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a-world-with0ut-dr34ms · 2 years

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A Graves x Reader x Ghost Love Triangle

As Shadow Company’s second in command, you’ve seen firsthand the kind of man Graves could be, including the kind of man he wanted to be for you. It was a game you two unknowingly played, one that would surely not end well. A quick distraction meant to tame your busy souls. Warm bodies to lie with. Anything other than that was pure fantasy, though you two couldn’t help dreaming...

Future NSFW 18+, Future Angst, Pre-MW2 Events, Fluff, Flirting, Teasing, First Kiss, Romance, Drama, Build-up, Implied FWB, Make-Out Session, Shadow Company!Reader

WC ~ 2k

AO3 Link | Masterlist

A/N (2024): Made a few minor grammatical fixes and touched up some of the sentences that weren't making sense. Hopefully, this reads a lot stronger now! ^.~

A/N: I have never posted on Tumblr like this before; I’m a grade A lurker. But I’m obsessed with this for whatever reason, so now you’re being subjected to my writing. This is chapter one to a longer story that’ll be posted on AO3. Sorry if the characters feel OOC, I’m trying my best with what we got. Please enjoy! (T^T)>

Phillip Graves was as much of an enigma as the rest of the men in Shadow Company.

He could be many things when asked: Confident and self-assured, charismatic and dependable, disciplined and cutthroat, remorseless … as cold and calculated as a well-trained attack dog, or as warm and inviting as a long-time friend. All these personas existed within the commander, ready to be switched on in a single order. A chameleon, true to his craft. He’s grown accustomed to making himself whoever the world needed him to be. Anything that gets the job done.

There was never any mistaking where Graves' thoughts lie, as more than often he'd just admit to them out loud. He accepts that others believe him to be an open book -- easy to read, with little complexity or depth beyond being a good soldier. Being lighthearted and obedient to the right people has worked wonders for him in the past, so he's mastered this façade and uses it well to his advantage. Proudly too.

But for a man so unafraid to be himself, Graves could be surprisingly secretive.

As his second in command, you've seen firsthand the many personas your commander wore, including ones he's worn for you. Most of his tricks and plays you recognized by now, even as you've yet to understand them. Though as of late you’ve watched these many faces of his waver into something unfamiliar. They chip away slowly, each time you surrender yourself to his needs, taking your place beside him in the black of night, when no one's around to see. There, he's created a new façade, for your eyes only.

One that only made things complicated.

When you first began spending your nights together, it was more of a means to an end. It had been months since either of you had the pleasure of someone else's full attention, and lately, you were starting to notice. Shadow Company had grown more acclaimed and busy this past year, making dating pretty impossible. And after a while, anyone starts to look like a good lay if they're not ugly. Unfortunately, it didn't leave you with many options, until you'd caught the starved eye of your very own commander.

You’d hardly been a part of Shadow Company for a month before you’d picked up on Graves' interest in you. He was surprisingly subtle with his flirting, if not predictable. It was the way his eyes lingered on you in quiet moments, his expression turned soft as his lips curved into a charming smile whenever you'd catch him. He could always spot you in a crowded room, always noticing when you were away for too long. He laughed just a little too hard at your jokes and always looked your way first after sharing one himself.

Before long, you found yourself beginning to watch him back.

It was the little details you noticed first. The small cuts on his face from past firefights, how glossy and full of life his blue eyes looked in direct sunlight. Its rays would make a halo over his dirty blond hair, each strand looking clean enough to run your fingers through. He once caught you looking at him lick his lips, something he did often. When your eyes lifted from his mouth to see your superior officer looking dead at you, it shot a bolt of lightning through you. But you didn't look away, perhaps wanting him to see you looking. Taunting him.

Graves didn't say anything at first when he saw you ogling, but you knew he'd made a mental note of it just from the way he smirked afterward. "See something you like?"

"I see you, Commander," you'd said, hoping your glib nature would cover up the embarrassment you felt from getting caught. But Graves was like a shark in the water, and you'd just given him a taste of your blood.

"I see you too, Songbird."

It seems all he needed was that clue that you were interested in him, because it wasn't soon after this when he decided to make his move.

You and the Commander had just finished prepping your mission brief for the other Shadow Company members. By now it was getting late in the night, as the building you two were in was a small facility only authorized personnel could enter. You occupied one of the empty rooms converted into an office space for all the pencil pushers to work out of. They’d all clocked out for the day though, leaving you two alone; and the tension in the air between you had just reached a boiling point.

You stood up from one of the tables in the room, preparing to slip into your coat and call it a night, until you watched the Commander approach you suddenly. You assumed he was getting ready to leave as well, until you noticed his come-hither nature.

“So, you got any plans tonight?”

And just like that, the game was on. You knew right away where this would go and it had your heart already skipping a beat. But you didn't want to jump to conclusions, nor did you want to rush this either. The thrill of the pursuit provided you with a nice little rush.

Wicked as you were, you began to smile.

“Why?” you ask. “Did you have something in mind?”

“I can think of a few things,” he said, behaving purposefully coy, in hopes of getting a rile out of you. He always did enjoy your banter and had no problem doing a little teasing himself when presented with the opportunity.

“Is that right?” you say flirtatiously. “Will I like those “things”, Commander?”

Graves smirks, raising an eyebrow at your comment. Hearing his title roll from your tongue so provocatively brought a sudden twinkle to his eyes. At this point, he didn’t need to guess where your mind was, which only made him more bold.

He chuckles under his breath, taking a few small steps closer, until he’s only an arm's length away. His next play.

He wasn't the tallest man you met but he still managed to tower over you by a few inches, the light from the room casting a shadow over him. This close you could smell the aftershave and cologne he’d used this morning, watching the way his eyes took in every detail of you, pupils dilating, black over-compassing the deep blue of his irises. He leans against the wall and unconsciously licks his lips again.

It was like a switch flipped in him.

“You will.”

You scoff, laughing under your breath at his boldness. You were wondering when he would be. Still, you wanted to poke at him a little more, see how long you could keep him waiting, if not to see if he was being for real. “Cocky as always.”

“Would you like me some other way then?”

You play on his words from earlier. “I can think of a few ways.”

“And what might those ways be, Songbird?”

"You're a smart boy," you hum. "I think you can figure them out. My lips are sealed, otherwise."

Graves steps even closer. He lifts a hand and pushes a stray strand of hair behind your ear. His touch is gentle and surprisingly warm, gliding against you like feathers, his fingers trailing across your jawline and resting beneath your chin. Goosebumps formed where he touched, and you could tell from the doe-eyed look he had that it was doing something to him too, seeing you like this. He takes his hand beneath your chin and lifts your head, forcing you to lock eyes.

"And if I order you to say them?"

His voice was now much lower than before. Sultry. You could feel it in the air he was ready to come in closer, simply waiting for an opportunity to do so that felt right.

Butterflies shot through you like a thick swarm; you didn’t want to let on that his words had you like putty in his hands, though you feared your little lip quiver may have given it away. You instead look down at his lips again, your gaze sullied. You began thinking of all the ways you could close this space between you two and put an end to the tension. The thrill of it all had your adrenaline spiking in all the right ways, simply waiting to see where things go from this point. "Then I won’t listen," you purr.

"Insubordination is rather punishable," he said.

"So is fraternization."

"I can keep a secret." Graves brought his thumb to your lip, lightly running it across, as his eyes lowered to your mouth. He nearly says in a whisper, "Tell me what you’re thinking."

"Let me show you."

His lips slowly come down to yours, kissing you gently. When you pressed your lips back against his, he exhaled pleasurably, tongue grazing your bottom lip. He moves his hand from your chin and curls it to the back of your neck, holding you in place and continuing to tease you with short, velvety pecks. His lips danced against yours with the skill of a seasoned player, clearly experienced in his craft, but it wasn’t until he felt your hands glide against his hips and tug him closer that his kisses grew insatiable.

His grip on the back of your neck tightened, lips pressing harder against yours, feverishly. When the sudden aggression brings a low moan from you, it only makes him push harder, his other hand grabbing the small of your back and roughly pressing himself against you.

His weight causes you to shift backward until he has your back pressed against a wall. Unknowingly, your arm bumps against a nearby filing cabinet on the way there, knocking over a few papers that now littered the floor. Mere background noise to Graves, who only continues, his arms planted on other sides of the wall around you, as his lips trailed down your neck. His kisses reach your collarbone, the sensitive sensation causing you to gasp out a moan. “Graves!”

Hearing his name be moaned out sends him on a personal mission to hear you say it more. He takes his hands and slowly runs them down your body, feeling every bit of you he can through your uniform, before resting them on your thighs. In one swift motion, he then lifts you, taking your legs and straddling them around his waist, as he keeps your back against the wall. He presses himself to you and breathes heavily, rejoining his mouth with yours.

By now you could feel him through his pants, and you pushed yourself against him in response, the grinding motion bringing quiet moans from both of you. That’s when you two suddenly hear footsteps.

At the drop of a hat, you two freeze, going completely silent. The footsteps come from outside the room -- someone walking by in the hallway. A janitor maybe? God forbid it was anyone in the company. You held your breaths for only about a minute, listening to the steps pass by the room until you couldn’t hear them any longer.

The two of you let out a shared sigh, before looking back at one another. Graves had you still pinned to the wall, your legs tucked in his arms. He can’t help but chuckle.

“This probably ain’t the best place for this, darlin'," he spoke. "As much as I want to keep going."

“I don’t know,” you joke. “I like the vibe. It’s very risqué.”

Graves smiles at you. And then, he pauses for a moment. Suddenly his eyes can’t seem to pick a spot he wants to look at on your face. You see something in him change, gears turning in his mind. Thinking of what he might say to you now. Hiding away his vulnerabilities. It makes your own mind begin to ponder.

“See something you like?” you ask him.

“I see you.”

Graves leaned in and kissed you another time, softly. Like you’d been lovers your whole lives. That’s when you realized how truly dangerous your commander could be; for a minute there, you started daydreaming about what tomorrow could bring you both. You wanted to fall for his pretty words. But then you remembered where you were, and who you were with.

This was a game. A mutual distraction. As things stand, thinking that this could be anything else beyond a good lay was purely a fantasy. You almost just lost yourself in it.

And so it goes.

"Your place or mine?”

...Chapter Two Here!

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filmmakerdreamst · 8 months

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How Lyra and Will suffered as Protagonists in BBC's His Dark Materials

Despite the cast and crews open love for the novels, and the insistent diligence to stay as faithful to the source material as possible — even trying to fill in many of the gaps in the books, as seen in all three seasons of the show — the BBC adaptation never manages to capture the spirit (the only time I felt like it did was in the third season) because of the fact that every character is altered and changed. Not just adaptationally changed either like making a character dumber, softer or harder. They’re completely different characters, separated from the source material e.g. Mrs Coulter is changed from a seductive, calm character to a feral, suicidal character. I must admit, I did like the expanded self harm element that she causes her daemon. However I felt in the novel, if she were to harm her monkey, it would be ‘to keep her lust for power at bay’ rather than shame for herself.

