watching someone react to monster house for the first time, and his commentary is making me extra aware of the fact that there just aren't ANY bystanders in this movie. which ive never really minded or even noticed much before bc like, im very generous w my suspension of disbelief; of course half the shit that happens in the movie (even before the climax) would be hella obvious to anyone else in the immediate vicinity. the fact that the climax happens on HALLOWEEN NIGHT and we don't see ANYONE ELSE during the scene, not even for brief reaction shots, is so unbelievable it should rip you right out of the movie
and im sure for plenty of people it does, especially once it's pointed out. in the past i've always been content to hand-wave it as 'look, the movie just doesn't work without overlooking the logistics, so let's just have fun with it.' but for the first time im wondering if it was a budget thing??? because it's just SO conspicuous. like i said, we don't even get any wayward reaction shots; there are like 5 or 6 character models that aren't named/speaking roles.
i guess i always though the movie looks fairly good and has really... idk how to describe it, maybe like rotoscope? lifelike animation? the way characters move and gesture is very distinct. i guess i just never considered the idea that the cost of having it look the way it does might be that they could only properly create like 12 characters... lol...
that's just speculation though. maybe it was more purposeful than that; i'd fully accept if they were like FUCK IT, this movie is not about realism. it's a house that fucking hates you. it has a uvula. it goes honk shoo mimimi what the fuck else do you need
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Idk if this is kinda random but i think a Wanted AU could be interesting, Thena is intimidating and doesn’t talk a lot just like Fox, and Gilgamesh is a little funny & little quirky gentleman just like Wesley☺️
Gil sighed as the bullet just barely clipped the edge of Wilbur hanging from the ceiling rack. He set down the weapon, trying to stand against the weight of Phastos' glare.
"Still?" Ajak asked with her hands on her hips.
Gil scrubbed his hand over his face. He thought he had made great progress too. He wasn't getting his ass kicked by Ikaris nearly as much, he was getting better at his agility training with Thena running on the trains. He had even caught that stupid shuttle.
Thena eyed him. She didn't say much, and what she did say was usually to berate him for being too soft. She was quite the opposite. She was hard and sharp and polished. He never saw her in the recovery baths.
Well, he did once. She had climbed right out, even looked at him as she did. He had gone right back underwater, red as a beet. He was pretty sure all she'd done was laugh.
Thena looked at Ajak, nodding her head. Ajak may have looked faintly surprised but nodded. Thena walked lazily away from their table.
Gil looked between them, his blood already running cold. His head whipped back and forth, "n-no, I-I-I can't--this is-"
"Curve the bullet," Ajak ordered.
"No, I-I can't, I'll-!" Gil looked at where Thena was standing in front of their trusty shooting dummy. She looked at him evenly, as if there were no question he would make the shot to the target directly behind her. A shot he had yet to get close to.
"Curve," Ajak repeated, "the bullet."
"You're insane," he snapped, but everyone was just standing there. He looked at Thena again, "I won't!"
She just looked at him. She thought he could do it.
He gulped. What if he failed again? What if he grazed her? What if he full on shot her?!
Thena was the only one who had been even remotely nice to him. Well, maybe nice was a stretch. But she had been tasked with training him, and when everyone else seemed determined he was a dud, she had kept working with him.
She had taught him to keep up with her on the train roofs, taught him how to navigate Ikaris' beatings and Kingo's target practices. He had even learned about the story of her past, and that the tattoo on her back helped reclaim the skin scarred and burned from the man hired to kill her father.
Thena was, for better or worse, his only friend here, in a lot of ways.
"Shoot around her," Ajak pressed, revealing more of the side of her that really scared him. "Or through her."
He stared at Thena again, though. He couldn't take that chance. Training was one thing, but he refused to be responsible for sending her to the recovery baths for something as serious as a failed shot.
"Gil."
Everyone looked surprised as she spoke. The Fox didn't speak much, after all, unless it was to tell someone they were being a hindrance to her.
But she looked at him without a hint of worry. Her eyes were so pretty. "Take the shot."
"But," he floundered, sounding like a little kid about to piss his pants. But he couldn't--he just couldn't. What if he hurt her?
