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artist-issues · 20 days

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Raya and the Last Dragon popped into my head today and I kept thinking about how the incredibly unsubtle and poorly executed message of trusting others felt like a first draft.

What do you think about it? Would a revised script with the same story premise fix that film? Or was it doomed from the get go in what it was trying to say?

Good question! I go back and forth. I think the movie's biggest weak point was its writing, so I guess I'd say, "a revised script with the same story premise would fix it!"

There's nothing wrong at all with a message like "Without trust, we can't stand together." Because it's very true. Everyone has priorities, and there's always a chance they'll choose themselves over you, or over the "greater good." But if you keep trying to take control of the situation by believing the worst about them before it happens, you'll be exhausted & jaded, they'll be exhausted & jaded, and all your time and energy will be spent on competing with each other for the grand prize of "who can look out for their own interests better."

I think Raya and the Last Dragon's premise works for a truth like that. It makes total sense to have a girl who's competitive become jaded and control-freaky when her father, the symbol of the virtue of trust & good faith, is murdered by betrayal. And not just any betrayal, but betrayal from someone she directly tried to befriend and trust as a sort of "first experience" with that good faith her dad was always talking about. Makes total sense. And it's impactful; something that traumatic and personal would cause a relatable character flaw that the heroine needs drastic measures to overcome.

I actually love the concept of Sisu too. I like the idea that she's this pure, selfless soul who's got childlike faith—but, all the jaded people in a post-apocalyptic world respect and consider her worldview because she's a revered dragon. So she really does change minds just by being around them, just by coming back and existing in the first place. I mean, if she had been just a sheltered girl from, say, a different country, who came into the broken Kumandra with stars in her eyes, the bad guys wouldn't have thought twice about whatever she exemplified. But she's a dragon.

And step back and think about it: having a group of characters from every walk of life come together as a mini-experiment in trust and unity during the course of the adventure is a great idea. It's not flashy or original, but it's classic and true. Avatar the Last Airbender has a crew of characters from each tribe combining to defeat evil. When Kenai has a prejudice against bears in Brother Bear, how is that character flaw solved? Not just by him turning into one, but by him having to travel with and get to know one.

What they get to know is that they all have something in common: they've all lost people to the great evil in the world. And, they all want the same things, despite cultural differences. They all want their families back, they all want safety and success.

So yeah, the pieces are all there. The problem is, the writing was just super clunky. Theres a lot of telling, when it comes to the story, instead of showing. There's not no showing. There's just not enough.

I know this is already a long post, but I'll just point out: Aladdin's message had a lot to do with trust, too. But no character ever said out loud, "you have trust issues and you need to work through them." Certainly not more than once. The closest you get is Genie telling Aladdin to be himself.

Instead, you're just shown that Jasmine is the type of girl to give an apple to a hungry kid without even thinking about whether or not the shopkeeper wouldn't want her to do it. She's the type of girl who plays along with a scrubby boy from the marketplace trying to help her. She's the kind of girl who goes out with a Prince even though she has reason to believe he's already lying to her. She just does those things, and never says, "hey, why did you lie to me--you have trust issues!"

Meanwhile Aladdin's whole story is him bending over backwards to control what everyone thinks of him, because he can't trust them to accept him as he is. But he never says, "Trust gets me hurt." He just says, "if Jasmine knew I was really some crummy street-rat, she'd laugh at me."

Those sentences that the characters say are well-written because they are realistic. Only in our modern psycho-babble Instagram-influencer culture, where everyone thinks they're an expert on the human psyche, are teenagers starting to say things like "My trauma causes me to struggle with trust."

What Aladdin says is much more immediate, much more down-to-earth than that. It shows where his brain is in that moment. He's not thinking about the general philosophy of truth and trust. He's just thinking about what he should or shouldn't say on his date, and how scary the idea of getting laughed at is. We, the audience, are smart enough to infer that it's all rooted in trust issues. We don't need Genie to deliver a speech six times to make it abundantly clear.

I'm capable of identifying that as the problem, but I'm not great at doing it, myself. I know the language, I'm not great at speaking it. But actually I'm going to punt this part of the question over to @doverstar , who is very skilled at "show, don't tell," especially in dialogue. How would you re-write that scene where Sisu is trying to convince Raya of the importance of trust?

One final thing that I think handicaps Raya and the Last Dragon is that, because of the way they're written, the characters lose likability. Theres a way to have a traumatized, defensive girl who thinks she knows everything still be likable. Just like there was a way to have a selfish, insecure liar be likable in Aladdin.

I think there are other issues—I'd have completely written out the baby and the monkeys, and I'd have cut the fight sequences between two teenage girls way shorter because nobody cares about them. But that can be for another post.

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probablyhuntersmom · 1 year

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Having some brainrot about this so here goes.

Namaari plays a larger role than one might think: her love for Sisu and the dragons was the silent hero of the movie, dare I argue. It wasn't just Raya's father who expressed an optimistic dream to make the world better; young Namaari's speech in the first column above is what spurred Raya to embark on her tiring 6-year search to revive Sisu. I only noticed upon rewatching this movie a year and 8 months later, and got chills, that Namaari's initial hope died out due to fear: until Sisu's untainted optimism revives said hope 6 years later (in the second column).

But my god, this movie is bittersweet: young Namaari describes the legend depicted in the precious scroll she owned, that the dragon was swept down a river after saving the world 500 years prior. Guess what? As a young adult, Namaari is the one to make essentially the same thing happen because out of fear, she shoots Sisu in the heart and the latter is swept downstream (Raya was also responsible, but this will be an analysis for another day since there is wonderfully layered interplay between the main three characters).

Sisu didn't exactly save the world this time, not on a large scale, but she did save Namaari's old dream of a better world and set things into motion for the world to heal once more after the 500-year stone sleep that befell almost everyone. Namaari was hardened but still had hope and love deep down, and Sisu's trusting nature - the hallmark of the dragons in the lore of Kumandra - reached that place.