The atmosphere was off yet the events were similar and the complete opposite at the same time. But you can’t have similar events play out with different characterisations, at least not with ‘His Dark Materials’.

Philip Pullman’s characters in ‘His Dark Materials’ are extremely charismatic, but to put it lightly, are not very palatable to say the least. As stated in @clarabosswald’s analysis, there seemed to be this weird need to make EVERY single character digestible or palatable in some way or another in the BBC adaptation, regardless of it making sense or not. I noticed this upon my re-read of ‘The Northern Lights’ that they even humanised the doctor that sexually assaulted Lyra by grabbing Pantalaimon, which was very troubling.

Now with the opposing ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ film, they changed the characterisations to make them more sympathetic and accessible to a contemporary audience. They even dug deeper with the character Edmund which I thought was a fantastic choice. But the reason why those character changes worked was because C.S.Lewis was not concerned with building character, he was much more concerned with the place of Narnia itself. He almost used his characters to explore the world of Narnia, e.g. some characters would leave one book and come back 5 books later — which is why some of the later adaptations of Narnia didn’t do as well in the box office as the first one.

The character changes in that film enriched the story without effecting it in a way, because ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ and the other books are driven by the plot. Where as ‘His Dark Materials’ is primarily driven by characters.

Philip Pullman in total contrast to C.S.Lewis, built the world (you could say he used the world) around the characters in order for them to get to Point A to Point B. But he was not concerned about exploring the multiverse so you could see the entire picture, like with C.S. Lewis.

I heard once that he described writing as wondering through a forest on a path and the path is your story. Theres a difference between the story world and the storyline. And as an Author, your concern is the storyline. It would be easy to step away and stray from the path and explore the forest and admire all the trees, but for him the most important thing to do was to remain on the path and focus on the story rather than the details along the way.

I’m not apposed to different versions of the characters or different storylines. But with ‘His Dark Materials’, those books are driven by specific character traits. And the fact that they changed them, while still being faithful to the events in the story, the story beats either don’t land or don’t hit as hard or don’t make sense altogether.

More specifically with the main characters Lyra and Will, but mostly Lyra since she’s the heart of the story.

Lyra is first and fourmost a liar, which may seem a small part of her character but its huge. Her ability to lie and get her way out of situations is the cause of many events in the books. She’s feral. She’s wild. She’s manipulative. She’s described as a ‘half wild cat’ and a ‘greedy little savage’. She can’t sit still or behave herself. She’s impulsive. She’s a leader. She gets into fights. She gets dirty. She spends all her nights on the rooftops. She’s an extrovert. She’s street smart. She’s selfish. She’s brave.

She’s an emotional and passionate human being. Thats what makes Lyra a real girl, not just a character on the page. These nuanced character traits of hers is how she pushes everything forward in the story.

All of those negative/positive aspects of her character in the books were watered down so much in the series. To the point where alot of them were removed. Not only is that incredibly dehumanising but makes the plot points where “she lies” not land as well or plot points revolving around her “telling the truth” make no sense at all.

The whole reason why she’s called Lyra Silvertongue is because she tricked the bear king with her lies, a trait which is consistent throughout the entire story — but completely nonexistent throughout the show. Her tricking the bear king in the adaptation came off as a lucky experience rather something that comes naturally to her. Even the ironic plot point of her being given the Alethiometer “a device that tells her the truth” didn’t hit as hard. They tried to establish her as a ‘liar’ in the second episode of season one then gave up completely as the show continued on.

But the weird thing is, those flaws were still mentioned by other characters in the show, when it was not the character they were developing. Characters would mention that she’s a liar, insufferable, selfish or that ‘she doesn’t apologise easily’ — which seemed like an over exaggeration since the show version of her isn’t really any of those things. This applied when characters such as Lee praised her for being ‘brave’ and ‘good’. I heard a HDM podcast recapping season 2 saying that “her character in the show wasn’t hitting the right emotional beats” to be a child of a great destiny that every character seemingly falls over themselves to give their lives for her.

TV Lyra hasn’t completely lost her flaws, but she’s not as nearly as flawed as she was in the books. She felt so contained, rather than passionate. Which felt so odd because yes, Lyra grows out of some bad traits such as her rudeness, due to the influence of Will. But she isn’t naturally like that.

They changed her so much, but also tried to keep her “the same” that her character growth which is huge in the books felt like nothing had moved at all. It kind of got reduced to a simple thing like her innocence being taken away. It was like she wasn’t allowed to have any sort of loud, dislikable reaction in any way. It felt like they were taking away her agency.

And I know one of the biggest reasons why they changed her behaviour in the TV Show is because they aged the character up to 14–16 at the start. I get it. Theres a huge difference between 12 and 14 in terms of maturity . It works for the Will & Lyra romantic scenes as an adaptational choice later in the story (because she’s allegedly 12–13 in the books).

I think Dafne Keen was an inspired choice for the role of Lyra, since I saw some scenes of her in ‘Logan’ and I 100% believe she would of pulled off Book Lyra given the chance, but by the time they started filming she was already 13/14. And in all honesty, Lyra just becomes odd looking older. She’s just not convincing as a misbehaving little girl who can’t sit still, she just comes off as a really strange child thats immature or lacking in social skills. For example, there’s a scene between Mrs Coulter and Lyra in ‘The Idea of North’ where she’s telling a lie, but it doesn’t come off natural because 1. They didn’t establish her as a liar immediately and 2. Part of her ability to lie comes from her spontaneous nature of being a kid telling stories and using her imagination. Dafne Keen didn’t really look that age, for it to look like something she would do.

They also made her relationship with Roger more of a focus in the show, which makes sense as her motivation in the later half of the books comes from wanting to rescue him. However, they made him ‘the only friend that she has’ which I found to be a strange decision because Lyra in the books has tuns of friends. I would say their friendship is more balanced in the series, where as in the book it wasn’t so much.

She forgets him a few times while staying with Mrs Coulter in the book where as she remembers him constantly in the episode ‘The Idea of North’ which felt like a confused choice to me. They were trying to have it both ways; have her be seduced by Mrs Coulter while also actively asking her to look for Roger.

The imbalance in Roger and Lyra’s friendship is important because it adds to the need to set things right with him in The Land of the Dead. It goes to the core of how everyone thinks she is selfish. She needs to save Roger to prove to herself she’s a good person.

In the book, when Lyra dreams of Roger in The Land of the Dead, the two of them have constant talks of how much he’s suffering. In the show, she just has alot of ambiguous flash forward dreams of Roger, with the story not prioritising them as important as the main plot of ‘Asriel’s War’.

When she brings this up to Will in the episode, he dismisses it instead of agreeing to go (like in the book) because of his daddy issues, no I’m sorry, because of Asriel’s War which makes sense as it’s one of the main plots in the season — where it was more of a distracting B plot in the book — but it just kind of adds to the idea that “its unnecessary” or “why are they doing this?”.

The desire to get to Roger and apologise in the show doesn’t hit as hard because there was more of a balance in Lyra and Rogers relationship plus the changes to her character just made it seem like “she just wanted to do it” rather than it being the most important decision she ever makes, to try to better herself.

While they go to the suburbs of the dead, Will and Pan constantly question why she’s doing this (a conflict that was not in the book — Will is steadfastly loyal to her by this point and Pan is too shivery to speak) while Lyra just snaps at them, making her seem mean for no reason. When she has a chat with her death, she doesn’t lie that an angel told her to do it (because they didn’t establish her as a liar properly), she just says that she wants to be good which is not a convincing argument considering what happens next.

When Pan and her have the argument while she leaves him on the doc, which is a great scene on its own (it made me cry), it also adds to the unnecessary nature of it all. It’s a scene that makes sense in the book because of Lyra’s impulsive nature, but because of her seemingly calculative nature in the show, it just looks odd. It’s described in the book that if Lyra had heard Pan speak, she would have folded and never would of got on the boat, but since the show did the complete opposite of that, It makes the scene more harsh and cold.

I think what the writers were trying to do was make it more of a mystery like ‘why is she doing this’ ‘its not too late to turn around’ a mission that appears fruitless at first, but turns out to be the greatest act of humanity — but again, I still don’t think that works because of how much Lyra’s entire character is changed. The act is not just for everyone else. It’s a major step in her character growth, to care about others.

In the Land of the Dead, obviously they had to cut out the whole section where Lyra literally looses her ability to lie while she’s telling lies to the harpies, then learns to tell the truth to the dead. This is the final step for Lyra’s character, finally learning the power of telling the truth instead of lies. They didn’t replace that with anything, only with her telling the dead true stories, which was heartwarming on its own, but obviously those story beats don’t hit as hard in the same way because like I said, its not presented as the final step in her character growth, its presented as a one off scene. This is one of the reasons why her character is pretty static in the adaptation.

In the Land of the Dead, its Lyra for the most part (apart from one instance) that keeps a cool head, while Will looses his — which again, the complete opposite. In the books, its Lyra that goes off the rails and its Will that keeps her centred.

Which brings me onto how the character of Will is changed in the adaptation, and how that effects the story from the second book onwards.

Will was brought in by Philip Pullman in ‘The Subtle Knife’, to represent Lyra’s other half — in another parallel universe literally, and also to help her on her quest to fulfil the prophecy. If it was just her on her own with Pan, it wouldn’t work and would fail.

Though I was taken aback by his entrance in ‘The Subtle Knife’ — as it was such a jarring change coming from the suspenseful cliff hanger where Lyra walks into the new world after her best friend Roger got murdered — he quickly but surely became my favourite male literary character of all time.

I don’t have as a big of a problem with his character changes then I do with Lyra, because there were at least a few times in the show where he was allowed to act like ‘himself’. Amir Wilson was perfect casting as Will. It was like the character had just walked off the page it was that good. But all together, he’s a completely different character — which I can understand. Out of all the characters, I feel he’s the hardest to pin down and his development is done in a subtle and subconscious way.

Throughout the course of ‘The Subtle Knife’, he’s incredibly off putting as he’s mostly angry and tired and then he’s in pain because of his knife wound. It works in a book format, because your’e in his point of view and you understand that he’s a child thats at the end of his tether. But it would be hard to portray that in a nuanced way on screen, unless your’e clever with it.

They unfortunately took the easy route with his characterisation on screen by making him softer. Not only that, the writing for his character was incredibly inconsistent at times.

