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dilatorywriting · 1 year

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Heroes vs. Villains : Octavinelle

Gender Neutral Reader x Octavinelle vs. Rielle Word Count: 1.5k

Summary: Woe to the Ramshackle Prefect, being caught up in the drama between the Disney Villains and their respective heroes. Octavinelle Version. ie. The Tweels' idea of fun is torture and an unsuspecting, red-headed, hero steps in to save the day

[PART 1] [PART 2]

You were floating contentedly on a soft, yellow, raft. Enjoying the sun on your face and the gentle lap of the waves against your toes.

And then you were not.

And who was to blame for your sudden descent into the swirling, shadowed, riptides of the bay? Well, a pair of sharp smiles popping in and out of your water-logged vision was proof enough. Go swimming with Jade and Floyd, Azul had said. They’ll genuinely appreciate it, he’d said.

And what if they kill me? You’d said. Eat me? Drown me? Fill my swimsuit with sand and rocks, and then leave me at the bottom of the ocean?

Oh, they like you too much for that, he’d huffed, something sour and resigned twisting at his mouth. They may just… play with you a bit.

CLUNK CLUNK went the first of many stones as Floyd unloaded his mucky haul over your flailing shoulders. You could see the bubbles of his laughter swirling through the water, soon joined by the more subtle froth of Jade’s chuckles.

You were half-way through planning the best sermon to mortify Azul at your funeral when a strong pair of decidedly-not-eel-like arms wrapped around your torso and hauled you back to the surface.

“Are you alright?!” A pause as you hacked up a bucket’s worth of salt water all over your savior’s shoulders. “Well, clearly you’re not okay—but let’s just—I mean—I’ll take you back to shore!”

And so, you were returned to the warm, sandy, beach curtesy of a kind, sun kissed, stranger with a surprisingly good backstroke.

Once you had your feet properly back on the ground and had vomited mouthful after mouthful of murky water from your gut, you finally had a chance to observe your hero in all his glory.

He looked about your age, but there was a self-assuredness to him that would normally either speak of many years lived or many years catered to. Judging by his goofy but sugar-sweet smile and the swim trunks embroidered with what looked like actual gold threading, you were going to guess it was the latter. His eyes were as blue as the water he’d pulled you from, and lit with a mischievousness that was placid enough not to set your hackles on edge. The swoop of red hair atop his head was shockingly bright (and shockingly well styled, considering he’d also been submerged in that sticky seawater just moments before). Not even Ace’s awful mess of a hairdo could have prepared you for the blinding crimson locks curling softly against the breeze.

“Thanks,” you managed to wheeze out, hands on your knees and practically doubled over entirely. God, you were going to murder those stupid twins. Or at least dump all of Jade’s mushrooms down the toilet. And maybe get Grim to piss on Floyd’s basketball shoes if he wasn’t too much of a coward.

“Of course,” he smiled, gentle in the way that one may approach a spooked animal. Frankly it was a bit insulting, but perhaps it was just that having lived so long amidst your beloved, heathenish, classmates, politeness of any kind came across as suspect. “Do you need me to get the healer? Or—excuse me—the doctor? Yes?”

“I don’t think I’m that dead yet,” you mumbled and gave yourself a whack on the chest for good measure. “But I guess only time will tell, huh?”

Your savior looked properly startled, and you had to remind yourself once again that normal people did not laugh off horrific brushes with mortality. Normal people showed empathy, and compassion, and wouldn’t have dragged you to the bottom of the goddamn lagoon in the first place.

Sunshine-Boy shook himself out of whatever funk had swept through his brain quickly enough, and he stepped towards you with another one of those insanely luminescent smiles.

“Well, despite the unfortunate circumstances, it is my very great pleasure to meet you. My name is Rielle Tidal!” he beamed, and swooped into an odd sort of half-bow. It looked very much like someone who’d only ever vaguely heard about the concept of a curtsy, and was trying to pull one for themselves. His lips quirked into a grin that was so wide and white it was practically seared into your retinas. “Youngest Prince of Atlantica.”

You just nodded, hoping it looked polite and not put-upon. At this point, you’d had more than enough of second princes, and crowned-princes, and so-rich-they-might-as-well-be-princes. Youngest princes probably wouldn’t be much better.

“A pleasure,” you huffed and spat a sea-soaked wad of hair from your mouth.

Rielle’s inhumanely radiant smile dimmed under your lack of enthusiasm and he tried again, shoving his hand back out for you to shake. You did, if only because his dejected expression made you feel like he’d caught you kicking puppies or something. You managed to gurgle your name out past your salt-slick tongue and the burning in your lungs. He repeated it slowly, carefully, like he was memorizing the way it felt in his mouth.

“Well then! Are you feeling a little better now?” he asked, genuine worry swimming in his blue eyes.

“I don’t think I’m drowning anymore,” you sighed, and gave one, last, proper, hack for good measure.

“That’s good at least!” he laughed. It was such a strange laugh—not in a bad way. Just… weirdly perfect. Tinkling like bells and so warm it nearly wiped away the heavy chill that had seeped into your limbs. The most perfectly-perfect laugh that you had ever head. The kind of sound that poets could write endlessly about. After spending months with people whose giggles sounded like the rumbling of chainsaws or the underscore of a horror movie, hearing something so lovely and normal was… unsettling.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw the tops of two very familiar heads crest above the waves.

You fought the very strong urge to stick your tongue out and flip them the bird.

Rielle noticed your change in focus and his sapphire eyes tracked out to the pair of twins bobbing up and down menacingly in the water.

“Are those your friends?” he asked.

“’‘Friends’ is a strong word,” you grit out.

“Is it?” he gaped. “Oh no! I’ve been using it all the time! Do you think I’ve been upsetting people?!”

You had to physically clap your jaw closed. Was this a real person? Actually? Could a creature so pure and bubbly actually exist in the same universe where someone like Azul could charge upwards of fifteen thaumarks for a single drink?

“I’m… sure you’re fine,” you placated.

Immediately he brightened. “Oh! That’s good! So can we be friends then?”

“You want to be friends. With me?” you deadpanned, shocked.

His cheeks bloomed a lovely shade of pink that somehow managed to not clash horrendously with his bottle-red hair.

“W-Well, maybe we could—”

“Awww~” came a horribly shrill, familiar, drawl. “Did Shrimpy make a new friend, hmm?”

“Now, Prefect,” followed an even worse voice. The one that had lulled you in once-upon-a-time with its deceptive politeness and professionalism. “You of all people should know how unfair it would be to attempt expanding your social circle further. What with all your commitments.”

“Who’s gonna’ scrub dishes with me, Shrimpy?” Floyd whined, draping himself over one shoulder. “Or make sure I get to basketball practice on time?”

“And what ever would we do without the Lounge’s most beloved executive assistant?” Jade hummed, pressing himself into the other.

“Suffer,” you spat, and Jade’s pointed smirk curled into a grin so sharp that you were a bit worried you were about to lose a chunk of your arm.

“Aw, see?” Floyd cried, tugging your closer to his soaking chest. “You don’t wanna’ be friends with this lil’ Shrimp, Princey. It’s mean.”

You fought the urge to bite his fingers. Prince Rielle was taking in the entire situation with a look of abject horror. And also… recognition? You could see his blue eyes narrow, as if in deep thought. And he was looking over Floyd and Jade’s ugly, snarling, mugs like if he squinted hard enough, maybe he could figure out just what exactly these two demon spawn were meant to be.

“Anways!” Jade smiled. “We ought to be going.”

“But you’re still soaked!” Rielle objected, turning back to you with a furrowed brow. “And you almost just drowned!”

“Ah. Did you?” Jade hummed, arching a brow at you. You stomped on his foot. He didn’t react.

“At least take this,” Rielle offered, rifling around in one of the discarded tote bags in the sand to produce a giant, fluffy towel. “And, uhm, maybe this too.” He pressed something small and silver into your hands. “To help brush your hair out, at least.”

“This is a fork,” you frowned.

“It’s a dinglehopper,” he corrected, looking horribly confused. And you decided to take back all the nice things you’d been thinking about him earlier.

“Well, thank you then. I think,” you huffed, accepting the ‘dinglehopper’ with as much grace as you could.

“I’ll be seeing you!” Rielle chirped, as Jade took one arm and Floyd took the other—bodily hauling you in the other direction.

“No, I don’t think you will,” Jade beamed, looking positively venomous.

#twisted wonderland imagines #twisted wonderland #Jade Leech x reader #Floyd Leech x reader #Rielle x reader #My Writing #Octavinelle x reader #twst x reader #the tweels #jade leech #floyd leech #Rielle #Azul Ashengrotto x reader #Heroes vs. Villains #Heroes vs Villains Octavinelle Part 1

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friendly-stardust · 11 months

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These incompetent showrunners really went in for the kill with Aegon II's character assassination

I know this has been said over and over again already but I am actually truly amazed at how far the showrunners/writers went to completely assassinate Aegon's character to make sure that he is portrayed in the worst possible way. As this has already been highlighted numerous times, he is characterised even worse than Mushroom's degenerate description of him in Fire and Blood. They really went as far as presenting us with a caricature, a monstrosity that cannot be believable to be human.

This claim of wanting to make a grey character out of this mustache-twirling villain stereotype they have created to put up against a heroic Disney princess, is just an insult to audiences who came in to watch an actual intelligent and well-written show.

I have never seen such blatant character assassination disguised as some profound creation of a grey character.

In this inconsistent fanfiction seemingly made for the glorification of Saint Perfect Girlboss Rhaenyra, her direct foil and opponent Aegon II is made to be:

A sexual deviant, masturbating out of a widow in his teenage years, and maybe a pedophile (with that ridiculous sentence from the Brothel Madam in the horrendous episode 9).

A bully, mercilessly bullying his younger brother Aemond.

A rapist, of course! How best to destroy a male character in this day and age if not by making him an obvious rapist! And then they want to talk about complex characterisation? LOL! Sara Hess knew what she was doing here.

Of course, a sadist who enjoys watching brutal children's fights (also including his own bastards) in a pit - the epitome of a laughingly cringe tentative to paint a character as the ultimate villain.

An abusive husband to his sister-wife, obviously! let's just pile on, shall we, even when nothing in the text in F&B suggests or supports any such claim.

A coward, willing to abandon his family and his dragon (his pride) to sail away and hide, leaving them at the mercy of Daemon and Rhaenyra's whims and wishes - the complete opposite of his character in F&B!

A great work of destruction indeed! All of these are just blatant and obvious willingness from these showrunners/writers to obliterate his characterisation in order to prop up Saint Girlboss Rhaenyra, but nothing makes my blood boil more than the multiple sexual deviances (the abject rapist characterisation being the worst offender), and the implied abusive relationship with Haleana they completely created in order to drive home how awful Aegon is supposed to be seen as opposed to the complete whitewashed version of their favorite girlboss. Maybe next season, Aegon will be shown to be someone who loves torturing puppies, who knows?