It's crazy: the screencap of young Namaari imagining a dragon coming back into their world, is next to the one where Sisu is mortally wounded. On a more meta level, perhaps the rivers young Namaari speaks of are to metaphorically be the choices she has to consider as an adult.

I wish these two had a one-to-one scene, and am very mildly hoping for a sequel, but Namaari and Sisu no doubt influenced one another in the story:

I'll be writing another analysis or two about this movie while my brainrot lasts lol

#raya and the last dragon #ratld #namaari #sisu #ratld analysis #ratld meta #this was it #this was the movie that (during the 2nd watch/1st rewatch) helped me let go of several weeks' worth of guilt and feeling haunted #because I truly see myself in Namaari now #she also suffered from moral injury and not daring to hope #also SEA representation. I'm Southeast Asian

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mosthomoeroticenemies · 1 year

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The Contestants

Cherik (Professor X/Magneto) - X-Men

Fuffy (Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Megop (Optimus Prime/Megatron) - Transformers

Curtwen (Curt Mega/Owen Carvour) - Spies are Forever

Thoschei (The Doctor/The Master) - Doctor Who

Perryshmirtz (Perry the Platypus/Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz) - Phineas and Ferb

Catradora (Adora/Catra) - She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Soukoku (Osamu Dazai/Chuuya Nakahara) - Bungo Stray Dogs

c!TnTDuo (c!Quackity/c!Wilbur Soot) - Dream SMP

Spy/Supervillain - Genghis Khan by Miike Snow

Batman/Joker - Lego Batman

Wrightworth (Phoenix Wright/Miles Edgeworth) - Ace Attorney

Batjokes (Batman/Joker) - Batman

Lawlight (L/Light Yagami) - Death Note

Bowiugi (Bowser/Luigi) - Mario

Stanarrator (Narrator/Stanley) - The Stanley Parable

Kidlaw (Eustass Kid/Trafalgar Law) - One Piece

Shuake (Goro Akechi/Akira Kurusu) - Persona 5

Cuttletavio (Craig Cuttlefish/DJ Octavio) - Splatoon

Gethan (Rupert Giles/Ethan Rayne) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Zosan (Roronoa Zoro/Sanji) - One Piece

ChellDOS (Chell/GLaDOS) - Portal

Jesus Christ/Judas Iscariot - The New Testament

Gwensuzie (Gwen Cooper/Suzie Costello) - Torchwood

Krisnix (Phoenix Wright/Kristoph Gavin) - Ace Attorney

Griffguts (Guts/Griffith) - Berserk

Hannigram (Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter) - Hannibal

Ghiralink (Ghirahim/Link) - Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Valvert (Javert/Jean Valjean) - Les Miserables

Abestache (Detective Abe Lincoln/Wilford Warfstache) - Markiplier Cinematic Universe

Sasunaru (Naruto/Sasuke) - Naruto

Jedediah/Octavius - Night at the Museum

Nami/Kalifa - One Piece

Gabv1el (V1/Gabriel) - Ultrakill

Kazumaji (Kazuma Kiryu/Goro Majima) - Yakuza

Zukka (Zuko/Sokka) - Avatar: The Last Airbender

Ineffable Husbands (Aziraphale/Crowley) - Good Omens

Billford (Bill Cipher/Stanford Pines) - Gravity Falls

Evelyn Deavor/Elastigirl - Incredibles 2

Jennifer Check/Needy Lesnicki - Jennifer’s Body

Kigo (Kim Possible/Shego) - Kim Possible

Sportarobbie (Sportacus/Robbie Rotten) - Lazy Town

Swan Queen (Emma Swan/Regina Mills) - Once Upon a Time

Hardenshipping (Magma Leader Maxie/Aqua Leader Archie) -Pokemon OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire

Westley/Inigo Montoya - Princess Bride

Sonadow (Sonic/Shadow) - Sonic the Hedgehog

Plabs (Plankton/Mr. Krabs) - SpongeBob SquarePants

Kylux (General Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren) - Star Wars

