#like i genuinely love designs from comics and i tried to combine it with design from cartoon | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

popculturebuffet · 8 months

Text

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye Retrospective: Annual #1: Ultra Magnus, What A Joke (Patreon Review For Brotoman.EXE)

Hello all you happy autobots and after a long side trip for beetlemania, we're back on the lost light!

In full too as for the next few months at least, we're back to the main story. Kinda. This story takes place BEFORE Shadowplay, our last covered one, but was put here so it could be paired with avengers annual #10 patreon review wise, but other than Rung still being headless it's not so out of synch that it coudln't be moved around.

Thankfully after this it's a straight shot to the end of season 1 with just three arcs to go, which teneatively will be covered in novemeber and december, with another break for a specail halloween suprise in october. After that we have the big crossover Dark Cybertron, which while serving as the end of Season 1 of this era of transformers, feels more like a big finale movie. It still has ramificatoins for both.. but both sides also had a proper finale before this.

So before things get explosive we have a character piece here.. and like with Shadowplay my general view was

The art didn't help. . As I said in another review of a great comic's less than well done annual, I TRY to be positive and for the most part the art on this book is great, but the art for this annual is pretty bleh. It's this weird mix of very 90's faces and very bland coloring that just dosen't not work.

The story itself however is pure setup for the finale, setting up a mystery to be solved there, some character growth with dire consequences for Magnus, while also, as tends to be standard for Roberts, setting up a plot point for much later in the story. So let's take a close look at MTMTE Annual #1 under the cut and see some smiles, some beaurcary and a giant robot man.

We open with an action set piece that dosen't do a lot for me. The art just isn't fluid enough and it's especially a downgrade from the regular artists, making it even more noticeable. It dosen't help the microcons their fighting look more like live action transformers,

And you can see the dullness I mean too. Our heroes still have their designs.. but the colors try to make them more realistic. Concidentally this scene is set in ultra magnus' mouth as some nanocons a decpitcon shot him with long ago have awakened and threaten to combine and kill him and then the ship, so our heroes have been shrunk down to deal with it. The only way to stop this realistic scenario that happens to everyone all the time is for Magnus to smile, destroying the generators in the pistons he uses for that.

This opening is a great example of just.. how much fun James Roberts has with MTMTE. While at it's core MTMTE is the kind of high concept sci fi you'd find in say Star Trek or Fantastic Four, he also doesn't forget he's writing giant colorful merchandisable battle robots that can turn into those nitro burning funny cars, vroom vroom! Besides the various jokes on the toys, he's not afraid to just go balls out silly.. while still having lots of nice genuinely deep sci fi couched within. It's essentially what i've heard Star Trek Lower Decks is before that existed: taking the piss out of a stored decades long franchise.. while still staying UTTERLY loyal to that franchise and why people love it.

Magnus tries to do his normal grumbly telling people ot straighten their badges and such , but everyone mocks him, something he takes with grace dignity and plans to resign as soon as possible.

First we get some smaller character stuff as everyone prepares for Tailgate's cermony, but it's all good: Rewind worries about Chromedome who is having a flash of ptsd... someone else's ptsd from the memories he's absorbed, Tailgate tries to get Cyclonus to attend but he's still being a mopey puss about it and Swerve passes by shock and or ore.. only for them to speak.

We'll table that problem for now as Drift's forced to have an invtervention for Hot Rod. He's been wearing a giant foam cowboy hat for 8 months now. He can take it off any time he wants he just dosen't want to, so they instead pivot to another problem: He's been saying "Till All Are One" every five minutes. Rodimus deflects it.. and i've noticed as i've re-read season 1 that it's a pattern with him, and one that carries till the final arc of the series: Rodimus prefers to dance a little side step instead of face most of his problems. Just put it off to the side and let it sort itself out or let someone else handle it. And when he does tackle an issue, he usually handles it recklessly, impuslviely and half assedly

It's not that he's lacking any talent, his improvisations often work as seen with the very first issue, or that he's a terrible person: he loves his crew, as seen both with the red alert incident during shadow play and in this issue as when Magnus comes barging in demanding a new crew.. he explains that it's their way of showing affection. I mean granted i'm sure some of those are just jabs at his humilation, Magnus is a fun character but not exactly someone people like and he liked it that way, but his point is clear: it's okay for Magnus to be a person and not just the duly appointed enforcer of the tyrest accord. It's that humanity, for lack of a better term, that makes Rodimus likeable even when he's being a whinybabyasshatbot. He simply wants to be loved and respected, and this quest is more about personal validation by the universe than it is real enlightnment. He just wanted to do something big and showy to show he really earned having the matrix for a time and he really is worthy of being a prime. He just wants to be loved and can't accept that maybe.. he's just not the big sweeping hero go. A big sweeing hero guy sure, but he's not optimus and that's okay.

While Magnus stews on this advice, we also find out our heroes next stop: The Crystal City, home of the circle of light. Something that confused me as whlie this book is good at expositoin normally they kinda dropped the ball explaning these guys in a way that made sense if you hadn't read the drift mini.

The Circle of Light is a group of cybertroninan ninja monks who preach non violence and live in a walled off city, having largely skipped the war. They took in Drift at his lowest and the kind treatment and mentorship of their leader, Dai Atlas, convinced Drift to turn face and the circle in turn backed him when he needed their help.

This series recontecutlaizes them as having been avid followers of the knights of cybertron, a nice little addition, and thus seeing them, while also a homecoming of sorts for Drift, is important as if they can get them to join, they have all the help they'll need. The only problem is... Magnus can't raise them on coms and while Drift is assured given their badassery their fine.. as we'll soon see Magnus was right to be worried.

The ceremony itself goes off the rails: not only does Hot Rod fail to not use some form of till all are one, but Tailgate dosen't get to do his speech.. and his autobrand turns out as anceient cybertronian. Something is channeling through Hot Rod, and the bots who fell out of the airlock as we find out via an expesition dump during the ceremony.

Our heroes have even better concerns as the galactic council shows up.

While they explain it after this scene, i'll go ahead and filll any newcomers in, as Magnus does for Tailgate. It's a great part of having tailgate around: it allows Roberts to do worldbuilding without having to work too hard for it , as most of the cast would know this. Their essentially this universe's federation, a group of higher order plaents bound together to protect each other. They've recently taken on more policing, a red flag if their ever was one, and aren't fans of the cybertronians due to their war, having blacklisted them and being right dicks to Rodimus, having anxexed this territory as the Crystal City is abandoned. That itself.. is a dick move as they didn't bother informing cybertron, and the war's been long over enough, of any of this so they could investigate, instaed scavanging. It's some nice show don't tell: it shows that while these guys DO do some good and claim to be benevloent.. their really beucractic wankphesants who blame a whole race for the war.

Luckily the Lost Light has a secret weapon...

After Mags has finished hermes conradding this guy into a corner, in part because he's the only person here M Bison IN SPACE respects, we find out the deal: one hour to investigate for "religious reasons", which both sides know is basically bullshit but they need to look into this.

We get a brief interlude with Swerve, who has a heart to heart wtih Shock.. and also lies that he's pipe as like most people Swerve didn't make the best first impression. He confesses about the shooting of rung if from a third person and agrees with Shock's assetment he's a scumbag. It also explains WHY Swerve's so willing to help the next arc: he feels deep guilt for it and while it was on orders.. that makes it worse. Swerve admit she was more scared about loosing his bar than doing what's right. Later on drift further muses about feeling... a lack of purpose. That the war ending was supposed to be awesome and everything resolved.. but it really isn't. There's no real ending to life after all and as Shock puts it he's lucky to be alive if nothing else.

On the surface we get an away team consisting of most of our main cast but notably lacking Magnus, who we'll get to in a moment. They find the crystal city but..

Drift naturally mentally wigs out a bit: his people are missing, the city is ransacked and their biggest lead is now a massive dead end. It's only Rewind suggesting that he uses his sword to try and commune with the city that snaps him out of it... and only punching a mocking Whirl that fully gets him on mission. Instead of getting any graet message stabbing his sword into the city instead makes autobots go down the holeeeeeeee

We then find out where Magnus is: turns out the Council abducted him.. so they could ask thim to join him, having found him just over these decades of wars and never wavering. Essentially it's everything UM could ask for: defined rules, structure, order and respect. and metro titans are their ancient cousins, apparently created by the knights of cybertron, they can touch into other realms and such. So they decide to learn more about this thing to go on a BRAIN QUEST!

Six minutes later the brainquest is over and they found it. Great joke. And at the center... Cyclonus is in reverent awe as he used to worship at th efeet of metrotitans and gives his own version of the cybertronian creation myth, with Rewind naturally recording it since he dosen't have this version in his archives.

So once upon a time there was primus

Who found cybertron and some sparks and wanting to give it life, split himself into five gods

But like most media portrays mythical death gods, Mortilus eventually rebelled, wanting to conquer and war were declared. While our heroes won they were left in bad straights, each dying but becoming part of cybertron itself: Primus became Vector Sigma, the computer at the heart of cybertron and the source of sparks, Solmus became the Matrix of Leadership, and Epistemus and Adaptus the model for brain moduels and transformation cogs. And out of them came a new generation of Cybertronians to spread peace: The Knights of Cybertron. All of this will naturally be very important later.

For now though Ratchet is doing his usual over the top athetist schtick and Drift calls him out for being a dick: Being an Athiest? Fine. Mocking someone else's beliefs simply because he doesn't think their true. Not okay. Ratchet further digs himself deeper by outright stating Drift is so religious because he wants absolution for everyone he killed as a decpticon.. and nearly gets a sword in him for it. Not the best way of showing your not a murderer anymore, but well warranted. It's okay not to be religious, especially given how much harm some religions do. But it's not okay to mock someone when their beliefs aren't harming anyone.

So naturally Rodimus' next move .. is to have Chromedome try to braintap the giant... and it goes as well as you'd expect.. heavy feedback.. and the titan waking up screaming, rumbling the planet and leading M. Bison IN SPACE to assume this was all a trap.

So he plans to burn the lost light and EVERYONE on board in retaliation, and is leeching off their warp drive so they can't escape

Magnus has rejoined them, having turned down the offer , we'll find out why later and giving Rodimus a fond farewell, telling him to say hi to the knights of cybertron for him while Rodimus ORDERS him not to die, begging him. Their one hope is activating the drive.. but that involves swerve telling Shock the truth.. and he simply.. can't. And while this could come off as dickish.. the why is as heartbreaking as it is glorious

It's a hard choice.. but it was his. And inspired by this... Rodimus chooses to set the titan free instead of having him shrunk for his knoweldge. And it calls back to something Drift said earlier I glossed over: that when the right time came, Rodimus would save them all. And.. he does. By doing the right thing, the Titan warped everyone out of there and since he was linked up to Ore, it also freed the lost light.. and Ore is gone. Why? No one knows. But our heroes are safe and for once Rodimus has an actual plan, having relalized from this experince his winging it... has consequences.

So with our course for the next arc set, we end on the Council.. and just WHY Mags turned down his dream job

Naturally for this comic, M. Bison IN SPACE will be back. For now though it's the last part that's important: that despite not wanting to change, despite his inflexiblity.. magnus sees that .. maybe inflexiblity isn't a strength. That not accepting any change, not changing will only make him tyrants like the council. It's being faced with everything he could want and everything he could become.. that gets him to evolve past what he's been... and smile.

This issue, as you can probably wager is excellent. The art is.. not good and I won't slag it further, and it does drag the issue down slightly.. but the character work, from Swerve's chats with Shock and or ore, to Rodimus' desperation at the end, to Magnus growth is phenominal and this one issue spotlights the series at it's best: introspective, engaging and reallyf ucking weird

Next time: Tick tick tick....

#transformers #ultra magnus #hot rod #drift #chromedome #rewind #space #space opera #sci fi #transformers more than meets the eye

5 notes · View notes

fayesdiary · 2 years

Note

Gaia is really cute! My first question would be who's the other Gaia you mentioned in the post? Another question is what are the others she knows like? Does she have any retainers or childhood friends?

Thank you very much! :D That first question requires a lot of context so get ready for a massive infodump, so it's in Read More.

For the other two questions, the general idea is that Gaia's peers in the court are a bit eccentric, larger than lives and also kind of jerks, so it's no wonder she feels like she doesn't fit in. It's actually why she has a boisterous and slightly dramatic facade: she's trying to stand out to blend in, ironically enough

Gaia does have a retainer but I have no idea about who they are. Like, at all. I'm sure something will come out eventually but for now, they just exist. She does not have any childhood friends which is the main reason why she tries so hard to make a good impression, but I have the idea that she actually befriended a commoner kid once who she didn't see again for years, and when they meet they keep bickering not remembering each other until they start talking about that really nice person they met when they were children and slowly realize that "Wait, that was YOU!?" So basically Corrin and Silas but dumber.

Alright, infodump time and it's really personal!

There was this comic called New Ort they used to sell/bundle in a supermarket chain that I adored reading when I was a kid, and it was about a young girl going on her quest to master the power of the four elements, defeat the cosmic evil Karkadoom and save the world (and if the plot sounds familiar, well... the first issue actually came out a year before ATLA, the whole run lasted from January 2004 to January 2006)

And the girl's name, you guessed it, was Gaia.

Gods I love her.

She's a kid through and through so she's a bit of a brat(affectionate), incredibly hyperactive, and kind! Even if she does have some anger issues. Also, she's really funny.

Like come on this face is perfect

But also I love her design so much?? Like she has three main outfits throughout the story as she grows and it reminds me of the same change Sora goes through the main KH titles

I mean, look!

This is her original outfit, and probably my favorite! I love the purple/green/pink color scheme, I'm no artist but that is not a combination I expected to work and yes I chose the picture with the same pose as KH1 Sora's artwork on the main menu on purpose

On the latter half of the comic she gets a new outfit to explore the inside of a volcano, it's much simpler but I'm still a fan of it! It also fits more with the current tone of the story beacuse boy, do things get real at this point.

Also she has her own edgy evil self!

...that eventually merges with her, giving her the sick coat.

In general, she and the comic she's from are one of the few things I vividly remember from my childhood and a genuinely happy memory, so she really means a lot to me! She's my main blog's current pfp, too😂

..Which is why it drives me nuts that it's unfindable online and I lost a good chunk of the issues I had.

Now I get it- it's an Italian comic of a supermarket chain that probably came bundled with purchases- definitely not the things that gather much attention online, but still! I only found throughout all my research just some Ebay offers that are relatively expensive and a forum thread where people made scans of almost all of the issues, and while I will thank them forever and consider them saints (the pictures are actually from those scans!), there are still a few numbers missing.

And it's beyond frustrating, you know? That nobody knows about a piece of media that means so much to you, that you can't even introduce them to it properly and that, in general, it's almost like it never existed...

God, I even considered localizing the scans in English myself, at least to show to my online pals. I would post them online too, but I'm slightly scared they'd get taken down. But it's more likely nobody would even see them and to be honest, if the supermarket chain or whoever sends me a cease & desist for a decades old comic no one remembers, it would be the day I finally snap and kill somebody.

That's the main reason why I chose Gaia as a name for my first OC, really. And why, if I could, I'd also give her the tuft of hair Comic Gaia has, as well as those pink things that bind her ponytails and I have no idea what they're called. As a bit of reference and so that she lives on a little.

It is kinda funny though that they're almost the opposite- Comic Gaia is a prophesized chosen one with insane powers, while OC Gaia is someone who's ordinary in a world of extraordinary people. The one thing they probably have in common is that they're both little shits (affectionate)

It also really fits because while Gaia is actually a really common name here in Italy- heck, one of my friends is called Gaia!

