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letrune · 1 month

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You know what annoys me in Harry Potter?

And let us imagine for a moment that the author is Hatsune Miku. That it is an adaptation of Neil Cicierega's Potter Puppet Pals. That Warner Bros is not holding the franchise with patents and trademarks well beyond the powers of even millionaires.

Ah, nice to imagine, isn't it? Still with me?

The books are wasted potential. Every new thing coming in helps to show how the magical world is as flawed and xenophobic as regular, mundane version of it. Slavery, segregation by "blood purity", racial segregation, magic supremacy and cishet white male magic supremacy, too.

And then a downtrotten guy shows up. He is a hero, has loads of cash and a fame beyond his age. You would think the dude from the literal closet would CHANGE THE SYSTEM. To push along a new, better, more liberated, more equal world. Maybe even prevent the next bad guy from rising by removing the key aspects that made him rise to power, like slavery, the segregations, the supremacist ideas, and so on. Even if just pushing it in a way.

You would think the main character would fix the system. You know why?

Because every fantasy story, even if by just getting the just and wise king or queen on the throne, does that. The Lord of the Rings does not end by blowing up Sauron. It goes on, the world has to be changed to prevent a new, different Sauron. We saw glimpes on how anyone, even the purest heart, could go down that path.

So why can't this boy who lives in a closet? It is WASTED POTENTIAL. Imagine the stories you can tell! Now that you got a better world coming, would the old jerks not hate it? Would some change? What new issues arise? It is a fantasy, so you can do whatever you want - and then go the Man in Black route and have the magical slowly dripped into the mundane. Or, again, as with the (comic book) Men in Black, we had shown how even the utopian parts get issues not seen before, all based on xenophobia, human folly, etc.

You make a status quo that sucks, and then GO AND CHANGE IT. The big bad in a bad system is not the guy with the biggest gun, but the system that fails.

Oh, sure, you can make a story about the cyclical nature of revolutions - and yes, a bloodless revolution is the best for the little people, but in fiction, we may have the bad guys represent issues. So, you can make a story where a revolution leads to another in the next cycle. But...

You have to change the bad systems. Say that some things may change. Even if it is just a new school being put forward in the end, with empathy, and two characters talking about how the world will change if they keep going on... You have to change. The utopian status quo is the only one what the audience may like to be returned to.

When Bilbo comes back to the Shire, it is almost the same, but Bilbo himself changed. It was a bit for the better, but not that much that new stories could not be told... and what he thought as the status quo is shown to have changed. He became more artistic. He wrote a book, inspired by his "miserable adventure"... and then, later, Tolkien slipped in the ring from the sequel. It was not in the original draft! The ending did not changed, but we had a plot hook.

Though, Tolkien already had given us all the potential in the story. He hinted at a bigger world.

So imagine Miku, writing a thing but then she does not develop the things. The potential goes wasted, and when it returns, it has this "stop nagging me, here, a stupid retcon for your stupid questions" thing. Potential squandered! Wasted! No wonder the fans would go to write their own, for better or worse.

I am so happy Hatsune Miku is a talented writer and not some woman slipping into right-wing hatred, akin to some dude who loves gold and the aesthetics of power, and having none of it in his tiny hands or something. That would be-

Oh. I just realised the intro to this rant. Well, now that the train is deralied, what is my point?

If you write a story with systemic issues, you should at least attempt to resolve some of them. You got slavery? Have the main character and their friends free slaves and ban slavery when they get the power to do so.

You got a sort of space cyborg wizard nazi movement? Your character has the potential to punch them in the face, alongside B. J. Blazkowicz and Captain America, WHILE ALSO breaking the systems the space cyborg wizard nazies rely on. In fact, it should be what you do, because while your heroes give the cool action scenes, they also show their intelligence and empathy by PREVENTING new space cyborg wizard nazies coming into existence and fixing the inequalities in the world.

Sure, it is not as cool to see Mr. Potter to write a new constitution about equal rights than seeing him in a wizard duel with wizard nazies, but you can have both. This is fantasy!

You can get the audience to believe that a man can fly, that a single guy can save the world by throwing a ring into a volcano, or that a boy living in a closet is a chosen one - letting them change the world for the better is not a stretch, it is catharsis! That is where the happy ending happens.

#rant #writing #personal rant

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franki-lew-yo · 4 months

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inb4 nicer post than my last one:

I saw Chicken Run 2. It's pretty cute. Definitely not as big a letdown or wasted like a Pixar sequel is.

Keep in mind I think I'm one of the few people in existence who's never itching to get sequels and continuations of my fandoms. I never wanted a Finding Nemo sequel and Finding Dory broke my heart in the worst way; by having unlimited potential and squandering it and the characters I love.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget doesn't do that, happy to say. Mostly it's just underwhelming.

It's weird. I'm definitely not a better writer than these professional writers, I just find myself going "why didn't you have the characters do/say THIS instead? It would still be cinematic and in character". I'd have to rewatch to give you a play-by-play of exactly what I mean. Overall I'd call that a nitpick. Bigger criticisms, especially when this is a sequel to a 20 y old film with fans who've seen in hundreds of times and know the details:

Hated how they retconed the chicks at the end of the original. You Thanos snapped Bunty and Fowler and possibly some of Rocky and Ginger's children. Also, those little 100% chicks were adorable. I'm okay with Molly being Ginger's only chick, but she'd look adorable as one of these:

Another distracting continuity thing: Rocky gets upset that he can't crow anymore. Even though...he was never a crower. That was Fowler's job. I remember. I get that he's a rooster but my point is that was never a thing Rocky did in the original and that should be been better established as what he does now on the island. Put it among the lines that I think could have very easily been slipped in to make it more digestible; you could have had Rocky say to Ginger, "you gotta let me crow! That's, like, my thing now", implying that he's turned to being the island's crow-er to cope with abandoning his lone-free-ranger lifestyle. See? Small changes of dialogue that can imply so much and give you an idea of all the things you need to know in this newer story.

Even though Fowler did technically do something in the end most of the movie felt annoyed and just there. Really would have liked it if he and Babs were back up and helpful some other way while it was mostly Mac, Bunty, and the rats who went in to save Molly and Rocky. Idk. Maybe it's hard to be the absolute banger of a convenience that is the green aliens and ' the claaaaaw' in Toy Story 3-- needed to utilize him better for the gag and the story is what I'm trying to get at.

Rocky and Ginger's voices were distracting. It's odd because Rocky's is definitely the more noticeably different one that you have to get used to, but I am 100% replacing him considering who was his og voice. I'm mostly mad that in order to free Rocky of the curse they had to take the part away from Julia Sawalha.

This is probably going to controversial here but, um, I really wish Mrs. Tweedy wasn't the Mrs. Tweedy in this. I think it'd be a funnier, more of a "here we go again" gag that they actually find some way to contrive the villain of this movie to be Mrs. Tweedy's relative that just happens to look the same, sound the same AND have the same bloodlust for chickens. Like, the gag is that all of Mrs. Tweedy's family is Officer Jenny/Nurse Joy who are all identical to one another but they're also the Cruella of birds and all have a bumbling husband. Even though it's explained how she got here, it just kind of takes the teeth out of her original defeat and even her one in this film.

I kind of wish Ginger had stayed "colarred" for a longer stretch of time and the rest of the crew had to save her. I feel like Molly being placed in her mother's shoes would have been more dramatic and made the situation all the more dire and dependent on the other characters to think up a plan. Ginger being unable to do anything or "broken" would change it up a bit, provided she still makes the final save in the end.

That pop song during the 'Molly-growing-up' montage was bad and didn't suit the time period and vibe of the movie. It really took me out. Just play that in the end credits.

