#the little background details are in this piece are so amazing! i really love all the little planets and shooting stars you added!
Note
Hi! I made this: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yK2_xAr18Pud9dINC4oXJjfIQ24DvcLnlHIOcI0mqlw/edit?usp=drivesdk
for the (now dead I guess) shipaganza, this is a platonic ship between Periwinkle and Starstruck, as for Periwinkle she has updated lore now, but more will be added later down the line.
thank you so much! i'm pulling the art out from the google doc (as discussed) so that others can see it!
above art and below caption by shibuyatoastercusor:
Periwinkle and Starstruck Waddle Dee (Starstruck Dee is in a basket looking fascinatingly at a small yellow star with multicolored particles while Periwinkle is carrying the basket Starstruck is in) on a flight together through the sea of stars (this is a platonic ship)
Artwork inspiration: Peter Pan was right, to understand the meaning I recommend this site listed here: https://sonichits.com/video/Anson_Seabra/Peter_Pan_Was_Right
thank you for sending this in, what an impressive effort! this is so cute, i especially love their poses, starstruck's little feet and how happy they are looking at the stars together! periwinkle is doing so great carrying that basket, gotta be one of the nicest ways to travel!
her story is very sweet as well (if it's available, there is lore for periwinkle in the linked googledoc!) and the touches of her remembering her time as void are so melancholy! i think starstruck would be so utterly fascinated by periwinkles history and memory. that's quite a backstory!!
#asks#art for me#others ocs#starstruck dee#the little background details are in this piece are so amazing! i really love all the little planets and shooting stars you added!
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𝐃𝐄𝐖𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐀𝐏𝐄𝐑 :: miles morales
pairing :: miles morales x gn!reader.
content warning(s) :: none!
sypnosis :: miles is spending the evening with you, the tv playing in the background. he decides you look pretty on paper. requested here.
word count :: 0.587k
Miles loves rainy days, but he loves them more with you—the soft hum of your tv playing as your fairy lights add a soft warmth to your bedroom, the rain drumming against the window.
You look beautiful, undone for the night, wearing the matching pajamas you insisted on buying the both of you. He loves seeing you relaxed. He loves the calm you bring after a long day that he melts into. He loves you.
And maybe that's what compels him to grab his sketchbook from his backpack, taking out his pencils and markers. He takes in the details of your face, following the edges of your nose, your eyes glowing in the reflection of your lights and the tv. He copies every one of them on the paper. You occupy numerous pages in his sketchbook already—what’s wrong with another?
It's rough at first, a loose sketch of the more vague pieces of you and the window in the background. Miles takes in the different colors, the warmth of the room bouncing off your skin, and the changing colors of the scenes, and he mimics them with his pencils and markers.
Miles steals you from the world. He swiftly curls your image into his fingers and lays you flat on the paper, carefully tucking you away before the world can steal you back. He will have that peaceful picture of you forever, and Miles wants the world to be jealous of that. He wants it to envy him for being able to keep that exact moment of you forever because the world only got it for a second.
The show is a few more episodes in when he finishes—you've changed positions, your head resting on your mountain of stuffed animals and blankets, but he still managed to copy you perfectly.
“Miles,” You say, his eyes moving from his sketchbook and up to you. Your eyes are slightly droopy, your voice just slightly a grumble. “What're you drawing?”
The way you say drawing makes him feel like a kindergartener with crayons. Suddenly, his art has become a scribbled stick figure. “Just a doodle.”
“Can I see?” You ask, and it feels like it'd be illegal to say no—even though he knows you'd completely understand if you did. He hands you the open book with a hint of embarrassment. He's sketched you so many times before but rarely shows them to you. He worries you'll think they're terrible.
You grab it as if it will tear at the seams if you're not delicate, but you beam when you finally see the page. You pull it onto your lap, taking in every little detail, completely mesmerized in a way Miles wasn't expecting.
“Oh my god,” You say, the smile growing, and Miles wants to copy that onto paper, too. “This is amazing, Miles. Really.”
He can't help the way he smiles at your compliment. It's an ego booster, almost. His parents have showered him with comments about his creativity, but they've never affected him much because they're his parents. Yet when you say it, it's something completely different. He values your opinion and cradles every comment you have close to his heart. “Do you have more? Not one of me! Just more art you'd be okay with letting me see.”
“You can flip through all of it. I don't mind.” He says, scooting closer to you. You grin again, and he swears it's the prettiest thing in the world, and he knows it will look just as pretty on paper.
reblogs > likes!! thank you for reading. <3 requests are open!
#august writes.#miles morales :: august edition.#miles morales x reader#miles morales x you#atsv x y/n#miles morales x y/n#spiderman x reader#spiderman x y/n#spiderman x you#atsv x reader#atsv x you#itsv x reader#miles morales imagine
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Sleepless night (colored)
It's the end of @green-with-envy-phandom-event and I'm collecting all the lovely posts where my lineart was colored (and coloring it myself because people are inspiring)
Let's start with @englandamericaitaly who made an alcohol marker version of this with blinds shadows falling over Danny, and did an absolutely amazing save adding details where the markers made a happy little accident and I can't tell where that was. Awsome.
From @nanaarchy we get this version placed in the gore category because of the bruises but that's not the only thing that packs a punch in this one. The text bubbles adds so much to the piece and brings it all together. And I just have to point out the posters in the background and the Stars on the blanket! XD
@fuyuthefoxwriter gave us this version adding a NASA phone case and really showing the bright light in Danny's face from the phone. And you are right "The sleepy insomniac trying to sleepy without a ghost ruining it" it doesn't work, but maybe turning down the light levels on his phone would make it easier. ^^
Continuing with @balshumetsbaragouin submitting this version. My thoughts are just STARS! Yes! The gentle cell-shading gives a softness to this one and the text below is so true. School starts in 3 hours and no sleep.
We have @audaciousanonj giving us this version focusing on the light source of the phone (which was my intention when making the lineart XD)
Finishing off with @jamiethebeeart who made this version that has such calm and softness to it reminding me of the early mornings when the sun is on the face and one rolled over to avoid getting it in the eyes.
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𝕰𝖒𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖘 𝖎𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕻𝖆𝖑𝖆𝖈𝖊 - final review
overview : episode no - 76 episodes, genre - historical (gongdou)
a timeless classic, the slay to end all slays (and I mean literally and figuratively) empresses in the palace follows the story of zhen huan as she experiences life in the palace, hardening her from a sweet young girl to a stony empress dowager.
l⃣e⃣ t⃣’ s⃣ b⃣e⃣g⃣i⃣n⃣
when I say you will never find a more iconic show ever in the whole of cdramaland, I mean never. empresses in the palace is an absolute juggernaut of a drama, it is absolutely insane, the writing, the drama, the characters, the absolute minute little details and its respect of the viewer’s intelligence- an A* and beyond. and it's internet and cultural presence in china? IN. SANE.
o⃣u⃣t⃣ o⃣ f⃣ t⃣ e⃣ n⃣
𝖕𝖑𝖔𝖙 - 9/10
𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 - 10/10
𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 - 10/10
𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 - 10/10
𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕖 - 9.8
o⃣u⃣t⃣ o⃣ f⃣ f⃣ i⃣v⃣ e⃣
𝖍𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖊𝖓 𝖌𝖊𝖒 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖚𝖊 - 💎💎💎💎💎
[ I know that when the drama first came out, it was considered pretty unique for how brutally it presented harem life, but even years later and amongst so many newer dramas which have borrowed tropes and ideas from it, I don’t think you’ll be able to find such an incredibly solid drama. a five gem. ]
𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖆𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖚𝖊 - ✨✨✨✨✨
[ it is so incredibly long and a pretty emotionally tolling drama - even longer than legend of haolan but it is just incredible, a full five star rewatch value ]
‘keep reading’ for detailed review
oh my god this drama.
oh my god.
where do I even begin? I remember watching my parents watch this drama when was I was still really young so I didn’t know what the show was called and what it was about, and although I didn’t remember the whole of this drama I could still remember some hazy snapshots pretty iconic scenes- like at the end where she does to sleep, or when she gets sent to the island- so when I finally decided to watch empresses in the palace a light bulb went off and I suddenly realised that THIS was the show that I'd remembered from my childhood. THIS was it. so it is quite nostalgic for me.
it is honestly such a timeless classic, there’s nothing that will ever beat it. nothing. every fucking second of this thing has a purpose, and everything the characters say and do- and even the background of scenes have minute details which relate to the overall plot and trajectory of these characters. like the amount of YouTube videos analysing this one drama is insane. when critics praise a piece of visual art as a “living breathing organism”, “a masterpiece”- they mean this.
𝖕𝖑𝖔𝖙 - 9
just. amazing. what can I say. there’s absolutely nothing that can beat this drama with how it wrote the plotting, the intrigue and the absolute cunning the women had to possess to stay alive in the palace. the ending of the drama is literally perfect. SO perfect. younger me thought legend of haolan was good- but compared to this? this is really truly another level. there’s so many instances in the drama where the drama never really tells you what exactly happened, but at the same time gives you just enough information to just guess what had gone on. equally, there are some times where there really doesn’t appear to be any scheming but with close analysis (and with the help of trusty youtubers) suddenly things become thrown into light.
however, I had to knock down a few points because every plot has flaws and for this drama, I think it was mostly the use of tropes and the ‘female lead syndrome’ that sometimes quite clearly shows in the drama. There are also some areas in the drama where the plot does get shaky, but there is never not a reason why a scene is included in the drama. its just such a watertight drama. if you ever need to learn the art of show but don’t tell, this drama has it all. I love that sometimes it leaves it up to the viewer to work the plot out, which mirrors the way in which the concubines had to guess and predict in order to survive- which wasn’t always for certain or always accurate, almost literally pulling the viewer into the world of harem life.
𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 - 10
I LOVE THE CHARACTERS UGH. I love them. they’re slays to end all slays. from zhen huan (the original girl boss, gatekeep, gaslight- FIGHT ME) to su peisheng- honestly so iconic. every single major character was well written, well developed and multi-dimensional, and no-one was evil purely for the sake of earning the drama cash. everyone in the drama gives you a reason to root for them, I found myself even feeling for the emperor in the end.
𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 - 10
the production was beautiful- the lighting, costuming and makeup were literally so perfect it's unreal. so many iconic scenes came out of this drama- like the yimeiyuan (plum blossom garden) scene with it's beautiful moonlit set and plum blossom decked in snow.
I love the designated colour palettes of the various concubines everything seemed very thought out to fit their personalities. consort hua was decked in bold colours and extravagant patterns, consort jing being calm and gentle was consistently dressed in soft blues and greens, while shen meizhuang is seen wearing mostly purples and pinks. one particular costume that lives in my mind rent free is zhen huan’s blue outfit with the white plum blossom embroidery in the episode 28- absolutely stunning.
𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 - 10
honestly, if you took a shot for every time I've described this drama as perfect, you would definitely be on the floor by this point. The acting was absolutely now flawless. at no point in the drama did I ever feel drawn out of the story by the acting- sun li is jaw-dropping as zhen huan, her duality is absolutely insane and her crying scenes- ugh omg so good.
.
.
𝖇𝖔𝖓𝖚𝖘!!
favourite character(s) :
zhen huan ( if your favourite character in this drama isn’t zhen huan, what are you doing???? she is an absolute icon in her own right. it’s literally impossible to not root for such a wonderful character- team zhen huan all the way )
consort hua / nian shilan ( ik ik, ik now she’s evil and everything, but I love her- she has a baseline which she will not cross and she does have a loyal heart. she loves the emperor almost unconditionally and while she would kill a concubine, she would never harm an unborn child. she seems to care for her servants, who are loyal in turn and I would argue that her being willing to employ a crippled eunuch is a sign of her more softer and caring side. and do I need even mention her snarky one liners?? slay. anyway that’s my essay in defence of consort hua )
ye lanyi ( a queen fr, she takes no-one’s shit )
.
𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖜 (source mydramalist)
lead actors : sun li, chen jianbin, cha silfun
director : zheng xiaolong
screenwriter : wu xuelan
#empresses in the palace#zhen huan#zhen huan zhuan#cdrama#cdrama recommendation#drama review#tv show review#Chinese Dramas#final review#sun li#betty sun#legend of zhen huan#shen meizhuang#nian shilan#guo junwang
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Here's one of my favorite spreads-- Professor Layton and the Curious Village!! I absolutely love this game and cannot wait to play the sequels!
Writing typed below!
Rating: 8.5/10
Played: Spring 2023
Port: HD mobile (iPad)
Favorite? Y
Replayable? Y
Recommend? Y
Series: Professor Layton
Comments:
That tower is insane
Omg I love the memopad, I feel like I'm on Blues Clues
I love the mystery surrounding the tower
omg are we building a robot dog?? -> yes <3 Hot Dog
Omg crash box match puzzle!! ... WHAT THE FUCK
Layton: ew this bottle is so gross. Luke stick your hand in there
What if we were germs in a glass jar and we held hands
Layton you better have Luke on a leash or smth he better not get kidnapped oh my god I am so stressed
Luke is softie for animals T^T <3
A WORM'S DREAM
STACHENSCARFEN omfg not the ace attorney name
veil of night my beloved <3
that old man is BOOKING IT
matthew is the only real one
love the chess puzzles
gorgeous grave statue
these inn items??? T-T
sewer time
Luke: don't worry professor! No one would ever dream of stealing the Layton mobile
Layton: .... Just what do you mean by that Luke
THE FERRIS WHEEL???
Omg layton in a crown
I like how all the tower puzzles are difficult
don't like the creepy lady
is everyone a robot??
YEA A LOGIC PUZZLE
the flying spike ball is insane
He just built the sail??
The ending was SO SWEET T^T
Game Dev Notes:
Beautiful animated scenes
iconic and calming music
stunning 2d art (character and environment)
great range of puzzle difficulty
interactive background and collectibles
different rewards for finishing puzzles
recap questions to see if you were paying attention to the details
great interweaving of puzzles into the story
interesting overall mystery
ability to explore both before the end and after (& gold layton if you solve everything)
Summary:
I absolutely love this game. It's so charming and sweet with a fun story surrounding puzzles. I love the characters and I love their little quips. I love the range of puzzles and how some of them have historical context. It's such a simple concept that was executed very well. Although the story isn't ground breaking, it was still really fun and shocking. It reminds me a lot of an ACD Sherlock story as it's just another one of Layton and Luke's wacky adventures. It is also set up in the perfect way to allow both sequels and prequels (which is what did happen lol). There's a ton of added replayability such as bonus puzzles, finding every furniture piece and arrangements, finding the charms, etc. It's so interactive and doesn't punish the player at all. This is an amazing puzzle game and there's no shame to not knowing the puzzle answers. You don't get full points if you mess up but that's fine as the picarats don't affect main story gameplay. I am so exccited to see how the sequels expand on the characters, especially Flora! She seems like a very unique character and I am so excited to see more of her. I am also just so happy to finally experience the beautiful music I have been listening to for years in the game. The music is so incredible and charming, it makes me want to find a nice, small European town to explore. What a great game and I am excited for what's next! Hopefully in time for the New World of Steam!
All of the stickers I got from Daiso. If you are interested in the materials I use you can check out my pinned post in my blog!
#professor layton#professor layton and the curious village#hershel layton#luke triton#curious village#bullet journal#journalsouppe#video game journal#journaling#journal
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One Punch Man Season 1 Storyboard Collection
It's been a minute since I've shared about my art book escapades on here, but this set is just way too cool to not talk about. Only produced for a limited edition run of S1 DVDs, these art books are a pain to find, but I finally got my set and wanted to show them off a little bit.
What bigger name is there for direction on One Punch Man than Shingo Natsume? Having boarded the first two as well as the final episode of the season, there's way too much for me to want to share here.
The issue being that the art books are painfully small, and as you can tell it's two pages of storyboards to a single page in the art book. Makes it incredibly difficult to get good pictures of, but I've got a few here from the first volume.
Upon first opening this first art book, I was really surprised to see how Shingo Natsume boarded the series. His work as a director and animator is incredibly refined and accurate, so seeing so much detail and information missing in these boards surprised me.
Still, for what's lost in detail, Natsume makes up for in feel. The first image I shared of the boards really illustrates that. Even though the details aren't incredible, the feeling and flow expressed with the boards is incredibly strong, and is a massive piece of why season 1 did so well.
Also included in these storyboard collections is a handpicked group of keyframes from the relevant episodes.
What I really really love about these is that they provide a cut number as well as the animator behind the cut. You can't really see it well in the second image, but in the first you can see that Oda Gousei is credited with the specific cut shown.
Anyways, it's really really incredible seeing the insane work of Season 1 in this much detail and background. Makes me wish these art books were easier to find and were a larger trim.
Really such a pain to try and photograph, and even still there's a lot of issues with these images. In spite of that though, you can 100% tell how amazing this work is, and this is only for the first two episodes.
Volume 6 is definitely my favorite volume thanks to Yutaka Nakamura's keyframes being featured in it, but I need to figure out how to get better images so that I can properly share those keyframes.
But that's about all I have to share with the collection. It's a lot of storyboards and a little bit of keyframes, but I think regardless of interest it's a super easy recommendation for people to pick up, if they can find it (the first vol is typically reasonable, second vol not so much, and good luck with the rest sadly).
#one punch man#one-punch man#opm#studio madhouse#madhouse#shingo natsume#yoshiaki kawajiri#yutaka nakamura#yusuke murata#anime art#anime art book#anime and manga#anime#art book haul
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Saw Dune 2, it's amazing that you can cut a solid 60% of Dune and still get pretty much all of Dune in there.
I do get the feeling that in part one someone was like "we can cut Feyd right we don't need Feyd" and then they came around on part two like "Goddamit we're going to need Feyd."
Extremely evil Jessica is great! I love how much scheming she does, it really sells the whole "I would do anything to protect Paul" vibe including giving him the Terrible Purpose. It's a shame that we don't get Alia yet. They delay Paul understanding Terrible Purpose until pretty late and also don't explain the Terrible Purpose at all which is a bold choice. To be fair the books also don't explain Terrible Purpose in detail until Messiah, and only really gets into it with Children.
I don't see a better way you could have tweaked Chani's relationship with Paul here without just doing what the book does. Which like. Okay I am something of a defender of the whole concubine thing on the principle of bizarre space politics. But I do get why they did this.
Pretty much all the changes fall into the "yeah I get why they did this" camp. I'm glad they got Lady Fenring in here but absolutely devastated that they couldn't get her weird little husband in. Count Fenring my beloved you're so unimportant to everything. They did get rid of Paul winning a coffee service, two children, and a concubine from killing Jamis. Once again, yeah I get why they did this. Didn't need to further complicate the deadly space feudalism political marriage triangle into a perplexing desert tetrahedron with stepchildren. Cutting Leto II's existence was a little odd, I feel like they could have done this but I guess if they had they would have had to put Alia in.
They don't do the Sietch Orgy! In general the Water of Life is very rushed. It's a huge slow build up in the books, like, you hear about it from really early on and it looms over Paul a lot more.
They didn't do enough spectacularly weird outfits but they did go hard with the outfits. Big fan of everything Irulan wears in the back half, especially the weird wraparound head pieces. Some good background characters orbiting around Jessica and the other Reverend Mother.
Christopher Walken is such a good choice for the emperor. He looks so tired. Just an absolutely done old man. Jumpscared by Future!Alia being Anya Taylor-Joy. We need more slightly unsettling Hollywood actresses, her schedule must be so busy.
It was interesting seeing this with Czech subtitles because I had to rapidly switch from ignoring the subtitles for English speech to trying to understand Czech with my very limited vocabulary whenever it went into one of the like seven other languages at play in this story.
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You know I had to do it.
Barbie and Ken meme featuring Albion’s notorious sibling duo, Logan and Aelyn.
What did they do? Aelyn blew up Reaver’s mansion probably. Property damage, arson, the likes. Just because she’s queen doesn’t mean she can get away with arson.
Meme format and details under the cut.
If you haven’t seen it, here’s the meme.
When I saw people drawing their characters like this for the first time, I knew I had to do this. There are so many characters I could have chosen, but it’s been a while since I drew the Fable siblings so thought it was perfect.
I’ve been using procreate lately since I got an iPad solely for that and have been trying to find brushes similar to the old ones I had on CSP. I’ve had no luck, but have a lot of other cools brushes that may help me develop new art styles. Including the above style. I found these really nice ink and ink wash brushes and really wanted to use them. I think they work wonderfully for silly meme art like this. It has a very nice cartoon look to it. It’s also just been super amazing to be able to draw wherever. I have more motivation to draw since I can carry this tablet with me everywhere. Much less of a hassle to hook up a drawing tablet to my computer and then actually have to sit down at the computer and draw.
Some details about the drawings themselves: When trying to decide what to replace the LAPD with, I wondered what would the police force in Albion be considered. I went with ARG which is for Albion Royal Guard. Because who else can arrest the queen and prince? I also wanted to make the plates look wooden since Albion is y’know, ye olden days. And then there’s the height things. If you look closely, you can see what I headcanon Logan’s height to be and what Aelyn’s height to be. I could have left those background pieces out, but I thought it would be cool to add that little bit of detail. I also wanted it to look like the names and such were painted on so that one brush came in clutch to add to the aesthetic.