Anyway, New Ort reboot wen, I'd buy it on the spot

#not fire emblem #ask replies #fang-emblem #my rambles #gaia #gaia(oc)#my oc #the hardest thing is to talk about a blorbo from a show nobody knows nor can find online #I REALLY WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT NEW ORT OK #IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME BUT NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT IT

4 notes · View notes

vaguely-concerned · 3 years

Text

X-men Evolution; the great 2021 rewatch liveblog

exactly what it says on the tin, about halfway through the show I had TOO MANY FEELINGS and had to start writing some of them out haha (gets quite gambit & rogue/gambit heavy in the latter half, Because of Who I Am as a Person)

- this is my childhood’s x-men, my formative experience with them, and I’m happy to report that still seems like a good thing. the little eleven year old within me gets to geek out and have a good time with the characters and the surprisingly good animation and writing, adult me gets to CACKLE at regular intervals at the fashion/technology/absolute bonkers hot garbage comic book nonsense they use to justify a storyline every now and then, it’s been a good time

- I was like ‘ah well it is super dated it probably won’t be quite the same now’ and then rogue’s HAIR did the THING in the opening and ‘it’s all coming back to me now’ started playing in the background... the little baby queer in me swooning across time and space

- such a good beast, both his design and the writing, my heart aches for him all the time. he’s just so passionate! about being a teacher! helping young humans learn the stuff they’ll need in life! the most wonderful nerd man, just let good things happen for him

- I’m going to go ahead and assume that rogue’s ‘crush’ on scott is more of a deeply complex psychological process about desiring normalcy and intimacy and trying to figure out if she’s queer and dealing with her emerging sexuality and latching on to the first and best safely unavailable and nonthreatening older boy to project these issues onto rather than actually being a real thing, because I respect her so much as a person and I cannot bring myself to imagine she’s honestly attracted to a man who has POSTERS OF CARS on his bedroom wall. (I’ll give jean a break just because she seems to have a longer deeper history with him that might counteract some of that libido-kill, and also she’s a jock so lol)

like I am very sorry but can u imagine being a teenage girl with any interest in a boy with model cars in his bedroom when gambit’s swanning around being a much, much, much worse choice on almost every possible level but in a teen girl kryptonite kind of way? inconceivable

(I drag scott quite a few times in this and it’s not because I don’t love him, it’s just his tragedy to be the most draggable man in the world)

to be fair by the time gambit shows up that whole Situation has mostly played itself out I suppose but still

- toad’s design is so ineffably brilliant, I can’t quite tell you why but that ugly cute charm has really stuck with me, he’s one of the characters I remembered the best to this day just visually

- poor evan... he truly never had a chance, did he, they just saddled him with the most 90s teen bullshit they could come up with like he’s some kind of ‘what adult writers think teens like’ frankenstein’s monster ;______; it’s not your fault honey

- poor poor POOR storm, she gets one focus episode and they were like ‘we’re going to make an episode so racist -- ‘

I’m still STUNNED at how bad it was, but undeniably I laughed hysterically to the point that my neighbours were probably worried when that dude was earnestly like ‘He [stunningly breathlessly racist caricature of a ‘witch doctor’ guy] has stolen her powers, and he’s going to use them to take over Africa!!!’ fhajsdlfhsakjldfh oh really? tell me more, like how the fUCK this could be on television within my life time fasdlfhsdkjfhsad f just... fahjksdfh

- it’s a testament to gambit’s appeal as a character that his charm can survive what they’ve done with his hair and beard choices in this one fajskfhs regrettable but true I still fuckn LOVE him and in my highly biased yet Correct opinion he should have been around much more. get you a man who manages to stay hot through sheer Vibes even with a bowl cut

- aw scott/jean is kind of sweet in this show even if it’s taking them forEVER to get there, I like it

- it’s very nice of rogue to not mention magneto’s romantic daydreams and nostalgic memories about charles xavier after touching his face that one time... or maybe her brain did her a service and repressed it, there’s some stuff you shouldn’t have to know about your father figure

- the danger room is the very definition of ‘why do we even have that lever’ and I wonder what the fuck prof x does to have enough money to replace everything that gets busted all the time

- I’d say that a lot of the writing holds up surprisingly well! (but some of it is also incredibly inexcusably racist in ways that beggar belief, so... not full marks here) the characters have distinct voices and their arcs are set up and delivered on solidly for the most part, and there’s a lot of love showing through in small moments that are just there to have a funny/interesting thing to say about the characters and how their powers work separately and in combination. listen, sometimes I get so thirsty for like. basic goddamn competency in storytelling, let me have this

- ugggggh why is there captain america in my x-men have I not suffered enough... very very funny when prof x goes ‘sounds like you knew rogers personally’ and logan is like ‘I did ;)’ *all the students ganging up on steve rogers* “did you fuck our teacher, captain america?!”

- fskadfhas WHY are you showing me hot young-ified magneto’s ass fksjahfskj charles is not even here to see it, what a tragic waste erik

- ...I was sort of kidding before but uh I think logan genuinely did fuck captain america (or at least wishes very much that he did lol)

- wanda can have a little watching the world burn. as a treat for the way every single adult in her life has fucking failed her (’aren’t they treating you well here’ professor x she’s in a straightjacket)

- poor rogue tho can you imagine finding out after your biggest crush on a girl yet that she’s your fucking MOM in disguise... I would break out in cold sweat every time I thought about a boob forever after

- well seems like they really just had all that homoerotic rivalry stuff between quicksilver and spyke in their first ep only to never do anything with that again ever?? I mean even without the gay undertone that seems like a dynamic you spent most of an episode setting up writers what the hell haha

- dslhfkasjlh GAMBIT THERE HE IS MY BOY IS ON THE SCENE THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! I don’t even care about his awful hair situation or the fact that his eyes are wrong here (coloured contact lenses, maybe, for a watsonian explanation? though he’d probably have to get them made special, considering he needs the sclera and the iris covered up in different ways, I’ve seen some comic panels indicating he has been known to?)

(cute little detail: when he shuffles the cards the first time we see him he ends with removing the top card to show the ace of hearts beneath <3 foreshadowing baBEY he’s a... good-ish boy deep down. hey he tries okay shit gets complicated sometimes lol)

- cracking UP at gambit perched cheerily on the edge of a crate dispensing cards in the middle of the battle... he’s like ‘eh it’s a livin’ sfsajkhf remy stop working for supervillains just because you had nothing to do on a thursday afternoon and they said they’d pay you

- I’m guessing magneto must have imposed a strict order of silence on these guys or something because I cannot imagine any other reason for him to shut up, especially once he notices rogue is a QTE (or, far more likely, they hadn’t settled on any voice actors for the new characters until next season haha. it is kind of odd that they’re all keeping up near monastic silence, though, even sabertooth lol)

- WHAT an epic first meeting for us rogue/gambit fans here... first his shadow like there’s fireworks going off behind him lighting him up and then he gives her the fuckn king of hearts and she’s so enchanted by his dumb handsome face she doesn’t even notice it’s about to blow up in her hands and it all happens in heavily meaningful silence afjsdfjashjk no wonder this ship ingrained itself in my hindbrain

yeah look smug while you can remy she’s gonna have you on your knees one day and you’ll be happy about it lol

- god storm is so COOL, everything just fading out of focus when she really gets going... give her more screen time, show!!

- mystique is every person... this person... that person... that bird... that cat... that wolf... I’m not even sure she’s not also me... are you sure she’s not you?

- holy fuck I respect the hell out of the decision to just... blow up the entire status quo in a season ender, I only vaguely remembered that (actually in general I appreciate how good the continuity is -- buildings and places that get damaged in battles need to be repaired or rebuilt, it makes the consequences feel more real even when no one gets seriously hurt. where they get the money to restore scott’s car and logan’s motorbikes every time they go cablooie is still an open question tho lol is it credit card fraud, professor? is it telepathically acquired blackmail???)

- I first watched this when I was nine or so, so it’s a real experience to go from my starry eyed intrigued ‘oh my god... they’re teenagers’ to my horrified adult perspective of ‘oh my god... they’re TEENAGERS D:’

that goes double for the brotherhood boys honestly, I’m here with tears in my eyes like ‘I’m sorry the system has failed you so badly you’re all just a bunch of dumb kids whose caretakers clearly fucked up spectacularly’

like lance is always waiting for mystique to come back because she’s the closest thing he has to a safe parental figure, may we speak about how crushingly depressing that is

- rogue is so ready to throw hands at literally any moment and for that I love and treasure her immensely (I think getting to see her be so surly and unreasonable and sometimes difficult and jealous, like any teenager, meant a lot to me as a kid who was not really allowed to be any of these things, this version of the character has stayed with me so deeply. she holds on so fiercely to her right to feel what she feels and be what she is even when it’s ‘ugly’ or unreasonable, which I think plays in really interestingly with how her powers involve getting invaded by other people’s thoughts and memories to the point of overwhelming her own sense of self and the fact that she clearly has a lot of self-loathing and self-consciousness and confusion about her identity as well. I love her so much)

- oooof this is the ‘the gang experience a microaggression’ episode huh (well more like macroagressions really)

hits a bit different with adult eyes and perspective huh

- hearing jean sound almost like a child when she says ‘that’s so unfair!’ somehow has me like ;______; -- she has to be so adult and responsible all the time, and having her be reduced to the kid she still is and should get to be in front of this awful awful man she could squash like a bug with the flick of a thought... ugh I’m Big Sad (it is funny that jean seemingly plays Every Sport tho djfhaskj)

- MY BOY IS BACK!!! this time with the duster coat and his eyes the right colour, im so happy (too bad about the subdued colour scheme tho; I adore his dumb bright pink getup with my whole heart)

it’s kind of adorable that he takes the time to take the bullies aside and go ‘I know these guys can’t wreck you without getting expelled, but I think you’ll find no law set down by god or man would stop me from doing so whenever I wanted to. so piss off and leave them alone’ lol he’s looking out for them, in his own way

- in this episode: remy lebeau wrangles some kids while looking bored yet mildly amused the whole time. what the fuck does magneto have on you for you to agree to this level of babysitting duty buddy

- fun detail I noticed b/c when I get a fave I hyperfixate: he gave rogue the king of hearts before, but he ‘introduces’ himself to the brotherhood here (lol) with the jack of hearts, probably to symbolize he’s here as someone who works for magneto in this setting and not as his own man? it’s a demotion he’s given himself there, anyway, might be he’s not very pleased about his current position huh

- I like it when rogue and kitty team up, they’re not very effective together but their squabbling is so cute and non-aggressive

- pietro is what draco malfoy would be if I ever found malfoy interesting to watch for even one moment, every time quicksilver talks I’m like ‘what wonderfully insufferable thing is going to come out of your mouth this time you little shit :’)’

- a) why are scott and logan shirtless for this scene? I am not complaining on the logan side of things at least but why and b) I laughed so hard I almost fell off my couch when scott asked logan if he’d ever been in love and he was like ‘once. she was the most beautiful bike I ever saw’ falsdfhaskjfhsakjlfhasklhjfd THE BEST VERSION OF WOLVERINE EVER, ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES

- mystique’s sheer dedication to being a petty bitch is kind of inspirational tbh, almost makes me want to go on a completely bonkers and extra crusade of personal revenge myself

- oooh they’re doing some genuinely cool things with vision/lack of vision in this one (it’s the scott left on his own in the desert without glasses one btw) even visually, dang! I’m so sad this show didn’t get more seasons than it did, honestly, it deserved it

- hell yeah jean wreck her, go get your man with the suspiciously specific clothing damage normally done to female characters

awww :’) okay yeah they’re super sweet, I love the tiny loving animation details like how he leans his head against her and her stroking his hair away from his eyes

- nooo don’t bully evan leave my t0tally r4dical sk8er boy alone :(

- I love the running joke of people fleeing in blind panic only to reveal that what they’re running from is kitty’s cheerful well meaning little face fskfaskh

- scott and jean are already peak married after officially being together for one episode and it’s adorable, and they just stone cold threw logan under the bus, rip wolverine we hardly knew ya

fjasdlfasldfhslajdkfhsadkjlfhsdkjalfhsdakfh h jean establishing herself as the alphabitch of this relationship by throwing her man to the wolves right after dsjfhaskjfhaskjhfsakjdhfaskjhfaskdhfskjahfskdajhf get smarter or get volunteered scott

- ...eyepatch lady is so hot ngl

oh evan went to the place hank used to go to calm down ;________; (honestly he’s kind of won a place in my heart just by being a pretty normal teenage boy haha)

- jesus fucking CHRIST can you imagine being storm having to look her sister in the eye as she tells her ‘I lost your only child, he’s *vague gesture* somewhere in the sewers we think’ this poor woman

- amanda the self admitted monster fucker you are so VALID (I love her and her family’s design so much tho!)

- it’s so cool that even in his human ‘disguise’ kurt’s fingers follow the shape of his actual hand beneath it rather than moving like a five fingered hand, it’s such a lovingly consistent little detail

- magneto and mystique in a breathless race to see who can be the shittiest parent... tune in next week for yet another parental nadir (also some low-poly gambit appearances in this one, for those at home keeping score (me), he’s in the background looking like someone drew him with their eyes closed fakjldfhasd look how they massacred my boy)

- someone please teach the brotherhood boys about consent huh

- jean ‘soccer mom before her time’ grey and her SUV dfhakjlhds :’)

- im sobbing rogue baby girl i’m so sorryyyyyy, this voice actress is so good, my parental instincts suddenly kicked into overdrive hearing the crack in her voice :( (bb me was right tho rogue centric episodes ARE the best episodes. that tension between ‘do I identify witn this character or am I crushing on her?? both???’ now has the fun new addition of ‘oh god oh no you are a baby I want to shield you with my body from everything trying to hurt you’)

- mystique is like ‘so you see despite you telling me you never wanted to see me again I completely disrespected that and posed as a friend your age, manipulated you by offering you the mirage of direly needed emotional intimacy and belonging and added some sprinkles of homoerotic tension to it just to massively worsen your already existing grievous psychosexual trauma and identity issues... out of love’

god go jump in a black hole you fucking monster

- there’s some very interesting and quite subtle subtext about the people she’s morphing into and what that says about her mental state/how it shows off some of her emotional baggage with the rest of the team. it’s like she’s switching between people/powers that fit the purpose as if she’s going through cycles of fight/flight (and then bursts of freeze where she’s herself, which is... so sad)

- this whole episode is hurting my heart but rogue at full power is undeniably epic

- ‘professor x get your goddamn act together and get this poor girl some fucking tHERAPY’ challenge

- SAFE PAPA LOGAN ;_____;

- EYYYYYY opening straight on My Lad, I cannot stop winning!!!!!

fasdfhsad disintegrating the window with a smiley face... remy I do love you more than my heart can bear honestly, hello may we speak about the fact that his urge to be a little shit is so deep and strong it survives mind control (that little breathed out ‘hiah!’ as he vaults the fence too dsakfjsd)

hahaha and he does up the coat fhsalfdsaj

- magneto dismissing other telepaths like ‘puh-lease, your Meaningful Looks have got nothing on my ex-husband’s’

- :’) rogue and kurt sibling timeees

- say what you want but this pyro guy’s got job satisfaction in being a creepy arsonist with a weird recurring horse theme (well at least twice but still weird)

- I love how beast is the kindest man to ever walk the earth but also straight up savage, this man drags people so hard their ancestors wince in their graves

- gambit taking the time to complete the guard’s game of solitaire -- this episode is giving me everything I want. u little disgrace mr lebeau

and THEN he takes the spider out in the most hilariously bonkers way my heart is so FULL

(I love that when magneto moves by he looks startled and has to quickly move his head out of the way to avoid getting kicked in the temple too that’s a fun detail)

I’m so INTO how this sequence shows off that his greatest strength isn’t even his powers (which are pretty straightforward, really, he makes go boom, longer time and bigger thing bigger boom) but that he’s clever and creative and always extremely ready to be the most harebrained-bananapants-extra-in-a-deceptively-laidback-sort-of-way person in the room (I actually have some genuinely Deep Thoughts about how his whole character does a really interesting thing with having the straightforwardly destructive nature of his powers yield to what his nature as a person is, and how using the playing cards play (heh) into it, maybe I’ll write it out some day. just the fact that he could use anything, but he deliberately chose something that adds style and playfulness and corny charm to it and that also limits the damage of the explosions compared to if he habitually used something with more mass... I find it fascinating how much he’s made a story around himself with it and how deeply it shows he does have a good heart, at the end of the day, in almost a metatextual way. he doesn’t want to destroy things or people, he’s at worst (and best lol) a thief.)

- I honestly have literally no memory of white nick fury (which seems so weird now isn’t it funny) in this series from when I was a kid, he clearly did not make an impression on me lol

- mr wolverine ‘assigned canadian at birth’ x-men

- oh man I dig the androgynity of x-23′s outfit (even tho they had to compensate with the long hair, which... kind of doesn’t make sense in-universe but does on a design level because it’s a crucial thing that she’s a female clone of logan so yeah okay fine whatever have your arbitrary gender markers if you must haha)

ooooooh that’s actually really clever, they make her gender gradually more obvious as she unravels through the episode and her outfit changes -- first the mask coming off, and then her jacket opening to show her silhouette more clearly, that’s cool!