Johnchurch (Merle Highchurch/John Hunger) - The Adventure Zone: Balance

Basigan (Professor Ratigan/Basil of Baker Street) - The Great Mouse Detective

LonelyEyes (Elias Buchard/Peter Lukas) - The Magnus Archives

Johnjack (Jack Harkness/John Hart) - Torchwood

Blicy (Bloom/Icy) - Winx Club

Riddlebat (Batman/The Riddler) - Batman comics

Shin Soukoku (Atsushi Nakajima/Ryuunosuke Akutagawa) - Bungo Stray Dogs

Snowbaz (Baz Pitch/Simon Snow) - Carry On

Komahina (Nagito Komaeda/Hajime Hinata) - Danganronpa

Wonder Woman/Cheetah - DC

Spamvil (Jevil/Spamton) - Deltarune

Rk1000 (Connor/Markus) - Detroit: Become Human

John McClane/Hans Gruber - Die Hard

Fenders (Fenris/Anders) - Dragon Age 2

Vegekaka (Goku/Vegeta) - Dragon Ball Z

Rapple (Apple White/Raven Queen) - Ever After High

Billdip (Bill Cipher/Dipper Pines) - Gravity Falls

Radiostatic (Vox/Alastor) - Hazbin Hotel

Sirdust (Angel Dust/Sir Pretious) - Hazbin Hotel

Fengqing (Feng Xin/Mu Qing) - Heaven Official’s Blessing

Blitzer (Blitzø/Striker) - Helluva Boss

Martha May Whovier/Betty Lou Who - How the Grinch Stole Christmas

ZaDr (Zim/Dib) - Invader Zim

Sarumi (Fushimi Saruhiko/Yata Misaki) - K Project

Metadede (King Dedede/Meta Knight) - Kirby

Gandalf/Sauron - Lord of the Rings

Island Husbands (Ben Linus/John Locke) - Lost

Metromind (Megamind/Metro Man) - Megamind

Sherliam (Sherlock Holmes/William James Moriarty) - Moriarty the Patriot

Bujeet (Buford/Bajeet) - Phineas and Ferb

Grovyle/Dusknoir - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky

Shassie (Shawn Spencer/Carlton “Lassie” Lassiter) - Psych

Rayaari (Raya/Namaari) - Raya and the Last Dragon

Tycutio (Mercutio/Tybalt) - Romeo and Juliet

Sherliam (Sherlock Holmes/James Moriarty) - Sherlock

Obikin (Anakin Skywalker/Obi-Wan Kenobi) - Star Wars

Obimaul (Obi-Wan Kenobi/Darth Maul) - Star Wars

Oncelax (The Onceler/The Lorax) - The Lorax

Owen Harper/Mark Lynch - Torchwood

Lord Hater/Wander - Wander Over Yonder

Gelphie (Elphaba/Galinda) - Wicked

Cruellanita (Cruella de Vil/Anita) - 101 Dalmations

Angelo Lagusa/Nero Vanetti - 91 Days

Discotrain (The Conductor/DJ Grooves) - A Hat in Time

Klapollo (Klavier Gavin/Apollo Justice) - Ace Attorney

Wrightdot (Godot/Phoenix Wright) - Ace Attorney

Kaneda/Tetsuo - Akira

Sydney Bristow/Lauren Reed - Alias

Ellen Ripley/The Xenomorph - Alien

Zadison (Zoe Benson/Madison Montgomery) - American Horror Story: Coven

Sterling Archer/Barry Dylan - Archer

Y’all (The Poll Takers)/Me (The Poll Maker) - askeletonwar

Just Walk Out!/Papyrus - askeletonwar

Londo Mollari/G’kar - Babylon 5

Rampage/Depth Charge - Beast Wars: Transformers

Pinariz (Riz/Pina) - Beastars

Kunieda Aoi/Hildegarde - Beezlebub

Sebagrell (Grell/Sebastian) - Black Butler

Gus Fring/Walter White - Breaking Bad

Spangel (Spike/Angel) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Spuffy (Spike/Buffy) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Winteriron (Tony Stark/The Winter Soldier) - Captain America: Civil War

Stucky (Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes) - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Carulia (Carmen Sandiego/Julia Argent) - Carmen Sandiego

Macavity/Munkustrap - Cats (1998)

Caius Marcius Coriolanus/Tullus Aufidius - Coriolanus

Dean Pelton/Dean Spreck - Community

Shadowghast (Caleb Widogast/Essek Thelyss) - Critical Role

Blumentrio (Caleb Widogast/Eadwulf Grieve/Astrid Becke) -Critical Role

Theopin (Lapin Cadbury/Sir Theobald Gumbar) - D20: A Crown of Candy

Hero/Villain - dannyphantom.exe

Clex (Superman/Lex Luthor) - DC

Babsquinn (Batgirl/Harley Quinn) - DC

Seavil (Jevil/Seam) - Deltarune

Rengoku Kyoujurou/Akaza - Demon Slayer

Mal/Uma - Descendants

Reed800 (Connor/Gavin Reed) - Detroit: Become Human

Ryokira (Akira/Ryo) - Devilman

Maxwil (Maxwell/Wilson) - Don't Starve

Nikki/Mackenzie - Dork Diaries

Gell/Frisky - Dot X

Dr. Horrible/Captain Hammer - Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Count Dracula/Jonathan Harker - Dracula

Joan Watson/Jamie Moriarty - Elementary

Zerxus Ilerez/Asmodeus - Exandria Unlimited: Calamity

Gratsu (Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster) - Fairy Tail

Gary/John - Faith

Peter Griffin/The Chicken - Family Guy

John Crichton/Scorpius - Farscape

Emiya Archer/Cu Chulainn - Fate Stay Night

Angeal Hewley/Genesis Rhapsodos/Sephiroth - Final Fantasy VII

Cidnero (Nero tol Scaeva/Cid Garlond) - Final Fantasy XIV

Willry (Henry Emily/William Afton) - Five Nights at Freddy’s

Victor Frankenstein/The Monster - Frankenstein

Cure Peach/Eas - Fresh Pretty Cure!

Haikaveh (Alhaitham/Kaveh) - Genshin Impact

Sugio (Sugimoto/Ogata) - Golden Kamuy

Nygmobblepot (Edward Nygma/Oswald Cobblepot) - Gotham

Mabifica (Mabel Pines/Pacifica Northwest) - Gravity Falls

Kagehina (Hinata/Kageyama) - Haikyuu!

#mosthomoeroticenemies #contestants

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destinylightsup-2006 · 5 months

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My Nice List for Christmas (2023)

Here are the characters I think they're nice. (As I believe they all are)

Pure Vanilla Cookie (Cookie Run)

Hollyberry Cookie, Dark Cacao Cookie, Golden Cheese Cookie and White Lily Cookie (Cookie Run)

Gingerbrave (Cookie Run)

Cherry Cookie and Cherry Blossom Cookie (Cookie Run)

Cream Puff Cookie (Cookie Run)

Cotton Cookie (Cookie Run)

Pumpkin Pie Cookie (Cookie Run)

Milky Way Cookie (Cookie Run)

Sea Fairy Cookie and Moonlight Cookie (Cookie Run)

Cream Unicorn Cookie (Cookie Run)

Clotted Cream Cookie (Cookie Run)

Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long (RWBY)

Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren (RWBY)

Qrow Branwen (RWBY)

Penny Polendina (RWBY)

Oscar Pine (RWBY)

Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus (Sailor Moon)

Chibiusa (Sailor Moon)

Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson (The Simpsons)

Ned Flanders (The Simpsons)

Mario and Luigi (Super Mario)

Peach and Daisy (Super Mario)

Yoshi (Super Mario)

Geno and Mallow (Super Mario)

Rosalina (Super Mario)

Kirby

Adeleine and Ribbon (Kirby)

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Starlight Glimmer (My Little Pony)

Spike (My Little Pony)

Sunset Shimmer (My Little Pony)

Princess Celestia (My Little Pony)

Princess Luna (My Little Pony)

Steven Universe

Sonic the Hedgehog

Tails the Fox (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

Alice (Alice in Wonderland)

Hercules (Disney)

Link (The Legend of Zelda)

Zelda (The Legend of Zelda)

Invincible

Sulley and Mike (Monsters, Inc.)

