#what Dreamworks should have done | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

justanotherwriter140 · 3 months

Text

Kung Fu Panda 4 - The Movie

The last really, really long discussion post (for now).

Major spoilers ahead!

This review is full of spoilers, so please refrain from reading through it until you've watched KFP4. I would highly suggest doing so, as I want everyone to form their own opinions without my influence. The movie has its flaws (some of which admittedly being a bit distracting), but it's a fun film that has things to offer.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is a fun movie (take that as you will) that takes its audience on an action-packed, surprisingly funny, yet relatively contained adventure on which Po doesn't really do much. It's an inconsequential, safe sequel that doesn't really hurt the franchise but adds close to nothing.

I had a good time watching the movie. It was obviously produced with its theater experience in mind and the action scenes especially reflected that priority. The humor was actually funny sometimes and I enjoyed Po and Zhen's dynamic. During the film, I was able to put most (most!) of my grievances aside and take the movie for what it is. I've discovered that the best way to watch KFP4 is with low expectations and an open mind.

I have a lot of things to say about KFP4, both complaints and compliments (though the former might be taking the forefront in this review), and I hope this review can help those of you who have seen the movie organize your thoughts. I've been having a lot of trouble with that specific aspect of things myself. Those who get it get it.

With that said, let's get into my full review of KFP4! I've been waiting for nearly 2 years to write this and I'm so excited to share every single thought.

I'm going to follow the format of my first discussion post and curate a bulleted list of my thoughts, followed by an analysis of each of these points. Keep in mind that everything I say is IMO and this is more of a rant post than anything else.

Here are my main points:

The Furious Five's role is comically minuscule in the context of the film. Their actions are inconsequential and add nothing to the plot (a confirmed last-minute add), and they have 30~ seconds of screen time. Shifu is also largely irrelevant.

Mr. Ping and Li's presence has little to no effect on the movie (though I won't complain too much because they were pretty fun to watch and this movie has bigger problems). In almost any scenario, I am adamantly against having characters present that don't add anything to the narrative; however, Mr. Ping is an exception. I love Mr. Ping. James Hong is a gem.

Zhen's screen time is not utilized well and her character is underdeveloped. She definitely wasn't annoying, but I didn't find her either compelling or funny enough to warrant the screen time she was given, especially considering it wasn't used to establish a backstory/strong motives. This makes me feel bad for the character because the movie kind of screwed her out of any substantial development.

The Chameleon, while complimented greatly by Viola Davis, is an underwhelming villain. Viola Davis is amazing in this film and I would suggest watching it for her performance if for nothing else, but the Chameleon is underwhelming considering the super cool concept behind the character.

The film feels very rushed. Apologies to those who disagree, but I think the pacing is atrocious and the final fight is anticlimactic. The movie felt like a word-vomit with no discernible intermissions that stops abruptly when the film ends.

I felt as though Po didn't change/grow as a person and the audience never had a chance to either bond with or relate to his character. His internal struggle is kept to a minimum and we don't spend a moment alone with him as an audience, which is disorienting and distracting. Watching the film felt like running into an old friend at the store who's too in a rush to have a real conversation.

The action scenes were strong with few exceptions. Creative art direction was utilized and I thought the martial arts choreography was entertaining and dynamic. I love the color palette of the film and many scenes were very impressive visually.

With my main points established, I do believe it's ranting time. Strap in, folks.

Let's start strong with the Furious Five: I'm gutted. Chagrined, despondent, crestfallen, etc.

The lack of the Furious Five negatively affects KFP4 so much, because not only does their absence hurt the atmospheric integrity of KFP as a franchise, it also forces KFP4 to bring in a slew of different characters—all while still noncommittally including the FF at the very end because I believe the marketing team required it—that clog up the cast a bit. It all goes to show how important strong, established side characters are.

The Furious Five are side characters, but the role of "side character" does not equate to being irrelevant, expendable, or exchangeable. I recognize that the Furious Five aren't super developed as characters beyond a handful of lines that allude to traits sprinkled sparingly among the members; however, I believe that the tiny bits of development we have been given have proved impactful in the past. Tigress's development in KFP2 is a prime example of how much narratively conscious changes (however small they may be) can positively affect these movies.

Because of limited runtimes, the Furious Five often operate as more of a singular unit than five individuals. Even so, I don't think discarding them is valid. They're so important to the KFP universe (to Po's universe!) and not having them with him feels so wrong. The Furious Five are fully integral to the heart of Kung Fu Panda, which is why I believe a lot of those who have seen the new movie have expressed something feeling "off" or something being missing.

I agree with this sentiment. To me, KFP4 didn't feel like a KFP movie. I don't need a Furious Five spin-off movie and I can be fully content with a KFP5 centered around Po's journey as an individual as was intended from the beginning, but he can't carry an entire movie on his back. As strong as he is in every sense of the word, he is only one character. He's the centerpiece of the franchise, but a centerpiece can only go so far without the rest of the design, so to speak.

For me, the Furious Five's absence is one of this film's biggest faults. It's huge and glaring. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, either, because the friends with whom I saw the film refused to talk about any other aspect of the movie after seeing it. Seeing them at the end was better than nothing, of course, but it was a disappointing culmination after eight years of waiting.

That all is to say I feel robbed. Despite all of this, though, I understand that there were reasons why the Furious Five weren't included in the movie. I don't believe the production team would exclude the Furious Five unless they weren't given a choice.

Shifu and Po's dynamic continues to be thoroughly delightful but their interactions are short and simplified. I would have loved to see more of them in this film, especially considering the extreme relevance of teacher-student relationships in KFP4. I (somewhat) digress, though, because the idea of Shifu having to live at the Jade Palace with only Po for an extended period of time is hilarious enough on its own. Maybe that's what the short film is about!

The comedy is odd but has some jokes that stand out. Po maintains a healthy relationship with his inner sass, which I think makes him more fun to watch and kind of eradicates the man-child verdict. Some jokes don't land, of course, but I genuinely thought KFP4 had some funny moments. Mr. Ping was consistently awesome and Po had some good lines sprinkled throughout the film.

As for Mr. Ping, he and Li Shan are the subjects of the film's B-plot as they follow Po to Juniper City out of shared concern for their son's safety. In my mind, they don't add anything to the story that couldn't have been brought about by other characters, but they had their moments of being entertaining. I enjoyed their silliness and thought they had a cute dynamic if nothing else.

Speaking of other characters, I want to discuss KFP4's deuteragonist and why I genuinely feel bad about the way her character was treated.

I want to let it be known that I'm still not on board with Po passing the Dragon Warrior torch to another character. While I agree that his arc is now calling for him to have a student, I disagree with the notion of him retiring from his DW role.

As I stated in my first discussion post:

Didn’t the initial significance and nuance of the title come from the fact that there is only one person who can be the Dragon Warrior, because the concept of the “Dragon Warrior” isn’t so much a title as it is Po himself? The universe (Oogway) must choose the Dragon Warrior because they are a singular being of legend. It is one person, and that person is Po. Wasn’t the point of the first film that the title ultimately doesn’t really matter because there is no “secret ingredient,” so to speak? The title doesn’t actually give Po anything. “It’s just you,” Po says, and that was the resolution.

When it comes to Zhen as a character, contrary to what I predicted I would think of her, I thought she was okay. While I was still a bit distracted by how out-of-place her design looks, I wasn't truly annoyed by her at any point and she and Po had some cute moments. Even so, I think their relationship could have been a bit more refined and developed.

While it's evident that Po and Zhen are meant to have a teacher-student/mentor-apprentice dynamic, I think their relationship feels half-baked. There were parallels that contradicted one another and ended up being confusing come the film's conclusion, and the nature of their relationship seems to vacillate depending on the scene. Additionally, the strength of their bond goes from zero to one hundred within thirty-ish minutes and left me with a bit of whiplash.

We're shown that Po and Zhen care about one another, but we're never shown why. They have a brief conversation during which they bond over being orphans, and Zhen says at one point, "You're actually a good guy," but that's it. This obvious lack of development is a bit disorienting because we're later led to believe that Zhen and Po care very deeply for one another when there's almost nothing to back it up.

A scene that sticks out to me when discussing this is when Zhen attack-hugs Po in a way that explicitly mirrors Tigress's hug from KFP2. This happens around the beginning of the third act, and while it had the potential to be an endearing moment, I think it fell flat.

The impact of Tigress's hug was brought on by her character's hardcore nature and reputation of being heartless, further strengthened with the knowledge that she was hugging Po (which was obviously way outside her comfort zone) as a show of companionship and fundamental understanding. Tigress hugged Po because he needed someone to recognize his strive for closure.

Zhen's hug had little to no impact because she had no reason to do it and it didn't indicate growth. She hugs Po because she's sorry for betraying him and doesn't want him to be killed by the Chameleon, but neither of these things are newly-established via this hug; we have already gathered by now that Zhen regrets betraying Po and doesn't want him to get hurt.

The hug is far from the movie's weakest point, but I think it's unnecessary given the context. I'm big on hugs in movies (an underutilized form of platonic affection, in my opinion), but it didn't fit here. I don't hate it, and I see it as an honest effort to bring emotionality to Po and Zhen's relationship, but it seems arbitrary.

Zhen and Po's relationship has a lot of potential and I'd be open to seeing more of them in the future, but I think some more thoughtful development needs to occur before I can humor it further. Even so, I can see myself featuring Zhen in some future post-KFP4 one-shots—sparingly, of course, because we have a lot of Furious Five content to compensate for.

Overall, they had a cute dynamic and some sweet moments but I'm not attached. I'm on board with Po having a student but I think their relationship needs a lot more development, something that this film unfortunately didn't give them time to either accomplish or earn.

Now, onto the Chameleon!

The concept of the Chameleon's character is admittedly super interesting. She's the deuteragonist's fastidious mother figure who feels that Zhen owes her a debt and as a result holds her to an impossible standard. That dynamic had the potential to be so interesting but I didn't think it was explored at all. There is no indication of Zhen having any internal conflict about fighting the Chameleon, no emotional complexity between them at all; it's disappointing because I think it would've added a bit of earnestness to the film.

Additionally, the idea of a shape-shifting villain is versatile. A shape-shifting villain gives those telling the story a lot of room to experiment with the protagonist and different ways in which the main character can be challenged and tested. It's yet another good idea utilized poorly. Just one idea: the Chameleon could have disguised herself as one (or several) of Po's family, friends, etc. and brought to fruition a new arc with his character (seeing as he arguably doesn't have one in this film), but she only disguises herself as Zhen very briefly in the movie.

Furthermore, the Chameleon completely relies on the powers of previous villains to pose any sort of threat to the main characters. She summons Po's former nemeses from the Spirit Realm (despite there being little logic in doing so considering Kai's literal evisceration) and takes their kung fu abilities for herself.

An excerpt from my first KFP4 discussion post that I think is relevant to the point I'm trying to make:

I don’t think it would be in the best interest of anyone if the past villains were to come back in any way that’s not a flashback (even then, I’m not sure I’d see the point). In all honesty, I thought that the whole point of the villains was that they died and stayed dead. They were defeated by Po once and for all as a testament to the idea of establishing Po's character growth and journey as a person through the bad things he’s able to overcome. It’d be highly contradictory to the messages of the other films if these villains were to suddenly come back.

While there was an honest effort made to portray the Chameleon as intimidating, I never felt as though any of the characters were endangered by either her or her army of lizard henchman. She's a visually appealing character (aside from her eyes, which I thought more resembled those of a gecko than a chameleon) and I greatly enjoyed Davis's performance, but overall I don't see the Chameleon as a notable villain.

The return of Tai Lung (had he been on his own) had the makings to be an excellent story, especially considering the importance of teacher-student dynamics in KFP4. To see him interacting with Shifu would have been incredible and could have led to further closure on Tai Lung's end (because I think that's kind of what the team was going for anyway), but it didn't happen.