- my god what really sets this show apart is how much it invests in little character and relationship moments, it’s just so fucking GOOD! it gives laura looking in on those moments such depth and weight because it’s new to her but established to us as an audience, this is how you make found family devastating people (storm growing bonsai trees is so charming too haha)

- ooof this is honestly quite harrowing

SHE’S SO SMALL COMPARED TO HIM I’M CRYING (at least that part of his genes translated over faslkfsjdh short king, I say this with all the love and support of a fellow short monarch)

- tabitha seems to just be running around doing precisely whatever the fuck she wants and you know what I support her even if she is an asshole her father left her a bunch of trauma and no fucks left to give

- still thrilled about professor x explaining the spider key fuckup to magneto after the fact like ‘magnus you dumb bitch this is why we split up’

- awww kitty has anime and movie posters on her wall and sleeps with a stuffed toy :’)

- remy rogue

🤝

doing completely unnecessary parkour around the brotherhood living room seemingly just for the hell of it... I’m not saying soulmates but fucking soulmates

- fhsadkjlfhsakjldfhsadjkfhsdajkfh just as gambit’s soul-level need to be a little shit survived his bout of mind control, rogue’s deep and urgent desire to kiss gambit full on the mouth survived hers I can’t breathe

she looks so pleased with herself too GOOD FOR YOU GIRL at least get something out of this other than more trauma

also not only the fact that he’s smart enough to figure out what’s going on (though he’s only partially right about who’s behind it. I do so enjoy gambit/mystique deep and sincere antipathy as a constant across all universes tho lmao pure wlw/mlm hostility) but also that he keeps fending her off like he’s not trying to hurt her even though she’s in nigh on unstoppable and invulnerable terminator mode... awww

- gambit having absolutely no patience for wolverine and sabertooth’s bullshit macho-off and consistently being this little biker trio’s one brain cell is adding years to my life with every passing moment

his voice is a little different in these scenes too, a bit softer and less like he’s trying to impress someone, it’s nice

- hank: well I barely recognize any of these (completely made up) ‘ancient egyptian hieroglyphs’ but from what I can make out -- *proceeds to infodump a perfect coherent narrative* fjdhfak

listen this whole thing is such nonsense on so many levels, I’m just turning my brain off so I won’t have to think about it okay, the compulsion to put ancient aliens in egypt haunts us as a culture

- I am CACKLING about gambit in the snow after having to listen to these two chucklefucks ooze testosterone at each other for hours

he started out taking it in good cheer and is now reduced to ‘dieu would both of you just jump off this fUCKING mountain please’

- ah. a little oops-a-daisy there, we seem to have unleashed the apocalypse. please stand by (they really don’t pull their punches with the season cliffhangers in this show haha)

- opening the season on gambit’s merrily grinning face is the easiest way to gain my favour. yes good this season may commence

baby u r my

ANGELLLLLLLL

(he’s so cute here tho haha I think it shows the design isn’t unsalvagable, just get him better hair and stubble more like logan has and you’ve basically got it)

love his exasperated eyeroll when the dude gets spooked (by his eyes? or just the general weirdness?) too

he’s just trying to keep this crazy family of evil mutants together and unmurdered by one another until they’ve managed to avert the end of the world, bless him

- oh NO rogue’s LIP wobbles my hhhhhheart ;____; such a good animation detail to put in

- like... I know kurt is just a sad scared teenager with a lot of shit going on and all the adults are too busy averting the end of the world to help him... but buddy maybe don’t ask your sister to wake her abuser (who forced her to kickstart the end of the world!!!!!) when she feels utterly unsafe even with her statue version around huh

- ...wanda is good and I want only good things for her. and for her dad to be disemboweled for what he did to her both the first time around and when he forced her to forget I mean what

- magneto throwing an epic satelite-slinging tantrum b/c ‘no I am the biggest sexiest strongest mutant of the pack :(’... erik fucking get over yourself

- yes boys absolutely go along with a plan suggested by a dude who looks at you like this

nothing bad can come of this surely asdfkhsa

- lance’s quarter of a braincell always trying to go ‘hey wait, maybe... not do this???’ and it never helps lol

- in this episode: Logan Has A Bad Day

...some very specific bondage positions he’s held in here, I am sure this episode awakened something in someone once upon a time lol

- logan shielding x-23 with his body... im fine it’s okay I’m not crying don’t look at me

- afsdhlsdfjasdlk those sure are some ‘scottish’ accents flsadkjhkdsjahfsd

- scott relieved to finally be able to cede the position of ‘charles xavier’s least favourite son’ to someone else fjsaklfhsajd (poor scott it’s not your fault honey)

supremely cowardly to suggest there is an ex-wife involved rather than charles slutting his way around the british isles back in the day but okay

- kurt with a cold is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. it’s okay kid it’ll get better soon

- ...is there an implication here that professor x is naturally blond. because I am losing my entire little mind about it (i mean he at least has to carry the gene, as does this lady?)

ETA: upon doing some research into this I can indeed confirm that charles xavier does seem to be naturally blond, and after this knowledge I will never be the same

- “listen, dracula” fskdafghasd oh scott you sweet baby angel I love you

- I know jean’s abilities are a bit ‘as strong or as weak as the plot needs right now’ at this point (so you can have the setup for what’s going to happen with them eventually and she’s basically invincible ;____;), and normally I’m cool with it but god I want her to just squash lucas like a little bug

- ewwwww please don’t ever say ‘daddy’ like that again

- ...what the fuck is even going on this episode’s a mess

like okay the split personality thing could be something but the way it’s done... what just happened lol

- MY BOY EVAN IS BACK! with a real glowup too (...though kind of weird how he suddenly looks like a grown man)

- augh scott’s eyes are so pretty oh my god ;__________________________;

- that episode in the first season where evan makes the ‘this is my new family!!’ video is so sad now (also, again, his poor poor parents)

- time for: life affirming road trip with gambit (involuntary) faskljdfhaskjd

stunt therapist remy lebeau

- I mean the way he goes about it is batshit insane and it’s very much secondary to what he’s actually up to but this is the first time rogue’s sounded genuinely hopeful and confident and like herself in like a season <3

- he is disconcertingly pleased about her nearly throwing him off the train, and may I just say I agree it’s so nice to see rogue with her old fire back

- the first time I watched this it was of course dubbed into norwegian, so I had no idea either of these characters were southern lol (though to be fair I probably wouldn’t have had much context for what it meant exactly either, I was like ten at the time and not too interested in america) I seem to dimly remember the norwegian voice actor did a little more of a ‘french’-tinged accent for gambit all over tho haha

- you know what respect where it’s due, pyro dude knows to live his life for the lols and one has to admire his sociopathic dedication to it

interesting that he, too, seems to have fucking hated magneto -- I wonder if the implication here is that he kept all the acolytes in line with blackmail or by keeping something/one hostage? (except sabertooth maybe he’d just have to say ‘you get to fuck shit up and fight wolverine’ and that’d be enough)

- fsdakfhsd he’s so focused on her he doesn’t notice that guy about to hit him fkafhsa

- fuck everything else except whatever the hell these two’ve got going on

- it’s weirdly cathartic to have rogue have a conversation with someone who was not happily adopted as well, I don’t think kurt like. gets it because his parents loved him unconditionally and still do

birds of a feather motherfucker

- fun detail: when the x-men team are on the shore and logan is sniffing around scott is stepping in something and trying to wipe it off his boots in the background

- when he wakes up after passing out from the touch he’s smiling even though she’s standing over him looking like the rage of god outlined by the moon fsajfsa well the last time he passed out like that it was from a kiss, maybe he still has some hopes and dreams in that direction lol (also he recovers from the tumble down the hill first and is checking on her before accidentally brushing her cheek with his hand, which I thought was sweet)

and it was in that moment he knew he fucked up *passes out*

- ‘I can explain’ can u remy. can u

- did it ever even occur to you to just. ask her. to help you. I mean I know it didn’t but like rogue’s always one second away from throwing hands with some bully and is stupidly ride or die, if you’d given her the puppydog eyes she would have crumbled immediately (fair enough I guess this entire episode is telling us he’s not from a background where he has much experience with people just helping him without a price haha)

- his eyes glowing when he’s angry or upset or using a lot of his power is undeniably cool as all hell. I’m just saying it would be Big Sexy if they sort of flickered with light in moments of genuine vulnerability okay

- his coat... his coat is what makes the Silhouette tm and I could not be happier about it

- another parent of the year contestant enters the running lol “hey remy have you ever considered that you’re more of a walking bomb factory than a person? that’s certainly how I think of you hahaha c’mon kid let’s go”

- the running joke of jean luc getting dollar signs in his eyes seeing the other mutant powers and gambit being like ‘nO!!!!’ and pulling him along is amazing haha

- from the way he looks when he touches rogue accidentally and the way he talks to his dad I’m sort of getting the feeling this gambit might actually be a bit younger than he looks?

here too -- idk why but it’s making the ‘wait is he baby???’ alarms go off in my head haha. very early twenties at most.

- and we’ve officially seen him with all the face cards in the heart suit folks! (yes this is the sort of thing my brain notices no I don’t know either)

- poor logan running his ass off this whole episode in a panic and then she’s like ‘nah he’s fine (in several meanings of the word ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ) please put him down’ hfaskfsda

- rogue without makeup!!! her eyes look so naked like this haha <3

- oooh here’s a really interesting thing that tickles my brain a bit in this specific part of the scene where gambit frees his dad -- the part where he’s leaning against the door frame waiting for jean luc, who’s about to suggest using the opportunity to ruin the rival gang from the inside rather than slipping away while they still can

from his expression here he knows what’s about to happen, what jean luc is about to say, and it’s clearly a ‘man who thought he’d lost all hope loses last additional bit of hope he didn’t even know he still had’ sort of situation. he KNOWS what jean luc is like, and it still hurts that he really, honestly can’t give him even this, can’t appreciate that remy’s already done all this shit for him when he extremely didn’t have to, without immediately (no really, it took him less than ten seconds to go there? jesus) demanding more.

remy tells him “I’m just here for you” and jean luc does not understand it. remy seems to be sincere in this motivation -- rogue certainly thinks so, having experienced it second hand and found enough at least emotional merit in it to decide he was worth saving even after all his bullshit (lol a bit of a running theme maybe. I think it’s very telling that after she absorbed mystique she was like ‘what the FUCK you’re a fucking monster’, and after she absorbed gambit she went ‘you did the wrong thing for the right reasons’ after she got over the first wave of outrage)

there’s also what he says as he stands there: “You don’t need me for that”, with the distinct implication that jean luc would only keep him around because he has a use for him and for no other reason -- and then jean luc shamelessly doubles down on that by specifying that it’s not even him he’s got a use for as such, just his powers. that’s some kicking puppies level of deliberately missing the point, it’s almost impressive in how cheerfully mean it is haha

this idea of using people is really important in this episode because remy’s doing basically exactly the same thing to rogue to begin with; it doesn’t really matter to his plan that it’s her that’s with him through this, just what her powers are. (I think it’s p r e t t y solidly implied that he does actually like her a lot outside of that too and maybe there is some comfort in having her around for this, but mostly he’s behind a smokescreen of lies through the whole thing sooo I doubt he’s even aware of it, honestly)

but then it does matter that it’s her when she comes back for him, even after what he did. and unlike jean luc he understands what that means, that she did that for him, and that she didn’t have to. and instead of asking her for more, in return he gives her the thing it’s been established is what he considers the most valuable thing he has; his ‘last card’, the thing he’s credited with keeping him alive many a time, basically. it’s gone from using to mutuality, a tentative place of friendship, and at the end of the day he is a different man than his adoptive father, with a capacity for selflessness and love he lacks. which is of course some of the same stuff going on with rogue and mystique too, except rogue acted from a more fragile and unstable place and did something she regrets, or at least has a LOT of doubts about now, and she found some catharsis in helping someone make a different choice in a similar situation. man there’s some Stuff going on under the surface here haha

(by the way it’s a weirdly... meaningless yet intensely meaningful thing, the gifting of a symbol? of an idea? but he’s putting something very crucial of himself into her hands, is the subtext, and he expects her to understand, which she also does seem to do. at the beginning of the episode he’s proving that he’s seen something true about her -- “You’re such an unhappy girl”, knowing where she comes from, the way she’s mourning her lost confidence and autonomy with her abilities -- and here she’s proving she’s seen something true about him. :’) I wish this show had gone on long enough for this dynamic to progress, it’s really interesting and touching)

- gambit dragging himself up onto dry land seeing someone approaching (to help?!): :D

gambit seeing that it’s logan and the look on his face: D:

- rogue using her powers so confidently and fearlessly in this episode tho!!!!

- *me crying* and then her FAMBILY comes to take her home and he says he’s looking out for her too and kurt still loves her even though they’re having a conflict thing between them and she’s finally able to use her powers without so much fear again and --

- ...did I just watch some baby lesbian love at first sight shit right now???

- okay last two episodes let’s go

- HELL YEAH STORM (I love that she’s like ‘don’t give me a dumb order like that and I won’t have to disobey it’ too sdfjsaj) her voice has such command I’m usually very much not the ‘step on me’ type butttt

- y’know I feel like apocalypse’s main fault across all versions I’ve seen of him is that he’s like an immortal superpowered god king and he’s not even sexy. like at least make him hot if he’s going to be insufferable in every other way

- also callout post for apocalypse: one time he made gambit into the Horseman of Death... and didn’t even make him sexy!!! you were handed remy lebeau, supreme bi disaster slut of the x men universe, and you couldn’t even make his brainwashed superpowered evil side hot?? a beautiful stubbled twunk with glowing red eyes and extremely charming :> face practically delivers himself into your hands and you do that to him???? I mean I’m sure apocalypse did some other bad stuff too but that was the worst one

(comics are so dumb y’all)

- having to watch jean cry is emotional terrorism!! ;___; she has such older sister/mom energy, whenever she gets sad and helpless it hurts

- oh, OH so PROFESSOR X you’ll make into a hunk and ~*strategically*~ rip his clothes to show off a nipple and a flawless pec in a way that makes me extremely uncomfortable because he’s like The Dad??? apocalypse you are rotten to the core this is unforgivable

- so wait wanda never actually gets her real memories back. what the FuCk I hope that was a dropped storyline because they ended the show tragically prematurely rather than like. the plan

- why is spyke calling storm ‘storm’ show that’s his auntie o!! >:(

- as a society we need to acknowledge that apocalypse looks like a fucking clown

- ooooh yeah I have been thinking that this show’s greatest visual weakness so far has been not having a visual way to show telepathy/battles of the minds, but this is a pretty cool way to do it! better late than never

- I’m so happy rogue gets to end this herself, since she was forced into starting it against her will, it’s just nice and neat storytelling

- YEAH FUCKING TELL HER KURT AND ROGUE I AM SO PROUD OF YOU and she has the temerity to look pissed off oh my god

the only valid thing mystique has done in her entire life is be in love with destiny. literally everything else she gets up to is a travesty. like I know objectively she’s hot but my loathing for her stops me from even appreciating it. I do enjoy loathing her tho so please don’t change her haha

(a bit odd to have kurt’s attitude to her swing so much but I’m just going to assume he and rogue had a good long conversation after ‘cajun spice’ and that he understands what’s going on better now)

- this last part is such a cruel tease faskdfhsdaj ‘here are all the cool-ass things we had planned. sucks you never get to see it huh’ im devastated

- magneto without his helmet and playing charmingly with children like charles is going ‘well at least I saved my marriage finally’ fsadkhfjsd (honestly tho I would be super interested in seeing how they’d redeem this magneto because he’s been a real bitch the whole time lol)

there’s an interesting thing here where magneto looks down at wanda as the last thing he does on screen before this epilogue part (yeah I hope it fucking haunts you forever what you did to her erik you absolute piece of hot garbage) and the last thing charles does is look at jean b/c he knows what’s going to happen to her and it breaks his heart... Dramatic Parallells

- just the hint of jean as the phoenix has me in full D:D:D: mode tho maybe I wouldn’t have survived it

- gambit in the last groupshot with his arm around rogue ;^) I mean I’m sure they’re headed for some turns and roundabouts along the way but what’s that thing she says as her wedding vow, that she’ll always find her way back? anyway that got me in my heart

- man I really wish this show had been given more seasons, we were barely even getting warmed up here :’(

#x men evolution #x men #gambit #rogue x gambit #aaah this is like therapy for me... just dumping all my emotions into a tumblr post and then let them go into the ether #I am now wondering if I'm desperate enough to go all the way back to the x-men animated series (which I've never seen before!)#like am I willing to go there for more Contente. time will tell I suppose #happy tag #...this is very long #MAN why can't I channel this dumbass energy into fiction writing I'd get so much DONE

84 notes · View notes

nomoregoldfish · 3 years

Text

I Promised You The Moon rant

Just binged it and this was from the episode by episode reaction/discussion with my partner in crime @glossyboy.

First of all, Oab stole the show, singlehandedly, which he's not supposed to. I don't think anyone expected it including himself. In the very top post when I searched his name on tumblr, he said this lol

But the truth is he played one hell of "villain" that required a very nuanced performance and he delivered it in a believable and graceful manner. Jai became the catalyst of the entire season and his rather complicated relationship with Teh was the highlight of part 2.

EP 1

From the very beginning it's clear that part 2 is very much a Teh's story rather than a balanced story about two young people's journey as a couple in the next chapter of their lives. It makes me uncomfortable they made Oh-aew clingy and pessimistic without giving him any character development.