WALL.E

Po (Kung Fu Panda)

Superman

Batman

Charlie Morningstar (Hazbin Hotel)

Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado (Demon Slayer)

Ryuko Matoi and Mako Mankanshoku (Kill la Kill)

Elsa and Anna (Frozen)

Pit (Kid Icarus)

Palutena (Kid Icarus)

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (How to Train Your Dragon)

Woody and Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story)

Leo, Raph, Don and Mikey (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Spider-Man

Gwen Stacy (Spider-Man)

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup (Powerpuff Girls)

Isabelle (Animal Crossing)

Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy)

Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy)

Puss in Boots

Raya (Raya and the Last Dragon)

Sisu (Raya and the Last Dragon)

Fa Mulan (Mulan)

Tari (Meta Runner)

Meggy Spletzer and Melony (SMG4)

SMG0 (SMG4)

Ryu (Street Fighter)

Chun Li (Street Fighter)

Poppy (Trolls)

Emmet Brickowski (The LEGO Movie)

Stan, Kyle and Kenny (South Park)

Butters Stotch (South Park)

Courage the Cowardly Dog

Muriel Bagge (Courage the Cowardly Dog)

Yoda (Star Wars)

Judy Hopps (Zootopia)

Jenny Wakeman (My Life as a Teenage Robot)

Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack Parr (The Incredibles)

Frozone (The Incredibles)

SpongeBob SquarePants

Thomas the Tank Engine (Thomas & Friends)

Jack Frost (Rise of the Guardians)

Felonius Gru (Despicable Me)

Lucy Wilde (Despicable Me)

Margo, Edith and Agnes Gru (Despicable Me)

Optimus Prime (Transformers)

Bumblebee (Transformers)

Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger (Inside Out)

Dipper and Mabel Pines (Gravity Falls)

Sportacus (LazyTown)

Captain America (Marvel)

Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg (Teen Titans)

Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Samurai Jack

Frodo Baggins (Middle-earth)

Gandalf (Middle-earth)

NOTE: I do not own everything

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chucktaylorupset · 1 year

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tagged by @exuberantocean who went and tagged “YOU! That’s right, you!” and hey, that’s me!

rules: post the first lines of your 10 most recently published AO3 stories (amending to add: or podfics). if you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics.

1. The Sadboy Pillowfort of Anti-Amatonormativity (ofmd, meta) “It is actually extremely important to me that y'all understand the importance of the talent show subplot to the structure of ofmd being not just a gay romcom but a story fiercely thematically opposed to toxic masculinity and amatonormativity; how Ed the Emo crying into his blanket fort and silk gown writing sad boy poetry music is the most emotionally healthy he’s ever been and a hairsbreadth away from sustained happiness.”

2. High Scholomance-ical: Overture (the scholomance) “CAST:/Orion!”

3. Unburied (critical role, campaign 2) “The Gentleman’s laboratory is about as bad as Mollymauk expected, but preparation doesn’t stop him from wanting to try and claw the smell of wet dirt from his nostrils.”

4. First time I’ve ever wished for a Disney version (check please) “Once upon a time there was a prince.“

5. A Grifter’s Rings (leverage) “’Does that ever bother you?’ asked Breanna.”

6. Raya and the Last Dragon: Rewrite (Raya) “[Black screen. Voiceover from CHIEF BENJA and YOUNG RAYA, a bemused father and his enthusiastic little girl.]“

7. Loneliness Can’t Kill (the old guard) “Booker had a brother, once.”

8. Starring Lord Calroy Cruller as My Cousin Vinny (a crown of candy) “Calroy can feel the equilibrium of the crowd tipping like a ship deck under his feet during a storm.”

9. I am not there, I do not sleep (critical role, campaign 2) “A cry of faith is not the same as a cry of sound.”

10. A Name Held Against You (critical role, campaign 2 “On the first day Molly doesn't say anything.”

Tags to: Also You!

#my post #tag meme #looking at one of these like oh god why wasnt that past tense

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four-4-dream-land · 2 years

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Meta Knight, how did you come across your sword, Galaxia? And do you still have your old one?

Meta Knight took a long pause, hesitating to answer. This wasn’t a story he was willing to share with just anyone. However, after disappearing for a few minutes, he returned with what looked like a very old sword - nicked, bronze-like metal protruding from a hilt that lacked any form of decoration. It was a miracle that such a weapon could last for so long, perhaps only due to the care given to it by its owner.

“From a glance, this blade may seem highly unimpressive, but it has served me well for longer than you can imagine. Thus, I will never truly part from it, even if it only serves as a spare weapon nowadays...”

Darkness. Cold. Pain.

A lone soldier awoke in completely alien territory, his armor destroyed. At first, his mind couldn’t comprehend it. He had fallen, been struck down by a titan of a monster into a deep chasm. Echoes of his brothers and sisters-in-arms struggling to hold the enemy back replayed in his head as though it were still happening around him.

Raya’s screams.

But none of this was here now. Now, he was met with the cruel indifference of the cavern that was his cradle, the dripping of minerals from the ceiling. He hadn’t a clue of how he could still be considered alive, but one thing was certain – he needed to escape.

His hand tightening around the handle of his trusty blade, the puffball began wandering aimlessly in the unending shadows. He searched for any sign of a way out, any crack of sunlight or glimmer of bioluminescence. He scrounged for roots, mushrooms, and insects for sustenance. Time failed to show meaning here. Perhaps he could’ve kept existing like this forever, but eventually, he did find his light.

It led him to a cave filled with treasure, and amongst it, a golden sword lodged in a stone - the light’s source. The weapon was beautiful…but it wasn’t what he was looking for. None of it was. He turned to leave, but something began moving within the piles of precious metals. It was a mighty dragon, pale as snow, its crimson eyes darting wildly as it sniffed out the intruder. The path the soldier took to make it there was quickly blocked off by dislodged rocks, and so he had no choice but to fight the beast for his life.

