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toxophilitis · 3 years

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The Preacher’s Hot Family cont

CHAPTER SIX

For the next several days after Uncle Will first fucked Tammy with his man-sized cock, the girl was letting him fuck her every afternoon. As soon as school was out, she would go directly over to her uncle's house where he would thoroughly fuck her in his bed. His big cock had completely spoiled her, though she was yearning to be fucked by a man who wasn't as did as her uncle. She was still fucking Bill and Tony, but they no longer really satisfied the horny blonde.

Her thoughts kept returning to Blane Moffat and his big cock that she'd seen him using on her mother. Thinking more and more about it, she was dying to feel Blane's cock filling her cunt.

Looking across the street one Saturday morning, Tammy saw Blane Moffat back his car out of the garage. Then he rushed into the house for something. Knowing that he would soon be leaving, she hurried over and climbed into the front seat, pleased that she wasn't wearing panties or bra. Tammy knew it was going to be a tough job to get her mother's lover to fuck her pussy, but she was going to give it a try.

"Hi, Tammy," the man smiled when he returned to his car and found Valarie's daughter sitting in it.

"Hello," she said, drawing her knees up against her tits so her naked pussy was exposed between her slightly parted thighs.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked, staring at her blonde-fringed cunt.

"Just sitting here."

"Why?"

"Because you like to fuck."

"What?" the man gasped.

"I saw you fucking my mother one day," she giggled, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Did you tell your dad?" he nervously asked.

"Not yet," she casually answered, opening her thighs wider. "Is my pussy as nice as my mom's?"

"I-I think you'd b-better g-get out of the car," he stammered. "You shouldn't be talking this way."

"Why not?" she smiled. "Don't you like to talk about fucking?"

He nervously glanced at her pussy again. "You don't have to be afraid of me," she grinned. "I'm not gonna tell anyone you fuck my mother. I think fuckin' is fun."

"What?" he gasped, shocked by what the girl was saying.

"I said I like to fuck," she said, beaming at him.

"Have you ever been screwed?"

"Sure. I've been fucked by lots of guys. Even my uncle fucks me almost every afternoon in his house."

"But he's a worn-out old man."

"That's what you think," she giggled. "He has a big hard cock and really knows how to use it."

The naughty talk and the sight of the girl's bare pussy were slowly arousing the man, making his prick start throbbing in his pants.

"You're getting a hard-on," she said.

Staring between her legs, he began wondering what kind of a fuck the girl would be.

"Come on," she whispered, gently rubbing the big cock-bulge in the front of his pants. "Let's drive someplace where we can be alone."

No longer able to resist the adorable girl, Blane started the car and headed out of town. When they were in the country, he turned up a lane where he parked in a grove of trees. Getting out of the car, Tammy walked over to a fence and rested her arm on the top rail.

Watching the blonde as she stood with her back to him, Blane excitedly stared at the soft roundness of her ass and the bare flesh of her thighs under her short dress. She might be only a teen, but she looked like a wild fuck, and Blane decided there would be no harm in fucking her just once.

Unable to control his lust any longer, he walked over behind the, girl as she gazed out across the field. With his cock throbbing wildly in his pants, Blane put his arms around her waist and pulled her ass back against his cock-bulge. Moving his hands up, he cupped the girl's tits, gently squeezing her succulent tit flesh, feeling her nipples harden under the material of her dress.

Realizing the handsome man was ready for her adolescent body, she was getting hotter and wetter between her legs. Wanting to build up his excitement, Tammy squirmed back against his slightly moving loins as he continued caressing her warm tingling tits. Her breath was coming in jagged gasps and her nostrils were flaring with lust.

Aware that the girl was his to use as he pleased, Blane took the hem of her skirt and lifted the garment off over her head. Her belly was quivering as she excitedly ground her naked ass back against his hard cock-bulge. Once more cupping her lovely tits, he began tweaking her hard, nipples with his fingers.

"That feels good, doesn't it, darling?" he hotly whispered into her ear.

"Yes... yes, it does," she panted, almost weak from the delicious feelings that were invading her horny body. God, how she wanted her mother's handsome lover to fill her hotly aroused cunt with his big thick cock! She could still visualize his boner fucking in and out between her mom's legs, and the vivid memory was further exciting the teen.

Anxious to fuck the nymph, Blane lowered his zipper with a loud rasping sound. When she heard Blane's pants slide down, she excitedly rubbed the cheeks of her bare ass back against his naked cock. She was totally consumed by the powerful lust seething deep in her cunt.

Staring down, Blane could see the lush whiteness of her soft asscheeks.

"Tammy, I'm gonna fuck you hard and deep," he whispered into her ear as he massaged the pliant flesh of her ass, dipping his outstretched finger into her slippery pussy from behind. "I'm gonna fuck you like you've never been fucked before."

"Oh, yes," she whimpered, grinding her cunt back around his exploring finger. "That's what I want."

As he stood close behind her, Tammy could feel his hotly throbbing prick pressed tightly against the fleshy crack between her asscheeks, leaving a trail of slippery, sticky pre-cum against her quivering ass flesh. She could feel his big cockhead throbbing against the bare skin of her sweet ass, making her tingle with wanton lust. The thought of him fucking his nice thick boner into her dripping cunt from the rear seemed to arouse the horny girl even more.

"Okay, honey," he whispered to her as he guided the tip of his cock up between her juice slickened cuntlips. "Here it comes, darling all nice and hard."

Tammy held her breath, her body trembling with anticipation. She spread her feet a bit farther apart on the ground and, leaning on the top rail of the fence, she raised her ass to assist his entry. She could feel her steamy fuck-hole flower open and secrete a flood of hot juices around his probing cockhead. When he first pressed forward, the tentative nudge of his thick cock against the soft sensitive flesh of her open pussy sent shivers of joy racing through her loins. Then his thick prick slid smoothly up into her hot slick fuck-hole. His cock was soon completely buried in her warm clasping cunt.

The feel of his throbbing boner filling her pussy reduced the girl to nothing but a piece of naked inflamed flesh. The heavenly size of his hard-on was the most fantastic thing the horny girl had ever experienced. His gentle and loving entry hadn't given her the least bit of discomfort.

Thrilled by the feel of his big cock embedded in her pussy, Tammy began writhing her ass back, forcing his prick still deeper into her wildly aroused fuck-hole.

"Oh, Mr. Moffat," she passionately whispered, her eyes burning with lust. "Fuck me good, honey. Fuck me good!"

Listening with satisfaction to her whimpers of desire, Blane thrust forward, his huge prick spreading her soft pussy walls as his cock fucked back and forth in her juice-lathered cuntal sheath.

His bloated cock-knob was pounding mercilessly into the depths of her cunt. His huge balls were slapping noisily between her slippery thighs.

He was fucking brutally into her pussy, and Tammy tried to hold back the scream of anguish as she desperately clung to the top rail of the fence and stared across the field. Despite the mild pain his big cock was inflicting on her, she was enjoying it enough to keep slamming her ass back, forcing more of his prick between her unbelievably stretched cuntlips, trying to get even more of his rigid prick into her pussy.

"Fuck, honey, fuck!" she squealed back over her shoulder as her cunt began adjusting to the bigness of his cock. "I've never felt anything so fuckin' good!"

"I haven't either," he panted. "This has to be the hottest, tightest pussy in the world."

Again fucking savagely, he was fucking into her with long swooping plunges. His hard cock was tingling from the intense pleasure it was as receiving from her horny cunt slit.

"Oh, yes!" she squealed, biting into her folded arms. "Fuck me faster, honey! Oh, shit, that's good!"

She had wanted his thick hot prick in her cunt since that day when she'd seen him fucking her mother, and now that dream was a reality. The bigness of his cockshaft vibrating against the widely stretched walls of her passion-slickened pussy was pure ecstasy.

Blane was ramming his cock harder and deeper into her quivering pussy slit. The intense pleasure was almost too much for her to bear, but he continued his relentless fucking. His hairy loins were pounding against her smooth asscheeks as his massive cum-bloated balls slapped wetly between her inner thighs. Panting and gasping for breath, Blane was fucking his prick into her sweet pussy with increasing fervor.

"Oh, Mr. Moffat," she whimpered, feeling his huge cockhead pounding against her womb. "Keep fuckin', honey. Just keep fuckin'."

For a brief moment she felt nothing but numbness in her cunt, and then the wild pleasure began returning. Wild jolts of heavenly joy were filling her belly, the jolts becoming stronger and stronger until the wanton waves of pleasure were completely consuming her.

Tammy's ass was churning around his deeply lodged cock. Wild squeals of pleasure were coming from deep in her gasping throat. With her head lolling from side to side and her long blonde hair flying wildly around her face, the girl was squealing with delight as the handsome man fucked into her pussy from the rear. The way the underside of his stiff cockshaft had set up friction against her erect clit was driving her mad. The ceaseless way his big hard cock was pounding into her cunt was setting up a marvelous vibration. It was total joy to the sex-crazed girl as she rode his fucking cock to new heights of ecstasy.

Tammy had done a lot of wild fucking and sucking in the last few days, but this man's fantastic cock was awakening her to joy she had never attained before. It was total perversion to be fucked like an animal, yet the depravity of it added intense pleasure to the whole obscene act. Her big tits were jiggling and swaying heavily, her turgid nipples swollen as hard as rocks. He'd awakened something within her that had brought on this wild passion she had never felt before.

The attractive teenager was more aroused than she'd ever been in her life, and she was passionately responding.

"Fuck me Mr. Moffat! Fuck me!" she moaned, screwing her hotly dripping pussy back around his plunging cock. "Just fuck me deep and hard!"

"Don't worry, honey!" panted Blane, clutching her hips as he increased the tempo of his deep fuck-thrusts. "You're gonna know you've been fucked when I'm through with you."

Tammy's hips were swirling in circles, enhancing the feel of the hard cock being fucked into her hotly clasping fuck-hole. Each fuck-thrust felt better than the last as she lewdly rotated her scalding cunt back against him, trying to take more and more of his pleasure-giving prick deep into her wildly churning pussy.

Suddenly feeling his cum building up in his balls, Blane stopped all motion. Clutching her hips, he let his excited boner throb crazily in the hot softness of her tight cunt.

"Oh, Mr. Moffat!" she squealed with frustration. "Please don't stop! Please keep fucking me!"

Not wanting to shoot his cum-load until the girl had reached an orgasm, Blane just clung to her. His balls were aching to unleash a hot stream of jism into her sweet pussy, but he knew he had to hold back.

"Please keep fuckin', honey!" she sobbed, grinding her hot cunt slit around his motionless prick. "For shit's sake, start fuckin'!"

Pulling his cock out, he picked up the naked girl and carried her over to his car. Opening the front door, he lay Tammy back on the seat with her legs hanging out over the edge. Moving in between her thighs, the man fucked his cock up into her cunt again.

"Ooooooh, God!" whimpered the cock filled girl as his swift entry sent a surge of rapture burning through her loins. "Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, sweet fucker!"

As he started slamming his cock in and out again, she was really getting it now, getting his big hard cock that she'd been yearning for since she first saw him fucking her mother. Tammy could tell how much the man was enjoying her body, and she knew that from now on she would have his wonderful prick anytime she wanted it. Thinking about all the wild fucking she would enjoy with him in the days ahead, she began wildly rotating her tight cunt back around the base of his deeply embedded prick. As the handsome man fucked and twisted his cock into her, his hand kneading the soft flesh of her sweet asscheeks, she was squeezing her hot passion slickened pussy tighter and tighter around his thick cockshaft.

Almost out of her mind from the burning passions flooding through her body, Tammy was crazily thrusting her cunt up to meet every fuck-thrust of his pounding prick. It was as if a string of firecrackers went off in her loins, the wildly spiraling sensations signaling the approach of a mind-blowing orgasm, an orgasm that would, consume her entire body and mind with rapture and bliss. This was going to be the kind of climax she had always dreamed about -- and it was only a few breathless moments away.

The wild anticipation of it caused the girl to slam her loins up, meeting his fuck-plunges with her own perfectly timed fuck-thrusts.

"Oh, Mr. Moffat," she sobbed. "I'm gonna come, honey... gonna come... gonna come!"

With her cries ringing in his ears, Blane could no longer hold back. As he drilled and rooted his cock into her cunt with maniacal force, a hot stream of cum gushed out of his cockhead. His hard throbbing boner continued shooting the thick hot cock juices into her, filling her cunt to overflowing with his slippery cum.

Feeling the wonderful sensation of his hot spurting cum splattering all over her cunt walls, Tammy exploded into a wild orgasm that she would remember for the rest of her life. With his big strong body humping into her like a wild stallion, the intense rapture of her climax seemed to increase dramatically.

"That's it, honey!" she screamed, holding him tightly in her arms. "Fill me, honey! Keep creaming me! I'm still coming... coming!"

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melon-kiss · 3 years

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This is just going to be a ramble about everything Sherlock. You’re most welcome to discuss or just ignore it. I needed the space to vent.

I watched Sherlock. Again. I think it’s beginning to become my annual tradition. And I have a crisis. Don’t get me wrong, I am always Sherlollian at heart. It’s just… I have doubts sometimes. And what triggered those doubts this time was the fact that Sherlock calls Molly “John”. Twice. And then Irene Adler. And then one post on Tumblr. And many, many more.

OK, these are just my random thoughts. Enjoy if you’re willing to read them.

1. “John”. “Molly”.

We often mix up names of people we consider to have the same place in our lives. Which is good, right? Right. Only, in Sherlock’s case, we’d have lean into the theory that Sherlock does love John romantically and feels the same way about Molly. Or concede the fact that he loves them both platonically. Neither of these options is really satisfying, isn’t it? Well, that’s why I’m struggling… One could say he’s in denial of feelings for Molly and identifies them as friendship, as this is the strongest, purest relationship in his life, the only one he describes as emotional and the closest he’s ever had to love. Besides, Molly and John are similar in one way – they both share the same – medical – knowledge. Of course, Sherlock doesn’t realise her other qualities until The Reichenbach Fall when she says she can help him whenever he needs it. It’s not until she’s honest with him again and tells him, without a shred of grudge, that she knows she means nothing to him, that he realises he has at least two friends. He calls her “John” when his mind is busy with something else, so there’s no room for any purposeful confusion. The same thing happens in The Empty Hearse. What else can it mean if not friendship?

2. Nothing Hits Like Irene

Irene Adler is created as the love interest for Sherlock. Is she, though? Well, we see Sherlock utterly confused upon their first meeting. We also see him flirting and creating an atmosphere of sexual tension for the first time. OK, he saves her but then she vanishes, he got over her, I thought. And all was fine until The Lying Detective came and Irene Adler sent a text to Sherlock, first in such a long time. John, of course, suggests that if Sherlock should be romantically involved with anyone, it should be her. And then it hit me.

Irene Adler is the symbol of chemistry in Sherlock’s life.

She’s a dominatrix. She’s all about sex, that’s obvious. At the critical point of The Scandal in Belgravia Sherlock says: I believe John Watson thinks love’s a mystery for me but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very distractive. Sherlock discovers that he, indeed, can have chemistry with people. He doesn’t mention love, he merely says sentiment, referring to the crush Irene Adler had on him. She is, indeed, a simple distraction – you can see it clearly in his memory palace when he yells at her to get away. But Molly… Molly stays. She leads him through the entire process of surviving a shot.

And then Irene Adler returns in The Lying Detective. John confesses to Sherlock about texting with a stranger met on the bus. And that he wanted more. Sherlock says everyone gets to be human sometimes. Even he can’t resist the urge of replying to Irene Adler sometimes. It was all about attraction again.

And that’s why she’s not considered a romantic relationship in his life. John rambles about love changing him, to be more specific, the love of his woman changing him. But he says Irene’s a dangerous criminal. How would that change Sherlock in any way?

In The Final Problem, upon deducing the coffin, John suggests Irene Adler but she’s not his first thought in general once they all hear that this is about someone who loves Sherlock. Sherlock’s response is very telling: Don’t be ridiculous. Look at the coffin. It seems like Sherlock pieces the puzzle at once – the coffin, plus the “name” on the lid – it couldn’t have been Irene Adler.

And that’s why Sherlock calls her The Woman. As a symbol of his sexuality. The Woman who’s woken up certain impulses in his life.

3. Makeshift Gauge

Who is she?, Sherlock asks John in His Last Vow.

Based on what Mofftiss duo said about Molly, she was supposed to be featured in two episodes top. Yet, she stayed. The uncanonical character not only stayed but became fans’ favourite. I think she became a useful tool for Moffat and Gatiss. I think that not only she represents Sherlock heart (of which existence he has no idea at first) but later becomes our makeshift gauge. For what? For measuring Sherlock’s progress. See, it’s like when you live with someone, you don’t notice when they put on weight or grew a little but those who see less of them will notice all changes right away. So, when Sherlock runs around with John, we don’t notice the change in his behaviour at once (also because he’s always been nice to him, from the very beginning), we need to focus to see that. But Molly pops by once per episode and we see how Sherlock’s perception changes. In season one, he has good intentions, but they turn out bad. In season two, he’s more neutral but doesn’t restrain himself from rude comments. And Molly is being Molly – tells him he’s rude in her natural, soft way and he says sorry. For the first time. Without anyone making him do that. Almost the same happens in The Reichenbach Fall – but this time, Molly doesn’t let herself be fooled by Sherlock’s arrogance and just ignores it, going straight to the point. She says: “I’m here for you” and lowers his defences. In season three, he spends an entire day with her, smiles at her and is the sweetest, softest Sherlock we’ve ever seen. Moreover, when Lestrade asks him about her helping him solve cases, he says: [John] is not in the picture anymore, implying that she not necessarily had to be a temporary replacement. In season four, he says I love you to her.

What can we deduce about his heart?

4. The Eurus Conundrum

We could write an entire book about Eurus and not even be able to grasp her spirit. I’m not going to do that right now.