The best part is probably the opening scene where they went paper-rock-scissors to decide who's gonna buy condoms. It felt authentic, the expectation, the hesitation, the mischievous act, all fits their characters well. Other times ep 1 was more like two adult kids playing house, literally in an empty giant ass upper middle class apartment.

EP 2

It's great that they poked the femininity vs. masculinity issue through Oh-aew, but stopped right there at the surface. Missed a perfect opportunity to go head-to-head with the controversial topic, start a debate, crush the stigma of femininity, bring something new, be a real game changer of the BL genre, and most importantly give Oh-aew some concrete character development. Part 1 showed us a gay character that's very comfortable with his sexuality and femininity, that's almost revolutionary in Asia, not as a comic relief but a leading role. Oh-aew questioned his own sexual identity once in that bra wearing scene, it's straight out of comfort zone, BOLD, and transgressive. So I expected more from part 2.

That's it? And they're already sophomores? Can't believe Oh-aew's character has been marginalized like this. It's pathetic.

But I love the brutally honest conversation at the end where Teh vented his rage and despair regarding his frustration of acting. He was acting like a dick because he's disappointed, and scared. Teh again was not afraid of showing vulnerability, making the reconciliation very realistic and touching.

EP 3

Dare I say I freaking love ep 3! The unresolved (partially sexual, but not entirely) tension between Teh and Jai was over the roof! And the built-up to their kiss was very authentic, which paled Teh and Oh-aew's much sidelined storyline, including the long anticipated sex scene (still can't believe it happened right after Jai explicitly instructed Teh to do it after the two spent a whole night bonding, like wow! Totally TRANSGRESSIVE and to some extent, kinky.) Teh looked up to the senior, idolized him, wanted to be good for him and make him proud, thirsted for the validation from him, which was mixed with affections. The workshop diary was a brilliant idea to let them open up to each other and eventually bring them close. This was what a meaningful arc of a story looked like. By contrast, there isn't a single moment between Oh-aew and Teh in part 2 that made me go "Damn it's soooooo hot!"

I know Jai/Teh wasn't the endgame but I appreciate the storyline so much. It's a very bold move considering it broke the over-glorified "one true love in one's life" fantasy of its target audience, mostly young cis women. The popular narrative of "you can only love one person through your life/one true love" in romance fictions/chick flicks was totally smashed. And it wasn't written just to stir up things between Teh and Oh-aew, it wasn't a silly fling. Instead, it's meaningful, complicated, natural, and realistic, delivered by nuanced and excellent acting from two young actors. It's hilarious that fans hate Jai with a passion and call him names.

And big news, Jai is bi?! Bravo! He's radiating bi vibes since his first appearance.

I kind of gave up at this point, the season wouldn't do Oh-aew any justice. Like my partner in crime pointed out, the costume design literally threw some "incongruous female fashion pieces" on Oh-aew, made him dye his hair red, without...making any actual point of his personality or his character development. Wardrobe was supposed to make a point in storytelling. Yes, PP wearing pink is cute, and? There's nothing else for Oh-aew. Unfortunately he's reduced to this sulky, crying, and wronged partner in a failing relationship.

EP 4

Oab again was killing it. The tension between Jai and Teh...from the rehearsal in front of Oh-aew to the dressing room pep talk, was incredibly intense and hot AF.

Was it a manipulative relationship after all? Oab was so good at conveying a character with many faces. Jai's a mentor to Teh, also a good friend, their relationship was genuine. He's also ambitious with his own goals, he used, challenged, provoked Teh in a way that benefited them both. It made sense the title of part 2, I Promised You The Moon, was from Jai's script. He promised Teh what the junior wanted the most, a bright future in acting. Teh's unconventional and unspoken feelings for Jai was the best part of the entire season in terms of creative writing, it's complicated, fragile, delicate and completely heartbreaking.

The after talk in the hallway was so well-written. It's funny (Teh joking about playwrights always write about their EXs is gold), intimate yet meticulously controlled, no one lashed out or wept. Both knew what they signed up for and Jai particularly made it clear about his motive and the purpose of the "special workshop" beforehand (or right away.) Yet it's no one's fault that Teh got carried away. He's younger, he's immature, he's more into it, it's totally natural. It's so romantic when Teh's singing karaoke in the bar with Oh-aew, yet he couldn't help but desperately staring at Jai on the floor, knowing he and the man who just turned him down were never gonna happen, they were done, but he's still madly attracted to him and his talent. He fancied Jai, at least the idea of Jai, a playwright, a director, someone knew him better than himself. That hurt beautifully.

EP 5

Teh/Oh-aew endgame at this point was pretty meaningless. Oh-aew as a leading character never got any solid character development over a span of four years. What happened between Jai and Teh wasn't just "cheating", though they surely made it look that way, like Teh's empty promise of "I won't see him again after the show ends". No matter how Oh-aew and Teh eventually reconciled, there's no emotional connection, no sparkle anymore between the couple.

But I knew for a fact they had to. Otherwise it's too much of a risk financially for the series. The creators had to take the easy way out like most traditional romances—one of the most contrived and formulaic trope where the male leading character made a mistake (usually cheating) and realized he's wrong, he deeply hurt the female leading character (Oh-aew was merely a girl substitute in part 2), then he completely changed for hell knew what reasons, started doing every nicest thing in the world to try to "win" the female character back. It has been feeding the emotionally-deprived cis female readers/audience who are frustrated with heterosexual relationship irl for decades. The formula that made romance outsell other genres of fictions combined in the 60s and 70s still sells today, under the name of boys' love. It's pathetic to see Oh-aew confess to Bas that he always "lost" to Teh. Love shouldn't be some kind of game or competition, there isn't winner or loser in love. Love is spontaneous. Oh-aew didn't lose because Teh developed feelings for someone else, and he didn't win when Teh begged him for reconciliation. People change, people move on.

And as predicted, they went for it. The ending was so absurd and tedious.

Overall, Jai's probably the hardest villain to play, he needed to be REALLY GOOD to be "the bad guy", to make his role conceivable. Oab absolutely nailed it with his talent and experience. He's not even my type or extremely good looking yet I'm 100% SOLD. I immediately re-watched the scene of him kissing Teh back hungrily at the end of ep 3 like I used to re-watch Teh/Oh-aew's steamy make out session at the end of episode 3 part 1. Coincidence?

I like some parts of both seasons for the same reason, each challenged and tried to break some outdated/contrived narratives in the BL genre. Part 1 took on the sexuality taboo by showing two same sex characters sexually attracted to each other, no more "I'm not into boys, I just happened to fall for someone of the same gender" or "pure love" bullshit. By staying true to the characters' sexuality and actually showing it with explicit, intense (and beautifully shot) scenes, the gay characters were normalized. They weren't just pure and innocent, no one was. And it created two of most unconventional gay characters in Asian pop culture, Oh-aew, a beautiful boy who's very comfortable with his own sexuality and femininity, not passive at all, taking initiative to pursue what he wanted; and Teh, a sensitive, caring and vulnerable boy who cried a lot, he's confused but also sweet and brave.

Part 2 tackled the "You can only love one person through your life" trope with a very nuanced story of "cheating". Yet neither carried out what they started. Part 1 fell short of a revolutionary piece that stayed true to "adolescent sexual turmoil", dismissing bisexuality and becoming a typical unrealistic BL fantasy in the end. And Part 2, ugh, forced a "happy ending" that almost no one digs. I understand it's extremely difficult and risky to disrupt the established norms of a genre. But sometimes being transgressive and progressive could be the same thing. A story, an artwork, has to challenge something in order to create something new and compelling.

#i promise you the moon #i told sunset about you #ipytm #oab oabnithi #billkin #pp krit #rant post #asian lgbtq dramas #lgbtq #i promised you the moon

17 notes · View notes

whumpinggrounds · 3 years

Text

My Friend Jude

jamie is still learning and isabella is learning a few things with her :)

tagging @killtheprotagonist and @shapeshiftersandfire

CW: female whumpee, pet whump, but nothing actually happens bc jamie is a sweetie :)

“So, um, what do you want for dinner?” Jamie’s rattling around the kitchen, looking in cabinets and drawers to see what’s there. “Are you hungry yet? What, um. What did you have for lunch?”

“I didn’t eat lunch, Jamie.”

There’s a slowing, and then a complete stop to Jamie’s rummaging. She turns to face Isabella, looking deeply concerned. “You, um, didn’t eat? Because…I mean…we had breakfast at eight. It’s, um, it’s two now.”

Isabella offers her a bland smile. “I don’t have permission from my owner to eat without her.”

Hearing that, Jamie’s eyebrows draw together, and Isabella sees what anger looks like on this tentative, awkward woman. Drawing back, Isabella tries to steel herself for some kind of punishment, but Jamie just shakes her head, and as quickly as it appeared, the anger is gone. “Sorry I-sorry. That’s, um…huh. Okay. Just, um, as long as I’m with you, you have permission to eat whenever you’re hungry, okay?”

Uncertainly, Isabella nods. Whenever she’s hungry? That doesn’t seem right. But Jamie is in charge of her for now, so she just nods again. “Okay, Jamie.”

“So, um, do you have anything in particular you’d like? For dinner? I, um, I’m going to make you a snack and then we’re going to probably eat pretty early, because you’re definitely hungry.”

Swallowing, Isabella searches her head for an appropriate response. “Whatever…whatever you would like would be lovely, thank you.” She squeezes her eyes shut even as she says it, because that canned response does nothing but irritate Mara, though her owner usually tries to hide her frustration.

From Jamie there’s silence, and Isabella risks a peek at the redhead. Far from angry, she just looks like she’s thinking. “I…okay. Okay. I’m going to, um. Try something here.” Jamie sighs, turning fully to face Isabella and putting both hands flat on the counter, as if to steady herself. “I, um…I don’t know if Mara’s ever told you this, but I used to…I used to have a friend. We did, I guess. Mara and me. We had the same friend. Her name was…” Jamie clears her throat awkwardly. “Her name was Ju…”

Isabella winces without meaning to, and Jamie nods. “Yep, so, um, I think you know who I’m talking about.”

It was hard enough to have this conversation with Mara. Isabella doesn’t, truly doesn’t, want to have it with a new stranger, but she clears her throat to make it clear who and what she is. “My name is Isabella, and I am a Box Babe belonging to Mara Langford, designated combination Domestic-Platonic, Product Number 067-”

“N-no.” Jamie hesitates as she says it, but there’s force behind the word. “I’m…I’m sorry. I know…” Jamie sucks in a deep breath, as if new air will give her strength. “I know you’re not her. You’re Isabella.” Jamie tries for a smile, and Isabella returns one, tiny and nervous. “I just…if you don’t mind, I can cook something she used to like. Because you do remind me of her, a little. She was, um, she was a vegetarian, you know? I can…can make something vegetarian…if, um, if you…”

Isabella may not know Jamie, but she knows what rambling sounds like, and she can see the discomfort in Jamie’s eyes as she stumbles along. “That sounds good,” she agrees, and Jamie relaxes so visibly it’s almost comical.

“Oh. Good.” She smiles at Isabella, real and warm and relieved, and Isabella can’t help smiling back.

Isabella moves to join Jamie in the kitchen, but the redhead is washing her hands and getting out the cutting board herself. “I…I can do that,” Isabella offers uncertainly, but Jamie just smiles at her.

“I’ve got it.”

So Jamie will be holding a knife. Isabella wants to back away, but Jamie hasn’t dismissed her. Steeling herself, Isabella holds her place near the kitchen, every nerve tense and ready. When Jamie speaks, her quiet voice is enough to make Isabella want to jump. “Do you want to, um, tell me about your day?”

Brow wrinkling, Isabella examines Jamie hesitantly. “All I do is clean,” she explains. “And do some stretches, sometimes. Exercises. It wouldn’t be very interesting to talk about.”

Mouth turning down, Jamie focuses on the vegetables she’s chopping, and Isabella wonders if she’s angry. She wonders if Jamie’s thinking about using the knife for something besides making dinner. “Well, did anything different happen today?”

She doesn’t sound angry, but she doesn’t sound happy, either. Still – Isabella can’t lie to her. “No,” she answers honestly, eyes still on the knife.

“Don’t…don’t you get bored?”

Isabella’s eyes come up to meet Jamie’s. The question seems genuine, and Jamie’s face is open in the asking, but Isabella’s not about to criticize her owner to a stranger. “I’m very happy here.” Isabella’s smiling as she says it, even, but Jamie doesn’t look convinced.

“That’s…not really an answer.”

The smile starts to slip from Isabella’s face. She has the uncomfortable, heart-racing feeling that Jamie is trying to catch her out, and she doesn’t know what exactly to say that will get her out of trouble. She does get bored, she does, but that would sound like complaining. Should she go with the simple stupid pet route? Would that be lying?

The distress must show on her face because Jamie sets the knife down carefully. “Sorry – I’m sorry. Let’s, uh, let’s talk about something else.”

“Thank you, Jamie.”

“A’course.” Jamie gives her this crooked little half-smile, and Isabella smiles back, still tentative, careful. “It’s okay – my day wasn’t very interesting, either.”

The convention is to ask Jamie, now, what she does. Isabella can’t help finding it strange, this playing at conversation with a pet. Mara tried it for a time, but she’s mostly given up now, has slipped into guiding the conversation and letting Isabella ask her questions. Still, if a pretend dialogue is what Jamie wants, Isabella can try to oblige. “What did you do?”

“I, uh, I’m a caregiver, if you know what that is.”

Isabella just shakes her head.

“I help out people who can’t do things on their own. If they use mobility aids or something like that, older people…there’s stuff they can’t do by themselves.” Jamie shrugs. “Like I said. It’s not that interesting either.”

Maybe that’s why Jamie’s making dinner instead of having Isabella do it. Maybe she’s just so used to helping people that she doesn’t realize Isabella isn’t a person. “That sounds important.”

Jamie rewards her with another smile. “I…yeah, I guess it is. I don’t know. I like my new clients, so that’s nice.”

“Why…” Isabella marvels at her own bravery but reminds herself that this seems to be what Jamie wants. “Why do you have new clients?”

Now Jamie sets the knife in the sink, and Isabella wonders if she’s keeping it close, in case she needs it again, for something besides little piles of peppers and carrots, like, for instance, Isabella. When Jamie speaks, her voice is quiet, but it still startles the boxgirl, whose eyes are fixed firmly on the knife gleaming in the sink. “I, uh, just moved here. From a few…a few hours away. So. New clients.”

“Oh. Do you like it here?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Jamie shrugs again, shoulders hanging awkwardly even after she’s done, hunched up by her shoulders. If Isabella didn’t know better, she’d think that Jamie was almost…afraid. As if Isabella could do something to her. “It’s spring now, so I like that it’s brighter out, but I don’t think that has anything to do with the city. You’ve lived here longer – do you like it here?”

“I’m sorry; I couldn’t say. I don’t leave the apartment.”

She doesn’t. Isabella’s life begins and ends at the gray metal door that lets her owner into the hallway and keeps Isabella safe inside. Mara’s at work all the time, and when she’s not at work, she doesn’t want to be seen with a pet. For a lot of reasons, she tells Isabella, but that doesn’t stop her boxgirl wondering if it’s because of the scar on her chest.

Maybe Jamie agrees, because she’s frowning. “I’m…sorry. Do, um, do you want to?”

“I want what Mara wants,” Isabella answers simply, correctly. Jamie nods, still frowning.

“Well…uh…how’s…um…the weather?”

Isabella watches Jamie wince at her own awkwardness and feels a tiny spark of amusement, dangerous as that is. “Pretty good.” Other times, Isabella might wonder if that response is too informal, but she has a sense it might put Jamie at ease. “There was a bit of snow this winter. A lot of rain.”

“Which do you like more?”

It’s a harmless preference to have, Isabella is almost sure, so she thinks about it. “I think…I think rain?” she almost asks it, looking nervously to Jamie, who encourages her with a smile. “They’re both pretty, but I don’t like…I don’t like watching the snow get ruined. It makes me…um…sad.”

That’s…that’s a lot, even for trying to have a conversation, even for trying to put her tentative new pet-sitter at ease. Almost as soon as she’s done speaking, her muscles lock up, her eyes drop. Isabella’s nervous, though she doesn’t know exactly why.

Jamie sighs. “Yeah, that’s true. Snow is pretty, but slush is sad.”

“Yeah,” Isabella agrees quietly.

“Do you…do you like hot or cold weather better?”

“I…I…”

“Oh, and” – Jamie speaks up so suddenly Isabella flinches, just a little – “oh, sorry, if, um, if I’m asking something that you can’t answer…or don’t want to answer…you don’t have to, you know?” Her voice and face seem so earnest. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“I’m happy to do whatever my owner wants me to,” Isabella reminds Jamie softly, and the redhead bites her lip.

“O…okay. But what if…maybe you could just, um, let me know, if there’s something that makes you uncomfortable.”