After a long, grueling battle, the weary and bloodied soldier seized victory over his captor. Not once did he attempt to grab the golden sword, even when his own weapon was knocked away. The dragon, still barely alive, asked why this was, to which the soldier explained that he just wanted out, that there was a war he abandoned by being there, and that treasure had no value to him. What’s more, the weapon was not his to take, and trying to pull it out of the stone would’ve been detrimental had he failed.

The dragon was impressed by the soldier’s resolve and fighting spirit. It revealed that its sole purpose was to guard Galaxia, the sword of light, from anyone unworthy of wielding it. For proving his worth, it allowed the puffball to claim Galaxia as his own and become its new guardian, noting that it had the power he would need to finally make his escape. Upon doing so, wings sprouted from his back, and the soldier who was almost lost to time and obscurity was reborn as Sir Meta Knight.

It wasn’t until some time later that Meta Knight learned of where he emerged. Pop Star, a planet far away from the side of the universe he came from, had a vast subterranean mine known only as The Great Cave Offensive. He happened to awaken in one of the deepest tunnels, one that was no longer accessible after the knight left it behind. How he ended up there remains a mystery to this day, and despite all the hardships he faced while down there, he was forever thankful to have been given a second chance.

#a treasure chest! || ask #long post #secret lore #my art #sorry this took so long #as a reminder I don't implement events that solely exist in the anime

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idlepebbles · 2 years

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just rewatched raya for the first time in a couple months and I thought I'd give some random thoughts lol

- I will literally never watch the English dub again because I loved the bahasa Indonesia one so so so much. the voices were perfect and it filled a hole in my heart istg

- the plot feels really fragmented and I wonder if it has to do with how the work was literally fragmented with each person off in their home for the second half of production

- I was initially mad about having SEAsia blended together, however now I think that this is a good first step. having a movie come out that was just one of us probably would have caused some bitterness and I'm somewhat glad we can all just share this piece of representation until we all get up there and make our own :)

- the trust message feels a bit too nuanced/confusing for a kid's movie tbh. it felt like it always framed sisu as correct for randomly trusting ppl and raya as having trust issues when... yeah??? ofc she has trust issues? both of them had flaws in their outlook but it felt like raya was constantly criticized for it

- I didn't know that there were deleted scenes and other extras and they were so fun!! I loved seeing what aspects of the movie were from what culture :) seeing it say that pencak silat was the martial art that raya's was based on made me so happy!

- one day I want to dress up as raya bc istg that's what I look like :o I love the character design in this movie. almost cried the first time I watxhed bc omg that's me. wtf. that's my eyes and nose and hair??? I am so attached because of this??? and chief Benja looks just like my papah so it's just T-T yeah...

- raya barely did anything wrong. maybe im saying this bc I also have issues with needing to control things. in fact... probably... but still lmao imo she wasn't at fault for sisu's death bc namaari was about to pull the trigger.

- tuktuk being a pill bear is such a cute concept and I love it. he's just so cute. me and both of my sister's have plushies of him :)

- I'm still sad we didn't get fun music tbh. esp after watching encanto it feels like a lost opportunity even tho ik the tone of this movie was a lot darker. speaking of which, I love the cinematography but I kind of wish there were more bright colors?? idk, again, I don't know if it would match the vibe lol I wonder if we'll get a bright and happy movie one day. that would be fun. our cultures are so bright and beautiful and despite colonization and violence we have so much happiness to share

- not to beat a dead horse, but yea the jokes... aren't great. not a fan of them bc they rlly take me out of the immersion. why couldn't we just get funny jokes that aren't based on being #relatable. not everything needs to work for western ppl. we could have had inside jokes only we got.

- sisu's design also isn't my favorite but honestly I don't like how everyone acted about it. it really wasn't as terrible as ppl made it out to be and it's still clearly a dragon with SEAsian roots. that's not a European dragon that breathes fire

- the food makes me so happy :) I was eating longon and lychee and actually shrieked when I saw it on screen and I had Tom yum for dinner and that's so fun bc I was thinking about how much I wanted to try their soup and apparently that's what it's based on!!!

- I wish they had actually used a mix of different languages instead of making things up. like they could have had a word from each country or smthn instead of making up a random word. would have felt way more connected.

- the lack of SEAsian VAs makes me sad. partially why I love the Indonesian version so much is it alleviates some of that discomfort. I don't think the performances were bad (for the most part. I'm looking at you random really deep voiced girl from the market) but it just makes me so so sad. we had a thing for once and they just went. nah east Asians instead! like... why. it's not like we're not in the industry. ik Kelly Marie tran and awkwafina and Benedict Wong are popular but y'all rlly could've gotten a SEAsian for at least the side roles :(

- oh also the awkward way they say their names and made up words makes me so uncomfortable lmao. I think this every time I see a cartoon about a culture with another language but goddamn could you just give them an accent so the mixed in words from another language feel more cohesive? they managed to do this in encanto so goddamn have them roll some Rs sometimes lmao

- I love Boun and Tong and Toi and Benja and the ongis and it kind of makes me sad that there's only content for raya and namaari. sort of feels like yt queers just took the queer bits and decided that the rest of the cultural stuff wasn't as interesting.

- on the flip side some of the fanart is so fucking cool and I'm glad there's so much good stuff! and these characters are gay. so gay. they are just. so lesbians. the eye contact. the tension. the hand holding. the undercut and cat lady jokes (while western oriented) are yeah. theyre friends to enemies to lovers your honor. there's nothing else to be said

- the droon being an allegory for colonialism is something I just saw and that's rlly interesting. next time I watch I'll have to keep that in mind. would really change how I look at the movie I think. would add a layer of depth that could be interesting to think about.

in conclusion, I love this movie sm, it makes me cry every time, and I'm so fucking glad my little sisters have a south east Asian princess to look up to :)

edit: there have been many videos made recently about raya and in my watching of them, I noticed all of them said that the cast was almost fully east Asian including Kelly Marie Tran. a lot of issues that people have had are that she is east Asian and claiming the seasian princess but???? she is seasian?? I just checked and she's literally vietnamese?? I'm so confused why has everyone been acting like she was an east Asian coopting seasian roles?? help??