And finally, as always, here are the lovely speedpaints.
(I am just now realizing that I have not drawn Aelyn and Logan in a serious piece at all. They’ve always been shitposts. Might need to fix that…)
#Art#my art#fable#fable 3#fable III#barbie and ken meme#art redraw#fable meme#Fable art#King Logan#Fable logan#Fable hobw#Hobw#hero of brightwall#g-a67#Timelapse#speedpaint#procreate#OC: Aelyn
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Bat Big Bang: What Would You Trade The Pain For? (I’m Not Sure)
Author: @disniq
Artist(s): @chipmunkery
Rating: Explicit
Ao3 Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationship(s): Jason Todd/Bruce Wayne
Key Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members, Background Canon Characters
Summary: Jason has been doing an outstanding job of not thinking about Bruce in the four months since Roy pulled his ass out of Gotham. When Jason gets hit by an unidentified beam and starts reliving his worst Bruce-related memories in his dreams, though, there’s not a whole lot he can do about it except maybe vent some frustrations. Or; the universe conspires to put Jason and Bruce in a get-along shirt. It only deteriorates from there.
Word Count: 65,560
Author’s Notes: I’m so excited to finally share this beast after 10 months for work! It was, at the time of writing, my first time writing BruJay, my first attempt at writing Bruce’s POV, and my first alternating POV fic! It’s also my longest finished fic ever, and my first time writing a complete multichapter story before posting, and I absolutely couldn’t have done it without incredible support and enthusiastic encouragement from BenBamboozled and MarsupialMenace! Love you guys!! Thanks for listening to me lose my mind to this fic for the past few months xD
A huge thank you, too, to my wonderful artist Chipmunkery! They did such a fantastic job of pulling these scenes from my head, and I am still a little in awe of their work. And thank you to the mods for running this inclusive event, and pushing me wayyyy out of my comfort zone! It’s been a ride, I hope you guys enjoy it!
Artist’s Notes: Disniq's imagery is so vivid and beautiful! I was so excited to take all of the details they weaved into their writing and translate them visually. I decided to focus on two emotionally charged scenes that were at very different points in Bruce and Jason’s relationship and emphasize the changes by pushing the juxtaposition in any way I could (lighting, mood, orientation, etc.) It was a fun challenge to create two pieces that are so different thematically, but still work together cohesively.
This is my first big bang and I had so much fun that I definitely plan on doing more in the future. There are so many incredibly skilled writers and artists who worked on this project and everyone involved has been so nice and really supportive of each other. Big and special thanks to Disniq for being such a great partner to work with, and to the mod team for all of the hard work that went into making this happen. You’re all amazing! <3
READ ON AO3
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I saw that your requests were open! (If I'm wrong or anything feel free to ignore this)
I was wondering if I could possibly get a Macaque x GN!Reader? Possibly one where the reader is artistic in any form and helps Macaque with his plays?
I need more fics that explore Mac's love for theatre and the reader helping him come up with stories or little songs for his plays would be the cutest thing!
You're absolutely right anon!! Thank you so much for this absolutely delightful prompt, I had to think it over a bit to write something I hope you'll enjoy!
Macaque x Reader
You knew he could hear how hard your heart was beating, so you were grateful he had the decency not to be smug about it. As you unlocked the door to the backstage with a slightly trembling hand, you hoped once more that all of your hard work would pay off, and that Macaque would approve of your efforts. Of course he'd be grateful for the help regardless, but you really wanted him to like what you'd made. Now was the moment of truth.
"Like I said..." you began as you opened the door, flicking on the lights to reveal the storage space you'd been using as a workstation. Painted set pieces and backgrounds leaned against every available wall, the products of countless hours spent painting to the very best of your ability. "I tried my best to make them just like you described. What do you think?"
Macaque looked about the multitude of landscapes that he'd described for you to paint, tail waving thoughtfully as he took a sweet second to let you stew. When his eyes landed on you and he saw how your heart was very obviously about to explode from anticipation, he smiled, smug but sincere in the way only he knew how.
"Solid work, just as I expected from my favorite assistant." he praised, allowing you to release a breath you didn't realize you'd been holding. Chuckling at your reaction, he moved to more closely inspect your work, his delighted demeanor making it clear he was genuinely thrilled with the results. Your heart went from sinking to fluttering like a butterfly through your ribs. "You did great! It looks like you actually listened to everything I-"
When he came to the largest piece of them all, a mountainscape that had taken you countless hours to get right, he paused completely. Something shifted in his eyes. Concern rose up inside you, even if his reaction didn't appear to be with the quality of the painting itself.
""Macaque?" you pressed gently, stepping closer as he hovered a hand over the soft colors dappling the trees on the mountain's side. It almost looked like he was seeing through the painting, as if it were a memory and not just a prop in a show. You took a step closer to lay a hand on his shoulder. "Is something wrong?"
"No!" he insisted quickly, the loudness of his voice scaring him more than you. Blushing and dropping his gaze at having been caught, he coughed and look back up after regaining himself.
"Not at all! This is just..." he trailed off again, tracing the edges of the mountain as if he'd done so a hundred times before. "Very accurate. Like you were there."
You understood, and went quiet, amazed that you had apparently recreated a memory just from his instructions. When he'd described this set to you it had indeed been with a sense of nostalgia, but you had been too focused on perfecting every detail to really notice. It brought warmth to your fluttering heart to see him so openly touched by your efforts. Standing beside him, you smiled and nudged him playfully.
"It was described to me by a great storyteller."
Macaque blushed again, though this time he tried to play it off, rubbing the back of his neck with a cough. "Yeah! Well uh, you know, a great story is nothing without an audience... or something."
#lego monkie kid#lmk#monkie kid#lmk macaque#six eared macaque#lmk x reader#self insert#human reader#gn reader#macaque#mk macaque#monkie kid macaque#lego macaque#lmk macaque x reader#macaque x reader#six eared macaque x reader#writings and musings#writers on tumblr#fic request#reqs open#lmk fanfiction
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art by em year in review 2023!
for the fourth time, i present to you a selection of the art i did this year! this definitely was the Year of Understanding Procreate, and i think it paid off. as usual, reflections under the cut.
january: i saw @malcolm-f-tucker tag a picture of abigail thaw with a comment about a theresa faceclaim and it left no survivors, i.e. i decided that theresa should have greying hair and did not look back. this was from when i was still trying to figure out what brush to use for lineart in procreate. luckily i had learned my lesson from the sketchbook learning curve and realized that what i liked for lineart would most likely be in the pencil section. however i wasn’t a huge fan of the brush i used in this one, so i didn’t use it again. instead, for later pieces, i decided to customize the 6b pencil brush to my liking, and…
february: …this came out of it! this is still one of my favorite things i have ever drawn, and it’s my favorite thing i’ve drawn yet for herc and linda. this piece really convinced me to use overlay layers more in my art, and the amount of detail i managed to capture in this one still amazes me now. and before anyone asks, yes, they are doing specific things in the startup procedure for an airbus a320-family aircraft, except linda is doing things off the CM1 checklist and herc is doing something off the CM2 checklist, which i learned later is not really something that is done. let’s just say herc is not the tightest stickler to convention.
march: one half of an intended two pieces centered around the f1 au (which, regrettably, i have yet to continue… i just reread what little of the second part is on ao3 and god, it slaps actually, i really need to continue it so bad) depicting a pivotal scene from around the outside, where theresa and linda decide to put aside a childhood feud at the top of the banked curve at monza. at sunset. on theresa’s birthday. i know, very meaningful, incredibly homoerotic. read the fic to see how well that turns out!
april: i always knew i wanted to redraw the first filipino!hercolyn thing i did back in 2020, the one that completely solidified in my mind the notion that These Characters Are Filipino, Actually, and when i got comfortable in procreate i quickly jumped on that. (if you notice, a lot of the stuff i did this year were redraws of old pieces i really liked but wasn’t fully satisfied with.) of course i wanted to draw them in the traditional clothes in my parents’ and grandparents’ wedding pictures. the implication of this being, of course, that this is the soft shoe shuffle wedding. i have a fic planned centered around that, from douglas’ perspective. now that grad school apps are basically done, if my honors thesis doesn’t kick me too hard, i’d love to get on that as soon as i can.
may: YOU JUST GOT COLINED! SEND THIS TO A FRIEND TO TOTALLY COLIN THEM! ah, colin fairbairn: the figure whose presence haunts all of newcastle but is never actually. named. (much to the chagrin of a lot of people who genuinely thought linda’s dad was named colin bc i Wouldn’t Shut Up About It) i just love him so much and i love this piece, i wanted to depict the wistfulness of an older colin whose airline is on the verge of collapse, who has been secure in his job as chief pilot of air cal, who looks out over glasgow airport (that’s glasgow’s runway in the background) and wonders if it’s time to put himself out to pasture. wondering what he could have done differently. it’s okay bby. there’s no way that you could have prevented this. but he’d never believe it. he’s too duty bound. he lives in my head rent free.
june: another redraw, this time of a piece from 2021. i was so happy with this one, and i am very happy with it still! everything about the older piece i loved was improved massively by this redraw: the poses, the proportions, the line work, the coloring. honestly, just thinking about the two of them just existing in the airport, overlooked by bustling passengers, just part of the landscape, but having such a rich history and relationship between them… it’s something i think about a lot and i love it.
july: this comprises the third part of an unofficial trilogy of drawings i did centered around douglas/martin/theresa. in each one, i centered a different member of the ot3: i did one centering martin last year, one centering douglas in the spring, and this one centers theresa between douglas and martin. i really enjoy how i did the expressions in this one: martin, looking out toward the planes; theresa, following his gaze, eager to share in the passion they both have; and douglas, looking down at both of them (yeah i think they’re both shorter than him. i think it’s cute). i feel like when i draw these three, where they look and how they look is very important to me.
august: can you believe before this point i had never drawn herc and douglas together? yeah, me too. anyway, them 🤍 i’ve literally only ever drawn them as older men so trying to draw them younger was. lowkey kind of hard. i’m hoping to revisit air england herc and douglas in the future, especially since i didn’t intend for this to be anything more than a quick bit due to those bisexual divorcee brackets (which i don’t know what became of them in the end except that douglas got through and herc didn’t, lmao)
september: unposted self-portrait done as a part of my aerospace fellowship application i wound up getting rejected from because they required me to do a creative component. not much to say here. anyways.