Will from the books is fierce. He’s frightening. He’s stoic. He gets angry. He’s a strategist. He does whats best for someone. He likes to stay invisible. He’s sarcastic. He’s an introvert. He likes to stay hidden. He’s practical. He’s a child carer. He’s naturally aggressive e.g. He beat up a bunch of boys at school because they were hurting his mother. He hardly smiles. At times, especially in the second book, he becomes incredibly depressed. He’s pretty much a 35 year old man in a young boy’s body. He’s incredibly soft, but the reader can’t tell until Lyra brings that out in him.

I would say Will is a more contained version of Lyra, yet the complete opposite of her. They’re like yin and yang. They both have something that the other lacks, and that helps them both grow up. Lyra brings out a softness out in him, brings out his impulsive nature where as he helps her strategise and learn not to just rush out and do things.

TV Will suffers from the same problem that TV Lyra does.

Every negative/positive aspect about him is watered down. Revealing a quite mild character. I feel that they didn’t touch on the fact that he was a child carer enough, which is a huge part of his character. It just came off as ‘he loves his mum’ more in the show. Will being a caterer is supposed to contrast Lyra whom didn’t grow up with parents and got to live out a childhood that he was never allowed to experience. This is a theme. Every character trait that contrasts Lyra in the books isn’t present so much. I would even go as far to say that they’re too similar in the TV Show.

I was wondering throughout the second season why the storyline was static and wasn’t going anywhere. Certain plot points such as Will being a murderer, Lyra helping Will find his father, The fight for the subtle knife and Will becoming the bearer of the Subtle Knife felt tacked on or weren’t hitting as hard as they should.

At first, I thought it was because the novel was ‘the weakest in the trilogy’. I often see ‘The Subtle Knife’ as a bridge between both ‘Northern Lights’ and ‘The Amber Spyglass’.

But since re-reading the book, I went ‘Oh my God, its because they changed Will’s character arc’.

TV Will, the more I think about it, does not suit becoming the bearer of the subtle knife. The only times we see him fighting is in the boxing ring. He expresses incredible regret over killing a man instead of brushing it off because he was protecting his mother. Even when he’s under threat, he says ‘I don’t want to hurt you’ He even has to be persuaded to fight. There’s even a moment in the show where he says “Maybe we’re better off not fixing the knife at all.” which kind of dismisses the practical nature of his character in the book. Plus the knife being a part of him, the same way as the Alethiometer is a part of Lyra. Even the remarks that Lyra makes about him being similar to Iorek the armoured Bear don’t make as much sense, because of the fact that he’s softer.

Book Will struggles with his warrior nature, and eventually learns thats not who he wants to be. But he isn’t naturally a soft person. He learns to be through his experiences and his relationship with Lyra. Which is why it was so odd to me that they included the line in the show where Will is saying to his father in the Land of the Dead “You told me that I was a warrior; That I can’t fight my nature. Your’e wrong.” I was just like, what are you talking about? That is so not the character the show had developed. TV Will had hardly been shown to fight anyone of his own free will — it didn’t make sense to me. They were trying to have it both ways. Completely ignoring his basic character traits and flaws, yet still going through the same arc (a somewhat watered down one) one e.g. idolising his dad for his whole life, realising his dad ain’t shit when he meets him, finding Lyra missing, ignoring the task his father set him etc.

Even the task that Lyra has to help Will find his father didn’t land as well because of the fact that the two of them were bonding straight away in the show, instead of it being like ‘oh no we’re stuck with each other’ to this slow process of her and Will learning to trust each other.

I understand that you have to translate Lyra and Will’s relationship alot differently in a Show format, because subconscious development doesn’t really work due to the lack of intimate point of views. Plus it adds to the narrative to flesh out their dynamic alot more on screen. The more something is changed in an adaptation, the more it stays the same.

I have openly praised the shows depiction of their relationship in another analysis I wrote (before i re-read the books) and how I loved how they gave them more soft moments. However, I will admit now that the soft moments that they had in season 2 felt off to me because they weren’t in character. I think, looking back I would of preferred more soft moments if they were in character.

Will’s initial softness towards Lyra in the show is partially to do with TV Lyra being much less feral and less of a threat. As a result their journey is warmer and far less angstier than it was in the books.

And that in turn messes with the tension.

The element of Will being slightly dismissive of her at the start, is important to how certain story beats land. It adds to the ‘OH SHIT’ when Lyra’s been taken and the task that his father set him that he’s been dreaming of his whole life suddenly isn’t important to him anymore. Thats why it’s such a big deal when he spends most of his time through ‘The Amber Spyglass’ looking for her.

But in the season 2 finale, it ends with Will going off into the sunset, presumably to fulfil is fathers wishes. Then in season 3, he finds her missing, goes ‘whoops’ and then there’s a montage of him trying to find her. Then when he does (quite easily) — he goes on about how “since his dad died he’s done none of the things that he asked him to do’ which makes him looking for Lyra within the show feel even more anticlimactic.

Also, this is more of a personal opinion that an analytical one, I did not appreciate when Lyra brought up going to the Land of The Dead, TV Will went “I saved you. I did everything I could to save you. You told me not to but I did it anyway” which felt to me like ‘Wow brilliant, of course you had to save her’

And instead of agreeing to go to the Land of the Dead with her like in the book, they had to insert some tension from ‘The Subtle Knife’ (because they messed with the tension in season 2) and have Will go on a rant about what his dad wanted him to do, Asriel’s war, dismissing Lyra’s wishes and even having him suggest maybe her dad regretted killing her friend.

This is something that Will from the books would never ever say, let alone to the girl that he loves. He’s fully aware how much her dad hurt her and he respects her too much by that point to ever suggest something like that. Even when he does think about ‘what his dad wanted him to do’ he’s still steadfastly loyal to Lyra. They were completely undermining the turning point in their relationship and Will’s character development by adding pointless drama to extend the episodes running time.

As mentioned in a very articulate post by @mamsellechosette24601 ‘the quest to find his father and fulfil his fathers wishes’ isn’t the point at all, its Will letting go of his childhood dreams, of realising what really matters is Lyra all along.

Now I’ve seen in another analysis of the adaptation that their path to falling in love in the show is alot clearer than in the books which I can understand and agree with (to a certain extent) because the books were much more concerned with philosophy than romance. This is true for the romance between Asriel and Marisa in the Book vs the TV Show as well.

The concept behind their relationship remains the same:

“Will and Lyra are very good people who learn to trust each other when they’re at their most vulnerable, they become the only thing they have in a terrifying world of enemies. By the end, when they realise they're in love only to discover they can never be together, they make the mature choice, however hard it may be.”

But their relationship is totally different in the TV Show because of their character changes.

I would say Lyra and Will have more of a enemies to lovers storyline in the books — where as the adaptation version of them doesn’t. The screenwriters clearly tried to iron out alot of the problematic elements, especially in the beginning and focus on them being “friends” more. I’m not apposed to them doing that, but the way they did it ended up muting a few of their scenes together.

I’ve actually made an argument in my other account (against the ‘His Dark Materials’ analysis saying that ‘the adaptation did a much better job at showing when Will and Lyra fell in love’) that their relationship development was a lot subtler in the books because the characters were alot younger and more immature. And that it was more ‘obvious’ in the tv show because they aged the characters up, therefore they could have more mature conversations and scenes together.

This was before I did my re-read.

After re-reading ‘The Subtle Knife’ and ‘The Amber Spyglass’ comparing it with how their relationship is handled in the TV Adaptation. I would actually argue the opposite .

In some ways, the growing romance between the two of them is much more mature (and makes more sense) in the books than in the show, at least to me. Unlike in the TV Show, their relationship never enters into neutral territory, even when they finally learn to trust each other. Theres much less emphasis on their ‘friendship’.

After their brutal first meeting — where they attack eachother — in ‘The Subtle Knife’ Lyra is immediately taken with Will and constantly thinks about him and what he thinks of her. There’s even a moment in ‘The Amber Spyglass’ where she’s trying to hide that she’s in pain while they’re walking (because of all that time she’s been asleep) because she doesn’t want to appear weak in front of him.

The way Lyra and Will meet in the show, is reminiscent of how children meet for the first time. Though quite skeptical of each other, they instantly bond and make friends after 5 seconds, because why wouldn’t they? They’re kids the same age after all. Even though there’s still an element of mistrust there, there’s hardly any conflict between them. They don’t play off each other as much. There is one moment where he gets angry at her for making him wait, but all that is solved in a minute because of Lyra’s ‘calm nature’

Even when Lyra gives Will away by accident and says that she lost the Alethiometer, he doesn’t shout at her. There are few comments here and there but theres no real tension between the two of them.

When Will and Pan have a conversation, its presented as Pan going up to him to have a chat after he had a bad dream rather than Will finding the courage to speak to him in the book and saying ‘I think Lyra’s the best friend I’ve ever had’. This is presented more as a statement in the show because their friendship has already been established and less of a discovery (as he wasn’t reacting to her that much in the book as he had alot on his mind).

Lyra and Will even have a talk about Pan’s conversation with him afterwards in the show. But in the book, that never happened. It’s mentioned later but never discussed, because of the fact that it was a private conversation between Will and Pan.

You could say this was another problem that the adaptation had. It’s mentioned multiple times ‘YOU CAN’T TOUCH SOMEONES DAEMON’ but not emphasised why thats the case.

In the books, it’s heavily implied that touching someone else’s daemon is the equivalent of touching someone’s genitals. There’s a moment in ‘Northern Lights’ where Lyra and Iorek find Tony in the fish house without a daemon and Pan wants to comfort him but holds back because of the taboo. Thats why it’s such a big deal when Pan comforts Will and starts licking him in the book.

In the show, its quite an underwhelming scene that lasts 5 seconds where Pan strokes Wills fingers and Lyra says in a quiet voice ‘In my world, your’e not supposed to touch someone else’s daemon but you didn’t do something wrong’

And don’t get me started on the 5 second panning away shot where they’re finally touching each others daemons, instead of the moving moment from the book. It didn’t feel like they really understood the gravity of what those scenes meant and what it meant for their connection.

Again, this is more of a personal opinion. Near the end of the final book, when they enter the world of the Mulefa, Lyra and Will trust each other more than they ever have, which shows how much they’ve both grown since ‘The Subtle Knife’. Mary even describes that she never saw ‘more trust on a persons face’. But in the show, there’s this weird forced tension between them for the sake of ‘romance’. They’re suddenly awkward teenagers with each other — which was not a choice that I liked because it didn’t come naturally.

And when they have to be ripped from each other, a whole page worth of them bargaining to be together is turned into ‘I didn’t think it was possible to feel this bad.’ and ‘This is all wrong’, plus Mary and Serafina being weirdly insensitive while Will and Lyra are in different locations rather than being with each other.

This is possibly why I didn’t feel anything when they had to be forced apart because, the way it was handled felt rushed and soulless.