It was nice to see Ian McShane reprise his role, but I wish Tai Lung's characterization had been more reminiscent of the way he was in the first film and more complimentary of his overall character arc. Tai Lung isn't a one-dimensional villain with a singular goal and motivation, and I couldn't help but feel as though the complexity of his character was simplified for the sake of KFP4's narrative.

Tai Lung's presence in KFP4 may be odd, but Shen and Kai's appearances are even more so. Kai, if I remember correctly, was fully obliterated by Po, reduced to literal particles on screen (which is kind of wild now that I think about it). Shen being in the Spirit Realm makes sense all things considered; however, Po and Li had no visible reaction to his presence, which seemed a bit unlikely considering Shen's deeds. This plot hole can likely be attributed to the fact that Shen and Kai's cameos (to my knowledge) were last-minute additions to the movie.

I have to talk about the pacing. I have to. I'm sorry, bear with me.

To me, the film's pacing is erratic and disconcerting. While I can appreciate a quick-moving narrative that doesn't dawdle on storylines that aren't interesting/important, KFP4 kind of flings itself too far in the opposite direction and ends up being frighteningly fast-paced. Once the credits began, I felt like I had been holding my breath for the entire movie.

KFP4 is confusing because while the runtime is standard for a KFP movie, it feels incredibly short. At the same time, the film's story moves at a breakneck speed and leaves little time for heart and development. These things culminate into a barreling boulder of a movie that simply doesn't have time to let its characters, story, or audience take a breath.

A fast pace is not inherently negative, but I don't think it worked in the favor of KFP4. The KFP franchise has always been very emotionally grounded (and just very grounded in general), so to see a film in which emotion/heart takes an aggressive backseat in comparison to action and comedy is jarring. While I think it's unreasonable for fans to expect the same emotional integrity as the original films to be present in the current and upcoming ones, I still think there's room for Po to grow and I felt as though the notion of him developing further was brushed aside in this film.

As for Po's growth, I felt it was nearly nonexistent. The previous trilogy wrapped up his character's journey beautifully and I know that KFP4 was bound to struggle with this particular aspect of making another KFP film; however, just because the strongest pillars of Po's character are established doesn't serve as a valid excuse to reverse his development and repeat what he learned in KFP3.

In KFP3, Po learned firsthand that he is capable of spreading wisdom and teaching kung fu. He also learns that he is constantly growing and that change is inevitable; there is always something more to learn.

"If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now."

"I don't want to be anything more, I like who I am!"

In KFP4, Po pushes against this narrative despite fully accepting it in KFP3, actively reversing crucial parts of his character development achieved in the latter. KFP3 was non-ambiguously about learning to cope with change and responsibility, and I can't help but feel like KFP4 is simply copying this message while not adding anything to it.

Additionally, I felt that KFP4's Po generally felt less personal than he has in the past. In every KFP movie up to the franchise's most recent addition, I felt very connected to Po as an audience member. I felt like I was truly seeing the world of KFP through his eyes. I consider this to be one of the franchise's most impressive feats; it's incredibly difficult to build a universe around a character without making the audience feel limited to one perspective and one part of the world.

With KFP4, I felt both limited and disconnected. The world didn't feel as vast and all-encompassing as it has in the past and Po didn't seem fully like himself. This could be me nitpicking (as I'm prone to do), but I can't recall a single moment in the movie in which Po was alone on screen. Scenes like these are crucial for me because I see them as a meet-cute between the character and the audience, a moment for us to cross the bridge into their world in a way that's silent and intuitive. These little bonding moments are absolutely integral to feeling connected to a character.

Po's dream sequence in the first KFP movie is one of the best examples of this. It presents his aspirations, alludes to his way of life up to the point of the movie, and showcases his personality. During Po's dream sequence, the audience is quite literally inside Po's mind; we're there with him, seeing what he sees, subsequently feeling what he feels. Po is a dreamer at heart and makes the audience feel like dreamers, too.

In KFP4, I felt like I little to no point of reference when it comes to how Po was feeling. I didn't feel immersed in him and his world.

I know I've been very "doom and gloom" throughout this post, which is an exhausting mindset for everyone involved. I want to end my critique with something positive because I think some praise is deserved. Let's just say the movie could have been a lot worse, the details of which I'm sure you're all well aware.

The color palette of the movie is beautiful and somewhat reminiscent of the first film. While the animation style of KFP4 is far more simplistic than its predecessors, I was very impressed with its use of shadow and light. Po's many faces were also hysterical, props to those who helped make him as expressive as he is.

Additionally, the movie's action sequences were clearly thought out and discussed in great detail. The experimentation with camera angles was really fun to watch and I enjoyed the majority of the film's fight scenes. They were fun, bouncy, and entertaining, and quite likely reinstated audiences's love of watching a cuddly panda kick butt.

Congratulations, you've reached the end! Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to read this unnecessarily long and detailed review. As long as I help someone translate their conflicted feelings into coherent thoughts, I'll call it a win.

I want to reiterate that I don't hate Kung Fu Panda 4 and I had fun while watching the film. It has its flaws and there are a lot of aspects that I dislike, but the effort of the crew is obvious and I greatly admire and respect the hard work put into the film by those who worked on it. This does not at all excuse my issues with the movie, but it's worth saying.

As for the future of the series, I only hope that the next installment is more considerate of the franchise's origins and why Po's story is being told in the first place. I fully believe that another sequel could be good given a strong, passionate crew with a great understanding of the characters and world (and I wouldn't be averse to some previous directors returning, just to put it out there).

Thanks again to those who took the time to read this crazy excuse for a movie review. Feel free to either disagree with me or add things in the replies/reblogs, I'm always looking for more thoughts to think.

Until next time!

#kung fu panda 4 #kung fu panda #dreamworks animation #kfp #kfp 4 #movie review #i'll add the actual picture of the furious five's cameo when i can get ahold of one of decent quality #my time has come #it wasn't THAT bad #i didn't love it #but it is what it is #it's a tentative 6/10 all things considered #free the five #perhaps i treated kfp3 too harshly #don't get me wrong the movie had good qualities and i can tell a lot of work went into it #a lot of missed potential imo #a lot of characters done dirty #i didn't even mention the score but i thought it was just okay #i wasn't wowed #i know close to nothing about composing though so i should probably just not even go there #credits were the best part both cinematically and musically #i feel mean but i'm not going to be dishonest #bc obviously you all simply must know how i feel about the silly panda movie #a more detailed version of the grievances i have w the dragon warrior plot can be found in my og discussion post if anyone's interested #as well as my thoughts on bringing back old villains #might make some edits to this in the future but this is all i have to say for now

106 notes · View notes

ryssbelle · 4 months

Text

Shockothan Dory

#my art #sneak peek #trolls john dory #dreamworks trolls #trolls band together #trolls 3 #i have no idea what to call this au thing ive made #it wasnt supposed to be an au but most things i make arent supposed to be anything #and then they are #so if you have any suggestions #lemme know #i have more doodles and stuff lol #but i will be at work for like most of the day tomorrow #and by tomorrow i mean today #its 3 am rn but the day dont stop till i fall asleep #which should be soon #but ye #i wont really be able to work on or share said doodles #but i have the thing where shockathan dory came from already done #shes locked and loaded im just waiting for something #ive got doodles for bruce and clay #im kind of excited for bruce cuz i gave him a fun little redesign just his vest really #and like a little insight on his whole deal cuz heres the thing #in the movie he sends John a post card saying wish you were here but like im assuming hes still a hit salty #but like it means he wants to make ammends most likely and hes probably still p sour at john by the time the movie happens #because John never shows up not until he needs something #also bruce never put a return address tho like the card kind of speaks for itself #but still like imagine ypure finally in a place where you want to make ammends with your family and they just never show up #id be salty too tbh #and then he cant just leave cuz hes got brandy the kids and the restuarant so we got sad boy Bruce to add to this lmao

106 notes · View notes

teeth-cable · 2 months

Text

I need more people to talk about how just like the POC designs, the writing is terrible at clueing the audience what race and ethnicity the characters are.

Beside stereotypes, the racial coding in the writing is little to non-existence. The characters don’t have mannerisms from their cultures, speak in slangs or idioms relating to their group from their time periods, or make cultural references.

Without having to rely on outside sources (Livestreams, looking up VAs, leaked audition sheets, etc), the only characters I would successfully guess would be Vicky, Val, and Velvette, and even then, it doesn’t mean the racial coding is good.

Vicky is the only one from this list whose racial coding isn’t atrocious. I can tell she’s Latino because she curses in Spanish, but that’s it. This is admittedly nick-picky , but I wish when cursing she would have used Salvadoreño specific slang and curse phases to signal she’s Salvadoreña.

Val, I can tell is Latino too, because of his accent and him cursing in Spanish, but it’s egregious. The accent fluctuates so much, it’s strong, then weak, then strong again. Not sure if the VA was struggling or if this was an intentional direction given to him, though the fact, I and other people were confused, at the direction, speaks for itself. Another issue with his accent is how it’s sexualized, contributing to the Latin Lover stereotype of his character.

Velvette, I won’t sugarcoat it. I wouldn’t even guess she was supposed to be black though the writing or the majority of her designs until the finale. The finale, the last episode of the season and the only time she has textured hair with her screen time being around two minutes and sixteen seconds in total.

Visual designs isn’t where race coding ends. This is important to remember because it ignores the good coded characters (King Dice from Cuphead, Darwin from TAWG, the Funk trolls from Dreamwork’s Trolls) and how Viv failed and could have done the racial coding better.

For Viv, she has to rely on other coding methods too because there are characters who aren’t humanoid enough, or even humanoid at all, for visual coding to work. There really isn’t anything I can say to explain why the race coding sucks beside Viv doesn’t care about representing POCs.

I wanted to create this post to highlight how Viv fails at coding in every aspect. The fandoms and critics shouldn’t praised her for giving Velvette textured hair or darkening Sera’s skin from her leaked audition sheet. We need to stop praising creators, especially white ones, for doing less than the bare minimum (The bare minimum being making POC characters look POC) when creating POC characters, or worse, justify it. I’ve seen people tried to justify the terrible POC designs by using one of Carmilla’s daughters as an example, as if one decent POC design in a sea of ashy and euro-centric or erased features for the majority of the POC cast suddenly invalidates the criticisms.

I’m also getting tired of the fandom making posts questioning why people have and still draw the POC characters as white, as well as people harassing artists for accidental whitewashing. I’m hate the whitewashing too but in this case, it’s different because this is Viv’s own fault due to her poor racial coding. Not every fan will have the same intense knowledge you do or even should, to know what a character’s race or ethnicity is, that’s Viv’s responsibilities as the creator.

Mind you, these were the human designs we had before the show aired. Alastor being mixed creole and Niffty being Japanese yet they look white as hell here.

#꧁rambles꧂#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin critical #vivziepop critical #vivziepop criticism

247 notes · View notes

fanfic-inator795 · 1 year

Text

Spoilers for Puss in Boots: Last Wish (specifically Perrito) below

My bff and I were talking about this last night, but I figured I’d write it all out here: one thing I really do appreciate about Perrito is that while other characters may see him as naive and innocent, the film never treats him as overly naive or foolish.

The best example of this is when he’s explaining his backstory. It would have been SO easy to have him be still searching for his family/litter mates, believing firmly that they still wanted him/were still playing ‘hide and seek’. If they’d done this, then Perrito really would have been an extremely naive character (as well as all the more unnecessarily tragic). It also would have been easy to have this be Perrito’s wish, as well as the lesson that he needed to learn - that he doesn’t need his former (and incredibly crappy) fam, and that he can/should move on from his tragic backstory, letting himself be with his new friends instead.

But the film doesn’t go this route... Because Perrito has already realized and internalized this lesson.

Think about it. For as much as he may seemingly still see the whole ‘swim in the river’ incident as an extra challenge to a game of Hide ‘n Seek, outside of the “Guess I’m still It!” joke, Perrito doesn’t dwell on the fact that he never saw his family again. Just as he never dwells on nearly drowning. He only brings up his past when others ask him about it, otherwise he’s only focus on the present - which is why he’s so satisfied with things to the point of not needing a wish.

