2- Again if the rumor is true and the second part of the season is episodes 10-18, maybe that’s when End Game happens and everyone comes back. (I don’t think Born Again was even close to finising that first half of filming before the WGA Strike so reaaalllyyy, maybe there’s wiggle room here once selfish studios pay writers and actors what they deserve and more and filing starts again whenever that will be)

But my theory and some other fans theories, that the second part will be AFTER the Blip, and they can do a little time jump if they want or flashbacks or something idk. Let’s not forget in She-Hulk Matt actually looked and seemed happy, in a good place, at times lighthearted and having fun and THE SAME WITTY CHARMING ASS (i say fondly) HE IS (that didn’t change) with Jen and he even says “we” talking about his firm and Matt has always kinda been against bigger/giant law firms because most of the lawyers that work at those places tend to be more corrupt and not have the clients best interests at heart. Maybe if he joined a bigger firm during the blip there would be some conflict there.

And after, this would be A great reason and opportunity to bring back Foggy and Karen and could potentially start up their business again, or at least get Foggy to join the firm, OR they have a little branch under the bigger firm. The point is, they could use the second part of the season to bring back Nelson and Page.

And Matt’s words to Jen sounds more like he has Foggy back in his life and he’s still in a pretty good place. You don’t think Foggy would get an absolute kick out of Matt having a one night stand with She-Hulk!? He’s be so proud and cracking joke’s because “she literally spanked your ass twice” 😂 (Kevin if you’re reading this…)

3- After seeing Charlie Cox at two cons and meeting him twice, I firmly and 100% believe he has somewhat of a voice in some decisions for Born Again. The studio KNOWS this show or “reboot” or continuation wouldn’t be possible or the same without Charlie. Kevin knew that. And the reaction Charlie/Matt got in NHW PROVED how much the entire fandom loves him as Daredevil. So, I feel like his input and opinions are valued. Which makes me hopefully guess/theorize that Charlie has at least spoken to someone about bringing back Elden and Deborah. And I know Vincent really loved Deborah as Karen too, and I feel like he would also have a say because you just can’t change him as Fisk either. Same with Jon as the Punisher.

So again, I am holding out for being hopeful and not truly believing anything until it’s in the actual episodes I watch. It’s marvel, we have to remember that, they lie and gaslight fans all the time and try to convince the fans what’s not true and what is. So a twitter account from “sources” is a little harder to believe.

I have nothing against Deborah Ann-Woll or her as Karen because I actually loved Karen. But 99% of the heart in Daredevil was Foggy and his relationship with Matt. To not have AT LEAST Foggy be in the show at some point is utterly ridiculous. Matt’s not suddenly going to have a new best friend who truly gets and understands every single side of him and knows his past and martyr tendencies like Foggy. Matt isn’t just gonna straight up trust others and tell them he’s also Daredevil (Jen literally just ripped his mask off but he had no intention of telling her know)

And honestly, just as no one else but Charlie Cox could play and be Matt/Daredevil, no one else but Elden Henson can be and play Foggy. I just don’t think that amazing heart of Foggy’s can be the same without Elden.

Wow that was long and it’s 3:45am so I’ll step off now.

#dd anon #this is just my own thoughts and hopes and opinions #it’s what I believe and don’t believe #Dont come for me #idk if any of this made sense #daredevil #daredevil born again #dd: born again #Charlie Cox #elden henson #deborah ann woll #foggy nelson #karen page #Matt Murdock

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autumnoficarus · 6 months

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i'm devastated but like in a good way, and I have a lot of lokius thoughts I need to jot down before i pull a timely and become spaghetti

spoilers for season 2's finale below !!

so in this house, lokius is alive and thriving - because listen:

Firstly, i've seen a lot of people upset with the finale and while that's super valid, here's some positive thoughts on why I kinda sorta dig what was given to us.

the recap never included that one ship while catching up on the main plot points of everything that has happened since the show's beginning. I think that should be pointed out idk.

from a fic writer standpoint the fact that Loki spent CENTURIES??? (+however long fighting sylvie and having repeating conversations with HWR) Like literally a huge chunk of time we don't see trying to fix things has so much potential. I'm giddy abt that ngl

That when Loki needed advice most, he time-slipped to Mobius to ask him his opinion. Not only that, he time-slipped to when they don't know each other yet, because he wants a Mobius who is unbiased. He's aware that were he to go to a place in the timeline where they're now close, Mobius would try and talk him out of abandoning all hope.