"You'll be fine."
Gil let out a breath. He could do this. Thena believed he could do this. And this was after she had watched him get the shit kicked out of him, by everyone here including herself.
"He's ready," she argued to Ajak, who remained relatively unmoved. She was vouching for him (with her life, at that). She had every faith that he wouldn't let anything happen to her.
This from the woman who told him not to trust anyone or anything.
Gil took a few rapid breaths. He looked at Thena, her blonde hair, her pretty green eyes, the fall of her shoulders. She was relaxed. He picked up and fired in the same motion, twisting his wrist as if he were throwing something.
They all watched as the bullet flew, rustling through Thena's hair on its way past her. She didn't even blink, waiting until the sound of it hitting their target behind her let her smile. "See?"
Gil panted. He couldn't be as sure as her, but he had managed not to hit her. That was good enough for him, for now.
"He is ready," Ajak finally agreed, having witnessed the evidence for herself. She chuckled, though, attending to other matters calling her name. "He'll have his first assignment within the week."
Gil watched everyone else leave, only he and Thena remaining. "You didn't have to make yourself a target."
She smiled, and he could almost imagine she was proud of him instead of just amused. She sauntered back over, swaying her hips to show her humour. "You hit it, did you not?"
"You seem awfully sure I would," he grumbled as she returned to his side.
Thena looked at him, settling her hands on her hips. She was such a little thing for being an assassin. But the Fox specialised in bladed kills. She didn't need to physically out-muscle her targets. "You have all this pressure built up inside of you. From the moment I found you, I could see The Sight in you trying to escape. But you repress it so firmly."
Gil shrugged, dragging his finger along the edge of the table. She had a habit of making him act like a boy around his first crush. "When you're a big guy, you make people kinda nervous. I don't want anyone to be scared of me."
Thena's shoulders loosened further, maybe even seeming to drop. "You're sweet, Gil. And I don't mean it in a good way."
Of course she didn't. He sighed; he wasn't exactly unfamiliar with being scolded around here for being a normal dude.
"You're soft, and the rest of them," she nodded towards the door, indicating her comrades--people she had known for most of her life. She frowned, "know it. And they'll feed off it, if you give them the chance."
He raised an eyebrow at that. They were like family here at the textiles factory, he hadn't expected there to be dissent between them.
"Let out some of that pent up pressure," she concluded, patting his shoulder on her way to also go about her day. "I would love to see you give Ikaris another thorough beating."
He had enjoyed that.
"Look at your old life, maybe, see how far you've come," she shrugged, turning and walking out the last few steps backwards to look at him. "I seem to recall you had a girlfriend, disloyal as she was. Perhaps some breakup sex would help you blow off some steam."
Oh yeah, he hadn't thought his girlfriend - actually, it was probably pretty safe to call her his ex at this point - since...since meeting Thena.
He blushed, and he heard Thena laughing about it all the way down the stairs.
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Song of Elysium (Reprise)
my own ending slide for Georgies run, and he finally gets to not only bring all his friends home to meet his family, but also wed his lover.
no spoilers
Many years after the closing of the Worldwound, several people of note were seen travelling towards a quiet part of the continent, among them, Count Daeran, accompanied by the teifling Woljif, was seen venturing in a gaudy carriage, and the knight errant Seelah was in the company of The Eagle Watches Tirabades in a contrastingly humble carriage.
The small hamlet they ventured to, along with other less notable to the general populace but still important figures, such as an Ember and her crow Soot, and many wandering bards and worshipers of Desna, including one Arueshalae, to all manner of creatures, large, small, and of all natures and alignments, welcomed them all with open arms, opening barns and laying down bedrolls by the dozen.
The hamlets Headwoman greeted the travelers with special joy, and the half orc woman beside her shed her gruffness for one night, and a shepherd normally so isolated on his hills, was smiling with joy with the rest of them.
Anyone travelling past would have thought it was a festival, those knowing the holidays of Desna would say it was for a ritual of stardust, and in many ways it was both. Taking place on the summer solstice, people and creatures from across the continent joined together, and stood in one location, the first time all were assembled since the final attack on the Worldwound.