When it comes to his backstory, he instead just sees the brighter side of things regarding it (getting a new ‘sweater’ that he was able to grow into) and focuses on moving forward and meeting new friends, instead of going on an endless search for those who left him behind. Even while he’s at Mama Luna’s, he still tries to socialize with the other cats - though he backs off when they hiss at them, still understanding that he isn’t exactly well-liked there.

What’s more, it’s made VERY clear that Perrito’s tendency to trust in people without hesitation is not out of naivete: it is out of choice. He knows that people can be cruel (we see him briefly get scared of Jack Horner and the Bears when he gets kidnapped, even if he ends up making friends with the latter) and he knows that he can’t exactly fight back against that, being such a tiny dog. But he’d still rather give people a chance instead of just hiding away from the world. He never tries to claim that every person has some good in them or anything like that, he simply states “well, you have to trust somebody”.

What really drives this point home - aside from the excellent advice that Perrito gives throughout the film, showing just how thoughtful and wise he is, even when he seems totally clueless in other moments - is his moment in the film’s climax with Jack, where he’s finally able to do the cutesy eyes. The joke is how Jack is ‘dead inside’ and would never fall for such a ploy, and how Perrito is (or rather, would be) dumb for thinking that simply being cute would stop this heartless bastard.

But the twist is that Perrito already knows this. There isn’t a moment where it’s shown that he thinks this act will work. No, Perrito meant it as a distraction the entire time - he wanted to try and help, and he trusted his friends to catch on and take the shot once the distraction worked. And I freaking LOVE THAT! I love that Perrito is so much more than just ‘diet Donkey’ or ‘innocent and naive dog that doesn’t know how the real world works’.

He knows how it works, he just chooses to still see the bright side in things in order to improve others’ lives as well as his own, because there’s a difference between naively trusting people who haven’t proven themselves and just giving people a genuine chance to be your ally/friend. And I’m just so happy that Dreamworks not only made a character like this but just did a fantastic job writing him.

#puss in boots the last wish #puss in boots #perrito puss in boots #sorry I just had to take some time and gush about one of my fave characters from this movie #(the other being Death. of course)#character analysis

1K notes · View notes

untitledmemes · 4 months

Text

Hazbin Hotel Prompts

Part IV An assortment of prompts taken from the series Hazbin Hotel on Amazon Prime. Adjust as necessary to fit pronoun and/or descriptor. In case of Multimuse, don't forget to specify which one/s. Reblog, please do not repost or add.

“ Where is miss fearless leader anyway? ”

“ Isn't it about time for another 'doomed to fail' plan? ”

“ Oh, you look an absolute mess. ”

“ I have enough on my mind without hearing your sadistic idea of a joke, asshole. ”

“ How can I face them after failing them all so hard? ”

“ I never expected to see such a miserable display of self loathing from you. ”

“ I don't know how you can enjoy all this suffering so much. ”

“ Just because you see a smile, don't think you know what's going on underneath. ”

“ I know something you don't know. ”

“ Then... Let's make a deal. ”

“ What's a favor between friends? ”

“ I didn't even know that was possible. ”

“ They say insane shit all the time. How was I supposed to know this one was true? ”

“ There's a friend of mine I think you should meet. ”

“ Oh, my, stars. Do my eyes deceive me? ”

“ I know you're an ace in the hole. ”

“ Oh, always such a charmer. ”

“ Wow. When you ask a favor, you don't start small, do you? ”

“ I like your moxie, girl. ”

“ We can talk about it inside or I can yell about it out here. ”

“ Clearly I am not the helpless one here. ”

“ Why wouldn't you use what you know to fight?. ”

“ It's not rocket science. ”

“ You fight like someone unafraid of harm, and this is what you'll take advantage of. ”

“ How has no one else figured this out? ”

“ You need a different type of motivation or there's no way that you can handle this. ”

“ We're going to need more weapons. ”

“ What do you do when someone you love lies to you about who they are? ”

“ Romance? My specialty. ”

“ It can be difficult to admit to things you're not proud of, especially if those things hurt the ones you love. ”

“ She's flawed. But, hey, who down here isn't? ”

“ Words are cheap. Actions, they speak the truth. ”

“ Have you ever wanted something that was so clear in your mind that you could taste it? ”

“ That's a little violent, can we tone it down? ”

“ I concur, stick with her, you'll be on the winning side. ”

“ I really hope that I'm ready for this. ”

“ I ain't finding no new drinking buddies. ”

“ Teamwork makes the dreamwork. ”

“ What in the hell are you supposed to be? ”

“ Look, I can't resist a fight, okay? ”

“ Here's to being alive today and not dying tomorrow. ”

“ I guess you have changed. ”

“ You are... Have always been a worthy opponent. ”

“ Destroy that ass! ”

“ Let the slaughter begin. ��

“ Trying to focus, sweetie. ”

“ I am so hard right now. ”

“ You should know better than anyone what a soul can accomplish when they take charge of their own fate. ”

“ I'm going to wipe that shit eating grin off your face. ”

“ This is better than sex! ”

“ Get somewhere safe. ”

“ You did good, buddy. ”

“ Look who thinks they're badass now. ”

“ You always were weak. ”

“ Ready to die rather than accepting mercy? No. Live. ”

“ Gotta say, you really let yourself go, buddy. ”

“ Don't forget, you're in my house, bitch! ”

“ How's mercy taste, you little bitch? ”

“ Take your little friends and go home! Please. ”

“ Come on, little lady, why the frown? ”

“ You can't quit now. Hell, you owe it. ”

“ Sorry to disappoint this is not where this ends. ”

“ Once I figure out how to unclip my wings, guess who will be pulling all the string. ”

“ Your deal is done, and I'm in charge now. ”

108 notes · View notes

dulltoned · 5 months

Text

Branch knew that his brothers would have to leave. He'd be stupid to think that they could stay forever. They had their own lives to live and homes that they made for themselves, they couldn't just leave that behind and Branch didn't want them to. That didn't mean he wanted them to leave. He knows that they never had any plans to stick around, they'd made that clear to him, but he wasn't ready to say goodbye.

It's worse when it looks like they plan to try to be a family together. Without him.

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three

Branch tried. He tried really hard to keep his brothers at arm's length while they were trying to figure out how to stay in each other's lives but, no matter what he did, they still managed to worm their way past his defenses. He really liked having them around. It was still awkward and sometimes they got on his nerves but when Clay caught up with him on his morning patrols, or he woke up to find Bruce had made breakfast, he felt a soft happiness bloom in his chest that he was quickly growing addicted to. It was unfamiliar in the best way and he'd tried so hard to keep these attachments from growing because he knew that they couldn't last. Good things come to an end, and Branch had spent too long waiting for the worst just to stop now. He knew that this little bubble would pop and he wanted to keep his heart sheltered from the inevitable disappointment.

It's already been a week since they'd brought Floyd back to Pop Village and Branch knew this couldn't last much longer. They all had lives to live and goals to accomplish. He doesn’t know why they were fooling themselves into thinking their family could just knit itself back together. They'd already made it painfully clear to him that being a family again had never been their end goal anyway. That's what he gets for letting himself hope. He should have known better but Poppy's endless optimism seemed to be rubbing off on him. Hell, Bruce has an entire other family to get back to! There's no way that he had room in his life for a grumpy little brother. Halfway through the week, they stopped trying to include him in their conversations planning the future anyway and that had been the first sign. At least the first sign that couldn't be explained away by his overthinking.

"Hey," Branch glances up from his place nestled against the trunk of a tree to see Poppy's pretty face. "What's on your mind?" She asks, expression open and soft with a concerned little furrow between her brows. She lowers herself quietly down beside him and cuddles herself immediately against his side with a content sigh.

Branch chuckles and lets his head fall gently on top of hers. He already feels a bit lighter with her here and the worry feels just a bit farther away. "Just thinking," He lets his gaze wander out into the village in front of them, watching the daily hustle and bustle of the merry trolls fill the streets with a life that he used to resent. He remembers when he used to despise how bright and joyful Pop Village is, and even though it was barely a few years ago now it felt like a lifetime. His life has changed so much since he'd ventured to Bergen Town with Poppy that first time but some things have stayed the same. He's still a lot duller than the other trolls, and he doesn't think he'll ever be without the paranoia that lingers just beneath his skin, but he's happy in a way that he hasn't been since he was just a kid.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Poppy presses after a few beats of silence. He thinks that she's soaking in the sights of the village too, basking in the joy of her people. She's done an amazing job as Queen and he's sure she'll only continue to shape the future of all trollkind with her compassion.

Branch sighs, sagging further into her, "No." He doesn't. He isn't even sure where he'd start and he doesn't want to know what Poppy would say. This past week he's felt like he's gotten closer to his brothers than he ever has before while simultaneously being an outsider looking in. It's like he has a front-row seat to what his family could be and the closer he gets to the inevitable end the more it tears him apart. He'd forgotten how much he wanted this until he was waiting for it to be taken away from him again.

"Okay," Poppy agrees with no small amount of hesitation. Branch is glad that she isn't going to pry right now but he's smart enough to know that it won't last. Poppy isn't good at staying away from things she thinks she can fix. It's why she stuck with him for so long. He was grateful for it then but it only amplifies his dread now. It's strange how many things can be a double-edged sword. "Do you want to spend the rest of the day people-watching?" It's an offer to sit with him for as long as he needs. He smiles even though she can't see it.

"No," He carefully detaches himself from her and stands with a big stretch. He's been curled up against this tree for a few hours now he thinks. It's about time he gets up and faces the music. He turns back to Poppy and offers her a paw up, pulling her to her feet with ease when her hand slips confidently into his. "Maybe we could get lunch?" He suggests instead.

"I'd love that," An adoring smile spreads across Poppy's face and Branch's heart melts at the sight. He doesn't think he'll ever get used to her looking at him like that but he doesn't mind the way it makes his heart race and his cheeks warm. She pulls him along by their hands still clasped together and he follows after her without hesitation. He's learned time and time again that he'd follow her anywhere.

It's still strange to filter easily into the busy pathways. No one sends him weird looks or whispers conspiratorially behind his back. He just slots as easily into place as Poppy does, just another troll in Pop Village with somewhere to be. Poppy clearly has a place in mind so he doesn't mind letting her lead the way, watching the scenery change from the dense collection of pods to the stalls and storefronts of the marketplace. Poppy makes a beeline for a cute little stall off to the side. It has an off-white awning decorated with pink hearts and yellow stars and Branch can immediately understand why his girlfriend is drawn to it. It has a few round tables for outside seating with closed parasols matching the stall secured to each one. It's adorable. Poppy immediately bounces up to the stall and drags Branch along with her. He sends her an amused glance, "You come here often?" he teases fondly.

"Of course!" Poppy beams back at him, eyes shining. She gestures to the stall with her free hand, "I mean look at this place, it's so cute. And they have the best little sponge cakes, like, ever." She points to the small chalkboard menu propped up beside the stall and Branch skims it over. It's mostly overly sweet pastries and cakes but Branch sees a few muffins that sound pretty good near the bottom.

He shrugs as the stall worker greets them. They're a lilac glitter troll with periwinkle hair and a white apron that reads Honey's in swirling gold script across the chest. "Sounds good to me," he agrees easily, watching with a soft smile as Poppy squeals. The glitter troll doesn't react much beyond a happy smile of their own but Branch supposes that most Pop Trolls are probably used to Poppy's antics, and if she frequents this place they must hear this all the time.

"Okay, okay," Poppy reads over the menu in a millisecond before looking up to address the worker with a bright wave, "Hi Lavender. Could I get two of the mini jam sponge cakes and a pink lemonade please?" She orders kindly, watching as Lavender jots down the order before they both turn to Branch expectantly.

Branch glances over the menu one last time to make sure nothing else catches his eye before ordering. "I'll take the sour cherry muffin and an iced chai if you can." Lavender writes down his order with a swift assurance that it'd be no problem at all before turning around to start fixing up their drinks. Branch can see why Poppy likes this place so much. It's cozy and easy but filled with an obvious love and care that would draw her in immediately. It makes him like it that much more.