Mr. Fry never appeared again in his creepy chicken man suit and I kind of really liked the idea of this creeeeeepy farmer basically wanting to be friends with the chickens while dressing as one because he thinks he's more connected to them that way. But no that's just for one scene.

I was also expecting Mr. Fry to turn on Mrs. Tweedy as he noticed her obviously flirting with Reginald. Having the ending twist be that he assists the chickens in their escape or lives among them in a horrific chicken suit with the chickens taking advantage of this would have been right at home.

that's all I got.

#chicken run #chicken run dawn of the nugget #chicken run 2 #aardman #franki's features

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heliianth · 5 months

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actually bc im never gonna shut up abt it while im still on this im gonna ramble abt botw and totk and maybe how i wouldve written a sequel . & i will pay u money to listen i promise

my favoritest of totks ideas are what it expands from botw. botws whole atmosphere is drowned in quiet mourning. something bad has happened but it was a long time ago. it still hurts but theres nothing to be done now but move forward. something is still missing but all you can do is find something else. nobody has resources to rebuild and you can hear deafening echoes of better times but the alternative is giving up. you are in this frozen state of not quite moving on and not quite in despair. like the numbness stage of grief. and the pivotal element of all of that is that link is alone. like, oppressively alone. its the primary vehicle of conveying this mood. and its interesting because this can be read not only as what link is experiencing through the player but what zelda is feeling as she holds back ganon. its an interesting contrast to have zelda mature faster than link in the flashbacks, only for link to pull her the rest of the way by growing himself

and the reason why i so strongly adore the light dragon aspect of the plot is because it shows how attached to everything zelda has gotten. arguably, zelda held back ganon in botw because she loved link. in totk, she becomes the light dragon because she loves hyrule, which had previously been so unimaginably cruel to her. the crux of her character is learning that attachment is good. loving is good. you deserve to leave an imprint on the world in a shape of Your choosing instead of being another factory print on a paper. on a surface level, shes making the same choice, but the motivation and growth behind it is really powerful

i could waffle for literally ever about all that and the point is that totk takes these ideas and implements them really well through in-game worldbuilding and specifically zelda turning into the light dragon. i would occasionally get extremely emotional just seeing how things have expanded because it feels like the world is finally moving on. theres a catharsis in seeing hyrule finally heal after knowing its desolation so intimately, especially because the state of the land itself is such a strong parallel to the arcs of the two main characters, so you get the sense that not only can people move on, link and zelda specifically have started to as well. thats my favorite part

thats why i think its an odd choice that they decided on a time travel plot. if zelda HAS to be the one getting saved, if she cant be a companion in some way either via sheikah facetime or spirit tracks shenanigans or whatever, there are lots of ways to do this without her being magic fruit snacked ten bajillion years into the past. why spend all this effort intertwining her and link with the land, only to remove her from the equation and have no further growth? in botw its understandable that hyrule is stagnant and only changes when link does because zelda is stagnant and link is doing the one changing during the game. in totk its the opposite. there are lots of ways to do this with out Having to play as zelda (though honestly that would be the way id go about it)

also a lot of my own ideas have to do with the wasted potential of a place like the depths???? what the hell do you mean theres this mind bogglingly big cavern underneath the entirety of hyrule which mysterious people used to live in and it has almost no story relevance beside being a cool setpiece???????? I FEEL INSANE?!?!??!?!? there are so many good ideas in totk that never get expanded dude FUCK

i think no matter how much i speculate and draft my own preferences of how i wouldve liked totk to elaborate on the things it introduces i cant ever bring myself to present them like they couldve realistically happened and gotten thru the nintendo writing room simply bc of the games format. if it were up to me doing certain story missions would radically change the open world as events happened in real time and thats not the MO of the game's design philosophy. honestly totk's biggest enemy is the memory system and i need to kill it with fire

#for all im talking abt it i dont actually know how i would implement the light dragon twist in my own version of the story #in a way that would preserve that surge of emotion u get upon realizing who she is and get rid of the needlessly convoluted time travel #my first thought is that it happens in the depths and the connection is disguised by red herrings #and similarly to the light dragon breaking the cloud barrier it breaks areas of the depths open #so theres prophecies and literature about the light dragon or whatever down there that leads the player to believe that shes just-#-like farosh naydra and dinraal. that the depths is just where she hangs out #and she doesnt have a unique name like them because of a language barrier #heliichats #tloz

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ga-yuu · 3 months

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Kurama and Ibuki Sequel Cute moments Part 3

Yoshino is depressed because Ibuki's actions broke her heart.

Kurama: "............"

*Flies away*

Yoshino: "Kurama??"

(Maybe he thought I was annoying...)

Kurama: "Hey!"

Yoshino: "Ah!"

*Kurama throws small shiny items over her like rain*

*Yoshino is surprised and catches it*

Kurama: "Now smile."

Yoshino: "Huh?"

Kurama: "Smile the same way you smiled at me at the party that night."

Yoshino: "Ah..."

(Wait, is Kurama trying to cheer me up? Shiny items are Kurama's favorite things. The fact that he's sharing something valuable with me, means....)

Yoshino: *smiles bashfully at him*

Kurama: "Good. You don't have to do anything extra or change anything about yourself. Just be yourself."

..............

Yoshino: "Are you ready? I'm about to use my powers."

*touches Ibuki's palm so she can absorb his powers*

*Ibuki happily takes her hand and intersects his fingers between hers tightly*

Yoshino: *Blushing*

..............

Ibuki: "The reason why I started playing with humans is because I'm curious about them. Blame that on Seimei."

Yoshino: "Seimei?"

Ibuki: "Abe no Seimei. The greatest Onmyoji ever to live. He is Yasuchika's ancestor. It's been 300 years since his death I guess."

Ibuki: "I was, as usual destroying human villages out of boredom and then out of nowhere he shows up and challenges me to a game. 'If you can break my heart, you win. But if you manage to be friends with me, I win.' was what he said."

Ibuki: "The game went on until his death and ended before he could decide on the results."

Ibuki: "He's a persistent kinda guy. He gets drunk easily.....such an idiot."

(The fact that Ibuki still remembers the words he shared with Seimei even after 300 years is proof that Seimei is an irreplaceable person in Ibuki's life)

(I feel like Ibuki doesn't simply mess with people)

Yoshino: "The reason why you mess with humans....is because you want to test them to see their potential, right?"

Ibuki: "................"

Ibuki: *smiles* "Like Seimei, you're persistent too."

Yoshino: *blushing*

.....................

Yasuchika: "So there is this drug being spread around in Kyoto."

Yoritomo: "Is the management in Kyoto that bad, your Majesty."

Ibuki: "I think that the main reason is because you're here in the Shogunate. Why didn't you go back to Kyoto?"

Akihito: ".............."

Yasuchika: "...................."

Akihito and Yasuchika looks at each other.

Kurama: "If you have something to say, then say it. I won't allow you to waste my time."

Yoshitsune: "Maybe his majesty and Yasuchika is worried about Ibuki?"

Akihito and Yasuchika: "..................."

Ibuki: "Hey?"

Yasuchika: ".........yes......."

Yasuchika: "Yep, pleasedon'ttrytoarguewithmeYoshitsune-sama!"

Akihito: "Yep! Ibuki isn't any pitiful demon who's going to lose to a curse just because we're not around, right?"

Yasuchika: "I myself was thinking about cursing me, if I see him losing pathetically."

Yasuchika and Akihito: "Yeah!"

Ibuki: "Oi!"