He knows, much like with Mobius' story, he's been hesitating to look past himself - to see the bigger picture, instead of what he wants. That hesitation has led to years and years of consequences, Loki failing each and every time, similar to how the officer of Mobius' story delaying the prune of a variant led to an eruption of consequences that resulted in the harm of their comrades too.

What Loki wants is save his friends, ultimately. At first, he wants to save his friends and be able to experience life amongst the timeline branches with them. He tells Sylvie he doesn't know where he would belong without them. What Loki realizes in the end is that to give them the choice he believes they deserve, he has to make a choice of his own. In the end, he finds belonging (at least for now, because I refuse to believe this is the end of TVA Loki's storyline) in putting those he loves before himself and what he wants, something Loki has done only a handful of times throughout the entire Marvel series. He needs that growth character-wise because, as we know, he will be involved in the next big phase.

I think that Loki time-slipping to ask Mobius for advice parallels last episode's 'it's about WHO' again. Who has given him the chance to be a better version of himself the entire show? Who helped him overcome his deep distrust in others, learning to care for them instead - so much so that he sacrificed himself to protect them? And again, Mobius is who Loki went to when he was lost and his words are what guided Loki to the decision he made.

A Sylvie and Mobius scene where Sylvie is seen caring for Mobius in the aftermath??? Mobius wasn't offering comfort to Sylvie, he was depicted as more distraught than she was. In fact, I'd say they really wanted to get across how 'alone' he felt with Loki's absence, standing watching a life he never knew from afar.

(there's a whole unpacking i want to do here about how we previously saw Loki looking longingly across the street watching Don's life too, before whisking Don away from his mundane family life for a greater purpose; something about Mobius looking at that life and recognizing there's a missing piece to it, and it's back in a place he no longer feels he fits because the TVA is missing something too; something about Loki 'supposedly' finding where he belongs, but not Mobius. those are thoughts for another post though lmaoooo)

I think they left Mobius' arc open-ended because he still hasn't achieved that greater purpose. That's (hopefully) because it's meant to be fleshed out in either a later season or next movies to come. And (hopefully x2), that purpose becomes Mobius helping to somehow save Loki from his current fate.

The final moments?? Hello??? Mobius' voice echoing as we pan in on Loki holding the branches together, teary-eyed with a soft, melancholic smile??? Seeming to be listening in on Mobius amongst the branches??? Mobius' 'let time pass' because he doesn't know how to move on from losing Loki?? Come onnnn, the tragic angst in just those shots were CHEF KISS

Overall, I know it's a let down not to have an actual canon status but I mean - were we really expecting the mouse to come through for us??? At least, we didn't get a 'no homo' moment so I count that as a win against rickey the rat. Lokius survived the finale, and that's what really mattered for me tbh.

Like idk, I could also be biased because I kinda, really dig tragedy and slow burn angst. And that's what this finale gave us, along with so many possibilities !! Them being separated leaves so much that can happen !! Like, like - Mobius has the opportunity to have an arc about saving his bae from holding time together indefinitely - from Loki's greatest fear, being left alone. Mobius getting into marvel shenanigans in an attempt to reunite with Loki somehow is beautifully romantic to me ya'll idk. I am delusional and I fully embrace that fact.