I have issues with what happened in season four finale. I mean – Molly, of course. Mycroft says Eurus and Jim Moriarty met five years ago, so before Moriarty revealed himself to Sherlock. They both planned the entire game for Sherlock. Does that mean Sherlock never really won with him? Does that mean Moriarty let him use Molly to “win”? Since she was included in Eurus’ plan, we can safely assume Jim knew about Molly back then. At first, when I saw Moriarty saying We both know that’s not quite true [that you don’t have a heart] in many Sherlolly fanvids, I was like naaaaah. He didn’t see her as one of the important people in Sherlock’s life, it couldn’t have been a reference to their meeting. But now… how deeply back in time was Eurus’ plan allocated? Which events did she predict?

Or maybe I’m missing something? Any thoughts on this?

5. Sherlock Evergreen

I once came across a post here, about how BBC Sherlock is literature, about sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s struggle with his own genius character. He was over with him, didn’t feel like writing any more of his stories so he killed him, but fans demanded more. He kept writing, although he hated it from the bottom of his heart. Season four, so often considered as the worst of all of them, is a way of saying that Sherlock character is, unfortunately, invincible. Immortal. He will live forever. We can’t kill him, no one can. Even his creator couldn’t have done it.

In season four, Sherlock goes back to the start. He is a clean slate again. He went through the entire process of change – became a good Sherlock, considerate of other people’s feelings and emotions, appreciative, supportive, loving, ready to mend what he broke. That interpretation, although very good, kind of killed my Sherlolly spirit. But I guess every interpretation like this would do it. If we stop treating characters like real human being, we’re left with what they really are – a construct, tools, puppets in the author’s hands.

Based on this, I think we’re safe to say there will never be a fifth season of BBC Sherlock (gosh, how I wish I was wrong!). Why? Because, despite what Moffat said in an interview once (after season three finale he said they’ve plotted out the entire fourth and fifth season – liar, liar, pants on fire!), season four had the perfect ending. As mentioned above, Sherlock became a good man and Mary Watson summed up what Sherlock is all about: two man, a genius junkie and a former soldier, who solve the weirdest, the toughest of cases together in flat on 221B Baker Street. Now, Sherlock is ready to be taken over by other artists who may find a new way to tell his story (though, I don’t think so) all over again.

And that’s a big, big shame… I think I speak for at least most of Sherlollians when I say we’d like to see Sherlock and Molly’s first encounter after the call. The finale really closed all the story arcs and subplots, except for this one. I mean, c’mon. You don’t have to be a Sherlollian to be annoyed by this – just remember that it was such a “biggie” that Moffat was asked about this in an interview. And this may be another reason as to why we won’t ever get a fifth season of Sherlock – because that would mean taking a side. And none of the creators will do it because Sherlock cannot be an open-and-shut case. It has to be like literature: big, open, twisted, unclear and full of room for interpretation. As long as there’s no certain explanation – yes, Sherlock loves Molly, no, Sherlock is gay – we create more and more content out of the need of closure. Thanks to the room for interpretation, the story lives. I mean, it’s been four years since The Final Problem airing and here I am, discussing BBC Sherlock still.

Coming back to Sherlolly… don’t worry. Though I’m still not sure that we can harvest any hard evidence for Sherlock’s feelings for Molly (other than friendship and respect), I��m still a Sherlollian. There two new fics waiting for me to pull myself together and write them. I think it’s good to have doubts – it means my brain hasn’t rotten yet and I can still be critical, I’m able of having my own opinions.

Thank you if you managed to read it all! I’d love to discuss if you have any conclusions. If not, that’s fine, too. I just needed it get it out of my system.

PS WHY DOES MY POSTS IN ENGLISH SOUND SO SOPHISTICATED IN MY HEAD BUT WHEN I PUT THEM IN WRITING, THEY’RE SO SHITTY?!

#bbc sherlock #sherlock #sherlock holmes #john watson #irene adler #molly hooper #sherlolly #molly x sherlock #thoughts #eurus holmes

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mst3kproject · 3 years

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The Monster Maker

I could have sworn J. Carroll Naish was on MST3K at some point but the only thing I can find from his filmography that has appeared on this blog is Dracula vs Frankenstein, in which he played Dr. D'Ray. Not that it matters. The Monster Maker's producer, Sigmund Neufeld, also brought us MST3K feature The Mad Monster, and writer Sam Newfield penned both that film and I Accuse my Parents (not to mention the world's only all-midget cowboy musical, Terror of Tiny Town), but mostly I'm watching this movie because... well, you know, it sucks.

I know what you're thinking, and as far as I can tell, no, Sigmund Neufeld and Sam Newfield are not the same guy who's just bad at pseudonyms.

Anthony Lawrence is one of the world's greatest pianists, but with a concert tour finished he's looking forward to relaxing and spending some time with his daughter Patricia and her fiance Bob. Sadly, this is not to be, as Patricia has come to the attention of Dr. Igor Markov, who believes her to be the reincarnation of his dead wife Leonora. He spends weeks harassing poor Pat, until her father storms over to Markov's office to tell him where he can shove his attentions. Little does Lawrence know he's walking into a trap. Markov has been experimenting on animals in his basement, and if Lawrence doesn't hand over Patricia, the next syringe is for him!

I have mixed feelings about this movie. It surprisingly subverts several tropes of the mad scientist movie, including some it deliberately sets up only to pull the rug out from under them, resulting in a surprisingly happy ending. On the other hand, it does this in ways that aren't always very satisfying, and its treatment of the disabled is frightful.

For an illustrative example, let's take Dr. Markov's caged gorilla. The movie never tells us why he has a caged gorilla. He says it's vital to his work but we never see him do anything much with it... I assume it's there because the caged gorilla was a standard part of the mad scientist lab equipment in the 1940s and 50s. The only time we see him interact with it is when he sets it loose in the middle of the night to murder his traitorous assistant, Maxine, who had threatened to go to the police. We cut to the gorilla back in its cage the next morning, and we assume Maxine is dead – only to have her walk in and tell us that her protective dog drove the gorilla back to the lab.

This is kind of a fun moment, not only because it's a surprise but because everything in it was set up, not just the gorilla but the animosity between it and the dog. It also enables the eventual happy ending – after Markov is killed, Patricia worries that nobody else will be able to help her father. However, Maxine is familiar with Markov's work, and assures her that Lawrence will be just fine with a few weeks of treatment. That's all quite nice for a mad scientist movie of this vintage! It's also interesting in that it tells us these tropes were around to be subverted – that audiences in 1944 had already seen enough stupid mad scientist movies to know that the gorilla is supposed to kill the traitorous assistant and that the ending is supposed to be a tragedy.

The problem is that this leaves the gorilla with no reason to be in the movie at all besides to fake us out. It ultimately has no effect on the plot whatsoever other than to establish Markov as a bastard, which by now we already knew. You cannot put Chekov's Gorilla in a cage in act one, wave it around in act two before putting it back with a 'psych!', and then not have it break somebody's neck in act three. It still has to do something, or you're just being a tease.

The fact that Maxine is able to cure Lawrence speaks to the fact that The Monster Maker is surprisingly respectful of its women. Maxine is quite intelligent and knows her love for Markov is self-destructive, but feels she has devoted too much of her life to him to leave him now. Patricia is a less substantial character, but her father treats her with great respect – when Markov demands Patricia in exchange for a cure, Lawrence continues to refuse even after the mad doctor has robbed him of his friends, his passion, and his career. Pat's fiance Bob has fewer principles, as he repeatedly lies to her in the belief that he is protecting her from the truth, but this too is presented as the wrong thing to do and I hope we're meant to believe Bob learns from it. The screenwriters' general attitude seems to be that women should be allowed to make up their own minds about things.

Markov, as the villain, is also the movie's misogynist, and this is in no way subtle. He wants to marry Patricia because she resembles Leonora – and that's it. Her personality, her background, and her wishes mean nothing to him. All he cares about is her face. What she represents to him is an attempt to undo the wrong he did to Leonora herself. We eventually learn that Leonora left him for another man, and in revenge he injected her with his monster juice. He had hoped that her new love would leave her because she was no longer beautiful, but in fact Leonora committed suicide because she couldn't stand to look at herself in the mirror.

This tends to make one wonder what would have happened if Leonora had tried to crawl back to Markov. At the time this happened, he didn't yet have a cure for his creations. Would he have gone on to find one sooner in order to help her? Or would he, too, have rejected her now that she was ugly? I kind of suspect the latter. He's only sorry about any of this because she died. He wanted her back less than he wanted her to live in misery, knowing that without her looks she would have no value.

Interestingly, this also applies somewhat to Lawrence. As his condition progresses, he locks himself in his room and puts records on so that nobody will realize he is now unable to play the piano... but he also keeps the lights off and refuses to admit anybody, too ashamed to show his face. Ugliness apparently makes both sexes unfit company for the rest of us.

Markov himself speaks with a German accent despite having a Russian name. He manages to be slightly less creepy than the Great Vorelli or Dr. Carlo Lombardi, but only because he never resorts to rape via hypnosis. Upon realizing he has found a cure for a terrible disease, his first reaction is to triumphantly declare that he can charge whatever he wants for it... eighty years later, that's still depressingly relevant.

So all this is okay and at times fairly progressive for the 1940s, but now we have to get into The Monster Maker's attitude towards the disabled. I've been a little cagey about exactly what it is Dr. Markov is doing to his victims, and you've probably been picturing some sort of mutagen that makes them go all lumpy and melty like that guy in Robocop. Unfortunately, no. Remember acromegaly, the hormonal disorder that Richard Kiel and Rondo Hatton suffered from? Yeah. Markov has a bottle of it in his cupboard.

I don't know how you bottle acromegaly, but at least they did better than the people who made Tarantula and fucking spelled it right.

Acromegaly is not a cheerful diagnosis. Lawrence's doctor tells him it's not fatal, but that isn't always true – a lot of sufferers, including Hatton, die from the complications. It disfigures the head, hands, and feet, and would definitely be a devastating disease for a pianist... all of which makes it that much worse that this stupid movie keeps using the word 'monster'. Lawrence even describes himself as such, comparing his situation to that of Frankenstein's Monster and declaring that he will similarly kill Markov for what he has done to him. In the end he does exactly that, and the movie never addresses it on any level besides 'boy, good thing the bad guy is dead!'

This is probably because, clearly, the real monster Markov has made is himself... but that's subtext. In the text, his monsters are his overgrown pigs and Anthony Lawrence. I just blasted Tarantula for spelling the name of the condition incorrectly, but that movie at least did not even imply that its human acromegaliacs were 'monsters'. They were in every way victims, even when their sufferings were as a result of experimenting on themselves. Lawrence is also a victim, but the movie plays up the 'monster' idea in more than just the title: Lawrence's condition also makes him restless and prone to violence, as he repeatedly attacks Markov and at one point must be tied to a bed to prevent him doing so. Markov suggests that this is a side effect of the hormonal problems, but Lawrence's own belief that he's becoming a 'monster' also appears to have something to do with it.

In the end, this movie is way too much like The Brute Man, in telling us that the ugly and disabled can never be an accepted part of society. Hal Moffat was forced into the shadows, while Anthony Lawrence takes to them voluntarily, but for the same reason: ugliness is made for gawking at, not for normal relationships such as that between partners, or parents and children. Fuck that.

#mst3k #reviews #the monster maker #episodes that never were #guys in gorilla suits #40s #tw: rape

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user-2-electric-boogaloo · 3 years

Text

A Comparison of RTD and Steven Moffat: Saving The Day

So for this analysis I’m going to compare when Moffat and RTD save the day well and when they save it poorly. There are a few bits of criteria I need to explain.

First I will only be including main series, no Torchwood, no spin-offs, and no mini episodes.

Second, I have to define what makes a good and a bad ending (my examples will come from episodes written by neither of them):

Bad endings include when the sonic saves the day (see The Power Of Three) (there are exceptions, see below), when a character spouts some useless technobabble that doesn’t make any scientific sense/when it doesn’t make logical sense in general, when the Doctor invents/presents a machine/equipment that miraculously stops the baddy and is never referred to again (see Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS), and any other ending I deem to be bad (see The Vampires of Venice)

Good endings include when the sonice activates a device that has been well established to save the day, when technobabble is used that actually makes some scientific sense, and just generally when the baddy is destroyed in what I deem to be a creative manner that makes sense with all the things that had been set up in that episode (see The Unquiet Dead).

There will also be cases where there isn’t really a day to be saved, however this happens more often with Moffat.

Let us begin (obviously there will be spoilers but the last episode in the list aired nearly 4 years ago so what you doing with your life).

RTD:

Rose: Bad

What even is anti-plastic?! Like seriously, he’s faced the Autons loads of times and has never thought to use it any other time.

The End Of The World: Bad

The Doctor just goes up to the appearance of the repeated meme (ha meme) and rips its arm off. He then just summons Cassandra back by twisting a knob which apparently everyone can do if “you’re very clever like me”.

Aliens Of London/World War Three: Good

Just nuking them all was a bit dodgy but I’ll give it to him purely because it had been set up earlier in the episode and it is a genuine option that could have been taken.

The Long Game: Good

The heating issue was set up within 2 minutes of the episode starting. It’s always good to see the Doctor using his enemies weakness against them.

Boom Town: Good

Only just. It’s technology that hadn’t been showcased ever before and came out of nowhere, but I’m allowing purely because it was setting up The Parting Of The Ways.

Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways: Good

See above. It was set up the story before so it works.

The Christmas Invasion: Bad

This was so close to being good. If RTD had just let the Sycorax leader be honourable then everything would have been fine. Instead he had to let him be dishonourable and then the Doctor through the Satsuma at a random button that for no apparent reason caused a bit of floor to fall away.

New Earth: Bad

It only makes sense if you think about it for less than 10 seconds as just pouring every cure to every disease ever into a giant tub and then spraying said supercure onto them all, then having them hug each other to pass it on. That is suspending my disbelief just a bit too far.

Tooth And Claw: Good

Everything is set up in the episode so I’ll allow it but I fail to see how Prince Albert had the time to ensure that the diamond was cut perfectly.

Love And Monsters: Bad

It’s Love And Monsters. Need I say more?

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday: Good

It was very clearly set up throughout the episode.

The Runaway Bride: Bad

I don’t like how a few bombs can supposedly drain the entire Thames.

Smith And Jones: Good

All the events were well established

Gridlock: Good

It’s a fairly bland way to save the day, just opening the surface to all the drivers. But how else could he have done it?

Utopia/The Sound Of Drums/Last Of The Time Lords: Bad

As much as I like the idea that he tuned himself into the archangel network, he basically turned into Jesus. It is arguably the least convincing ending in modern Doctor Who history.

Voyage Of The Damned: Bad

Why was he the next highest authority? If he’s the highest authority in the universe why didn’t they default to him in the first place? If not then why not default to Midshipman Frame? And if he’s somehow in between them then why? Also Astrid killed herself for no reason when she easily could have jumped out of the forklift.

Partners In Crime: Good

It works in the context of the episode, but I don’t see why they needed two of the necklace things.

Midnight: Good

It’s human nature, you can’t get more well set up than that.

Turn Left: Good

It works logically

The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End: Bad

Donna just spouts a load of technobabble whilst pressing buttons and then the Daleks are magically incapacitated.

The Next Doctor: Bad

Why do the infostamps sever Hartigan’s connection with the Cyberking? As far as I remember it ain’t explained.

Planet Of The Dead (co-written with noted transphobe Gareth Roberts): Good

A good couple scenes are dedicated on getting the anti-gravs set up.

The Waters Of Mars (co-written with Phil Ford): N/A

The day isn’t really saved cause everyone still dies anyway.

The End Of Time: Good

Using a gun to destroy a machine is much better than using the sonic to destroy it.

Summary for RTD:

Out of 24 stories written by him, I deem 10 to be bad endings with 1 abstaining. That’s 41.7% of his episodes (43.5% if we don’t count any abstaining).

Steven Moffat:

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances: Good

You’ll see this a lot with Moffat, he knows how to explain things without stupefying levels of technobabble. “Emailing the upgrade” is a perfect example of this.

The Girl In The Fireplace: Good

Some basic logic, the androids want to repair their ship, but they can’t return to it, they no longer have a function so they shut down.

Blink: Good

Always loved this one, getting the angels to look at each other, however they do look at each other sometimes earlier in the episode.

Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead: Bad

This is more of a problem with the setup of the episode, I don’t like that he can negotiate with the Vashta Nerada. I’d rather see them comprehensively beaten, but I guess it’s good for the scare factor that they can’t be escaped from.

The Eleventh Hour: Good

He convinced the best scientists all around the world to set every clock to 0 all in less than an hour. In the Doctor’s own words “Who da man!”

The Beast Below: Good

The crying child motif pretty much ended up saving the day (well for the star whale, life went on as normal for pretty much everyone else).

The Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone: Good

The artificial gravity had briefly been set up earlier so I’ll allow it.

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang: Good

Everything had been set up perfectly, the vortex manipulator, the Pandorica’s survival field thingy, the TARDIS exploding at every moment in history.

A Christmas Carol: Good

Literally the entire episode is the Doctor saving the day by convincing Kazran not to be a cock.

The Impossible Astronaut/Day Of The Moon: Good

The silence’s ability to influence people is their whole thing, so using it against them is a good Doctory thing to do.

A Good Man Goes To War: N/A

The day isn’t really saved, Melody is lost, but River shows up at the end so is all fine? I love the episode it’s just the day isn’t really truly saved (yes I know Amy was rescued but she still lost her baby).

Let’s Kill Hitler: N/A

There isn’t really a day to be saved. They all get out alive but no one is really saved other than maybe River but we all knew she was gonna live anyway.

The Wedding Of River Song: Good

Whilst opinion is divided on the episode, the ending still works. the Tesseracta was established in Let’s Kill Hitler, and the “touch River and time will move again” was established well in advance.