(It's hard to tell if they hate each other or tease each other)

(After all, the three of them have a special bond)

#ikemen series #ikemen genjiden #cybird ikemen #cybird otome #otome #cybird #ikemen mc #ikegen #ikemen genjiden ibuki #ikemen genjiden kurama

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tetsunabouquet · 4 months

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Thoughts on Black Maiden from the Shaman King Sequels?

So far she seems like wasted potential. There is a lot of interesting stuff about her, from the way Jeanne's storyline ties into her to the dynamic she has with HonHon. Like, they definitely feel like they are becoming bickering friends and they feel like the members of the Daremoine team likeliest to redeem and switch sides. Again, I feel like the series should have focused on this more then the Daremoine/Illimunati plotline. For example, the Patch that protect the Daremoine. Did we honestly need that stuff? Like, it's nice getting a glimpse of Hao's time as a Patch but it honestly didn't feel necessary. The Patch are always second in importance to the actual contestants, and I feel like there is so much going on the contestants of the YVS team are barely fleshed out and we still need to be introduced to 6 more teams! It's the same problem I encountered when reading Marcos. The story is so all over the place with so many people to focus on that its hard to keep track which defeats any emotional attachement. In regards to all the various new characters, it means their potential got completely wasted and we'll never love them as we could have had. How am I supposed to care and invest in Black Maiden, when she gets so little screentime and we can predict this to continue in the future just by remembering we need to introduce 6 more teams, their Patch guardians, the whole moon arc and the aliens. There is so much shit introduced as well, like talking about the aforementioned Patch, why do the Patch of the YVS have an aesthetic? As in the fact they were all insect spirit users. The Patch of the original series used plants and animals alike! Their spirits weren't a cohesive aesthetic like the previous Patch were, so again it feels like its part of how they are retconning the original series to be more aesthetic based like we were already shown with Alumi's 'stylish' oversoul. The original series literally had this line about oversouls not needing a style or aesthetic because it was the pure bearing of their soul and emotions, etc. And then we get the sequel, were we suddenly get more aesthetic cohesion and style... It's as if the writing itself is telling us the sequel is all about style and no substance.

#sk #shaman king #black maiden #team yvs #shaman king the super star #patch tribe #daremoine

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nyababymao · 1 year

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How the writing team failed Neteyam

Neteyam himself was written really really well in my opinion but the sheer lack of a proper character or journey or things that make up who he is as a character ends up wasting all the potential he has.

The best way I can illustrate this is to do it in the form of a Pitch Meeting, like that one YouTube account.

screenwriter: ok so the younger characters are gonna be super important to the story and how it impacts the audience so we want them to each have really interesting character arcs that changes them as they each go through their personal journeys

Producer: definitely, so what do you have?

Screenwriter: lo’ak will meet a whale named payakan that helps him learn the harshness of war and a girl named tsireya that shows him he does have a place in the world

Producer: very nice, very relatable and adds a nice hint of teen romance

Screenwriter: kiri will learn she has a very intricate understanding of the sea life and can connect with them beyond what most other na’vi can and she gets a chance to see her mother again when she bonds with the spirit tree

Producer: that’s good, a good addition to Na’vi/avatar lore and her bond with her mother is further developed

Screenwriter: spider has to deal with hating but also forcibly bonding with the man who in a way is his biological father and he saves him from death a second time

Producer: perfect, a great lead into a sequel and he has to struggle with both his human and na’vi sides. So what does neteyam have? Does he get a mate? Does he do anything impactful? Learn anything interesting? Struggle with any particular conflicts?

Screenwriter: oh he dies

Producer: he….dies?

Screenwriter: yup at the end of the movie, he dies.

Producer: does he do anything before his death..? Does he change as a character?

Screenwriter: nah he’s pretty much the same character from when he’s first introduced til his death, he doesn’t really go through any changes, don’t wanna waste too much effort progressing him when he’s just gonna die after all.

Producer: so what purpose does his death achieve? Does he sacrifice his life to save another? Do we get an emotional scene of him saving someone?

Screenwriter: kinda, he shoots people and they shoot back, we’re just gonna have a stray bullet hit him, the emotional part will be later when his family is actually around and he’ll die then so everyone else’s character can be developed from it.

If we were to remove any other character from the rest of the movie, changes would need to be made because they all affect the plot in huge ways. Lo’ak led the kids to the forbidden area, which notifies quaritch of Jake’s presence, and brought the tulkuns back, which is what quaritch used to lure the sullys out. Kiri getting a seizure is what notified quaritch of the sullys’ location and her ability saves neytiri and tui. Spider teaches quaritch to ride the ikran is the one to save him at the end of the movie and hint at a third movie.

But removing neteyam anywhere before his death would do barely anything to the plot because he doesn’t get to do ANYTHING. He wasn’t the one to save lo’ak at the start, he didn’t start the brawl, sure he took the tracker away but that doesn’t have a huge impact on the plot itself and was really more of a death flag for himself. Hell they could’ve had the ilu swim away with it by itself and drop it somewhere.

If a character has no impact in a story other then their death then their death has no real meaning. If their death only serves to further other characters’ plots and developments then they had no meaning as a character.

It legit boggles my mind how they managed to simultaneously write him with so much potential and make us fall in love with him while also simultaneously giving us nothing specifically about him

#avatar meta #avatar way of water #neteyam #avatar

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lesser-mook · 1 month

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Dune: Part Two - Some of the best pieces of Anti-Christ Propaganda I've ever seen. And by itself? A well produced, well made film. Though it is heavy-handed aka long as shit (Movie Recommendation )

Holy Wars, Chosen One rising from the Desert, Third Eye's and shit, Free people/"Fremen" fighting for their desert land, Fall of The House of Atreidas/Collapse of Empires *cough America cough cough*, seeing timelines, Nukes n shit.

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The powers that be really, REALLY want nuclear war. If it ain’t a Civil War, us killing each other, they want nukes flying.

The Eternal's had good cinematography, so did The Ritual but those can't even touch this.

This movie, in IMAX? Was/IS a must see experience, religious experience even. If you haven't seen it in IMAX, Do it. Please. Don’t miss out.

But outside the realm of conspiracy, they're just well made movies on their own. The sequel had way better pacing, Part 1 was just 2 hour setup and it was worth it. So so worth it.

This movie is 2 films in one package, if you paid to see this? You're not wasting your money if you went to see this experience.

My biggest complaint besides the hefty runtime, expansive lore being somewhat crammed & rapid fired at the audience (hence a LOT of exposition), would be the fact that we never get to see exactly how the worm riders dismount or how a caravan riding the worms back- then get OFF the worm in the first place.

Jessica was pregnant, how did she get on the worm?! And how did they get her off the worm?

See we’re shown how dangerous it is to get on a worm, every step involves mounting it while it’s in motion, it doesn’t stop to let you onboard. So how they transport crowds looks cool, but it in the movie specifically (fuck the books) the movie didn’t show that detail.

Now, let’s put credit where it’s due: These two movies by themselves are a serious feat, especially in this nauseating cinematic universe era of film-making.

This isn’t Star Wars, this isn’t Marvel or DC.

This is custom lore from a lesser known title, and a sequel with the magnitude of Avengers Infinity War in just 2 movies, coming off of one film with 2 hours of setup (which is basically what Part One was). All in just 4 years, not enough people are addressing how impressive that these two movies exist & executed in the way they were.

This isn’t DUNE II, but “Part Two”. The same narrative, same story, effortless momentum. Way better filmmaking than Endgame, better story, and better music (Hans Zimmer annihilated this OST, as usual).

This easily could’ve been a storytelling disaster, a contrived, over-ambitious mess with yet another messy Messiah overtone that falls on it's face, but it did well.