Together they laughed, weeped, sang and danced, for all those they had saved, and all those who made it possible, but could not be saved themselves. At night they lit giant bonfires, the light of which cast the whole valley in warm glow, and once the light died, gemstones fell to the earth and were scattered in the wind, taking flight on currents unnatural, accompanied by a flourish of azure butterflies, and several winged creatures, all dancing through the shimmering air.
As this happened, two men cloaked in white kissed, each holding the other with hands worn from the strings of both bows and fiddles, and stained with a rainbow of colours from paint, respectively, as the people around them cheered at the love found in the corruption of the Worldwound.
Flowers sprung from the ground, and the song of Elysium rang through the valley, calming the hearts of everyone in it. The song was taken up by an eclectic variety of singers, musicians, and those with little skill in either, but as all the sounds wove together, there was never a more beautiful song than it.
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After listening to this song on repeat and/or having it regularly stuck in my head these past few weeks, I’ve finally seen Wish!
I had read many reviews that said the movie was bland because it lacked originality, and while I understand this point of view, in a way... I think it was intentional.
The film was released for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 100th Anniversary and is full of more or less obvious references to other Disney movies, whether it’s a well-known character name that’s mentioned, someone directly quoting another film, or even just a background, object, gesture, or scene composition that, for some reason, feels familiar. The fact that all those “Easter eggs”, which could have been very annoying but, in my opinion, manage to remain fun (not really in a self-mocking way as Enchanted did, though), exist, combined with the images that appear during the end credits and the scene that follows (yes, there is a post-credits scene), make me say the goal was to make the “Disneyest Disney movie”.
Wish is not lazy, it’s a celebration.
It’s still its own film with its own story, but it’s first and foremost a tribute to Walt Disney Animation Studios, all the movies they’ve released over the years, and the now iconic (some might say overused) concepts of “wishing upon a star” and hoping your “dreams come true”. At one point, there’s also a flip book (with a time chart!), and I see this as a nod to traditional animation, as well as an homage to the original “magic makers”: animators in general.
So yes, it’s unoriginal and maybe not the most memorable Disney film. As you would expect, it opens on a storybook, takes place in a fictional kingdom, features a heroine who has an animal sidekick and a dead parent, and she has to fight against a charismatic villain who uses green magic. I would describe Wish as a quintessential Disney movie, and while it may not be groundbreaking, it’s still cute, pretty, and entertaining. The characters are good and, even when they don’t have a lot of screen time, have distinct personalities. I’m thinking in particular of Asha’s friends who, as I’ve just realized writing this, must be a reference to the Seven Dwarves (even their initials match)... There also are many songs, of course, as they are yet another trademark of Disney movies. Special mention to “This Is The Thanks I Get?!” because I thought it was quite catchy and the most original!
Speaking of King Magnifico, he really is a great character and “classic” Disney villain, and it feels like we hadn’t seen that in a while. That said, [spoilers]…
...I was a bit disappointed they introduced his tragic backstory (without fully explaining what exactly happened, by the way) and then didn’t really do anything with it at the end. Sure, it humanizes him, gives him depth, and explains why he’s unhealthily obsessed with being in control, and I agree that not all villains need or deserve a full redemption arc, but… I don’t know, since they mention the fact his family died and that the fear of loss is what motivates him (at least at the beginning), I expected that to play a bigger role in the story, and especially in its conclusion. I’m not saying he should have been redeemed because I don’t know if it would have worked in that story anyway, but taking into account his past, the fact they mention it several times, and what they (Disney) have been doing with many of their villains lately, I simply thought it was likely to happen. Maybe King Magnifico didn’t necessarily “deserve better” as a person because he does become “evil”, to the point that even Queen Amaya, his wife, eventually turns her back on him despite their seemingly sincere connection, but as a character, I’m inclined to say he did…
Oh well, at least he has the coolest villain song!
Also, knowing my love for charismatic antagonists with a tragic backstory, maybe it’s best for me that they didn’t explore that further and just let him apparently irremediably lose himself. Had they decided to “save” him, even partially, or give the audience more reasons to feel sorry for him, I fear I could really have spiraled out of control :’)
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