#raya and the last dragon meta #raya and the last dragon #indonesian #ratld #long post #watch out the kid whos never had proper representation is a bit salty today #my post #watching encanto kinda made me see the lost opportunities in someways tbh

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hamliet · 3 years

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Disney Princesses: Raya’s Risk

So with the release of Raya and the Last Dragon, it’s time to resurrect my Disney Princess analysis series.

Again, the disclaimed: there is absolutely room for legitimate criticism of Raya and the Last Dragon, and this is not going to invalidate any valid criticism of the film, but rather offer a perspective on her film and specifically on Raya as a character.

To go off of that, the main thing about Raya is that she is, you know, actually a character. A protagonist character with actual, legitimate, called out flaws, much more serious flaws than Moana’s doubt or Anna’s idealism or Elsa’s fear. Not to criticize those flaws because they worked for their characters in those particular films, but Raya is frankly a more complex character than usual.

Raya’s angry and filled with resentment. And she should be, frankly. Her friend tricked her and got her dad killed. Anyone would be angry at that. However, while anger is Raya’s flaw, it is also her strength: a double-edged sword. Raya’s anger can be a tool to fix the world when paired with hope, or a tool to destroy it when paired with fear.

We see this through Raya’s relationships with Sisu and Namaari respectively, but eventually they bleed into each other as circumstances become more dire. Raya’s anger over her father’s “death” convince her she has to fix the world, and so she finds Sisu. Unlike most Disney movies, Raya is not the optimistic one here; Sisu is the idealist, the hopeful character who believes in beauty and goodness in the world. Yet, despite Raya’s bitterness and fear and pain, she manages to channel that towards progress. If Raya wasn’t angry, she wouldn’t have accomplished anything.

On the other hand, when Raya’s anger pairs with fear, she causes disaster. When she doesn’t trust Namaari--and understandably so!--it results in Sisu being killed. Trust itself is not the film’s message: it can lead to disaster, or to salvation. It’s not the message. The journey is more about how Raya responds internally, what she directs her anger towards and what drives her, because that does spill over and affect the world. Sisu’s death is a parallel to her father’s: in addition to both being temporary, the point is that trust is neither good nor bad; it’s a noble intention, but you cannot control the outcome of it.

It’s an interesting commentary because even irl, we don’t always see the end of our efforts to make a better world, but we have to trust that we’ve done enough that others will carry on with the work. That was what happened with Sisu’s family entrusting her with the gem, and it’s what happens in the end of the film, when Raya has to trust Namaari and die herself. The point is that there are no guarantees, but someone has to take that first step. Someone has to hold out a hand. No one is required to, and no one should be forced to, but at some point, someone has to do it, or the cycle goes on forever and turns everyone into hard-hearted people (stone).

Speaking of Namaari, I of course liked that the antagonist gets to be the hero and save the day in the end. She was one of Disney’s more complex antagonists in years, being a flawed human who did something inexcusably awful, yet was still capable of being a hero and of changing.

I think one of the more controversial lines, that I’ve heard at least, is Namaari telling Raya, “you’re as responsible for Sisu’s death as I am!” Which is not, objectively speaking, true--but the point is that assigning fault for Sisu’s death is not going to bring her back. The cycle of violence and hate is continuing, and everyone who participates in the cycle can contribute to it stopping, if they want to.

The movie doesn’t dilute its message to make it palatable. The message is also a lot more specific than the typical inoffensive “love is the answer” takes (which is not a knock against love being the answer! Because it is). But Raya takes that a step further and specifically challenges the audience to explore forgiveness--which is a polarizing position because of how deeply personal and provocative this notion (forgiveness) is. All too often “forgiveness” is held up as a cheap way forward, a way that refuses to acknowledge pain, and is used to gag and silence the bleeding, instead of to bind up their wounds.

The difference and nuance between redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and what that looks like in specific cases in specific societies, is extremely complex, interrelated in many ways yet distinct in others, and too often it is overly/harmfully simplified. But as a result, we see “forgiveness” as a controversial idea in modern society. Either people browbeat others into forgiving, or they react with extreme offense at the mere notion that forgiveness can be healing. Could the movie have been more nuanced/less heavy-handed? Yes and yes. Did that ruin the story?

Imo, no, because it allowed Raya her journey. In a fantasy story where the world’s fate literally depends on the choices Raya makes, of course the stakes are high, but Raya was allowed to make mistakes and to learn from them. She was not told her anger had no place, because again, without it we wouldn’t have the story or healing at all. Forgiveness heals, Raya says. But it also allows Raya her journey to get there--and that’s the story.

Of course it is an idealistic kid’s movie, but it deliberately looks at cynicism and says “no.” The movie also shows trust leading to betrayal, showing it doesn’t always work, but without trust, there is no chance for peace. And without forgiveness, trust can never be complete. It says idealism is good, childlike innocence can save the world--and in a world where stories are becoming increasingly commercialized and cynical, I found it welcome.

Snow White’s Self-Esteem

Cinderella’s Courage and Compassion

Aurora’s Autonomy

Ariel’s Adventurous Spirit

Belle’s Bravery (and Boundaries)

Jasmine’s Justice

Pocahontas’s Power the Choose Her Path

Esmeralda’s Empathy

Meg’s Mistakes

Mulan’s Masks

Tiana’s Tenacity

Rapunzel’s Radiance

Anna’s Allegiance and Elsa’s Empowerment

Moana’s Maturity

#disney princesses #Disney #raya and the last dragon #raya #namaari #sisu #disney meta #raya and the last dragon meta

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luminescentauthor · 3 years

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RatLD Commentary: Good Characters Will Make A Story

WHOLE LOTTA SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT. Also just me rambling for a long time about how much I loved the characterization in this movie.

I refuse to post about this movie without acknowledging the cultural significance of the first SEA disney princess and I will continue to do so until people on this website start remembering that this movie is about culture and trust and overall a WHOLE lot more than just the sapphics (as great as they are.) Yes I’m going to copy paste this exact paragraph at the top of every RatLD post I make from now on.