And even when the actor TGC made his concern well known, those amateurish writers just brushed it aside, while someone who is on record for saying that she has not even bothered to watch Game of Thrones (the incompetent Sara Hess) decided to tarnish and destroy his character even more by claiming to want to make it more like GoT. Absolute joke this one!

I just recently read something about how Jesse Amstrong (Succession) listened to Arian Moayed (playing Stewy Hosseini) and respected his decision to not be depicted as a typical bad representation of Iranians in Western media and this just made me realise even more how inept HotD showrunners/writers are at taking into consideration valid concerns from one of their own actors.

Overall, HotD has just been a massive disappointment on the writing side. The writing is cringe and horrendous, making it just an expensive CW-level show with a bigger budget. A huge letdown and an absolute travesty of the book characters.

#hotd critical #hotd #bad writing #aegon ii targaryen

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alabasterpickles · 7 months

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😭 omg you’re Hades x Persephone artwork is so amazing! I can’t get enough of the comic strips! If you turned this into a comic series I’d totally read it!

I did have a question if you didn’t mind. What would you say your version would be of Hades ‘kidnapping’ Persephone like in the original story?

Can’t wait to see more of your work! Take care!

Strap in cause this is going to be a long(ish) explanation! 😂

Disney obviously took many liberties with the Hercules film, especially with Hades, so I’m kinda putting a twist on the abduction story —

Disney’s Hades is clever and a bit of a snake oil peddler so when it comes to the whole “throwing her over his shoulder and disappearing into the night” narrative, I just don’t see him doing that?

He’s never that direct. He’s got a back-door solution to all his problems.

Here’s how I think he’d do it —

I have the story mapped out like this: Persephone makes her annual appearance on spring and Hades is topside for some reason (possibly plotting the downfall of his brothers, semantics I’m still developing!) when he notices her for the first time.

Based on the show’s logic, I’m gonna assume he doesn’t volunteer to spend a lot of time on the surface during spring, considering how much he despises it.

Anyway, Hermes is making his rounds and notices Hades getting ready to make a move so he intervenes initially. But then, lightbulb! He figures it’s probably best that Hades find himself a wife so he’s too distracted to cause chaos for the rest of the pantheon. From here, he and several other gods start to engineer circumstances to bring Hades and Persephone together.

I’m going for a very Star-crossed lovers vibe on this one, kind of Romeo and Juliet, since historically speaking Demeter and Hades aren’t on good terms. Demeter has already arranged for her daughter to marry another Olympian (in this case, Ares. I’m using him because he’s pig-headed and bullish enough in character to rival Hades as a villain!), this is naturally a bone of contention between the two of them because Persephone can’t stand the guys.

I like the idea of Hades and Persephone meeting up secretly, going on “pseudo-dates” to get away from their Godly duties and the pressures of being them. They begin to discover they have a lot more in common than they expected. Eventually they fall in love and Persephone has to make a decision — break off the engagement with Ares or follow through on the marriage and be miserable.

Of course this is also an issue for Hades so as the conflict comes to a head, he offers Demeter an ultimatum, either she allows her daughter to stay with him or he unleashes the Underworld’s entire soul content on the surface to wreak havoc on the mortal and godly realms respectively (he’s bluffing).

Zeus and Hera both know this but want to see him happy and out of their hair. They decide to play along.

Zeus uses his divine influence to make a deal with his brother in Demeter’s stead, so Hades draws up a contract (as he is wont to do) and the pair of them agree that Persephone is to spend six months in the underworld and six months on the surface working with her mother. Fair enough, right?

Since the whole scheme wasn’t strictly consensual, Persephone is hurt and angry that Hades would be so cavalier with signing away her freedom. Hades tries to explain to her that he was only trying to protect her from marrying someone she didn’t love and by extension not lose her to Ares for eternity in the process.

Although it was “technically” against her will, it definitely wasn’t forced, because I truly believe Disney’s Hades would want her to be happy with him in the Underworld like any other version would. 😂

There’s a lot of build up in my mind before they get to that point, by the time any of this takes place they’re already in a well established relationship, but that’s the gist of it.

She eventually forgives him and they live happily ever after! ❤️

#there’s more nuance to it than all this but #I’m trying to keep it as concise as possible without leaving any important details out #👀 💦#asks #Hades & Persephone #Disney’s Hercules #Au’s #headcanons #OCS #animechick247 #I hope that answers your question!

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ithoughtitdbefunny · 6 months

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Vanellope Von Schweetz: A Character Rant

[Note: This rant will focus on the presence of Vanellope in Disney Dreamlight Valley, the good and the bad. I make these criticisms in the most respectful way possible, so please keep an open mind. And if you disagree with some of my opinions, I'd love to hear why! I can't shut up about this game lol.]

Wreck It Ralph characters have been anticipated since the furniture and clothing for the series showed up in Dreamlight Valley. But upon Vanellope's entrance, I can't help but feel offset by what feels like a change in personality for her.

Among film critics, it was pretty blatant that Ralph Wrecks the Internet was a synonymously frustrating sequel to the first of the Wreck it Ralph films. The blatant advertising and cash-grabbed inserts had made the characters severely lose their charm. Personally when I think about Vanellope and Ralph, I'm reminded of the amount of heart and creativity written in their initial premiere. The arcade-world and how it was presented, the clash of video game characters, the sympathy it made us feel for antagonists- it was a great movie with well written characters and the first Disney twist-villain I had ever witnessed as a child. All around- great!

My problem with using the sequel-written version of Vanellope is that she no longer comes off as a spunky kid with his ambitions and a mischievous demeanor- she feels like a character that thinks she's too good to be in Dreamlight Valley. Now, let me explain.

[I will use the disclaimer that I have not been on many quests or had many conversations with her. Simply because I don't feel motivated to.]

Sequel-vanellope has already spent time in Slaughter Race, a game she fought hard to get programmed into and play freely, leaving Sugar Rush behind. This new game she's in has very clearly provided everything she'd want. So why is she here?

To help promote the new photo-sharing system. Now I won't offend the writers by saying that was a bad idea, because I actually like it. But rather than having Vanellope STAY,

I think Ralph deserves a chance. Especially after coping with his best friend having moved on. I think it would have been far better to have Ralph stay in Dreamlight Valley to expand his horizons and to really drive home what makes the Valley so special. There's so much potential!! I could list what types of friendships and rivalries I think he would have around the village but I'd be getting off track.

TLDR: It's a little out of character for Vanellope to move from Slaughter Race to Dreamlight Valley. Ralph should have taken her place to make new friends and we would help him cope with her having moved from the arcade

#dreamlight valley #disney #ddlv community #ddlv #disney dreamlight valley

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jinxthejubilee · 1 year

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Disney Villain Recruiters Personalities: Part 10

The lady of the lamp! The sorceress of the sands! Our very own diamond in the rough!

Bust out those magic wands, carpets, and lamps for:

Faja (or Farja)!

For those of you who don't know, the Disney Villain Recruiters was a Tokyo Disneyland-only show held every Halloween. Basically, the minions of famous Disney villains come to our world to try and tempt us to join their villain bosses.

- By the way, they are not the sons, daughters, or genderbent versions of the villains. They are just minions.

- Also! I do not speak Japanese. Thankfully, there were a few that had English subtitles, but not a lot. These are just my interpretations of her based on the videos I've seen, along with my own personal ideas about his character. So, let's get started!

Faja (Farja)🌹

Another recruiter who is believed to have animal origins (that being a parrot) Faja was either found by Jafar as an abused pet, or she was found as an orphaned street rat by the sorcerer, not too dissimilar of Aladdin or Jafar's own origins. Regardless, Faja is eternally grateful to her master for his good deed and vows to serve him. If the Aladdin game "Nasira's Revenge" is taken as canon, I believe it is plausible that Faja was taken in by Nasira and mostly raised by her, hence why Faja wasn't present in the movies. Either that, or Faja was kept secret by Jafar and was instructed to aid in his plans and study magic in the background so as to not be discovered by the enemy.

If the former situation occurs in which Nasira takes Faja in as an apprentice instead, then Faja would grow to admire Jafar from his sister's stories about him, possibly learning more about his early years, and becoming more sympathetic and understanding of his schemes, striving to do whatever it takes to help him take his rightful place as sultan and earn his respect, despite the reality that he may not care for her at all.

Faja is a proud and passionate soul, who's bad temper and chatterbox nature conjures trouble up for her, much to her and other's dismay. She is very over the top and dramatic, being known to get easily frustrated, especially towards herself or anyone for having messed up anything important to her. As noted by Jack Heart, Faja has a temper to match the Queen of Hearts, although not nearly as scary, as her getting wildly upset, messing up a potion or magical stunt, as well as her general clumsiness has been seen as a source of entertainment among her fellow recruiters.

Despite her spitfire attitude, however, Faja has a softer side, being described as one of the silliest members of the team. She's one of the few who actually laughs at Jack's terrible jokes or puns and actively participates in games or activities with the crowd. Similarly to Lady Hock, she has a soft spot for children, even if she has significantly less patience for them than her pirate friend. She may panic or outright flee the scene when a child cries or frustrates her, but she will stay when they're calm and want to play with her or see a magic trick. Faja has been noted to become emotional if a child wishes to see her in particular, as regardless of backstory, she was never wanted by anyone growing up.

Evidently, Faja is also extremely empathetic, knowing when one of her coworkers needs help, but she will not see to the problem directly, instead asking for assistance from the others. Although if the desired person is unavailable, she will do the best she can to help them on her own. She might show her compassion in the form of food and different types of flowers, making their favorite dishes or snacks, or making a bouquet of flowers corresponding to their emotions so they might feel better. It's so NOT subtle, and she will absolutely deny any goodwill intentions she may have, but the others are appreciative nonetheless.

Jafar: If Jafar himself takes Faja in as an apprentice, then the two would have an almost father-daughter relationship. He is the calming force to her temperment, similarly to Iago. Faja adores him and strives to make him proud of her, even if she flounders along the way. She understands his desire to be more than a street rat, as they both were dealt an awful hand in life, growing up in poverty. He doesn't allow her to become too close to him, not wanting his image to falter in her eyes. He just tells her enough for him to manipulate her further. And although she is rather clumsy and hot-headed, Jafar sees her potential and trains her in becoming a sorceress. However, when Faja learns of Iago's betrayal, even cornering the bird to get some answers, Faja becomes...torn. She believes that she still owes Jafar her life after saving her long ago, but...even if the bird was annoying, Iago was her friend. All three of them were in this together, and now Jafar's become far more twisted than she could ever imagine him being. Faja is deeply afraid of losing what she had, and even helps to bring Jafar back a few times, but she doesn't know how long she can keep this up.

Iago: Birds of a feather flock together, as they say. Kind of. Their relationship is a bit tumultuous, to say the least. They ironically find each other annoying and have a bit of a rivalry for Jafar's attention. Problem is, due to Faja's clumsiness and temper, and Iago's status as the sorcerer's right-hand (or winged) man, Jafar is likely to trust Iago with the more serious tasks than Faja, which, of course, leads to more insults and bragging from Iago's side. Despite that, they do have some semblance of trust, having been stuck with one another for so long. Once she returns home and hears of Iago's treachery, she's reluctant, but she listens to him, having learned to have more patience in her time away from Agrabah. And while Faja does what she can to aid in Jafar's return, she gains a new perspective of her master. If Iago, the sorcerer's most trusted confidant, betrayed him after what he put the parrot through, what does that mean for her? Should Faja join Iago on the side of good, she and Iago would have a LONG talk about what they had been through and perhaps come to the conclusion that they should put their past's aside and start anew. Together, as true friends.