Okay honestly this isn't even ALL MY THOUGGHTS I HAVE MORE but this is getting long so I'm stopping here (currently: sending morse code signals out to help pull me back from the brink of insanity)

#loki spoilers #loki season 2 #lokius #i might have went overboard with this im ngl #i'm just doing backflips about my blorbos and i can't stop ok #save me from myself i am foaming at the mouth i am rabid racoon that needs to be tased #i will not release my grubby little fingers from these two fictional goofballs you can't make me!!!!#txt: icarus has a bout of madness #marvel

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spicybylerpolls · 2 months

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glad that other anon could also get stuff about finn’s sexuality off their chest! If you cant do it on an anonymous, left field social media blog (lets face it, tumblr is not taken seriously like other social media pages are by the press), then where can you?

its also a shame that situations like kit connor become the bar for what is essentially discussion about human behaviour. The problem there was not kit’s queerness (though in some industries it would be) but the fact that fans took discussion to the height off forcing him out - hopefully that wont happen here. Everyone chill, alright? Keep it here! Although that said, this is a byler blog so maybe its not welcome here either. Idk

anyway, i would like to ask prev anon or anyone else what vibes they mean cos im so curious (about finn). I pick up on something but cant put my finger on what. We need that random tumblr back who got noah exactly right based on very specific cues during the s4 press run - like the way he slumped in his chair, his goofy ass smile - and said finn was queer too then bounced!

sure these are things not objectively gay but then again humans arent objective. For me personally, ill tell you what i picked up on with finn (and noah) and i’d love to hear back from other anons.

I started dating a guy who i’d liked for ages. As soon as we were together i got a weird vibe as though i was missing out on something or everyone was laughing at me, because he was gay and it would never work. There was just something - big! - missing. I remember when watching ST i had the same feeling on behalf of el when watching the show, and i had the same feeling when i watched real life press. If i put myself in the shoes of a girl fan trying to date noah or finn it just felt like i would be makkng a fool of myself. idk if that makes sense or is weird as hell. But thats the reason i get a vibe, not specific things they wear (cos theyre often armour, like noah’s masc sportswear)

hmm, I think most people who think Finn is queer believe he's bi, but your point about fans trying to date Noah before he was out and making a fool of themselves is def interesting! Also your point about feeling that way about El within the show is also hilarious, because if Mike is gay (and not bi), that subtle "weird vibe" you're describing is probably something the writers intentionally put in the show haha.

#byler #spicy byler #finn wolfhard #spicy byler meta #no poll

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nalyra-dreaming · 10 months

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Hi-

Sorry if this has been discussed previously. I am curious do you think the fans that hate Lestat and think he is racist are going to fight tooth and nail and argue with everyone for the couples to be rewritten? Basically are they going to hate watch and continue to act like Louis is a child and victim and Lestat is the worst character on earth?

As a black viewer I still can't figure out why some people think that Jacob, a black man would accept and praise a show where his character was in love with a racist. I mean who does that? Or if Sam was a racist, why would Jacob ever develop and gush over his deep friendship and love with Sam? That would be absurd.

Jacob is definitely aware of social media from his days on GOT. So I could never see him on any level being cool with being seen as a simp to a racist white male character. And any fan of Jacob should feel the same way. Sorry for the rant but this narrative has been getting on my nerves since episode 5.

Hey!

(No need to apologize)

IDK, there's some people who use this word a lot to silence criticism, and who "throw it around" like candy, as if it were nothing tbh. I find that sufficiently disturbing, because by doing so they are watering it down, and it really shouldn't be.

Personally I think Jacob is very aware of it all, and the show and cast is, too. Jacob even pointed out at a panel that he is living a version of Louis' life every day ffs. And he also said that they were aware of the backlash, and that they weren't giving it more attention on purpose.

They are aware.

This show dares to put its finger into wounds. They might not always do so perfectly, but the fact that they do it is so important imho. And of course that has been discussed at length with them all, and of course Jacob, who said he felt "seen" by the script and by this part, would not return, nor have this close-knit relationship to Sam (i.e.) if... this accusation would hold.