Poppy swings their hands between them in wide arcs while they wait. Branch sends her an annoyed scowl but she just grins back and keeps swinging. She knows that if he was really bothered he'd just pull away and she takes full advantage of that. He rolls his eyes but doesn't try to stop her. He'd never try to stop her, not when her excitement was this innocent and this pure. She's happy and it warms his heart and fills his stomach with butterflies and it's nice. He can allow them both something nice.

It's only a few minutes before Lavender is pushing their drinks across the stall counter and just a few more seconds before they're placing little plates with their food next to the cups. Branch finally pulls his hand back to trade a few bags of tea for the goods while Poppy grabs their drinks with a cheery thank you. Lavender thanks him greatly for the new blend to try, even raising the cloth bag to their nose to sniff the loose leaves, and he offers them a soft nod in kind while he gathers up the plates. It's such an easy interaction but Branch can get thrown off by the unending kindness sometimes.

"Where do you wanna sit?" Poppy asks, still bouncing on the balls of her feet as her excitement grows. He loves how her energy seeps out. Poppy is constantly moving. Always rocking back on her heels or bouncing in place or dancing through town with a hum caught on her breath. She's so bright. She's always managed to light up Branch's dull life and ever since she became a real part of it he's only gotten brighter with each day that passes.

Branch glances at the three empty tables before looking back at Poppy, unimpressed, "They're all the exact same." He monotones. While he adores her he can admit that sometimes she can still be too much for him. They're very different trolls but something about them just works. He's amazed that they can slot so nicely together but he wouldn't trade what he has with her for anything. She's always believed in him in a way that no one else has and he couldn't imagine what he'd do without her.

Poppy pouts, "Branch," She whines, gesturing to the empty tables with their drinks. "You have to pick. If you don't pick we're sitting on the ground." There's a sparkle in her eye that tells Branch she's just pushing his buttons but that doesn't mean she's not serious. She may be a pest but he knows well that she takes that role to heart.

Branch groans and moves towards the closest table before she can spot the smile trying to take over his face. He sets their plates down carefully, settling the two sponge cakes in front of one seat while placing the muffin in front of the other. Poppy easily plops their respective drinks down and dramatically pulls out Branch's chair before he can do it himself. He raises an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yep!" Poppy chirps, wiggling the chair at him expectantly. With another dramatic roll of his eyes he sits down and chuckles warmly when she briefly struggles to push the chair back in. "I got it, don't laugh." She huffs but she does scoot the chair in with a little extra force.

"I would never," Branch promises. He's lying out his teeth and they both know it but Poppy doesn't acknowledge it outside of a quick glare she shoots his way. He waits for her to get comfortable and pick up a fork before he even looks down at his own snack. The muffin is a nice brown with little dots of dark red scattered throughout the bread, the top glistening slightly with what Branch could only assume was a light glaze. It looks good enough so he delicately peels off a piece of the top and pops it into his mouth.

Oh, wow. It's actually really good. The glaze isn't too sweet and it balances out the tartness of the cherries really well. The bread itself is moist and dense. He feels a little bad for being so surprised. Poppy smirks at him from across the table, "I know, right?" She nods, already halfway through the first cake. It's a round little thing layered delicately with cake, jam, and what looks like a cream of some sort. There are even a few fresh berries nestled on the top. "Honey's is really good. Most trolls walk right by it but I love it here." Branch can understand why as he picks off another bite of his muffin and savors the flavor. When he takes a sip of the chai to wash it down he's equally impressed, a soft hum of satisfaction slipping out before he could even think about it. Poppy's eyes widen at the clear praise and she reaches out with both hands, "Oo, I haven't had their chai yet, lemme try." She makes a little grabby motion with her paws and Branch can't help but comply. Her face absolutely lights up when she takes a sip and his heart melts.

"Oh, hey," A voice cuts through the moment and Branch looks over to see his brothers a few yards away. Anxiety claws its way to the front of his mind at the sight of all of them together and he hates that his own insecurities are ruining such a sweet atmosphere. Suddenly the muffin doesn't taste quite so sweet. Floyd offers a soft wave when his brothers get a little closer and Branch returns it on autopilot. "Are we interrupting a date? We can come back later." Bruce looks between Branch and Poppy sympathetically. If anyone understood the importance of an uninterrupted date it was Bruce if his stories about his children were anything to go by.

"No, no, of course not! We're just getting lunch." Poppy assures before Branch can come up with some plausible excuse. He's glad to share a few more moments with them before they all leave but there's a pit suddenly growing in his stomach that easily overshadows that.

"Oo, what'd you get?" John Dory leans in, quickly invading Branch's space and nearly knocking him over in an unnecessary rush to get a closer look at his plate. John laughs at Branch's disgruntled complaints and leans back, ruffling Branch's hair in the same motion. Branch growls and pushes his brother away with a sharp glare but John Dory only smiles back and raises his hands in mock surrender. John seemed to get great pleasure in mapping out Branch's boundaries through trial and error but when Branch tells him to quit it the eldest insists that it's an older brother thing.

Poppy sends Branch a quick glance to gauge where he's at before looking back at his brothers with a welcoming smile, "What brings you guys out here?" She asks, munching curiously on the remnants of her first cake while she looks between each brother with searching eyes. Her curiosity was a thing to be reckoned with.

"Well," Clay starts, straightening up and looking proud, "We think we've finally gotten everything all figured out. When it comes to sticking around, ya know?" He explains with a satisfied grin. The details had been Clay's favorite part from the bits and pieces that Branch caught around the bunker. He tried not to mind that his brothers only talked about how they'd keep in touch when he wasn't around but, even if it wasn't something he was a part of, he would have been more than happy to help them figure everything out.

"Oh, that's great!" Poppy throws her hands up, her smile becoming impossibly brighter when faced with the success of the people she cares for. She didn't know his brothers well but Poppy assured Branch that the people who were important to him would always be important to her too. That meant the full nine yards when it came to the Queen of Pop. She's even squeezed in one-on-one time with each of his brothers during the measly week they've been in Pop Village.

"Yeah, it took some time but I think we've managed to work it out," Floyd nods, clearly pleased but also fondly exasperated by his brothers' antics. He looks over at Branch's drink curiously and sends Branch a curious look in silent question. Branch shrugs and picks up the cup, holding it out to Floyd. "We still want to have plenty of time to live our lives but after everything," Floyd pauses, managing to look both sheepish and haunted. He takes the cup with a small smile, "Well, after everything it'd be nice to see each other a little more. So every couple of months we figured we could meet up for a while." Floyd takes a small sip of the chai and his eyes widen in silent surprise. He takes one more drink before passing it back to Branch with a soft thank you.

"Yeah, we've got a whole rotation figured out. Vacay Island is plenty big enough to house everyone and then I can introduce you all to the kids." Bruce looked so impossibly happy at the idea and Branch couldn't help but share the sentiment. He was overjoyed for his brother when he first heard that he had a family of his own, all undercurrents of bitterness chased away by just how content Bruce seemed to be. He thinks, maybe, he might want to get to know his niece and nephews at some point if he'd be allowed.

"And the Putt Putt Trolls have more than enough extra space in the Course, we could take in a few more trolls any time." Clay crosses his arms, nodding once, somehow managing to look even more accomplished. It wasn't as enticing as Vacay Island but it would be nice to know more about how Clay has been living these past many years. Branch takes a slow drink of his tea and glances between his brothers curiously. He figured they'd been talking about their plans after Pop Village without him but he hadn't expected so much planning to go into how they would spend time together. Without him.

John Dory adjusts his jacket, puffing up the collar with his usual smug aura, "We can even spend a few nights in good ol' Rhonda here and there. Make a camping trip out of it." Poppy might as well have literal stars in her eyes with how she's beaming at his brothers. She's not even the biggest fan of camping but she is a huge fan of campfires and s'mores. Not to mention the fact that Poppy had grown fond of Rhonda on their latest adventure.

Branch is too busy focusing on how no one brought up Pop Village to be excited for them. "That's great," He smiles, trying his best to make it look genuine despite how his stomach was twisting into knots and his eyes were starting to burn. Of course they'd visit each other. Floyd would probably move in with the Putt Putt Trolls or bunk with John Dory and then they'd all get together every few months to catch up. He doesn't know why he's surprised, he figured he would have to say his goodbyes, but somehow it still hurts.

He'd really hoped that maybe after everything they changed their minds. That maybe they could try to give this family thing a shot again, even if it would be hard and complicated work. At the end of the day it looked like they were ready to spend time with each other but not with him. It's been a week of walking into a room only for it to suddenly go quiet and he thinks that maybe in the end it hadn't been his paranoia that made him think they were leaving him out.

"It's not perfect but we can make it work." Floyd's smile is too soft and too kind and it makes the pit in Branch's stomach claw it's way up his sternum. His fingers were starting to become cold and clumsy as his dread grew and his heart thumped a pathetically fast rhythm against his ribs. He had tried so hard not to get attached again but now all he could think about was the impending goodbye he wasn't ready to give. He wanted more time.

Poppy's looking at him now and he can see her smile starting to drop as she realizes that something's wrong. The excitement is visibly bleeding out of her and a calculating expression is swiftly taking its place. It's only there for a brief few moments before she turns a polite smile back to his brothers, "I can't believe I forgot, there's something I'd like to show Branch if you guys wouldn't mind?" She sounds so genuinely apologetic Branch would be more surprised if he wasn't so focused on how tight his chest was getting. He knows this feeling, he's well accustomed to the first signs of a panic attack, but no matter how familiar it's never any less terrifying.

"Oh, no, of course not!" Bruce assures quickly with a wave of his hand. "We can talk more later, obviously. You guys go have fun."

Poppy doesn't even wait for the merry agreement from the others before she's out of her seat. She grabs a few of the available to-go bags from the market stall and easily sweeps the remaining food into them with one quick motion. She practically pulls Branch out of his chair. "Can you grab the drinks, sweetie?" Oh, she's worried. She only ever calls him sweetie when she's worried.

"Yeah, of course," He agrees numbly before grabbing their cups from the table with shaking paws. It's not too noticeable he doesn't think. Maybe he can only tell because he can't help but stare at how the cups tremble almost imperceptibly in his grip.

"It was nice seeing you guys!" Poppy waves happily at his brothers before ushering him away. It takes him a few seconds to realize she's pointing him in the direction of her pod but when he does something small relaxes beneath his ribs. He'll be okay there. He tries not to listen to the cheerful goodbyes of his brothers behind him, cringing away from their farewells like the words themselves could cause physical harm. Poppy ducks in close and tries to meet his eyes with a pinched expression. She doesn't ask if he's okay, she already knows the answer.

122 notes · View notes

astrronomemes · 1 year

Text

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON : STARTERS

a collection of quotes, phrases, and sayings from the 2010 Dreamworks Animation film, How to Train Your Dragon. change & alter as needed.

“What are you doing out?! Get inside!”

“Yes! That’s it! Stop being all of you!”

“Oh, and there’s one more thing you need to know...”

“This isn’t a joke, [name]! Why can’t you follow the simplest orders?”

“Well, it runs in the family.”

“Thank you for summing that up.”

“Stop trying so hard to be something you’re not.”

“You can’t stop him, [name]. You can only prepare him.”

“This conversation is feeling very one-sided.”

“Yeah, it’s only fun if you get a scar out of it.”

“Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield.”

“So, I guess it’s just you and me, huh?”

“I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble.”

“You guys read. I’ll go kill stuff.”

“Your only chance — hide and pray it does not find you.”

“Focus, [name]! You’re not even trying!”

“I’m really beginning to question your teaching methods!”

“Our parents’ war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you’re on.”

“Will you please stop that?!”

“Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now...”

“I normally don’t care what people do, but you’re acting weird — well... weirder.”

“The life of a celebrity is very rough. He can barely walk through [place] without being swarmed by his new fans.”

“Just how long did you think you could hide it from me?”

“I won’t speak. Just... let me show you.”