Aladdin: As any minion of a villain would, Faja hates Aladdin with a fiery passion. How dare this boy ruin her master's chance of achieving his dream with his own goal of finding happiness, wanting a loving family of his own.....and hoping to be seen as more than a street rat.....huh. That sounds awfully familiar, now, doesn't it? Over the course of the recruitment program, Faja realizes that she, Aladdin, and Jafar have a lot in common, but are all so completely different. Faja's anger issues stem from a lack of attention, stress, and internalized hatred for herself as a result of her poor upbringing. Aladdin, however, was in the same boat but looks at the world with a positive outlook and hope for the future. And that is, admittedly, very admirable. If Faja takes a turn for the better and redeems herself, Aladdin would gladly have Faja live in the palace as their court magician, and help the impoverished citizens of Agrabah, as friends!

Apple Poison: As much as she despises him for calling her magic a "pathetic imitation," Faja does respect Apple to a certain extent. However, she's not afraid of telling him exactly what she thinks of him, though Apple himself admires her honesty, despite how annoying she may get. Plus, she actually does her job well enough, so he can say at least that much. Though, he is guilty of escalating her anger for his own amusement, while she obliviously falls for his mind tricks. But, Apple can see how how hard she works to perfect her magic, however flawed it might be, and will give her some pointers where he can. In return, if Apple feels particularly stressed out on certain days, Faja will bake apple pies for him to keep him from whining. It's very sweet!

Jack Heart: Most of the time, these two have fun with each other. They tease, they trick, they play fight, just having a grand ol time! But then Jack uses her magic and potions for crazy stunts and pranks, sometimes on the others, but a lot of times on her. That's where the trouble starts. "Fajako" is NOT happy. It's bad enough that he wastes her ingredients, but he didn't even ask! He just barges in like he owns the place and "borrows" what he can find! Other than that, they have a fairly good relationship. They're both the silly and spontaneous types, so when they get together, it's a blast! AND! They can both agree with how insufferable Apple can be, so they join forces to take him down. It hardly ever works, but the fun is all that counts, right?

Malfie (Malfi): Ah, the group narcissist, wonderful... These two are, unsurprisingly, very sassy towards each other. So much so that they have their own stage segment called "Villain Sassoon," in which these two engage in pure, unadulterated wise cracks and cocky comebacks. It's glorious. And also extremely fun and/or annoying to their colleagues. In all seriousness, Malfie is a big thorn in Faja's side, sometimes literally. Similarly to Apple, Malfie is also quite experienced in magic, and he will make fun of Faja's failures at any chance he gets. Unlike Apple, though, Malfie doesn't have the patience nor the attention span to help her, and if he does, it's purely by accident. In spite of their differences, they have a surprising amount in common. Putting aside the fact that Faja might also be a bird, they both understand what it's like to be rejected by society, or in Malfie's case, by your own family. Eventually, the hostility towards each other dies down, and they start to have a more friendly, yet still teasing relationship. Someone needs to put that guy's ego in check!

Eight Foot Joe: As stated before, other than Ms. Hades, Joe struggles when talking to women, and Faja's constant loud outbursts don't soothe him in the least. Unlike the others, he doesn't laugh or mock her when she screws up her magic or clumsily falls or knocks something over, he just gets tired and annoyed at her. He honestly just pities her more than anything. As someone who slinks in the background and overworks himself to the point of exhaustion for the sake of perfecting whatever work needs to be done, the fact that she's so clumsy, over the top, and very much front and center, he mostly steers clear away from dealing with that. Faja, on the other hand, views him as grumpy and socially inept. However, as they are kind of forced to interact on a day to day basis, he becomes more sympathetic to her plight and, along with Apple, helps Faja with her magic, specifically potions. He's no genius on the subject by any means, but he has seen Ursula's work over a thousand times and has dabbled in potions himself, so he makes for a decent teacher. As thanks, she'll cook him his favorite meal and keep her complaints about him to a minimum. Well, it's a start!

Mr. Dalmatia: As a buddy of Jack and someone who's also been slighted by Apple, Faja has been deemed by Dalma as an honoray member of their squad! Although she won't participate in most of their pranks, being a bit more mature than them (sometimes), she will indulge the two from time to time if the idea peaks her interest. The two might squabble once in a while as a result of he and Jack taking Faja's stuff without permission, purposely making her extremely angry for the fun of it, or Dalma's dog tendencies acting up, but they have a fairly good relationship. She's like his clumsy, drama queen big sister that he never knew he wanted!

Pretty Scar (Mzuri): Two peas in a pod, these two. Faja often complains about PS's annoying, cutesy act, but she is equally guilty of frustrating and pestering the other recruiters with her outbursts, so who's the hypocrite here? Like everyone else, though, Mzuri grows on Faja, and the hyena's genuine curiosity of her magic ignites the wannabe sorceress pride, something fierce, and she can't help but show off her skills. Faja appreciates the enthusiasm, and she begins to see Pretty Scar as her little sister. Having been rejected by their respective societies, with Mzuri getting very little food, the young hyena is beyond thankful for Faja's delicious cooking, of which Faja has to make extra, knowing Mzuri's large appetite.

Ms. Hades: One of Faja's great friends, Ms. Hades has shown to be the primary recruiter, aside from Lady Hock, who can successfully calm Faja down. Faja admires Ms. H for her calm and collective approach to everything, having an almost regal presence every time she speaks, reminding Faja of her master. Although, unlike Jafar, Ms. Hades sees Faja as an equal, and despite the bird-lady's temper, Ms. H doesn't shame or belittle her for expressing her emotions openly, which is a breath of fresh air for Faja, and she is very grateful of MH for her understanding. Thanks in part to Ms. Hades, Lady Hock, and Veil's more calming personalities, as well as general experience with guests, the other recruiters, and the program overall, Faja matures and gains more patience for people and herself. Ms. H is known for seeing an obstacle with reason, and that kind of energy has definitely rubbed off on her. That doesn't mean Faja isn't scared of Ms. H though. On the rare occasion that the fire maiden is quietly seething with rage, while this may give Faja the opportunity to repay MH for all those times she's stopped her from doing something she might regret, don't think that such a task will be easy. If all else fails, run for the hills!

Veil: Another good friend of hers, Veil gives Faja the opportunity to comfort and help someone else for a change. Due to Veil's social ineptitude, Faja works as a guide to understanding social skills and cues. While not a chatterbox like her friend, Veil does enjoy conversations with Faja and somehow gaining a friend in this crazy world. Even though Faja is not as motherly as Ms. Hades, she has some big sister energy in her, and is often Veil's second person to go to when she's upset. When Veil comes to Faja for support, Faja allows Veil to rest her head on her shoulder and sit in silence. Should Veil still be in a downer mood, Faja will cook and bake Veil's favorite meal and dessert, and create a beautiful center piece made up of her favorite flowers. They both know what it's like to feel unloved, so Faja will do everything she can to help her friend feel better.

Lady Hock (Hook): Faja is always in awe of Lady Hock's charisma and zest for life. These two are more like sisters, the female versions of Jack and Dalma, that's how close they are. While appearing calm and collected, Hock enjoys chaos as much as anyone else. This lassie loves magic, on account of living on an island across a star, so any mishaps or wacky shenanigans that occur due to Faja's or anyone else's mistake is just a fun time to be had. Should Jack, Dalma, Apple, or any of the other recruiters cross the line, the following pranks should be an expected consequence. These two have so much fun together, they've described each other as the siblings they truly needed in their early lives.

Overall: Faja is a spirited and determined young woman who may be a source of mockery in the group, but whose eager and secretly tender nature makes it easy to love her. While she may deny caring for most of her fellow recruiters in any capacity at first, they eventually filled the whole in her heart that she'd been pretending wasn't there.

With Iago and Aladdin's influence on the other side, it's only a matter of time before Faja lets go of her master and his petty and psychopathic ideals of glory and worship. The only question is: Will Faja be strong enough to break free of Jafar's emotional hold on her? Or will she, too, remain trapped?

Author's Note: Thank you so much for joining me on this long journey! I really hope these pages were helpful for newcomers or just people in the fandom who wanted a clearer grasp at the recruiters' personalities.

Of course, this isn't the end of me talking about them, and I even have a plan to go back and rewrite a few of my earlier pages because I honestly hate how I wrote them.

But for now, thank you all again for your patience, and I'll see you guys later! Byeee! 💗💗

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nobodies-png · 2 years

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Did you play the kh dark road update? If you did what are your thoughts about it?

I DIDN’T PLAY BUT I WAS WATCHING DAMO’S LIVESTREAM THE MOMENT THE UPDATE DROPPED </3 honestly the reason I’ve gone inactive is because I’ve done nothing but work on wayfinder charm designs for the scala squad and the upperclassmen, you don’t uNDERSTAND IM OBSESSED

but but but, here’s some thoughts under the cut ! as usual, warning for spoilers ahead and lots and lots of text bc I’m a blabbermouth

ok so, I’ll start in order so it’s easier for me to keep track of

the disney worlds being more relevant AND helpful to the story

I’ve seen so many people say this and they’re so fuckin right, cause disney worlds used to be just fun places where SOMETIMES things related to the plot might happen. at best, a certain disney sidekick and their movie helped develop the main gang/plot but no one really thinks “hey KH2 atlantica really helped Sora grow as a person and was super important to the overaching plot huh”. like, sure, not EVERYTHING has to be plot heavy or super relevant, especially in a game aimed for kids but christ I literally erased all of KH2′s lion king from my brain bc the only thing worth remembering there is “look sora is a cute lion!”

it just feels nice because in other games, all these bad guys WERE meant to be THE hottest shit in the world, the scariest mfs you would ever face, but they essentially had nothing other than a fun boss battle and boom bye. nomura kinda spent a few games kicking maleficent’s dead body trying to make her relevant again.

so seeing the Scala squad actually make use of the magic mirror’s abilities MORE THAN ONCE was actually fucking revolutionary for me like, yeah of COURSE you would go back to THE magic mirror that so far has been doing nothing but answer any question you’ve given him. of course it’s cool when MALEFICENT KILLS BALDR’S SISTER because she hasn’t been directly relevant in anything since. what. KH1 or KH2. I liked that Hades, as the GOD OF THE DEAD, actually has the power to BRING PEOPLE BACK IF HE WANTED, if only for a bit LIKE. WOW!!! THEY *ARE* IMPORTANT AND POWERFUL PEOPLE

characters being more than just good vs bad guys. the morality and mentality of light vs darkness being more nuanced.

the main issue a lot of ppl had with Xehanort and Eraqus is that they were rlly painted as strictly bad vs good, but only Eraqus was allowed ??? some semblance of respect in the games ??? even if he fucked up A LOT. because he was, in the end “a good guy”. and Xehanort was just this villain bordering on cartoony with the funny wiggly fingers no one fucking understood but that you were meant to forgive in KH3 despite everything he did, which felt very undeserved

BUT HERE IN DARK ROAD you get to see more of everyone and their clashing ideologies and morals, which is even sadder in retrospect when you see that they’re extremely close and genuinely cared about each other and their world. Xehanort wants change, Eraqus wants to remain the same, Vor is conflicted because she’s right in the middle, the upperclassmen are willing to do horrible things for the greater good, baldr is. well. going thru it 24/7, etc.