To return to your initial question - I think the fans thinking Lestat is actually racist are in for a ride. They might hate watch, totally possible. But they are missing the layers of the show - and, ironically, willfully so, just as Lestat is ignoring Louis' racial issues willfully at times (because, as a white man, he can - and he has not yet learned to see them, at least in the beginning).

So yeah, I fully expect them to continue to hate on him, and a big part of them won't like what's to come, and will feel betrayed.

As per the victim thing... and the statement of Louis "never being an unbelievable victim" (iirc) - well, the show never said to whom. I'm afraid they're in for a ride there as well, and there, again, they will feel betrayed. Unfortunately.

The relationships in the books won't get rewritten. I'm not sure how that should even be possible (see my lengthy rant yesterday^^, but also it has been said that Loustat will stay the basis of it all).

I'm looking forward to the show shifting to the European version of it all btw. Months ago, the IWTV writers shared their inspiration / research so I think they will do some ... interesting statements there as well. Put their fingers into other wounds. And Dubai as the place for the shows Trinity Gate (I think) is not a coincidence either.

So yeah. I don't quite get where these people are coming from either^^. Because this show... these people... are quite aware.

#Anonymous #asks #ask nalyra #amc iwtv #iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #iwtv 2022 #interview with the vampire #jacob anderson #iwtv cast #tw racism

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angelwolf985 · 2 months

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finished watching supernatural s1-15 in 3 months! here are my opinions on the finale!

(warning: probably unintelligible, and very ranty) (+ obvious spoiler warning)

episode 18 was fuckin emaculate. genuinly. it was amazing. the one thing i didnt like about it was how it jumped about, same with 19.( i dont blame them for it tho, it makes sense with the story, i just didnt really love it.) 19 was good for the most part and served as a decent ending but was missing castiel and eileen (mention + presence) which sucked but what can you expect yk,,

episode 20. i have. so many issues with episode 20. WHY DID THEY EVEN????? LIKE TWO MENTIONS OF CAS, NO MENTION OF EILEEN, DEAN FUCKING DIEING, SAMS WIG, ???HEAVEN BEING LACKLUSTER???? it was so. just disappointing. cuz it could've been great. the end part of 20 was the only good part (jared and jensen signing off of the show). the show should've ended on 19 tbh. thats how im seeing it anyway. in my mind thats where it ended, but like, with cas and eileen back.

what i really disliked:

deans death. im pretty sure everyone hated that. and the whole like thing of him dying was really,, sorta,, weird? like; why did it go on so long?? did it happen bc he doesnt have god given plot armor anymore or was it just cuz?did jack see it? how did he feel about it? did he care or did he be all omniscient because he became god?? how did he survive that long? logistically? there was a fucking rusty rebar thing IN HIS SPINE (or like RIGHT NEXT TO IT??). WOULD THAT NOT?? PARALYZE?? OR WORSE???. and, im sorry, but i hated the forehead touch. it felt weird man. i get that they were close but,, not that close? even when they were more unhealthily codependent they wouldn't have done that. i think so anyway. i dunno. also. DEAN HAS SHOWN MULTIPLE TIMES AND IM SURE THE WRITERS WERE OVERTLY AWARE THAT DEAN DID NOT WANT TO DIE ON THE JOB. HE WANTED TO RETIRE WITH SAM AND CAS. ALWAYS WANTED THAT. he often said shit like "we're gonna die on the job, draw the short stick, thats just how it is, how its gonna end for us." (mixing quotes from the top of my head so, not exact) which he clearly thought would happen because pessimism but he NEVER wanted that. for HIMSELF or SAM. dean dying in this episode IS A CRITICAL DISSERVICE TO HIS CHARACTER.