Anyway.

I would say that Raya and the Last Dragon is, at a very fundamental level, about its characters and their dynamics. A lot of time, a story’s greatest strength will be plot, or worldbuilding, or character. And it can make or break a story. Of all these elements, character is probably the strongest. A book can be interesting if it has strong characters and a weak plot -- but 90% of readers won’t stick around to watch weak characters, no matter how strong the plot or world is.

And GOD, RatLD’s characters are just wonderful.

Raya’s beautiful character arc from untrusting and world-weary, to taking a chance on Naamari. Letting Raya be flawed and world-weary, having her anger overwhelm her, but still having her make the right choice in the end. Then Naamari, who’s development is just wonderful: she goes from choosing Fang and herself to choosing the world and others. She stays with Raya and the others while she reassembles the gem instead of getting herself out. And viewers, as they learn more about her, go from seeing her as a bad guy to seeing her someone just who’s been trying to do the right thing for her people. Sisu has this fascinating and fun mix of naivety and wisdom. And Boun, Noi, and Tong are all just SO DAMN LOVABLE.

That’s not even MENTIONING the wonderful relationships and dynamics in the crew. Raya and Sisu, Raya and Naamari, and Sisu and Naamari are all very plot-important, but there’s also this wonderful brother-sister dynamic between Raya and Boun, the adorable Tong and Noi dynamic, and just. It goes. On. And. On. And I LOVED it.

The theme of trust was central to the movie. Trust is ABOUT the relationships between the characters. You can’t even have trust or distrust without two characters and a relationship of some kind between them. And the more complex the characters and the relationship, the more interesting the theme gets!

In RatLD, the characters stand out far more than the plot, and that’s not even a problem for me (most of the time I’d have an issue with that.) Because it doesn’t need to be about the central plot; in this movie, it’s just a way to push the characters to develop. It’s just. God.

Good fucking characters, guys.

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ruinconstellation · 3 years

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#raya and the last dragon #ratld #ao3 #fanfiction meta #i'm just so jazzed #f/f is ridiculously rare #so to see this is wonderful #op

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emilyarmadillo · 4 years

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Tuk Tuk is an armadillo-bug hybrid.

The latest Disney sidekick is undoubtedly cute

and most people have labeled him an armadillo. I have a slightly different theory.

Consigering this movie is about a dragon, I think it's fair to say Raya's world contains different animals than ours. Tuk Tuk is clearly mammalian (behold his little paws!) but rolls up in pill-bug like way and, if you interpret the trailer clips like I do, can change size (at the very least, he has an adult size much larger than any armadillo). Armadillos can roll up into balls but only the three-banded species, and Tuk Tuk clearly has more than three bands on his shell. And so I say, pill bug. Look into his cute little face to see more buggy traits.

Besides missing the pointy nose and long ears expected of an armadillo- what are those on his head? This fella appears to have antennae. He's also missing a tail- an armadillo would have one, a pill bug would not.

Fun fact: pill bugs belong to the family Armadillidiidae.

In conclusion, Tuk Tuk is a bugadillo (armapill bug?) and also probably very huggable.

#tuk tuk #raya and the last dragon #my meta #there's something to be said about the avatar/korra world and hybrid animals but yeah #disney #armadillo #pill bug #armapill bug?#emarma's

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canonicallyanxious · 3 years

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random and incoherent thoughts about raya and the last dragon

[spoilers under the cut]

bro these character designs are so fucking good!! i loved that the clothing was so unmistakably inspired by southeast asian culture, not conforming at all to western notions of femininity WE LOVE TO SEE IT

Idk why but it touched a thing in my heart to hear them use the south vietnamese word for dad [”ba”] for Raya to refer to her father as

“dep la” as a term for best friend derived from the viet words “đẹp” [beautiful] and “lạ” [strange] - if i’m going to be totally honest i didn’t realize this at first bc of the lack of accents [viet words said with an american accent just sound unbelievably flat and almost doesn’t resemble the viet word at all like even non-accented words in vietnamese have a bit more energy to them than your typical english words but anyway i digress] [also dep la isn’t really a phrase i’ve ever used in vietnamese, like i wouldn’t really think to put those words together but anyway] but beyond my monkey gay brain like “THEY CALLED EACH OTHER BEAUTIFUL” i’m kind of really into the idea of best friendship being characterized with a strange beauty, esp in the context of the film when they had just met - something they aren’t able to put a name to bc it’s unfamiliar but that they recognize in each other; friendship is strange but beautiful, i love that so fucking much

THE FOOD! THE FUCKIN FOOD! UNMISTAKEABLY SOUTHEAST ASIAN SO MUCH LOVE WAS PUT INTO THIS FOOD!

Sisu and Namaari meeting eyes for the first time -> Sisu being the one to recognize Namaari’s fear and vulnerability bc she recognizes it in herself -> Namaari taking up Sisu’s original role as the one to accept the others’ trust in her to empower her to put together the gem and ultimately save the world, bc their trust makes her a better person and allows her to trust in them and their sacrifice as well -> BIG FUCKING BRAIN OF THE WRITERS

Trust isn’t naivety, it’s strength and it’s power; you can’t control what other people do if they misuse your trust in them but you can control what you do; trusting in others doesn’t just give them strength, it gives you strength too to do things you could never do on your own

Let me take the first step -> Raya’s first step in recovering from her trauma as a young girl was also her first step in learning how to really trust Namaari again!!!!!