The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe: Bad

I don’t like how the lifeboat travels through the time vortex for no reason but to rescue the dad. It don’t make no sense and I don’t think it’s explained

Asylum Of The Daleks: Good

Oswin had access to the Dalek hive mind so of course she should be able to link into the controls and blow everything up.

The Angels Take Manhattan: Good

Paradoxes really do be something powerful, and they even acknowledge how nobody knows if it’d work so I’ll let it slide.

The Snowmen: Bad

Lots of people cry at Christmas, why are the Latimers anything special?

The Bells of Saint John: Good

The whole episode is about hacking so why shouldn’t the Doctor be able to hack the spoonheads

The Name Of The Doctor: Good

It was the story arc for the season pretty much, so of course it was explained well in advance.

The Day Of The Doctor: Good

Both the storing Gallifrey like a painting and the making everyone forget if they’re Human or Zygon works in the context of the episode.

The Time Of The Doctor: Bad

Since when were the Time Lords so easily negotiated with?

Deep Breath: Good

I like the dilemma over whether the half-face man was pushed or jumped.

Into The Dalek: Good

It’s set up well with this new Doctor’s persona of actually not being too nice of a guy (at first).

Listen: N/A

There isn’t a day to be saved. It’s just 45 minutes of the Doctor testing a hypothesis and I low-key love it.

Time Heist (co-written with Steven Thompson): Good

It works logically so I’ll allow it however it isn’t very well set up at all.

The Caretaker (co-written with noted shithead Gareth Roberts): Good

The machine to tell the Blitzer what to do was set up well in advance so I’ll allow it.

Dark Water/Death In Heaven: Good

The fact that Danny still cares even as a cyberman is set up fairly early on after his transformation.

Last Christmas: Good

He does use the sonic to wake up Clara but he convinces the others to wake up through talking so I’ll allow it.

The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar: Good

It’s set up well with that little scene from actually inside the sewers.

The Girl Who Died (co-written with Jamie Mathieson): Good

IDK why the vikings would randomly keep electric eels but they’re set up well so I’ll ignore it.

The Zygon Inversion (co-written with Peter Harness): N/A

Not including this one as it’s only the second part and I’d argue the ending is most likely Harness’.

Heaven Sent/Hell Bent: N/A

Again there isn’t really a day to be saved, yes Heaven Sent really is amazing but it’s only the first part and, being completely honest, he dies several billion times before finally getting through the wall.

The Husbands Of River Song: N/A

Again there isn’t really a day to be saved here.

The Return Of Doctor Mysterio: Good

He gets Grant to catch the bomb which is good. But he does just sonic the gun out of Dr Sim’s hand and says UNIT is on its way which just sort of wraps it up very quickly.

The Pilot: N/A

No day to be saved here.

Extremis: Good

You could technically call it the sonic saving the day, I consider it to be the Doctor emailing the Doctor to warn him of the future.

The Pyramid At The End Of The World: Good

The fire sanitising everything makes sense and it’s in character for Bill to love the Doctor enough to cure his blindness in return for the world

World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls: Good

Yes it is the sonic just blowing the cybermen up, but it’s blowing them up with well established pipelines so I’ll allow it (also the story is amazing).

Twice Upon A Time: N/A

No day to be saved here. Just Doctors 1 and 12 getting angsty about regenerating.

Summary for Steven Moffat:

Out of 39 stories written by him, I deemed 4 to be bad with 7 abstaining. That’s 10.3% of his episodes (12.5% if we don’t count any abstaining).

Conclusions:

Moffat was much better at saving the day than RTD

Moffat liked telling stories where the day didn’t actually need to be saved

I’ve spent way too long on this and I need to sleep

If I spent as much time on this as my coursework I’d probably pass

If you’re still reading this, you probably need to get a life

#doctor who #steven moffat #rtd #in case you can't tell I really don't like RTD #Remember the Superwholock days when everyone ripped the shit out of Moffat #what am I doing with my life #tardis #rose tyler #martha jones #donna noble #amy pond #rory pond #rory williams #river song #clara oswald #Bill Potts

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crimsonheart01 · 4 years

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Set the Pace (Coco x OC/Reader)

A/N: Needed an escape today. Have some cute and sexy Coco all rolled into one. This has everything? Romance, fluff, angst, smut. Word Count: 10,612 Playlist: Body High - Alicia Moffat Warning: Fluffy smut. Is this a thing? I feel like it’s a thing! Swearing but that’s probably a given in all my works! Oh, and a small moment of being rough with a hangaround.

She pulled up into the desolate driveway. She chuckled to herself, nothing ever changed with him. There was junk all around the place and a pristine Harley sitting amoung it all. The only thing he ever took care of. She grinned, recalling the baby-faced man when he started prospecting.

She killed the engine, grabbed her duffel and hopped out of her car. She skipped up the steps and up onto her tiptoes to rummage in the eavestrough. Her fingers connected with the cool metal of the spare key and she pulled it out, using it to let herself inside.

As she kicked the door closed behind her, she was met with the overwhelming bachelor mustiness and scoffed. He needed to open a window, or several. She laughed and called out into the house, “You got any food in this place? The long drive through the night has me famished.”

There was no answer, but she picked up the sounds of water running and figured he was in the shower. She dropped the spare key onto the counter, followed by her bag. She spotted the kutte hanging folded over the back of the couch. He was definitely home. He never went anywhere with out the leather. She turned into the kitchen and immediately went for the snack cupboard. The one where she knew he kept the goods.

~(MMC)~

He turned off the water and grabbed a towel, quickly drying off. He grabbed his jeans, pulling them up over his boxers and when he went to grab his vest, he heard the noises coming from out in the main area. He narrowed his eyes, flipping his hair back and out of his face. He dropped his vest back down, draping it over the sink and stepped towards the door.

He opened it slightly, ensuring that the latch didn’t make a sound as he opened it. He pressed his ear to the opening and listened intently. He knew that Angel wasn’t home. He was at the yard this morning. On duty. It couldn’t be EZ, he didn’t have a key and Gilly was over at Vicky’s. Which begged the question as to who was currently inside? He swore internally to himself for letting his guard down and leaving his kutte in the living room. That’s where his piece was sitting.

He adjusted his pants, slipping around the ajar door, and padded out into the hall. He lined his back against the wall and peered around it, surveying the living room and kitchen. He spotted someone in the kitchen, crouched down and took his chance. He darted out into the living room and reached into his kutte. Grabbing his gun, he cocked it and flicked off the safety. He straightened out and stepped through into the kitchen.

He noted the duffel bag sitting on the floor and the spare key on the counter. He looked down to see where the intruder was reaching into the back of one cupboard. He trained his hands and kept his stance steady. Waiting for her to pop back up. He narrowed his eyes, half a dozen thoughts crossing his mind, mainly why Angel never mentioned another woman.

He watched as she rocked back on her heels, a box of cereal in her hand and opened it with her back to him.

~(MMC)~

She stood up and poured a handful of Cheerios into her mouth. She spun around and went to put her hand behind her, an aide to help her sit on the counter when she was startled by the person standing there but more so the fact that she was being held at gunpoint. She shrieked and clutched at the box. The packaging crinkling under her grip.

“Who the fuck are you?” She yelled, her voice jumping up an octave in fear.

She kept her eyes trained on him. Noting that he definitely wasn’t Angel. Who’s house they were currently in. She had no idea who this man was. She figured if anyone was going to be in this house it would’ve been one of the Reyes brothers. Not this random.

He didn’t offer any kind of expression change at her question, nor at her scream and that irked her. He didn’t even flinch. All he did was stand his ground and glare at her. Her heart pumped erratically, suddenly terrified. Had she entered the wrong house? No, that was insane. The spare key was in the same place it always had been. Ever since he bought the damn place. All the furniture was the same. There was nothing different about his house

She took a deep breath, irritated at the hitched sound it made. She licked her lips and swallowed. She slowly let go of her grip on the box, flinching as it crinkled loudly in the silence between them.

“You’re not Angel.” She said. Point blank.

This did illicit a response. He shook his head, his dark eyes never leaving hers. She exhaled. That was something. At least they both knew Angel. That helped. Maybe.

“He knows I’m here.” She started, “Or well, that I’m coming.”

She waited for a response, but none came. Her panic and terror was starting to hit a high and she needed whoever this man was to lower the gun. She needed him to understand that she was ok to be here. Without him shooting her first. Or at all, preferably. She made deliberate and slow movements, trying to keep her rationale in place as she addressed him.

She lowered the box, placing it on the counter behind her. She held her hands back up in surrender and then pointed to her back pocket, “I’m going to reach for my phone.” She talked him through her movements. He remained a statue as she dipped her hand into her back pocket to produce her phone. She unlocked it, opened her recent messages with Angel and held it out to him.

“Check the number with yours. It’s Angel.”

~(MMC)~

He took the offered phone but kept the gun trained on her. He opened up the contact information, reading the number a few times. Nodding, it was Angel’s. He skimmed through the messages between them and noted that Angel knew she was coming. Offered up the house to her for as long as she needed it. He flipped the phone around and handed it back to her. Then lowered the gun.

He tucked the gun into the back of his pants and gave her a half-hearted shrug by way of an apology. He didn’t know what to say her specifically. He had virtually no idea who she was. Only that Angel knew her. In some capacity. He briefly wondered if he’d been fucking another woman. Maybe Adelita wasn’t the only one he was getting around with. That wasn’t something he needed to think about. It wasn’t his business, as long as whoever his brother fucked wasn’t about to ruin the club, he was free to do what he wanted.

His eyes were caught by her movement as she pocketed her phone and he followed the curve of her hips all the way up her torso and then to her face. He hadn’t meant to check her out, but he couldn’t deny that she was hot. He’d been staring at her for a while. Since he first stepped into the kitchen. He was bound to notice her looks. When his gaze met hers, she was staring at him with her eyebrows raised. She’d obviously noticed his perusal. She tilted her head to the side, minutely and arched one eyebrow.

He winced internally, waiting for her attack. He found he wasn’t that great with women when they weren’t hangarounds. The club women were easy to deal with. They didn’t care about his lack of conversational skills. They only cared about the patch, and his status. They were there to provide him with a service, hoping he’d slip up and either gain another baby mama, or take one on as his vieja. Which, neither was going to happen. He’d learned his lesson from the 3 kids he already had and wasn’t interested in taking on a hangaround in an official capacity.

Instead of a confrontation, he watched her grab the abandoned cereal box, grab another handful for herself and then offer it out to him. She held her closed fist above her mouth and gave him a weird half smile. He realized he scared her but she was trying to work through that and be friendly.

“Want some?” She asked.

~(MMC)~

She’d been sleeping on Angel’s couch for more than a week now. Her neck was killing her but it was better than the backseat of her car. She flipped over onto her front, burying her head into her pillow. Groaning as she rolled a few kinks out. Her biggest problem though was the fact that she’d been dreaming about the Mayan she met on her first day back. Coco. She couldn’t shake the way he checked her out. Nor the silent exterior. There was something about him. Something that called out to her.

“Prima?” Angel called out from his bedroom, pulling her from her thoughts.

He walked through to the living room and leaning over the couch to grin down at her. He reached out and ruffled her hair while she grumbled, slapping his hand away. He let out a laugh but pulled his hand back and crossed both his arms over the head of the couch. She rolled over onto her back and peered up at him, her eyes still tired.

“Why are you up this early?” She questioned.

He shrugged, “Club business.”

She scoffed and swatted at him with a roll of her eyes. She knew he was lying. He was on yard duty today. Nothing about that had to do with the club.

“EZ said he wants to see you.” He mentioned, “Y’know, before you skip town again.”

Angel widened his eyes at that comment, giving her that knowing look. She shook her head, an amused smile on her mouth.

“I’m not skipping anything.” She said, “Maybe you should tell him to call me himself. He has my number. When did you turn into the messenger for baby brother Ezekiel?”

Angel rolled his eyes at her, “He hasn’t seen you, or talked to you, since he got out. Give him a break. He probably feels like you’re pissed at him.”

She closed her eyes in subtle annoyance. These two were the worst. The biggest babies.

“I’m not mad at anyone. He should’ve told me though. Whether or not if he knew you did.” She opened her eyes and met Angel’s gaze, “I don’t wanna be here longer than necessary. I’m just here to clear out that house and sell it. Nothing more.”

Angel feigned hurt but she knew he understood. Santo held nothing for her. No family, no friends, no prospects. Well, aside from him and EZ that was. They’d always be her oldest and dearest friends. The original trio. Angel stood back up and slipped on his kutte, rounding to the front of the couch and purposely draped himself over her to give her a hug.

“Angel!” She laughed; her voice muffled by his shirt.

He wrapped his arms around her tighter. Giving her one of those annoyingly, comforting, big brother like hugs. She enjoyed it. Something she hadn’t felt in too long. She hadn’t bothered to make deep friendships with anyone out her way. She had all she needed in Angel, and EZ too. Now that he was out. She sighed and wiggled around until she could return the embrace and he sat up, pulling her with him.

“We missed you.” He murmured.

She smiled into his shoulder, “I know. I’m only up in San Jose. Take a road trip up my way some time.”

He chuckled and let go of her, standing back up, “Listen, there’s a party tonight. You should come.”

She screwed her face up at that. Club parties weren’t really her thing. She’d been ditched by Angel one too many times at them. There wasn’t much for her to do there. Aside from EZ and Angel, she didn’t know any of the other MC members. He seemed to sense her hesitation, looking down at her with understanding eyes. He gave her his little half smile. The one that he used in lieu of puppy dog eyes. She sighed and started to shake her head.

He held up a hand to stop her, “C’mon. EZ’s prospecting. He has to be on his toes all night, so he’ll be around for extra company.”

She groaned, throwing herself back down and tugging her flimsy sheet up around her shoulders. She glared up at Angel before flipping over, fixing her pillow dramatically and snuggled back into her makeshift bed. She closed her eyes but smirked as she did.

“Fine.” She agreed, “I’ll come, but mark my words Reyes, if you ditch me again, you’ll regret it.”

She peeked up at him out of one eye, in time to catch the wide smile. “Gracias prima! You still remember where the yard is?” When she nodded, he grinned at her, “Good, see you around 9?”

He turned and was heading out the door, knowing that she’d be there. She planned to get her fill of the boys before heading back home. She missed them. It’d been too long since she’d actually see them. Video chats and texts weren’t the same. Having their presence around was a different feeling altogether. It occasionally made her think about moving back but that was a pipe dream.

She checked the time on her phone and groaned. There was no way she’d get back to sleep now. She rolled off the couch and immediately went to the bathroom to turn the shower on. As she got ready for the day, the small thought that she’d be able to see Coco again kept popping up. One more person she’d sort of know at the Mayans party.

~(MMC)~

He’d kept himself scarce during the last week. Staying away from Angel’s and keeping to being at the yard. He didn’t have a read on the girl staying there nor how she knew Angel. It was best for him to keep his distance. Besides, they hadn’t exchanged much besides names before he was hightailing out of Angel’s place. He was good at sweet talking, he wasn’t good at normal conversation. At least not with women. Especially ones where he was trying to trying to figure out if they were sleeping together or not. He felt guilty for thinking about her, not knowing whether her and Angel were a thing.

He eventually asked Angel about her. Got a general overview. Old friend from the block. Neighbours. They grew up together on the same street. She left after high school and settled down somewhere up north. It explained why Angel never mentioned her before. He wasn’t in the practice of announcing all the private conversations he had on a daily basis. He learned that she was here to sell her parents old place. The house across from where Felipe still lived.

He hated to admit it to himself, but he was relieved when he discovered that there was nothing going on between Angel and her. The way Angel spoke about her was if she was his sister, or another family member. He still hadn’t figured out her deal with EZ, but he hoped it was the same. Considering boy scout was still hung up on Mrs. Galindo, he figured there was nothing there either. He sipped his beer, not that he’d ever act on any of these initial inklings he was having. He didn’t even know where to start.

He reclined in the metal chair, a beer in hand and was laughing at something dumb Gilly had said to one of the hangarounds. He shook his head. The party was in full swing and he was glad for the chance to relax with his brothers. After the constant back and forth, he was grateful for this time. He felt a body come up to him and without much ado, he allowed the hangaround to settle herself in his lap. He didn’t pay her too much mind, but that wasn’t any different than any other day. He picked up a light conversation with Gilly, laughing with him when his eyes zeroed in on a new car pulling up.

His hackles raised, always prepared for the worst and he shooed the hangaround off him. He sat forward, keeping a whether eye on the newcomer, his free hand reaching into his kutte. He was dumbfounded when he watched her appear from behind the front door of the car. He lowered his hand back into his lap but continued leaning forward to watch her.

He watched as she scanned the compound, a small smile growing in her face. It lit her features, whether she noticed it or not. It was the smallest change, but it made the biggest difference. She slammed her car door shut and then leaned against the hood for a moment. She was looking for someone. It didn’t take long for her to find Angel and Coco watched as she pushed off the car and called out to him.

He heard the distinct word she used. Primo. It settled the sudden lick of jealousy he felt and clamped down on. He shouldn’t be relieved by the term. It shouldn’t mean anything to him. He had no claim. She barely even knew his name. He settled back in his chair when she reached Angel, gulping down the acid growing in his throat as Angel’s arm slid over her shoulders and pulled her into an embrace. Coco looked away, staring at the fire pit in front of him and downing half his beer in one go.

~(MMC)~

She sat on the steps, a bottle hanging between her fingers and watched the party go on around her. She smiled. She hadn’t felt this at ease in a while. She didn’t have these types of social interactions where she lived now. She had a few acquaintances she’d meet up for drinks with, but it wasn’t the same kind of camaraderie she felt here. It wasn’t all bad though. She had a core group. She wasn’t lonely. She just hadn’t taken the time to get as involved in new friendships.