Nodding slowly, Isabella wonders how the hell she’s supposed to navigate that. As she puzzles it over, Jamie lets out a little self-conscious laugh. “I’m…I’m sorry I’m being so awkward.”

“O-oh.” Taken aback all over again, Isabella wonders how to approach this. “You’re…not, I’m sorry if I gave you that impression-”

“No, no, really, I, um, get a little nervous around new people.”

“I’m not a person,” Isabella reminds her softly, and Jamie winces.

“Oh, um…” Jamie bites her lip. “I don’t…feel that way.”

Isabella has no idea how to answer that. She and Jamie gaze at each other across the table, and Jamie is the first to look away. “Sorry,” she says quietly. “Sorry. I…I’m not…used to this.”

There’s movement in front of Jamie’s sweatshirt, and when Isabella drops her eyes, she sees that Jamie’s wringing her hands. If she’s faking her anxiousness, her awkwardness, Isabella decides, then the pet is meant to fall for it. The act is just too convincing, so…so Isabella will have to assume that it’s real.

“That’s okay.” It’s weird, weird, weird, reassuring an owner, but Jamie’s so unsure, so eager, it makes Isabella feel just a little safer. What does Mara say when Isabella’s anxious? “I…I don’t mind.”

And Jamie smiles, and Isabella feels a warmth, a relief. Is this how she’s supposed to interact with people? The talking, the warm feeling when someone smiles at her? The only person she ever sees is Mara, and this isn’t like Mara – her owner is quick, decisive, sure of herself. Jamie is anything but. It’s harder, this talking back and forth, and not what Isabella was trained for. But it doesn’t yet feel quite wrong.

Taking a deep breath, Jamie nods. “Thanks. Thank you.” Isabella just nods. “What, um…is there anything you’d like to do tonight? After dinner, I mean.”

Isabella could explain, once more, that she doesn’t have preferences, that that’s her owner’s job. Even Mara doesn’t like that, though, and Jamie has already confessed that she doesn’t know what she’s doing, so Isabella tries something else. “Usually, I clean up dinner and Mara finishes work from the day. Sometimes we watch a movie or a TV show.”

“Okay, well…well I don’t really have any work to do when I get home, so do you want to watch something? Is there anything you like?”

“I’m sorry, Jamie, I don’t know the titles.”

“Right…” Jamie seems at a loss, and Isabella wonders how much she’s going to have to teach this sitter after all.

Taking a deep breath, she tries to nudge the redhead in the right direction. “What do you usually do in the evenings?”

“Um, read, mostly.” Jamie shrugs. “Do you…do you read?”

Biting her lip, Isabella shakes her head. “I’ve been…encouraged not to,” she answers softly.

The look on Jamie’s face is strained again, stricken. “I’m…I’m sorry. I could…read to you? If you want?”

Her cheeks are pink – Jamie’s cheeks are pink, as if she’s embarrassed, making this offer to Isabella, to a pet. Now Isabella has to bite her lip to keep from smiling – Jamie’s strange, she decides, but…but kind. Perhaps it’s too early to say. Perhaps she’s making a mistake, failing some kind of test. Seeing the nervous hopeful look in Jamie’s eyes, Isabella doesn’t think so.

“That sounds nice,” she agrees, and Jamie’s cheeks go even pinker.

“Okay! Um, good. We can do that…then. After dinner?”

“After dinner,” Isabella agrees.

And after dinner Jamie does read to her. They sit on the couch – Isabella normally, hands folded in her lap; and Jamie crunched up in the corner, knees to her chest. Jamie’s bookmark is somewhere in the middle of the book, but she starts reading from the beginning, and Isabella isn’t sure if she should thank her for that.

She likes this, Isabella decides. It takes a while for her to relax, to lean back against the couch and tip her head back and listen. For a while, she looks at Jamie, and once more, that makes the redhead blush.

It’s a nice story. Jamie reads for a while, what feels like a long while, and when she needs water for her throat, she gets up herself, without even asking Isabella.

It’s strange, unaccountably strange, being with an owner, even a temporary one, that is so constantly looking for Isabella’s approval. That night, Isabella will turn it over and over in her head, trying to understand what’s going on. It must be, she finally decides, that like Mara, Jamie is making the mistake of treating Isabella like a person. It had taken several days for Mara to start losing the habit of asking for Isabella’s permission and approval and opinion on everything. Pretty soon Jamie will too.

Somewhere deep, deep in the secret heart of herself, a small, defiant part of Isabella hopes she doesn’t.

#jude #jamie #lost cause jude #whump #lady whump #pet whump #caretaker #awkward caretaker

16 notes · View notes

sideburndanny · 3 years

Text

Batman Movie Villains Ranked from Worst to Best

Recently, a YouTuber I follow by the name of Mr. Rogues released a list of Batman villains ranked from worst to best. I have nothing but the utmost of respect for Mr. Rogues as a content creator, but I took issue with his list because his long-standing biases were often the deciding factor in many of his rankings. So, I decided to do a list of my own.

I’ll be going over every Batman villain to appear in the movies, briefly analyzing their portrayals and ranking them on a scale of 1 to 5. To prevent the list from being too cluttered, I’ll be separating the villains by which movie series they’re part of. Here we go!

Burton/Schumacher Tetralogy

Bane: Perhaps the only villain in this series I’d call “bad.” The calculating tactician of the comics is nowhere to be found here; instead, he’s reduced to a monosyllabic, brain-dead stooge for the other villains. Overall, he does nothing that couldn’t be done by a random henchman. 1/5

Two-Face: A deeply layered villain in the comics, Two-Face sadly gets upstaged by the other major rogue in the movie, but that’s not to say he doesn’t leave an impression. Tommy Lee Jones gives him a manic and mercurial demeanor that, combined with his colorful design, wouldn’t be out of place in the Adam West series. The size and scope of his criminal organization make him a genuine threat, and there’s something darkly fitting about Batman’s former ally being responsible for the creation of Robin. 3/5

Poison Ivy: Mr. Rogues for some reason ranked her as the worst Batman movie villain of all time, and frankly, I don’t see why. Like Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face, Uma Thurman gives this character a delightfully over-the-top demeanor that combines with a colorful, comic-booky ensemble to make for another great “what-if-this-character-appeared-in-the-Adam-West-series” take. She does a good job juggling the differing facets of Ivy’s character: she’s the put-upon cynic, the craven opportunist, the radical eco-terrorist, and the suave seductress all in one package. 3.5/5

The Penguin: Fuck the Razzies. Danny DeVito made this role his own and set the stage for the character for years to come. He’s a bit of a departure, but a welcome one: far from the refined gentleman of crime Burgess Meredith portrayed, this Penguin is an animalistic thug warped by a lifetime of anger and hatred of the society who rejected him due to his deformities. His signature wardrobe, trick umbrellas, and Penguin gimmick are all there, but DeVito sells the role by showing amazing versatility: he can go from a comical and pitiable weirdo to a terrifying sociopath at the drop of a stovepipe hat. 4/5

Mr. Freeze: I honestly can’t say much about this character that my mutual @wonderfulworldofmichaelford hasn’t already. Arnold Schwarzenegger perfectly encapsulates both popular versions of this character: the flamboyant, pun-loving criminal genius from the Adam West series and the Animated Series’ traumatized scientist desperate to cure his loving wife of her terminal illness. Sure, the puns and hammy one-liners are what this version character is known for, but Ahnold definitely knows when to apply the brakes and give a greatly emotional performance as he tries desperately to cure his wife. 4.5/5

Max Shreck: Probably the only time you’ll see a movie-exclusive character on this list, and deservedly so. Corrupt businessmen are dime-a-dozen in Batman stories, and most of them have little personality outside of being greedy scumbags who either get defeated by the hero or betrayed by the other villains. Shreck, however, is different. Not only does he have an eye-catching fashion sense on par with any of Batman’s famous rogues, but Christopher Walken brings his signature manic intensity to the role, creating a character that’s as wicked and sinister as he is cool and stylish. You totally buy that the general public sees him as the good guy. His warm relationship with his son is also a delight to watch. 4.5/5

Catwoman: Michelle Pfeiffer does a lot to really make the character her own. She gets a lot of genuinely badass moments, but underneath all of her coolness lies the undercurrent that she’s a broken, traumatized character lashing out at the people who abused her and took her for granted. Even when she takes these ideals to unreasonable extremes, you never stop feeling like the retribution she brings on her enemies is at least a little warranted. Also, she has amazing romantic chemistry with Batman and her costume is fucking metal. 5/5

The Ridder: It’s Jim Carrey. 5/5

The Joker: This role is perhaps the one that set the standard for future Jokers to follow: Jack Nicholson’s humorous yet unnerving performance signaled to audiences early on that this would not be the goofy trickster of the Silver Age, but a different beast entirely. This Joker is a film noir gangster on crack: a disfigured mob hitman who quickly takes the entire criminal underworld by storm and unleashes his special brand of chaos and destruction across Gotham. He’s an artist, a showman, a charismatic leader, and the man responsible for ruining Bruce Wayne’s life. 5/5

Christopher Nolan Trilogy

Talia al Ghul: You know that recent trend in Disney movies where a side character we thought was harmless and inconsequential turned out to have been the villain all along in a twist with no buildup or foreshadowing with the reveal happening too late in the movie for this character to really do anything cool or impressive before being unceremoniously defeated? That’s Talia. DKR is the weakest of the three Nolan films, and I feel like it would’ve been much better received without this twist villain contrivedly shoehorned in. Also, while I could kinda forgive the trilogy’s whitewashing of other villains like Ra’s al Ghul and Bane due to the talent their actors display, Marion Cotillard doesn’t get a pass because she just doesn’t have the charisma or screen presence needed to pull it off. 1/5

Victor Zsasz: While the idea of redefining Zsasz as an over enthusiastic mob hitman instead of a serial killer is very interesting, it’s ruined by the fact that he barely even appears in the movie and doesn’t really do or say much of anything despite the buildup he gets. 1.5/5

Two-Face: Aaron Eckhart portrays Harvey Dent as a character of tragedy in a slightly different way than other tragic villains in superhero movies: he’s lashing out at a society he feels wronged him, but instead of being a lifelong outcast or put-upon loser, he was a handsome, successful crusader for the common good who lost everything he once held dear all in one fell swoop. You really feel for him even as he does horrible things. If I had to nitpick, though, I am slightly bothered by the fact that he plays some comic book movie cliches straight (i.e. they never call him by his alias and he dies at the end,) but it’s a solid performance overall. 3/5

Scarecrow: I’ll be upfront and admit that I’m more than a little annoyed that certain facets of the character had been changed in the name of “realism” — once again, they never call him by his villain name and he never wears a comic-accurate costume — but other than that, I can’t complain. Cillian Murphy plays the character with a smarmy, eerie charm that really makes his scenes stand out, his willingness to ally himself with other villains suits his character well, and the fact that he appears in three consecutive films with a different evil scheme in each really helps tie the movies together. 3.5/5

Catwoman: Much like other secondary villains in this trilogy, she really doesn’t get a chance to shine compared to the main antagonist — and, once again, it pisses me off a little that they do the whole “never refer to her as Catwoman but vaguely hint at it” thing — but she’s everything a modern Catwoman should be. She’s sly, manipulative, really holds her own in a fight, has great chemistry with Bruce Wayne... it’s all there. It’s also great to see Anne Hathaway break away from her usual type casting to play a role this dynamic. 4/5

Ra’s al Ghul: He’s a character that was in desperate need of mainstream exposure, and by God that’s what he got. Making him Bruce Wayne’s mentor adds a layer of personal tragedy to the climax where our hero has to stop the man who made him who he is from destroying Gotham with his admittedly brilliant plan. Add in a strong, captivating performance from Liam Neeson before we found out he was a racist asshole, and we’ve got one hell of an overarching villain. 4.5/5

The Joker: Everybody’s already discussed this version of the character to hell and back and likely will for years to come, so I’ll keep it very brief. He’s funny, he’s badass, he’s terrifying, he has great dialogue, it sucks that Heath Ledger didn’t live to see his performance reach the audience it got, and he basically makes the entire film. 5/5

Bane: Mr. Rogues actually ranked Bane higher than Joker on his list, and keeping it 100, I actually agree with him here. Finally, after decades of being dumbed down and misrepresented outside of comics, Bane is finally portrayed as the tactical genius from the comics. Tom Hardy plays Bane to perfection, being very believable as the peak of human physical and mental achievement, the man who broke Batman physically and emotionally. His design is iconic, his every line is quotable, his voice is weirdly fitting, and the memes are funny. 5/5

DC Extended Universe

KGBeast: Another point where I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Rogues. He is absolutely wasted in BVS, being nothing but a generic henchman for Lex Luthor. He doesn’t wear his costume from the comics, he’s never referred to by his alias, he doesn’t have his signature cybernetic enhancements, and he never does or says anything noteworthy. 1/5

The Joker: Ugh. I don’t know what’s worst: the tacky clothes, the stupid tattoos, the weird Richard Nixon impression that passes as his voice, the fact that promotional material hyped him up as a “beautiful tragedy” of a character even though he’s only in the movie for like 10 minutes and barely does anything, Jared Leto’s toxic edgelord behavior on set done with the flimsy pretense of “getting into character,” or the fact that he’s just trying to copy Heath Ledger instead of making the role his own. 1/5

Victor Zsasz: Chris Messina proves undoubtedly that Zsasz CAN work as a secondary villain in a Batman movie. He’s once again a mob assassin who enjoys his job a little too much, but unlike Batman Begins, he really gets time to shine. He’s just as sadistic and depraved as in the comics, but he also has this disarming, casual demeanor about him like he’s just indulging a hobby instead of slicing innocent people’s faces off. His close friendship with his boss Black Mask adds some depth to the character as well. 3/5

Killer Croc: Sadly, he doesn’t get much time in the spotlight, but he’s pretty cool nonetheless. The makeup and prosthetics used to create him look amazing, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s deep voice and imposing body language make him really stand out as an intimidating presence. He’s often in the background, which fits his role as an outcast by choice and a man of few words, but whenever he does get focus, he has everyone’s attention. It really would be a shame if this character’s only appearance was in a mediocre schlock action movie, but he makes the most of what he has. 3.5/5

Deadshot: Another highlight of what would otherwise be a forgettable film, Deadshot is just as cool and competent as he’s always been in other media, but this portrayal stands out for one simple reason. Will Smith was a very odd choice to play the role, but it worked out for the best here because you get the sense he truly understands the characters. He’s ruthless and pragmatic, but has just as enough charm and depth to make him likable. 4/5

Black Mask: I, like many, was skeptical when I saw early trailers depicting Roman Sionis as a foppish weirdo who doesn’t wear his signature mask, but upon seeing the final movie, I really feel like he has the high ground over other DCEU villains. Ewan McGregor is endlessly captivating in the role, portraying him as a swaggering dandy who is nevertheless dangerous due to his boundless narcissism and explosive temper. Sure, those who deal in absolutes would be put off from the differences with his comic counterpart — who is far more cold and humorless — but from a certain point of view, this flamboyant take on the character isn’t so much a departure as it is an addition to make him stand out while keeping his role the same. Black Mask has always been a middleman between the traditional mobsters of yesteryear and the colorful rogues that plague Gotham today, and this portrayal perfectly encapsulates that. He works in the shadows, but isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty; he flies off the handle and gets reckless at times, but there’s no question that the whole operation was his idea. 5/5

Harley Quinn: Margot Robbie owns this role. She’s unbelievably dazzling as a badass, funny, sexy antihero who deals greatly with tragedy and proves that there’s always been more to her than her initial role as the Joker’s sidekick. Again, not much to say, but she’s almost perfect. 5/5

#dc villains #batman #batman villains #dark knight #dc extended universe #batman movie

34 notes · View notes

uwua3 · 4 years

Note

hi bunnie! can i first just say that your name and blog are both so dang cute aaaa 🥺 can i request a best friend!izumi hc? 🥺👉👈 thank you so much 💛

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YOU ARE THE CUTEST PERSON EVER~ i am in Love With You !!! also omg IZUMI ♡u♡ she is the Best Girl ever but #AllGirlsAreBestGirls !!! i love her so much, i’m so glad this was requested!!! i am so happy to write this ♡ PLEASE LOVE IZUMI!

summary: together, you and the currian are unstoppable! watching the cooking channel with your best friend just got even better

author’s note: i hope you love this 🥺 i am genuinely so soft over izumi she deserves the whole world

count how many times i say curry, it isn’t even Funny at this point T___T anyways, i was a bit nervous over this because i hadn’t watched the anime, so i didn’t know izumi well as a character! if all else fails, use the traits you know to the best of your ability! i love our curry queen regardless, though~

word count: 2,001

music: good as hell – lizzo ft. ariana grande

my best friend.