The world falling to pieces bc the conflict over the gem caused it to break into pieces -> the world is healed when the nations are able to unite once more and literally, physically put the pieces back together -> is it heavyhanded imagery? maybe so! am i a complete bitch for that kind of shit? shut up you can’t prove anything!

the way Raya gathered allies from all the countries of Kumandra and at first they were all so untrusting of each other but mistrust was ultimately born out of loneliness and in the end they were able to lean on each other and help each other bc ultimately at the end of the day they all just want to live and that built their trust in each other... it’s about the Found Family

Also though the importance of family in general in this movie, pretty much everyone was motivated by their love for their family!!! man hold on a second jusT HOLD ON A SECOND

#MANY THOUGHTS! HEAD FULL!#sarah.txt #raya and the last dragon spoilers /#story meta

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probablyhuntersmom · 1 year

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I really love that Raya and Sisu's arcs come to a neat intersection, once 1. Sisu can reconnect with the magic of her eldest sibling who she looks up to the most, feeling Pengu's presence

and 2. we finally see Raya visiting her father (it is unknown if this is the first time she has returned here since the trauma of being separated from him), who is obviously still under the Druun sleep spell.

Whatever Benja means to his daughter, is what Pengu must be to his younger sister.

All this happens after the duo has won Tong's trust (leaving only Namaari, their most skeptical adversary in Fang, to convince in order to rebuild the Dragon Gem).

The group regaining more of the gem pieces and recruiting their new comrades, forging new connections, is the opposite of more and more people in the world falling under the stone sleep spell. One current runs against the flow of the other as the plot gets closer to the final confrontation.

Like..apparently most people who resonated with this movie when it was released could do so because the world was going through collective grief thanks to Covid. But I hardly resonated with that, being fine with much alone time at home during those months. That's why during my first viewing it was more "Aww, that's poignant. Cool symbolism".

My thoughts are too incoherent for a longer neater meta right now but the film hits me differently now because I see the stone statues as representing proper graves.

#raya and the last dragon #ratld #raya #sisu #pengu #chief benja #I just feel this movie could be great for anyone going though bereavement or any devastating loss #ratld meta

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khrushchevs-corn-farm · 4 years

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It really say a lot about this site how it can turn a wholesome post about how an upcoming movie reminded them of a beloved cartoon into a cluster fuck of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Tumblr really is the omnishambles of the internet.

#legend of korra #Tlok meta #raya and the last dragon #legend of korra meta #anti tumblr

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stupid-sloot-headcanons · 2 years

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Disney is such a varied company/studio at times you get stuff on the level of Encanto, Mulan, Zootopia, etc. (Your mileage may vary) but then they also put out this reboot, Mulan live action, get rid of Disney channel, etc. Like while not all their films are winners or losers you can see a different tone as they change CEOs and closed the 2d animation department.

I mean I'll give Eisner loads of shit but at the very least he sometimes tried new things after using that Paramount experience to get the company out of the red. That Alien encounter ride was interesting and Disneyland Paris was a shitshow but it was an opportunity for imagineers to let their Jules Verne love run rampant.

Encanto despite being a little undercooked in the writing department was interesting enough. Live action Mulan was a wannabe wuxia filmed right next to Ugyhur prison camps. Turning Red was...something. Not good imo but it was something. Unlike Raya the Last Dragon, TR and Encanto actually left an impression at least.

I keep wondering if Disney's trying to lean into that DreamWorks style of films with referential humor and whatnot, even the art style and writing in Encanto and Turning Red made me think of DreamWorks or Blue Sky more than Disney. And it's kind of pathetic to see a studio that built itself on its own iconic image trying all these different aesthetic (and cultural, tho that's another debate entirely) costumes. Like ok, a lot of people are disillusioned and don't think the Disney wholesome shit is worthwhile anymore. But I recall Walt himself reading a newspaper review of Mary Poppins calling it cheesy kiddy schmaltz, and he just shrugged with a frown and said "Well, I like cheesy kiddy schmaltz." This is the same man who also said he made money to make movies, not the other way around, but I digress.

Disney cannot ever succeed in that kind of parody/meta/self-referential and self-critical humor. It just doesn't work with their company's history and image for the past half a fucking century or so. Humor, yeah, they've had plenty of funny films. But those well-remembered Disney films that had that kind of humor in them also had an earnestness behind them. Hercules had some little digs at parody and shit but it was small and quick and it also didn't distract from the actual story it was trying to tell.

Shrek 2, Megamind, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters Vs Aliens are all great films AND great comedies because that meta humor is baked into Dreamworks's identity as a studio and they know how to use it. You're not gonna be as successful with that kind of writing as them, and trying just makes me want to watch DreamWorks films.

Also all the live action films are missing any kind of visual identity, and the entire thing just looks and sounds like the tax write-off and copyright reset button that it really is. I joke about "lunchables" anime but Disney's entire live action department (a fair portion of their MCU films and shows as well imo) are a lunchables factory. They're products and a lot of them, especially their remakes, have no artistic value to me.

#sloot's essays #sloot bitches about things

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chucktaylorupset · 11 months

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6, 27

from the fan fic writer ask meme

thank you for asking! this is very cool!!

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time?

yes.

...

a lot of them are explicit. a bunch of them are by astolat. i will say Ice Crew, Please! by rosepetals42, the series Bartending AU by SummerFrost, and In Defiance of All Geometry by idiopathicsmile are all eternal rereads in my favorite fanfiction genre of ensemble found family, though they're all longer so i wouldn't say they're the ones i've most reread

I've also been frequently rereading truth or dare me, baby! by gleesquid because, hot, and Having It Out by Mare_Admantis because I think they do kink negotiation in a really narratively interesting way

27. Is there a fic you were nervous to post/share? Why?

I'm an anxious person, so by god what fic haven't I been nervous to share. I was nervous to share first time i've ever wished for a disney version because it had kent parson and was after the fandom's heyday, Unburied was unearthed from years before and my writing had progressed far beyond it, both High Scholomance-ical: Overture was a lyrics adaptation and Raya and the Last Dragon: Rewrite was a possibly condescending rewritten screen play, both of which are very atypical formats, although you think i would've gotten over that considering I've also written in-universe epistolary and reposted fandom meta-analysis, A Grifter's Ring was the first work I ever permitted myself to post that was under a thousand words, my acoc fic felt good but also rushed, i have a critical role fic that was making some definitive statements about the nature of the gods that made me feel very strange even as I worried about people being able to follow the plot. I'll probably keep being anxious about each fic I post until I die.

#my post #ask and answer #i answer #fic rec #ask meme #thank you for asking!!!

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