Overall, despite there being more ‘soft moments between the two of them’ Show Lyra and Will’s connection feels alot more shallow and simplified.

In the books, I got the vibe that even though they were very young, you couldn’t imagine them being with anyone else but with each other. They were each others other half. They were essentially the only family they had in a world full of enemies. There was never a moment in the books, where they weren’t already in love with each other to some degree. It went beyond the typical romantic duality.

In the show, it felt more temporary. This is mostly due to their character changes (they were too similar in my opinion). Like a connection between friends that became romantic at the end of the journey. And it’s something they’ll get over because “It won’t always feel like this” or “Its much more romantic to live for love than to die for it” or “It might not seem like it now but you have a future”

I think that was one of my main problems with the TV Show, it lacked emotion. Not just as an adaptation, but in general.

More than anything, the adaptation felt too confused. It was trying to reimagine the story while also paying homage to the original material. And thats why overall — despite my enjoyment for some of the episodes especially in season 3 — it didn’t work as well as it should have.

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dumbstuffsstuff · 11 months

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Admit It || Lee!Zhongli || Genshin Impact

Lol I lied guys, I am still hyperfixated on Genshin but I’ve also got new things coming and decided to write a fic just for funsies.

———

Zhongli is a very calm and charismatic man. He never gets overly excited, angry, or annoyed. This bothers Childe. How can Zhongli control his temper so well? One day, something manages to really get under the Geo Archon’s skin, and Childe is determined to make Zhongli admit that he’s angry.

———

Pairing: Zhongli and Childe

Lee!Zhongli

Ler!Childe

———

Zhongli, Rex Lapis, Morax, leader of the Adeptus, the Geo Archon. He goes by many names. Zhongli is a character, that’s for sure. No matter the situation, Zhongli always knows how to stay composed. He never lets anything get to him. He never takes criticism personal.

Most people enjoy this quality in Morax. By most, that means everyone except Zhongli’s (friend? rival? partner?) Childe.

Childe can be the exact opposite compared to Zhongli. While the ginger is normally a playful guy who likes to joke around, he is susceptible to losing his temper quickly. He gets irritated at small things. One of the small things being Zhongli’s ability to avoid annoyance.

It’s especially frustrating at times when Childe finds something to scold Morax about or when they’re arguing, and Zhongli will sip tea and avoid eye contact, all while brushing the redhead off and chuckling at his distress.

That all stands until today.

Childe had decided to stay in the hotel in Liyue for a few days to take some time off. He was stressing lately and needed a break. He lay on the cushioned sofa and tried to read a book to keep himself busy, but he was overall bored. That was until a trio burst through the door.

Childe jumps and whips his head around to see the intruders. It’s Aether and Paimon with a flustered Morax behind them. Aether is spewing affirmations at Zhongli in an attempt to comfort him, but the adeptus finds himself pacing around the hotel room.

“Yeah, just let yourself into my room why don’t you?” Childe teases and recieves a glare from Morax.

“Those fatui harbingers are nothing but rats,” Zhongli scoffs and flops down on the couch next to Childe.

“Whoa, hey now, I’m right here?” Tartaglia places a hand on his chest to look hurt, “what’s gotten into you?”

Aether clears his throat, “Uh we ran into some unfriendly harbingers… They really know how to throw around insults.”

Zhongli groans, “let us not retell the story.” He crosses his arms and taps his foot on the floor.

“No worries, Aether,” Childe waves, “I’ll handle it.”

Aether seems grateful and grimaces before awkwardly leaving the scene. Now it’s just the ginger harbinger and Rex Lapis.

“They had the audacity to make fun of me for not having any mora. I’m not broke, I just didn’t bring any with me!”

“Hold on,” Childe interrupts, “are you… angry?”

“Me?” Zhongli scoffs, “Not at all. I’m just confused!”

“You’re totally angry right now, look at you! You’re like steaming!” Childe laughs, “I’ve never seen you this emotional before.”

“I’m not!” Zhongli growls and glares at Childe again. At first, Childe is somewhat afraid. But a smirk forms on his face instead.

“It’s not healthy to hide your feelings,” Childe wraps an arm around Zhongli, placing his gloved hand on the other’s waist.

“I’m not hiding anything.”

“But you are~” Childe pokes his side, making Zhongli flinch, “just admit that you’re angry.” Childe begins to wiggle all ten fingers gently against Zhongli’s waist.

“N-No- Ajax! W-Wahat are you d-doing?” Morax squirms in his spot, afraid to make any other movements that may enhance the ticklishness of the ginger’s fingers.

“I’m tickling you,” Childe grins at the sight of a blush forming on Zhongli’s nose bridge, “I didn’t think you’re ticklish, Morax. But it appears you are.”

“I-Ihi’m nahat.”

“Then why do you laugh when I stroke your sides?”

“A-Ahaha… I-I’m nohot laughing- hrk!”

“Yeah right,” Childe then scribbles all over the dragon’s ribs, tickling up and down and poking each bone.

“PAHahahaha! C-Chihihilde! Stohop that!” Zhongli’s blush darkens, he tries to sound irritated, but his genuine smile doesn’t allow him to.

“See? You’re smiling now, isn’t it great?”

“NOHOHO! Ihit isn’t!” Childe kisses the back of Zhongli’s neck, brushing his long ponytail to the side to add to the sensations. Morax scrunches his shoulders to avoid the tickles, and squeezes his arms around his waist to stop the attack on his side.

“ChihiHIHILDE! PleheHEase! I-it- Ihit tihihickles!”

“Oh? So you ARE ticklish? You admit it?”

“Y-Yehehes!! Now stohohop!”

“Hmm… But you lied to be the first time. I think that shouldn’t go unpunished,” Childe creeps closer and closer to the dragon’s underarms. In return, Morax squirms and jolts to escape but he’s weakened by the tickling.

“AHA! Nonono! Chihihilde! NOHOT THEHERE! Plehehease!”

“Not here? Well, are you going to admit that you’re angry?”

“IHIHI AM NOHOT ANGRY!”

“Suit yourself,” he shrugs. He digs into Zhongli’s underarms and he goes nuts. Zhongli bucks his hips and screeches.

“AHAHAJAX!! PLEHEHEHEHEASE! STAHAHAP! IT REHEHEALLY TIHIHICKLES!”

“Wow! I didn’t expect you to be so ticklish!”

“SHUHUHUT UHUP!”

“Now that’s not nice,” Childe teases. He blows raspberries into his neck while continuing his assault on his armpits.

“BUAHAHAHAHAH! AHAHALRIHIHGHT! YOHOU WIN! YOU GOT MEHEHEE! QUIHIT IHIT!”

“I win? So you admit you were angry?”

“YEHEHEHHES! I ADMIHIHIT IT! STOHOHOHP IT!”

“Oh, alright,” Childe rolls his eyes and stops the attack. Zhongli curls in on himself, gasping for air and then leaning into the ginger.

“Aw look at you. Don’t you feel better?”

“Y-yehes… I-I feehehel much behetter. Thank you, Ajax…” Zhongli places a hand on Childe’s cheek, smiling.

“Ahem,” Childe enjoys the touch until he feels Zhongli begin to wiggle his fingers, “H-Hey!” Childe immediately gets up, letting Zhongli roll over onto the floor.

“Oho? What’s wrong Childe?”

“Zhongli…”

“Cant handle what you dish out, hm?”

“Stay back!” Childe blocks his exposed stomach and sprints out of the room.

“You can run, but i’ll catch you!” Zhongli chuckles and takes his time to catch Childe, since it wont be hard to.

Fin

———

#tickles #tickle #tickle content #tickle fluff #sfw #genshin tickle #genshin impact tickling #sfw tickle #tickle fic #tickle fanfiction #lee!zhongli #ler!childe

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controversial-blorbo-bracket · 10 months

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i don't mean to stir up more controversy so feel free to not post this ask, but like. yeah. i don't get it. is harry potter a shitty franchise filled to the brim with subtle bigotry and glorification of various nasty outlooks on humanity? kinda, in my opinion, yeah. is it written by, and profited off of by someone actively using their platform to cause harm to human rights? yeah. would i ever want to engage with the content or fandom? no not really. but does this mean that anyone who even breathes in the direction of Harry Potter content is condoning all this bullshit, or kissing the author's shoes and ideologies, and giving them money to harm the people they want to harm? uh.......... no, not really. what the fuck

like............ yeah. like you said it's a huge franchise. literally a silly little Tumblr poll that will realistically get under 10,000 votes, let alone notes or discussions, is not at all going to compare to the reach she already has. and it feels weird to twist the blame that way— this author is using their writing and manipulation skill to earn lots of money and do awful things with it... and suddenly it's the individual fans' fault that she has that money and reach? and not just the fans, but even people that don't actively go out of their way to excommunicate fans of the media?

sorry to rant in your inbox i just. im pretty sick of all this "inaction against a major celebrity is the same as condoning their abuse of power and influence" stuff that people throw around instead of criticizing why our social power structure is based on popularity and engagement in the first place (which is bound to put the most cultish, manipulative, influential, and charismatic people in power). idk it just feels really skeevy to blame people who enjoy or passively tolerate something that's expertly designed specifically to be appealing by a master manipulator.

you don't have to post this (though i also don't mind if you do) i just wanted to like. bring some of my takes into your inbox cause these anons sounding like they're accusing you of queer blasphemy or some shit over literally just.... letting someone hate their anti-blorbo/love their blorbo that they think everyone else hates.... are just really putting me off. like do they get that this is the "oil companies tell poor people global warming is their fault" argument all over again?

This has been sitting in my askbox for a long time because I wasn’t sure how to address it or whether to even address it or just delete it, as it feels like a topic that’s bigger than I am and I can’t ever properly address all of it. But all I’ll say is, while I agree that not all discussion of Harry Potter or other shitty medias is promotion and we as individuals shouldn’t be held accountable for the actions of a transphobic billionaire, it is still important to approach the subject with nuance and make sure the ways in which we talk about it do not spread harm. I think that’s why so many polls decide to ban it and other medias from their polls, because most of them are designed to find the “best” of something and to insinuate that something from one of those medias can be the best could be harmful. That’s why I’m not gonna post any asks that defend the series as a whole or the franchise as a property, because it’s not right to even humor those who want to downplay transphobia and antisemitism (among others). Aaaanyways all this to say if people discourse about Harry Potter characters in the notes or askbox go for it just remember the real people impacted by the bigotries present in it when considering the way you want to make your discussions

#not a poll #ask #anonymous #discourse #Harry Potter #anti harry potter

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oddygaul · 6 months

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Scavengers Reign

Holy shit, good western animation that’s not comedy and actually has a focus on aesthetics, setting and craft??