🍛 tachibana izumi

you, funny enough, met izumi at the grocery store in the spices aisle

you were unable to decide between which spices were necessary for the curry recipe you were about to attempt, staring at your phone screen with obvious confusion

what was the difference between each type of curry? which one was better? you scrolled down, reading off the countries,

“india, thailand, malaysia, china, south africa, japan...” you mumbled inaudibly before you heard a very distinct crash in the next aisle over. someone must’ve just hit their cart into a display or—

you saw a girl with long brown hair and pink eyes with... wait... were her pupils heart–shaped? you stumbled back as she approached like she was on a mission, standing a mere few feet from you as she smiled pleasantly at you like the situation wasn’t out of the ordinary at all

(oh no... was she one of those pyramid scheme scammers?)

“are you making curry?!” she questioned, leaning forward to glance at your screen only to squeal in excitement at the confirmation. you gulped, nodding with a tinge of doubtful fear

if you said yes, were you about to be attacked right here and now in the middle of a grocery store? you just wanted some curry...

“i’m so happy for you! do you need help? i know the perfect combination of spices for any type of curry! i can make a different curry for each day of the year!” she offered to help, putting her hands together with a pleading look like she was dying to talk about curry

you nodded again and her entire face lit up again, going off on a rant without taking a moment to breathe

she was so knowledgable on all types of curry! you took notes diligently, deciding on japanese chicken katsu curry as the meal for tonight

when you told her, she clapped her hands and giddily jumped up and down. it was honestly refreshing to see someone so enthusiatic about food!

“i’m sorry for randomly talking to you, but i just love curry! do you need help looking for the rest of the items?” she offered to help, already with an armful of the spices you needed and dumped them into your cart

you pondered, thinking as you looked at the girl. she was nice enough, and clearly wasn’t much of a threat if she was willing to approach a stranger without any discomfort

why not? you smiled, offering your hand out to shake as you introduced yourself. she took it quickly, enthusiatically shaking it up and down as she giggled

“izumi! glad to meet you!”

from that point forward, you two became best friends for life!

izumi was the life of the party and brought happiness wherever she went. not only that, but she was incredibly polite and kind! it wasn’t everyday you met a girl that was full of life and always determined to overcome any obstacle in her path!

izumi would go through anything and everything for her friends despite how busy she was 24/7. she juggled being the mankai director (which was babysitting 20 boys), helping other acting troupes, and cooking at night but still made time to see you at least every week

you weren’t surprised when you were encouraged to come over for a company dinner one night and saw so. many. variations. of curry set up at the table. like the other boys, you attempted to hide your grimace (but very poorly, you weren’t a trained actor like the rest of the entourage was)

“what’s wrong? are you okay?” izumi’s motherly instincts kicked in as she hurried to put her hand against your forehead. you had to pretend like you were coming down with a cold the rest of the week and forced the curry down your throat

(the boys secretly gave you water under the table, whispering advice on how to bear it and grin as they made up fake situations to pass your chair)

(the high schoolers just looked relieved to not be the victim that night)

(seriously... so. many. variations.)

(every time you were invited to a meet–up, you texted the groupchat named “stop the currian” to see if izumi was making curry)

(she always was. you still ate it because you loved her too much to say no)

but other than curry, izumi loved cooking! she was subscribed to sooo many culinary and baking channels on youtube. she loved sending you links with a follow–up text that said: “wanna make this tonight? i know you want to eat it! ;)”

(you complained about how it always ended in a minor food fight you had to clean up. you still let her in when she knocked on your front door with bags of groceries)

(after so many visits, izumi was beginning to be proficient at other forms of culinary like baking since you enjoyed it so much)

one time, you even convinced izumi to make her own youtube channel. you had set up a camera omi loaned on a tripod, acting as the best cameraman ever of course

(you had a clapperboard that had the production titled, “izumi is replacing bon appétit’s claire” with take 1 freshly written)

“you got this, izumi!” you encouragedly put a fist in the air, “fighting!”

izumi nodded cutely, wearing her favorite striped shirt with a pastel pink apron. she held a automatic whisk in her right and was already posing with a mixing bowl in her left, ready to demonstrate how to make your favorite dessert

(maybe you suggested the idea because you wanted food, who knows?)

counting down vocally, you watched as your fingers dropped down to a zero and the red light on the camera started blinking. it was go time, and izumi immediately got into action

“hello, everyone! my name is tachibana izumi and today we will be making—”

the camera fell off the stand as izumi’s whisk flew out of her hand and smacked the lense directly in the middle. a sickening thud echoed through the apartment as you two stood in shock, staring at the expensive camera with unease. it didn’t look... uh... functional?

you quickly put your finger on your nose since it was an unspoken rule that touching your nose automatically meant opting out. you were a second earlier than izumi as she gasped like she was offended

“i am not telling omi!” izumi freaked out, running over but the damage was already done. the camera definitely didn’t turn on anymore

(you and izumi bought the same camera that day and switched the memory cards) (omi raised his eyebrows at the sudden newness of his trusty camera, but didn’t say anything as he just took it and thanked you for bringing it back safe)

(yeah... omi definitely knew. but, he wasn’t too bothered to say anything about it)

(“izumi? what did you spend so much money on last month?” sakyo reviewed her financial statement, watching as she nervously sweat and glanced at omi. he just shrugged like he had no idea)

so you two stuck to mindlessly watching the cooking channel on the tv. it was the usual weekend: becoming insecure over the unreal and extremely talented kid bakers who made a whole 3–tier cake in two hours, making fun of america’s worst chefs when they didn’t know how to cut a chicken, and yelling at cheating cooks who were way too competitive on chopped

it was better that way, anyways. maybe going viral on the internet wasn’t meant for everyone. you still got your dessert, much to your satisfaction

(“yeah, yeah. it’s only because you’re my best friend.” izumi laughed, shoving the plate with extra servings as you stuffed your face. she just fondly rolled her eyes as you tried saying thanks with your mouth full)

(“gross!” izumi squealed, throwing the kitchen mitts at you as you fought back, nearly hitting her with one of the pastries. you already know what happens next. izumi stopped baking for you for a long time [a month] as punishment)

speaking of baking, izumi loved making the most ridiculous cakes you’ve ever seen in your entire life

on random days, she’d make the most creative cupcakes ever with individual designs with meticulous attention to detail

(izumi always had to slap masumi’s hands away from the white box she’d set aside specifically for you. he’d pout, hurt, wondering why she didn’t make any food other than curry for him)

(“masumi... you really need to look at other girls.” you remembered advising him, sympathetically patting his back as he angrily accused you of being in love with izumi, too! to this day, it’s still awkward on your end when you see masumi and he thinks you’re his lifelong competitor)

but on important celebrations like your birthday and anniversaries, her cakes were... something. they’d be the most delicious things on earth, but the design would be comically ugly. she’d put the most bare minimum art ever and write the words way too big and it wouldn’t fit. there were always misspellings. maybe it was a curse for being so well–rounded?

another fun fact was you and izumi were the ultimate power duo! whenever you two went to hang out in public, you always made sure some creep wasn’t staring at her and she did the same for you all the time

as friends, it was your job to make sure you two were as safe and sound as possible

(one time, an absolute douchebag tried to wolf whistle her and izumi had to stop you from getting into a fight in broad daylight)

izumi was way too nice. she was such a selfless person and often acted like the big sister you never had. she was always ready with the most agreeable advice and showed up with her arms open. she was so giving, it was easy to see why everyone loved her

but you liked giving back, too! (much to her surprise) you even tried your hand at making some new form of curry by throwing in random spices and calling it a day, but you realized she was the most critical judge ever for any type of curry

(you stopped making curry for her. she would narrow her eyes and push her imaginary glasses up like an anime character. it was terrifying, she always appreciated it but... you shuddered, izumi was scary)

once, you even rented that curry truck to come by for her birthday! you never saw someone look like they were this close to passing out from maximum happiness

(you even bought a director’s chair for her with izumi bedazzled across the back)

(she now sits in it to get that extra confidence boost before a big show)

but the most important gift that kept on giving was spending quality time with izumi when she needed it most

when the anniversary of her father going missing came back around, you were the first person at her room. with curry you knew she liked from that really one obscure place and all the time that day to make sure she way okay

(she was such a big sister! izumi always claimed she was fine and it was just another normal day, but you were always there to provide comfort she didn’t even know she needed)

you took time out of your day to help her with all her mudane tasks after you saw she once physically fainted from tiredness

(it almost gave you a heart attack the first time, but then you noticed tsuzuru also did that too so it must’ve been something in the mankai dorm air)

you then became a well known figure in the theatre community as “izumi’s best friend”

(you were not upset with that title at all, in fact, you hoped it never changed)

who knew you’d meet your best friend forever at a grocery store? over curry nonetheless?

(yes, you’re izumi’s best friend, but it doesn’t mean you’re exempt from the spices rant)

#tachibana izumi #izumi tachibana #a3! act! addict! actors!#a3!#act! addict! actors!#a3! actor training game #a3! headcanons #act! addict! actors! headcanons #mankai a3!#mankai company #a3! x reader #a3 x reader #izumi x reader #a3! izumi #a3 izumi

174 notes · View notes

imasimpforstevengrant · 4 years

Text

Why do we like this clown so much?

Change the "we" for "I" and you get an usual tag I use whenever I post my content in Tumblr. And it sounds funny at first but whenever you start diving into that phrase, the deeper it becomes. So, I finally have decided to share my thoughts about this strange but wholesome attraction to this deeply flawed character. It's not something I usually do since I don't know how to write down my feelings properly and also in english so please forgive any typos (I'm from Chile so don't be surprised lol).

So...Why do we like this clown so much?

Why was it that a character precisely designed to scare and to disgust the fuck out of us ended up unchaining a series of feelings that shouldn't have taken place in a beginning?

Let's take a look at the background: Joaquin Phoenix was cast as Arthur Fleck/Joker in 2018. The first image of him as the aforementioned character revealed a deeply disturbed man. We knew the plot. A man driven to insanity after a brutal history of abuse, creating concern in people if the upcoming film would inspire real life violence. Incel violence and mass shootings, more specifically.

(the image in question)

As 2019 arrives, the two trailers generated so much hype that media needed to fuel its concern about it. Since it wasn't your typical comic book film, media basically bombed our minds making us believe this film was going to be a total disaster, an excuse to cause harm to others among other nonsense, as if the film would justify everything Arthur would do in the film, eventually. As the release date is closer, the film receives thunderous applause and unanimous praise from critics. At this, fans rejoiced and expressed impatience to watch the film.

October 5th.

People left the theaters amazed, shocked and genuinely moved by the inhuman treatment Arthur received in the film. The fear media tried so desperately to infuse in us with all the incel bullshit and such turned out to awake one of the most positive, best feelings in humans:

E M P A T H Y

The word that so gloriously cleared away any dark thoughts or actions not only proves media was wrong but it turned out to ridicule it in way nobody will forget: Hundreds of people advocating for mental illness, calling out to the kindness that could change a person's bad day and questioning how politicians and rich people are indifferent to social problems proved how much as a society we have changed in comparison with the one shown in the film.

However, since we are on Tumblr, I'll get straight to the point and try to explain why the fuck does this clown has us dying out of love and compassion (and lust).

I. Background.

As nurturing as we women are for a biological matter, we see a man deprived of a good job, is on seven different medications, working like a slave to sustain his ill mother, putting aside his own health and well-being to look for her, struggling to make his dream of being a comedian despite everyone stepping on him, underpaid and treated like a freak for a disorder he did not ask to suffer, which makes it impossible to be indifferent to all the horrible ordeal that eventually will reach the limit of what he can tolerate without going insane. It is impossible to not say or think, at least, that someone (even if it's just one person) should stand for him just as it is impossible not to feel the need to throw ourselves at him to shield him from people who hurt him or simply offer him our shoulder whenever he has had a bad day, specially when he learns he was sexually assaulted by his step father.

This horrid behaviour terrifies newer generations because they get a taste of what being a social outcast was like more than thirty years ago in comparison with today, where there's more acceptance and treatment for mentally ill people like Arthur. We see in him someone who could have been saved with a proper education and emotional support instead of descending into madness as a criminal. Others simply saw themselves being treated like him at some point in their lives and couldn't help but put themselves in his shoes.

II. Personality.

TRUTH BE TOLD:

There's something called "attraction by proximity". It is the explanation to the eventual love you feel whenever someone doesn't catch your eye at first terms of physical attraction but his/her personality does attract you. This happens to be the base of this situation. His shyness, introverted nature, tenderness and innocent desire to make people laugh and put on a happy face awake some kind of tenderness we cannot resist. This combined with the gloomy background increases our understanding (but not justifying) of the bad decisions he'll eventually take during the course of the film. This traces a line of harsh, almost hurtful contrast of the violence he shows later on the film. Once again, it is not justified in any way but it is certainly understandable.

III. Appearance.

Arthur Fleck is unconventionally attractive.

This happens to be a plus for most women. He is out of the male beauty standards (no abs, not too muscly or particularly tall), which makes him even more unique. It is precisely the fact that he's not a model one of the reasons women love him. He could easily be your man next door or your colleague or the guy you always see but never dare to talk for fear to bother him Because it's about proximity. Arthur looks like your common neighbour. He's not meant to be your typical desirable male protagonist at all.

... And yet.

Jesus Christ, he's so fucking hot I can't even---

It's not about how beautiful his green eyes are, his long slender fingers, his hair or his smile only. It's the charm behind it.

Another "magnet point" is the way he dresses. I know he's impoverished and his wardrobe tend to be repetitive but it is so unpretentious, so simple that is hard to not fall for. The modesty of the shirts, ironed trousers reminds us of a mature man deeply withdrawn into himself, love starved and longing to be seen and loved by others, like a war veteran who still fights the most important war: with himself. Is someone who needs to be listened and understood.

AND OF COURSE WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT IT?

He's also brought back the old gentleman outfit, white shirts, red/yellow vest, red suit and elegant dancing moves and the retro style of the film boosts this attractiveness.

People keep comparing him with the previous interpretation of Joker (Leto's) whose costume appealed to young women with a tattooed, gangster, mumble rapper crazy-guy wannabe which didn't connect with the audiences (young people in general). This supposedly was to match or even have a sexy, tormented and desirable villain like Marvel's Loki. We all know how that story ended but it's the link for the next point below.

IV. Transformation

This is a particularly strong point considering how much we loved to watch the process of this weak, powerless, forgotten caterpillar into a beautiful and visible butterfly that will gracefully stir its wings for everyone to see its colours.

When Arthur transitions to the Joker, it's so cathartic to see taking revenge on those who wronged him (even when we're not supposed to root for him) like seeing his shyness fading away into a vivid confidence when dancing half naked in the bathroom, or witnessing him making way to make his name known to people in Murray Franklin's Show:

Adding to this newly gained confidence, there's another turn on: the way he walks.

At the beginning, his pace is hunched and limping, displaying his submission to violence, which makes the viewer more satisfied to see his broken yet beautiful soul turning the past pain of his existence into art: he lets music guide his moves as a way to tell the world he's a new man by cutting most of the sick, evil roots that harmed him, that he's invincible, that no one can stop him. Watching this cathartic display of euphoria was the most iconic scene in the film, following his speech at the TV and the inevitable meltdown that caused Murray's death.

Going to further appreciation, even his clown make up is beautiful. Why? Simple. The combination of colours, shapes and the intimidating glare just embellishes even more the character.

The dark blue triangles in his expressive eyes makes the light green colour to highlight, specially in dark backgrounds, giving the impression he's piercing your soul whenever he stares directly at the camera. Same can be said about the red smile and emerald green hair. They boost an already intimidating look.

The cold and warm colours paint a picture of a man full of intense emotions, mirroring it in a simple yet masterful artistic way.

Another interesting point is the way Joker dresses. Usually we had almost every single live adaption of this character in purple coat, hat, etc. But this particular version is not following any comic, which gives more freedom to creativity and once again, out of the standards of what we could have expected.

Red is a colour related to passion, action, love, strength, motivation and excitement. As for yellow, it indicates freshness, happiness and enlightenment and finally, green. Green is renewal, growth and regeneration. Colours that represent a new stage in his life, a mirthful chapter at last. We finally get to see our battered, always humiliated protagonist (or hero) descending into madness, but finally free from his repressed man who held his soul captive like a bird to fly away, to never come back. An insanity that despite being his downfall, turned out to be his ticket to freedom as he walks to the light in Arkham Asylum dancing at the end.

Ladies and gentlemen: behold the film nobody asked... But the film we fucking deserved.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

❤️💚💛

426 notes · View notes

sleepymarmot · 4 years

Text

Re-liveblog: eps. 22-23

[ep 22]

Ooh, Meng Yao as a spy makes more sense. I was thinking about Qing or Ning and wondering since when either of them counted as Xichen’s “old friend”.