Eraqus being so fucking stubborn and determined to eradicate darkness because to him, darkness is inherently evil, MEETING SOMEONE who thinks the same AND is willing to go a STEP FURTHER to help was SO good to me, like Vidar really showed up and did that

just like Xehanort, someone who knows change is part of life and believes darkness could be controlled if you’re strong enough, who has been an outsider everywhere he’s been, MEETING BALDR, WHO IS AN EXTREME VERSION OF HIM GONE WRONG TOO. its good, its very good, i like it

THEY ALSO TALK ABT THE THING I’VE BEEN WAITING SO MANY YEARS TO BE BROUGHT UP ??? ABOUT HOW DARKNESS AND LIGHT ARE EXTREMELY OBJECTIVE CONCEPTS AND UNIQUE TO EACH PERSON - the constant discussions between Eraqus and Xehanort about where darkness comes from exactly, if it’s inherent to a person’s heart or if it’s an outside force corrupting them and so on are genuinely very interesting to me. because there ARE people who are genuinely corrupted and shitty, but there’s also people who go through horrible shit and are consumed by their trauma and negative feelings. you’re not just “a bad person” just because you suddenly have darkness inside you. you’re not just a “good person” just because you side with light either. everyone is fucked bc they all have to make do with the things they know and what they think is right while darkness is out to get their asses

its not that simple, but with a single push anyone can go joker mode basically, it’s just fucking stupid to think anyone can be pure absolute light. DDD even touches this when it comes to Sora being perfect too, but he’s just as liable to falling into darkness if pushed enough, HELL, ANTI SORA IS A REMINDER OF THAT

sure, KH3 did drop some vague shit about Elsa being at the verge of falling to darkness BECAUSE she believed her powers were harmful and thus they became part of the darkness. sure, KH3 also had Aqua falling to darkness after all this time, but you don’t see why or how, she’s just THERE for shock effect and eh. ehhh.

alternatively, the lack of upperclassment content makes me sad........... I wanted to see them banter and see a bit more of their personalities individually

I love their designs, man......I wanted to see more of them...... just look at them... look at this fella...hes just layin down, sleepin, chillin

look at them... Vala took off her glasses to sleep, you barely even get to fuckin see these two bc Vidar’s dialogue box gets in the way but they rlly did that little detail...

Also the ninja, Vali, not talking and being sneaky bc he’s a ninja and his only dialogue happening during the fight against Baldr.... I JUST - LOOK AT HIM HES SO COOL AUGHHHH

like all fucking upperclassmen are so cool and strong like the part where Baldr summons a bunch of heartless before going to the tower and they’re all surrouned bUT THE UPPERCLASSMEN KILL EVERYTHING IN A FUCKING SECOND ?????

LIKE WHY DID YALL DIE TO THE ALBINO TWINK LIKE?? BRO

Vidar and Hoder are also really interesting characters from the scenes they’ve had. I think about the moment at the tower during the final confrontation against Baldr, when Hoder shows up to talk to him and because they’re so close, they know exactly what’s happening and block each other’s attacks. And when they reach out and they have the same expression. AND WHEN ODIN ASKS XEHANORT TO RID BALDR OF DARKNESS, HODER DOES IT BC SHE KNOWS XEHANORT IS HESITATING BUT SHE DOESNT BC THATS HER BROTHER. SHE KNOWS ITS BETTER LIKE THIS

also also, all the little details, tie-ins and foreshadowing too

I like how they explain that death is not commonly called, well. “Death”. because these people don’t die normally, they replace the word “die” with “disappear” because that’s literally what happens to people who die. BUT that also makes me really curious about the graves? What’s exactly the point of tombstones and shit if there’s nobody buried there, like it’s probably just so you can see HOW many people died and feel the weight of Scala ad Caelum’s story but idk, I would’ve liked some unique way of commemorating the death that fits the way they die.

DDD mentions that all the worlds operate on their unique timeframes and that they’re essentially looping over and over, but the restart happens at random. here in dark road we get to see the worlds BEFORE the restart, hence why Agrabah is empty, and the explanation for the constant swarms of heartless which I thought was a nice touch lol

this mention of the Final World which makes me think about THIS post right here saying that one of the stars in KH3 could be Hoder herself

then we see the conversation between current old man Xehanort and Vanitas about how Vanitas is most likely the remaining Darkness hiding which is A Lot To Think About given the fact that Vanitas has Sora’s face and Sora is hinted to be the next proper Child of Destiny (EVEN THOUGH I STILL THINK IT’S RIKU BUT ANYWAY) like yeah yeah, Vanitas looks like that because Sora and Ventus’ hearts connected very early on but how ironic is that ????

THEN that convo between Xehanort and Eraqus about how many lives they’d want and Xehanort has the balls to say 14 and then days later Nomura drops a fucking drawing of Xehanort in (possibly) Quadratum? yeah. yeah I’m eating that up

oh right, also Eraqus’ entire quirky trait about running away and shit? I thought that would come up eventually as in, he actually ran away and people died because of that choice but I guess not lmfao, that was kinda eh considering how many times it’s brought up in the beginning

ALSO the fact that their keyblades is a more fancy version of the starlight from KHux really got to me like, yeah. YEAH..... This really is Ephemer’s legacy.....

AND the fact that during Vor and Baldr’s scene at the tower, in every flashback you see EVERYONE fading away in light minus Bragi. Plus some of Bragi’s dialogue like his reason to become a keyblade master, it really is good foreshadowing

also Odin saying this :

to the guy who was supposed to be the child of destiny like yeah man, destiny sure fucking SUCKS. yall really fucking got this guy to be a sacrificial lamb huh

Baldr as a vessel for Darkness and his entire mass murder scene was pretty cool ngl

Again, I really like the scene where you get to see in a fucking row all the days he spent in his room grieving and mourning and spiraling, like. You know that one post that says “producers : you guys cant show anything showing death or blood. writers : ok *makes up a fater worse than death*” yeah............... the absolute irony of being possessed by the entity that orchestrated your own sister’s death AND your own demise is very very good

It’s a bit on the nose that he was meant to get absolutely fucked in the story since he’s been missing from pretty much everything and he has. well. White hair and a sister. That can only mean ONE thing and it’s tragedy.

THIS detail went too fast for me to notice but while rewatching the video I caught it and ??? BRO ??? I THOUGHT VALA TRIPPED BUT SHE SHOVES VOR OUT OF THE WAY TO SAVE HER

also really lets be honest, the counting is so extra and so good. the little quips and jabs like “OH DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING TO YOU?” and shit were also really funny to me like yeah, absolutely, please show me the flashbacks and explain what happened bc this is Kingdom Hearts and you fucking bet I need the extra info

I like how Eraqus insists that they can STILL save him while Xehanort was ready to fucking kill this guy and that moment of hesitation was all the darkness needed to give ANOTHER fucking speech about shit - a speech that works perfectly because he’s casting so much doubt in Xehanort’s heart by making it all about “it’s us and then there’s THEM” and kind of being like “yeah, the second your emotional support boytoy Eraqus dies, it’s fucking over for your sanity bro, I’ve been there”

and the entire explanation as to how constantly insisting that darkness is inherently bad has led to people like Baldr go absolutely unhinged because they start to believe THEY are bad, despite having done NOTHING to prove that, which relates to Terra’s entire journey and Ansem the Wise’s resentment towards Nobodies and consequent treatment of ppl like Namine, Xion or Roxas who CLEARLY felt things, were developing unique personalities but because they weren’t inherent light, then they weren’t worth the chance

so basically every goddamn old man who has become a teacher in this entire saga of games is a shithead lmfao. Eraqus doesn’t get to see this conversation between Hoder and Baldr, so of course he clings to that belief of Darkness = evil evil evil, especially with the shit Xehanort is going to start pulling right after this but like

man. look at them.

AND THEN THEY PULL OUT THEIR SWORDS AND THEN HODER DROPS HERS??? AND BALDR IS REACHING OUT TO HER ONE LAST TIME and the fuckin purple fart just has to come back to ruin it

also this ? THIS? yeah. I love the entire chain thing coming back, I also love seeing the gazing eye and waving at it knowing MoM is writing all this shit down

Vor. Just Vor. I rlly like Vor now

The second I saw her I disliked her because she’s small and cutesy and in media like this those are red flags to me because. All small cutesy characters usually end un being marketable annoying sidekicks with high pitched voices that I can’t fucking stand

BUT I really liked how Vor was present and important throughout the entire thing, acting as a mediator for Xehanort and Eraqus of sorts and also being the middle ground/indecisive person, because ofc not everyone can have super strong morals or want to radicalize the world. She felt like a nice balance and well, I guess everything in KH has to come in sets of three

I didn’t understand this part during her death at first, I really thought she fucking meant she belonged in the afterlife or death as punishment for leaving her friends behind and I was like holy shit thats sad as fuck, bUT LMFAO SHE MEANT SHE BELONGED WITH HER FRIENDS AFTER ALL IM DUMB AS BRICKS SORRY VOR

Eraqus in this specific frame, that’s all. He looks very polite, I like him, please look at him

anyway that was just to bait you all into reading this part and remember the line Xehanort drops about how Eraqus has done nothing but cry every goddamn night since everyone died and that he’s heard all of it. that was VERY good too I loved that and all the fanart it’s spawning from that, it’s HEARTBREAKING to think about, especially when Eraqus is trying to get Xehanort to laugh as if he hadn’t spent the whole week crying his heart out

and then Baldr’s entire speech about how Xehanort is different, that he’s not like Eraqus and that eventually, once Eraqus leaves or disappears, it’ll be fucking over for Xehanort bc all he’s done is chase after him desperately just casually being destroyed by Eraqus being his funnyman silly self, reinforcing their friendship and that if Xehanort ever falls to darkness, he’ll be there to pull him out

yea

anyway i really hope that the entire bloodlines arc in missing link doesn’t reveal them as cousins or something because. they’re my emotional support divorcees, they got literally everything - childhood friends, trauma, scarring each other emotionally and physically for life, keeping in touch for the sake of their kids, another divorce, absolute pure death and then a second marriage while ascending to the heavens, its amazing

THE Luxu reveal lives rent free in my fucking head you don’t understand, I love this man to bits

everyone used to be so fucking afraid of their favorite characters being part Xehanort or getting norted, now everyone is at the risk of being Luxu and it’s so funny to me as a Xigbar enjoyer