“[Name], what are you doing?! We need her to like us!”

“Just... give me until tomorrow. I’ll figure something out.”

“It’s time, [name]. Knock ’em dead.”

“I’m not one of them.”

“They’re not what we think they are. We don’t have to kill them.”

“I should have known. I should have seen the signs.”

“Take this out on me, be mad at me, but please... just don’t hurt [name].”

“[Name], it’s not what you think! You don’t know what you’re up against! It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen!”

“For once in your life, would you please just listen to me?!”

“The rest of us would have done it. So why didn’t you? Why didn’t you?”

“I wouldn’t kill him because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him... and I saw myself.”

“No matter how this ends, it ends today.”

“I think I’ll stay. Just in case you’re thinking of doing something crazy.”

“Just do what I told you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“I’m proud to call you my son.”

“Stay with me, buddy, we’re good! Just a little bit longer!”

“Thank you for saving my son.”

#this is my favorite movie ever so i had to do it at some point lol #rp meme #roleplay meme #rp starters #roleplay starters #dialogue prompts #rp memes #roleplay memes #rp prompts #sentence prompts #sentence memes #sentence starters

157 notes · View notes

spacedadkronos · 3 months

Text

Ooo, lol, looks like someone got their knickers twisted so hard they wrote a whole essay about how they're categorically correct about an ultimately subjective matter. That's always a winning approach.

Please do not try to "educate" me the difference between writers and executive producers in animation. I have an animation degree. I'm not a child.

I follow both Brent and Alan on Twitter and have been for like 3 years now. I have been watching their updates since the announcement of the show 2 years ago. I have pics of them celebrating finishing up the writing. Here's proof that they wrote it, including screenshots of the IMDb Brent had linked on his Twitter.

I said this is not what they consider THE sequel. Obviously it is *a* sequel. I'm saying people should not be treating it like Megamind 2 when it is a pilot for the TV show. They want a real theatrical sequel.

This is a random screenshot I felt was important

I think this person better put what I meant about not as many people would care this much if it wasn't on streaming:

Megamind was an arrogant little egomaniac for the entirety of the first movie. Not sure how you missed that. Roxanne appears dissatisfied with her place in life from her recording at the Metro Man Museum with Hal onward, and does her level best to become the hero her city needs because no one else is going to stand up and do it - not sure how you missed that, either, but her whole character arc is about stepping up to the plate to do good. Well done reducing her to a single career point and then discarding her. I wasn't surprised to see her frustrations with going right back to reporting. That was a headspace that made a ton of sense for her. It was set up incredibly well.

And Megamind himself says, "some days, it felt like it was just me and Minion against the world," so you might think I agree with you there - but in fact I'm going to point out the SOME days, it FELT LIKE. There is no reason to believe that he never had any other professional associates between the time he left the schoolhouse and the time we see him as an established supervillain. In fact, I can and will argue that there's room to interpret *he himself* saying he wasn't always flying solo. It's up to interpretation - but it's there.

And no, Roxanne and Megamind are not and should not be "quasi-dating" unless you want to look past the enormous Bernard lie. Which I can't say I'm surprised you did, since Roxanne doesn't matter as anything other than Reporter Romantic Interest, apparently. The end of the original implies they have *potential.*

But I'm not trying to convince you. At the end of the day, you didn't enjoy something you hoped to enjoy. You missed a few key points about the original, so the pilot of the show didn't line up with some of your expectations and it pissed you off. That's a shame. But instead of offering some grace and recognizing it for what it is - a movie designed for a younger demographic than the original, the first ounce of love Dreamworks has shown this IP since its initial release more than a decade ago, and as much story as could be crammed into 83 minutes because the people making it only had so much time within which to work, which is *honestly a fun ride* if somewhat tonally dissonant compared to what YOU were hoping for - you've decided instead to focus on what it wasn't: What You Personally Wanted. And you've decided to make your disappointment everyone else's problem instead of processing it like an adult and moving on.

I think you're boring, I think you're unkind, I think you're a whiny little bully who came onto MY POST to bitch and complain about how you're the god of what I'M allowed to enjoy. Block me, if I make you so miserable. I'm busy having fun.

#megamind #megamind vs the doom syndicate #megamind rules

40 notes · View notes

therabbitthatpostthings · 5 months

Text

I'm not saying Dreamworks should make a spin-off on Fairy Godmother but I do need to know just how deep her influence goes.

Why was making a wish with her so fanciful and pretty yet Rumpelstiltskin has to do his deal-making from a carriage in the woods.

What would she had done if Farquad married Fiona. I personally would love to know how Fairy Godmother would have systematically and economically lead Duloc to ruin just to in sure Charming be the King of Far Far Away.

Was Lillian always supposed to marry Harold? Who is Charming's father? Just how did she become this way?

#shitpost #shitposting #shrek #Shrek 2 #princess fiona #queen lillian #king harold #Shrek far far away #fairy godmother #shrek fairy godmother #Shrek Rumpelstiltskin #prince charming #dreamworks #dreamworks shrek

40 notes · View notes

calliesmemes · 3 months

Text

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (2012)

A SET OF SENTENCE STARTERS PULLED FROM THE DIALOGUE FEATURED IN DREAMWORKS’ ANIMATED FILM RISE OF THE GUARDIANS

CHANGE gendered words and in-universe phrases as needed.

SPECIFY muse for multimuses.

“ Why I am here and what I am meant to do, that I've never known. A part of me wonders if I ever will. ”

“ Oh, uh, excuse me. Can you tell me where I am? ”

“ How many times have I told you to knock? ”

“ We are going to have company. ”

“ It is our job to watch over the children of the world and keep them safe. ”

“ The children are in danger. ”

“ An enemy we have kept at bay for centuries has finally decided to strike back. ”

“ We alone can stop him. ”

“ I obviously wouldn't have called you all here unless it was serious. ”

“ Look, he's up to something very bad. I feel it in my belly. ”

“ I don't have time for this! ”

“ We have a serious situation. ”

“ It's been a long time, old friend. ”

“ Since when do we need help? ”

“ He doesn't care about children! ”

“ Oh, that looks interesting. Good book? ”

“ Come on! You guys will believe anything. ”

“ Okay, who threw that? ”

“ Did you guys see that? It was amazing! ”

“ What's a guy got to do to get a little attention around here? ”

“ But I can do it this time! ”

“ Straight to bed now, mister. ”

“ If there's something I'm doing wrong, can you just tell me what it is? ”

“ Why, there's only one thing missing. ”

“ Feel your fear. Come on. Come on, that's right. ”

“ Don't look at me like that, old friend. ”

“ You must have known this day would come. ”

“ You're not still mad about that, are you? ”

“ You got to be kidding me. ”

“ Oh, yeah, I love being shoved in a sack and tossed through a magic portal. ”

“ I've heard a lot about you. ”

“ Hey, ho, anyone want to tell me why I'm here? ”

“ I must've done something really bad to get you four together. ”

“ What are you doing? Get off of me! ”

“ What makes you think I want to be a Guardian? ”

“ This is all very flattering, but, uh, you don't want me. ”

“ I don't think you understand what it is we do. ”

“ All the more reason to pick someone more qualified. ”

“ You were chosen! Like we were all chosen. ”

“ You see, you cannot say no. It is destiny. ”

“ No, no. That's not for me! No offense. ”

“ None of them believe in you, do they? ”

“ It's like you don't even exist. ”

“ It's nothing personal. But what you all do, it's just not my thing. ”

“ You must have something very special inside yourself. ”

“ I told you I'm not going with you guys! ”

“ Hold on, everyone! I know a shortcut. ”

“ Oh, thank goodness. One of you is all right. ”

“ I have to say, this is very, very exciting. ”

“ I'm a little starstruck. ”

“ Maybe I want what you have. ”

“ Since when are you all so chummy? ”

“ Oh, good. A neutral party. ”

“ I'm going to ignore you. But you must be used to that by now. ”

“ You shadow-sneaking ratbag, come here! ”

“ Took me a while to perfect this little trick. ”

“ They smell fear, you know. ”

“ Such happy times for me. Oh, the power I wielded. ”

“ Oh, there's nothing to be afraid of. ”

“ They... They don't believe in me anymore. ”

“ There will be nothing but fear and darkness. ”

“ It's your turn not to be believed in. ”

“ You should have seen them. They put up such a fight. ”

“ When someone needs to remember what's important, we help them. ”

“ Are you saying I had a life before that, with a home and a family? ”

“ You really don't remember? ”

“ All these years, the answers were right here. ”

“ No such thing as too late! ”

“ Look, I'd tell you to stay out of my way, but, really, what's the point? ”

“ Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy there, champ. ”

“ Why did I ever stop doing this? ”

“ All right, nobody panic. ”

“ You know, for a neutral party, you spend an awful lot of time with those weirdos. ”

“ This isn’t your fight. ”

“ Remind me not to get on your bad side. ”

“ Don't fight the fear! ”

“ How did you do that? ”

“ Finally! Someone who knows how to have a little fun! ”

“ I just... I wish I could've done something. ”

“ I don't know who you were in your past life. ”

“ How can I know who I am until I find out who I was? ”

“ He's tipped the balance. ”

“ Crikey! Somebody do something. ”

“ When was the last time you guys actually hung out with kids? ”

“ How much time do we have? ”

“ All right, troops, it's time to push back. ”

“ Don't be afraid. I'm not gonna hurt you. ”

“ It's the one thing I always know. People's greatest fears. ”

“ Why were you chosen to be like this? ”

“ They'll never accept you. Not really. ”

“ You make a mess wherever you go. ”

“ You should be happy you still get dreams like that and not nightmares. ”

“ They never really believed in you. ”

“ All those years in the shadows I thought no one else knows what this feels like. But now I see I was wrong. ”

“ We don’t have to be alone. ”

“ Look at what we can do. ”

“ They'll fear both of us. And that's not what I want. ”

“ You have a bad habit of interfering. ”

“ You can't have fun all the time. ”

“ It's okay. It's okay. Don't look down. Just look at me. ”

“ I promise, I promise. You're gonna be... You're gonna be fine. You have to believe in me. ”

“ You and I are obviously at what they call a crossroads. ”

“ He told me you were real. Just when I started to think that maybe you weren't. ”

“ That little trick doesn't work on me anymore. ”

“ All this fuss over one little boy. ”

“ There are other ways to snuff out a light. ”

“ If you want him, you're gonna have to go through me. ”

“ I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see you all like this. ”

“ I'm just not afraid of you. ”

“ Mate, you are a sight for sore eyes. ”

“ You dare have fun in my presence ”

“ Leaving the party so soon? You didn't even say goodbye. ”

“ You can't get rid of me! Not forever. ”

“ There will always be fear. ”

“ It is time that you take the Oath. ”

#askbox meme #askbox prompt #rp ask meme #ask box #roleplay sentence meme #sentence starters #roleplay prompts #roleplay sentence starters #* sentence meme #rpc help

32 notes · View notes

sometipsygnostalgic · 2 months

Note

Yeah the Plow drama was WEIRD. Dozens of PSAs about how staff is racist, all based on a white TOH fan's unsourced viral post. The SPOP guy who announced his best friend's podcast canceled because he said the word "dykes" which is in the title. I even had mutuals saying that ND had the DUTY to step up and interrupt him. The constant videos about how ND is TRANSPHOBIC because Double Trouble is "sexualized" and "evil". Queer people are nuts.

So a couple of things here:

The Sow* stuff was real. The crew actually apologised for it and said that they didn't mean anything by it, but that nobody should excuse them for it. I appreciate this response. It was a whole thing. Also it all happened before The Owl House even started airing... (EDIT: Incorrect comment because TOH started airing seven months beforehand) but I don't want to pretend the Sow stuff was a big hubbaloo over nothing. It meant a lot to people and I think it demonstrated a lack of self awareness within the crew. There are other moments like this. The Entrapta leash gag was brought up a lot at the same time as another example of insensitivity, and I absolutely agree, but I do respect that the crew responded to the backlash the best way they could - by admitting their wrongdoing and saying theyll work on having a better perspective. I do think there are other areas they could've done better as well, like Mara turning "blonde", and all the characters having magical multicoloured hair instead of natural black hair, or even dark hair that was dyed a different colour. Some of those are handovers from dreamworks shera but it still sucks. *Sow, not Plow. We both forgot.