She’d spent the majority of her night at Angel’s side. He kept good on his promise not to ditch her. That was until one of the club women made it known she wanted his attention. Leaving him to his fun, she found herself sitting on the steps of the clubhouse. She’d been introduced to everyone, officially as the Reyes’ brother’s cousin. It wasn’t wholly wrong. Chosen family and all that.

It didn’t take long for her to feel eyes on her though. Throughout the night she caught small glimpses of the quiet Mayan. Coco. The one she ran into at Angel’s. She still shivered at how cold he was until he figured out she wasn’t a threat, but it bode well for his character. In a strange sort of way. She didn’t fault him for the incident. He was protecting himself and potentially his brothers. She didn’t like that he held a gun up to her, but she understood his initial response.

Each time she glanced over at him; he was alone. No hangarounds draped all over him. Only conversation between him and his brothers. Or at least she assumed. She caught his mouth moving occasionally and the responses from the Mayans around him made her think they were speaking. She was never close enough to hear though. She never let her eyes rest long on him. Not wanting to draw his attention away from whatever he was focused on. However, he made her curious. Curious about him. Who he was.

She was pulled from her thoughts as EZ’s boots scuffed the step next to her leg. He dropped down to sit next to her, tilting a cold beer in her direction. She chugged down the dregs of her current bottle before taking the new one from him. He chuckled at her, grabbing her discarded bottle and setting the empty behind them.

She looked over at him, “Sooooo, prospect?”

He grinned, breaking into comfortable laughter and knocked her shoulder with his. She never thought she’d see the day that the studious Ezekiel Reyes would be prospecting for a motorcycle club. It never seemed to be his deal. Much more Angel’s lane. Not in a bad way. They were extreme opposites of one another, but perfectly so. It was one of her favourite things about the Reyes brothers. Their differences but how they complimented each other’s personalities. Angel always getting in trouble and EZ always managing to use his book smarts to get them both out of it.

“Not going to lie, I think I’m coming around to the whole leather aesthetic.” She smirked, “Between you and your brother, I’m getting it from all sides.”

EZ shrugged, and inclined his head in one direction subtly, “You might even be getting it from that angle too.”

She followed his incline and her eyes flicked over multiple people until her gaze met another one. His dark eyes were trained on her. That intense, hyper focus. All for her. She tilted her head to the side, meeting his stare head on. This was the first time they’d caught each other looking. She thought back on the one prior meeting they had. He hadn’t said much to her that day. A lot of nods, shrugs and half spoken words. It intrigued her. In an odd way. Made her wonder what it would take to make him talkative. Right now, however, he didn’t have a small gesture. He just stared. A subdued heat in his gaze. She wondered for what. For her? No. That was a wild thought.

“Is he always that quiet?” She asked EZ, still watching Coco.

His gaze never wavered from her and she felt a shiver forming. She licked the front of her teeth before taking another sip of her beer. She recalled the way he looked when she first met him. Shirtless. Covered in tattoos. His hair sopping wet but the slight wave forming near the ends. She wouldn’t lie to herself. He was good-looking. No, it was more than that. She was attracted to him. She found him hotter than most of the men she’d dated in the past. She chuckled internally to herself at that realization. She watched his mouth move, as he spoke with someone. She didn’t bother to try and see who, because if he was going to keep up this staring contest, she was game.

His tongue darted out along his lower lip before he brought the cigarette up to his mouth. He continued to speak around it. She watched each one of the muscles in his face contract and release as he spoke. She could almost hear his words from here. It was mesmerizing. Everything about him subtle. Striking, and calculated. Dangerous. Every move he made had a detailed thought process. She could tell by the way he carried himself. She admired the outline of his jaw. The crooked nature of his nose adding to his appeal. She liked him. She didn’t know him, at all. But she still liked him. Especially that hyper focus thing he had going. It made her feel seen. Read. In a strange sort of way.

EZ nodded in response to her and she caught the movement from the corner of her eye, “Yeah. He’s a bit odd around new people. Women especially.”

She laughed, turning briefly to shake her head at EZ, “That’s not exactly something a girl wants to hear.”

“He interested in you, or at least thinks you’re hot. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t care enough to pay any mind to you. He’ll never start the conversation though.” EZ said, “Go over there, get him to talk. Don’t even bother playing dumb. I’ve seen you watching as much as he’s been with you.”

She pushed EZ lightly, letting out a huff of disbelief, “Are you wingmaning him? You know he held me at gunpoint the first time we met?”

EZ burst into laughter, “Yeah, that sounds like Coco.” He took a moment to cool off before breathing in and continuing, “Like I said. He has a hard time warming up to new people.”

She shook her head. A wide grin on her mouth and laughing. She turned her hands out and sighed, “Great, that really gives me something to start with.”

EZ smirked at her sarcasm but raised his shoulders as if to say ‘why not?’. She rolled her eyes at him but placed her hand on his shoulder and used it as a support to hoist herself back up. She took the cold beer he had yet to open from him and walked down the steps. She spun around and stuck her tongue out at EZ as he winked at her.

She walked over to the table where Coco was sitting and dropped down into the empty seat across from him. She popped off the cap and slid the bottle across the table to sit in front of him. She looked around at the others at the table, but they all seemed otherwise occupied, so she directed all her attention on him.

“I figured you could use a refill.” She smiled at him.

~(MMC)~

He wasn’t sure when it happened, but at some point, she gravitated into his personal space. She was sitting next him, her body leaned beside his. It wasn’t in a flirtatious way. She was barely even touching him. Not like how the hangarounds approached him. It was relaxed. They were both watching the argument across the compound unfold. It wouldn’t be a Mayans party without someone getting into the ring. She was adding tiny little quips. Outlandish and hilarious one-liners.

He couldn’t help it. He was smiling. A genuine one. Not just the smirk. He watched her profile as she spoke. His eyes tracking the way her hands moved with every sentence. She was expressive in the way she spoke. Everything had emotion, passion. It was intense and he enjoyed that. What he liked the most was the way she wasn’t trying to impress him. All she was interested in doing was spending time with him. Being there. Being present. He honestly couldn’t remember when the last time anyone tried to befriend him for him. Aside from his hermanos.

She gave him the space he felt comfortable with. She never pushed anything out of him. She was patient and when he couldn’t find the words, she kept the conversation flowing. His chest rumbled with quiet laughter at her latest remark and she turned her head, hearing the sound. She stared at him; her eyes wide at his reaction. When she took in his smile and laid back posture she grinned widely at him. She gave him a wink before going back to the scene before them, continuing with her commentary.

He took a chance. He figured they were on the same page. Nevertheless, his heart still beat wildly in his chest. This wasn’t one of Vicky’s girls, or the hangarounds. She could easily turn him down. It was a terrifying reality. One he knew he wouldn’t handle well. The rejection. Either way, he swallowed and tried anyways. Propping his elbows on the table behind him, he inched one arm across the top of it and lined it behind her back. He glanced out of the corner of his eye, and she still hadn’t noticed.

He took in a silent but deep breath. Taking his time. Smoothing his arm across her shoulders, pulling her against his chest. She startled as he did it, flicking her eyes to his hand resting on her arm and then back up to him. He let his mouth curl into a grin, and she bit down on her lower lip. She shook her head, amused at his coy expression. She shifted her shoulders, lining her back into his front, getting comfortable.

He leaned in closer to her ear and whispered, “Knew you’d warm up to me eventually.”

She threw her head back into his shoulder, laughing loudly. Both of them knowing it was exactly the opposite. He saw the affection in her expression as she turned towards him. She found him funny. She was sincerely laughing. His arm tightened around her, her excited energy lifting him up. He pulled her in tighter, his lips grazing her temple as he laughed with her.

~(MMC)~

With the help of the Reyes brothers and their lovely friends, the MC, they had her old house gutted, the important bits packed into a moving trailer and sold. She left after that. Making her way back up to San Jose to pack away the keepsakes. She kept up her regular contact with the brothers, adding one more to the rotation.

Her and Coco talked nearly every day. Even if it was just a quick ‘how you doing?’ and nothing more. She had no idea when it happened. It sort of just came to be. On its own. Neither of them planned for it. Nor did either of them push for something to happen. From exchanging numbers after that one club party. Texting led to calling and calling led to video chats. Which led to all-nighters. She hung on his every message, or call. Expecting them daily now.

After a couple of months, it became clear to both of them, that they hadn’t told Angel or EZ that they were talking to each other. Neither of them could agree why they did it. Only that they kept quiet because the other one still hadn’t mentioned anything. It was maybe the very first argument they had. Maybe even the only one.

Coco hated confrontation and she respected that. Whenever they got heated, which was often, they agreed to say goodbye before they got mad at one another. They always promised to come back to it when they’d cooled off. It worked pretty well. Gave Coco the time to think through what he was trying to convey and it gave her the time to calm down. Reevaluate what she was actually angry about and focus on explaining her point of view.

It was hard to define what their relationship was. They weren’t a couple. They weren’t really anything. Only two people in constant contact. She felt something for him, however she wasn’t sure it was real or not. They only ever spoke over the phone, aside from the one night in Santo Padre. That was the last time she saw him in person. The last time she felt his touch. She tried to reign in her own feelings. Not wanting to scare him away. She enjoyed their friendship, even if that’s all it stayed at.

They’d been talking to each other for a little over a year when he surprised her. She pulled into her driveway after work and spotted the Harley immediately. At first, she thought it was Angel, or even EZ, but when she looked up at her front porch, there he was. Sitting on the top step. He had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth as he watched her park. Her heart raced at his sudden appearance and she tackled him, much to his surprise.

She couldn’t explain the reaction, or well she could but wasn’t willing to admit it out loud. Not to him. They were friends. She wasn’t going to ruin that by dumping her feelings all over and making things messy. He laughed, her body pressing him down into her porch as she clung to him. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed back. He forgot what it felt like to have her in his arms. Suddenly she was popping up, both her hands anchored on his biceps.

“Is everything ok?” Her brow was furrowed in concern as she asked.

He smiled at the worry and nodded his head to reassure her, “Everything’s fine, linda.”

She let out a sigh of relief and dragged him up and into her house. She whirled through the kitchen, getting them something to drink and pushing him down to sit on her couch. She began regaling him with the mundane ins and outs of her day. He sat through the whole tirade. Leaning against the back of her couch, one arm spread along the top as he smiled over at her. His legs were extended out in front of him, and she looked at him sitting there. In her living room. Like he belonged there.

Her heart palpitated at that thought. That he belonged with her. She hid the shiver that ran down her spine and laughed at the way he waved his hand as if to tell her she could continue with her monologue. She rolled her eyes playfully and swatted at him. Pretending to be annoyed by his coy gesture. She picked up on her speech, telling him everything. Her entire being filled with giddiness. She was gushing. Excited and happy that he was here. She missed him. It was like she was trying to make up for all the details she left out on their phone calls. She continued to talk, waving her hands around as she did.

At some point, when she’d gone off on a mini rant about something that irritated her, he stood up. She was pacing back and forth in front of the couch and when she turned back to continue in the other direction, he stopped her. He was staring down at her, his eyes dark and raw. She gulped; her own feelings being reflected back at her through his gaze. He framed his outstretched hand against the right side of her cheek and face. She shuddered obviously as he bowed his head towards hers. Her teeth pulling her bottom lip between them. He stared at the indentation her teeth were making in her lip and darted his gaze up to hers, looking for her approval. She gave him an encouraging smile and he dove in.

It was tentative at first. Both of them scared of the result. This was a moment where they could ruin everything. Her nerve endings exploded as his mouth caught hers. She reciprocated slowly, at first. Before pushing hard, tilting her head and giving him opened mouth kisses. Their tongues meeting and teasing each other. Her hands slid up his torso, fisting the fabric of his t-shirt as their embrace heated. She threw all caution to the wind. She wanted him. He wanted her. She broke away from him, grabbed the hem of her shirt and ripped it over her head.

“Fuck.” He swore, as she stood in front of him in her bra.

She had no idea how long he was here for. She knew the drive was long. She’d done it herself. If he was only here for tonight, then she wasn’t going to waste any time. She wasn’t going to let her self-doubt get in her way. He was here. For her. Alone. He seemed to be on the same course of thought because he was suddenly dragging her forward into him. His lips capturing her again, in another intense kiss.

Her hands dipped under the kutte, dropping it away from his shoulders and he caught it. Folding it half, he tossed it behind him, letting it hang over the arm rest of her sofa. He followed her lead, tugging his shirt off and tossing it down. The rush between them, heightening both their highs. They made quick work of the remainder of their clothes. Lips and teeth meeting several body parts as they tossed another garment away.

He was running hot kisses down her neck when he started backing up, bringing her with him. He dropped onto the couch, pulling her down and adjusting her over his lap. They both groaned at the contact. She rolled her hips, causing more friction and more urgency to their situation. He dropped his head back against the headrest, staring up at the ceiling as she ground against him. One less layer and they’d be one.

He palmed her thigh with one hand, smoothing it up to the line of her underwear on her hip. He tugged them down without warning and she shivered. They both smiled at the reaction. She hopped off him, kicking her underwear away and yanking his boxers off. She grabbed the back of the couch next to his head and straddled his lap.

She kept herself propped up, so their laps hadn’t connected yet. He growled up at her as she thread her fingers through his hair, pulling his head farther back. She loomed over him, both their smiles reflecting in each other’s expressions. She smoothed a hand over one side of his hair and knew in that moment she was screwed. This was her turning point and she didn’t care. She’d always want him. She tipped her head down and kissed him soundly.

One of his hands dropped away from her hip, to between her thighs. He swiped one finger through her folds, and she shuddered with anticipation. He circled around himself, lining up against her core and with a firm gaze between them, he waited. Without taking her eyes off him, she leaned back and sank down onto him.

They both let out breaths of constricted arousal. His came out as a deep groan while hers was a hitched gasp. Her hands splayed out over his shoulders. She used him to keep her steady and lifted to drop down onto him hard. His hips snapped up into hers as a reaction and they both cried out at the deep angle. They set a strong pace between them. She worked up a sweat as she flicked her hips into each one of his thrusts. Both of them working hard to get the other off.

She panted, looking down at him. His eyes were glued to the area where their bodies were connected. His fingers digging into her hips. She threw her head back, rolling deeper. A sigh of pleasure escaping from her. She felt herself reaching the edge. He noticed it as well and immediately lifted her off him. She moaned at the loss of contact and he let out a quiet huff of a laugh.

With his hands firmly repositioned onto her back, he tipped her backwards and down into the couch cushions. He hovered above her, admiring the mussed look of her hair. The flush on her cheeks. He drank in every inch of her face, committing everything to memory. He didn’t want to forget any of this.

“I got you.” He said, before kissing her hard.

He slipped back into her. Hiking one of her legs up over his waist and pushing the other one up to bend into her chest. He tilted her hips sideways, fitting between her perfectly. She cried out at the change in angle. He smirked. Proud of himself. For being the one to have her feeling this way. For being the one to illicit this type of response. He resumed a steady pace. Both of their bodies moving together. Each of them chasing their own releases.

The muscles in her abdomen tightened at the coming feeling. She dropped her head back, closing her eyes. Her release reaching its breaking point. She was about to boil over when one of his hands caught her chin and pulled her down to look at him. She was breathing erratically, unable to control it.

“Mírame, princesa.” He murmured, “Let me see those pretty eyes.”

“Coco,” She whined.

He lost his rhythm at the sound of her voice. He stilled momentarily before he gathered himself back and slammed into her. Several more times, harder than he had been before. Her body arched up into his while he slipped one hand to her lower back to balance her. She grabbed for him. Keeping her eyes on his. Her orgasm moments away. He felt her body tensing and he hit it harder. Wanting her to let go.

He reached his peak before her, cursing at the feeling and himself. He dropped a hand down into the junction between her thighs and circled that sensitive spot. She bucked up into his touch, crying out and rocking harder along him. He twitched with a satisfied groan. The feeling of her body coming apart while he was still buried deep in her sending him. He let go of her gaze, dropping his head to lay on her chest, working her nub until she was chanting out his name and spilling over.

He turned his cheek to press an open mouth kiss to her collarbone before they collapsed down into a heap on her couch. She wrapped her arms around him, cuddling him closer to her. He fit himself comfortably between the back of her couch and her side. She nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck and felt his smile. They stayed there, connected and sated. Each of them breathing deeply, evening out their breaths. She could hold him like this forever. She never expected this in a million years, but damn was she glad it happened.

~(MMC)~

He was sitting around the bar with the rest of the club. They were winding down from another long day of meetings and dealings. He was reclining back in his seat, drinking a beer and smirking along with the conversation. He was constantly fading in and out of the conversation. He wondered if they needed him back home after tonight, or if he could make another detour up north for a night.

At the thought of her, he pulled out his phone and opened up their ongoing messages. He noticed she hadn’t said anything for a while, and it worried him slightly. Even when they were both busy, they both made an effort to at least check in. He was the last one to send a message and for fear of coming on too strong, he shut off the screen. He didn’t want to text again. He always worried about ruining the dynamic they built. Especially after that weekend two months ago.

He smirked at the reminder. Remembering how many times he had her. They’d stayed up the entire night. Learning everything they could about each other’s bodies. When the sun finally came up over the horizon, they succumbed to their exhaustion and curled up in her bed. He kept her close to him the entire time they slept. He didn’t have a lot of time with her, but he was determined to make it worth it.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the same hangaround crawling back into his lap. He glared at her as she did it. He’d told her multiple times throughout the night that he wasn’t interested. He considered just leaving her alone. It wasn’t like he was going to do anything with her. She could sit there all she wanted. She wasn’t getting anything out of him. He glanced around the table and noted that there were several empty laps. She had no business continuing to try and get into his.

He grabbed the woman by the back of her neck and put his lips to ear, “Find someone else to hang off of.”

His voice came out in a growl and in a show of defiance, she turned and straddled his lap. His hand fell down and brushed against her hip. He dropped his beer down on to the table and gripped both her hips, attempting to lift her off him when he heard a voice he wasn’t expecting.