Seriously, I still can’t believe something like Scavengers Reign got made. This feels like a student thesis film you’d see on Vimeo, not a full 12-episode series with a healthy production schedule.

I loved this show. The artstyle is a clear rip of Moebius, but that’s… fucking sick? I mean, given how little that style has been successfully adapted for animation, I’m all for it, especially when it’s done with this much care and skill. Seriously, some of the longer environments shots could genuinely pass for later Moebius illustrations. The colors are also gorgeous throughout, managing to make each biome feel distinct (and thus sell how far our characters have traveled) while maintaining a consistent, muted vibe over the course of the story.

The star of the show, obviously, is the ecology and creature design. Even with no added context, the designs are all very cool, from the little rolling polyps we see everywhere to the stampeding ungulates. But the thing that sets this show apart is the clear ecological niche we’re shown for each species. Nearly every creature we see, we learn something about: their source of food, their natural predators, the unique behavior they’ve adapted to thrive in their environment. And the comparison to nature documentaries doesn’t just stop there - they even directly ape the style, editing and content of documentaries, like when the show focuses on territorial disputes between members of the same species, or highlights a predator taking advantage of its prey’s weakest moments to strike.

Some of my particular favorite ideas: 1. All of the various white-coated creatures near Azi’s desert encampment that blend seamlessly into the spires for camouflage 2. The seafaring creatures sucking up their young for protection during the lightning storm, and the parasites that come in to gorge themselves while they’re defenseless 3. The fact that the little Grey-looking gecko-apes (Hollow’s species), given their intelligence and powerful telekinesis, could clearly become apex predators and take on prey many times their size… but instead use their hypnosis to force other species to get food for them, because it takes way less energy expenditure. That’s nature, baby!

The show definitely drags a bit around the halfway point. The start of the story is explosive, as we follow the viewpoints of 3 different groups of survivors and their drastically different situations. The character dynamics are great in the beginning - Ursula and Sam’s early mastery of the wildlife during their expeditions, Azi’s reticence contrasted with Levi’s developing personality, and the slow horror that unfolds as Kamen is taken in by Hollow. For the first few episodes, we have no idea where things will end up, and it’s exciting watching things play out.

By the midpoint, we’ve basically lost Kamen’s point of view, as his arc is put on ice until the end of the show, so we’re just bouncing back and forth between Sam & Ursula’s perspective, and the group Azi finds herself falling in with. Sam & Ursula’s narrative feels like it gets stuck in a rut here, as Sam gets infected with two different parasites back to back; I really feel like they should’ve committed to one (preferably the plot thread about the previous survivor) rather than trying to land the same emotional beat twice in a row. On Azi’s side, while I understand what they were going for with Kris and the other newcomers, their story never really got compelling for me. Scavengers’ strength is the planet and its bizarre alien life. Levi, with their dawning sentience and growing connection to the natural world, really fits into those themes; replacing that with a ‘Humans were the real monsters scavengers all along!’ subplot is a tough sell, especially when the characters driving it are about as charismatic as a puddle and have some of the most awkward acting / writing in the show.

There’s even some form issues in the middle section. In classic anime fashion, the visuals take a bit of a hit; there’s less standout background work in the 2nd act, and the character animation suffers at times. I also found the editing distracting in this section; with only two points of view to go between, the constant cutting between the A and B plot started to feel artificial and distracting. Also, since we more or less have an idea of how the stories are going to come together by this point, there’s a sense of inevitability to the proceedings.

Fortunately, things come back together in the end; Ursula leaving Sam behind is every bit as bittersweet as it should be, Levi’s resurrection by the planet-flowers is fascinating, and the sequence where Hollow is returned to its natural self, courtesy of a Levi-supplied Total Perspective Vortex, is just goddamn gorgeous. Seriously, if anything can become iconic anymore in the constantly shifting hell that is today’s media landscape, it’s this breathtaking animated montage of life germinating and evolving on Vesta. Well, that and the buckwild life-to-death flower pollination sequence in episode 3. Fully expecting to see those posted as captures on random forums one, five, ten years from now.

Here’s hoping for season two, or anything more from this creative team! They can’t leave us hanging with the fuckin Imperium of Man showing up at the end like that, can they?

#will's media thoughts / virtual brain repository #shows #scavengers reign

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starsopinions · 8 months

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Why I'm excited for The Marvels

The first real introduction I had to the MCU was in 2019, my best friend and I decided to go to the cinema. We weren’t sure what movie to watch but we eventually landed on Captain Marvel, I remember being hooked from the first second and being so excited when, at the end, the words “Captain Marvel will return…” appeared on screen. We left the theatre excited for the sequel which we promised to watch it together. I’m not friends with her anymore but I have to say that, less than a month away from the release of The Marvels, I can’t wait to finally see it and I don’t understand why there seems to be so much negativity surrounding the release of this, in my opinion, very promising movie. So here is why I'm excited for The Marvels!

The cast

Watching the trailer, the first thing that jumps out at me is the cast. The main cast consists of actors who have done consistently good jobs in the past. You may not like Brie Larson but there is no denying that she can act, which is further proven by her many awards, including an Oscar for best actress in 2016. Joining her is Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau who, I think we can all agree on, did an amazing job in WandaVision. And completing the trio is Iman Vellani who is playing Ms marvel. I know a lot of people didn’t like Ms Marvel as a show but I think many are disregarding the fact that the target audience was (younger) teens and not middle-aged men (that isn’t to say that Ms Marvel was perfect but I think it was a fun addition which added something new to the MCU). Besides, I think the problem in Ms Marvel definitely wasn’t Iman’s performance and if they fix the writing issues there is nothing wrong with her character. She is very charismatic and funny, and in my opinion, she is a joy to watch. I am so excited to watch the trio’s dynamic and chemistry!

And as if that wasn’t enough, acting alongside them will be Zawe Ashton. You may know her from Fresh Meat or Velvet Buzzsaw. We don’t know a whole lot about her character yet besides that she will be the antagonist. I think Zawe has a lot of talent and I’m excited to see more of her villainous side.

“throw-away villain”

A lot of people seem to think that this will be a boring, one-time/throw-away villain- kind of movie but I honestly think that that is just what the MCU needs right now. There have been so many big cross-over movies recently that deal with very complex issues (time travelling, the multiverse) that something small that focuses on the characters and story would work really well. Especially as it seems that Zawe’s character is going to be building on past villain Ronan (Guardians of the Galaxy), which gives her an already established back story so it doesn’t come out of nowhere which is often an issue with these one-time villains.

Recent MCU movies have been falling into the trap of building up lots of expectations, for them just to have a simple storyline. For example, everyone was expecting Dr. Strange Multiverse of Madness to include loads of crossovers and references to other movies which made the reality so much more disappointing. I think The Marvels has done a really good job of building up realistic expectations while still making an exciting trailer. No one is expecting Wanda or Loki to appear in this movie so no one will be disappointed when it doesn’t happen.

“The M-She-U”

I have been reading the comments on the promotion for the movie and a lot of comments say things like: “Ain’t no one watching this ms marvel Has become sadly feministic”

and

“I am willing to bet money this movie I’ll include nothing but horrible comedy, political takes, and sex takes”

(yes, these are actual comments)(I’m not sure if I should correct the grammar or just leave it help)

These comments are commented by people who have seen as much of this movie as you and I, and that means they have seen a 2-minute trailer and you just can’t base a full opinion on those snippets of an entire, 2-hour movie, but let's address them anyway.

“Horrible comedy” – To be completely honest, comedy is always a difficult topic because that is just such a personal preference. But based on what we have seen so far, it seems pretty funny and I hope they’ll be able to balance the serious tones and the comedy. I think to write off a movie as having horrible comedy purely because you think the trailer isn’t funny is shallow and kind of stupid. If one person doesn’t like something that doesn’t mean the whole world agrees with you.

“sadly feministic”/”political takes” – I think it is weird to call any MCU movie “sadly feministic” because it is something that was lacking so much in earlier Marvel movies and their more recent works have started to include more female representation but that doesn’t mean the problem is suddenly solved. I do agree that some representation has been lacking in depth which makes it feel cheap but that’s all the more reason to be more feminist. But even without that, the trailers don’t feel like they are pushing a feminist agenda. They are just heroes who happen to be women and I, as a young girl, am really excited to see that on the big screen.

At the end of the day, anyone is entitled to their own opinions but the hate and negativity that has been surrounding this movie is absolutely insane. There are a lot of people who have decided that (without seeing the movie) they don’t like it and no one else can either. It is 100% okay to not like something but please don’t ruin it for other people.

The cast and their chemistry have me really thrilled for this movie, I am very excited to see what Captain Marvel has been up to all this time.

I will be there opening night with high expectations and a very large bucket of popcorn, I hope to see you there :D

#the marvels #captain marvel #marvel mcu #loki #natasha romanoff #marvel #movies #ms marvel #wandavision #nick fury #cinema #mcu #the marvels 2023 #monica rambeau

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red-might-be-dead · 2 months

Note

hello.! could you spare some bitb headcanons? i'm planning to start writing some stuff for it in the coming months and you seem like the expert so :3

sorry this took so long to reply to.... jkghksfjhgkjfha

KIAN!! -

i like to think that he was the smartest in the group, he would always do well in tests and classes and shit and he would bunk off most of the time, it would really piss off his teachers because he would fly through school and get As on everything

he left just after finishing highschool, probably before rolan left, his parents didn’t even notice he was gone

he was homeless for a while after music didn’t work out but eventually made money through stocks or whatever the fuck he had going for him lmaoo

his monster is always some kind of tarantula to me, the fur or hair or whatever is the same as the animal pattern on his jacket and he has lots of reds and hot pinks all over :33

ROLAN!! -

he moved to town when he was about 5 or 6 and made friends with rand and kian (they were already friends)

he was the least book smart but he tried really hard in school, unlike the other two, and although he still skipped some classes he was definitely a teachers pet (i feel like he would just seem very trustworthy even if he had just been smoking weed with his friends behind the bleachers)

he left highschool and then stayed with rand after kian left, he didn’t really talk to him he more just stayed in galloway, after rachel died (or went missing) he stayed away from rand but he couldn’t bring himself to leave him behind

when he left he told rand he was going (this was the first proper interaction that they’d had since highschool ended) and rand got so pissed off at him

in college he was quiet but lots of people gravitated towards him, he was a sweet guy with a nice energy so he made lots of friends very fast

he did a lot of sports in highschool, i think he carried on doing some of them until he went back to galloway (probably running)

his bug arm always reminds me of a preying mantis, i think if he had gone full bug-o-mode he would have been some kind of preying mantis creature with whites blacks and blues