I don't know anything about the podcast. Never heard of it. However, if that is true, that's really unfortunate - Everyone has turned hard against "dirtier" terms like Dyke, despite how much work has gone into reclaiming them. Also, whether "queer" is a socially acceptable self-descriptor seems to vary on a year by year basis. People need to recognise other queer people are not slandering them by using these terms.

Double Trouble being an "evil nonbinary shapeshifter" right? Well, Nimona is also an evil nonbinary shapeshifter. Nimona being nonbinary is a new aspect of her presented in the movie too, not the original comics. And it's fucking awesome!!!! I think what people have been starting to realise is that evil nonbinary shapeshifters are the ultimate genderfluid power fantasy. I think it's fair and valid to want more visualisations of nonbinary people who can exist in a real world, who didn't "start off" with magical genderless abilities, but I also think there will always be a place for the nonbinary shapeshifter.

Your comments reminded me of some people's takes on Entrapta as autistic rep, and how she is seen as bad because she's the autistic savant. And yes, the autistic savant is a stereotype, but I feel that Entrapta subverts it aggressively. She's a genius but she's rather dense, she's VERY friendly unlike most "autistic savant" characters and her social problems are highly relatable. She isn't hyper competent, but autism IS a "strength" of hers, not so much because of her genius, but because it allows her to ignore or question social standards that exist to hold people back. She doesn't give a shit how important Hordak is, or what a Horde soldier or Rebellion princess is supposed to be like. She's free, and very much a power fantasy in the same way Double Trouble is. Hell even in aforementioned "leashing scenes" that I have problems with, she breaks free as soon as it starts to be annoying. I love her.

#she ra #spop #double trouble #bow #entrapta #racism #homophobia #ableism

19 notes · View notes

amazingdudesblog · 2 months

Text

So kung fu panda 4 just reached 400 million at the box office, and I’m gonna be honest, while I obviously want dreamworks to make money, I hope this doesn’t set a precedent. I know a lot of people love this movie, but it just feels hollow compared to the first three. The amount of things they could have done better is what pains me. They are really lucky this movie is funny (it’s nothing if not funny) and has the KFP name to ride on. Because I’m sorry to say, this felt ALMOST as bland as ruby gillman. Both suffer from writing that should have taken itself more seriously and flesh out the storyline in ways that would have benefitted. Both suffer from villains that feel like they SHOULD have compelling backstories and motivations but one falls flat because of a dumb plot twist and the other falls short because it’s like the barebones of a backstory and motivation (again, thank you Mike). Both try to be emotional at times, which I respect, but again, they could have went way further to get the heart strings tugging. My main point is, it doesn’t matter if half of the fanbase liked the movie, or even loved the movie, or if it made back a ton of money. This shouldn’t set a precedent for people making these movies deciding to not put in their all when it comes to making an interesting story that feels like it has heart put into it, only because it’s riding off the success of previous installments in the franchise. Here I was hoping dreamworks would make a ruby sequel that blows the first one out of the water, but if they’re not gonna give their all for Kung Fu Panda of all things, then how can I expect them to do better for a movie that only made 45 million. Hopefully I’m wrong. Hopefully the wild robot will show dreamworks “wow, people actually really love it when we put an emphasis on heartfelt emotional storytelling that doesn’t overly rely on comedy,” and maybe kfp5 will bring back the magic the first 3 had, and ruby gillman 2 will be known as the biggest comeback for an animated franchise.

#dreamworks animation #dreamworks #kung fu panda 4 #kung fu panda #ruby gillman #ruby gillman teenage kraken

14 notes · View notes

minijenn · 4 months

Text

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: The Bad Guys

So this is yet another Dreamworks movie I've heard nothing but good things about but just never got around to watching for some reason or another. And now that I have watched it, all I can say is what the fuck how did I sleep on this absolute gem of a film for so long???? Its so good, ya'll, SO damn good! So let's get into all of the many reasons why!

The Bad Guys are a group of infamous criminals, made up of the cunning Snake, master of disguise Shark, loose-canon Piranha, hacker Tarantula, and the leader of the pack, Wolf. After getting caught attempting to pull of a daring heist, the Bad Guys pretend to work on going good to pull off an even greater heist... until Wolf begins to wonder if being good might not be so bad after all.

So let me just say, the plot here is brilliant. Like seriously, there were some twists and turns here (especially toward the end) that had me YELLING over how genuis they were. It's extremely tightly crafted, sharply written, and pulled together by an incredibly charming cast that you just love to watch. It's a thrilling ride from start to end and I was excited to see where it would go next with every new scene.

The characters, like I said, are really great! Wolf is a really well-developed lead who goes through a pretty compelling arc, same with Snake (seriously, the fakeout with him toward the end had me in awe, what a total pro) and a good deal of the drama in the film lies between those two. The other Bad Guys are a bit less in focus, but they're still really fun and all play off each other really well too. Also, Diane, the governor??? Holy shit ya'll? She's AMAZING. Not gonna spoil the twist involving her but let me just say she is so damn COOL like oh my god.

This movie does attempt a twist villain but like... idk Marmalade isn't really that much of a twist villain? From the moment he showed up I said to myself "oh, he's the villain isn't he?" and I was proven right, but like... the reveal of how he set the Bag Guys up from the very start was so clever that I couldn't even be upset about it. This tiny motherfucker played them up until the very end where he finally got his comeuppance. Good villain. Not the best, but still, pretty good.

The humor here is pretty fun, with some jokes that genuinely had me laughing out loud. Of course, it couldn't quite help itself with a few fart jokes here and there, which... ermmm aren't quite my up of tea. Still, it balances that humor out well with some pretty compelling drama and a lot of heart that really helps to engage you in the story they're telling here.

Also the animation??? Oh my GOD the way this movie looks is INSANE. Like, just the character designs alone are so fresh and interesting compared to what Dreamworks has done in the past. There's this overall stylization to this movie that's very sharp and unique, and it just makes it a feast for the eyes. The way the characters move too, very fast and snappy, as if they're 2-d characters instead of 3-d. Lots of exagerrated motions and facial expressions, it's all very silly, yes, but it works so well with the tone this movie is trying to pull off.

So yeah, I hella loved this one. I'm so mad at myself for not watching this when it first came out, because its such a joy ride from start to finish. So stylish, so witty, so engaging, and so fun! I had a great time with The Bad Guys, and if you haven't seen it yet, you should, because chances are, you will too.

Rating: 9/10

Verdict: IS THAT FUCKING KINGDOM HEARTS????

Previous Review (The Boss Baby: Family Business)

Next Review (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish)

#jen watches #dreamworks watch #jen tortures herself with every dreamworks animated movie #the bad guys #dreamworks

21 notes · View notes

deliciousdefendorinternet · 1 month

Note

Okay, this has honestly been in the back of my mind for years now, but I feel like I must ask. Did anyone else feel an immense feeling of anger/discomfort when Poppy brought the entire village into Branch's bunker? Because I did. When I first saw it, I felt uncomfortable. And to this day, I get the ick thinking about it. Like, I get why she did it, and I understand that it was the safest thing to do for the village, but like... I can't explain just how upsetting it was to me. Branch is a better person than I am, because if it were me, just... no. And she didn't even ask properly! And then had the audacity to say it was a solid burn returned like??? No? No it wasn't? That was a home invasion, not a snipe back at him, what? In what world is his comment on her life skills even remotely on the same level as her just letting the ENTIRE VILLAGE in his house? And they weren't even good houseguests either! They IMMEDIATELY started messing with his stuff, like, have these trolls never heard of proper guest etiquette? Look, I love Poppy, but she can seriously get on my nerves a lot. Especially since the movies made it so that in the end, she doesn't really learn much because her screw ups have a way of completely disappearing with little to no consequences.

To add to this, anyone else feel like when rewatching the first Trolls movie, that Branch was in the right, and that he was done so dirty by so many? Like, the ukulele scene. As a kid, I did think Branch was being rude, but now? Those 2 were literally out in the woods, with who knows what out there. Poppy literally got her friends kidnapped by a BERGEN literally the DAY BEFORE, and she's going back to singing loudly? Like, Poppy, babe, are you TRYING to die? Her whole song just shows how much plot armor Poppy has because, seriously? Not to mention, trolls are tiny, so her singing could genuinely put a target on them. I feel like the only reason Branch didn't up and say this is because it probably should be common knowledge, but apparently, pop trolls don't really have much common sense. I really wish they had Branch explain it though, because as a kid, I thought him to be a killjoy and unnecessarily bossy. But now? Yeah, I can see why singing in the forest when you're tiny might not be the best idea. Makes me wonder just how the pop trolls survived all this time?

I love Poppy, I really do. She's fun, nice, and is a complex protagonist (who is awesome and not a Mary Sue, though the same can't be said for TBGO/Trollstopia Poppy) whose character development is very visible. However, the writers really focus more on Branch's character development than hers and focus more on finding new ways to traumatize him than finding ways to make Poppy more mature, and that's what really bugs me about Poppy's character.

I really wanna start a petition for DreamWorks to lay off Branch for once and give Poppy more attention. I'm not asking to all out traumatize her (though the idea of DreamWorks giving her the Branch Treatment is funny in the mean way) but it would be nice if they gave her another journey where she has to learn and grow, and for there to be consequences that aren't easily waved away by a song and dance. TWT did a decent job at it (it could have been better, but it was a start), and I really need DreamWorks to do something like that (but better, obviously) again.

That being said, I do like how they handled Broppy. They went from rival/strangers to friends to lovers. It didn't happen instantly, and the progression of the relationship didn't feel rushed or forced. They both have an equal standing in the relationship and are supportive of each other. It's cute, and I'm glad DreamWorks at least got that right.

This should have probably been separate asks, but oh well. YOLO or whatever. I just really wanna know your thoughts.

I'm mostly of the same mind it angers me but I get why she did it I feel at the very least she should have told everyone to behave themselves and not act like they were teenagers throwing a house party while their parents were away for the night.

some people have said that maybe she did in on purpose to pressure Branch into going with her but I prefer to think that wasn't the case because in my opinion that would be straight up villainous.

a Royal abusing their power to put pressure on a civilian to Risk their life to rescue a group of your friends who are in danger due to your incompetent leadership.

not to mention a civilian who she knows is more terrified of the Bergens than anyone else in the village.

yeah that would make her an out and out villain imo so I prefer to think that wasn't her intention.

I don't feel its so bad it needs to be changed in the story overall but I would have liked it had Branch actually called her out on it.

basically just have him angrily point out to her after she acts like it wasn't a big deal because it was just a bunch of old Junk. that it wasn't just a place to him it was his home and that wasn't just a load of old Junk it was stuff he worked hard for years to make and it made him feel safer it was the only place he actually felt safe and like he could relax.

maybe prompting Poppy to actually give a more genuine apology as before she just thought of his home as him being over the top for the sake of it.

since she and the village just viewed him as a Drama queen and she didn't really realise his fears were actually so genuine that the Bunker actually mattered to him that deeply.

part of me thinks the intent by the writers was for her consequences in the first film to be being betrayed by Creek who she cared about but yeah that whole thing could have been handled better.

her and her dads leadership put him in danger and he literally said what he had to say in order to avoid being eaten alive he didn't really have any agency in the betrayal.

so Poppy's somber pleas for him to not go through with it kinda make me mad tbh like this whole situation is your fault yet my guy Creek is expected to die because of it.

so your incompetent dad can live? yeah no.

also if you made that Petition for Branch I'd totally sign it 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

and I agree Poppy deserves some more focus and development tho a touch of angst for her I think could maybe be a good thing in making her character stronger.

like I've said before maybe having Peppy die in a future film and her at first trying to ignore her grief by focusing on her queen duties and slapping on her usual smile worrying both Branch and Viva.

or having her mother turn up in the future like some fans have suggested only for her to be a selfish villain who couldn't care less about Poppy and Viva.

and this is the proper shock to Poppy's "" family is always great "" mentality as even with Bro zone they worked things out in the end making her think no family could be entirely broken.

but her mother literally doesn't give a shit if her children live or die and she maybe abandoned them both when Poppy was a baby.

drawing a little contrast with Branch only for the mother to have zero remorse since she didn't want children and maybe she was only with Peppy for status as royalty.

and Bro zone could be shown as being more remorseful over the past even a while after the events of TBT which contrasts with Poppy's mom kinda nicely.

anyway I'm getting off topic a bit lol but yeah I agree Poppy needs more focus and Branch's needs to be picked on less by the writers.

but I feel a touch of angst directed Poppy's way could give her some good development and make her a stronger character overall.

edit. also as someone who doesn't like Hugs Poppy's smug stunt with the Hug time Bracelets does make me a little mad like tell the Trolls to Respect people's Boundaries Girl.