october: yet another redraw, this time of a portrait of herc, carolyn, linda, and arthur i did a year prior, in october of 2022. i like to think that lfeu!herc carries pictures of linda, arthur, and carolyn in his wallet: he had never wanted to be the family man for most of his life, but in his new life, this new form, he can play it well. something about the coloring seems a little off to me: i think i may have to go in and adjust arthur’s skin tone because i think it doesn’t look 100% right. but i love this one too. i hemmed and hawed for ages over what they should be wearing but in the end i put them in what they’d wear for work bc i couldn’t think anymore. but it turned out super cute and i think it emphasizes what brought the four of them together in the first place: aviation.
november: a cute little doodle of young!colin with baby linda, from a bigger piece. something i generally feel like i’ve gotten stronger with this year has been drawing a larger variety of poses. i discovered that procreate allows you to import reference images in a smaller window that can be very easily dragged around and resized, which was a massive improvement over my previous strategy with sketchbook, which had been to import reference images as their own layers. often, moving it around or resizing reference images resulted in some loss of quality. anyways there’s something just so tender about colin and linda and i love to revisit them.
december: last but not least, we finish off the way we started, with theresa (and an added douglas lol). and boy, how different does december look from january? granted, it’s a different angle, but i personally think there is so much more dimension at the end of the year compared to the beginning. i was less afraid of using overlays to enhance the coloring. and the brush i wound up settling on for lineart really ended up serving me well this whole year, culminating in this piece. not much to say on this one, i like it a lot :)
overall thoughts: i didn’t think i drew as much as i wanted to this year, but looking back i still think i made really good progress and improved a lot from last year, so i’m still happy. definitely want to draw more next year, explore new subjects, and maybe work on redrawing more pieces from previous years because those projects have been very fun to undertake.
once again i want to say a big thank you to everyone who’s ever shared or commented or left a like on anything i’ve drawn: it will have been 10 years next year since the end of the show i primarily create fanwork for, and to still have people out there who like what i do is such a gift. yes i create for myself, but i do also like receiving feedback from others and sharing it with others, so thank you thank you thank you. and happiest of new years to all :)
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I JUST REALIZED PEOPLE HATE THE HOBBIT ???!
I genuinely loved it but I think it’s because I watched the movies chronologically instead of when the lord of the rings movies came out because I didn’t exist yet. I genuinely really loved the hobbit, I saw people complained about how the background characters weren’t super memorable and how it wasn’t accurate to the books.
I never read the books and just randomly decided to get into it. I honestly loved the story, I thought the pacing was amazing and I loved the ending. I know a lot of people hated it because they went on a huge quest together and he just goes back home but that’s the whole point of Bilbo’s relationship with Thorin and the rest of them. If Thorin survived I’m sure he would’ve stayed but that’s besides the point. The point is that the ending is full circle and I think that’s great honestly. The way it was written in the movies at least you can tell that they had visited Bilbo from time to time so it’s not like they’d never stay in touch, like even with Gandalf he was still well known in the village in Tlotr so I’d just assume all the dudes on the quest visit bilbo.
I also thought Thorin fullfilling the prophecy but in a heroic way instead of a tragic way like you’d expect way really cool, it was genuinely so ♡ wrenching. From starting at the hobbit and then starting tlotr I actually lowkey like the hobbit better BUT WAIT I HAVEN’T FINISHED TLOTR SO IDK. The two movies pick up very well from each other and I love seeing the characters from both movies and seeing who they were talking about in the first trilogy. Also
I don’t think all the hobbits have to be memorable. I really liked that the plot decided to focus on a few characters, I know people didn’t like how they chose to fill the plot of the movies but I loved it. I loved seeing how the world is for the different cities and people, I thought it was really fun, and the little pieces of characterization we did get from the other hobbits set them apart from each other, or at least to me. I really loved Thorin and Bilbos development through the story though, they’re just such sweet characters. Also I saw people hating on the ‘useless’ love thing going on with the ginger elf girl and the hobbit dude but I thought it was a cute detail. Tauriel was just chill, I also liked seeing how Legolas chose to fight not just for her but just because he’s a good person as well. I genuinely thought she was really cool and was lowkey sad when I realized she wasn’t gonna be in tlotr because she was more normal than the other female characters in tlotr, I feel like the women will get what I mean lol.
I could go more into detail about how much I love it but I’m too lazy to ramble more. I think one of the main reasons I like it though was because I wasn’t attached to the source material going into the movies but idk, I loved them.
HES SO SILLY I LOVE HIM
#the hobbit thorin#the hobbit#the lord of the rings#rants n rambles#random rant#rambles#ramblings#unpopular opinion#unpopular take
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My Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Review
From a long-long-time Scott Pilgrim fan.
Quick-form style:
PRO: The animation is stellar, does a great job at both adapting and upgrading the original artstyle with a bunch of motion.
PRO: I especially love all the little background references. Not just the ones related to the original comics or whatever either, there's a lot that are just aesthetic references to gamer stuff or Toronto landmarks (Honest "Ed's"!). Does a lot to make it feel more like it's really set in late 2000s/early 2010s Canadiana. I think you could fill a whole wiki just categorizing all the little connections they fit into every episode.
PRO: Truly a once-in-a-lifetime voice cast, I'm actually amazed they got the whole cast of the movie to come back after thirteen years.
PRO: Extremely funny with the jokes, as the comics and the movie both were, but even more concentrated, especially if you're sharp enough to catch all the background details and references.
CON: The main storyline feels rushed. More on that later.
PRO: Both the licensed soundtrack and the original compositions go fucking hard, rivalling the movie's already impressive album.
PRO: A lot of characters who didn't get a ton of development in the comics or movie get extra screen time and are seen in a new light that really fleshes them out as complete personalities where they might have been one-note before.
CON: A lot of the characters who were more important in the comics or movie have underdeveloped arcs in the anime, so they feel half-baked.
PRO: The scene-to-scene dialogue, and the way the characters socialize with each other, often feels fresh and real the way they were in the comics. It's cartoonish, of course, but they talk like long-time friends talk.
CON: Lisa Miller, my favorite tertiary character, was not included. Unforgivable.
Overall? Takes Off was an enjoyable addition to the series. Even with all its glitter, it's not as good as the original comics, but that's a high bar. I would say that Takes Off is equal or even better than the VS The World movie, and that's a good ass movie! The attention to detail and production quality is substantial in both. I personally think that the story in Takes Off had a little more substance, but I think opinions are going to vary strongly on that, and I can easily understand the other side. In any case, if you're new to Scott Pilgrim, Takes Off is a lot of fun, and if you end up liking it, the comics are even better. If you already enjoy Scott Pilgrim, Takes Off is a strong spin-off and worth watching.
Points heavier on spoilers below, and heavier on details as I slowly forget what "point form" means:
PRO: From the start, the first episode is bursting with love for the original series. There are multiple scenes that are shot-for-shot recreations of the comic, and it's a real treat to see the comic panels animated and voiced by the movie cast.
CON: Knive Chau's introduction is kind of brushed over. They basically say "Knives Chau: Scott's 17-year-old fake girlfriend (more on that later)." Except: There's never really more on that later.
PRO: A lot of the first episode's changes are done in a really funny way that fits the vibe. Obviously the Amazon -> Netflix change is just corporate politics, but delivering Netflix DVDs makes it feel like even more of a period piece. And changing Scott's awkward infodump from Puckman to Sonic cartoons - "one guy playing two versions of the same character" - is a cute lampshade hang.
CON: A lot of people are going to be turned off by the show's central twist. Everyone expected this to be an adaptation played straight, since that's what was advertised. It sure as hell shocked me when Scott "died"! I have no doubt some people are gonna have a more intense reaction and feel shitty about the rug-pull.
PRO: However! I came around on it pretty fast myself once I figured out what they were doing. While I would have adored a direct adaptation from the comics, I cannot complain about getting a brand new story by the original creator, and I think the whole AU idea of "what if Scott lost to the Seven Evil Exes" is a really fun one to explore! Regardless of execution, it's a cool concept and I kind of admire the balls of sucessfully pulling a bait-and-switch on such a major production. Managing to keep your main plotline a secret while working for a major production company and hiring box-office-topping actors is no small feat!
PRO: Again, the AU-fanfic-type stuff is a lot of fun. It's great how the League of Evil Exes finally gets to do their whole evil plan, and succeed in killing Ramona's date, then fall apart when they realize this didn't actually get them anywhere.
PRO: Also, while their fight does kind of unfairly nerf Gideon compared to his other appearances, it rocked seeing Matthew Patel clean house. I'm just a sucker for when a weak early enemy managed to usurp power through some bullshit. And of all the Evil Exes, he needed the glow-up the most, he got the least scenes out of any of them.
PRO: METRIC'S BACK!
CON: Even though he comes back to life, the funeral scene has weird vibes. Scott's friends and family reacted more emotionally when the comics did the "extra life" gag, but this is to their knowledge an actual permanent death. Even if she feels responsible, it's jarring that Ramona, who knew Scott for like two days and has an established habit of running from difficult feelings, seems more affected by grief than friends Scott that had known for years like Wallace, Kim, Stephen, even Envy. Hell, Knives was "dating" Scott for longer than Ramona's one-night stand, but she moves on quicker from the death of her fake boyfriend than her comic/movie counterparts do from just a breakup.
PRO: The casket just having spare change in it is a fucking great visual gag.
PRO: KIM PINE YURI???
CON: Kim's backstory and character arc gets shafted, and Scott's backstory loses complexity. More on that later.
PRO: There's less typical-late-2000s-loser type jokes about lesbians, and less catty bodyshaming, which is good. It might have been realistic dialogue at the time but it'd probably feel out of place in a modern production, even a period piece.
PRO: Related, Ramona has less internalized biphobia and doesn't make "experimenting in college" excuses about her sexuality. Some may feel like this simplifies her character, because her treating Roxie like an experiment is an important flaw, but I think it's a positive change. I'd rather her character be a bisexual girl with relationship issues than a comphet girl with relationship issues. The latter just reinforces bi erasure too much for me.
CON: Ramona inexplicably feels more loyal towards missing-presumed-dead Scott who she has had one date with than comic Ramona felt towards comic steady-boyfriend-of-several-months Scott, despite anime!Scott not getting to apologize for two-timing Ramona and Knives like comic!Scott did. I think this oversimplified her character and weakens her arc. More on that later.
CON: There's obviously an issue of balancing plotlines with runtime, but Roxie has a much more involved and interesting role in the story in the comics. She even moves in with Ramona for a while. The drama!
PRO: It's very cute seeing Knives hang out with the Sex Bob-omb crew on her own terms. She does that in the comics too, after she and Scott break up, but it's mostly offscreen unless Scott or Ramona also happen to be in the room. It's also a good addition to have her involved with the music herself rather than just be a fan.