I, of course, immediately accepted he was a spy, even before he was textually declared as such and only just appeared as WRH’s right-hand man. It wasn’t until very recently that my eyes were opened to the fact he did lure the army into a trap, a trap that he personally designed, and the battle was only won thanks to WWX and his secret weapon, which MY couldn’t have predicted, in the show at least. So what was his plan? Was it different in the book? Why would he put LXC in harm’s way, when MY|JGY defined their entire relationship by the avoidance of that?

We’ll only see this in the flashback, but I find it very curious that he let NMJ see his true face and live. And in this episode, we see reaction shots of MY being concerned when NMJ is losing the fight -- and since nobody is looking at him, this reaction must be genuine. Which implies that he is not committed to the Wen cause, and is keeping in mind the consequences of their defeat. It would have been a very bad look for him if the allies won and discovered NMJ recently died in his custody. Too bad MY miscalculated how important the lives of those random Nie cultivators would be to NMJ. If only Meng Yao did anything but kill them, I suspect the course of his relationship with NMJ would run very different.

(It’s also funny that the battle plan includes Missiles That Make People Explode... That are used on a couple of redshirts and not, say, on anyone crucial to the allied war effort, and are never mentioned again. And then WWX stands around for about 10 more minutes before deciding to do something. The direction of this scene is... not the best.)

[ep 23]

It’s painful to watch the fear and reverence Meng Yao still holds for his father figure. The flinching, the hiding, the immediate supplication – when was the last time he felt safe and respected, before the bullying with the Nie and having to watch and even partake in atrocities with the Wen? I hope he can finally have some good things in his life now.

First of all, it’s very funny in retrospect to see myself constantly refer to NMJ as MY’s father figure. Well, it’s not my fault that I wasn’t shown the full scene where MY seductively strokes NMJ’s saber until much later! (Although to be completely fair, considering what JGY eventually did to his father, and what else he did in the tv show knowingly as opposed to accidentally in the novel, maybe these interpretations aren’t as incompatible.)

The interesting thing here is that I, once again, completely bought what MY was selling to NMJ with considerably less success... So my interpretation of this scene was completely off-base -- but on another level, I still agree with my initial assessment.

I pitied MY when I thought the immediate overperformance of submission was his natural unfiltered reaction. Now I find it notable that this is the behavior he intentionally chooses -- both as the default survival mechanism over the course of his life, and in this specific scene. And in this scene, this behavior is targeted at and fine-tuned for LXC -- but not NMJ.

The very first thing MY learned about LXC is his protective instinct over him. The best manipulation is not a lie but the truth with certain omissions; he is afraid for his life when a strong angry man he just wronged is brandishing a giant blade at him -- isn’t it nice to have another strong man whose protection you can guarantee by jumping behind his back and grasping at his clothes helplessly? I mean, it’s not much else he can do in this situation, and when I was watching for the first time, I of course didn’t know he had actually killed people in cold blood a few minutes ago, so in this context his apologetic attitude makes more sense, he should be acting like that. But LXC doesn’t know either, just like a first-time viewer! When MY triggers LXC’s protective instinct by crying for his help personally, presenting it as “us against them” (them as NMJ, in this case), LXC doesn’t see the manipulation. When MY shifts the blame on NMJ -- “It's as you can see. In the situation a moment ago, even if I explained, Clan Leader Nie wouldn’t believe me” -- NMJ sees through the bullshit and even laughs at it, but the spectacle isn’t for him, it's for LXC. And NMJ can see it -- he watches MY the damsel in distress tenderly touch the arm of his valiant defender, watches the tidy, polite, performative way MY kneels to apologize, and sighs -- he knows MY has won this round. At least over LXC.

But in addition to what NMJ already knows and what MY has not repaired, MY makes another important mistake. This part of the scene will only be shown in the ep. 41 flashback, but MY still doesn’t understand NMJ’s worldview and apologizes only for insulting him personally. He not only fails to apologize for taking innocent lives, but tries to defend his decision.

Does MY still care for NMJ? From his concern in the previous episode, it does seem so. Does MY still hope to regain NMJ’s favor? Maybe, but due to a combination of not understanding and not prioritizing NMJ, this is instead the scene where MY loses that favor forever.

The above only applies to The Untamed. In the book (chapter 49) the dynamic is very different. When NMJ awakes, MY is carrying him and Baxia to safety alone. In the show, LXC is present from the beginning of the scene, and MY feels safe enough to play them against each other. In the book, he has no means to protect himself and is absolutely terrified. A very interesting paragraph:

He suddenly shouted, “ChiFeng-Zun!!! Don’t you understand that if I didn’t kill them, you’d be the one who died then?!!”

This was actually the same as saying, ‘I’m the one who saved your life so you can’t kill me or else it’d be immoral.’ However, Jin GuangYao was indeed worthy of his reputation. The same meaning but a different wording, and he was able to create a contained sense of frustration and a reserved sense of sorrow. As he had expected, Nie MingJue’s movement halted. Veins stood out under his forehead.

Having paused for a while, he clenched the hilt of his saber and shouted, “Very well! I’ll kill myself after I kill you!”

In the show, NMJ is already selfless and offended only on behalf of his murdered subordinates -- but the book takes it further, and he’s ready to sacrifice his own life if it means avenging them. Then the entire next paragraph is an almost comical chase where “one striked with madness and the other fled with madness”. When LXC finally showed up, “Meng Yao looked as if he had just seen a god from Heaven. He quickly scrambled over and hid behind the person’s back”.

In other words, the full scene in the book reads almost exactly as the incomplete version of it in episode 23 looked to me on the first viewing. There’s no layer of manipulation -- Meng Yao simply is terrified of one man and seeks protection from another. And most of the dialogue is the same -- but just via the staging and acting choices, the scene gains a second, darker meaning. Which fits with the show’s tendency to villify Jin Guangyao. He can’t even beg for his life without it being a manipulation! What in the book was a wholly sympathetic moment of desperation for him, in the show is made calculated and two-faced.

Back to The Untamed!

LOVE how Xichen immediately calls him “A-Yao” while standing right between his shitty fathers

Lol, this was truly a moment for the ages! Too bad we only saw NMJ’s reaction (because he was in the frame with LXC) -- I really want a reaction shot from JGS to this!

The following private conversation between JGY and LXC caused me almost physical pain on rewatch... A note from this (third, I think?) viewing: the line “I’ve followed Clan Leader Nie for so long. I know his intentions. I have also never taken it to heart before” which is a perfect continuation of the previous scene: JGY paints NMJ as unreasonable, and himself as selfless and accommodating. Oh, and of course makes LXC say “No-no of course I didn’t mean you were evil!!” I also continue to feel like I’m the one stabbed in the heart by their sad smiles, when they both know something is ending but can’t or won’t talk about it -- but I’m preaching to the choir here.

What I do want to comment on is another thing missing from the written liveblog -- on my first viewing I apparently misunderstood the conclusion of the scene. What I thought was happening: JGY did proceed to enact the plan he described; the “old, weak, women, and children” he offers to send to Qiongqi Path were sent there, and were the same group of people later rescued by WWX and led to Burial Mounds; the small group of people JGY had with him under arrest are “those who really had a hand in the bloodshed” whom he openly proposes to execute, to which LXC agrees; and the twist at the end is that he relished in overseeing or even performing the execution himself, seemingly in a very brutal way.

But according to this analysis, which I trust, JGY immediately broke his word and executed the innocent prisoners that he promised to only imprison. This would definitely make more sense for the drama of the scene and the meaningful look JGS gives him... But there were only few people under arrest in this scene, and none seemed too old or too young, and where in this case did the Wen remnants of the Qiongqi Path who latter committed the Burial Mounds exodus come from?

[Episodes 4&10]

#the untamed #jin guangyao #nie mingjue #lan xichen #jgyreliveblog #this has been sitting in my drafts for like a month for no real reason #so some of these points may have been addressed by things i've written or reblogged since then #i had to take out the external link to the mdzs chapter so that the post could show up in the tag #sorry about that

10 notes · View notes

linkspooky · 5 years

Text

League of Villains vs Meta Liberation Army

The end of the My Villain Academia arc ends with the swerve of both the meta liberation army, and the League of villains working together. This however, was most likely planned from the start as every single character that gets development this arc Himiko, Twice, Spinner and Dabi faced off against their foil in the Meta Liberation Army Curious, Skeptic, Trumpet and Apocrypha.

The fact that most of these characters survived their encounters means we will likely see continued interactions between the Villagin’s League members and their MLA counterparts for the sake of development. More of their foiling underneath the cut. If you want to read about Shigaraki and Redestro I already covered it [here].

Himiko vs Curious

Curious and Himiko resemble each other heavily on the surface, and have a lot of elements in common with their characters. They’re both the femme fatalle archetype of their groups, and dress in an overtly feminine way. Magne and Apocrypha are also female members of both respective groups, but they are not femme fatalles in the way that Himiko and Curious are.

A femme fatale sometimes called maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers and who deliberately leads them into dangerous or even deadly situations. She’s a commonly used in literature, able to entice, enchant, or even directly influence others sometimes to even supernatural extents. They’re tied mythologically to archetypes of enchantress women, or women who use some kind of magic or ability to seduce and deceive men.

One of the most common traits of the femme fatale includes promiscuity and the rejection of motherhood. Femme fatale, french literally translates to disaster woman it’s the appearance of a woman that leads ultimately to the destruction of the male.

Both characters are connected to the Femme Fatalle archetype, not just in the hyper sexualized way they present themselves. Himiko herself is a vampire (fitting for someone who can be called a vamp) she also is capable of taking the appearance of other people to enchant them and lure them into a sense of false safety when they are around her. She’s also a serial killer who falls in love with men, and becomes motivated to kill them, making her a literal bringer of disaster for the men she becomes interested in. When Himiko took the appearance of Cammie in order to get closer to Izuku, that scene has a lot in common with the typical femme fatalle ploys, women tries to use womanly charms to deceive the male main character.

While Curious lacks the kind of quirk that would increase her ability for deception like Toga has, she uses her position as a reporter and an executive in the meta liberation army to keep people under her sway. We see them literally at her beck and call throughout the entire fight, and because she’s able to control the crowds so effecitvely she almost kills Toga. Another important detail is intrepid reporter is a pretty common femme fatalle character archetype especially in noir stories, the woman who would do anything, even use her seductive wiles to get the story. Curious is also blue skinned, which is most likely a reference to mystique one of the more famous femme fatalle super heroes. (Considering that Toga’s power is just... literally mystique from X Men her coloring makes a lot of sense).

Curious also reflects Toga’s relationship of bringing disaster to other people as well, she turns her own loyal followers into bombs the same way that Himiko stabs the people that she loves.

While they are on the surface the same character, this is where they actively begin to differ. Himiko’s motivations are internal, she’s driven by her own obsessions, whereas Curious has an external motivation her primary motivation is to capture a story about someone else’s life. They are both people that obsess over others and try to make them theirs by stealing some part of them, Toga that person’s appearance, Curious by changing that person’s narrative stealing their story away for her own gratuitous use.

However, their motviations are entirely different, Himiko knows what she wants inside of herself and is incredibly intune with her own desires mostly following those. Toga is so full she’s overflowing. Her greatest desire is to live as herself, and for Toga living as other people is just an expression of living as herself.

While Curious finds her own self lacking. If Toga is overflowing with self identity, Curious is lacking. Which is why she steals the story of others instead, trying to make up for what she sees as missing in herself. She’s jealous, because Toga knows what she wants out of life, and is living a life true to herself and seems to be enjoying it much more. Toga lives an eventful, attention grabbing life, and she tries to change Toga’s headline to strike back.

Curious dies too quickly to be a fully fleshed out character, but there’s a lot you can infer from her projection on Toga. The most important thing to remember for all four of the MLA members is that they are most likely people who have been raised from birth to devote themselves to the ideals of the MLA in a cult-like fashion. Rikiya tells Curious that her writing is lacking in something, that it won’t move people. Curious herself is someone who lacks heart, which makes her the polar opposite of Toga who always lives true to her heart in an almost love crazy fashion.

However, if you assume Curious does not really believe in the cause of the Meta Liberation Army but rather it was sometyhing that was forced down her throat, therefore she does not have any ideals of her own what she is yelling at Toga makes a lot of sense.

Curious had no chance of a normal life if she was born into the MLA. Which means to her, Toga is someone who was given a chance at a normal life and turned away and chose to become a villain instead. Which is probably why Curious is so desperate to make Toga a martyr for their cause, not only for projection and jealousy reasons, but also because if Toga really were someone who was driven crazy by her quirk and suppressed by society then Curious’ world view would make sense. What she had been taught since birth was right after all and the framework of the world was not wrong. She doubts it but ultimately, she chooses to try to reinforce her belief in the MLA propaganda in the end rather than challenge it. Toga loves her life, Curious does not.

So you have someone robbed of a normal life trying to convince herself that she really believes in all this stuff, facing off against someone who had a normal life but instead just chose the life she wanted. Toga is comfortable with her life, she believes this is her normal life where she is accepted by the LOV, whereas Curious is not. This difference is also why Curious ultimately dies, because Toga loves her life enough that while she does chase after her obsessions she actually has highly trained survivalist instincts and will run away, or bail when things become too dangerous to protect her own life. Whereas, we see Curious get lifted into the air before she’s dropped but she makes no move to save herself and instead dies still thinking about the story she is going to write.

Twice vs Skeptic

There’s also a contrast in how the other characters react to their grievious injuries, Curious gets false sympathy from the MLA members, whereas Twice genuinely caring and wanting to protect Toga ends up fighting for her sake. We see Skeptic only react to Curious’ death by calling her a valuable asset, whereas Twice is genuinely distressed.

The reason that Twice and Skeptic come into conflict is also because of Curious death. Skeptic wishes to kill Toga to avenge her, while Twice wants to protect Toga.

Once again these are two characters that have a lot in common on the surface. They share designs where most of their face is obscured, Twice because of his mask, and Skeptic because of his bangs. They are characters who act as the comic relief for their groups, and have little to no social skills. Both of them have a tendency to get in the face of other characters rudely. Both of them have overexaggerated and dramatic mannerisms and body language.

Their quirks are also similiar, Twice creates doubles of things and Skeptic changes things into human sized objects that they can control. They can both create minions with their abilities, but Twice’s have free will and can turn against him, whereas Skeptic’s are just puppets with no consciousness.

While both of them are an odd combination of social, and antisocial. Twice is the one who wants friends the most, but also tends to be rude and have no idea how to pick up on social cues, and also in life was a jobless burnout who had no friends or relatives to sympathize with his problems. Skeptic is the only member who specifically fights to avenge a fallen member of the MLA. Skeptic is also pretty devoted to Redestro the same way that Twice is to the league. However, he’s also tactless and inside his own head in the same way twice is.

They start the ar with complete opposite social status. Twice is a mess psychologically and otherwise, and was living basically as a homeless vagrant on the absolute bottom of society. Skeptic may also be a weirdo, but he’s a succesful tech ceo and on top of that a prodigy who is hailed as a genius despite his eccentricities.

Twice is also someone who has little to no control over his own life, whereas Skeptic being a highly rich and influential CEO who had control of all the cameras in the city and also the ability to manipulate those puppets is a control freak who focuses on making everything go exactly his way.

His want to repay the league is what strengthens Twice in the end. The genuine connections and his acknowledgement of his mistakes, made him stronger. Whereas Curious’ subservience to the MLA, and his own perfectionism end up causing him to come crashing down just while Twice is rising up.

Spinner vs Trumpet

An important detail between the MLA and the LOV is that the Liberation Army members are all subservient. They regard themselves as nothing more than tools serving the cause which is why they don’t mind all charging the guy disintegrating people with a touch at once, or being blown up to be used as a weapon against Toga. Whereas, while Shigaraki is still the leader the LOV members are allowed to question him, talk with him as an equal, and even poke fun at him. Shigaraki is seen as one of their own.

The arc starts with Spinner calling out Shigaraki in front of everyone, and also questioning him to no consequence at all. Shigaraki was not even going to get violent he was just asking Spinner to wait to let him explain himself.

Spinner joined the league out of empty admiration of Stain and soon realized the reason he was staying with the league had nothing to do with Stain anymore. He didn’t believe in Stain so much as the feeling that Stain gave him, that he could change things. Spinner’s entire arc is him coming to terms with this, that he’s not really motivated to act on his own, he’s no one special on his own, he’s a follower that wants to cling to another person’s dream.

Spinner and Trumpet are different as can be on the outside. Trumpet is a charismatic and succesful politician in the upper crust of society, who also has a transmitter quirk that lets him provide power to his followers that trust in him. Spinner is not a leader in any sense of the wrod, and he’s alsoa discrimminated against member of society.