#trolls #dreamworks trolls

14 notes · View notes

dulltoned · 5 months

Text

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three

Branch spends the next few days trying his best to enjoy what time he has left. He stomps down the bitter sting every time his brothers get together to talk about the future and tries to bask in the little moments they allow him. Branch makes breakfast for Bruce and tries to wriggle a recipe out of him that he can cherish during the gray days. He spends an evening with Clay talking about novels and getting as many recommendations as he can so he can know what kind of books his brother likes. He even lets John Dory pick at a few of his projects so they can bond over their shared handiness born from their survivalist pasts. Branch has never gotten to know much about his brothers, he was so young when they left he can barely remember any of the little details, so he clings to everything now. Clay's ears flick when he's irritated over something insignificant, like a bent page in his book or the uneven amount of pencils at Branch's workspace. John Dory sleeps with that stupid glove on, and he cleans off his goggles every night because the routine helps him relax. Floyd hums rock songs in the shower even though he doesn't like the lyrics because he loves the melody. Bruce isn't a huge fan of seafood after so many years serving it back in his restaurant on Vacay Island but he loves Country Troll cuisine.

Branch gathers every little detail he can and he tucks it away because he knows that soon enough these few fleeting memories will be all that he has left to hold on to. Soon enough they'll be on their way and he'll be alone with only their ghosts to haunt him. He thought that he was finally done grieving. He thought that maybe he was finally ready to let go of the family that didn't want him. Now he can already feel their absence like a gaping wound even though they're still here sitting in the next room over.

Today is the day. Branch takes a fortifying breath and brushes nonexistent dust off his vest before slipping out of the kitchen to go gather up his brothers from the living space around the corner. He plasters a smile on his face as he steps through the entryway, leaning up against the arching entrance like nothing could possibly be wrong. John Dory has Clay tucked under his arm and is violently ruffling the younger troll's bright green hair. Bruce is cackling, nearly doubled over, and even Floyd is hiding a few loose chuckles behind his paw. Clay's hair admittedly doesn't look any different than it did before but that doesn't stop him from spewing protests.

"Are you guys done yet or should I give you some more time?" Branch teases, raising an unimpressed eyebrow that's betrayed by the amused smile spreading across his face.

John pauses his assault to look over at Branch and his grip seems to have loosened just enough for Clay to make his hasty escape. "I guess we can cut this short," John Dory shrugs, smirking while Clay grumbles and Bruce wipes tears from his eyes. John looks proud, smug in a way that Branch thinks only an oldest brother could be. His heart aches wondering if this is the last time he'll see that expression and he struggles to keep his smile in place.

"I'm sure the balloon is already set up so we better get this over with." Branch pushes off the entryway and tucks his hands deep into his trouser pockets in a hopefully subtle attempt to hide how they've started to shake. Bruce's laugh is still ringing in his ears and he can't help but ask himself if he'll be able to remember it so distinctly a year from now. He swallows thickly, eyes flicking from sibling to sibling and drinking in the easy smiles on their faces. They look so happy right now, joking and laughing and roughhousing like brothers are supposed to. Branch feels so out of place. Do they even care that they're leaving him behind all over again? Have they even noticed that they're ripping his heart to bits and stealing away the tattered pieces so he could never hope to be whole again without them? Do they think he's being childish because he's so heartbroken over something inevitable?

"I guess you're right," John Dory agrees, stretching out and popping his back. John throws Branch an easy smile and motions for the rest of their brothers to gather up so they can head out. Clay rolls his eyes and helps Floyd up from the armchair while Bruce stands from the couch. This is it. This is really it. Branch's heart flutters pathetically beneath his ribs and dread thrums through his veins. He wasn't ready to say goodbye. Not again. This wasn't enough time. He wanted more time. "Lead the way, little brother."

Branch is helpless to do anything else but swallow down the vile, bubbling emotions climbing up his throat and walk them out of the bunker towards the clearing Poppy arranged for their departure.

The pit in Branch's stomach only grows with each step and he listens with mounting irritation as his brothers chatter excitedly behind him. They're all excited to get back to their lives and Branch wishes he could begrudge them that. He wants so badly to be angry but he can't. They deserve to go back to their lives, their homes, their families. He doesn't want them to be miserable, he just wishes that he could be part of their happiness. He's well acquainted with loving others more than he's loved but the hurt never quite fades.

"Hey, Branch, you're quiet up there." Bruce calls and Branch looks over his shoulder curiously. Bruce smiles back teasingly, his eyes shining with bright mirth that Branch doesn't think the situation warrants, "Got something on your mind?"

"Or someone," Floyd joins in with a playful wiggle of his eyebrows that makes Clay cough a poorly concealed laugh.

Branch frowns, eyebrows furrowing, "What?"

"Poppy's going to be there, right?" Bruce asks like it's obvious and the pieces slot into place. They thought he was distracted because Poppy was going to be there to see them off?

"Oh. Not really," Branch shrugs. He turns back around when he sees their expressions shift, smiles dropping while they share confused glances. Branch figured it would be obvious why he was so quiet but maybe that was a bit presumptuous of him. He's been eagerly spending as much time with them as he could these past few weeks despite how obvious they were about their plans to exclude him. He guesses his silence now could be seen as a little odd, all things considered.

They don't say anything else for the rest of the trip. At least not to Branch. He hears them muttering but he doesn't try to listen in or even turn his head to look back again. He does his best to keep his eyes straight ahead and tune them out. Before he knows it he can see the large burgundy body of the hot air balloon growing steadily larger in the distance and the dread burrowed in his gut spikes. This is it.

John Dory lets out an impressed whistle, "It's bigger than I expected," he admits but he sounds excited about it. It hadn't even occurred to Branch that his brothers wouldn't really be familiar with traditional Pop Troll transportation anymore. Branch offers a noncommittal hum and scans the area around the balloon's basket for a splash of pink. He spots her quickly and some of the hurt in his chest dissipates. He can breathe a little easier knowing that she's here.

It's only a few moments before Poppy notices them, Viva a bundle of energy at her side. Pink eyes find them from across the clearing and a smile breaks out across Poppy's face like the sun after a rainstorm. She bounces on the balls of her feet and waves excitedly, calling a loud hello instead of waiting the thirty seconds it would take for them to reach her. Branch can't help but chuckle, shaking his fondly with a roll of his eyes while John and Bruce yell back their own greetings. Viva rushes over at top speed, twirling around Clay before falling into step beside him like it was second nature. She's rambling excitedly about something that Branch doesn't have the energy to try and follow but Clay is smiling brightly and nodding along.

"Hey," Poppy greets him softly, sliding up to him and gently grasping the front of his vest so she could pull him in for a swift kiss. Her eyes scan over his face and a frown tugs at her lips, "Are you okay?" She whispers, ducking in close for some semblance of privacy.

Branch tries to offer a reassuring smile but it feels bittersweet and tired, "As good as I can be," he sighs, lifting a hand to rest it softly over hers, "Better with you here." He confesses and bumps their foreheads together. She smiles, though the worried furrow between her brows remains. Branch wants nothing more than to smooth out the creases, chase away the concern she's wasting on him, but he knows that there's nothing he can do to convince her that he's fine. She wouldn't believe him even if there was.

She presses another quick kiss to his cheek before pulling away to properly greet his brothers, sharing a few warm hellos, "So, is everyone all set?" She looks between them, hands on her hips, like she expects them to have luggage despite the fact that they arrived empty-handed. She doesn't wait for a response before she turns on her heel and gestures to the small grassy hill next to the balloon that would give them easy access, "You guys should have plenty of room and there's a bunch of blankets if it gets cold, I also packed a lot of snacks just in case you got hungry. Oh! And there are some games--" "Okay, okay, sounds great Poppyseed," John interrupts, eyes wide when he realizes that Poppy had no intention of stopping her ramblings. He raises his hands in an attempt to slow her down, "What about a manual?" He presses curiously, the shock bleeding away to a fond amusement that made Branch's heart pang.

"Here," Branch reaches up into his hair and pulls out the pilot's manual. He refused to give it back after Poppy'd thrown it out just a few months ago. It's been haunting him these past few days but he hadn't dared to forget it on the way out of the bunker. He steps forward and passes the thick volume to John Dory, trying not to look at his brother's grateful smile, "It's pretty extensive but you only really need to read the first and the fifth chapter for a quick trip." He clears his throat awkwardly, trying to keep up a lighthearted attitude

"I'll take that," Clay reaches over and plucks the book from John Dory's hands with ease, grinning as he completely ignores John's protests. Viva giggles by Clay's side and even leans in to get a better look at the manual while Clay flips through it to see the table of contents. Branch watches the two self-proclaimed Putt Putt Trolls and hopes that maybe Clay will come along when Viva inevitably decides to visit. Branch has come to really enjoy having another level-headed, fact-oriented troll around and one brother would be better than none. If he's lucky, which he can admit isn't likely, maybe Clay will even keep him updated on their other siblings.

"So this thing is all ready to go?" Bruce looks up at the large balloon, admiring the structure with muted curiosity. He doesn't look too interested but rather intrigued by something unfamiliar.

"Yep!" Poppy chirps, bouncing over to stand back and look with Bruce despite being well-acquainted with Pop Troll travel methods. She's already flown out to visit each of the other Kingdoms at least once since the end of the Rockapocalypse. "All the prep work was finished last night so all you need to do now is climb aboard." She explains with a curt nod, clearly proud of herself and her work.

"Well!" John Dory claps his hands together drawing everyone's attention back to him, "Sounds like that's that then, let's get this show on the road, huh?"

"We shouldn't drag this out any longer," Floyd agrees with a sad smile and a small nod. John moves first, stepping forward to ruffle Branch's hair before walking over to climb up the incline. He vaults over the lip of the basket easily and quickly begins looking around. Floyd follows after him, shuffling forward with a clear exhaustion weighing down his limbs. He walks right past Branch without even glancing back, hiking up the hill and accepting John Dory's help into the basket with whispered thanks. Branch swallows convulsively, trying to push down the lump growing in his throat. Did Floyd not even want to say goodbye?

A hand lands lightly on his shoulder and Branch turns around only to be wrapped up in Bruce's arms. Instinctively Branch hugs back, squeezing tightly and nuzzling into Bruce's comforting hold. Bruce's arms envelop him in a warm, secure embrace and Branch mourns the fact that he'll likely never get to feel safe in his brother's arms again. "It was really nice seeing you again," Bruce murmurs into Branch's hair with a soft sniffle.

Branch's own eyes burn but he forces out a small laugh, "Yeah, you too, man." He doesn't think he'll ever forget the joy he felt when Bruce first told them that he was a father. He was terrified and elated at the idea of being an uncle. Bruce pulls back and wipes his eyes, a bright and happy smile on his face before he, too, leaves. It's getting harder and harder for Branch to keep his expression neutral and he finds himself desperately wishing for Clay and Viva to make their leave before he starts to break again.