And while Paul isn't the most engaging main character (he has some gary stu-ish traits, which was ironically written to be part of the narrative) but he is no boyscout.

He cries, he will train, he is taught, he outbursts, he gets emotional, and when he's serious, it's serious. Not perfect, and is a man of vengeance, not Talk no Jutsu, not punching away the darkness of someone's heart to free their inner child or some bullshit:

Paul is here to handle business. Period. And you slowly see him developing emotional calluses to the point where you see him becoming something else entirely.

And that's ALL imma say, for now. Go watch the movie.

It could've been mess, but it works.

It ain’t no masterpiece, don’t mistake my compliments for hype, the movies are not perfect- but I didn’t expect this to impress, at all.

The music is just the movie's voice. The DNA.

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Hans Zimmer's vision for music, coding the DNA for all the films he composes for is: Otherwordly.

Especially post- 2010, it’s like composing Interstellar was a period of transcendence for him.

Ever since that movie, his style entered a whole new realm, it’s almost intimidating how good he is.

Woke culture be damned, Films like this (while propaganda) still demonstrates in a good way, exactly what Hollywood's true potential is capable of.

#lisan al gaib #dune #dune part two #coming of the prince #keep your eyes on israel #propaganda #good filmmaking #movie recommendation #anti christ #Youtube #lessermook #the one

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iheartgod175 · 1 year

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Second Styles - Darkness Rewrite Explained

NOTE: This post details a plot point of what will be coming in Chapter 4 of Darkness Rewrite, a few entries in the Gaiden series, and the sequel, Chaos’s Revenge. Read at your own risk!

Writing up the fourth chapter of this story led to me creating a new concept that I’ll be introducing throughout the Gaiden series up until Chaos’ Revenge hits. And that concept is called “Second Styles”. I basically wanted to explain it so that readers won’t be wholly confused when they get to the parts featuring them.

What is a Second Style?

As the name implies, this is a superhero’s second fighting style, which often features stronger techniques and forms not present in their main fighting method. The term was coined by Mother Goose herself, who in this universe was not only the chief founder of the Super Readers, but also an efficient fighter herself—to give context to this, she was one of the first guardians of the World Tree, and she was Jeremiah’s mentor. Let that sink in for a moment.

Having fought many battles, Mother Goose knew that there were many powerful villains who had no qualms about harming or even killing the Super Readers. The concept of a Second Style was built around this grim reality, and she wanted these kids to have a fighting chance. Though the first branches she started followed this practice, later branches of the Super Readers would disregard her words, which led to them getting eliminated by villains, including the Evil Reader/Chaos.

With the new age of Super Readers, Jeremiah remembered his mentor’s words and wasted no time in teaching them this. Months after Chaos’ defeat, he took it upon himself to help them develop into stronger heroes. In addition to giving the team a new brace that allows them to transform outside of the Book Club, he and other members of the Council (those that he personally trusts, anyway) begin to train the kids to utilize their upgrades effectively and develop new fighting styles. Though training helps them stabilize their powers, it’s through trials that causes them to awaken their Second Style to its full potential, as seen below in the breakdown.

In an interesting case, the Super Readers technically have three sets of powers—their regular reading powers; their base upgraded forms, which allows them to do a little more damage; and the Second Styles. It would be accurate to call it “Third Style”, but I didn’t like the way that sounded, haha XD

In any case, the Second Styles are somewhat modeled off of Honkai Impact 3rd’s battlesuits—and obviously, there are NO fanservice elements! In these forms, the Super Readers’ elements are either emphasized or changed completely, as well as their color schemes and weapons/fighting methods being completely changed.

These are the list of characters who currently have a Second Style as of the writing in chapter 4, and its breakdown!

Super Why

Second Style: Azure Tempest (@blazing-shadows, you’ll get the reference XD)

Weapon of Choice: Sword

Inspired by: Palatinus Equinox from Honkai Impact 3rd, The Evil Reader/Jackson Flatts from the original SRBA

Super Why’s Second Style had a few names—Blue Blaze, Azure Blaze, and Azure Flamechaser—before he eventually settled on Azure Tempest. This Second Style is an answer to the oft-asked question of whether he will follow in the steps of Jackson Flatts, who was on the same path as him at one point before his fall from grace. Indeed, it mirrors Jackson’s fighting style in that it appears flashy, but it is not to be underestimated in battle, as for what it lacks in quickness (some attacks take time to charge) it more than makes up for in destructive power.

The wielder of the azure flames will light the way in the inky darkness.

Super Why’s costume is black with azure highlights in this form, and like Woofster, has no additional armor on his costume. He combines light and fire—with the latter being the dominant element. His main weakness in this form is its time limit, as he can only use it at full strength for a full seven minutes before facing blowback. Any longer will result in him losing consciousness, which can be exploited by his enemies; as such, he’d need effective backup when using this form in combat because of this.

Princess Presto

Second Style: Retribution/Divine Retribution

Weapon of Choice: Divine Lightning (two-edged sword)

Inspired by: Herrscher of Thunder/Origin from Honkai Impact 3rd, She-Ra (‘80s version), Iris’ Shanila Form from LoliRock

Princess Presto’s Second Style takes an element from a painful experience—namely, the time when the Evil Reader possessed her and forced her to fight her friends and father. Having come to terms with that experience, she decides to make one of the weapons saved from that battle—Divine Lightning—a part of her arsenal. She trades her light and magic in favor of the element of lightning, and while not nearly as experienced in sword fighting as Muse or Super Why, she can still hold her own in combat.

White and gold lightning tears the heavens asunder, saving the innocent and smiting the wicked.

Princess Presto’s costume is white and gold, and one stark transformation brought about her is her hair, which trails behind her in a long ponytail and streaked with white and gold. Similar to Alpha Pig, her form comes with additional armor and gear that covers her legs and arms, which allows her to deflect attacks. While she can hold onto her form longer than Super Why, her main weakness is if an opposing element challenges her (such as water).

Alpha Pig

Second Style: Juggernaut

Weapon of Choice: Rocket Fists/Cannons

Inspired by: Herrscher of Reason/Herrscher of Truth and Sweet ‘n Spicy from Honkai Impact 3rd, Hibiki Tachibana from Symphogear, J.A.R.V.I.S.

Alpha Pig’s Second Style is unique amongst the other Super Readers in that he built a lot of it himself, rather than being a relic from the Fairytale World (in the case of Whyatt, Muse and Woofster) or weapons that were meant to harm them (in the case of Red and Princess Pea). Pig intended to use it with his upgraded fighting style, but the team’s journey with Santiago and crew led to him learning a surprising fact about his family, and he ultimately pursued a new fighting style that honors his family’s legacy. Originally the weakest in terms of physical combat, his Second Style would transform him into a miniature powerhouse capable of taking on bigger foes, thereby making the name of his Second Style all the more meaningful.

Determination, like a flame, blooms in the young hero’s heart, erasing his fear and fueling his desire to carry on the legacy he’s inherited.

Alpha Pig’s costume is dark blue, silver and black, making him look eerily similar to his counterpart, Material-B. His Second Style makes use of both his creativity and imagination, as well as a few of his powers as a Super Reader—inspired by his vast array of tools, he can transform one or both of his rocket fists into any weapon of his choosing. Similar to Super Why, his main element, light, is often a second player next to the pure physical power he can dish out. This Second Style comes with a built in operating system that appears to have its own personality, and does “the hard stuff” (such as calculations) for him. Its secondary mode, known as the Imperium Form, allows him greater power at the cost of both speed and higher energy consumption. While his Second Style lasts the longest out of the Super Readers, its long cooldown period and high consumption rate means that this is often saved as a truly last resort.