PRO: Dead Kennedys needle drop. Fuck yeah.
PRO: In general, spending time with all of the Evil Exes is a lot of fun and does a lot of work to make them feel like well-rounded, fully realized characters. For me, I think this is the biggest benefit Takes Off brings to the series, and something that genuinely makes re-reading the comics more enjoyable. The Exes' scenes in their books pop more with the added detail to their personality from this anime.
PRO: Each Ex (sans Gideon/Gordon) gets their artstyle-shift backstory with Ramona lifted right from the comics.
CON: Even so, the Exes' appearances aren't totally even. Particularly Roxie, Todd, and Gideon/Gordon. Matthew, Lucas Lee, and the Twins benefit the most from the extra screentime, but every Ex has a few of their bumps shined off. Mostly in their backstories: while I love the flashbacks, they're all a lot less confrontational with Ramona about her own faults than their other appearances would suggest, again simplifying Ramona's story and weakening her arc. In previous appearances, many of the Exes were a lot less "fight Ramona's new BF to win her love back" and a lot more "fight Ramona's new BF because she broke my heart and I want revenge."
PRO: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost guest cameos!! That's how you KNOW it's an Edgar Wright project through and through
PRO: Young Neil becoming a cinephile and an accidental screenwriter is a great storyline, and the ongoing lampshading of adapting existing storylines makes room for a lot of good jokes at the creators' own expense.
PRO: WALLACE WELLS YAOI? Well, that much was more expected. But Todd Ingram/Wallace Wells yaoi? That's new ground!
CON: Again, it's a question of managing runtime and work-hours, but the Envy->Todd<-->Wallace love triangle isn't as interesting as the "taking a full page out of this volume for a relationship chart" love lattice from the comics, though it's still hilarious and a delight to watch. It would be fully in-character for Wallace to steal Envy's boyfriend, but that's nowhere near as juicy as the web of jealousy and desire between Scott+Ramona+Envy+Todd+Lynette+Knives(+Gideon, later on).
PRO: I'm glad they didn't re-cast Kieran Culkin, but I'm also grateful they wrote in a mea culpa about casting straight actors to play gay characters.
CON: Envy herself has very little character in the anime besides being Scott's bitchy famous ex-girlfriend, where the comics paint a much more sympathetic picture. Maybe an issue of Brie Larson being busy with Marvel, but unfortunate all the same. More on that later.
PRO: "Edgar Wrong"
PRO: Narration by Weird Al Yankovic
PRO: They have a lot of fun joking about Scott Pilgrim VS The World thanks to the set-up. I feel like every time there's an in-universe joke about adapting Scott Pilgrim (real life guy) into Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (movie) it also works as a fourth-wall joke about adapting Scott Pilgrim (graphic novels) into Scott Pilgrim VS The World (movie). If the writing was less tight I think it'd be grating and either feel too meta or too avoidant, but I think they walk that line with talent and make most lines work on both levels. It's nice to see the creators take a good-natured jab at themselves for the issues the real movie ran into adapting a not-yet-finished 6-volume comic into a sub-2-hour super-overbudget studio movie with a professional soundtrack from several major indie rock stars. That joke about the movie not being able to make up its losses didn't come from nowhere, unfortunately, but I'm glad they can laugh about it.
PRO: The Chau/Stills songwriting team is great. They develop their own friendship in the comics, too, but it comes to life way more here. It does see them relegated to more of a comic relief role, rather than their more complicated arcs in the comics, but more on that later.
PRO: Gordon Goose from North Bay Ontario is an inspired choice, as is him friendshipping it up with Lucas Lee after they're both broke, as is especially him hooking up with Julie. I could honestly even see them getting together in the comic or movie versions too, if the story had gone a little differently. They've got great chemistry that I never even considered.
CON?PRO?IDK: Gordon Goose from the anime is an entirely different character from the comic's Gideon Gordon Graves. Some parts could fit: him originally being a loser from North Bay, him hanging out with Julie and Lucas Lee, even the anime-binge depression spiral could fit if events conspired for him to lose everything. Other parts, though, are trickier. I mentioned that he was a far weaker fighter than in other works, but that's minor and idk maybe it's a rock paper scissors thing (Scott is stronger than Matthew, Matthew is stronger than Gideon, Gideon is stronger than Scott). The BIG changes are that he doesn't seem to have any of his evil genius plots going on besides the League of Evil Exes. In the comics, he infected Ramona (and later Scott) with the Glow, a kind of emotional infection that enables and encourages avoidance; and in the movies, he stuck a mind-control chip in Ramona. (Also in the comics he kidnapped and cryogenically froze his 7 ex-girlfriends sans Ramona in a giant machine to "save" them until he could convince them to take him back, because he's a massive fucking asshole.) He did both long before Scott and Ramona met, so it's odd that there's seemingly no counterpart in the anime. It's also super different that after losing his wealth he stops being obsessed with Ramona. Where the other exes might have been more revenge motivated, Gideon was the one who really did want to try and win Ramona back by any means. His main character trait is that he's pretty much incapable of letting go when women reject him. There's echoes of that when Julie talks about his high school years, which I think is a good addition, but it makes it odd that in the final few episodes he's almost entirely uninterested in Scott and Ramona. Maybe that's Julie's influence, but that's a hard sell without actually showing it. (Plus, Julie didn't want Scott and Ramona together either, so almost a shared goal.) All in all, this makes Gordon Goose feel way more divergent from comic/movie Gideon Gordon Graves than any other character is. Still, I'm hesitant to commit to calling this a negative. It's different, but it might have been a difference needed for Takes Off to do what it wanted to do. Part of me wonders whether a Gideon played a tiny bit closer to norm would have been better, but I'm not confident in that, so decide for yourself.
CON: Gideon/Gordon never mentions his fetish for dressing people (Envy in particular) up like dolls.
PRO: While I know time travel plots get tiring, I much prefer it to Scott just being dead, or someone having just kidnapped him regular style.
PRO: The aesthetic for future-Toronto - and especially Old Wallace's sugar daddy's Nintendo mansion - fucking rocks.
PRO: Old Scott's character design, both in his time travel gear and his street clothes, totally nails the "Scott Pilgrim from a Bad Future" assignment. No notes.
PRO: He keeps his X-Men jacket (of course) while literally playing out his own Days of Future Past storyline. You absolutely know he's loving that fact. He wants to be Cable so bad.
PRO: Lots of characters in the future timeline wear masks, and the bus has a little disinfectant machine. These are already kinda staple tropes for dystopian futures, but there's another layer that makes it even better: If you look at the timeline Old Scott lays out, saying that about 13 (or maybe 15) years have passed since Young Scott's era, it seems pretty clear to me that they're referencing the 13-year gap between the movie and final book releasing in 2010, and the anime releasing in 2023. Suggesting that Young Scott is from around 2010, and Old Scott is just from... this year. So it's entirely possible the masks and disinfectant aren't for ANY kind of cool futuristic reason, that's just how alt future Toronto dealt with Covid-19. Personally I find that detail clever and also hilarious, it really got me when I realized.
PRO: Old Scott, subtitle: 37 years old, looking a solid decade older than that. I know red hair can go gray quick but he is not looking great for his age. Which isn't at all surprising considering his lifestyle.
CON: Some people, especially those who were heavily invested in the Scott/Ramona relationship from the comics or movie, are going to be upset over Old Scott and the divorce/separation reveal. I get it. Especially in the comics, they go through a hell of a lot of growth, and learn to genuinely love each other in a way they never had with anyone else. It sucks to see them fall back to their worst habits, Scott turning a breakup into a neurotic attempt to fix anything except his own behavior, and Ramona running away from a relationship with zero communication or closure and creating another resentful ex.
PRO: However, I'm not one of them. I have my gripes with the time-travel plotline in general that I'll get to, but I think Old Scott and Old Ramona going through a separation and a rough patch after several years of marriage is realistic and an interesting place to go. The comic had (still has) the most deeply developed relationship between Scott and Ramona, and left them on the strongest footing possible for their happy ending. Even the comic, though, never really promised them "happy ever after," it just said that they had all the skills they needed to make their relationship work, and left it up to them to traverse that long journey. Now, maybe you disagree with me and you think that comic Scott/Ramona should have been able to handle a rough spot better than anime Old Scott/Old Ramona. Thankfully, the anime gives you an out here: Old Scott's VR photo album has a couple details that show his timeline isn't exactly the comic or the movie storyline, so we can avoid stepping on the toes of existing endings, and explore new possibilities without overwriting your old headcanons. Personally, I think that even with all the growth they've had at the end of the comic, it's believable that Old Scott and Old Ramona could have a big argument that leads to them temporarily separating. Even when you've got good interpersonal skills, big arguments happen, and even when you've worked on them, your gut-reaction coping mechanisms still come up. Whatever the argument was, it's not hard for me to imagine avoidant Old Ramona to put up space between her husband instead of dealing with a stressful argument. It's easy to imagine dumbass Old Scott interpreting their separation as a call for permanent divorce, and no matter the age Ramona Flowers is never the kind of person to proactively call up an ex to resolve a misunderstanding. I think it's a really interesting and juicy narrative choice. If they had really landed the execution with this, I would outright love it and think it was a great addition to their love story.
PRO: DP input for the VR vault which is a giant Game Boy. Sick.
PRO: THE VIRTUAL BOY! (Or "Virtual Guuy")
PRO: For some reason Old Scott bro-ing it up with the Old Katayanagis and making retro throwback music in the garage works really well? Like for some reason I could see it happen even in the comics continuity if they (a) came back to life and (b) did a redemption arc for kidnapping Kim Pine.
PRO: Callback to episode 1's sugar daddy joke, and they genuinely had me wondering if they were going to make Wallace hooking up with Scott on the rebound a thing.
CON: Honesty I think they should have just committed to the (not really that old) Old Man Yaoi! Live a little!
PRO: Silver Fox-y Wallace Wells living up to his destiny of being a rich drunk trophy husband. And aging more gracefully than Scott despite going fully gray.
CON: You've got to wonder where the rest of Scott's friends are. Again, we've got to consider the runtime, and that he's in an unusual life situation, but in the comics when he gets into a similar depressive funk, a lot of his friends and family reach out to him, and he tries to reach out to them. A "17 missed calls from: Stephen Stills" or a "Kim doesn't talk to me anymore" line might have gone a long way to excuse their absence. It's also notable that despite his extremely unsuccessful music venture with the Old Katayanagis, Old Scott seems to still be unemployed, which is an example of his character development being cut short compared to the comics. More on that later.
PRO: Old Ramona's character design is as stellar and on-brand aesthetically as Old Scott's, plus the benefit that Ramona actually knows how to dress cool. Fucking baller.