Clay, thankfully, steps in and pulls Branch into a side hug with the manual tucked neatly under his other arm. Viva detaches to go say her own farewells to Poppy and Branch is pitifully grateful for the modicum of privacy. Clay presses their temples together with a lop-sided grin, "Take care of yourself, okay?" He extracts himself quickly but also reaches out to ruffle Branch's hair like John Dory had and Branch doesn't even try to push him away.

"Yeah, you too." Branch tries to smile back but his world is starting to feel dark and desaturated again. He wonders if Poppy would notice. She insists that she can see his hues shift with his mood even when Branch himself couldn't tell. He wonders if she can see the color draining out of him the way it feels like it should be. Watching Clay turn away and stride confidently over to the balloon stirs something deep and anguished in Branch's chest and he stomps down the urge to reach out and ask them to come back. It was too familiar watching them leave and being powerless to make them stay.

Viva and Poppy wrap up their own muted conversation and share a tight hug before Viva rushes off after Clay. They climb into the basket together, talking excitedly about something or another, and it makes Branch's stomach churn seeing them all so content while his world crashes down around him again. He realizes with sudden and startling clarity that he has to say goodbye. He can't let them leave this time without saying something.

He scrambles forward before Poppy can make her way back to his side and looks up into the basket with wild eyes. Floyd spots him first and his merry expression drops immediately but Branch speaks before Floyd gets a chance to question him. "I know it probably doesn't mean much," Branch starts hesitantly and has to take a calming breath when his brothers' attention shifts unwaveringly to him. "But I'm going to miss you guys." John shares a confused look with Bruce and Clay while Floyd's frown only becomes more pronounced. Floyd moves back towards the edge of the basket with a shake of his head.

"What do you mean? Of course it means something," Floyd assures softly, leaning over the rim to better meet Branch's eyes. Floyd's scanning him over and it makes Branch feel exposed.

Branch tries to laugh it off, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "I guess I wanted to make sure that you knew this time." He cringes the second the words leave his mouth, "That came out wrong--" He immediately tries to backtrack before he ruins any chance he has at ever seeing any of his brothers ever again.

"Back up," John Dory cuts in, appearing at Floyd's side, "Why is this starting to sound like goodbye?"

Branch freezes, dumbfounded, and blinks up at them. His anxiety is drowned out quickly by his confusion, "..isn't it?" He asks only to be met with two startled faces. Branch cranes his neck to look at Bruce and Clay so he can see if they're as confused as he is but they look just as upset as John and Floyd do.

"Hey, Viv, maybe we should give them a second." Poppy chimes in from somewhere behind him and he watches distractedly as Viva climbs back out of the balloon and walks off somewhere with her sister. He's sure he'll be grateful to Poppy for this later but right now he's just trying to get his thoughts sorted. Why were they so shocked? Did his brothers really think that he was that oblivious? He wasn't blind, it was easy to see that they were keeping him away from their important conversations.

John Dory hops over the rim of the basket and lands neatly in front of Branch, "Why in the world would this be goodbye?" He asks urgently. There's something desperate in his eyes that Branch can't quite discern but he doesn't understand why they're the ones making such a fuss about this. He was the one who had a right to be upset but he was trying to let them go.

Branch tilts his head and scoffs, sparing a glance at the hill where Bruce is carefully helping Floyd back out of the balloon before turning his attention back to John, "Aren't you guys leaving?" He raises an eyebrow, crossing his arms to keep himself from fidgeting with the hem of his vest. John Dory gestures to him frantically, making an exaggerated noise of disbelief before turning to the others like they could possibly help him.

"Yeah, for now," Clay looks at Branch like he's grown a second head and it was really starting to piss him off. What right did they have to be so flabbergasted? They were the ones who made plans to ditch him, not the other way around. This wasn't his plan.

"Where in the world did you get the idea that we weren't coming back?" Bruce adds on, asking the question that was apparently on all of their minds as he lowers himself down from the edge of the hill to drop down beside John.

"It's not like you've been subtle," Branch snarls, taking a sick pleasure in how his brothers jump away from the sudden tone shift. Good. If they wanted to play dumb they deserve to face the consequences. "You've been here for almost two weeks and every time I happen to walk into the room the conversation dies. A few days ago you were talking about just how much room Vacay Island and the Golf Course have for everyone without even a single mention of Pop Village. Are you kidding me! Why the hell would I think you were staying?" Recognition is blooming across Floyd's face and he can see the realization dawning for Clay like it was happening in slow motion. The green-haired troll's eyes widen just a fraction and his mouth drops open into a soft oh and it'd be funny if it wasn't because Branch had known all along that they were planning to abandon him again. He was so tired of being thrown away like he was nothing and they had the audacity to think he was too stupid to catch on? Maybe Poppy was right and he should just cut his losses and accept that they didn't want him in their lives. He was better off without them anyway.

"You got it all wrong!" John reaches out and places his gloved hand firmly on Branch's shoulder but Branch jerks back with a growl. There wasn't any guilt on their faces but instead a soft, bitter understanding that was starting to make Branch feel cornered. He was getting real sick of being left out of the loop.

"Branch, please, just let us explain," Floyd implores. Branch huffs, glaring, but some of the tension falls away at his brother's plea. Floyd looks at him with desperate lilac eyes that are starting to fill with rising guilt and Branch loathes to see his kind-hearted sibling so hurt. He doesn't want to cave, he wants them to deal with how they've hurt him and feel the weight of their actions, but it's Floyd who's asking and that's enough to break his resolve. Branch waves a hand with a sharp exhale, silently urging them to continue before he changes his mind.

His brothers sag with visible relief and John Dory quickly scrambles to take the reigns once more. "We thought you were uncomfortable," he tries to explain and his face his twisted apologetically with such genuine regret that Branch wants to believe him. "Whenever we started talking about our plans for after we went home you'd start to get all fidgety or you'd just kind of…"

"Leave," Bruce finishes off. John Dory's eyes flick back to Bruce before nodding.

"We thought that you didn't want to talk about it, which feels really stupid in hindsight." Clay admits with a disappointed sigh. Like he's realizing he should have known better but he'd been so caught up in the moment that it hadn't even occurred to him.

Branch can only stare at them in disbelief, waiting for one of them to laugh and tell him this was some sort of stupid joke. "Are you serious?" He seethes, paws closing into tight fists that shake at his sides. "The first few days you guys only talked about how eager you were to go home," Branch had been a bit flighty at first and, in the beginning, his heart would jump into his throat every time they started talking about how excited they were to go back to their lives. He was scared. Scared to lose them, scared that despite everything they just went through for each other it still wasn't enough to hold them together, and he didn't want to ruin their happiness with his own catastrophizing. "You laughed in my face when you thought I wanted us to be in each other's lives and you think I'm jumping to conclusions thinking that this is the last time I'm going to see you?"

Floyd looks horrified. Branch realizes that there's a decent chance that Floyd didn't know about that part. "Branch, I'm moving to Pop Village." Floyd says in lieu of any empty comforts he could've offered. What's done is done, they couldn't take it back.

"What?" Branch breathes, hesitant joy bubbling up and peeking through the anger still burning bright in his stomach.

Floyd smiles and it's bright and contagious, drawing similar expressions from their brothers, "I wanted it to be a surprise but after everything I really don't want to go back to Mount Rageous. I still need to talk the details over with Poppy but I wanted to move here to be closer to other trolls again. To be closer to you." Floyd looks like he wants to close the distance between them and Branch is glad that he doesn't. There's a tentative trust being built but Branch is still wired from the roller coaster this conversation has become and he's sure that one wrong move will send him tumbling.

"I'm coming back with him to pick up Rhonda but I plan to stop by often now that I know where this place is," John Dory gestures back the way they came towards Pop Village. It's plausible, it's all plausible, but Branch is still hesitant to believe them. He doesn't know what he'd do if all these reassurances were empty and meaningless.

Bruce steps forward slowly, raising his hands in surrender when Branch takes a hasty step back. His face is soft and open when he speaks, "I'm sorry we weren't really thinking, Branch. And we never should have implied that we didn't want to be a family again. We were frustrated and angry and tensions were high but adding everything up it's not too hard to see how you came to these conclusions," Branch wonders if this is what a dad voice is. He never met his father and he never really had the kind of friends that would introduce him to their parents. He imagines that this is what Bruce sounds like when he soothes his kids and tells them that everything is going to be alright and that makes something small and broken buried under his ribs yearn. "We want you to visit too, B. I want you to come to Vacay Island and meet your nephews and niece." "And I'd love to show you around the Golf Course!" Clay chimes in brightly, eyes shining with unshed tears that contrast with the fond smile on his face.

"Have you seen your bunker? You'd be amazing at camping." John Dory agrees warmly.

"We just got you back," Floyd murmurs but it's loud in their close proximity. "I don't think any of us want to say goodbye."

Branch feels the last of his protective anger drain out of him and sucks in a shaky breath. He smiles, uncertain and thin, but it seems to be enough to reassure his brothers. "Okay."

"We're really sorry, Branch," Clay insists, blinking away the wetness in his eyes and staring over at his youngest brother with blatant worry, "We really just weren't thinking, man. We never wanted to exclude you or make you feel like this was it."

"It's okay, really, I have a bad habit of overthinking this kind of thing," Branch sniffs, trying to be casual despite how his heart was still racing. He was already upset that he'd accidentally made a big deal out of nothing but it was admittedly nice to be reassured so sincerely. It soothed his frayed nerves in a way that was strange but welcome.

"It's not," Floyd disagrees quickly and Branch startles, "It's not, not really, but we'll have time to make up for it, okay?" And isn't that everything that Branch ever wanted? He'd wanted more time and miraculously they're giving it to him. Maybe this isn't the end, maybe it wasn't time for goodbyes after all. His heart starts to calm and a fragile hope begins to bloom where the anxiety was nestled under his sternum.

"Yeah," Branch nods, his smile shifting into something lighter, "I'd like that."

John reaches forward and snags Branch by the wrist, tugging him forward before Branch could even think to ask what was going on. John Dory's arms wrap around him in a bone-crushing hug, "I'll be back, got it?" He says firmly into Branch's hair. Branch nods into John Dory's shoulder, arms raised with shocked uncertainty. He gives in after a few beats and hugs his brother back as tightly as he can.

Branch lets the hug linger, grasping tightly to the leather of John Dory's vest until the contact starts to make his skin itch. He detaches himself stiffly, shaking out his arms with an awkward chuckle, "You guys really should get going, though. You're burning daylight." It still hurts to see them go but it feels different than it had before.

"That's probably for the best, huh?" Floyd agrees, reaching out a hand to Clay in a silent request for help that the older troll quickly jumps to oblige.

Branch uses the time it takes his brothers to hoist themselves back into the basket to compose himself. These past few weeks have been incredibly jarring and he thinks that he's seen enough of his emotions for the next few months but… it's also been surprisingly rewarding. He turns to scan the treeline hoping to spot a flash of pink but he doesn't even have to go looking before Poppy and Viva pop into view already making their way back over. They had to of been watching from a distance but Branch is confident that Poppy would have dragged them far enough away that they couldn't have overhead anything so he's not worried.

Viva bounds back over to the balloon and practically tackles Clay in her dash over to him. They immediately start talking quietly and this time Branch can admire their dynamic without any clouds of resentment hanging over him.

"You got this thing figured out?" Branch asks. "Totally. No need to worry," Clay assures, raising the manual and wiggling it for emphasis. Branch is glad that there's someone on that thing who'll actually read the instructions.

"I'll see you around, then, I guess." Branch smiles.

"Soon," Bruce promises.

With that they cut the ropes holding the balloon down and start the ascent into the open air. Branch and Poppy wave with vastly different levels of energy and their siblings wave back. There's no pit in Branch's stomach as he watches them get further and further away and no crushing sorrow when they say their goodbyes. It's not goodbye this time, not really, it's see you later. That makes him feel lighter than he has in days.

"You're looking blue," Poppy admires at his side, slotting her paw into his like it's meant to be there. You're looking happy, she means.

"I am." He admits quietly and is surprised to find that he means it.

72 notes · View notes