A few notes…

The idea for Second Styles came about when I was racking my brain for a way to continue the PP, AP and Davit vs. Materials B and S fight (and yes, I DO know what that looks like, LOL XD). A secret weapon was cool, but then I went back and reread some of SRBA for inspiration. Thank God I did! Because after working on Princess Presto, all the other Super Readers got a chance to shine!

As of this writing, Woofster and Wonder Red currently do not have Second Styles, though there are in-universe reasons for this. Woofster was in the process of developing a Second Style, but his disastrous fight with Material-D hindered that. Wonder Red, however, did not develop a Second Style because she believed that her own power would be enough to defeat the Evil Readers and any other threat that came their way; in addition to her own upgrade, she also has the extremely powerful yet ultimately lethal Berserker Mode that allows her to tear through enemies at the cost of shortening her life. After the events of this chapter, she and Woofster would start developing their own Second Styles…which will be revealed in Chaos’ Revenge. I know, I’m evil 😈 LOL 😆

That Super Why/Santiago of the Seas crossover IS still happening, and is canon in this ‘verse. The end of that crossover kicks off Alpha Pig’s arc into finding his Second Style.

Muse has a Second Style, and so does Jackson, which is revealed in one of the side stories before Darkness Rewrite. I’ll eventually work on how they got their forms in another post!

Most of the Super Readers haven’t seen each other’s Second Styles due to the fact that since these have less limits than their first upgrades (in terms of controlling how powerful their attacks would be), and knowing that they would probably knock each other into the hospital. They often train one-on-one with the other Superhero Councilmen or Jeremiah when he’s available, hence why many of them are shocked to see each others’ Super modes in battle in the chapter proper. The only person who has seen the other’s Second Style is Whyatt seeing Pig’s, which is explained in-story and in one of the side stories that takes place before DR.

If the first upgrades were inspired by Nanoha, then these were inspired by Honkai, with a little bit of Symphogear. Whyatt’s was inspired by Dudu’s recent suit, Palatinus Equinox, in terms of color scheme, while Pig’s was heavily inspired by Bronya’s most powerful suits, namely HoR and HoTr, and Carole’s suit, Sweet n’ Spicy, in terms of weaponry and color scheme. The initial idea for Pig’s suit also came from viewing a Symphogear XDU card of Hibiki wielding large, robotic gauntlets in game; I thought it’d be funny to add in Bronya’s weapons to make it truly stand out. Princess Presto’s…I can’t say for sure what inspired hers, but I realized she’d basically be this story’s HoT in terms of sheer DPS. And you know the Disney Princess’ Gold outfits, right? Well, I’ve loved them ever since I was a little girl, and I figured it’d be awesome for Princess Presto to have a dress similar to that in coloration!

Whyatt in-universe is basically a nerd, who in addition to liking superheroes is rather fond of giant robots and mecha. As explained in DR ch. 4, he fanboyed over Pig’s Second Style when he first saw it. I pictured his reaction as similar to Nanoha learning about Einhart’s fighting style in ViVid. XD

As of now, I’m still working on pics with the kids’ Second Styles, though it’s giving me a bit of trouble at the moment! I hope to have them out following the release of this chapter!

I hope you all liked this post, and look forward to the releasing of chapter 4!

#super why #princess presto #alpha pig #wonder red #Woofster #fan fic ideas #ramblings #super forms

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damnation-if · 2 years

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I would love to hear you rant about dnd demon cosmology 👀 what potential do you see? You seem to be really good at cool concepts (i.e. the game), soooo what about for dnd?

oh dear... you've activated my trap card XD the question of what potential i see in d&d's cosmology is almost too broad in a way because. they do literally nothing with it. the vast majority of players don't know a thing about it - some might know small parts, from perhaps a book where it came up, a popular podcast that touched on it, or maybe a DM that fell down a rabbithole. but it's IMMENSELY difficult to really put together a proper picture of why the fuck the entire universe of d&d... Is.

i know a shit-tonne more than most people and even my knowledge is largely confined to some of the outer planes, specifically the evil-aligned ones. i couldn't tell you shit about the half-dozen good- or neutral-aligned ones and how they came about, and wizards of the coast doesn't seem even vaguely interested in helping anyone find anything out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

this, to my abject and utter disbelief, extends to the PEOPLE WRITING OFFICIAL FORGOTTEN-REALMS-COMPLIANT CONTENT. meaning that wizards is putting out campaigns and content via official licensing that break or make NO sense within their own canon.

i'm going to put a cut here because be warned... this WILL get long. i'm going to explain... briefly-ish... about the Abyss and some aspects of the Hells, and then i'm going to talk about... briefly-ish... what an absolute TRAVESTY Out Of The Abyss was, lore-wise, and hopefully illustrate how wizards are wasting the potential that exists by NEVER EXPLAINING ANYTHING. (spoilers for Out Of The Abyss also)

okay, whew. rapid-fire. i can do this. briefly.

there's a guy, a god, named Tharizdun - you might know him from some books - and he wasn't always evil or mad. originally he was pretty put together but he liked knowing Stuff and Things so he basically built the equivalent of a telescope to look into the realm of Chaos that existed beyond the known planes. in d&d cosmology, chaos is a force in and of itself that acts as a counter to law; chaos springs up naturally in places like a vacuum or void whereas most physical planes tend to collect law in kinda the same way planets collect an atmosphere.

however, Chaos is different to Entropy. entropy, like in real life, is the force that's eventually going to implode the universe and cause the opposite of the Big Bang (they call it the Big Crunch lmfao). maybe. physicists go back and forth on this but in d&d it's more set. eventually, every plane will be consumed by Entropy and everything will End. (this is expanded on a lot in Starfinder, a scifi sequel of sorts to Pathfinder.) the closest thing to beings aligned with Entropy are the Great Old Ones, your Hasturs and Shub-Nigguraths and Cthulhus... it's why 5e Great Old One Warlock is entirely separate to Fiend Warlock. different guys, different power sources

so anyway Tharizdun built himself a telescope into the Chaos beyond the planes and he found out there were people! living out there! people made of Chaos! and one of them was a sexy tentacle lady! surely her intentions are nothing but pure!! this can't possibly go wrong!!! sorry buddy... try meeting sexy tentacle ladies on your own plane next time

the Queen of Chaos, Tharizdun's new internet girlfriend, was an elder type of demon called an obyrith, who are now the least common type of demon and rarely ever come up in official material at all despite being OBJECTIVELY WAY COOLER than the younger tanar'ri. the vast majority of obyrith are so otherworldly and alien that simply looking upon them is enough to drive mortals mad. knowledge of their names is enough in some cases. whereas the tanar'ri are mostly just mean or gross dudes

unfortunately for Tharizdun, he wasn't immune either, and his telescope relationship with the tentacle lady from the black void started to rot his mind, which was probably supremely awkward for his friends. she was trying to cajole him to let the demons into the plane he lived on, partially because demons like fucking shit up and partially because the swirling chaos void had no protections against the encroach of Entropy and none of the demons wanted to get Eaten.

eventually, between his madness and his desire to meet up with her in meatspace, as 'twere, he was persuaded not to let the demons into his plane, but create one for them to move into, called the Abyss. the demons said "great! we'll pack our bags" figuring that once inside they could just use plane shift to hop over to wherever (plane shift only works if you're On A Plane lmfao) but Tharizdun had the presence of mind to basically build into the Abyss a secret rule that prevented creatures of pure chaos from leaving it. it worked perfectly from his point-of-view - he'd just pop over for a booty call whenever he wanted, and also he doesn't get bitched out by the other gods for letting lowly chaos people into the plane.

the demons. did not take getting tricked well. Tharizdun is currently imprisoned in a layer of the Abyss, frozen eternally.