~(MMC)~

She sped well over the speed limit. Her destination in sight. The map on her propped-up tablet, showing her the directions. She chuckled to herself at the lengths she’d gone to try and surprise him. When Angel accidentally let it slip that they were going to be in Vegas this weekend, it wasn’t hard to figure out where they were going to be. There were three possible casinos that were under Tribal law.

She’d already checked the first two. Inside and out, and no MC’s. Now she was speeding down the side roads to the other end of the strip. Third time’s the charm and all that. She pulled into the general parking lot and killed the engine. She did a quick glance around before grabbing her bag out of her backseat. She shifted the front seat all the way back and ripped her track pants off, switching them for a pair of ripped jeans. She adjusted her shirt and then did a quick touch up of her makeup. She grabbed her wallet and keys and stepped out of the car.

She stopped at the doors. This was definitely the right place. She could see the line of pristine chromed out Harley’s off to the left. If he could surprise her, it was only fair that she return the gesture. She pushed through the doors and scanned the main area. She spotted the bar and knew that that’s where he’d be. With a wide smile, she walked over to the area, stepping through the threshold and spotting the dozen Mayans kuttes. She moved towards the table but halted in her advance at what she saw.

Several emotions ran through her at the sight of him with his hands all over another woman. The one that stuck the most was how dumb she’d been. Had she really expected him to not take up with someone else. Whatever they had between them was clearly a long-distance thing. Long distance translated into not having a warm body next to him when he wanted it. She wasn’t there when he wanted something more than conversation. How had she managed to delude herself into believing he wasn’t exactly like the rest of them.

She never worried about Angel and his way with women. They’d never been anything more than friends. She never had to worry about him doing her wrong. There were no expectations between them. However, with Coco it was different. This was the first time she actually got caught up with a member. Giving her heart away to him. Whether he knew it or not.

“Coco?” Her voice rang out.

Surprising herself. She hadn’t meant to say anything. She was planning her escape. Ready to run and never speak to him again. All without him ever knowing about her shame. When he heard her say his name, he looked up. The shock at seeing her was clear in his expression. He tilted his head, unsure as to why she had an expression of hurt across her face when the woman in his lap shifted. She watched as the realization hit him. How bad it looked. He shoved the woman away from him and stood immediately.

Everyone at the table followed the sudden movement from him. Angel and EZ spotted her and were the ones to put together what was really happening. Her glare said everything. She spun around on her heel and fled the casino. Coco pushed away from the table and went after her. Angel and EZ not far behind him. The three of them exiting the glass doors together, to find her standing on the edge of the parking lot. Her hands wrapped around her torso. None of them moved. Each afraid to approach her for different reasons.

He watched her, standing there and holding herself together. He could see the shake in her shoulders, and he wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her. Reassure that he had her. But he knew she wouldn’t accept it. Not now. He stayed behind her, unsure of how to handle the situation.

How did he explain that what she saw was nothing? Literally nothing. He barely even noticed the other woman there. The hangarounds were like that. All the time. He never paid them any mind. He didn’t care about them for the most part. Not when he had her. However, this wasn’t their normal, come back to it when they’re cooled off argument. They never discussed the real ramifications of their relationship. He never gave her a proper heads up. He never ran through the potentials, the rules. He’d been too wrapped up in everything else.

She didn’t plan to stick around. She wasn’t going to be embarrassed by anyone else noticing her. If he couldn’t explain himself, then she wouldn’t stay to be humiliated even more. She’d been naïve. Believing that things were different for them. She began to walk away when Angel shoved him aside, an irritated glare in his direction before chasing after one of his oldest friends.

EZ came to stand beside him, as they watched Angel stop her and gather her into a hug. They could both see that she was crying. A lump grew in his throat. He was the problem. He was always going to be the problem. Shit. She was better off without him. He heard EZ’s inhale but was grateful the prospect kept silent on the scene unfolding.

“I fucked up boy scout.” He muttered, before turning around and retreating back into the casino.

~(MMC)~

She sat on Angel’s front porch. She didn’t know why she was here. Or well, yes, she did but she figured it was too late. She made her bed. She muted his number. Ignoring him. She didn’t have it in her to delete it completely, but she knew the messages were still there. Sitting at the bottom of her inbox. She acted rashly. She could’ve given him the chance to explain. Maybe it wasn’t what she assumed. She wasn’t sure how it could’ve been any different than what she witnessed with her own eyes, but she held out hope. It didn’t help that he never tried. He never reached out to her. She checked.

The sound of a Harley roaring down the street had her heart doing double time. It’d been so long since she heard one. She knew it wasn’t Coco, but she had a glimmer of hope that maybe it was. The driver didn’t notice her, or at least didn’t indicate that they did as they pulled into the driveway. She knew it was Angel as he pulled to a stop and unbuckled his helmet.

He killed the engine and hung his helmet off the sideview mirror. He sighed as he looked over at her. He leaned back and crossed his arms. She knew he was mad at her, but she also knew he’d never turn her away. He pushed up off the bike and trudged over to her. Standing above her for a long moment while she peered up at him. With a final sigh, he turned.

“You alright?” He asked, sitting down next to her and lighting a cigarette.

She shrugged, “Not really.”

He let out a bitter scoff, “You two are a disaster.”

She creased her eyebrows together at the comment. He’d been here all of a minute, and she hadn’t even mentioned Coco.

He shook his head, “He’s been miserable since you two broke up, or whatever it is that happened.” He kicked his shoe against the bottom step, “Thanks for telling me, by the way. Were you planning to let anyone know? Or were going to keep sneaking around?”

She felt the anger exuding from Angel, and he had a right to it. In the months following Vegas, he never asked her about them. She knew he wanted too but he was smart enough to know that she was hurting too much. She also knew why he was mad at her. She’d never kept secrets from him. Neither had he with her. They knew everything about each other. She sighed. She knew his feelings were hurt. She felt bad but she also wouldn’t change anything about the time she had with Coco.

“I didn’t know how to explain it.” She muttered, “He was never really my boyfriend.”

“That’s a lie.” Angel scoffed, “Whether you two labelled it or not, it’s pretty clear what you meant to each other. I got it out of him later. He told me – showed me – how often you two talked.” He said the last word with quotations.

She threw her hands up in defeat, “I’m sorry Angel but how did you expect me to tell you something like that? Oh, hey, by the way. I’ve been messaging your boy for some time now. We call and talk to each other daily but he’s not my boyfriend? Would that have worked?”

He shook his head at her, “Whatever. It doesn’t matter now.”

They fell into a stressed silence. Both of them irritated at each other. She didn’t come to fight. Not with her best friend. The man she considered a brother. She inched across the step towards him and wrapped her hands around him.

“I’m sorry,” She said, “I don’t want to argue with you. I should’ve told you, but I was scared. Now that it’s over, there’s nothing to be scared about.”

Angel opened his arms and wrapped her up into him, “It’s not over. Not by a longshot. You haven’t been subjected to the hot mess that he’s been since you left Vegas that night. It’s been months and he’s still hung up on you.”

She chuckled, “I doubt that.”

“I mean it, prima.” Angel pulled back and looked down at her with a sincere expression, “He’s fucking miserable without you.”

She cowered away from Angel. She didn’t know how to respond to that. She caught him with a woman crawling all over him. How was he going to justify that? She had a vague understanding of the club and the way it worked when it came to the hangarounds, but that didn’t mean she was ok with the fact that he was getting on like that. She never would be and she figured that was a deal breaker. There was no changing that nature of the club.

“He fucked up. He knows it.” Angel murmured as he watched her thoughts cross her face, “At least hear him out. Then figure out where you two sit with this.” He looked down at the screen of his phone, noting the time. “He’s still on schedule at the yard. For another couple of hours.”

They looked at each other for a long moment when Angel smirked. He knew she wanted too but she felt torn. She came to see Angel, not Coco. She wanted her best friend. Someone who understood her and still loved her. He shook his head and pulled her into a one-armed hug. Letting her know that he got it. They had a slim chance at fixing this. He was okay with her ditching him this time.

“Go.” He urged her, “At least talk it out.”

~(MMC)~

He was sitting on top of the table, his feet shoulder width apart on the bench below him. He was slouched over, smoking and staring off into the distance. The sun was extra hot today and it was irritating him. Really bringing his mood to a horrible peak. Most of the boys had left him alone, sensing his growing temper.

He popped the smoke into his mouth, bowed his head and took off the snapback. He smoothed his hair down, tucking it back under the hat and out of his face. He ran his other hand down his face before grabbing the cigarette again and blowing out a cloud of smoke.

He tried his best not to think about her. He even went so far as to mute her number in his phone. On the off chance that she reached out to him. After a month of no contact, her name dropped from the top of messages to the bottom and stayed there. When he had a bad moment, he’d go back and reread some of their conversations. It helped, sometimes. Other times it made him even worse.

He’d been livid. The more he thought about it afterwards. Mad that she showed up out of the blue. However, that was short lived when he recognized the in-kind gesture. She was returning his surprise to him. It came from a good place. She only wanted to see him again. He wished she’d given him some kind of heads up though. It would’ve made things go a lot smoother.

He could still remember the way Angel rounded on him after she left Vegas. Him and EZ had retreated back to the casino, while Angel took her up to his room and let her sleep through the night. She left early the next morning. Meanwhile he drank himself into a stupor and wasn’t sure how he even made it back to his room in the first place. When Angel found him, he was beyond pissed. Eventually Coco explained it all to him. What was really going on. Apparently, she refused to even talk to Angel. Keeping mum until she finally fell asleep. Angel warned him to stay away from her. Lose her number even. He agreed with his brother. This was on him.

Now it was months later, and he was still wallowing. He wanted to apologize; he just didn’t know how. Even if she hadn’t already deleted his number, him sending any kind of message, or even calling, wouldn’t fix the hurt he caused.

At this point it didn’t matter that he had been trying to get the hangaround away from him. She’d still been able to weasel her way into the position in the first place and that was on him. He was used to it. It was how things worked around here. He hadn’t thought to explain that to her though. He hadn’t realized she didn’t fully grasp the club life. He could’ve made that easier on her. He could’ve tried to clarify it.

He shook his head and tossed his finished cigarette down into the dirt, snuffing it out. No matter now. He hopped off the table, the dirt kicking up around him. He turned back, making his way back farther into the yard to pick up where he’d left off.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been banging the metal bar but at some point, he became aware of someone calling his name. He glanced up to see Chucky trying to get his attention. He dropped the mallet in his hand and pulled off his gloves. He walked over, towards the office and raised an eyebrow at the man.

“There’s someone in there, said she was looking for you.” Chucky smiled.

Coco furrowed his brows. What she could be looking for him. He panicked, thinking it might be one of his baby mamas, but caught the movement in the window and recognized that silhouette. She was looking down at something and hadn’t noticed him yet. He gulped, his breath coming up short and glanced over a Chucky. Chucky gave him a happy shrug and held out a hand in the direction of the room.

Coco licked his lips and took slow steps towards the building. He paused at the entrance, taking a moment to watch her. He felt a strong emotion rise within him, but found it terrifying. He had no way to express it, not now. He knew for damn sure this wasn’t a moment to speak on it either. With an inhale, he moved forward.

“Hey.” He said, shutting the door behind him.

Her head snapped up as he spoke. Her eyes were wide, as if she was surprised, he came to see her. They stared at each other for a moment before he had to tear his eyes away. He couldn’t handle what he might find there. He avoided her direct eye contact, looking off to the side. She shifted on her feet, nervous at being here with him.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek before addressing him, “Angel said you’d be here.”

He nodded. That made sense. From the corner of his eye, he watched her wring her hands together. She was nervous. He didn’t like that. He didn’t want to be the reason she felt that way. He watched her, his eyes tracking every subtle shift she made. She wasn’t only nervous; she was agitated as well. That had his back raise. His temper already on the cusp of being igniting. Now with her here, throwing everything off axis.

“I – “ She stuttered and it caught his attention.

He snapped his head up fully to meet her eyes again. There were tears welling in the corners and she was fidgeting. He took a step towards her, inadvertently. She noticed the movement and unconsciously leaned in his direction. When she realized what she’d done she let out a scoff at her reaction. It pulled on her heart and she could form the proper words now.

Finding her resolve she tried again, on an exhale she spoke, “I don’t want this to be over.”

He stopped. His entire world freezing with her statement. He’d been expecting a fight. He was riled up. Prepared to start yelling. He was breathing heavily, staring at her. He couldn’t tell what her expression contained. There were too many emotions passing across her features. All he could tell was that she was being honest. Whether or not she was happy with her statement, he didn’t know. He licked his lips, creasing his eyebrows together. He didn’t want her to feel trapped. Trapped in the downward spiral he’d pulled so many other women into.

“Yeah?” He finally spoke.

It was a dumb question and he knew it. She wiped away at her tears and nodded. He was relieved she didn’t feel to call him out on his horrible response. He didn’t want it to be over either. He took another step towards her, waiting and judging her reaction. She didn’t flinch away from him. Giving him more confidence in himself with her. They weren’t shattered, only broken. They had the tools to mend things back. This time with the truth. He nodded, knowing exactly where he stood. It was her. He wanted her. He always had. Since the day she randomly showed up at Angel’s.

“I don’t want it to be over either.” He mumbled.

A sob bubbled up from the back of her throat as he let his stance known. He was quick to close the distance between them and pull her into his arms. He sighed as she leaned into him willingly. Her arms constricting around his middle. Strong and stable. She buried her face into his chest. Inhaling, memorizing his scent. Committing it to memory. The comfort she brought him, settling back in, like an old friend. A puzzle piece, fitting perfectly into his emotional make up. He felt her shift, turning her head to rest her cheek above his heart.

“I think I’m in love with you.” She whispered into the fabric of his uniform.

He tightened his arms in response, resting a hand on the back of her head and kissing her crown. He smiled. That emotion from earlier resurging and now he knew how to properly explain it. He could place it. For the real feeling that it was. It wasn’t the perfect declaration of affections, but it was start. It would help them get through the storms. Weather it out together.

He pressed his nose against her temple, murmuring into here ear, “I think I am too.”

#coco cruz x reader #coco cruz imagines #coco cruz imagine #johnny coco cruz #mayans mc #mayans mc imagine #mayans mc imagines #angel reyes #best friend!angel reyes #johnny coco cruz imagines #johnny coco cruz imagine

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pochapal · 3 years

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I hate doctor 11 but ive never been able to explain why in like words lmao. He feels like such a mary sue character imo and like theres something about his characterisation that was always just really ineffective (like the stuff about fishfingers and custard or whatever it was). Imo i'd love to hear you give top 5 worst things about the 11 era because i rlly just love when it gets torn apart

i hold nothing but a seething contempt and loathing for that man. every time he appeared on screen i felt ready to snap like a riled up chimpanzee in my enclosure. i am frothing at the mouth and overcome with a desire to start flinging heavy objects. this might be incoherent and inconsistent but i started this rewatch in feb 2020 and only finished this week so i got through 11′s episodes last august/september time and i refuse to revisit it to jog my memory or fact check anything i’m saying here because this man does not deserve the space in my mind for that.

the first thing is i can’t fucking STAND the quirky whimsy timey wimey bit he has going on all of the time. i can’t even say this is because this is a kids show and i was a teen and then adult when i first properly watched him but actually!! when i was eleven years old i’d sleep over at a friend’s house most weekends and it always coincided with the airing of a new season 5 episode and i remember we watched the finale with the dumb time hopping to get out of the box prison that was never explained and didn’t make sense and i thought at the time “this is really stupid”. and before that my only other doctor who exposure was watching the david tennant christmas specials with another friend and throughout childhood my only opinion on doctor who was “this is a tv show that is not for me but is one that all the boys i am friends with like so i will put up with it to maintain our friendships” but at least those episodes were both suspenseful and engaging enough to keep me watching all the way through. like who the fuck does an end of the world sci fi plot and approaches it with an “oopsy woopsy i am a funny little alien man who is going to stop you all by making you do a hecking silly” like it’s unneeded and self-parodies an already cheesy show to the point where it becomes unwatchable and makes it impossible to ever take this man seriously.

next thing that downright sucks ass so badly is the stupid fucking overwritten constantly escalating plotlines. like everything from season 5 up until his regeneration at the end of season 7 is meant to be this grand interconnected cosmic plot about how...the doctor trying to bring back his planet will end the universe or something so all the top powers across all of reality tried again and again to stop him from doing that except he doesn’t know what’s going on so he keeps thwarting these people who supposedly mean good?? i mean i sure don’t fucking know what they were trying to say!! like for some reason we never get the doctor suddenly becomes this superdemon that threatens everything so these people (whoever they are) decide to, in sequence: suck him through a time rift to erase him from existence, trap him in a prison and remake a universe without him, take his companion’s baby and turn her into a perfectly trained doctor killer, form two(!!) secret societies to hunt him throughout history that are only stopped by his companion splintering herself across his personal timeline to protect him, and repeatedly cause reality collapsing events because it’s a kinder outcome for the universe than what he will do. this grand and terrible event turns out to be...he spends a few hundred years chilling by a rift that leads to his home planet and protects a few generations of children from monsters which convinces them to give him infinite regeneration power then fuck off back to their pocket universe. and it’s like!! what is the point of anything that happens in this man’s era when everything is always “the darkest moment” or whatever the fuck!! i don’t care!! we never get a compelling reason to believe this bumbling clown of a man could ever be a universal threat!! the whole thing is so dumb i hate it!!!