Trumpet is someone with a useful quirk, connections, a high social status and a social group he is a part of with people who are willing to trust him with their lives. Spinner was just a neet who got bullied too hard. He was one of the dregs of society. Not only that even though he has a lizard quirk that changes his whole body, his quirk does not even give him that many powers. He’s not even useful quirkwise as say Tsuyu. According to his profile he has the weakest quirk in his whole family of lizards and can only stick to a wall.

Trumpet and Spinner are the same however, because they both try to change the world based on ideals that are not their own. They’re followers who cling to other people’s ideals, and try to make other people’s visions real. Spinner admits this, while Trumpet is in denial. Trumpet is also a hypocrite, he claims that he believes in quirk liberation and treating all quirks equally then goes out of his way to degrrade Spinner based on his quirk. Spinner is also a hypocrite in that he doesn’t actually care that much about Stain’s ideals, and only gives the most token adherence to them but again he is someone who knows that he’s just a cosplayer.

Trumpet is a mebmer of a cult trying to make Destro and Re-destro’s dreams come true, and despite being a politician and a leader he’s fiendishly devoted to someone else. That, and his quirk that relies on inciting others rather than fighting himself makes him a natural support member to.

Spinner’s goal becomes to support Shigaraki, which is different than his empty worship of Stain, because Spinner got to know Shigaraki as a person and decided to support him after that fact. While he may just be clinging to Shigaraki, one he knowingly does it, and two this time around he chose to support Shigaraki as a friend instead of just an empty cosplayer. They are both support characters who are weak on their own but fight on the front line anyway. Spinner makes up for his lack of a quirk with violence and sheer effort. Whereas, Trumpet actually does not need to put himself in harm’s way as his quirk would work perfectly find without him standing in front of everybody. Trumpet is naturally suited to lead but doesn’t, Spinner isn’t even suited to fight on the front lines which is why we see him try so hard to change and put the effort in.

Spinner grows, he gets to know the person he is supporting, and decides to support them because he wants to help them with their trauma and lighten their personal load. Trumpet continues to follow ideals that aren’t his, and refuses to admit his personal connection with Re-Destro and therefore he fails to grow and ends up losing. Spinner witnesses Shigaraki’s triumph, while Trumpet observes Re-Destro’s fall, because unlike Spinner he was never able to be there for Re-Destro as a person. He only ever saw him as the symbol of Destro, and left Re-destro alone in his burdens until Shigaraki came to liberate him.

Dabi vs Apocrypha

This one is most likely going to be the shortest because not a lot about Dabi or Apocrypha’s characters were revealed during their initial fight. The two of them however have a lot of similiarites from the start, they both again have obscured faces. Apocrypha’s face is entirely covered by their hood the entire time, if Dabi is Touya then his dyed hair and stapled together face and burn marks serve as his disguise. They both only go by one name, Apocrypha is given no real name even though the rest of the MLA members have them, and Dabi is the only LOV member who we only know their alias and not their real name.

They both follow extremists seeking to revolutionize. Dabi follows Stain’s ideals, whereas Apocrypha follows Re-Destro. There’s a lot of similiar and opposites at play between them, the most obvious being fire and ice.

Also in their real apppearances, once again if Dabi is Touya that means he looks far more like his father Endeavor and even inherited his father’s quirk, but his actual ideals of becoming a villain and trying to reform the hero system are in rebellion to his father.

Apocrypha has an ice quirk and resembles Rei, however her ideals are not in rebellion but rather she accepts and spits out everything the MLA told her and buys into their propaganda completely. While looking like, and having an ice quirk like Rei, she lives ironically by Endeavor’s values that having a strong quirk is more important than anything else.

Apocrypha was even raised in the same way presumably Touya, and Todoroki were raised. That is she was trained from a young age, not allowed to go to school or socialize and worked only on developing her quirk. She was raised by Re-Destro specifically for the purpose of becoming a strong quirk user the same reason Endeavor bred children, however unlike Dabi who hates his father for this Apocrypha believes this makes her special and chosen.

Once again these are opposite reactions to the same abuse. Touya choosing to disregard what his father tried to force him to learn, and Apocrypha trying to accept it and live up to her role as the tool, and weapon she was raised to be. They are opposite reactions, but both of them are still victims of abuse.

Apocrypha also carries out the role that she was perfectly born to be, not only has her quirk experienced a serious upgrade in the same form of Shigaraki’s, but she also can control it perfectly. While Touya’s quirk is in exact opposition to his body, and trying to use it burns his body even worse. Touya the rebellious child could not be a tool even if he wanted to be, he’s thrown out as a failure, burned by his own quirk. Apocrypha fits into the mould that she was raised as perfectly, the willing tool, but because of that she doesn’t question the way she was raised, see how she’s been used, and overall failed to develop as a person. There’s a reason her face does not show underneath her parka, it’s because she’s entirely lacking in a sense of identity or beliefs of her own besides what the MLA told her to believe in.

Apocrypha and Dabi are also both close to their respective leaders. Apocrypha has fondness for Re-Destro and was trained personally by him, however in the end she’s just a devotee, a sycophant. While Shigaraki and Dabi do not get along on the surface, Dabi is also given much more freedom and trust in the league because he’s allowed to go off on his own on several occasions he is basically Shigaraki’s number two.

As opposites as their beliefs are, their methods are shockingly similiar. Remember, I know the MLA’s beliefs are bad and they are all hypocrites ultimately, not to mention they have parallels to their real world ableism in comparison to their views on quirks. I am not saying that Dabi and Apocrypha have similiar ideals, they’re the opposite, and Apocrypha’s are definitely more twisted. However, the two of them have similiar methods. They both believe in killing those who do not fit their standards.

Dabi follows Stain, who killed heroes who were not good enough heroes, and even heroes who were not true to the spirit of being heroes just as an example. While there are definitely corrupt heroes, people who were innocent were caught up in it as well as casualties. Iida’s older brother may have only been a career hero who treated it like a dayjob, but not only is Iida’s big bro a genuinely good person he also uses his corporation in Vigilantes as a way to employ as many people as possible in hero work so therefore even people without immediately useful quirks can contribute on their own. Quirk elitism, and individualism are definitely what created Endeavor’s circumstances, because he had a powerful quirk he’s accepted as a hero despite what he did to his family and having no ideals of a hero.

However, at the same time Stain took out somebody who was basically Endeavor’s exact opposite. Older brother Tensei literally was against individualism, and promoted cooperation and helping people without traditionally strong quirks and letting them have a chance to help the hero industry because teamwork and greater efficiency would result in more people saved. However, by culling, and focusing on trying to create really strong individual heroes to hold the system on their backs Stain is in fact achieving the opposite of what he wants with his methods. He’s endorsing individualism, and right of the strong, the things which allowed Endeavor to become so corrupt in the first place.

Basically by achieving everything alone with strength, Stain becomes a reflection of the corrupt, strength obsessed, hero system that he despises so much. Apocrypha said those who do not have strong quirks are better off dead. Dabi regularly kills people who do not meet his standards for following Stain’s ideals.

If they do not meet a certain quality, Dabi will treat them as fair game to kill. (Though to clarify Dabi’s want to rebel against Endeavor or even kill him is not something I see as wrong, it’s more like how he burns random thugs on the street, some of which probably had families or loved ones too. Considering Dabi’s entire motivation is that he comes from a broken house it’s in direct opposition to his ideals). While the ideals are different, Dabi is employing the same methodology as Apocrypha here. He suffers from the same dangerous extremism that even pushes him to act contradictory to his ideals, and makes him do things he regrets.

It’s not just something that will eventually counteract his ideals, (because once again Dabi does not believe what Endeavor tried to force on him, but he does use brute strength to try to accomplish his ideals because it’s the only viable option for someone like him, or all he knows) but it’s also incredibly unhealthy for both of them in the end. Apocrypha is barely a person, and Dabi is burning himself from the inside out every time he pushes himself to extremes to make his ideals a reality.

It’s not only destructive to other people, it’s destructive to themselves. Which is why it’s a trait both of them should grow out of if they are going to have continuing arcs in the story.

#mha meta #lov meta #league of villains meta #dabi meta #spinner meta #himiko meta #dabi #himiko toga #spinner #twice #league of villains #my hero academia meta #meta

219 notes · View notes

popculturebuffet · 2 years

Text

Quick Thoughts: Scott Adams Does It Again, More Removals, ReBoot and Halloween Schedule

Hello all you happy ghouls and goblins. It's almost spooky season so that means it's time for the most haunting thing of all.. an old man yelling at the world in a comic strip. Also my halloween schedule

Halloween Schedule:

I've decided to shift in how I reveal my review schedule. I used to keep it on the blog but the combination of how long it takes to edit when this has to change frequently (as I don't book most comission slots in advance), and the fact Tumblr has made it so hard to access that even Kev, my most loyal reader, barely uses it, i'm just going to put them out here every month. As always schedule slippage and what not may apply.

October: 10/2: Garfield's Halloween Monthly Muppets: Muppets Haunted Mansion The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals 10/9: Watchmen: Two Riders Approaching Army of Darkness: Ashes 2 Ashes The Owl House: Thanks to Them 10/16: More Than Meets The Eye #2 Paranorman Mission HIll: One Bang for Two Brothers 10/23: Evil Dead 2: Beyond Dead by Dawn Emma Patreon Scooby Doo Poll Winner!

As you can see this year's halloween is less focused but as a result is giving you more spooky goodness for your buck with an all time classic halloween special, the start of a look at the spooktacular hatchetfield series (moved up to concide with Starkid's ongoing campign to hopefully drum up some numbers for stretch goals), more Evil Dead as we take a look at two of Ash's comics, the LONG delayed fan voted on look at paranorman and another poll this time for SCOOBY DOOBY DOO! I watched every movie with my good friend @jess-the-vampire and now you fine folks get to pick from the ones my patreons and jess pick out for you. Poll will be forthcoming.

In non horror news, we have the begining of the end for Owl House, my annual look at mission hill for the keviversary, and more transformers and watchmen. Pretty spooky huh folks?

Scott Adams VS the Environment

So yeah for those who didn't know, and i'm sad to inform you, Scott Adams who created the comic strip Dilbert and highly influenced a medium I love, comic strips.. ended up becoming, or maybe always was and just got more obvious with it in the trump era right wing maga loving douchecanoe. I already disowned him and got rid of all my dilbert when previously the man tried to use a school shooting to promote his side hustle. It's very sad to me a strip I genuinely used to love is now dead to me because it's creator is such a dick.

That being said I can still get some laughs from his behaviors as this morning I read an article. Apparently in recent dilbert strips Scotty talked about ESG's, essentially a way to get corporations to stop being captain planet villians and start being captain planet. Understadanbly being rightwing talking points given shape, form and a popular comic strip, Scott Adams thinks this is stupid and ranted about it in his comic strip

Yeah not only is that as far as I can tell not how they work, and an unfunny shot at necessary diversity, but the second strip is just baffling. Apparently Scott introduced a black man who identifies as white, which is not only very much not a thing, but also clearly designed with the same good faith arguging as my dad saying he could marry his cat if gay marriage passed. It's dumb

But the article, which I highly recommend, shows it SOMEHOW gets dumber. Yest shooting himself in the foot on gay sterotyping, gender queer sterotyping, trans sterotyping and just plain being a decent human wasn't enough. No he also encourages employees to send their employers these strips. The article even mentions wanting to see that because it'd be geninely funnier than either of these

I have my own two cents: Since when has ANY boss ever listened to a dilbert strip. Scott himself pre going off a cliff while yelling MAGA!, menteioned in a collection how bosses would ask employees to take strips down. Big Corpos aren't going to listen to the right thing for GOOD reasons. WHy would they listen to their employees? "Oh wow the guy who draws dilbert is mad at us better get rid of these tax breaks for doing the bare minimum of basic human decency so we don't offend the mighty Scott Adams"

Scott Adams fall is just.. pathetic at this stage. It's shame he's sunk this low but boy is it fun to watch

HBO Max and Netflix remove shows

Whelp SOMEHOW HBO Max isn't done, as it's removing both Tigtone and Lazer Wulf. Both shows I hadn't seen and really wasn't intrested in, but both shows that don't deserve this. It appears nothing is safe. The only possibly GOOD news is that CN shows are popping up on hulu as of late, meaning we MIGHT see some of the abandoned shows pop up elsewhere and they MIGHT be pivoting from Tax Writeoff to just selling their ip's for parts, which isn't GREAT, but it's still better as it least it means Close Enough might land eleswhere along with everything else they threw away.

Netflix is also getting in on it, removing one their first originals and a show I forgot existed and will probably again, Hemlock Grove. Hopefully this isn't the same nonsense and this trend dosen't continue. I mean I wouldn't be sad if I couldn't watch Rake the forgotten Will Arnett comedy you didn't know existed about a guy who gives adivce to people, but it's still weird to just throw out content you've already invested in at best and terrible at worst. It's not AS bad as HBO Max because unlike HBO Max netflix might NEED the tax writeoff as it tries to rebalance books and makes incresingly sketchy decisions, but it's still not great and I HOPE other streamers don't pick up on this.

Reboot early thoughts

Finally because this coudln't get any weirder, my thoughts on the recent Hulu sitcom Reboot which aired it's first three episodes this week. Which is a WEIRD model, as you'd think two would be enough.

Reboot is a sitcom starring the wonderful Rachel Bloom of Crazy Ex Girlfriend, a show I haven't watched but do know for it's charming musical numbers. LIke this one!

youtube

... why HAVEN'T I watched this through.

Anyways reboot follows Hannah, an indie darling whose latest film has given her the clout to do whatever she wants, so she pitches to Hulu a reboot of the old sitcom step right up about a couple marrying and dealing with both their precious son and the boys father.

So naturally they get everyone else back on board: Reed Sterling, played to pretentious perfectoin by Kegan Micheal Key whose finally found his second wind after a few failed shows post his best friend and former comedy partner becoming one of the greatest horror directors ever, a theater trained actor who left the show in a huff and now returns assured that original series creator Gordon is coming nowhere near it and leaving his equally pretentious girlfriend in new york, Clay Barber, the formerly drugged out mess, now a burnt out barely functioning but entirely jolly and likeable wreck of a man played by Johnny Knoxville being amazingly deadpan, Bree Marie Jensen played by a beautifulyl unhinged judy greer clearly channeling Cheryl, a primia donna actress turned duchess and Reed's ex with the chemistry naturally still being there, and Zack, a goofy awkward former child star who spent the rest of his career in awful teen films for what i'm assuming is disney channel. Naturally he's played by former Disney Channel star Calumn Worthy, who was on the terrible disney sitcom austin and ally which I reviewed. In the review I mentioned this show and that Calumn would likely do better. And I was right he was capable.. and suprised tha the ended up stealing the whole goddman show from a buffet of far more seasoned comedy actors. Don't get me wrong, EVERYONE here is great from Reed's up his own ass smuggery, to Bree frequently mockign reed to Clay freaked out talking about his Zack's mom gave him an orange slice after sex and called him a good boy and telling Zack not to punch him in the nose as "my septum's hanging on by a thread'

It's Calum who steals the show as he talks about "How cool is it we're all adults who have had sex?" has to constantly remind people who is is and awkardly treis to bond with Clay after Clay sleeps with his mom twice. Worthy is game to not only make fun of his own history but be the charming awkward goofus this series needs. Zack tends to have the best lines.

Of course this being hollywood, Gordon naturally comes back and Hannah nearly quits, as does Sterling. He ends up relenting on it as they ALL need this: Sterling hasn't worked a paid gig in a year (and it was for a hemroid commerical), Bree needs the gig as her divorce was under "kettle law" thus meaning she barely got anything, Clay need sit becaues "bad stuff finds me" when he's not working, and Zack needs it because shockingly teen movies don't like actors who need hairplugs playing teens. Weird given Disney hired a 30 year old once to play a 16 year old. Maybe it was a policy change

So they beg Hannah to come back, allowing the cast to maintain some dignity while still getting the money. That's when we get the big twist of episode 1 and the one that realy makes the show: Gordon, played by the legendary Paul Reiser playing peek douchebag, is Hannah's dad from the marriage before the one he based Step Right Up on and is introducing a new child in the pilot as the long lost child of Reed's character/Gordon's Self Insert to retake the story.

So now we get botht he intresting story of a father trying to come to terms with the crap he did while still being a huge old school douche, his daughter trying not to throttle him, and the rest of the crew dealing with all their shit including an inexperinced reality star gordon hires fresh off fuck buddy mountain (which if it wans't a show before this certainly will be now) , Reed and Bree's sexual tension and as I mentioned Clay nailing Zack's mom who creepily attends al lher sons performances. The cast has great chemistry, the jokes are high and this is set to be one of the best comedis of the season. Go check it out. And thanks for reading.

#team starkid #reboot #scott adams #hbo max #netflix #Youtube

8 notes · View notes