I really like that we’re keeping up the “brai” names lmfao, but also the implications are spiraling in my brain bc does Luxu pick people who have those names As A Statement or does he change them once he possesses them. what happens to the original owners of the body and where do they fUCKING GO, LUXU DID YOU FEEL GENUINELY ATTACHED TO THESE KIDS OR WERE YOU FAKING IT, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BY XEHANORT’S SIDE KNOWING HE MOURNED YOUR DEATH IN HIS TEENS, DID YOU BECOME A FUNNY MAN OVER THE YEARS UNCONSCIOUSLY BC THATS EXACTLY HOW THE MASTER OF MASTERS ACTED? WHAT IS LEFT OF THE ORIGINAL YOU, WHEN YOUR BODY IS NO LONGER YOUR OWN AND YOUVE GROWN AND CHANGED TOO MUCH TO BE RECOGNIZABLE, I NEED ANSWERS I LOVE THIS BODY SNATCHING TERMITE, HES MY PERSONAL SHIP OF THESEUS AND I LOVE HIM

The KHux player not being Xehanort confirmation is pretty sad but eh. The child of destiny thing and the bloodlines are interesting at least

I really really really liked the idea of Nomura trolling the fanbase who is very vocal and tired of Xehanort being everywhere by making the player ACTUALLY xehanort. it also made sense, Xehanort’s obsession with finding the people in his dreams, because those people were ACTUALLY his friends in his previous life, him being a superempath who leeches people’s memories and feelings is kinda eh in this specific context because I don’t feel it justifies all the shit he does to find Ephemer, Ventus, etc

but baby nort is very cute and I like that we get to be his grandparent and mentor for awhile, probably being the reason he’s also very interested in the outside worlds due to him being stranded here AND all the stories we most likely told him about everything. and I also like that he was pretty much set up to fail the second we died, doomed characters are very fun

I guess this confirms that Skuld’s descendant is Xehanort’s mother since he does mention his mom looks like “the girl from his dreams” aka Skuld herself. So that would mean Ephemer and Skuld’s bloodlines becoming one too, which is interesting, I cant wait for missing link..........

#kingdom hearts #khdr #khdr spoilers #not a prompt #mod demyx speaks

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thealmightyemprex · 2 years

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FAvorite Movie Ramble:The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad

Lets get into animation by looking at a childhood favorite of mine ,The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad

This 1949 film was the last of Disney's package films of the 40's (And in my oppinion the best ) ,telling two stories ,The Wind In the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Wind In the Willows tells the tale of J Thaddeus Toad (Eric Blore) a thrill seeking and fad loving rich amphibian who gets into trouble with the law when he is framed for stealing a motor car

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow tells the tale of Ichabod Crane(Bing Crosby/Pinto Colvig) a schoolmaster who seeks to woo heiress Katrina and incurring the wrath of Brom Bones (Also Bing Crosby) ....Until one Halloween night where the Schoolmaster meets a certain specter...

So OK,on paper this is a weird mix of stories :One is a anthromorphic animal tale and the other is a ghost story .We also have celeb narrators (Yeah that was a thing in the 40's Package films,theyd get a big name to narrate or sing some songs) and even the pair chosen are kind of odd on paper :To narrate a light hearted animal story we have....Basil Rathbone known at this point for either being Sherlock Holmes or being a go to movie bad guy fighting Robin Hood,Romeo and Zorro .To narrate our spooky ghost story we have....famous singer Bing Crosby ,who is not who I associate with spooky .This sounds bizarre......But there is a connection ,a small one but it makes the film work for me : these are both works of literature, one from the UK (Wind in the Willows) and one from the US (Legend of Sleepy Hollow) ,so the wraparounds are in this mysterious library,giving the film a very calm atmosphere,with a touch os spooky cause we dont see either Basil or Bing . The narrators are actually very brillaint choices ,for the English tale we have a respected and beloved British actor in Basil Rathbone ,and for the American tale you get American superstar Bing Crosby .I'm a big fan of Rathbone,and it is a delight to be whimsical for once instead of sinister ,and he does the dry wit very well.Crosby's narration is phenomenal ,he gives it this very chill vibe ,and I feel really captures that old school Americana feel

So lets start with Wind In the Willows ,which is a fun comic romp .I due find this segment charming and underrated ,though I do prefer other tellings of this story(My favorite being the stage musical and I have a soft spot for the Rankin Bass version),and I do find the changes to the tale kind of conflicting. See the story follows Mole and Ratty while Toad is more of an agent of chaos ,but in this movie Mole and Ratty are just side characters and gives the spotlight to Toad......But I get why cause Toads a fun character .I also get why the story makes Toad more heroic,with him being tricked into giving Toad Hall to the villainous weasals and framed for the motor car theft.On one hand I think it is much funnier when he just steals the car ,but on the other it is more thematically satisfying for Toad to prove his innocence and take down some baddies then just shooing away some random weasals who randomly moved in .The only change I puresly dont like is the central villain Winky cause despite a fun design ....He doesnt really do much to show off his character .Other then that I really like this segment .I think Toad is played marvelously by Eric Blore ,I like the new character Cyril the horse who is even more hilarious with some of the funniest moments in the segment(PRobabbly my favorite Disney character played by J Pat O Malley ) ,and the battle for the deed in Toad Hall is a very fun set piece

But the best part of the film is really the Sleepy Hollow segment,which is almost a silent film,it is all told through song and narration.All of Ichabod and Broms singing is provided by Bing Crosby , though Pinto Colvig provides the laughter and screams of Ichabod .So with not much dialogue this one is a real animation showcase ,especially on Ichabod.I also like that its not cut and dry ,Brom despite being the model for Gaston in Beauty in the Beast and a prankster,is specifically pointed out not to be malicious and seems to genuinely be into Katrina ,Katrina has a manipulative side and Ichabod welll he is full of vice,one of the reasons he wants to woo Katrina is for her fortune ,but honestly I love that they have nuance.EVen though Ichabod has his jerkish qualities,I still like him ,you genuinely feel for him when he is scared.There also a lot of great comedy business .....But thats not what ya'll wanna hear about...So lets just cut to the chase....Litterally

The best part of the movie....Is the finale,where ol Ichabod after hearing a scary story on Halloween goes to ride in the woods.....And meets the Headless Horseman .....The Horseman was the scariest Disney villain to me as a kid. His shadowy figure ,the way he just relentlessly swings at Ichabod .....But most of all his DEMONIC laughter provided by Billy Bletcher AKA Peg Leg Pete (Best evil laugh ever by the way ) ,he just scared the hell out of me and even now I find him intimidating .The whole chase scene is amazing ,it is one of my favorite climaxes in all of Disney while still being very scary and I like the ambiguous /almsot dark note it ends on

(Also spoiler,my personal reading is that while in the original tale it is Brom disguised as the Horseman....In the film I genuinely believe the Horseman is a supernatural entity .Also in both story and film,I think the Horseman killed Ichabod )

Now lets get to the songs which are a staple of Disney .Gonna rank them

4.KAtrina:Its good just the one thats the one thats the least memorable to me

3.Ichabod:I actually love this one with everyone reacting to this weird guy ,gives me Belle from Beauty and the Beast vibes but more 40's

2.MerrilyOn Our Way to Nowhere:UNDERRATED ,I love this energetic song between Toad and Cyril as they wreak havoc through the countryside

1.Headless Horseman:This is one of my favorite Disney songs period and a must listen too during Halloween ,and I love Bing Crosby's performance in it

Overall this is a delightful watch ,highly reccomended

@ariel-seagull-wings @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark @amalthea9 @angelixgutz @princesssarisa @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland

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dans-den · 1 year

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The Mandalorian Season 3 Review

Hey what's going on everyone? Dan here and today I'll be reviewing The Mandalorian season 3 on this May the 4th be with you day!

Even though the season has ended weeks ago, I'll give spoiler warnings for those who do not have Disney Plus because these streaming services add up.

Now I love The Mandalorian, I've watched all three seasons and Star Wars content is the only reason I wanted Disney Plus in the first place. The Mandalorian is indeed Disney Plus's number 1 show and there is a reason for it. I enjoy the series greatly and in my opinion, season 2 is the best of the three. Season 3 I'd say is on par with season 1, it's rough in some areas, but overall still enjoyable story and entertaining to watch. I'll be going through what I liked and what I dislike about season 3.

One major complaint that I and several others have is that they intertwined the Mandalorian with the Book of Boba Fett show. They're doing what Marvel is known for and connecting everything in a universe but the issue here is that Book of Boba Fett happens between season 2 and 3, meaning that if you're new and trying to watch The Mandalorian then you're gonna be confused about what happened between seasons 2 and 3. A newcomer wouldn't know to go to Book of Boba Fett for context so it loses points off the bat just for doing that. Book of Boba Fett was decent imo, but everyone else doesn't find it entertaining and find it redeemable because of Mando so a newcomer would likely stay away from that show. It's not good when you have to intertwine two shows to get the full context of one or the other, it's inconvenient and just unnecessary to me unless it's meant to lead to a universe which if they plan to cool, if not, unnecessary.

Now with the Book of Boba Fett stuff aside, I do enjoy the continued story of Din Djarin and Grogu on their adventures, this time around we actually get to see them amongst the Mandalorian tribes and culture. I love the lore of Mandalorians and this is a great addition to the series and the lore. I especially like Bo Katan, I think of all her varients, this version of her is by far my favorite only matched by her Clone Wars version. Din Djarin played by Pedro Pascal is great and his character continues to get fleshed out with each season. Grogu, I can't say much because it's puppetry and effects and it's done well enough, it's adorable as well. I also like how we get the return of Moff Gideon as the Antagonist, is he finally gone? we'll see.

Now the episodes this season were a mixed bag. Don't get me wrong, most of Season 3 episodes are fun and action packed, but I'd say there were two episodes in the entire season that were just filler for the most part. Episode 3 was kinda boring to follow because it was literal filler about reformed villains because it barely served any connection to the plot. Episode 6 filler was Mando and Bo on a wild goose chase of a mystery finding defective droids for Lizzo and Jack Black (I love Jack Black but this is definitely one of his weaker roles) and the villain turned out to be Christopher Lloyd and makes it like we care but it felt so rushed and phoned in. These two episodes are definitely lackluster compared to the rest but at least the other episodes make up for these two so I won't hold it too hard against season 3.

I loved the last two episodes where the Mandalorians all band together to take back Mandalore from Moff Gideon and his Beskar Stormtroopers. It did Kill off one of the Mandalorian characters we came to know and respect but at least he went out in true Mandalorian fashion fighting till the end. Gideon got wrecked the third time around and Mandalore was taken back and Mando himself has settled on his land with Grogu as his new adopted son/apprentice where they're gonna go on many more adventures together. This makes me excited for a Season 4 and hopefully we will get a season 4. Though if we do get one, maybe if should be the last one but also the best one yet. Though this is Disney, so it is possible they will try to milk the Mandalorian until its dry but maybe I'm wrong there, who knows?