PRO: Also she looks exactly her age (not given in the show but likely 38). Not surprising given she's got a healthier lifestyle than Scott, but I guarantee her natural hair color has gone completely white by now. You cannot be doing a full bleach and dye job every morning ma'am! Those follicles are stone dead!
PRO: It's incredibly endearing seeing her try to undo Old Scott's time travel plan through giving Young Neil the screenplay, and even more endearing when she calls Scott her one true love. The contradiction between her thinking of Scott as her true love and going through this massive effort to stop his time travel plan, but not being willing to go to Old Wallace's house and actually talk to Old Scott, is great. It's the closest the anime has gotten so far to giving Ramona her original character arc, which really got sidetracked by Young Ramona playing Columbo. More on that later.
PRO: For those who weren't keeping track of the meta Scott Pilgrim story, it now goes: Scott Pilgrim (real guy, old timeline) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, a memoir by Old Young Neil (memoir) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (movie script adapted by Old Ramona, credited to Young Neil) + Scott Pilgrim (real guy, young timeline) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (failed movie and making-of documentary) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Musical (adapted by Stephen Stills and Knives Chao). It's also entirely plausible that all of these versions eventually inspire Old Young Neil to write his memoir and create a bootstrap paradox. Incredible. Plus, the musical part continues the metacommentary by being roughly analogous to the real-life anime!
PRO: Delorean rollerskates, need I say more?! Actually, the choice to use this kind of Back to the Future "one timeline that corrects and adjusts when time travel happens" is really smart. Especially when Old Scott says he doesn't want to send Young Scott back because he seems to always end up marrying and separating from Ramona regardless, or when Old Ramona's script doesn't stop the eventual divorce and Old Scott getting unstable. In this part of the story, it's a great way to show how them trying to literally change the past instead of resolving their current issues will never get them anywhere.
PRO: Old Ramona and Young Ramona failing to synchronize on a vibe for their photo
CON: This is where I started to feel the ending getting rushed. Over the final episode, it felt like all the existing plotlines sped on to a quick resolution to make room for the very sudden AK field and Even Older Scott climax, which itself felt in a hurry to finish.
PRO: Scott apologizing to Knives and taking responsibility for being an asshole creep.
PRO: Knives saying she's glad he's not dead but she's glad that it broke them up. Get his ass, Knives! He's earned it!
CON: While these are super important scenes to include for both Knives' and Scott's character arcs, and I'm super glad they made it in since it'd be weird if they left it unspoken, it does feel unearned. Scott has barely been away a couple of days, and it doesn't seem like either he or Knives have had the time for serious introspection they would need to get to this point. Scott could have been inspired to be better than Old Scott's example, I guess, but he clearly thinks of Old Scott as a different guy and doesn't feel responsible for Old Scott's actions. Even if the memoir/movie/musical/VR robot experience showed him Old Scott apologizing at some point, I don't buy that he's emotionally intelligent enough to internalize doing it himself, and if he did it would still feel unearned because he'd basically be following a walkthrough rather than understanding it himself. And Knives? From her perspective, in a couple of days her inappropriately older fake boyfriend introduced her to his band, cheated on her, and then died. Since then she's been hanging out with his old band rather than any friends her age, and writing a musical about the life of her dead ex. She has not been in a position to realistically process that their relationship was fucked up. Both the apology and Knive's response, though necessary, feel rote rather than genuinely felt.
CON: Likewise, Ramona and Scott being so madly in love when reunited. They've known each other for one and a half dates, 1.75 at most. Scott is slightly ahead because of the VR memories and meeting Old Ramona, but not by much. Now, Scott is honestly the kind of guy to fall headfirst into a romantic fantasy with a woman he's barely met, but Ramona is not, as shown in the anime when she decides to pull back and not have sex on the first date. In the comics they take things pretty slow to accomodate her needs there, not moving in together, not saying "I love you" for a while, taking a break from each other midway through, they go for a couple volumes before she even tells him how old she is. It's super out of character for her to go head over heels like this without hesitation. She has been trying to solve his disappearance for a while, but that hasn't really caused her to get to know him any better. Someone might argue it's because she's seen how their lives play out in Old Ramona's movie, but that has uncomfortable elements of predestination and denying free will that I'd rather not think about. If I was trying to fix this, I'd maybe say that talking with her exes and making peace with them while looking for Scott helped her get over her issues, or that being more impulsive than comic/movie Ramona is actually timeloop-style the reason their future marriage is unstable. But that would all be fanfic, it's not present in the actual text, so I've got to call this one against the anime's favor. In general, the anime tends to take a very love-at-first-sight ("sparks") view on love, which is in opposition to the comics' more mature view of love as an ongoing practice. More on that later, maybe.
PRO: AK (Anti-Kiss) fields taken visually and conceptually straight from Evangelion's AT (Absolute Terror) fields. I'm a sucker for eva! This and a few other references seem to make clear that the creators are gunning for Takes Off to be to Scott Pilgrim as the Rebuilds are to NGE.
CON: I genuinely don't think Old Scott is smart enough to come up with this. I know the Old Katayanagis are said to have designed the nanomachines, but I don't mean the technical side, I mean the strategic side. Scott is pretty stupid, bless him. Old Scott is still not very smart. Scotts Pilgrim are just not the kind of guy to ever consider a Plan B. I just don't buy that Old Scott would ever think to himself "I should have a backup plan in case my first doesn't work," he's too confident and too stupid for that. The AK field feels like a red herring for Gordon Goose going evil again, since it's similar to the Glow and mind-control chip, but it ends up going away without much fanfare. Even Older Scott even admits they would always figure out a way to get rid of it, so it's kind of a lackluster final mystery.
PRO: All of the evil exes showing up the musical but being totally uninterested in fighting Scott is a fun reversal of the norm. Especially the Katayanagi twins being totally fine acting on prophesies of bro-ship from their special little vegan robot oracle.
PRO: Despite being a downgrade from megalomaniacal genuinely evil ultimate villain to greedy but affably evil Saturday-morning-cartoon villain, seeing Gordon Goose get back to sinister plots is a big plus, and "It wouldn't hurt any of us! ...Maybe some cast and crew," is a great line for him. Even when he tells Even Older Scott that he has no interest in what's going on and wants to go back to the play, though it's an unthinkable sentiment from obsessive comic/movie Gideon, the line goes out with enough confidence and disrespectful disinterest that for me it actually makes up for it!
PRO: In general, I love when a show gets an opportunity to bring the whole cast to the event, putting all the personalities on display. Especially a formal event, because then sometimes you get fun new outfit designs! In Takes Off it feels even more special because this isn't just all the characters getting together at Scott Pilgrim the Musical for a last hurrah, it's also metatextually all the creatives from previous Scott Pilgrim projects reuniting against the odds in Scott Pilgrim the Anime for a last hurrah.
P: Speaking of all the characters getting together, there is - by technicality - an appearance by Lisa Miller, one-hit-wonder extraordinaire, in the finale. She's in the crowd of graphic novel characters drawn in to populate the musical's audience, face partially obscured. I do not consider this a proper appearance and will still count the lack of Lisa against the anime. However, in the sprit of fairness, I will offer a partially obscured PRO for this cameo.
PRO: Even Older Scott has clearly given in to the Satsui no Hado! Design elements like the hair, bandana, raggedy gi, wrist wraps, and inexplicable tan all call to mind Akuma and Dark Ryu from Street Fighter. I wonder if the Shoryuken input for Old Scott's vault was intended to tie in to this?
PRO: Even Older Scott acts like Master Roshi even though he's only 47. That's only like, Bulma in Dragon Ball Super years, man! How are you that buff but aged that poorly?
CON: Even Older Scott's plan makes zero sense. You've seen Back to the Future. You can't kill your younger self, dude! Total paradox! You'll cease to exist and therefore can't have killed your past self and therefore your past self should exist blah blah blah.
PRO: Even Older Scott is absolutely stupid enough to have tried it anyway. Especially after 10 years isolation.
PRO: "Even Older Scott VS Everyone" and "The World VS Scott Pilgrim" are nice wordplay, I'm here for it.
CON: The confrontation between Young Scott (and associates) VS Even Older Scott lacks emotional stakes, since it kinda came out of nowhere. There's the AK field, but Even Older Scott says they would figure that out anyway. There's the barebones stakes of Even Older Scott turning everyone into spare change, but nobody really seems to be afraid of that as a threat, and it's confusing what that would even mean with the time loop. Their dialogue suggests kind of a philosophical conflict between Even Older Scott trying to control Young Scott's life, and Young Scott wanting to make his own choices, but that also seems undercut by the time loop: if Young Scott was actually going to make different choices, Even Older Scott wouldn't exist. Maybe this is just the dialogue having some trouble getting the conflict across? They could be going for Even Older Scott futilely trying to change the past, VS Young Scott wanting to have the freedom to make those choices even if it causes him to suffer in the future, "better to have loved and lost" and all that. That's thematically cohesive so I think it was their intention, but I don't think it was communicated well in the fight.
PRO: Nevermind anything else, the fight scene itself is fucking fantastic. Expressive and punchy animation everywhere, banger music, and a chance to show off just about every character's personality as they contribute to the fight! Even some characters who haven't had major animated sequences yet get a shot in the spotlight, and often with a bonus to boot, like Knives finally getting her trademark knives from the comics/movie! We get even more chemistry between the characters when they team up and work together for combo moves, so not only does it give a moment of glory to everyone's individual personality, it gives us a spectacle to the relationships they've built, too. The circumstances surrounding the fight might not make a lot of sense, it's unclear why they're fighting or what they're fighting over, but in HOW the cast fights this whole sequence evokes an astounding amount of character.
PRO: Even Older Ramona. Gets another great design. Actually looks her age, and good for it. Actually looks like Bulma in Dragon Ball Super.
PRO: Even Older Ramona, to her credit, returns her original character arc. She stops running away from the romantic messes she's left behind, and comes back to fix it. A+
CON: I don't buy that Young Ramona has internalized that message enough to mind-meld about it. Ramona after 13 years of marriage and 10 years to think about it, sure. But not Ramona on her third actual date with Scott, 3.25th at best.
PRO: Human Instrumentality Quantum Super Reimona I'm drowning in Evangelion references here
PRO: Super Ramona finalizes Ramona's missing character arc! It might be a bit rushed, but it is a complete character arc. It might have taken her 23 years longer than the comic, but hey, this is a different story working at a different scale. They got there in the end.
CON: Even Older Scott never really gets his character arc. Super Ramona gives him a second chance and reverses his villain arc, but he's really at the same place at 47 that he was at 23, which kinda sucks. But, more on that later.