thing number three i hate is how the eleventh doctor is ALSO characterised as this abrasive egotistic male supergenius to the point where he becomes genuinely indistinguishable from bbc sherlock. genuinely who enjoyed seeing this guy constantly tell people their tiny human minds can’t comprehend what he’s doing and then basically just wave his magic wand to solve whatever problem each episode is facing. 2012 is the year of human sin because this fucking shitsmear character archetype somehow became both a redditor role model AND a tumblr sexyman and it’s like!! nobody is enjoying this stop making this seem cool! him saying timey wimey thing any time he does anything is frustrating and dumb and locks the viewer out of giving a fuck about anything that is happening! smartest man in the room syndrome is a disease and the eleventh doctor is terminal with it. like remember how they established river as an accomplished scientist (when she wasn’t being a child soldier or a time paradox or whatever the fuck) and every time that came up mr doctor eleven man was like “oh this thing is obvious because i’m a genius and you didn’t realise because your brain is tiny so get out of the way and let the grownups think” or that time it turned out amy had been replaced with a slime clone for half the season and the doctor chewed rory (audience surrogate) out for somehow not realising this fact we didn’t know right from the start and like. this served no purpose other than to draw into severe question why the doctor is also this super beloved magical figure implicitly trusted by all children everywhere like. mr steven moffat is totally allergic to writing and solving mysteries in his tv show and fuck you for wanting to figure things out as you go along based on the new evidence you uncover at strategic plot intervals just let this asshole man use magical thinking to reveal he knew the answer all along and you’re a fucking idiot for not also realising this thing which had no basis or precedent anywhere else in the show.

speaking of dumb things let us not forget the absolute shitshow that was minority representation in this era. i’m not even talking about the low hanging fruit of how genuinely unironically sexist amy and clara were written where each episode moffat either seemed to loathe them or was incredibly horny over them and they had no character growth or arc or fucking anything. i’m talking about how fucking shit terrible the incidental representation was. god remember how every single fucking gay person who appeared in this era was written as one incredibly fucking stupid joke and how the women were all either sexy dominatrix, feeble girl in love, or Mother (or all three in some really terrible cases) and i’m not qualified to talk about this but also how incredibly white this era was and how on two separate occasions we had monarchs reimagined as sexy girlbosses with a gun played by black women who the doctor leched over. nothing about any of this was good ESPECIALLY coming off the back of rtd who was surprisingly forward thinking for 2005 and did a really good job of positing travel with the doctor as queer allegory. in comparison moffat gave us THE MOST heterosexual shlock i’ve ever had to endure. amy and rory could have been interesting characters were they not hemmed into this domestic bickering young straight married couple bullshit that was in no way changed or altered by traveling with the doctor except for the quasi incestuous river song reveal that was dumb and bad and stupid.

the last major mega gripe i have with the series is moffat’s fucking jingoistic boner for british military aesthetics. this carried over throughout his entire tenure as showrunner but was super terrible vomit inducing in eleven’s era. the unironic admiration for ww2 britain and winston churchill is downright wretched. are you incapable of telling a second world war story outside of churchill’s london and plucky blitz fighters. shit gives me hives so badly. and then!!! that weird church owned army that features in the future that end up being bad not for the concept of what basically amounts to an imperialistic intergalactic rendition of the fucking crusades but because they’re part of the nonsense go nowhere puzzlebox narrative that says the doctor is a not good man who will do bad things to the universe :(. remember how rtd’s doctor was a freshly traumatised man hot off the war criminal press who time and time again vehemently refuses to engage in military violence, but who tragically inadvertently turns every one of his companions into soldiers in his own personal army, and he has this moment of complete horror at the realisation and it is this which causes the downward spiral that ends in 10′s regeneration. and then how there’s this cringe line about how there’s a force of people who are “the doctor’s army, always ready to fight his battles when he’s not around” or some shit and then it turns out this is actually massive literal military operation and we’re meant to celebrate this. fuck off.

bonus round because this needs to be said but i have never hated anything like i hated that fucking human tardis episode. everything about it induced violent anger in me from the sickening overindulgence of that softgoth dark whimsy helena bonham carter tim burton aesthetic to the bafflingly terrible evil carny stereotype of those junk scavengers to the overblown sudden tragic shipbait romance of human tardis and the doctor. every word out of her mouth was trite shit and the fact that the death of her body was presented as this super emotional dramatic scene despite there being no buy in or incentive to care and the fact that every single person on tumblr in 2012 ate that shit up like it was fucking gourmet. i loathe every single thing about that episode so much.

#Anonymous #hi bestie here's 1500 words of me getting mad about the worst television experience i had in my life #why the FUCK was this man tumblr's favourite back in the day. what the fuck did anyone see in any of this shit #i never want to think about dr whom ever again

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sonickedtrowel · 3 years

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So, long ask warning again. 😬 I'm back (if I can!).

Oh yeah. I agree with your criticism - was just thinking in terms of what the show gave us. There's precedent set (like 10 never telling Rose and THAT being a super huge "omg" moment several times throughout his time). I can see them not saying it a lot, but I do firmly believe like you that the Dr definitely told River they love her a lot more than we saw. And yeah, Let's Kill Hitler definitely was a confession - they can pry that from our cold dead hands because there's absolutely nothing else he could've said.

I mean someone could argue River always had a back up plan when she jumped out of the buildings etc but like. She absolutely didn't lmao. Opening an airlock to space? Jumping out of the high rise in 1969? Like I think Moffat wanted to create "unrest" to make it "spicy" or something - like how most TV shows won't let couples be domestic and happy - bc he definitely did that with Amy and Rory their entire time for... Absolutely no reason and attributed to about 85% of why I didn't like 11's run too much the first time I saw it. Hadn't noticed TATM was the shift for Dr/River's dynamic, but you're right (and come to think of it, wasn't that like... The first time they ever brought up "he doesn't like endings" like ever?? I mean it'd make sense, with meta and analysation, but if I remember correctly 11 didn't really show any emotions before then about endings - hell, he seemed p content in the Big Bang 2). And I would've liked to have seen it, too, if Moffat was gonna pull that shit like he did. At least give us the good angst feels (with the comfort later or else why have it at all lol) and not just say, "lol so River has more angst but we don't have time to get into that right now (or ever)." Bc I remember the first time I saw THoRS and being so confused - bc where did all that come from???? Fics have made good of what's been given but Moffat really went, "lol continuity whomst. Everything must be dark and mysterious!"

I agree with your analysis of it lol - they kinda left no other way to do it. I wish we'd gotten more of a breakdown after the Ponds. Like we know 11 became a broody sod for a year and then Clara magically pulled him out and he never really brooded again. And I suppose River saying she's fresh from Manhattan MIGHT explain why we never see more from her about it. But her being fresh from Manhattan and being perfectly okay and like That with Ramone during THoRS??? Doesn't really make sense. She's got bravado and can put up a show but there's no point to that when no one around would need the extra show (and she didn't even need to go and be around people at all, which I kinda feel like she probably didn't, at least not for a while). Esp since she didn't realize who 12 was and had accepted the Dr must be somewhere else. But yeah, Moffat was hella wrong (about far more than their established dynamic lol).

You’re so right. Like, let’s start with JUST some quotes from River’s introductory episodes. AND I KNOW, this is after Darillium, but I think we can all agree at the time it was written there was no intention for Darillium to have been 24 years and that this reflects her attitude to their relationship basically up to and, in fact, including TATM. RIVER: Thanks. DOCTOR: For what? RIVER: The usual. For coming when I call. RIVER: I trust this man with my life, with everything. LUX: You've only just met him. RIVER: No, he's only just met me. DOCTOR: I don't give my screwdriver to anyone. RIVER: I'm not anyone. ANITA: You say he's your friend, but he doesn't even know who you are. RIVER: Listen, all you need to know is this. I'd trust that man to the end of the universe. And actually, we've been. RIVER: You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them. and it's like they're not quite finished. They're not done yet. Well, yes, the Doctor's here. He came when I called, just like he always does. DOCTOR: I bet I like you. RIVER: Oh, you do. Then we have the Angels... DOCTOR: I'm nobody's taxi service. I'm not going to be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a space ship. RIVER: And you are so wrong. (I know they play this as a double-entendre but it’s clear she’s not only talking about the angel. I mean, SHE JUMPED OUT THE SPACE SHIP.) Anyway I don’t really think I need to go on, it’s CLEAR River was under no illusions of how much she meant to the Doctor and had no doubts that he’d always show up when she called so I really really hate how we have to either reverse-engineer a mostly-off screen relationship crisis after TATM or just let her rant in THORS tinge everything we’ve seen of entire their relationship up to that point, which seems very unfair to all involved, audience definitely included. However I do think River is very far from being okay in the beginning of THORS, in a lot of ways she’s reverted to the chaotic behavior she got up to more when she was young, and does not seem at all like the much more settled older River we know, even though this is as old as she’ll be before the Library. She’s messing around with fuckboys and though she gives the impassioned rant to Hydroflax about how she’s going to right his wrongs then she just goes to fence the diamond lol. I see 11′s behavior in 7B (tried sulking, didn’t work, now I’m going to pick up a new human and go have adventures and ignore all of my problems and feelings) as very much the same sort of thing. But like. GIVE US SOME MORE CONTEXT PLEASE. OR AT LEAST LET US KNOW THIS WAS GOING ON WHILE IT WAS GOING ON AND NOT WAY AFTER???? And now bc of this we get shit like James Goss’s takes on their relationship in BF and UUUuuuUUUUuuuughhhhhhhhhh Yea I’ll be ranting about this till the end of my days, it’s fine, it’s fine

I’m so tired

#Anonymous #doctor/river

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ashildrs-archive · 4 years

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i 100% agree but please please please expand on the twelveriver is good elevenriver is bad

This contains 11/river crit and mild moffat crit so if you know you’ll disagree and don’t have an open mind about reading please don’t read and if you do don’t comment because I’ve considered all the arguments that can be made to dispute me and it’s not worth my time to reply

Okay I got quiet a few asks for this so here we go, apologies for the delay and a warning that this is several paragraphs long and you can't do cuts on asks sadly:

What you have to understand is I like river! I do. She’s has aspects and moments that I adore. But I have many problems w how she is written especially how she is written in a relationship w eleven.

First off, river’s life revolves around the doctor’s. I’m aware of the many arguments for and against this, but fundementally the way I see, it’s true. When river is introduced she has so much potential it hurts. She’s mysterious, captivating and appears to have lived this wonderful life - parts of which involve the Doctor. Not to mention at this point age clearly knows more than he does. It really kills me how much wasted potential there was.

River was born from the doctor’s companions, convinced in the tardis and raised to kill the doctor. She grows up and the first time she meets to doctor she is there to kill him. It doesn’t exactly spell out healthy relationship. From there she is sent to become the spaceman to - very predictably - kill the Doctor. Expect she doesn’t this time, because she “broke her mental conditioning” and learnt she would love him. And gave up all her regenerations to save the Doctor. Possibly thousands of years of her life. Before she even knew him. Not to even mention she became an archeologist because she wanted to find the doctor. I hate it. I really hate it.

And then there’s the question of their wedding. River says she’s rather all the universe die than the Doctor die at her hand, which the doctor is understandably alarmed by. So he marries her. For what? Love? No, moffats great love story is them and yet their wedding is far from romantic. He marries her to calm her down. It’s no surprise she didn’t think he loved her.

Which brings me nicely along to my next point. Their relationship is ridiculously unhealthy and unbalanced. River quickly loses whatever autonomy she’s had by being put in jail for killing the doctor (which, I might point out, she didn’t even do). She loves him - despite my issues w her knowing she would fall for him and so she did etc - I truly believe river loved the doctor in the most genuine way anyone can.

And maybe he loved her back. Maybe. You scarcely see it. He pops in to see river when he’s in the mood and spend the rest if his life having his own adventures w his own friends. While she waits. Because she would always wait. We’re told the doctor comes when river calls but do we ever really see that? Truly? No. “ I promise you, he’s doing whatever the hell he wants and not giving a damn about me!” she says that. She believes that. The Doctor let her.

She does truly love him - and part of me thinks there’s an argument she sees herself as lesser than him. Or at least puts him on a pedastool. The man who saves the universe. “You don’t expect a sunset to admire you back!” her life belongs to his story and the Doctor is free to live his own. That’s so painfully, painfully unbalanced.

It hurts to love and not be loved in the sane way in return. To have someone ve the closet person in your life - the only real love in your life - and yet be just someone else they care about, far down the line of priorities to them. It’s cruel. It’s far too cruel and it’s no thing to base a relationship on.

And then there’s the fighting. They’re always arriving and as many times as you say it, is in not just “old married couple”. Then there’s the whole “can’t have two psychopaths in the tardis” bs. Can moffat PLEASE look up the definition of psychopath because he clearly doesn’t know. But I’m getting sidetracked. A could spout reasons river/11 is Hardly The Best Ship Out There all day, but I like to think I’ve made my point.

So, the husbands of riversong is the only 12/river content we ever got. And I loved it. This episode (funnily enough is the first I ever saw w River in it) genuinely is everything I ever hoped river would become. She’s interesting, she’s shown to have a life, and a very interesting and exciting one at that, outside the Doctor. She’s passionate abt her work and her personality really shines through.

But most importantly, the doctor realized. When she gives her speech (which is truly as beautiful as it is sad) the doctor realises what he did was wrong and that she ended knew he loved her. He suddenly see it all. He knows, and he tells her how it really feels and respects her for who she is and he looks at her and he’s so, so in love. There is so much in the episode I Love. And he isn’t messing her around with timelines or only half heatedly dubiously loving her or prioritizing so many other thing over her; their relationship is balenced and it is healthy and everything it always should have been. And I love it.

So I’ll always wish we had what riversong could have been and the potential of her story that we saw glimpses of. And maybe one day I’ll stop writing essays in the middle of the night about it. Today is not that day.

#anon #answered #meta #doctor whop #river song #docriver #moffat crit #Long post

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sulietsexual · 4 years

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So, I finally saw the new Little Women on the weekend, and I have to say, I was ... really underwhelmed, especially given the extreme over-hype which has surrounded this film for months.

Little Women is my favourite novel of all time and, yes, I am an avid fan of the 1994 movie. The book always fills me with warmth and emotion and I love the March girls so much, each of them in their own way. I went into this film with muted expectations, so I wasn’t disappointed per se but it definitely left me wanting more.

Let me start with the positives; the film definitely has a certain charm to it. I appreciated that they tried to include a lot of dialogue from the novel. The cinematography was very pretty in places. And I genuinely loved the actresses who portrayed the March sisters. Saoirse Ronan’s Jo was vivacious and fun and she imbued the character with Jo’s clumsiness, lack of propriety (a little too much sometimes, which I will talk about later) and overall likability. I don’t know why everyone’s complaining about Emma Watson, as I found her Meg to be lovely. I thought she perfectly captured Meg’s softness and her gentle stoicism, although I could have done with a little more fire to her character, people tend to forget that Meg has a bit of a feisty side. Florence Pugh was great as older Amy, and bless her, she tried her hardest as young Amy, but I still maintain that Younger Amy needs to be played by a younger actress, otherwise she comes across as far too bitchy, as opposed to just bratty. Eliza Scanlan was fine as Beth, but I wish they’d given her more to do (more on this later).

As for the rest of the casting ... I was a bit underwhelmed. I was excited for Laura Dern as Marmee, but she disappointed me, which probably has more to do with the writing of the character. She felt far too modern and very under-developed. Timothee Chalamet (sp?) as Laurie was a total miscast, he was far too melancholy and kind of creepy? Laurie is supposed to be a cheeky and vivacious character, with the occasional fits of melancholy, not the other way around. Meryl Streep was wasted as Aunt March, but I knew she would be, given what a minor character Aunt March actually is in the book. None of the other actors made much of an impression on me, tbh.

Unfortunately, for me, the negatives are greater than the positives and one of the biggest complaints I have about this film is that it really seemed to lack soul and heart. Little Women is a novel which makes me cry every time I read it and I didn’t shed a single tear during this film. Scenes which I love from the novel left me cold during the film.

I appreciated that the film tried to include events from the novel which often aren’t portrayed onscreen, such as Meg buying the expensive silk knowing she couldn’t afford it, Beth and Mr Lawrence’s friendship, Amy telling Laurie off for his indolent ways and Marmee’s speech to Jo about how she is angry every day. But a combination of rushed dialogue, the weird back-and-forth jumps between past and present and a script which didn’t slow down to appreciate the emotions of the scenes meant that many of these scenes felt empty, as if everyone was simply going through the motions. The film is accurate to the book and captures many of the events, but it misses so many emotional beats. I want any adaptation of Little Women to fill me with warmth and emotion and this film just ... didn’t. A particularly egregious example is the fact that this movie didn’t film Beth’s death scene, opting instead to have Jo wake up to an empty bed, in a scene which is obviously supposed to mirror the previous scene and drive home how Jo “couldn’t save” Beth this time around, but all it does is undermine the emotion of Beth passing and the grief her family - particularly Jo - feel over watching her pass away.

And while we’re on the subject of Beth, can we talk about what a non-character she was? I know that Beth is the least developed of the sisters in the novel, and as such, adaptations sometimes tend to overlook her, but she was barely a character in this film. Even her illness - arguably the biggest component of her characterisation and arc - was overlooked and under-played. I didn’t feel any fear or trepidation for her when she first fell ill, and her entire sickness was so rushed and downplayed. Eliza Scanlan is an incredibly talented actress (just watch Sharp Objects for proof of this) and yet they gave her so little to do.

Laurie too became almost a non-character, and I feel that this was a result of the constant time jumps. There was no room for him to develop or grow and many of his Big Moments were omitted from the film (such as him sending for Mrs March when Beth is ill, the way he swears to keep their secrets and provides the PO Box for them, going to London to make himself worthy of Amy). Also that disgusting scene from the New Year’s Eve ball when he turns up half-dressed, drunk and with two women hanging off his arms; no where in the novel would Theodore Lawrence ever behave like that, and the fact that this scene was our second introduction to the character soured his entire characterisation. Laurie was such a pale shade of what he is in the novels, and because of this, his relationships with all the sisters is severely undermined and downplayed. You certainly won’t ship Jo/Laurie from this movie, but nor will you feel much semblance of friendship between the two, despite the fact that they’re such kindred spirits in the novel. He shares more scenes with Amy, but they’re devoid of feeling or emotion (and chemistry) and so his eventual marriage to her falls flat.