RAND!! -

okay so this fucking guy, this guy, this greasy freak is my favourite ever jrwi character and i will NOT be able to get all of the shit down i want to for him because there is SO. MUCH. i’m definitely gonna write this more concisely than i did the shit for the other two

okay, he was smart in highschool, the teachers all hated him so much (he was a less charismatic version of kian) he did well in exams because he actually did study out of class unlike kian BUT he was 10 times more distributive (really he was just doing anything to make his friends laugh)

spent a lot of time IN school writing the d&d campaign and a lot of time OUT of school catching up on the stuff he should’ve been doing IN school

he had a girlfriend for a time, they kissed, he didn’t like it, he realised he liked men, he realised he liked rolan, he repressed all of that and moved on, him and his girlfriend broke up (due to him not spending any time with her, ignoring her in school and spending all the time they did have together talking about rolan or kian, basically him being an overall bad boyfriend), he moves on with life, basically forgets she ever existed

all through all of this time he has also been constantly getting into arguments with his parents and trying to do everything he could to NOT be with his sister (not that he didn’t love her it’s just he didn’t want to spend every waking hour with her)

his parents liked rachel more than him, it wasn’t her fault, rachel was always the most perfect child ever, she admired rand so much she really wanted to be as cool as him (she didn’t understand much about her brother but she loved him anyway)

after rachel was kidnapped rand started to ignore kian and rolan, he started slipping behind in classes and he stopped distracting people in classes, then he stopped coming into school at all, he never graduated

he locked himself in his room during the day and spent all night looking for rachel in the bayou (miracle he didn’t get turned lmao, maybe rach was protecting him in some way) he regretted everything and he would do anything for just another minute with his sister

kian left and didn’t even say goodbye, rand thought he deserved to be ignored for being such a bad friend

it was rolan leaving that broke him, everything was falling apart, he screamed and cried and cursed at rolan as he was driving away, the last thing he said was “i love you” but rolan never heard

he didn’t leave galloway, he couldn’t leave his sister alone again

if he ever went bug-o-mode i think he would be some kind of scorpion creature, or like, idk, a cicada lmao

honestly this is just how i thought the campaign ended canonically but idk anymore: when he talked to his sister he was hallucinating (the same way as when he was talking to dead kian) and he bled out floating in the swamp looking up at the sky

OKAY THATS IT…. BUUUT i do have a shit ton of conflicting headcanons and also smaller character headcanons that i might just drop in your inbox sometimes if that’s okay with you :DD!! sorry this took like one billion years… i didn’t even get everything….

#asks #jrwi bitb #bitb spoilers

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tezuze · 1 month

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Hi I’m gonna rant about Ghost Game for a second

Not to meaning to add to the endless “What the hell happened to Ghost Game????” discourse but uh, yeah I guess I am contributing to that

I have quite a bit to say about my theories on what I think went wrong and what they could’ve done better and why I desperately do not want a season 2 (I know the irony of how that looks on me) but if I wrote all that in one space I think it would be so long that even I would start begging for me to shut up

So, I’m going to split these up into more digestible categories that I’ll write whenever I’m procrastinating

In case I never get around to anything else, I’m going to start with the biggest loss to me, how I think the Digimon were supposed to influence their tamer’s personal growth and visa-versa

I’ll put the rest below the cut before I get outta hand

Hiro and Gammamon: Augh. These two frustrate me the most. So much lost potential in my book, but I would feel weird putting the mc anywhere but the top of the list, so I decided to put them in the order they join the cast and therefore you get my most passionate feelings first.

Almost one of the first things we learn about Hiro as a character is how self-sacrificing he is. He’s your stereotypical mc who wants to help everyone, but the narrative points out that he’s willing to be helpful at the expense of his own wellbeing, which paints his conventionally good trait as a flaw. And that’s about all they touch on in the base show, with a lot of reading between the lines. I would’ve loved to see the ramifications of his self-sacrificing nature and have the cast point out how he’s really harming himself and stretching himself thin just to appease others. I don’t think the “being helpful is good, but not at the expense of your health” moral is touched on enough so I always get excited when stories have that as one of their themes.

And then there’s his partner, Gammamon, the exact opposite of Hiro. He’s needy, dependent, wild, and selfish at the start. He doesn’t care about others (or their belongings). He’s demanding. He’s destructive. He proves to be a handful for our polite little Hiro, especially with his dad missing and this responsibility suddenly thrusted upon him.

I would’ve loved to see Gammamon teach Hiro to be a little more selfish (or at least, more self-preserving), while Hiro teaches Gammamon to be more considerate and tame. Of course, we see Gammamon grow in this way but the story doesn’t really make it clear that it was necessarily Hiro’s doing or give much of a catalyst at all for why Gammamon has personal growth other than it would be troublesome to have such a brat as the main creature. Now, I know that Guilmon’s arc was kinda similar in that they didn’t have direct events or anything that would make him mature, but it still felt more… realistic? Tended to? Idk I’m going to force myself to move on.

Ruli and Angoramon: Honestly just kinda disappointed with the lack of attention these two got in general in comparison to the other pairs, but I digress.

We meet Ruli with the impression that she’s brash, headstrong, and charismatic. She does things her way on a whim. Especially in the first few and select episodes, but in my opinion, it seemed like they kinda pushed her to the background and her personality was very passive and mild at times (and I don’t think that was on purpose).

Similarly to Hiro and Gammamon, Angoramon has quite a few contrasting personality traits. He’s softspoken, knowledgeable, and introspective. When Hiro first meets Angoramon, he doesn’t want to reveal himself because he’s nervous and doesn’t want to be a bother.

I think these two were supposed to balance each other out. Ruli would learn to think about things more and not run in half-cocked, maybe start to appreciate the more slow and peaceful things in life like nature and reading (Yeah Ruli, don’t think I forgot about that scene where Angoramon wanted you to read one of his favorite books and you DIDN’T and never DID). Meanwhile, Angoramon would come out of his shell more from sticking around Ruli. Possibly learn not to be so overbearing? Idk, honestly I don’t think Angoramon has as much room for growth because he seems the most level-headed character in the cast.

Lastly,

Kiyoshiro and Jellymon: Now, I know I have some bias toward these two so it might seem I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt but I’m going to try to come at them as objectively as I can.

They kinda half-executed what I think they were going for with these two, so they don’t offend me as much (which I think is part of the reason why I like them so much), but a full written out arc between them would’ve been a dream.

Kiyoshiro at the beginning of the series is, well, a sniveling inconsolable scaredy cat. On top of that, he’s kind of cocky and stuck up, obsessed with order and somewhat an introvert (to a lesser extent and differently than angoramon, in the “can’t relate to other humans” kinda way). Outside of his flaws, he is at least kind and pure of heart (I mean his name more or less means “pure white”) with a strong sense of justice and morals.

Jellymon, the devil creature, is so chaotic her intro episode goes right for the “everyone is going to die and it’s all Jellymon’s fault” thing. She has her moments of scheming and kinda like Gammamon, is pretty selfish and demanding with hints of Ruli’s recklessness as well.

As far as their canonic growth goes, Jellymon’s the only one that sees the bravery in her darling, which helps him nurture that courage and cast aside some of his fears (which, yay they actually kinda do in the series albeit pretty indirectly and kinda inconsistently). Also, the narrative never outright says Kiyo is lonely but he surely doesn’t have any companions, but we can see him grow on his partner and admit that it’s nice to have such a close friendship (pretty sure the whole “I like humans” thing was directed at Jellymon, even though she’s not human shhhhh it makes sense I promise)

Now for what they didn’t really touch on, I think these two were supposed to break each other’s stubbornness. I think Jellymon was supposed to show Kiyo how to relax more and not become so absorbed in studies/research and such. We meet him already knowing he has a love for anime, idols and the like so I’m not sure if he could really learn the lesson to appreciate more of the little things, but maybe she’d show him to love some more like, people-centered type things? (I mean she does love festivals). On the flip side, I think Kiyo was supposed to use not his classroom knowledge, but his personal knowledge to show Jellymon all there is to love about humanity outside of their monetary worth and give her a genuine love for the human world. Oh yeah, and teach her to stop scamming people.

“”””I’m gOinG tO tRy To LiMiT mY BiAs oN KiYoSHiRo aNd jElLyMoN”””””””” *Proceeds to spend half my rant talking about Kiyoshiro and Jellymon even though I think they did them pretty well*

Anyway, would love to hear other’s opinions on this as well as if it seems like I’m reaching and there weren’t supposed to be arcs like this. I just feel like the characters are too inherently flawed and contrast too perfectly with their Digimon for them not to have intended some more character-centered personal growth arcs.

I’m sorry and thank you for reading my dumb thoughts.

#digimon #digimon ghost game #gg sort #ghost game #hiro amanokawa #ruli tsukiyono #kiyoshiro higashimitarai #gammamon #angoramon #jellymon #text post #wall of text #fandom analysis

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suprsingr · 1 year

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Okay! I came up with a theory for what's going to happen in Nevermore and I want to get it down on paper ahead of time so that I can see if I'm right. Because if I am, I will feel so smart, and if I'm wrong, I can feel that much more satisfied with the superior intellect and planning of the authors.

So, as a quick theory on Annabel's death, I'd like to cite these facts:

💀 Annabel's spectre's dirty bare feet and dress

💀 Annabel's dying emotions being loneliness, sadness and (potentially) doubt, with these feelings manifesting in a gaping void where her heart should be and a flood of tears

💀 Annabel's childhood friend who was determined to marry her, despite her disinterest in him

💀 Annabel's repeated sentiment of there being no point without Lenore and freaking out over the idea of losing her

💀 Her spectre being the Lady in White, a woman left at the altar

Now, I think Lenore was killed before her and Annabel's wedding and Annabel was left at the altar. She had no idea that Lenore was dead, only that she had been abandoned, and in response to this, she ran away. Lost her shoes, dirtied her feet, ruined the ends of her dress, and was left feeling loneliness, sadness, and doubt (didn't Lenore love her? why would she disgrace her like this? what was she going to do without her?).

It's here that she meets Lenore's killer, who is her childhood friend, and he tells her that he saved her from marrying a - gasp! - woman. Annabel's heart is shattered and she's shot with Lenore's gun. End of story.

That story, anyway.

Now, a few more facts:

💀 Annabel assumes, repeatedly, that Lenore is as calculated as she is

💀 Annabel vowed to marry the first man who could beat her in a game of chess

💀 Annabel is remembering her life backward from her death, while Lenore is remembering things from the beginning

So, Annabel has memories that inform her of her decision not to marry anyone who couldn't out-maneuver her. Maybe she had some cheeky conversations with Lenore about it, maybe her dad mentions it, who knows. But it was a major defining aspect of her life, so it makes sense that it would come up frequently. And since Lenore and her were going to be married (on top of the fact Lenore was posing as a man, successfully), she logically assumes that Lenore is a master strategist, cunning and manipulative, just like her.