however, in the brief time before the demons figured out they'd been had, the Queen of Chaos conceived a child with Tharizdun, everybody's favourite 2-baboon-headed badboy, Demogorgon. this is why he's often called the first of the tanar'ri, because he was the first demon born in a physical plane - but he's not REALLY a demon, he's half-god. which is why He and Only He can plane shift (this will be important later). the next guy who is maybe more accurately the first of the tanar'ri is Graz'zt, who was Built by his obyrith mother Pale Night who basically went "eh, screw giving birth, i'm just gonna Make A Guy" but Graz'zt also sort of doesn't count. so. who knows who's really First

the obyrith didn't fare great being in a physical plane for the first time ever so these new demons who didn't need to adjust quickly eclipsed them in power. to this day, Demogorgon and Graz'zt are the two currently most powerful demon lords with any sense of style behind them - the third guy who competes with them is Orcus, who is important purely because he is some writer's Evil Wizard OC, Do Not Stial, and no other reason. i shrimply do not have the time to get into Orcus right now LMAO

the two big boys started beating down the obyrith who wanted to bring them down a peg or two, most notably Obox-ob the former Prince of Demons, who is like. the coolest guy EVER by concept and TOTALLY WASTED, and the Queen of Chaos, who wanted her new boyfriend (she moved on quickly) The Wolf-Spider (i don't know anything about him? he could just be a spider. i Do Not Know) to be the new ruler, and all-out war basically broke out between camps of demons fighting each other.

a bunch of gods saw this and were like "okay, perfect! kill them while they're distracted" and sent a bunch of angels and other powerful celestials to the Abyss led by Archangel Asmodeus (yes, really. yes, THAT Asmodeus). the demons rallied against their common Snooty enemy, and the war turned to angels vs demons. so, how did the powerful archangel turn into the Prince of Hells we all know? well...

he met a guy, who looked Mostly like an angel (probably fine, don't worry about that Asmodeus), called Pazuzu, who was muscular and hot and Asmodeus liked him A Lot. A Lot.

Pazuzu was an obyrith, and he literally Seduced Asmodeus to the Dark Side lmfao. YES, REALLY. that's really canon!! and Nobody knows about it XD that's how devils started! they're just angels!! Pazuzu and Asmodeus are still on good terms!! please for the love of god wizards. do something with Any of this!!!

anyway, that's the Basic history (yes, basic. i know, i'm sorry lmfao). for a perfect explanation of why wizards is wasting All Of This, let's look at a campaign module called Out Of The Abyss, which touted itself as an exploration of the Abyss and its lore. it LIED, believe me. i was SO excited by the concept of Out Of The Abyss, but it disappointed me on SO many levels.

the writer, who i don't personally blame of course, seems to have been given a list of names of demon lords, not been able to do Any research, and just been told "make them all fight in the end." the basic premise is that Lolth, who exists lore-wise purely through the power of boobies. tricks a guy into summoning 8 demon lords to the Prime Material Plane. this would be an Extinction Level Event if it took place within any reality even vaguely resembling proper Forgotten Realms canon.

but for whatever reason, they all instead just sit there twiddling their thumbs (grossly out of character for all 8 that are involved), except for Demogorgon, who... rampages around the Underdark stomping on people because he wants to go home. Demogorgon. who can Canonically. Plane Shift. Canonically. so he doesn't do so for NO reason.

Graz'zt fucking VANISHES, literally isn't MENTIONED, for the entire campaign. the guy who has the biggest cult following out of all of them and the largest power base In the Prime Material Plane? he's just sitting in a closet somewhere i guess. he's got nothing worth doing. what is he, some kind of masterful demon schemer looking for a leg up on his age-old enemy?? haha no... closet time

and what's EVEN WORSE is that none of the demon lords left back in the Abyss DO ANYTHING during their absence. Obox-ob, who swore vengeance against Demogorgon and that he would get his throne back AT ANY COST, is just kicking rocks for the MULTIPLE YEARS the campaign can take place over. doing nothing. Queen of Chaos and the Wolf-Spider? same. she doesn't take the opportunity to try and free her boyfriend from Demogorgon's prisons cos. it would be rude i guess? every demon politely sits there waiting for the mortals to sort things out, because if there's one thing we know about demons, it's how orderly they are! even Lolth, who supposedly did this in an attempt to gain power? doesn't?? do anything?????

-the CRs for these demon lords in the big fight at the end are also WILDLY out of canon alignment with previously used CRs for other demon lords. so completely bonkers i can't even get into it or i'll Never stop-

imagine how cool it could have been if this event that should have impacted huge amounts of story, shaken up the ENTIRE political structure of the Abyss, brought the obyrith back to the fore, forced the gods to finally REALLY confront the fact that Graz'zt and Lolth each have a worship count that rivals their own, explored Demogorgon's half-divine nature, explained the Link (and subsequent Rift) between the Abyss and the Hells, really examined what it means for a demon lord to be so powerful as to possibly become a kind of god.

but no. everybody just sits there in a t-pose until the players push all the buttons to make it go away. why actually do anything Interesting

shortly after (i think?) presumably as a result of what a wet fart of a story this campaign turned out to be, they had Lolth leave the Abyss and become affiliated with an evil god plane. and that's It. it wasn't in a story. they just changed A Word on her wiki entry. that's it

so yeah... hopefully that conveys why i feel the way i do about wasted story potential lmfao. on the extremely unlikely chance that you read all the way to here, thanks for sticking with me. i love to talk about things i'm passionate about... and this one's pretty complicated (hence the wordcount). sorry<3

#long post #SERIOUSLY IT'S LONG DON'T EXPAND IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ D&D LORE #what does the chaos mirror see #anon #thank you for your question! and oh god i'm so sorry<3 #out of the abyss my behated...#yes i personally Destroyed orcus from the ground up when we played it but only because i Know Things lmfao #i feel like it must have been the most miserable experience Ever for everyone else #much like reading my wall of text! badum-tsh

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teecupangel · 11 months

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What if the assassin was good with parkour along with firearms and archery yet they struggle with auditory processing disorder and have a hard time answering questions? They don't want to be stuck doing book work and research as they don't want their potential going to waste. This is a sequel to the ask about auditory processing disorder.

I think this is a sequel to this ask?

That previous ask specified Ezio but this one is more generalized.

Let’s be clear first that auditory processing disorder is not the same as being deaf. Deaf could range from partial to complete loss of hearing. APD is more on the side of “I can hear but there are some sounds I cannot process” (this is a very rough summary, please check the links in the previous ask for more indepth information)

So this Assassin would have a problem processing specific kinds of sound and the focus on the “have a hard time answering questions” in the ask makes me assume that their APD may be more on the side of auditory discrimination or auditory memory or auditory sequencing (based on this link). This does mean that they would have a hard time doing recon or information-gathering missions but (do feel free to correct me if I’m wrong as I only did a bit of research on this before answering this ask) this would mean that the Assassin doesn’t seem to have auditory figure-ground discrimination so this means that they can hear around them well enough to point which noise is which. This would help them on the field and, maybe they’d have to have a partner for all their missions just to be safe (and, if this was the Levantine Brotherhood, maybe even have a team of three?) but field missions aren’t really out of the question. Their partner would probably be the one that would know their APD the most and would be able to accommodate them.

Maybe they’d even have their own sign language which might be cool. Like they’re own secret code and such.

Unorganized Notes:

If this is set anywhere before the modern-day era, they won’t probably realize it’s APD but they’d still be accommodating and try to work around it.