sams mystery wife and (non mystery) child. BLURRY FACE WIFE. WHY IS SHE. WHY. also- how did he recover (seemingly) so quickly? i mean- if he really believed dean was gone FOREVER. when death hasnt meant forever in forever, how would he be so okay? idk. also, idk why, but sam having a kid seems very bizzare. could just be me. also. where tf is eileen. is she the blurry face wife? why would they do that if yes? (could be a load or reasons, either way they couldve like, said it was eileen, if it was supposed to,, idk,,,)

one or two mentions of castiel. did the writers just forget his CHARACTER IMPORTANCE?!?!? HES SO IMPORTANT TO THE STORY??? HE GRIPPED DEAN TIGHT AND RAISED HIM FROM PERDITION. HE LOVED DEAN. DEAN (INARGUABLY) LOVED HIM BACK. he (castiel) deserved SO. much better. my friend who has watched spn since she was a baby AGREES WITH ME. i GRRR I GRR I GRRR!!!! cas not being in this episode is such an aggravating disservice to his character. he deserved more. the fans deserved more.

alright im done ranting now. may add more on later. im gonna go rewatch the show and read fix it fics.

#spn #supernatural #spn ending #supernatural ending #spn s15 #spn rant #.txtpost #should i tag as destiel #......#destiel

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rivilu · 1 year

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Watched absolution because I saw a certain spoiler and was intrigued, loooonggg post of spoilers and thoughts under the cut

Are we are really surprised the supercop zealot is bioware's canon divine? lmao.

I generally liked the cast of characters quite a lot, Roland Lacklon and Qwydion most of all, Miriam is cool too, just not top spot for me. she's like. Number 4 on my list. Of surviving characters that is.

Rip Fairbanks. Made the rookie Ser Jory mistake of mentioning his loving wife more than once within the intro of the series. You will be missed.

The writers really said make them think we will finally switch up the Mage Is Always The 'Traitor' reveals (that aren't even true for games 1 and 2 but the joke is marketable so who cares for accuracy right) but then just do the same thing again. I have a feeling they think they are playing 4d chess when really it's just predictable.

The action was well executed and I liked the romance with Roland and Lacklon, it was cute :)

The show handled Tevinter better than I expected but my expectations were subterranean so that doesn't mean much.

Still don't care for the way bioware deals with blood magic. With Dorian we finally had a smart opinion on it [that the writers didn't try to stamp out or treat as stupid, sorry Merrill]- that it's simply a tool as long as there's no victims, but here we backpedal again into the narrative going 'anyone that even THINKS of blood magic is and always will be evil full stop'. Yes we're talking about a Magister here i'm not defending Rezaren in specific I'm just weary of how they'll treat it going forward.

Speaking of the guy, he was fine as a villain. pretty decent portrayal of a guy whose position of power deludes him into thinking his goal is noble and righteous no matter what, even to the detriment of the people he's supposedly trying to help, because well. He never saw them as people in the first place. 'Family' maybe, whatever that's supposed to mean to him, but still property. Things he gets to do whatever he wants to do with.

Miriam using his harrowing as an example of a moment he chose not to defend her or her brother though, is kinda meh. Bc girl, he was actively trying and failing not to get possessed, his mother's the one to blame for that specific instance and you KNOW it, I know we had to see that scene for exposition but i'm peeved jdshfjd I bet there were maaany more backstory examples of him being shit to choose from anyhow.

There was an Attempt at moral grayness at least two times in the show, with Tassia and Hira, and they are both... interesting.

Tassia imo does it better, as as the knight commander she can be safely [and firmly] put in the villain box, but the added levels of grey with her caring for her people's safety, opposing the venatori etc make her interesting to watch in a way where I may not be rooting for her but I don't want her to die either, yanno? She's a bit like if Aveline were an anti-villain, and actually decently well written at that. She gets spot 5 of my list.

Now Hira. Is a prisoner of that good ol Mage Betrayal Russian Roulette. I'd seen a small spoiler about her being up to no good before watching, but even without that, when Fairbanks stabbed her I could just SNIFF that red herring. Again, the writers may think they're playing 4d chess but I know not making a mage (or more) the villain, is to them what apples are to doctors. Then her motivation is just. Not convincing to me. Her family was influential tevinters that wanted to improve conditions for the oppressed, then they were killed and/or ran out the country by the venatori for it. so... she jumps right to ethnic cleansing as the solution?