Overall, season 3 was pretty good and while I still think season 2 was better, season 3 still added to the lore and world of the Mandalorian culture. I would like a season 4 but we will see what happens in the not so distant future. Jon Favreau, you busted out another banger of a season here!

rating this season I'm giving it:

8/10

While I don't think it's the best season, I still think it's great and adds plenty to the story of Din Djarin. I would recommend this season just as much as 1 and 2 and you'll definitely need to watch the last few episodes of Book of Boba Fett to figure out what happens between seasons 2 and 3. Here's to hoping for a season 4 and make it the best and last one.

May the Fourth be with you all

See ya!

#dans den #tv show review #the mandalorian #may the fourth be with you #din djarin #bo katan kryze #moff gideon #star wars #season 3 #disney plus #din grogu #jon favreau

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twh-news · 3 years

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Tom Hiddleston made his glorious debut as Loki in 2011's Thor, which celebrated its 10th anniversary exactly two weeks ago today. Since then, the 40-year-old actor's God of Mischief has gone on a remarkable journey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as he grappled with the living in his heroic brother Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) shadow and evolved from villain to antihero. Now, it's time for Loki to step into the spotlight on Disney+'s Loki. Ahead of the six-episode drama's premiere, though, EW asked Hiddleston to take us through Loki's greatest hits.

The audition (2009)

It's well-known that Hiddleston actually auditioned for Thor's titular role. "I remember thinking I should probably do some exercise because Thor is a very athletic character. So I did that, got into his kind of regime and did my camera test, and put on the blonde wig, and swung the hammer," he says. "But I do remember on the piece of paper I signed, it said, 'The role of Thor/Loki.' I thought, 'Okay...' Long-story short: Chris Hemsworth is definitive in the role of Thor. I certainly think so, and the right decision was made on that day. I'm very glad it went the way it went."

Thor (2011)

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, The first Thor contains the scene that truly set the stage for Hiddleston and Loki's post-Avengers breakout. After discovering he's actually descended from the Frost Giants, Loki confronts his (adopted) father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), about the deception in a harrowing and transformative scene. "That's the creation, in a way, of Loki's status as a villain, is this intense feeling of marginalization and isolation, [and] that he does not belong, that Thor is not his brother," says Hiddleston. "I'll never forget doing that scene because I had such respect, and still do, for Sir Anthony Hopkins, and suddenly I was having to play tennis with him in a very emotional place."

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige adds: "There's just so much pain and angst in it. I think that is the moment that Tom really got his hooks into the audience."

The Avengers (2012)

Loki has many memorable moments in The Avengers, but Hulk interrupting the "puny" god's egomaniacal speech and pounding him to the ground is the funniest. "I had a piece of wire tied to my ankle and there was a mat on the floor, which was out of shot, and three of the strongest stunt guys holding the wire at the end behind the camera. The experience being yanked out of frame was one I will not forget in a hurry," says Hiddleston, explaining he was the only one in front of the camera when they shot it because Mark Ruffalo didn't perform the role via motion-capture in that first Avengers film. "For about two years after that, I couldn't go through airports anywhere in the world without somebody kind of going, 'Hey, Mr. Loki, I love it when you get Hulk smashed.' It became a bit of a thing in a fun way,"

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Loki loves to use his powers to guard himself both physically and emotionally, as seen in Thor: The Dark World when Thor visits his imprisoned brother after the Dark Elves murdered their mother. At first, Loki is smug as always and everything seems in order, but Thor calls him out and the illusion dissipates, revealing that Loki is broken and grieving. "There's this love of their mother that unites these two brothers, adopted or not, and they form a kind of unpredictable and unstable alliance," says Hiddleston. "That scene was really key to anchoring that film in something honest and emotional."

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Loki learns nothing hurts like apathy when his brother reveals he's completely given up on him in this pivotal elevator scene from Taika Waititi's eccentric and warm threequel. "I think it really affects Loki. He thinks, 'Oh maybe I got this wrong. Maybe I did have a place in that family. Maybe this guy is my brother.' But it was a really enjoyable scene because it was just a very quiet moment with Chris in a very calm space in a big, colorful, spectacular film" says Hiddleston.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

After evading death many times, Loki finally met his end when Thanos (Josh Brolin) crushed his windpipe — but not before delivering a powerful speech in which he accepted all parts of himself, the Frost Giant and the Asgardian. "The redemption of Loki as a character was achieved in that moment of sacrifice and catharsis — that after all this time, after all this journey of feeling marginalized and fueled by jealous rage, he would risk his life to save his brother and call himself an Odinson. And I saw this perfect closure in a way," says Hiddleston. "I remember Josh Brolin could not have been sweeter. He was so generous. I walked into the room and he turned around and saw me come in, and just broke into this big wide smile, and opened up his arms, and enveloped me in a big hug and said, 'I'm sorry, man.'"

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

But Infinity War wasn't the end for Loki. Hiddleston appeared as the Avengers-era version of his character for Endgame's time heist. "It was really enjoyable to go back to this version of this character that I played before all of the evolution with those actors who I got to know so well and we'd all been on this journey together," he says. Of course, that Loki ends up stealing the Tesseract and disappearing, setting the stage for the Disney+ series. "Where does he go? When does he go? How does he get there?"

Loki (2021)

"If you've seen the trailer for Loki the show, you will know that Loki finds himself face-to-face with the TVA, the Time Variance Authority, who are an organization within Marvel Comics that govern the order of time," Hiddleston says. "I suppose Loki picking up the Tesseract in Endgame might have caused some concern. It is very exciting. The world of the TVA is a world of bureaucratic order, and of course Loki is the God of Mischief and Chaos. So you have the forces of order and chaos coming together, and that's where our story starts."

Bonus moment: Thor: The Dark World (2013)

At one point in the Thor sequel, Loki shape-shifts into Captain America, with Chris Evans making a cameo, while he and his brother escape Asgard. However, there's a version of that scene in which Hiddleston actually puts on the star-spangled hero's costumes himself. "[That] was a very strange and surreal moment, nevertheless enjoyable. So I got to feel whatever the feeling of wearing that suit [is], which is definitely a moment," Hiddleston recalls. "Then, they played that footage to Chris, and he did his best impression of me doing an impression him, and he does it brilliantly." High-praise from the God of impressions.

#Tom Hiddleston #Interview #Article #entertainment weekly #loki #loki series #Long post

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otterskin · 3 years

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Dumb Details From the Loki Trailer I noticed but then got too serious about

First - apparently it’s not a trailer, so I guess we’ll get ‘Trailer 1′ later? ‘Exclusive Clip’ hardly seems accurate, but hey, I’m not Disney’s marketing division. I wouldn’t live in a shoebox if I was.

Dumb detail no. 1:

Owen Wilson’s jacket is...weird. Look closely.

And another shot:

Yeah...his jacket has a ‘reversed collar’. It’s a cut-out rather than cloth folding on top. Huh. What a strange design choice. What could it mean?

I’ve no idea, but that I watched the trailer enough times to notice this should concern you.

Detail No. 2

In this scene, we see what we can presume to be President Loki’s ‘Throne’. Notice the candy-canes. This is a Santa Claus throne, presumably from some mall Santa. This whole place might be in a mall, judging by the stuff in it.

But the Loki in this shot is not President Loki. Notice that he’s wearing brown pants, a thin brown tie, and the beige shirt he’s seen wearing in other parts of the trailer after he's apparently joined the TVA. President Loki wears black pants, a green vest and a wide green tie with a golden clip that resembles Loki’s little chevron he always has (more on that later).

So it would seem that Loki might meet President Loki here. President Loki might even be addressing him at the end of the trailer. It’s possible that his minions turn on him because there’s two Lokis and they don’t know which is the ‘imposter’.

Speaking of, there’s a minion with bicycle handlebars grafted to a football helmet here, likely meant to resemble Loki. I dig it. There’s also cans of food scattered among the rubbish here. Makes sense that food production is non-existent since everyone has resorted to wearing license plates and spoons. Love how tattered the whole aesthetic is.

This reminds me of the opening Michael Waldron’s script ‘Worst Guy of All Time’, which featured a similar post-apocalyptic setting after the ‘worst guy’ ruins everything and makes himself king of the ashes. That’s likely what’s happened here, but I hope that Loki isn’t anything like Logan Paul, who was the inspiration for that title character.

Ah, the mysterious female character watching a meteor shower WAY TOO CLOSE UP. But my eyes are drawn to one thing...

What is that oblong object with a shiny handle? Could it be...

A sword? I do love swords. Did you know there’s a bunch of pictures of me in the stock photos for ‘Fencing?’ That’s my cred for loving swords.

I suspect that this female character will be an amalgamation of Amora (shudder) and Sylvie and an alternate Loki of some kind. This sword is currently in her possession, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it or another timeline version of it becomes the Loki Show’s Loki′s weapon.

Loki has lacked a ‘weapon of his own’ in the MCU for quite some time. I mean, yes, he has his little knives, but they are many and disposable and something he chose for himself, rather than the two legendary weapons wielded by Odin and Thor, Gungnir and Mjolnir. In fact, throughout his appearances, Loki has seemed to want such a thing of his own - he briefly had Gungnir, and then the Gungnir-like scepter, and even tried to lift Mjolnir.

One might ask why Odin would’ve overlooked such an obvious show of favouritism. Why give Thor a storied weapon and leave Loki empty-handed? Heck, even Hela had the Necroblade.

In Thor 1, we might’ve assumed that the Casket of Ancient Winters was perhaps intended one day to be given to Loki, as it is shown with Mjolnir in the Vault and thus connected to it and the children who would inherit it. But in the comics, Odin did have another weapon of storied history put away for his second son: Gram the Sword.

It was locked for eons by Odin in a special vault which required five keys to be opened, and it was meant to be for Loki if he be worthy.[2] The five keys were infused by Odin with the powers of "journeys", "endurance", "secrets", "new beginnings", and "brotherhood", respectively.[3]

The sword, like everything else in comics, has a complicated history full of take-backs and twists, but let’s just leave it at ‘it’s a representation of Loki’s worthiness and belonging in the trifecta with Odin and Thor as a King of Asgard’. It gives him ‘equality’.

In the original mythology, it’s wielded by Sigurd to kill the dragon Fafnir, and the only relation it has to Loki is that Loki is partially responsible for Fafnir existing in the first place (my username is nod to this myth by the by. Sorry Ottär.) But hey, maybe that means we’re getting a dragon? The Fafnir would be very cool.

Or it could just be a bit of rebar in this mining quarry.

Then again...it appears somewhere else...

It’s easier to see in motion, but that’s a sword swinging on this person’s back.

So the hooded figure is this lady...shall we call her Amylkie? Does that mean she’s the antagonist of this show? Well...maybe, but I suspect the true antagonist is foreshadowed here -

So, what’s going on here? A young girl (Young Amylkie? Some other TVA prisoner that the guard is watching over? An oracle, A Norn, or a kid who wandered off from the tour group in a basilica somewhere?) She’s giving Mobius M. Mobius a...piece of chocolate. Maybe he saw a Dementor, I dunno. I suspect it’ll be a MacGuffin of some kind later. He looks pretty concerned here, which contrasts with his ‘another day at the office’ blaséness when dealing with Loki. But of course this is the eye-catcher:

So, Norse Mythology. It’s been Christiannized. You can thank Snorri Sturluson for that, but you can google all about him later. Let’s just say that he made many Norse figures into equivalents for Christian ones. Baldur is Jesus, pure and a sacrificial lamb who dies for a greater good. And the devil is...Loki. Something the Marvel comics and the MCU have continued.