Altaïr would definitely research how to better communicate with the Assassin, especially if this Assassin shows both their dedication to the Creed and is a hard worker. He’d probably have the Assassin (and other Assassins) learn monastic sign language which would be one of the oldest sign languages available at the time. It would be interesting if this leads to the Brotherhood developing their own sign language too that’s part monastic sign language and part closer to the typical hand signals military personnel uses. If this was set during Al Mualim’s reign though, I can see Malik being the one to try and reach out to the Assassin (although he’d probably scold the Assassin first until the Assassin admits their ‘problem’ (again, I say problem because they don’t know about APD during this time). Malik would sigh and tell them that he can’t provide support and guidance if he doesn’t know all these things so they’d have a rockier relationship at the beginning.

I’ve already focused on Ezio before though so check the first ask (link above) for that one.

Ratonhnhaké:ton would be more understanding and could even be the partner of the Assassin in his time period. (especially if this is set during the time where Achilles had lost everyone and Ratonhnhaké:ton had started his Assassin training). There are records of Native Americans using sign language to communicate with Europeans and Ratonhnhaké:ton may have heard of it. He’d probably look for people who could teach the two of them that way of sign language or they could make their own. In some ways, it would be like the two of them trying to learn each other’s language as Ratonhnhaké:ton would speak in his native tongue while signing and the Assassin would do the same with their own native tongue.

Achilles would be a hard sell on this one, especially if it’s an Achilles that had lost his wife and son but if it was before then? Achilles would most probably focus on written instructions and making specific hand gestures that the Assassins could use to communicate on the field. They’d probably have a hard time fitting in because I can see Liam being a bit of a worry-wart and Gaultier being… well, Gaultier. Hope wouldn’t act all that different though and she’d probably take the role of a sorta-cool big sister and teacher to the Assassin. Kesegowaase might even try to teach sign language that he knows. Shay would definitely be nice and try to be more accommodating but the moment he defects… well… he’d definitely use everything he knows about their ADP to his advantage.

Shaun would definitely research about it and be the main support member of this Assassin. He can get a bit enthusiastic though and it might come off as rude but he’s being sincere… in his own sarcastic way.

#i’m unsure if this is connected to the mute/deaf ask but if it is #the main reason why that ask got the whole ‘stay as support’ setup #is because deafness and apd is different and #as far as i know #those with apd can hear sounds but there are some sounds they have a hard time processing #so as long as they know which sounds those are #they can do fieldwork #not recon and information gathering though #that would be the hardest for them #ask and answer #assassin's creed #altaïr ibn la'ahad #ratonhnhaké:ton #connor kenway #shay cormac

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themosleyreview · 4 months

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The Mosley Review: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Remember back in the mid 2000's where ever major studio film had a summer blockbuster that was filled to the brim with an insane amount of nonsensical action which was fueled by CGI and about 2 gallons of Redbull? One film in particular comes to mind that was the major culprit of having an over abundance of CGI and a very comical attempt at a story. G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra was that film and the studio tried their hardest to make up for with a more "grounded" sequel I guess. I hoped that no film would ever take the same route as that film. Well here we are with a another film that prioritizes demolishing your senses with an insane amount of sonic and visual noise to distract you from the abysmal storytelling. The DCEU as we know it comes to an end with this film and they do send it off with a huge amount of action, but showcased why it was failing. The lack of consistent tone and character development was appalling and boredom set in heavily halfway through the film.

Jason Mamoa returns as Arthur Curry / Aquaman and honestly, it was 90 percent Jason having fun and about 10 percent Arthur's story. Don't get me wrong, its always fun watching the man work, but I wish he matured the character into the King of Atlantis instead of the fun surfer dad. Amber Heard returns as his wife Mera and she was good for the amount of time she was on screen. She gets to play in the action, but not much else character development wise. You know those type of characters that are written in to be the moral compass and also the very cheesy comic relief that has an overused catchphrase? Well, Randall Park as Dr. Stephen Shin was exactly that character and he was great in the opening but after that, I couldn't stand him. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II returns as David Kane / Black Manta and for the most part he was good and menacing. His motivation for vengeance knows no bounds and that's really all he has to do in the film. There really wasn't anywhere for him to take the character or evolve him in anyway. He was whittled down to a cliche in so many ways and I felt sorry for him. Now the one character that actually had substance and had the best performance was Patrick Wilson as Orm Marius. He understood the film he was in and had the most character growth. I loved his chemistry with Arthur and I wish the film was about just the two of them. The path of redemption for Orm was way more interesting and sometimes hilarious as he gets a taste of surface life. There is a great emotional scene with him toward the final act that really solidifies the brotherhood between him and Arthur that was the gold standard I wish the film reached.

The soundtrack was fun and served as a driving force during the majority of the action and comedic scenes. Composer Rupert Gregson-Williams did what he could to underscore the scattered emotion in the film and his score during the massive action set pieces was good. I'm all for fun and action fueled stories, but when it is earned and the story calls for it first. This film felt like it had so many people throwing in different ideas to spice up a dish that didn't need it and now its just a soggy mess that people might say they liked, but don't love. I didn't hate this film for it is watchable, but its definitely one of the worst ways to end a cinematic universe. I truly wish the same amount of love and care went into the finale of this universe and it breaks my heart to see so much potential wasted on a cheap and rushed sequel. Even the mid credits scene was unnecessary. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

#aquaman and the lost kingdom #jason mamoa #amber heard #nicole kidman #yahya abdul mateen ii #randall park #dceu

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taikk0 · 2 years

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Does your little OC/Sona have a backstory (both fictional, and practically) ? I did see them in a murderous mood and it seems there was more in there... So I was wondering

Oh good question, but a couple of weird answers incoming-

So.. technically speaking, no he doesn't. Because I keep flopping around between at least three and none of them are canon, since I'm not really satisfied with either one of them.

However, I don't really think I consider them to be very important at the moment. Because I have a VERY brief outline of his story and you could easily not even think about the backstory because it doesn't really serve a purpose, and honestly I think I'd be fine with it just the way it is and keeping it that way until I find a compelling story to tell with the backstory being a major player.

Narratively speaking, yes. but I've made up the absolutely brilliant excuse of giving him amnesia and I made two memes about it not too long ago but I never posted them because I had no idea when they would become relevant so nows the time I guess:

All that out of the way though, The reason why I decided to not properly give him one is that I kind of grown to not really enjoy making characters having a huge chunk of their story being pushed to the wayside as "the backstory" because I think it wastes a lot of narrative potential and is only used as a backdrop to explain why a character is the way that they are in the story they were supposed to be a part of. It kind of makes it feel like the character had their own movie and the main story they're actually a part of is a crossover sequel with other characters with their own separate movies. So I'd much rather focus on what happens and becomes of them in the present. Which brings me to my next weird answer:

Their main story is the backstory???

It really isn't, but with the state of its current presentation, it might as well be (BUT IT ISN'T) let me explain- The timeline where most of the art I depict him in is scattered all around. In one artwork he's with the Krang, and in the next, he's with Leonardo, and after that, he's in a white void breaking the fourth wall.

But there is actually a timeline between them, it's just unclear and the art is their own stand-alone thing, but they are a part of the bigger picture, just very small "can be broken off and nothing would change because it's just a little twig that grew from canon but is not a part of said canon" branches

But I can say that the Leo art where they're just hanging out and being buddies with no bad blood between them is what becomes of Mix once his arc has concluded. Take it as sort of tidbits of an epilogue.