Here is where the conflict pops up, as we all know at this point: Annabel is strategizing and Lenore is just... being Lenore, and they're getting to know each other again for the first time. Lenore sees Annabel as beautiful and kind, while Annabel sees Lenore as charismatic and ingenious. The complexity of their characters, while excellent writing, makes for some very confusing interactions between them. Because they are in love, they can feel that they have a bond, but they don't actually know each other yet.

So, of course, Lenore is disturbed by how cold Annabel is and will want to save her friends, and Annabel is going to keep playing games because it's all she knows how to do. In time, Annabel will be faced with the fact that Lenore is not any match for her in cunning, strategy, or calculation, and she will be equally disturbed by Lenore's recklessness and loyalty to strangers. This will be when they fight.

But! The way that I see this all ending!!!

Annabel will remember the chess match with Lenore. Lenore, who practiced playing chess for days, weeks, months, whatever, who disguised herself as a man for her, who chased her all the way to London, who wrote her a love song, will be sitting in front of her trying so hard to best her and failing spectacularly, and Annabel...

will throw the game.

Manipulative, cunning, duplicitous Annabel will tip her king over on purpose and let Lenore win, because she loves her.

And she will do the same thing in Nevermore.

That's my theory.

#nevermore #annabel lee #lenore #edgar allan poe #webtoons #my posts #...alternatively: lenore cheats #LMAO #this post brought to you by ''there is absolutely no gotdamn way lenore won a chess match with annabel''#i don't care how epic the training montage #blast eye of the tiger as loud as you like i will not believe it #also this has been in my drafts for so long lol had to wait until the relevant chapters became free

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my-sdv-stories · 2 months

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A Second Introduction

This is my first fan fiction, so please be nice. I do encourage and accept criticism! I’m planning to write more for this in the future, so follow my blog if you’d like to see more!

Part 1/?

Word Count: 950

Character Count: 5157

Summary: Ollie (my SDV farmer oc) meets Sam again after a long time.

⊹₊⋆☁︎⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎ ⊹₊⋆☁︎⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆☁︎⋆₊ ⊹ ☁︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆☁︎⋆₊ ⊹

Oliver ran around, introducing himself to all the townspeople. Ollie loved people and talking. With the farm being so far from the center of town, it was hard for him.

This was his second day here, and he didn’t really have the money to do anything but wait for the crops he planted yesterday to grow.

He decided he’d head into town and introduce himself to many of the people as he could. He started up in the mountains, meeting Demetrius. Then, he went to Pierre’s Shop and met Pierre. He heard music coming from the back. He went in a door to investigate the sound and found most of the ladies in the Valley doing an aerobics class. He spoke with them, before headed over to meet the blacksmith, Clint. He also met Penny, Vincent, and Jas in the Museum. On his way back toward the center of town, he met Shane. Shane wasn’t very nice, so Ollie moved along fast.

All this talking was fun, but it was getting kind of late. Ollie started to head toward the lower entrance of the farm. Along the way, he found three people talking. One was tall with dark hair. He was wearing a dark sweatshirt and pants. The second was slightly shorter, within an inch or two of Ollie’s height. She had long purple hair. She wore a denim vest, a black sleeveless v-neck, black shorts, and black leggings under the shorts. The last one was facing away from him. He was taller than Ollie. His hair is blonde and spiked. He was wearing a blue jacket over a red shirt with brown pants. He stopped to speak with them.

“Hiya! I’m Ollie, the new farmer!” He beamed. Ollie’s smile was charismatic and contagious as always. The three looked at him with different levels of curiosity and confusion on their faces.

The first one responded, “I’m Sebastian. My mom is Robin. She met you at the bus.” He sounded bored and cold, but not in a rude way. Ollie felt that was just how Sebastian was.

“Oh, yeah! I remember her. She was mostly nice.” Ollie recalled Robin’s comment on the cottage as he spoke.

The girl piped up next, “My name is Abigail!” She looked toward Pierre’s and nodded in that direction. “My dad runs the general store.”

Ollie nods. “I was just there to buy seeds yesterday. Spent all of my savings,” he mutters the last part.

Finally, the spiky haired boy spoke, “And I’m Sam!” Ollie looked at him. His thoughts raced. ‘Sam…’ Ollie knew a Sam from one of his visits to the valley as a kid.

•••

Olivia usually wasn’t allowed too far from the farm on her visits, but this visit was different. Ollie’s mom had stayed this visit to take Grandpa to an appointment in Zuzu City.

Grandpa took Ollie to a blue house with a purple roof. Grandpa knelt down next to Ollie to be eye level with her. “Now, Ollie. You have to promise me you’ll be good for Miss Jodi. She’s being very kind and watching you while I go to my appointment.”

Ollie nodded as a response. Her red-brown hair flopped into her hazel eyes.

Grandpa placed a hand on Ollie’s head and ruffled her hair. Ollie giggled. The door opened, and Jodi came out.

“Hi, Henry!” She smiled at Grandpa. There was a touch of sadness in her eyes. She crouched down to Ollie. “And you must be little Oliv—“

Grandpa interrupted her, “Ollie.”

Her eyes widened for a moment, before she corrected herself. “Little Ollie.”

Ollie nodded vigorously.

Grandpa looked down at her. “Ollie doesn’t talk much, but she’s a good kid.” Grandpa looked at Jodi. “She doesn’t cause problems. If anything happens, you know who to call.”

Jodi nodded, and Grandpa left. She ushered Ollie into the house. “I have a son that’s about your age.”

Ollie went inside with her head down. She nearly ran into a boy. He was shorter than her. His hair was short and blonde. It reminded her of the sun peeking in her window in the morning. His eyes were green. They reminded her of the grass in the clearing below the farm.

“I’m Sam!” The boy’s enthusiasm caught her off guard. Jodi walked past the two and into the kitchen.

“Ollie,” her voice was small and sheepish.

“We’re going to be best friends, Ollie!” He grabbed her hand and ran to his room. Ollie was dragged along behind him.

Sam and Ollie played for the rest of the day. The two were inseparable… until Grandpa came back for Ollie.

“Sam, before I go,” She runs over and hugs him. “I promise to come see you on my next visit!”

Sam, surprised by the hug, nearly toppled over. He returned the gesture. Ollie left with reluctance.

•••

Ollie reminisced to himself. He hadn’t been back since that visit. Grandpa was sick, really sick. Ollie’s mom didn’t want Ollie to see Grandpa like that, so he wasn’t allowed to visit again.

Sam looked nothing like he did the day they met. Now, Sam was tall. He had long spiky hair. He was cute now. Ollie knew Sam wouldn’t recognize him now but seeing Sam again made Ollie smile. “Yeah, I know.” Ollie caught himself. “I just meant— because I met your mom earlier. She mentioned you might be here.” Ollie was a terrible liar, and he could tell the three didn’t believe him. “Well, would you look at the time? I have to get back to the farm. I’ll see you around!” He scurried off toward the lower entrance to the farm.

The three watched him leave, confused by the interaction.

#sdv #stardew #stardew valley sam #sdv farmer #sdv fanfic #sdv sam #sdv oc #stardew farmer #stardew valley #stardew sam #stardew fanfic #stardew valley fanfic #first post #first fanfic

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lulu2992 · 5 months

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After listening to this song on repeat and/or having it regularly stuck in my head these past few weeks, I’ve finally seen Wish!

I had read many reviews that said the movie was bland because it lacked originality, and while I understand this point of view, in a way... I think it was intentional.

The film was released for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 100th Anniversary and is full of more or less obvious references to other Disney movies, whether it’s a well-known character name that’s mentioned, someone directly quoting another film, or even just a background, object, gesture, or scene composition that, for some reason, feels familiar. The fact that all those “Easter eggs”, which could have been very annoying but, in my opinion, manage to remain fun (not really in a self-mocking way as Enchanted did, though), exist, combined with the images that appear during the end credits and the scene that follows (yes, there is a post-credits scene), make me say the goal was to make the “Disneyest Disney movie”.

Wish is not lazy, it’s a celebration.

It’s still its own film with its own story, but it’s first and foremost a tribute to Walt Disney Animation Studios, all the movies they’ve released over the years, and the now iconic (some might say overused) concepts of “wishing upon a star” and hoping your “dreams come true”. At one point, there’s also a flip book (with a time chart!), and I see this as a nod to traditional animation, as well as an homage to the original “magic makers”: animators in general.

So yes, it’s unoriginal and maybe not the most memorable Disney film. As you would expect, it opens on a storybook, takes place in a fictional kingdom, features a heroine who has an animal sidekick and a dead parent, and she has to fight against a charismatic villain who uses green magic. I would describe Wish as a quintessential Disney movie, and while it may not be groundbreaking, it’s still cute, pretty, and entertaining. The characters are good and, even when they don’t have a lot of screen time, have distinct personalities. I’m thinking in particular of Asha’s friends who, as I’ve just realized writing this, must be a reference to the Seven Dwarves (even their initials match)... There also are many songs, of course, as they are yet another trademark of Disney movies. Special mention to “This Is The Thanks I Get?!” because I thought it was quite catchy and the most original!

Speaking of King Magnifico, he really is a great character and “classic” Disney villain, and it feels like we hadn’t seen that in a while. That said, [spoilers]…

...I was a bit disappointed they introduced his tragic backstory (without fully explaining what exactly happened, by the way) and then didn’t really do anything with it at the end. Sure, it humanizes him, gives him depth, and explains why he’s unhealthily obsessed with being in control, and I agree that not all villains need or deserve a full redemption arc, but… I don’t know, since they mention the fact his family died and that the fear of loss is what motivates him (at least at the beginning), I expected that to play a bigger role in the story, and especially in its conclusion. I’m not saying he should have been redeemed because I don’t know if it would have worked in that story anyway, but taking into account his past, the fact they mention it several times, and what they (Disney) have been doing with many of their villains lately, I simply thought it was likely to happen. Maybe King Magnifico didn’t necessarily “deserve better” as a person because he does become “evil”, to the point that even Queen Amaya, his wife, eventually turns her back on him despite their seemingly sincere connection, but as a character, I’m inclined to say he did…

Oh well, at least he has the coolest villain song!