Here we have a devil, dressed in green and with a distinct shape on his chest:

Hmmm...wait...I know that weird horny shape...

Ah. I’d say that cinches it. This is meant to be Loki. If you look at the devil’s hair, it also resembles Loki’s, being shoulder-length and black.

So, what’s devil-Loki doing? Laying an egg? Trying out a foot massager? For a second I thought it was a moon, but we see the moon over his left shoulder, amongst the stars. Which means this is - probably the Earth.

...Dammit; I live there.

So Earth is barren and being devoured by flames, likely caused by this Loki sitting atop of it (in a throne, no less). Aw gee, things look pretty bad, don’t they?

But wait - what’s that? Under the Earth (and, possibly, under the earth)?

It’s a plant. A shoot, to be exact.

Back to Ragnarok for a second. Ragnarok isn’t the apocalypse (something we see a lot of in this trailer - all of it seems to be exploring the end of days). Ragnarok is the fire meant to wipe out the old and fertilize the ground for the new. And after the gods have died, what happens? Well, Baldur emerges from Hel, one of the only surviving gods (hmm, seems him dying worked out, didn’t it?). He’s joined by Líf and Lífþrasir, who are the new first man and woman, who’s names mean ‘Life’ and who are pictured, usually, with plants and new life. It is they who are tasked who growing a new Yggdrasil after the destruction of the old. The previous first man and woman are Ask and Embla, meaning Ash Tree and Vine/Elm tree, so there’s a theme there.

So a new sprout, possibly a tree, growing out of the destruction of the old.

This fits with Loki’s role as understood in mythology. He checks the arrogance of the gods, including when they tried to achieve immortality (sorry, Baldur, nothing personal), and that keeps the gods at their best. After Loki is imprisoned, the gods become weak, unhelpful and foolish, and Yggdrasil starts to rot. Eventually Loki escapes and returns along with Surtur (who also resembles this figure) to burn it all to the ground. This is also referenced in Thor:Ragnarok, with Loki releasing Surtur in the Vault, a place of thematic importance to Loki and one that represents the hidden secrets and sins of Asgard). You could say Ragnarok continued into Infinity War, where Loki played an important part in aiding Thanos’ destruction, giving up the stone to protect his brother and essentially dooming the rest of the universe - but also ultimately leading to its salvation, even if, like Myth Loki, he wasn’t around to see it.

So, we see Amylkie literally start a fire in the trailer -

- in fact, this whole trailer is awash in flame -

It’s fire, fire everywhere and she’s setting them!

It’s possible Amylkie’s our big bad, but I think there’s a chance she’s either a red herring, or, much like how Loki ‘worked’ with Thanos in The Avengers, she is the pawn of a greater foe -

- a Loki bent on destruction, for some reason or other. The TVA is obviously aware that this is the case, and it seems like they might be trying to ‘fight fire with fire’ by enlisting one Loki to combat another. The villain could be President Loki, since there's evidence of 2 Lokis in that scene - or maybe that's one of many Lokis, and the Big Bad Loki is being played by Hugh Grant as Old Loki. In any case, it would appear that Loki will be coming face-to-face with the worst versions of himself, and many of them. And, if I’m right about this scene:

...Loki will likely eventually discover that even his ‘good’ timeline ended in the destruction of his people and home, plus his own gruesome and torturous death. Although I think the TVA will keep that from him, and just show him the happy parts in an effort to inspire ‘good behaviour’. Until Loki inevitably discovers the rest of how that timeline played out and realize he’s been lied to. I don’t imagine he’ll take that very well...

Damn, even our ‘hero’ Loki is burning stuff down! Does this mean that Loki is doomed, always meant to be an avatar of death and toasty destruction?

Well...let’s go back to that stained glass.

Hmmm...wait...I know that weird horny shape...

And there’s something else...the bottom of the Earth is being lit up, and not by fire. Light appears to be coming off this little plant.

What colour is this plant again? That’s right, green. Green is the colour of new life and growth and change and...hang on, I’ve heard that before, too...

Hang on hang on HANG ON... let me have a look at the shape again.

That’s...a letter. An L? For Loki? Like in the title sequence?

Wait...no, a different letter. An older letter. After all, Loki is old Norse. How do you spell his name in that again?

ᛚᛟᚲ ᛁ -

And ENHANCE on that third letter!

This, my friends, is a Kenaz/Kaunaz, or what would become 'K' in our alphabet. It is also known as the 'Loki Rune' (and the Ulcer Rune, for some reason. I suspect Odin understands why). It’s used to spell his name, but is also used on his own to represent him. Heck, it's even his Superman 'S' in the comics:

Runes are more than letters - they are symbols for concepts. So what else does it mean?

Primarly, it means ‘torch’.

And also ‘knowledge’ (ken). As well as ‘growth, change, the search for truth, decay, arrogance, elitism, feminine, kinship and creativity.’

...Okay, that’s a lot, but you have to admit it fits.

More specifically, it means ‘Mastery of the Fire’. As in, someone who has learned to tame fire so that it is helpful, not harmful. To bring light and, symbolically, knowledge.

There’s another way Loki’s been associated with fire - in the Wagner Ring Cycle, Das Rheingold, the opera that inspired much the Thor films’ aesthetic and certainly their helmets, Loki is called ‘Loge’, which means ‘Fire’. He’s usually dressed to match, too -

Many trickster figures are associated with fire. They are usually called ‘Fire-bringers’ - See: Raven, Lucifer, Prometheus, etc. They are often complex figures with a foot in different worlds, but who nonetheless help mankind with the gift of ‘fire’ - although they usually pay for it, and tend to be self-destructive.

(Side note. Lucifer means light-bringer, which is what luciferase is named after. Because it glows. Which is helpful in labs. In case someone needed to know that.)

Moving from a destructive fire-starter to a fire-bringer seems like a great character arc for Loki to take, especially given his rehabilitation in pop culture, the comics, and even wider culture. Loki has gone from being seen as an evil, deviant, destructive character to one who’s seen as a patron of the arts and creativity, of stories rather than lies. Heck, some scholars of Norse Mythology even posit that he’s the closet thing to a protagonist Norse Mythology has, so I guess that backfired, Snorri!). Being dressed in green and with the sprout clearly also being stylized after his Kaunaz, there’s foreshadowing that he’ll be capable of growing good things even out of ashes.

So, to sum up: Being ‘Satan’ sounds pretty bad, but with a little letter re-arranging like we see in the title sequence, you can be...

...practically a saint. Maybe even a saviour.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

#loki #trailer #details #meta #theories #theory #explanation #thor #tva #santa #devil #snorri sturluson whinging #christmas #fire #kaunaz #loki trailer

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alirhi · 3 years

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Loki ranting

Okay. I had this thought in my head of like just compiling links of all the Loki shit I've posted/reblogged so far so that when I get into a conversation about the show and how it fucking disgusted me, I can just be like "here. here's this masterlist post, go read all this shit. This is my entire argument, and not only mine, but a lot of stuff posted by people far more intelligent and level-headed and eloquent than I am, whom I happen to agree with." Because the alternative is constantly getting fired up all over again, and that is exhausting.

BUT! I'm stupid and don't know how tumblr works. Apparently I can't just be like "give me all the Loki-tagged shit I've got" I can only search all the Loki-tagged shit on all of tumblr. And I'm not scrolling back through all of my posts. I talk too fucking much for that shit 😂

So, I'll try to remember all of my grievances with how the MCU has treated Loki, and all of the excellent posts made by other, equally upset fans, and put it all together here under this nice, neat little cut for everyone else's sanity and scrolling convenience...

For people who actually read my shit fairly regularly - bless you, you crazy, patient people. I love you! - this is going to be a lot of repetition of shit you've already read. Probably at least twice. I'm passionate and I have a terrible memory lol. Sorry.

Anyway, first, for those who don't know me and haven't been following my explosions of rage for the past couple of months, some quick background: I do not read comic books, so Loki's Marvel comic canon means nothing to me. I know almost nothing about it. The reason I'm so in love with the character in the MCU is because I am an eclectic witch and the deity I've actively loved and worshiped the longest in my life (literally for as long as I can remember) is Loki. So when he was mentioned in The Mask, I squeed. When they named Matt Damon's character after him in Dogma, I cheered.

When Thor came out in 2011, I just about died from happiness. I was hungry for any representation of this underappreciated god, no matter what it was. I didn't even bitch about how underpowered he was, because at least he was there. But I'm getting slightly ahead of myself.

I can hear anyone reading this going "Why Loki? Isn't he, like, evil? Like basically the Norse version of The Devil?" Because I heard all this shit irl all the fucking time. And no. So let me give you a quick rundown of who Loki actually is.

Loki is a Trickster God. He's often referred to as the God of Mischief. He is not and never was evil, simply chaotic and hedonistic. Loki Laufeyjarson was the son of Laufey (that's mama; they changed her to a man for some reason in the movie) and Fárbauti. Right from the start, from his name, we get a sign of how Loki goes against traditional norms of the time, because in Norse culture, families were patrilineal, and surnames were "son/daughter of father" (which would have made him Loki Fárbautitason), not the mother. But Loki's surname is matrilineal. Feminist icon woo! lol

Though he's a Jotunn, Loki is counted among the Gods (Aesir) in Norse tradition. Depending on his mood, he is alternately helpful or disruptive to the other Gods. I'm not gonna sit and teach a whole text class on him lol but I'll use my favorite example of Misunderstood Loki - the conception of Sleipnir!

So, get this shit. This is also part of why I DO NOT follow Odin and never fucking will (a very small part, but still part of the reason). So, the other Norse Gods are petty motherfuckers, and they wanted some shit built but didn't want to pay the dude doing the building. So they were like "okay, if you can get it done in X amount of time, we'll pay you, but if you can't manage it NO MATTER WHAT, this whole thing is free." And they made sure he had NO help, nothing but him, his materials, and his Very Good Horsey. And this guy and his horse were fucking BAMFs. So it was looking like he was definitely gonna get it done in time, and Odin was like "nah, fuck that shit. I'm cheap." and so he sent Loki to distract the work horse. Loki transformed into a mare and lured the horse away, got fucked, got pregnant, gave birth to the 8-legged (for some reason) horse Sleipnir. Odin rides Loki's son into battle. Um. Kay.

So Loki helped Odin be a petty mf, and Odin got himself a new pet out of the deal.

Oh, also, because he's smart af and a shapeshifter and a master magician and genderfluid, Loki "fails" to fit the super fucking toxic and narrow Norse/Aesir view of "a real man". He prefers intelligence and manipulation to solve problems rather than violence, he's not afraid to behave like a clown if it gets shit done, and that grosses the Aesir out, so they constantly ridicule him for being "less than a man".