Though for full transparency here, Mikyomix isn't really a rise oc. He was just my sona that I inserted into canon because I bullied Leo on my TikTok story once, which led to me drawing them interacting for the first time. I didn't really give it much thought then, but now I can confirm that he does exist in the rise universe somehow despite breaking its usual conventions. He's a strange dude, and everyone takes note of it. What also adds to his peculiarity is that most of his lore started off as a joke, but it all ended up tying together and accidentally made sense. the pieces were there, it only took me a few months to realize that they weren't just ornamental, and I started piecing it all together. Just know that most of the jokey lore and character details I've made about him now serve a purpose.

But.. as much as I talk about it, I'm kind of torn between just keeping it my own thing and making the story I want to tell. It's super cheesy and lame and it's technically a self-insert, but at this point, there will be a time when the self-insert stops being a self-insert, where they get so far into the world and the events that happen to them within it that they start taking up their own form. It's not really you anymore, they're their own character. It becomes less about what you would do if you were in the same situation and more about how the character would react given their personal experiences.

That was a very weird tangent but it sounded too good to edit to fit everything else in so I'm keeping it. Anyways not only that, but also the fact that I'm a VERY amateur writer, and god knows how badly I could ruin the execution. I doubt that I'll ever write it in full, but I might occasionally post about it just because I can.

I had no idea where to put this in but I had to mention it for anyone more curious than they already are.

Mikyomix is a very simple character, but they still have depth. he's not complicated enough to have a very deep and complex narrative with hidden subtext that is worth a character analysis. But they're enough to serve a story dedicated to them.

also:

there is a more in-depth reason for this I promise I'm not just throwing darts blindfolded and hoping I hit something

#SORRY THIS IS SO LONG AND I DIDNT EVEN TALK ABOUT THE STORY ITSELF #the last image with the color wheel made me gasp when i realized wtf i just did and its implications and how it somehow helped me shape-#-his character arc its so stupid 😭#fighting the urge to infodump about this stupid aliens character arc so hard that you can visibly see the veins on my forehead #yeah [color] represents his [eye-opening statement that would be long enough to be an essay]#taikko asks #mikyomix sona #taikko talks 2 much

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where-theres-smoak-2 · 1 year

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I hope that in the rest of the series, we will have a scene where Alina confesses to the Darkling that she wanted him at the time. I love that scene in book 3. But I know we had a show equivalent where she tells him they could have had it all together. But I really wish we had a scene like that in the sequel. Let us remember that yes, Alina did indeed want to be with him. I also hope for another Darklina kiss, which we have been deprived of this season. Normally in the books, they share a total of 4 kisses. 3 in the first book and another in the second. So I think we have the right to a kiss between them before the end of the series. And of course, a real moving conclusion like we had in volume 3. I would love to have that.

A part of me would also like a Darklina sex scene on screen even though I know that will never happen. Sad. It's because of the chemistry between Ben and Jessie. It's wasteful. They would kill a scene like this!

Yes I agree we need a scene where Alina reaffirms that she has genuine feelings for Aleks and that she would have chosen him. I would be over the moon if we got a scene like that in season 3. I also want their ending to be a moving one full of emotion, whatever that ending my be. I also absolutely demand a kiss scene, one at the very least, more would be even better, it would make up at least a little for all the m*lina kisses they shoved down our throats this season.

As for a potential sex scene I would say never say never. I don't know how likely it is that they would be to do one but I do think Alina going dark makes it a little more possible, they could also do something like have it as a dream, whether its Aleks dreaming of Alina or vice versa or they are both dreaming it at the same time due to their tether. That could be a way of keeping everyone vaguely happy, the darklina's get a steamy scene, but because its a dream and not technically 'real' anti's can't complain about it, I mean they will, but the showrunners have that excuse of its a dream to fall back on. I will say that I don't think the darklina fandom would be able to survive the insane chemistry Ben and Jessie would bring to a scene like that though, you just know it would be intense. We darklina's would legitimately lose it.

#darklina #s&b season 2 spoilers #answered #anti malina

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dizzymoods · 1 year

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i watched Avatar 2 yesterday. Of course James Cameron is an anti-indigenous pos so all attendant qualifiers stand. The mouse needs to be eradicated posthaste too.

That being said. The backdrop of the film (seas of pandora) is a great and robust place to explore. Even the lil sea people being biologically different, culturally different etc; there was a lot to work with there. Everybody knows im an aquatic kinda guy so this is all fun I'd love to go snorkeling there.

This sequel tho feels like the force awakens. Just a lazy retread of the first movie. but in the ocean and not a forest. Bringing back the bad guy from the first movie was so boring like with force awakens. How many times do we need to see the death star defeated? Besides, you shouldve given edie falco some room to eat!! Honestly bringing back humans was dumb. i get it environmental destruction, colonization. But it's so dramatically uncompelling if you're gonna rehash the same beats.

ostensibly this franchise is supposed to get us to care about the environment. The last movie had such environmental damage and poisoning happen that its wasted potential for the film not to have dramatized what forest clean up looks like. The labor of that, the relocation, the building anew, what heals and recovers vs what remains scarred. These kinds of hollywood films cant dramatize these things bc they aren't "conflict-based"

Regardless of James Cameron's intentions, I think the series so far actually goes against a white savior narrative. Fairly consistently the white guy isn't saving people so much as fucking them over and blowing their shit up. And at every turn when he relies on "human" (read: American) ways shit goes left. Only the "indigenous" ways have lead to healing and solvency. Making Zoe Saldana a lowkey villain bc if she closed her legs to white men none of this shit would've happened and he'd've been forgotten by now.

This guy's reliance on traditional family values too is constantly fucking him and his over. Him being tough on his kids leads them to resent him and defy his authority as an act of self-determination. The lesson throughout really is that the family is insufficient in nature. Nature is part of the family. and the village is family as the family is village is nature.

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isagrimorie · 6 months

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the way i loathe the concept of Starkiller base so much. its Death Star but Bigger.

i know they already have death star 2 — in the original trilogy but i despise the concept of planet killing weapons so much. Especially in Star Wars because it feels like it has absolutely no personal consequence to anyone.

Its like how in the 100 that dude committed another genocide and it was just nothing, it was just a narrative device to get them to the plot they need. the lives were nothing and its the same thing in the sequel trilogy, the moment they did that in the force awakens i was instantly and immediately tired. because it just confirmed for me that the force awakens was nothing but a copy and paste of ‘a new hope’. even killing han wasn’t anything new.

it was such a boring move.

look at our new death star! it can destroy TWO planets a system away!!!

yeah? and?

there’s nothing inventive with bigger guns.

it just made every narrative happy ending worked on from the prequels to the sequels a cynical loop of tragedy.

my dislike of the prequels was instant but at least the prequels LED to something and had a plan, my dislike for the sequel trilogy is slow simmering and long because it feels like a cynical cash grab, they started a whole ass trilogy without any plan. they thought they could marvel movie it, or fix things in post. but there was no coherent vision in the sequels. just whatever the current director wanted.

they (the disney lucasfilm producers) wasted the talents of actors and worse didn’t even stand up and protected them and made things worse for the actors because of their own ineptitude.

i deeply disliked the prequels but, at least, i respected that it had a vision and a story it wanted to tell across three movies.

the original golden trio didn’t even get to have one scene together and now they never will, what a waste.

tldr i think star killer base is emblematic of all my problems about the sequel trilogy. its not a new idea, its not even a new idea with a surprising and exciting twist. its just bigger.

the worse part of the sequel trilogy is the potential it squandered and how, its made me less enthusiastic about rey’s upcoming movie. because i don’t trust the cinematic side of this franchise anymore. for all my problems with the TV side, i vastly prefer it to the movie side.

#don’t mind me #i’m just ranting #star wars #it’s been building everytime i go to star wars #tab of disney plus #not a fan of sequel trilogy #i’m not an anti #i’m just really really disappointed

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