PRO: Super Ramona's "it's never too late to try and mend what you've broken" ending still leaves open the possibility of a rekindled Scott/Ramona romance, and at the very least implies they stop isolating themselves and develop a healthier, friendlier relationship. As far as I can tell, this fully resolves the timeloop AND gives a relatively happy ending to a complicated romantic relationship, both of which are hard as fuck to write. I salute the writers. Even if Scott and Ramona are destined to have a falling out 13 years down the line, they're also destined to forgive each other after 23, and who knows, maybe they've got a chance to get back together again in after 24. It's a messier narrative than the comics to reach the same basic message, but in it's own special way it's still beautiful.
CON: It does kinda leave Scott and Ramona's non-romantic relationships in the lurch, though, after a decade-long absence. Even Older Wallace deserves a thousand apologies and a foot massage for putting up with these two.
PRO: I love a good "where are they now" sequence! Matthew, Gordon, and Julie settling their differences and sharing the evil plots amongst themselves. Young Neil driving the mario karts on movie sets. Stacey getting some eye candy at the café and resolving Julie's joke from earlier about Luke getting a job there. Good stuff.
PRO: Knives fully joining Sex Bob-omb is a particularly genius choice.
PRO: It's true. As an anglo Canadian, our French does suck. (Our schools can never decide whether to teach us Parisien or Québecois and we end up speaking neither)
CON: Is it bragging if a Netflix show includes a scene of a video rental place shutting down? Feels like... when a cat wants to show off the mouse it killed lol
PRO: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost eating Cornettos. Magnifique.
PRO: Also hey! It's Mobile! Wallace's boyfriend from the comics! He's also psychic! And I guess works for Nintendo also? Damn, he's the total package.
CON: No real representation for Lisa Miller, the world's best D-list failgirl! 0/10
CON: NO STEPHEN STILLS YAOI! I joke, but I do consider it a major flaw that Stephen Stills never gets to come out. The movie got a pass because he hadn't come out in the comics yet, but there's no excuse here. The subtly concealed subplot in the comics of him breaking up with Julie and coming out of the closet in the comics is one of my favorite parts, and in the anime all he gets is an ex-girlfriend with no reference to him coming out at all.
CON: In fact, almost all of the original supporting cast gets this treatment. Scott, Wallace, Stephen, Knives, Kim, Envy. Even arguably Ramona, despite being the new protagonist. While their jokes are fun and it's a treat to see their personalities on screen, their pre-existing character arcs get neutered, disappeared, or straight up reversed. Sure, though I hate to admit it, it makes sense to cut Lisa's character, since she has no reason to show up in the first place if Scott's gone. But the rest of the supporting cast were the heart of the original comics; Their complex development over the books is what made the comics so special in the first place, and it's a heart all adaptations and spinoffs since have mostly lacked. I want to go into more detail on how these characters got done dirty, but I'll save it for another post. I'll link it here if I ever finish it.
PRO: Through the whole show, it's clear everyone loves Scott Pilgrim in all its forms: comics, movie, video game, anime. Bryan Lee O'Malley, Edgar Wright, the entire movie/voice cast, Metric, Anamanaguchi, and now Science SARU clearly have a lot of passion for these characters. There's a ton of work put in to bring this to life that wouldn't happen if they didn't genuinely care for the series. You think Chris Evans isn't getting better offers?
PRO: THE FUCKIN PLUMTREE SONG THAT STARTED IT ALL. FUCK. YES. WHERE MY HALIGONIANS AT
A NOTE IF YOU'VE GOTTEN THIS FAR:
I know I've written a lot about how the anime doesn't compete with the comics, or where it's fallen short, but I want to be clear that I actually really really like the anime. I think it's great! It's clearly a labour of love. It's just a lot easier to write a lot of words analysing parts that fail than parts that succeed. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off succeds at A TON OF THINGS!
I would honestly say that it succeeds far more than the movie, and people love that movie, myself included! It's a cult classic! The Scott Pilgrim graphic novels are just that good that it's hard for spinoffs to match up. If you ask me they're some of the best comics ever made, but I'm long biased by my personal history with them. You can never really be neutral about a high school favorite.
I think "spinoff" there is the right word, despite the show's marketing. It's not an adaptation by any means. It's not a sequel. It's doing its own thing, and it did it really well. If you expected an adaptation, I understand your frustration, it's shit as an adaptation. But I'd encourage you to give it another chance as a spinoff, it has a lot of value to add to the whole Scott Pilgrim experience, just as much as the game, and just as much as the movie.
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Undead Girl Murder Farce Episode 8: The Banquet
God. Let me say that one more time. God. This episode isn't focused on mystery, or even so much action, but rather story. Exposing the inner workings, piecing together this very unique world and its circumstances, and it does that with the absolute maximum amount of visual creativity possible. I could talk about it all day, so let's just get to it.
Just to clear the air a little bit, our two little insurance agents end up in the chapel alongside Tsugaru, Lupin, and even Erik. We quickly desert them though for Shizuku vs Carmilla, which is amazing.
Not so much in the combat (though it is great), but how they approach the fight. They leave the writing on the wall, wherever possible they point out the fact that Shizuku has Carmilla's blood on her hand.
A subtle yet incredibly great detail to set the stage for Carmilla's venom to set in. And the visual for that? It's incredible. Carmilla's history and recognition as a sapphic vampire is perfectly conveyed as the art style shifts through this sequence and those strands/tendrils that originate from her lips wrap around a helpless Shizuku.
The moment certainly hits the nail on the head with its air of eroticism, but also tries quite hard to assert the control that Carmilla exhibits through it all.
And then there's Aleister vs Holmes and Watson. Clearly, it's far more fun and playful until it nears the end of the fight, as we get scenes like Watson knocking Aleister's tophat off and it landing atop a statue in the background.
In terms of more interesting things though, we get to see Holmes Baritsu (if only for a little bit). However, it's quickly cut short by the appearance of Moriarty, which gave rise to this incredible sequence. I love every bit of it: the camera angle, the loop/repeat, how they replaced specifically the white tiles because of the color matching, and how it perfectly represents Holmes' shock in realizing that Moriarty is still alive.
And then there's this sequence, the long awaited arrival of Jack The Ripper. They absolutely nailed it. The tension, the weight, the feeling of drowning in the weight of his presence, it's incredibly well depicted. And the soundtrack just adds to that in spades. What a reveal.
I just wish they could get away with more. Jack completely decimates Fatima, and while the carnage can't be displayed, the approach is equally terrifying. How he simply caresses Fatima with his hand yet tears her completely to shreds.
Also, really really love the effort placed into continually giving viewers the upper hand/ability in solving the mystery. We get this scene here of Jack holding the diamond up to the light, which becomes important later on in the episode.
More than that though is this incredible piece. Forget a two in one, it seems like it's actually a three in one. It's not just Jack looking at the diamond, it's the viewers looking through the diamond to see Tsguaru grabbing Fatima's heart, and it's showing viewers that Jack is still keeping his gaze trained on Tsugaru behind him. Truly incredible stuff, the storyboards for this series has been out of this world.
Following this we get a very tense fight scene between Tsgugaru and Jack, and I'll just say it's worth every moment. The choreography and planning in regards to the combat is just stellar. The use of environment and space remains such a core tenet to how they approach fights in this series, and I really can't get enough of it.
Anyways, here's a cool visual used as Moriarty explains his motives and purpose.
Also also, super cool parallel between Aya and Tsugaru. Both have been caged by the hands of Moriarty.
Continuing the comparisons and fusion of Aya and Tsugaru's experiences, when Jack questions why Tsugaru's all the way out here, it's in the puddle of his blood that he discovers his reason: Aya. Whether romantic or not, the relationship is undeniably there between the two of them, and is a large step forward for Tsugaru's character. I also feel like with the boarding and direction, it elicits the idea of his motivation existing in the present, whereas the reasons that Jack list are all done via flashbacks which is more associated with the past.
Now, Moriarty's Banquet has left the building with the diamond "in hand", the safe is missing, and all seems lost for the defenders of this night. But before we go any further, this funny moment with Tsugaru and Shizuku.
They're so sibling like it's hilarious. Shizuku is in tatters and has a bit of skin showing, and without a word Tsugaru antagonizes her into being self-conscious about it. A really fun little piece to bring the humor back into focus.
And now, to the most fun part: Tsugaru's reveal. I wouldn't say I was fully confident in it, but I'd also not say I didn't believe. Tsugaru is all about show, sleight of hand, misdirection. Everything he does is an act, a farce. This was reinforced by his earlier fight against Lupin, and you can totally see how it plays into this one. One the backpedal once more, Tsguaru finds a way to exploit his opponent and take advantage of it in a way that has them believe they won. As for how I guessed it? Jack doesn't take out the diamond after that first instance, and it made me feel like something was off.
Finally, at the end of today's episode, we have our new direction: the forest of fangs. The group uncovers the whereabouts of the elusive werewolves, and is now stuck in a race to get there before the Banquet does.
Definitely not what I was expecting, but it 100% did more than just meet my expectations. Each of these episodes goes above and beyond in every facet, and you can truly feel it with each cut and scene. Now, rather than chasing the ghost of a mystery, our detective duo + one is engaged in a race against Moriarty, the death defying man himself, and will most likely be forced to struggle with that monster hating insurance agency. This show always keeps me on my toes, and at this point I expect nothing less than greatness out of these last few episodes. It's really gunning for the top mystery spot in my list of favorites. Though only time will tell if it makes it there.
#undead girl murder farce#アンデッドガール・マーダーファルス#mystery anime#supernatural anime#anime recommendation#anime review#anime and manga#anime
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Saw Ballad on the 17th. Detailed thoughts below the cut
So, I absolutely loved the movie, and I am very very excited to see all the amazing edits that people are going to make!
I love that we got to see a little bit of the Dark Days with the opening scene, the true fragility of the Capitol system that Snow hinted at in Catching Fire.
When they introduce Highbottom, I noticed they had a founder of Panem memorial in the background with the name "Trajan Heavensbee" on it. Knowing that a lot of the names are specific nods to Ancient figures, I had to google it, and lo and behold: the Roman empire reached its largest geographical extent under Emperor Trajan. Perhaps it was Trajan Heavensbee, as founder of Panem, who ultimately subjugated the districts to create Panem? I love this little detail.
I will never not be obsessed with the tragic relationship between Sejanus and Coryo, and I loved the depiction in the film. Coryo initially says they aren't friends, that he only tolerates him, but then when Snow is sitting alone at lunch, it's only Sejanus who sits with him. Coryo tells himself throughout the film that he doesn't care, only to break down when he realizes he's killed the only true friend he ever had. Sejanus deserved so much better, and the jabberjay's echoing his last words is an absolutely haunting scene.