(And I do mean right to it. She did go to the inquisition first but that's what she wanted to get out of it.)

Collateral damage is a funny way of referring to innocent people's lives queen!

Idk something about that feels familiar. Betrayal, a mage that jumps to genocide, yet said mage is somehow granted more lenience by the narrative than that stance should EVER allow? Because here's the thing. no matter HOW fucked a country is, how terrible the politics and power structures are, 'wiping the country out' IS NEVER A MORALLY GREY THING. IT'S AS BLACK AS IT GETS. it is the power structure itself that must be targeted. (you know, the thing Anders tried to do and gets eternally condemned for?) Wanting to massacre an entire population is not an opinion that's up for discussion, it is not worthy of redemption, and it should not be written as if it is. This pattern of character writing is just. Concerning to me. Some of the characters with the most morally bankrupt stances being passed off as grey. And I could get far deeper into it here, nearly did in fact, but It's a tad too late in the night for a 5 page essay on fantasy and real world politics intersection. I'll just leave it at ''bioware's centrism is doing what centrism does best and blinding them to their world's actual political power dynamics and I think it's going to bite them in the ass sooner or later''

But enough of that, let's try to get back to something funny shall we?

The cheese jokes. Bioware please, the horse, stop, stop it's already dead!

(i dont actually mind but that was my original reaction so here you go sdfhjs)

Dragon cool. Like that it stays alive.

ok, sorry that's all I got. We have to tackle the elephant in the room now folks and i'm afraid I am not optimistic.

So. Meredith motherfucking Stannard is still alive and kicking. And while I can completely understand why people are excited, AN ACTUALLY GOOD VILLAIN IS BACK, WOOHOO! -i just can't help but think. When? When will this plot thread be handled? Because as much as I wish the titular character of dreadwolf would drop dead by act one, I highly, highly doubt it hjsdfjf. And if she can't be the main villain, or at least what Howe was to Loghain, then I don't want her to be in da4. Because that game has SO MUCH SHIT to tackle, with Elven Gods and Titans, the egg and also Antiva and the Qunari now for some fucking reason? Frankly I don't think they can even do THIS sum of things justice in a single game, unless things with the gods take a different turn and they aren't what solas said/villains for us to fight (please I hate the slavery thing so fucking much just for once retcon something to the benefit of religious minorities bioware i'm fucking BEGGING) so adding Meredith to the mix is not something I can picture working out. I don't want to get excited for her to be back (She was the spoiler that got me to watch the series) only to have it be a repeat of the templar/mage war in inq where she's lukewarmly taken out by act 1.

Also before I do an all in all, we all got that Hira is getting Played right. Like I dont like her much(at all), as stated previously, but she's still a mage. working for Meredith motherfucking Stannard. Is it too early to call her eventually dying from that dumbass decision orrr..? Because yes girly, she also wants to genocide your home country, but she has VERY different reasons from you and you're almost guaranteed to be first on the chopping block the moment the red lyrium cracks. (i dont find this bullet point bad writing btw this is just razzing the characters for fun jhsdj)

ok so all in all. the show's alright. I highlighted more of the bad than the good here because anything past da2 has that effect on me sadly, but the characters do Carry as per usual. And i'd say it's worth a watch for the action shots alone. Some of my fears of Bioware's direction were confirmed, and i am still not at all enthused about da4, but if a season two comes out I'll probably watch it. unnecessarily long post over, adiós.