Also, knowing my love for charismatic antagonists with a tragic backstory, maybe it’s best for me that they didn’t explore that further and just let him apparently irremediably lose himself. Had they decided to “save” him, even partially, or give the audience more reasons to feel sorry for him, I fear I could really have spiraled out of control :’)

#anyway yes it’s déjà vu but I believe it was the point and they managed to do that in a cute and not-so-annoying way #and as a fan of hand-drawn animation the time chart made me smile :)#it really was a touching detail #wish #asha #king magnifico #I really dodged a bullet with this one didn’t I? :’)#queen amaya #disney wish #in comparison I thought ralph breaks the internet had too many and too obvious references #the movie wasn’t bad but it was centered around and almost overshadowed by them #in wish they’re still clear (I’ve probably missed a few though) but in my opinion they don’t take over the film #walt disney #disney #I saw it in french by the way and the actors did very good #lambert wilson outdid himself #and océane demontis has a great voice

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yandere-flower · 10 months

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Okay so I’m playing Story of Seasons right now and I love these games so I have to merge and make all the yanderes farming sim!bachelors and bachelorettes:

Desmond: He’s that bachelor that isn’t in town right away, and comes in a later month after working a case and is so aloof and suspicious of you and why you suddenly care about whatever dead relatives farm now. His friendship/love points fill up so slowly, you never know where the fuck he is to give him daily gifts and his first few scenes just seem mean but you can’t help but pursue him. His loved gifts are probably like coffee, S tier milk, and some hard as fuck recipe to make. He’s that guy who doesn’t have his own home and lives in the inn like a sad fuck. After you’re married he helps with feeding the animals.

Zara: She’s the out of towner, she didn’t grow up here but came out for some bizarre forced reason like “you can only get the best dyes with local ingredients!” and runs the tailors shop for you to buy outfits. She’s a bit high and mighty at first, and you’re romance involves making her fall in love with your small farming town. Likes expensive gifts like diamonds or dyed linens you made. I think she would help, but I don’t know what task she would do. Lives above her shop in a luxe modern style room.

Cliff: As I am writing this I am 100% certain my main inspiration for Cliff was Calvin from Animal Parade, because holy hell what a charismatic man who just oozes “lemme treat you princess” vibes. He’s the character who lives in the big house up the hill that’s nicer than everyone’s and his jovial when you first meet him. All his scenes with the other townsfolk are either “he’s so handsome and dreamy, I wonder if he’s single??” OR “I got stuck listening to him talk about is latest lecture please save me farmer”. Easy to befriend, he likes processed gifts like cheese, butter, and other things that require you to spend tons of time and money to unlock. Doesn’t help with anything but does buy you random items.

Ezra: I MEAN OBVIOUSLY THE TOWN BAKER/COOK! He’s the towns pride and joy, his parents never appreciated him or the town and moved away when he was a teen, but he came back and opened up a place, which everyone loves! He’s that sweet bachelor who also seems into you before you even get him to 1 heart, and he is always happy to see you! Lives in a back room of his cafe. Loved gifts involved anything cooked, or any quality ingredients, he’s probably the easiest to romance! Will cook you meals every day when you’re married. For some reason his “Do you want to have a baby” cutscene comes before anyone else....

Olive: She reminds me of Popuri from Friends of Mineral Town! She’s probably works at the registers at the ranch where you buy animals (she thinks they are cute but ew...dirty!), charmed by big city folks like Zara and talks about true love and adventure. She’s that wholesome girl next door romance where you sweep her off her feet and convince her to stay on a farm, but she does have a bit of a controlling streak insisting on dresses the cows up and “marketing” for the ranch. She lives at the ranch, I imagine the ranch owners are family friends who let her stay with them while she works. She probably loves made items like jewelry or desserts! She’ll also give you random items after marriage!

Margo: Mix Flora from A Wonderful life and Candace from Animal Parade and I imagine that would be a good Margo. She’s that awkward townsfolk who works the night shift at the local clinic, helping out with basic treatments while studying and doing her medical research. It’s so hard to build up her points as well, because you have to stay up late just to see her. She lives in a spare room at the clinic that is small but filled with specimen and papers. The towns doctor lives in another room and constantly asks you to watch over Margo. She’s awkward and barely speaks to you, but if you gift her weird stuff you find in the forest she gets excited. She forages random items to help out!

Sawyer: I honestly couldn’t think of how we could incorporate a gang member into Harvest Moon/SOS sooo...but then it hit me...his grandmom and dad! Maybe in this game, they adopted him and brought him to this peaceful town to give him a different life. I bet they run the general store, and when you first meet them they gush about “their sweet boy Sawyer whose so kind, he’s getting product from the big city but he’ll be here soon!” and you meet him and he looks like a punk, but he’s cheery and laughing and his scenes all involve him taking care of his grandmom and dad. He loves gifts that are weird, and when you’re married he takes care of the chickens (although he’s kind of a wild mess chasing after them)

Antonio: He’s the kind bratty bachelor, who lives with his dad in the big house and constantly talks about “getting away and truly living as an artist”...but he obviously loves this town and the people. He probably works part time at the carpenters as the designer options, as he paints the furniture options you have. He reveals in one romance scene that he started it when he was a kid to spite his dad and say he doesn’t need him, but secretly he kinda hates it and wishes he could just paint! Loves gifts that are pretty, likes flowers or linen or something, and his spouse task is he’ll gather wood or rock.

Mizu: He’s that weird fucking townsperson who shows up later as well because he didn’t realize there was a new person in town and he has just been a hermit for the first few months. Another character who doesn’t make a ton of sense being here, but he reveals he grew up here and found out he hated the big city and all the noise so he moved back for the quiet. He doesn’t have a job in town, and it takes a bit to raise his friendship enough to enter his home where he spends 90% of his time. I imagine he also has a room at the inn, but you aren’t able to go in it at all. All the townspeople whisper that they wish he’d come out more, but he is a bit rude at times....always stands in the back and alone at festivals. Likes gifts that aren’t nature related, and loves high quality eggs. He also doesn’t help much around the farm.

#yandere x reader #yandere #yandere scenario #desmond #ezra #sawyer #antonio #mizu #cliff #zara #margo #olive

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filmmakerdreamst · 1 year

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How Jack Thorne's 'His Dark Materials' wanted it both ways

Now with the opposing ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ film, they changed the characterisations to make them more sympathetic and accessible to a contemporary audience. They even dug deeper with the character Edmund which I thought was a fantastic choice. But the reason why those character changes worked was because C.S.Lewis was not concerned with building character, he was much more concerned with the place of Narnia itself. He almost used his characters to explore the world of Narnia, e.g. some characters would leave one book and come back 5 books later — which is why some of the later adaptations of Narnia didn’t do as well in the box office as the first one.

More specifically with the main characters Lyra and Will, but mostly Lyra since she’s the heart of the story.

In the dreams she has of him in The Land of the Dead, her and Roger have constant talks of how much he’s suffering. In the show, she just has alot of ambiguous flash forward dreams of Roger, with the story not prioritising them as important as the main plot of ‘Asriel’s War’.

Which brings me onto how the character of Will is changed in the adaptation, and how that effects the story from the second book onwards.

They unfortunately took the easy route with his characterisation on screen by making him softer. Not only that, the writing for his character was incredibly inconsistent at times.

Will from the books is fierce. He’s frightening. He’s stoic. He gets angry. He’s a strategist. He does whats best for someone. He likes to stay invisible. He’s sarcastic. He's an introvert. He likes to stay hidden. He’s practical. He’s a child carer. He's naturally aggressive e.g. He beat up a bunch of boys at school because they were hurting his mother. He hardly smiles. At times, especially in the second book, he becomes incredibly depressed. He's pretty much a 35 year old man in a young boy's body. He’s incredibly soft, but the reader can’t tell until Lyra brings that out in him.

TV Will suffers from the same problem that TV Lyra does.

At first, I thought it was because the novel was ‘the weakest in the trilogy’. I often see ‘The Subtle Knife’ as a bridge between both ‘Northern Lights’ and ‘The Amber Spyglass’.

But since re-reading the book, I went ‘Oh my God, its because they changed Will’s character arc’.

TV Will, the more I think about it, does not suit becoming the bearer of the subtle knife. The only times we see him fighting is in the boxing ring. He expresses incredible regret over killing a man instead of brushing it off because he was protecting his mother. Even when he’s under threat, he says ‘I don’t want to hurt you’ He even has to be persuaded to fight. There’s even a moment in the show where he says “Maybe we’re better off not fixing the knife at all.” which kind of dismisses the practical nature of his character in the book. Plus the knife being a part of him, the same way as the Alethiometer is a part of Lyra. Even the remarks that Lyra makes about him being similar to Iorek the armoured Bear don't make as much sense, because of the fact that he's softer.

I understand that you have to translate Lyra and Will’s relationship alot differently in a Show format, because subconscious development doesn’t really work due to the lack of intimate point of views. The more something is changed in an adaptation, the more it stays the same.

And that in turn messes with the tension.

But in the season 2 finale, it ends with Will going off into the sunset, presumably to fulfil is fathers wishes. Then in season 3, he finds her missing, goes ‘whoops’ and then there's a montage of him trying to find her. Then when he does (quite easily) — he goes on about how “since his dad died he’s done none of the things that he asked him to do’ which makes him looking for Lyra within the show feel even more anticlimactic.

And instead of agreeing to go to the Land of the Dead with her like in the book, they had to insert some tension from 'The Subtle Knife' (because they messed with the tension in season 2) and have Will go on a rant about what his dad wanted him to do, Asriel’s war, dismissing Lyra’s wishes and even having him suggest maybe her dad regretted killing her friend.

This is something that Will from the books would never ever say, let alone to the girl that he loves. He's fully aware how much her dad hurt her and he respects her too much by that point to ever suggest something like that. Even when he does think about ‘what his dad wanted him to do’ he’s still steadfastly loyal to Lyra. They were completely undermining the turning point in their relationship and Will’s character development by adding pointless drama to extend the episodes running time.

The concept behind their relationship remains the same:

“Will and Lyra are very good people who learn to trust each other when they’re at their most vulnerable, they become the only thing they have in a terrifying world of enemies. By the end, when they realise they’re in love only to discover they can never be together, they make the mature choice, however hard it may be.”

But their relationship is totally different in the TV Show because of their character changes.

I would say Lyra and Will have more of a enemies to lovers storyline in the books - where as the adaptation version of them doesn't. The screenwriters clearly tried to iron out alot of the problematic elements, especially in the beginning and focus on them being "friends" more. I'm not apposed to them doing that, but the way they did it ended up muting a few of their scenes together.

This was before I did my re-read.

After re-reading ‘The Subtle Knife’ and ‘The Amber Spyglass’ comparing it with how their relationship is handled in the TV Adaptation. I would actually argue the opposite .

You could say this was another problem that the adaptation had. It’s mentioned multiple times ‘YOU CAN’T TOUCH SOMEONES DAEMON’ but not emphasised why thats the case.

This is possibly why I didn’t feel anything when they had to be forced apart because, the way it was handled felt rushed and soulless.

Overall, despite there being more ‘soft moments between the two of them’ Show Lyra and Will’s connection feels alot more shallow and simplified.

I think that was one of my main problems with the TV Show, it lacked emotion. Not just as an adaptation, but in general.

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