On that note, I am so sad they didn't include more of the Plinths in the film. Strabo and Coryo never talked, we never got to see the absolutely disgusting way he visits them at the end and becomes basically their heir/adoptive son because of how he was a "good friend" to Sejanus. I so wish they included this in the movie, but I assume that he was on his way to the Plinths in the last scene when he stares at the statue.
Of course, I loved Lucy Gray. She was a gentle and good soul, but she knew how to survive as well. She was able to perform for the cameras, but she was real with Coryo. I love how they gave her the accent this time!!! I loved her singing and staring in defiance of the cameras as the snakes crawl up her arm, and later in 12 she's wearing a snake bangle. Obviously, her and Coryo's relationship falls apart when she realizes he killed Sejanus (and therefore, could easily kill her) and she can't trust him, and she flees. I'm actually really glad they kept the mystery in, where we just don't know if she survived and fled north, or if he killed her.
Tom did a great job with Coryo, and showing how he can be cold and calculating, but at the same time that he is a human being - he has emotions. Coryo chose to be evil. This is his villain origin story. Tom's acting when he cries over the photo of him and Sejanus, and when he's quietly contemplating whether to kill Lucy Gray in the forest were phenomenal. It is extremely difficult to translate Snow's inner thoughts to the screen, and I think Tom did a really good job with it.
Viola Davis, of course, did an amazing job at showing the complete psychopathy of Dr. Gaul. I don't think I need to say much more on the topic really.
I love the Retro-futuristic design choices for the technology, the architecture, etc.
Wovey, Reaper and Coral broke my hearts in the game. Wovey just wanting to go home, Reaper showing the humanity of all the tributes with his gesture, Coral begging Lucy Gray ("I can't have killed them all for nothing").
On that note I really really like how in this film we got to see District 4 being part of the ruthless careers - the first films left out that District 4 are also careers, so it was nice to see the brutality (but also humanity as I mention above) that these tributes can have.
In Sejanus and Marcus we likewise got to see that District 2 is not full of Capitol pets willing to kill at a moment's notice. Both refused to be a piece in anyone's games.
#ballad of songbirds and snakes#panemverse#bosbas spoilers#coriolanus snow#lucy gray baird#sejanus plinth
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HD Sudsfest: Week Three
Wow, what a week!! We're thrilled to round out the third week of Sudsfest 2022 with these incredible fics and works of art. If you haven't had a chance to enjoy them yet, what are you waiting for? The bathwater's warm...
[ART] After Hours by @melcarrianna { E, Digital art }
After a long day full of photo shoots Draco and his photographer take advantage of the giant bath from their last shoot to work off some tension. Suds aren’t the only things getting into places.
❤️ "They are both so beautiful, first of all. I love how muscular they are, I love their skin tones, I love the background. I love Draco's nipple, as well. I love it all." —Rhyebony
❤️ "...whoa. This is gorgeous!! And so so hot and steamy 😶🌫️🥵 I love this so so much!! The way you drew them. They’re so perfect and intimate!" —Clueless_Pigeons
[FIC] Tom Crup Gets a Bath by @myrtlefics/ CreepingMyrtle { T, 1.3k }
When Draco Malfoy graciously opens his home to an absolute disaster of a crup, there’s only one place to turn for help: Harry’s Crup Care: Quality Care for Calamitous Crups. Trained and Certified by Warbeck Kennels- Yes, those Warbeck Kennels!
❤️ "Oh I loved this so so much!! It was funny and sweet and your Draco voice was perfect!!! I am obsessed with this lost little crup." —nv-md
❤️ "oh my god!!! Draco's inner monologue was cracking me up! Bless you for picking this prompt, what a gem." —InnerLilith
[ART] Room to Explore by @julcheninred/ julchen_in_red { T, Paper Art and Embroidery }
In an ancient castle heavy with past and prophecy, a place to begin anew is an unexpected gift.
❤️ "The mermaid lore and take on the Prefects’ bathroom is so novel and fascinating. Oh wow the embroidery work is gorgeous. The lightness it brings to the room is palpable." —Romaine
❤️ "I find myself getting lost in the detailed patterns, especially the swirls of the roses... The composition is also fantastic. I love where you put Harry and Draco. The whole thing keeps my eyes moving from the boys to the faucets to the embroidery and back again. The fic reinforces everything in the piece giving the perfect backstory to this scene." —m4g0rtz
[FIC] of course i cum fast, i’ve got a snitch to catch by @swoontodeath / swoons { E, 7.5k }
Strangest of all, Potter never lasts more than two minutes — and that’s if Draco’s being really, really generous with his time-keeping. It should be off-putting, but Draco’s just intrigued. Perhaps that’s why he’s watched Potter wank in the showers so often.
❤️ "Amazing, funny, perfectly steamy! I loved!!!" —citrusses
❤️ "This is the most obsessive, hilarious thing ever. Peeping Tom Draco might just be my new favorite 😆... This was exquisite." —Schmem_14
[ART] Immerse your soul in love by @maesterchill { M, Digital Art }
After a particularly bad full moon spent in the forests of Glenmore, Potions Professor Draco Malfoy brews himself strong potions to heal his wounds. He must immerse himself fully twice a month as the moon wanes, in water as hot as he can bear. This thing he has going on with Professor Potter is new, and mostly physical—make that all physical—and so Draco is more than a little uncertain about asking Potter to stay in his quarters while he bathes. In the cold, brittle light of morning everything between them feels far too vulnerable and stripped bare. The medicinal bathwater stings but Potter soothes him with gentle words, washes him with careful hands, and dries him with a soft towel. And they talk, finally, about the war, about their guilt, and about how very, very long they’ve been in love with one another.
❤️ "Oh, so lovely and tender and intimate! I love the tones in this, and the body language is beautiful." —gracerene
❤️ "Oh wow, the emotion in this! The care! Harry's white butt! The light coming through the window is gorgeous, lighting up the steam from the bath! The pose is so strikingly vulnerable, for both of them. My heart! What a piece!" —lq_traintracks
[FIC] but first, we fight by @nv-md/ nv-md (ANW815) { M, 8.1k }
Fighting with Draco Malfoy has never been quite this thrilling...or this frustrating. Harry's always horny, Draco's in denial, and there simply isn't enough time in the day to fight crime and watch your ex-archnemesis wash his arse. Or what it's like to be in love with Draco Malfoy and have to see him naked in the goddamn shower.
❤️ "...this is completely divine. One of the best things I've read in a long time. You captured them PERFECTLY—as always—and gave us the perfect balance of angst and fluff. The perfect amount of heartbreak, and the perfect resolution of love and satisfaction..." —Phoebe_Delia
❤️ "You deserve a hall of fame trophy for the sexual tension. The fighting is so well observed and it is scorching." —skeptique
[ART] Under (Water) Pressure by @sugareey-makes-stuff { E, Digital Art }
A shower wasn't going to provide a resolution to their latest row, but right now, Draco didn't care. Not when a wet and naked Harry kissed him hard on the mouth, making the filthiest sounds as they pressed their bodies firmly against each other.
❤️ "There's such a beautiful tension to their positions; you totally capture that moment of utter desperation right before it slides into relief. As always, your use of shading conveys so much energy, and in this case it captures the neediness of the prompt beautifully. Stellar work" —PalenDrome (nerdherderette)
❤️ "I am dying! This is exquisite!!! The intensity, the passion you’ve captured is off the charts" —MysticKitten42
[FIC] A Healing Bath by @cluelesspigeons { T, 2.3k }
When Harry gets injured on an Auror mission, he is forced to take a bath so his wounds will heal better. Unfortunately, Harry doesn't like baths. At all.
❤️ "LUFF! I am a puddle of feelings. This is such a heart-soother. I can’t seem to get enough of this" —HP_fanfics17
❤️ "Of course this fic is good! Omg I love it! 😍❤️ It's so sweet and domestic..." —Nelween
[FIC] The love you no longer seek by @teacup-tai / Tainara_Black { M, 1.3k }
Harry’s smile is small and painful. His head lolls to the side to watch Draco with such deep emotion, such a turmoil, such confusion. “Come here,” Harry whispers, voice deep, palm turning up, hand reaching towards his husband.
❤️ "This was heartbreaking and the contrast to the tenderness and how much they love each other made it even more so." —KatIsSleeping
❤️ "Oh this is gorgeous and heartbreaking. How the relationship ends not with fights and screaming but in such a tender moment. My heart shattered for both of them. This is beautiful, well done." —Basicallyahedgehog
[FIC] the shape of memory by @hogwartsfirebolt { T, 3k }
Harry's brush with death has left consequences. Thankfully, Draco is there to help him navigate the uncertain waters of his mind.
❤️ "The emotions you convey through everything just makes my heart melt. The scenery and how Harry's mind is built is just so very beautiful, with the idea that it always stays the same, as a forest. Draco is just so smitten and caring in this… thank you for sharing this delicate and dazzling piece." —Bubblegumhead
❤️ "This was so moving !! the idea that harry will always come back to draco is so beautiful." —verygaydrarry
[FIC] On The Shore by @skeptiquewrites { T, 3k }
Draco takes up wild swimming. Harry joins him.
❤️ "This was incredibly lovely and breathtaking as usual. I love your grip on these characters, the comforting quietness of their interactions, the soft nuances, the uncomplicated get together and overall mature, contemplative mood." —sitp
❤️ "Ohhh I loved this so much! The atmosphere and quietness and Harry’s question at the end— you’ve captured the entire experience of winter swimming and years of vibes all at once." —CreepingMyrtle
[ART] The Next Morning, Somewhere in Paris by @gryffindorhearts { T, Digital Art }
Their first year as fully-fledged Aurors hasn't been easy, to say the least. Being partners with Draco (in more ways than one) has been full of surprises, both wonderful and infuriating. Not to mention hunting down dark wizards, uncovering dangerous artifacts, and the endless stream of Ministry paperwork. Their latest mission took them racing through the alleyways of Paris for four days straight. Finally, they found reprieve amongst the golden tiles and cool porcelain of an ensuite with a view of the Seine. Harry doesn't know what street they're on, nor could he even recall the name of the hotel. But one thing is for certain: taking a chance on Draco was the best idea either of them has ever had.
❤️ "This is so soft and beautiful and that little heart-shaped bubble just made me melt!" —Krethes
❤️ "I LOVE THIS! OMG the soft kisses and Harry's arms around Draco, and the story of how long it's taken them to get here…FABULOUS!! It's so so so good, simply superb!!!" —nv-md
week 3 header art by fictional, please do not repost
#drarry#hpdm#draco malfoy#harry potter#hd sudsfest#hd sudsfest 2022#harry potter fic#drarry fic#drarry art
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