I think one of the reasons for Laurie’s lack of characterisation is the weird time jumps. I know that a lot of critics are praising this technique, but I hated it. For one, it was often confusing as to whether we were in the past or the present, given how quickly the scenes jumped between the two. Secondly, this style of storytelling severely undermined characterisation and character development, and it juxtaposed scenes in a very weird fashion, negating the original point of the scenes and the lessons the girls were supposed to learn from them. For example, Meg’s misbehaviour at the Moffats being directly juxtaposed with the scene in which she confesses to John that she bought the expensive silk makes Meg look like she hasn’t grown or changed in five years. We missed the beautiful scene where she confesses her “sins” to Marmee and the growth which came from that experience, and instead jumped straight into what looked like an unhappy marriage (and why in god’s name were we introduced to Meg and John’s marriage before they had even spoken to each other in the past? Once again, the development of this relationship was undermined by the fact that we saw their courtship in reverse - we didn’t get the impact of Meg promising to love John despite his poverty only to betray him by buying the expensive silk). And this is just one of many examples of this technique robbing us of the emotion of the scenes.

The film felt so rushed at times and because of this, it has a very modern feel to it which I really didn’t like. If you want to “modernize” the story, fine, but do so by placing it in a modern setting. Having a period setting while using modern dialogue and a modern sense of propriety didn’t work. A scene of Jo hiking her skirts up to her knees with her bloomers on display while in public was awful, as was the scene where she unabashedly started to strip down while Laurie was in the room, and both scenes just undermined the period setting and were extremely jarring. Again, because the film was so rushed and the dialogue so quick and rapid-fire, we lost the emotional impact of many scenes. Period pieces need to be slow, you need time to savour the dialogue and actions, to feel the emotions and take time to appreciate the depth of the events and relationships.

And speaking of relationships, I cannot get over how much this filmed missed the mark when it came to the sisters’ relationships. Such a huge part of the appeal of Little Women is the bonds between the sisters and this film just blew right past them! I didn’t feel any deep connection between the sisters, and this was particularly noticeable with Jo and Beth, who share such a deep bond in the book. I think part of this problem stemmed from the fact that it took five scenes for the sisters to actually share a scene together; our introduction to the girls happens in four separate scenes, with each of the girls by themselves, in their own setting. Compare (because I have to) with the 1994 movie, in which the first four scenes of the film focus on the girls together, only separating once Meg and Jo attend the Gardiners Christmas party. The sisters’ relationship is such a huge component of the novel, but this film spends little time or focus building it and it is definitely a big reason as to why the film feels so empty.

There is so much more I want to say (for example, the horrendous way in which the film somehow made Jo look like she’d regretted turning down Laurie and held onto said regret for five years and how they juxtaposed her sending him the letter saying she would marry him, which WTF, never happened in the novel, with Laurie returning, having married Amy, like, way to pit the two sisters directly against one another, which even the 1994 adaptation had sense enough not to do) but this post has already turned into a freakin’ essay and most of my grievances have been aired.

To end this (very long) rant on a positive note, I want to reiterate that this film was charming in many ways, and while I do have many complaints, it was still a decent adaptation of my favourite novel, which wasn’t so far removed from the source material that I couldn’t enjoy it. It will never match the emotional depth and warmth of the 1994 movie, but I can see myself coming around to it in the future and liking it for what it is. I just wish more care and effort had been put into it and it had concentrated more on the emotion of the novel rather than the events.

#little women #little women 2019 #little women spoilers #phew this was long #long post

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the-desolated-quill · 5 years

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Why Spider-Man Leaving The MCU Is The Best News I’ve Heard In Ages - Quill’s Scribbles

Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Did you hear the news? I’d be surprised if you didn’t. EVERYONE has heard the news by now. A couple of days ago it was reported that the deal between Marvel and Sony that allowed the two studios to share custody for the rights of Spider-Man has fallen through. Spider-Man is no longer going to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Speaking as someone who is not only a big Spider-Man fan, but also a very vocal critic of the current state of Marvel and Disney’s cynical and convoluted ‘shared universe’, this caused quite a reaction when I first heard the news. I’m as happy as a man who just found out his high school crush likes him back on the same day he won the lottery. Happy, but not surprised. In fact I’m more surprised that other people were surprised by the news. The deal Marvel and Sony managed to strike was almost unheard of. Two rival movie studios in mutual cooperation. Never thought I’d see the day. But if you thought this was going to be the new norm, then I’m afraid you don’t understand this industry. I knew, or at least suspected, that once Sony had a hit on their hands, they’d cut ties with Marvel and Disney. It was only a matter of time. Now that Spider-Man: Far From Home has made over a billion dollars at the box office and now they have found success with their own non-MCU films, Venom and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, the simple fact of the matter is they don’t need Marvel or Disney anymore. So they’ve flown the coop. Yes it’s possible they could renegotiate the deal, but given how unlikely the prospect of the initial deal was in the first place, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. It’s more likely they’re going to take their ball and go home. Sony’s Universe Of Marvel Characters (despite its incredibly clunky name) is now going to be firmly built upon and expanded, and I for one could not be more excited.

Of course not everyone shares my excitement. Disney, for one thing, aren’t happy. Nor are the cast. Jeremy Renner has made his views clear, begging Sony to give the rights to Spidey back. (Perhaps he should focus more on his own character Hawkeye, considering what a mess he’s become). Die hard MCU fans aren’t pleased neither. Same goes for ‘celebrity’ fans like Kevin Smith, a filmmaker who preferred to be called a comic book expert on the Venom Blu-Ray bonus features presumably because he hasn’t actually been relevant as a filmmaker since the 90s. (it’s worth reading his thoughts just for a laugh. He honestly thinks Disney aren’t greedy, corporate bastards. ROFL). And of course the so-called ‘professional’ critics, who for years have deluded themselves into thinking the MCU is actually good, have been writing their own little think pieces about what all this means. Can Spider-Man possibly survive without Iron Man and pals to prop him up? To which the answer is obviously yes. Sony had the rights to Spidey for fourteen years before the Marvel deal. They made five Spider-Man movies, four of which were massive box office successes. They also released Venom and Spider-Verse last year. Both hugely successful and the latter even won an Oscar, which is one more Oscar than Marvel Studios have ever won (sorry Black Panther. You were robbed).Can Spider-Man survive outside the MCU? Gee I don’t know. I guess somehow Sony will find the strength to soldier on without them.

Although, that being said, there’s not as many journalists siding with Disney as I thought there would be. There are quite a few articles explaining how this split could help Spidey in the long run, which is both absolutely true and refreshing to see. Hopefully this is a sign that we’re finally turning a corner and critics are starting to use their brains again. Like how everyone worshipped the ground Steven Moffat walked on until Sherlock Series 4 where everyone realised that he’s actually shit and has always been shit.

Spider-Man leaving the MCU is the best thing you could do for the character at this stage. The way he’s been treated since joining the Marvel clusterfuck has been nothing short of appalling. I’ve made it no secret how much I detest this version of Spider-Man and some might dismiss what I’m about to say out of hand, perhaps claiming I’m biased because I’ve said numerous times that I love The Amazing Spider-Man films starring Andrew Garfield. Two films I will go to my grave defending because they were bloody good movies. People were just butt hurt because it wasn’t Spider-Man 4. Never mind the fact that the original Sam Raimi films were never that good to begin with (seriously, have any of you actually watched Spider-Man 2 recently? Trust me. It’s not as good as you remember it). No, I promise you that if MCU Spidey existed in a vacuum, I would still hate him just as much for the simple reason that he has absolutely nothing in common with the source material. Under the watchful, Orwellian eye of Marvel, they took Spider-Man, a character most famous for being a working class everyman, and turned him into the most spoilt and privileged little bum-balloon I’ve ever seen.

Spider-Man: Homecoming was a terrible movie. Plain and simple. A cynically produced, written by committee, pile of wank that gets so much of Spidey’s character and story completely wrong, it’s almost impressive. No longer a teenager/young adult struggling to balance his superhero life, his school work, his career and his social life, instead we got a groomed Mary Sue who doesn’t have to fight for anything because everything is basically handed to him on a silver platter courtesy of Iron Man. We never see him struggle. He’s not relatable. He never has to face consequences for his actions. He misses God knows how many classes and debate group meetings and yet he never gets punished for it. Sure he gets sent to detention a couple of times, but we see him leave whenever he bloody wants to. It’s just boring. If there’s no struggle, where’s the tension? And the less said about the villain, the better. Taking an eccentric antagonist like the Vulture and turning him into the stereotypical blue collar dad trying to provide for his family has got to be one of the most uninspired and blatantly lazy bits of characterisation I think I’ve ever seen. And that’s not to mention the supporting cast. Aunt May is youthed for no reason other than to make sexist jokes at her expense with every man that comes within her general vicinity staring at her with their tongues hanging out and eyes as large as saucepans. Minor villains like Shocker and the Tinkerer have their characters reduced to unfunny comedy sidekicks. And then there’s Peter Parker’s gang of racial stereotypes. We have Peter’s best friend, the fat and nerdy Ned who has no real personality other than being fat and nerdy (and is without a doubt the most annoying character in the damn film). Flash has been racebent so now he’s the stereotypical arrogant Asian prick. Michelle has no character other than being the same sassy black teenager who don’t give a shit, a caricature so old now it’s practically been fossilised. And then there’s the love interest Liz, a character so bland and one dimensional that I had to look her name up. Oh and lets not forget that the majority of this Spider-Man’s story was nicked from Miles Morales because people are only going to empathise with his story if it revolves around a white kid, am I right?

You know, I get so frustrated whenever people slag off the Amazing Spider-Man movies and claim that these new movies are better because... well... WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! I’m sorry, but I was much more invested with Peter and Gwen than I ever was with Peter and... what’s her face? Or Peter and Michelle (who I categorically refuse to call MJ because she’s not MJ, is she? They just used the initials to pander to gullible fans. They didn’t have the guts to just make Mary Jane Watson black, did they? Of course not! We don’t want to alienate the casual racists, do we? They’re our main demographic after all). The reason why Peter and Gwen worked is because they’re well-written, three dimensional characters with great chemistry and whom we actually spend a significant amount of time getting to know. So when Gwen dies at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it becomes a heart wrenching moment because we’ve grown invested in this character and this relationship. If Michelle were to die in a future movie, I honestly wouldn’t bat a fucking eyelid. Even Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst had more chemistry than those two, and that relationship was a total shambles from start to finish.

It also helps that Peter and Gwen felt like real people. I loved the scene in the first movie where Peter awkwardly asks her out because it reminded me so much of how I asked my first girlfriend out. And that’s why I love the Amazing Spider-Man movies. Because out of all the Spidey films we’ve had over the past 17 years, the Amazing ones are the only ones in my opinion that manage to capture the humanity of the character. As fantastical as the world is, the characters, their relationships and their dilemmas are grounded firmly in reality. Homecoming on the other hand is just embarrassing. Despite casting teenage actors, none of the teenagers actually act like teenagers. They act like five year olds. It’s painfully obvious that the filmmakers are trying to pander to young kids and they clearly don’t know how to write them. Again, this is where the Amazing movies stands head and shoulders above the others. They’re not treated like kids or teenagers. They’re treated like people. Real people. Same goes for the villains. (Yes, even Electro, despite wonky execution).

But the main criticism people have with MCU Spidey is that these films aren’t actually about Spidey. They’re really about the MCU mascot Iron Man.

Now to be clear, I don’t necessarily have a problem with the idea of Iron Man being a surrogate father figure to Spidey. It could work. Captain America: Civil War, despite the clunky and contrived way in which Spidey was introduced to the MCU (oh you just happened to know about a masked vigilante we haven’t seen or heard of until now Tony? Okay. What about Daredevil and Luke Cage?... What do you mean they’re not in the movie?), did a good job of setting up the dynamic. Namely that Tony doesn’t actually care about Peter or his well being, merely using him for his own ends. Unless Americans have some kind of ‘Bring Your Child To A Warzone Day’ I don’t know about.

Despite its flaws, Civil War was good because it gave us an unsettling look at the characters we’ve been watching for years. We see Captain America consumed by his own naivety and idealism to the point where he can no longer see the bigger picture and we see Iron Man go from being an industrial capitalist to an authoritarian fascist. Homecoming could have followed up on that. Have Spidey realise that Tony doesn’t have his best interests at heart, reject him as a father figure and grow into his own man. Instead the movie seems to go out of its way to undo all the interesting things Civil War brought to the table. Of course Tony cares about Peter! Oh and his relationship problems with Pepper Potts have been magically fixed off screen and now they’re getting married! Relax people, it’s okay! Nothing morally complicated going on here! We apologise for assuming you’re actually intelligent and promise never to make you think about anything ever again!

Not only is this quite insulting to the audience, it also negatively impacts Spidey’s arc. Turns out the movie isn’t about Spider-Man becoming his own man. It’s about him proving he can be an Avenger. He’s constantly in the shadow of Iron Man and, more to the point, we’re supposed to be happy that he’s in the shadow of Iron Man.

Again, this is where the Amazing Spider-Man gets it right. The first movie is very much about father figures. Uncle Ben, Curt Connors and Gwen’s dad all play a role in Peter’s growth and development over the course of the film. He’s able to take all the lessons and advice he gets from the three and use them to become his own man. As director Marc Webb so eloquently put it, ‘it’s a story about a kid who grows up looking for his father and finds himself.’ Compare that to the current iteration of Spidey where Uncle Ben doesn’t even appear to exist in this continuity because he’s been completely supplanted by Iron Dad. Remind me again why people think the Amazing movies are shit?

The latest film, Spider-Man: Far From Home, is no better. Same problems as before only this time Mysterio gets MCU’d to death. Instead of the pathetic loser trying desperately to receive recognition for his talents, we basically get a rehash of the plot from Iron Man 3, which in turn was a rehash of the plot from The Incredibles. Mysterio is basically trying to supplant Iron Man because he got screwed over when he used to work for Stark, and it’s up to everyone’s favourite wall-crawler to stop him because there’s only room in this universe for one Iron Boy. Even when Iron Man is dead, he’s still front and centre of the fucking narrative. Here’s a bright idea. How about we make a Spider-Man film that’s actually, you know, about Spider-Man? (Oh yeah, spoiler alert, Iron Man dies in Avengers: Endgame. Not that it’s really spoiling anything because Endgame is a big piece of shit).

Here’s the thing. Everyone is blaming Sony for the deal breaking down, and okay, I’m not going to pretend that Sony aren’t cynical. As much as I love The Amazing Spider-Man movies, I’m well aware the only reason they exist is because Sony desperately wanted to keep the rights. They spent a stupid amount of money on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to the point where it needed to make a billion dollars at the box office in order to make a decent profit (a feat only achieved at that time by Batman with The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises) and they crammed loads of characters and plot points into an already overstuffed movie in order to rush out their own shared universe to compete with Marvel. When that didn’t work, they went crawling to Marvel and Disney in the hopes that the MCU could bail them out of the shit. I get it. There’s plenty to criticise. But for the likes of Kevin Smith and other idiots to only blame Sony and defend Marvel is really quite galling to me because Marvel and Disney are just as cynical, if not more so.

Does anyone here actually know what the deal was? Basically the agreement was that Kevin Feige would get lead producer credit for any solo Spider-Man films and Marvel and Disney would get five percent of the cut. Meanwhile Spider-Man would be allowed to appear in any MCU film. Also, because Sony still hold the rights to the character, they get the final say on any creative decision regarding Spider-Man. Or at least that’s the theory anyway. In reality that wasn’t the case. Reportedly Marvel and Disney were so anal about keeping the plot of Avengers: Endgame a secret that they didn’t tell the screenwriters of Spider-Man: Far From Home what happens in the bloody film. And considering that the film follows directly on from Endgame, that’s quite a problem. Sony may have creative control over Spider-Man, but Marvel and Disney can still call the shots, deliberately sabotaging Sony in order to boost hype for their own films. Also Sony are actually worse off in this deal because Marvel and Disney are the ones making all the money. Spider-Man has appeared in three MCU films. Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. All three of these films made Marvel and Disney over a billion dollars at the box office. Sony meanwhile have only made two Spidey movies, Homecoming and Far From Home, only one of which has made over a billion and both of which Marvel and Disney get five percent of the profit. Now that Sony have finally got their billion dollar Spider-Man movie, Marvel and Disney had the cheek to propose that Sony share fifty percent of the profits with them. Because it’s not enough for Marvel and Disney to be making shit tons of money off their own films. No. They also want as much money as they can get out of films made by other studios that are only tangentially related to their’s. God forbid a movie studio should be allowed to keep all the profits from their movie.

So yeah, I’m glad Sony have split and are free to make their own movies again. Because Disney have got such a strangle hold on the entire industry that I’m always happy to see any studio or IP slip through their fingers. And I’m not the only one who thinks this. Do you know who else agrees with me? Stan Lee’s own daughter.

In an interview with TMZ, Joan Lee slammed Disney for their lack of compassion when her father passed away:

“When my father died, no one from Marvel or Disney reached out to me. From day one, they have commoditised my father’s work and never shown him or his legacy any respect or decency. In the end, no one could have treated my father worse than Marvel and Disney’s executives.”

She then went on to support Sony’s decision to break the deal with Marvel, saying ‘whether it’s Sony or someone else’s, the continued evolution of Stan’s characters and his legacy deserves multiple points of view.’

And do you know what? She’s right. She’s absolutely right.