#dragon age absolution spoilers #dai critical #da:i critical #bioware critical #cassandra pentaghast critical #solas critical #just to be safe #negative #shut up river #I am still reeling about Memory being tortured into being a demon as well #that was a good starting villain moment but MY GODS YOU FUCKER #an old spirit of wisdom that has witnessed SO MUCH and held SO MUCH HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE just fucking GONE #screaming into the void #also the fact that hira is a rare case of a character against the inquisition #and her reason for it is that they didn't want to? Pull a scortched earth on tevinter?????#Bruh moment #So many valid things to hate and YET #and. I don't know. I've seen some people interpret the burn everything line more charitably #but I'm simply not willing to trust that someone willing to bargain a different person's life and freedom #someone who trusts and /loves/ her so deeply; just to get what she wants #is good enough a person to warrant that charitable reading #jsjada maybe i'll be proven wrong. But hope is low

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vodkacheesefries · 2 months

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Okay so I finally watched the Netflix Avatar series and I have thoughts. Overall I actually thought it was okay. The rest of my thoughts are bullet pointed because it's easier for me to organize thoughts and keep them shorter that way.

What I disliked first:

They didn't trust the audience enough to fill in the blanks. The dialogue was really hand hold-y. It was almost like the writers were scared of silence and felt like they had to fill it.

They didn't/couldn't find the right balance between keeping the spirit of the cartoon and making it more serious. This caused the overall mood of the show to feel disjointed and almost like a different show at times.

Some of the wigs/bald caps werrrre...not great. Shoulda hired some drag queens.

I don't like that Mike and Bryan aren't involved. You can feel their touch missing.

I didn't care for the actor who played Sokka. It was partially what he was given to work with, like in the script, but I just...he didn't feel like Sokka. And I'm a Sokka girlie so that was sad.

Some slight changes were made to Aang's avatar state and. Idk. He doesn't even try to water bend this season? Weird choices, didn't care for those.

That was NOT Bumi. I refuse to believe that was actually him.

They needed more than 8 episodes. If they don't want to do a traditional 20+ episodic TV series, they need 10 at the bare minimum, but 12 would have been ideal.

Things that were okay:

Getting kids to act well is difficult, but I did think for the most part they did pretty good. But sometimes it was a little shaky.

Momo and Appa. They looked okay, but I hate it when things are very obviously CGI and have that like. Plastic shiny look to them almost.

They also weren't in the show enough for my liking.

The musical score for the most part, wasn't super memorable. The parts I do remember were the bits they took right from the show. Which is fine, I just wish they would have either done something completely new and WOWed me or utilized even more of the original score and really lean into it.

This could have been caused by the mood rapidly shifting from campy to Dramatic™️ so fast, but it sometimes it felt like an old kung fu movie and I think that saved some of the "worse" acting.

Things I, dare I say, loved:

Without getting too much into spoilers, because I do think the whole scene was pretty dope and you deserve to see it unsullied: Kyoshi.

Just in general, actually, the entirety of episode 2. The Kyoshi warriors were just. PERFECT.

The fight scenes were actually really well done and if they wanted to just film and animate people bending ala those old stick fight videos I'd watch that shit.

Oma and Shu are a win for sapphics everywhere

The avatar state visuals were also dope.

Dallas Liu as Zuko. He did SO well.

The Blue Spirit mask. Holy shit. That whole part of the episode. I love Zuko. So. Much.

While I'm talking about Zuko, because, AGAIN I love him, they made some additions to his backstory that I think worked really well. I can also see how, given they had 8 episodes to the original 20, these changes make it easier for people who didn't watch the original show to start to maybe like Zuko.

Ozai was already scary but he's. SCARY. Like. Daniel Dae Kim is scary in this role and I love what he did.

I did enjoy Azula being in it a little more than she was in the cartoon.

Most importantly: They let Sokka say ass. (Now let Aang say fuck.)

So like. Overall when I weigh what I liked vs didn't like, and how much I liked the things that I did, I'd give it a 3.5/5.

You will be disappointed if you go into it expecting it to be exactly like the cartoon. I do acknowledge I am an easy nerd to please, but just go into it with an "open mind" or whatever. Is it good? Eh. Is it fun? Yes! Will I watch it again? Probably not, but if there's a season 2 I'll watch it. 🤷

#rachel talks #i am mildly less than sober and was like everyone has to know my thoughts rn #anyway.#tldr: not perfect but fun

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