While people were celebrating when Disney bought 20th Century Fox because the X-Men and Fantastic Four were finally going to be part of their precious shared universe, I was watching in absolute horror because nobody was actually talking about the ramifications of this. Disney serves as a cautionary tale of what happens when capitalism goes unchecked. Seeing this mega-corporation consume and absorb other major studios like some Lovecraftian monster is both frightening and heartbreaking for me because the industry is going to be so much lesser for it. Less studios means less movies are going to be produced. It also means less variety in the entertainment we consume. Marvel and Disney have already done their utmost to homogenise and dumb down every MCU film to the point where most of them all feel the same, look the same and have nothing unique or creative about them whatsoever. And now we’re on the cusp of seeing that potentially happening to my most favourite superhero in the whole wide world:

Thanks to the Disney buyout, plans for X-Force and Deadpool 3 have been placed on indefinite hold with people reckoning we won’t see the Merc with the Mouth again until Phase 5 (Christ, give me strength) of the MCU so that Marvel and Disney can work out exactly how to fit him into their shared universe. Naturally the R rated nature of the character makes him difficult to integrate into the PG-13 MCU. Some have suggested toning down the character. Even David Leitch, the director of Deadpool 2, said they could make a PG-13 version of the character, which just feels like such a massive betrayal. After literally years of Ryan Reynolds, director Tim Miller, screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and the fans fighting tooth and claw to get an R rated Deadpool movie green-lit, it sickens me whenever I see people discussing how a PG-13 Deadpool wouldn’t be so bad and that they just want to see him pop up in an Avengers movie.

Here’s a suggestion. If you can’t make someone like Deadpool fit into the MCU, STOP TRYING TO FUCKING DO IT! Let him be his own separate thing! I’ve got no problem with that! But no. Everything has to be connected to this idiotic shared universe, but here’s the thing, I really don’t fucking care. I couldn’t give two shits if Deadpool and Captain America were to meet in a movie. I just want to see X-Force and Deadpool 3. I just want some good fucking movies. Is that really too much to ask?

The MCU, and by extension Disney, are slowly ruining the industry with this shared universe crap and I’m getting so bloody sick of this. Not only does the premise have absolutely nothing new to offer at this point, it’s also ruining the quality of standalone movies. Instead of telling compelling stories with likeable characters, they’re just adverts for more movies to come with nothing unique to offer. Oooooh, can the Avengers stop Thanos and unkill everyone who we know aren’t really dead because they all have fucking sequels planned? Tune in next week to confirm what you already bloody know! I don’t give a fuck what you’ve got planned for me down the road in ten or fifteen movies time. Right now I’m stuck here at a service station and I’ve got no fucking sandwiches.

Off the top of my head, the only MCU films I can think of that I’ve watched in recent memory and I’ve actually enjoyed are Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther. And do you know why? Because they actually have something to say. They’re not focused on teasing the next bullshit spinoff movie. Black Panther in particular has little to no connection with the rest of the MCU. It works as its own standalone piece and has its own unique voice, commenting on how black people are viewed in society. Civil War takes elements from previous films and goes in an entirely new direction with them, exploring the faults in our beloved Avengers and questioning their role as superheroes. It offers something beyond a tease for the next film. It poses thought provoking questions about the characters and forces us to confront some harsh truths about them. But in an environment like the MCU, where everything is pre-planned by committee, there’s no room for creativity or expression, which means the few good movies get stifled. It’s impossible to continue the themes of Civil War because Homecoming exists to contradict everything. Black Panther is an amazing and impactful movie, but its impact is lessened thanks to Infinity War where we see the Wakandans reduced to little more than cannon fodder so that the real heroes can fight the baddie.

It’s frustrating to see people blindly accept and support the poisonous business model of Marvel and Disney because it’s not normal, it’s not benefiting the industry at large and it’s not even financially viable in the long term. Marvel Studios’ success revolves around one franchise. What happens when the shared universe/comic book movie bubble bursts and people eventually stop watching these films? (and it will happen because it always happens. That’s how trends work). They’re going to be up shit street, aren’t they? At least Warner Bros have Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings to fall back on. Their future isn’t entirely dependant on the success of the DCEU (thank God, some might say).

Also it’s worth noting that studios are slowly starting to move away from the shared universe format. Before the buyout, 20th Century Fox were taking risks with smaller budget, standalone movies like Deadpool and Logan. After the disaster that was Justice League, Warner Bros and DC have recently started focusing more on standalone movies to great success. Aquaman and Shazam, while still part of the DCEU, work as their own independent films. We’ve also got Joker being released in a couple of months time, which I think everyone should be paying really close attention to, because if Joker is critically and commercially successful, it could very well serve as the death knell for the concept of a shared universe. Definitive proof that you don’t need twenty movies and interconnecting stories with massive budgets to be successful. All you need is a very good idea.

Even Sony have finally learnt their lesson. They’ve taken a risk with Into The Spider-Verse and received an Academy Award for their trouble. As for Sony’s Universe Of Marvel Characters, they’re already off to a strong start with Venom. And mercifully they’re not making the same mistakes they did with the Amazing Spider-Man 2 or Ghostbusters. They’re not spending ridiculous amounts of money with unrealistic expectations of success and they’re no longer putting the cart way before the horse. They’re focusing on making a good movie first and worrying about potential expansion later. Venom may not be a masterpiece, but it’s a hell of a lot more entertaining and fulfilling than the majority of MCU films because it tells a complete story with a beginning, middle and end and it has well developed characters that we actually like and grow attached to. And if worst comes to the worst and Sony’s next film, Morbius, doesn’t do well, then they have Venom 2 to fall back on. And if that doesn’t work, they’ll still have Spider-Verse. They are no longer putting all their eggs in one basket and that’s good. That’s the smart thing to do.

Can you imagine something like Venom in the MCU? Of course not! Because Venom has its own unique tone and vision. That’s why it was so successful with audiences. Its mix of dark comedy and campy sci-fi horror made it stand out from the crowd. Marvel and Disney want us to believe that there’s only one way to make a superhero movie, when that’s simply not true. And now that Spider-Man is free to find his own unique voice again, hopefully people will begin to see just how creatively limiting and damaging the MCU truly is.

#spider-man #sony #anti marvel #anti disney #quill's scribbles

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takaraphoenix · 4 years

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Dr who for the ask game

Thanks for playing! This is also a big, fun one! :O (I do love that the majority of these asks hit target on my own biggest obsessions x3 We checked off like all the live action shows at this point, I think, the only things left are anime/animated xDDD)

Again with a cut due to the sheer size. ^^°°°

Top 5 favourite characters: CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, The Doctor, Yasmin Kahn

Other characters you like: Rory Williams Pond, Graham O’Brien, Mickey Smith, Bill Potts, Sarah Jane Smith, Craig Owens

Least favourite characters: Rose Tyler by a landslide

Otps: not realy any actual OTPs but ships I guess I’m fond of would be Vasta/Jenny and Rory/Amy

Notps: every ship involving the Doctor, because I just honestly find it weird and uncomfortable to look at the Doctor as a romantic or even worse yet sexual being, but most of all Doctor/Rose and Doctor/River, also Jack/Ianto

Favourite friendships: I am living for the current team dynamic, 13-Yaz-Graham-Ryan are really good but my forever favorite is the Doctor and Jack, also the best team-up was the Doctor with Donna and Martha, that was perfect

Favourite family: THE FAM! 13′s team

Favourite episodes:oooh mmh, I do have multiple favorites, so let’s do this!

Blink: it is such a good episode, there was a time I just popped that one in when I had 40 minutes to waste

Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords: for me personally, this is where Doctor Who peaked. My absolute favorite storyline and episodes and team-up - my favorite Doctor with BOTH my favorite companions in an episode with my favorite Master as the enemy. Amazing. There was a time when I would regularly rewatch this, just these three

Turn Left/The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End:Suuuch a satisfying conclusion for a four series plotline, all of the companions coming together like that? It was so good

The Lodger & Closing Time: I love Craig and I love how these two episodes switch things up!

Favourite season/book/movie: Rather obviously, series 3 - the return of Jack, the series where Martha is the companion, a series with my favorite Doctor and four of my favorite episodes in it!

Favourite quotes:THE ANGELS HAVE THE PHONE BOX! xD And the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff! I got that one on a necklace even! *laughs*

Best musical moment: uuurgh the soundtrack of this show is actually so good? I listened to it on a loop for years. Series 3 and 4 being my favorites, they make you feel things, man.

Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: Just this series when Jack returned. And let me elaborate to just convey how hard I fangirled at that, because it wasn’t just “oh a fave!”.

You see, Jack is... kind of why I’m here? I watched the first series with my mother back when it started airing in Germany. But they kind of... stopped dubbing it and it stopped airing in Germany and eh, I was okay with it because this show seemed weird like they just switched out the actor of the MAIN CHARACTER who does that what the fuck and I really liked Jack but he was gone now too so oh well.

However, then I read online about how Jack was in series 3. So... I went online and Doctor Who is genuinely the first TV show I ever watched in English, because I wanted to see Jack but there was no dub.

Then series 3 ended and both Jack and Martha left and I was very meh because I remembered that this is the show that constantly replaces its whole cast.

You can probably guess what happened next, but Jack was in the finale of series 4. So I went back into Doctor Who, rewatched what there has been so far all the way up to the series 4 finale - and that was when I was sold, because holy shit even with the switching of companions, they just bring them back! They just brought them all back! That was such a good pay-off.

Ironically, that was when I actually stuck around and started watching the show in real time instead of waiting for the next Jack appearance to bring me back from hibernation. Ironically because - well, that was the last we saw of anyone. (Aside from 10 in the 50 year special.)

That hard, hard cut from 10 to 11, no return of any companions...

Needless to say that when 12 came and went with no care for anything pre-11, I kind of... came to accept that this was it. Especially when they announced yet another hard cut - as in Moffat would finally be replaced and with the new era, both a new Doctor and new companions - I was so sure we’d never get to see anyone from the old crew again.

So when, after literally ten years, Jack Harkness returned and was so... so... Jack, I made the loudest, most unholy sound and the excitement of them actually acknowledging that he would be back for more and he would be there when the Doctor needs him? Tears of joy.

(but aso pls #LetMarthaMeet13 okay? Okay)

When it really disappointed you:YOU’RE MAKING A 50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL. YOU HAVE SOOO MANY GOOD COMPANIONS. BUT. BUT YOU BRING NONE OF THEM BACK. ONLY ROSE TYLER’S FACE. OF ALL OF THE FACES. OF EVERYONE I COULD HAVE SEEN AGAIN IN THAT SPECIAL, IT HAD TO BE BILLIE PIPER’S MEDIOCRE ACTING. REALLY? REALLY??

Saddest moment: When 10 regenerated

Most well done character death: Surprisingly enough, this show makes me care even about the one episode characters to the degree that I find their deaths frustrating. It’s pretty good at character deaths overall

Favourite guest star: Does Craig Owens count? Because he only had two appearances in total. And the second one was genuinely a surprise to me; I was sure that The Lodger would be a stand-alone, never to be seen again kind of deal

Favourite cast member: John Barrowman! David Tennant! Freema Agyeman! I love all three of them and seeing them in other things always makes me really happy!

Character you wish was still alive: I mean, Bill. Can you imagine if the lesbian companion had gotten to meet 13?? Death :D

One thing you hope really happens: Martha. I mean, come on. Jack is back, Jack warned the Doctor, promised to be there when needed. There’s no way Jack lost contact with Martha and Mickey, even with those two off in space fighting aliens alone. I’d love for this... very, very big plotline that is currently happening to include the Doctor’s old friends coming back once more to help.

Most shocking twist: I mean... I mean it’s gotta be this series’ Surprise Origin Story. Like, I still can’t quite comprehend that one.

When did you start watching/reading?: As mentioned above, when it first started airing in Germany

Best animal/creature: Does the TARDIS count as a creature? Because then Sexy wins!

Favourite location: THE TARDIS. I wish they’d show it more often just casually. I wanna see the companions hang out in there, I wanna see their rooms, see that indoor pool and stuff

Trope you wish they would stop using: "OH NO THE DALEKS ARE STILL ALIVE AFTER THE LAST TIME I TRIED GENOCIDE ON THEM *gasp*”... Like. The very first time they brought them “back from the dead”, it was really cool because as a newbie you never met them before but you get they are important. Then they were wiped out. And then they returned again. And okay, sure. So they were wiped out again. And miraculously survied again.

Look, I get it. Doctor Who has three recurring entities in the villain gallery who are like... obligatory - the Master, the Daleks and the Cybermen. But for the love of everything, stop trying to show it as a “surprise twist” that the bad guy is a Dalek like we all knew they’re coming they’re the cockroaches of the universe, they ALWAYS surprise, stop acting like we should be shocked that they’re back again.

Every time, the Doctor goes Pikachu meme but with sad eyes and like just... have the Doctor groan, kick a Dalek and go “not you again”, instead of “how did you POSSIBLY survive THIS? :O” because after the sixth miracuous survival of a genocide, it stops being a surprise twist... -_-

One thing this show/book/film does better than others: Clearly something, because it has me come back for more like a masochist despite me being a character-driven viewer - me, abandoning the show after the first series was very in character, because I’m attached to characters and if you routinely replace all the characters, that’s... not really my thing. Somehow, this show defies the odds there

Funniest moments: JACK FLIRTING WITH PEOPLE AND THE DOCTOR GOING “NO STOP THAT!” xDDD

Couple you would like to see: NONE. NO ROMANCE. KEEP THAT SHIT OUT OF MY DW!!! Urgh. Just give me fun found family space adventures. I swear ever since the cast announcement I have had a twitchy eyebrow waiting if they’ll push for Ryan/Yaz and so far I am sooo glad they are NOT. I just... want friendship and space adventures, no fucking romance. At all. Not with the Doctor, not between companions. No drama

Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: ...to stay in character, I have to say Dominic Sherwood. Partially because I am obsessed with him, but also because I WANNA HEAR HIS BRITISH ACCENT FOR A WHOLE ASS SERIES PLEASE

I would also like to see the return of James Marsters though. Time Heist teased by showing his face and acknowledging his existence in Doctor Who (it’s not like DW has acknowledged a whole lot of Torchwood canon so far, considering the catastrophic events TW has dealt with without the Doctor...), so that had me kind of hopeful he may at least cameo for an episode...

Favourite outfit: I looove Martha’s red leather jacket and Jack’s coat

Favourite item: The chameleon device

Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: *clears throat awkwardly* ...Yes?

a metro card holder thingy with the TARDIS on it,

an I pin I have on my pencil case,

a necklace with a miniature TARDIS,

a necklace with the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey quote in a swirl on it,

a necklace with a Weeping Angel pendant,

a mug with the 10th Doctor as a cat on it,

a lanyard with Police Call Box written all over and a miniature TARDIS dangling on it

a TARDIS dress,

a whoosh-sound making door opening TARDIS with size-fitting figures of the 10th Doctor, Jack, Martha, K9, Idris, 11, Rory and John Hart (it’s James Marsters’ pretty face, okay?),

a Funko Pop 10th Doctor,

another TARDIS but this one is smaller and can’t open,

a larger TARDIS that can open (and is the right size for my Doctor Whooves),

a Doctor Whooves (if that counts since he’s technically My Little Pony but also he’s the Doctor so like...),

a TARDIS-blue stuffed owl with Police Owl written on it,

the first four series on DVD,

a poster from the 50th Anniversary with the War Doctor walking away from an explosion and 10 and 11 on either side of him,

a pocket watch that is the chameleon device

What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: Mmmh I would like to be on the current team the most, I think? Generally speaking, their adventures were less intense than most others and I dig the family vibe

Most boring plotline: Boring, huh? There are always a couple stinkers, at least one in each series, but a really boring plotline was... Clara’s post-Impossible-Girl one. I LOVED her as the Impossible Girl, she was so interesting and I think that after she went into the Doctor’s timeline, the character should have been retired. Have her, I don’t know, dissolve there, since she is spread out through time. But that she stuck around was... not good, for her character? Her love drama with Danny was incredibly boring and not fun to watch (especially when she tried to kill the Doctor :D)

Most laughably bad moment: THAT FUCKING MOON EPISODE. THE FUCKING EPISODE WHERE THE FUCKING MOON TURNED INTO A FUCKING EGG AND AN ALIEN HATCHED TO THEN LAY A NEW MOON EGG IMMEDIATELY AFTER BEING BORN AND HUMANS JUST FUCKING SHRUGGED THAT SHIT OFF. Urgh. There are a lot of cringey things happening on this show, but this takes by far the crown. It was so stupid, so dumb, so ridiculous

Best flashback/flashfoward if any: Every time we learn more about the Doctor’s past *^*

Most layered character: I... I mean the Doctor. So many layers, so many lives, so many years

Most one dimensional character:Mh, this is harder... Among the not one-episode-off characters? I guess Nardole. Like, sure, good guy, but... not really all that deep that one

Scariest moment: Blink with the Weeping Angels. They lost A LOT of their scariness the more they were used - Moffat really overused them, in my opinion; they would have done better only appearing very rarely. But that first episode with them was just daaamn

Grossest moment: Cassandra?? Woman only made of skin?

Best looking male: CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS

Best looking female: MARTHA JONES

Who you’re crushing on (if any): Martha Jones

Favourite cast moment: John and David being cute behind the scenes is always amazing, but the bes moment is definitely the 500 Miles video!

Favourite transportation: The TARDIS, that’s not even a question!

Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): Whenever we get to see (not destroyed) Gallifrey? It’s so gorgeous??

Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you:SO MANY AFTER THAT LAST SERIES. But also things like: Where did Clara fuck off to in her flying diner? What exactly is Jack doing now that there is no Torchwood anymore? How in the world did Torchwood ever even work like how was the Doctor just never around during these gigantic problems?? WHO WAS THE DOCTOR’S FIRST WIFE? And what was the Doctor’s child like? Because the only one ever even mentioned is the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan, but a granddaughter implies one more generation between. WHERE IS JENNY? Since she is also the Doctor’s daughter but also just fucked off into space and like why is she not trying to track her parent down??

Best promo: I mean, it clearly works when they show me Jack’s face so that’d be it for me :D”

At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: At the series 4 finale, as above more elaborately explained

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