Loki is the God of the outcast and the misunderstood. The marginalized people from all walks of life. He is the God of the LGBT community. In modern terms, he's pansexual, polyamorous (married to Sigyn and they are deeply in love, but boy gets around and I've never seen any indication that Sigyn gives a shit) and genderfluid.

Okay. Focus, Ali. This is part of why I usually post multiple rants instead of one big long one XD The longer I ramble, the more I get sidetracked and forget the original point.

So. Loki's awesome, and being a Trickster, is powerful as all fucking hell. There's not much he can't do.

And now we come to Thor (the movie, not the deity). Loki's there! 24-year-old Ali is spazzing! All is right with the world!

Oh lord, they've actually done him justice?! Amazing! He's complex and nuanced and emotional, just like the real Loki! I loved this movie. Loved. It. The climactic thing with trying to blow up Jotunheim never really made much sense to me until someone made an excellent point the other day about Loki being raised in a racist society that was racist against his own race, he just didn't know it yet, poor child. Baby Thor was never corrected when he pledged to commit mass genocide, so Baby Loki probably absorbed the lesson then that Jotunns=evil and killing them all will win his father's love. Anyway, 2011 Loki was a beautiful, heartbreaking portrayal of the God I've loved all my life and spent 24 years longing to see depicted on the big screen.

Then The Avengers happened. And I saw another Loki very close to Norse mythology - mainly, how he's treated. In the beginning of the movie, he's sick, exhausted, and in pain. He can hardly stand, he stumbles and needs help when he walks. He was very obviously tortured, and the sickly blue light of the scepter's control is in his eyes. That gets less and less pronounced as the movie goes on, showing Loki working his way free of it, but in the beginning, he's a mess. Because he was tortured and used by Thanos. Marvel directly confirmed this, and that he was under the scepter's/Mind Stone's control. Loki's actions are not his own in The Avengers. He's under both threat and Thanos' direct control. The movie actually shows The Other directly threatening him to keep him on task, because this is not Loki's plan. It is not what he wants. He's being used and villainized... Just like in real life. It hurt to see this done to him, but the accuracy was too beautiful to ignore.

Thor: The Dark World comes out. I've heard people complain that this movie is the weak link in the Thor trilogy. I disagree. I think that's Ragnarok, for a bunch of reasons, but we'll get there. (And for the record, I loved Ragnarok, too. It was a funny movie. Infinity War and the Disney+ series are the only portrayals of Loki in the MCU that I truly fucking hated.) Anyway, good, fun movie. Had its faults, as all movies do, but it still followed Loki's real-life arc in a way. How? By having Loki dragged back to Asgard in chains and imprisoned underground. Again, not super happy that this happened to my love, and having to see it on screen was painful, but at least in the MCU he's not chained to a rock with venom dripping on his face for eternity, so there's that. (poor Sigyn. how tired do her arms get, holding up that bowl? best wife ever, amirite?)

In TDW, we're shown Loki's love for Frigga, who favored him and taught him magic as a child. We see his bravado; his attempts to mask his true feelings, especially grief. We see him slowly coming back to himself after the events of The Avengers, and slowly mending his relationship with his brother. He accepts that Odin will likely never love him, but Thor just might, because they were close when they were young. "I didn't do it for him." No, no my sweet, you did it for your brother, and a little out of guilt for what happened to your mother.

At the end, Loki fakes his death and escapes, taking the throne, and I have mixed feelings about this. Not the writer's choices here; I love that completely! A natural progression in Loki's story. But my joy is tainted by how closely they're following the Eddas now. Because Loki's escape from his prison heralds the beginning of Ragnarok. And Loki will die in Ragnarok. I don't want to see that play out in front of my face. I won't be able to handle the grief (spoiler alert! IW broke me. I almost walked out of the theater. Loki's death was legitimately fucking traumatic for me. I don't even care how pathetic that is. That grief was real, it was intense, and I still shake and cry when I think about it.)

Marvel announces that Thor 3 will be called Ragnarok. The internet treats this as a shocking revelation. I roll my eyes and mumble "duh" to myself and move on XD

Then they say Ragnarok will be a buddy comedy. I throw up a little in my mouth and no longer want to live on this planet. If they're going to make something called Ragnarok, could they at least treat it with even a fraction of the respect they've shown these characters thusfar? Jfc. I mean, I'll see it anyway, because I'm a whore for Tom Hiddleston lol. But come on, people!

I hated that they made Hel the long-lost older sister and Fenrir her fucking pet/attack dog. Those are my favorites of Loki's children! Hel is such an incredible badass that the early Christians named their dimension of eternal torture after her! They were terrified of her, to the point of naming the place that terrified them most after her. That's awesome! And Fenrir's just the best. I love wolves. Those two details, and Odin's retcon of "we're not Gods! ...lol, except your sister. she's totally a Goddess. and def gonna kill literally everything, so... good luck! byyyeeeee" pissed me off royally.

The rest was great. I genuinely liked this movie. Still do. And they finally used The Immigrant Song! That was pretty cool. If they'd thrown in Bring the Hammer Down and Thunderstruck, I might've called this movie perfect. XD

I wasn't totally in love with their portrayal of Loki in Ragnarok. Yes, the falling for 30 minutes line was funny, as was "I have to get off this planet" and "YES! That's how it feels!" And "Get Help" was funny as hell. But also, like... There is no way Loki would have been the dumb one in that first encounter with Hela. Also, he can teleport and project copies of himself and shit, so... He would not have been that desperate to go straight back to Asgard and bring her right along with them. Loki's not stupid. But whatever. Movie's gotta movie.

What I did love was seeing the slow mending of his relationship with Thor continuing, and the badass fighting on the bridge. I also loved that, like Real Loki, Movie Loki helped when help was needed, was quick and clever, and while he was carrying out the main plan, he was also planning ahead and grabbing the Tesseract. Yes, that drew Thanos right to them, but that's a whole other thing. Loki never would have left that thing on Asgard to be destroyed or lost.

And now Infinity War. Hooooly fucking shit. You know what? No. I'm not going into this. He was killed, years of character growth were erased forever, my heart fucking shattered. The end.

Endgame. IW hurt me so bad I didn't see Endgame until this year. I actually watched Civil War first (for context: I had actively avoided all Cap movies until this year because I fucking hate Steve Rogers. I find him insufferable. Did not realize what I was denying myself until I watched CW and finally saw the charms of Bucky. When he appeared in IW, I was so lost. XD I was like "...who dis? Murder Jesus?" also I just... didn't care. I was numb by then from crying through most of the movie over Loki)

So, anyway. Endgame. Loki picks up the Tesseract in alternate 2012, escapes, fans go "yay! he didn't actually die!" I go "yes he fucking did. Five years of his life, gone. Five years of growth and change, erased. Loki is dead. This will not be the same."

I was more right than I could have predicted. Now we come to the point of this rant. Sorry it took so long, but you were warned lol.

The Loki series makes me so angry I actually get sick to my stomach. It was fucking TRASH. When I praised Marvel for following Norse mythology so faithfully earlier? Yeah. I DID NOT MEAN TREAT HIM THE WAY THE OTHER GODS DID. I did not mean paint him as a pitiful clown, a joke, a caricature of who he truly was, with his pain and suffering played for LAUGHS.

This is supposed to be 2012 Loki, newly freed from Thanos' control. The Loki we saw in the beginning of TDW - snarky, exhausted, nihilistic. The Loki who rolled his eyes and said "get on with it" expecting to be killed.

The bumbling clown flipping on a dime from posturing to calling himself weak is not 2012 Loki. That is not ANY Loki. That is Tom Hiddleston in a black wig doing what he's told by a shitty writer who had no fucking idea what he was doing and was salty about his (bad) original script (for something totally fucking unrelated) getting killed.

In Episode 1, Loki is mocked, imprisoned, stripped against his will, tormented, belittled, and given a flippant summary of all the trauma Actual MCU Loki suffered that this one skipped out on, with no context, no acknowledgement of the trauma he's already lived quite fucking recently, and with the narrative twisted to not only erase all the abuse he's suffered, but to make it all his fault. And this is supposed to make him want to help these people?

And worse, IT FUCKING WORKS. WHAT?! I CAN'T- FUCKING WHAT?! Remember when I said LOKI IS NOT FUCKING STUPID?! So why is he STUPID?

Episode 2, he's a child. Mentally, this Loki is a fucking child. Now we've erased all the growth and development of his entire adult life. He's dopey, impatient, impulsive, desperate for a pat on the back and actually shows it. Yes, abused and neglected children crave the positive attention we never received, and we often grow up to be a bit emotionally stunted. But not all of us, and not Loki. Not as we've seen him EVER in the rest of the MCU. Playful and a bit callous at times? Absolutely! But not a big dumb fucking puppy.

Episode 3, a ray of hope, despite Sylvie! (I hate Sylvie) Loki casually admits he's pan/bi; labels never come up, but he admits to being with both men and women! He sings! Not really relevant to whether I approve of his portrayal or not lol but Tom has a beautiful voice, Norwegian ("Asgardian" lol) is a gorgeous, entrancing language, and I could watch that one bit on loop for eternity and never get bored. And then, finally, we see a glimpse - a glimpse - of Loki's power! He stops a falling building and pushes it right back up! Are we finally getting to see what he can really do? Will the next episode bring us Loki in all his glory?

Nope. 4 and 5 we see him mocked and pushed around and utterly irrelevant. Again. We see tiny reflections of what he could maybe theoretically do in other random Loki variants, but the "main" (lawl. main. it was the Sylvie and Mobius show. Loki was never the main anything.) Loki? Nothing. He wears his heart on his sleeve for no reason, bonds with the man who imprisoned, taunted, and gaslit him, is killed, and continues to be a moron and a joke. Always the clown. Always the dumb one. The one with the bad ideas. The inferior Loki.

Don't even get me started on that finale. I can't. This already took so much out of me. Fuck Marvel. Fuck this fucking show. I just... I'm done.

#loki #loki spoilers #loki series #loki negativity #loki hate #thor 2011 #the dark world #ragnarok #the avengers #infinity war #endgame #fuck sylvie #fuck marvel #fuck disney #this show sucked #ragepost #rant #long post #ali is angry

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thedragonemperess · 3 years

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What's your personal opinion on why Elite Force was so bad? Since I've ranted about that a lot and started the 'elite discourse' tag.

Introduction

I don’t think it was really bad. Yes, it was terrible compared to Lab Rats and Mighty Med (of which both deserved more seasons since they both set up so much and than threw it all away), but it wasn’t too bad. Why it was bad, though? They undid all character development, overlooked some of the best characters, and so much more!

Chase

There’s a lot wrong with Chase. First of all, they undid all of his character development and reduced him to a self-centered smart guy. (I’m not gonna say a mini version of Donald because he’s really more like Douglas, but they really just threw away his character.) And for character archs. When AJ made his list, he put Chase at the bottom. A good thing to point out is that this list was based off of the number of powers each person has and the number of powers each person has alone. So lets count how many powers they all have:

Kaz: Pyrokinesis and Flight Oliver: Cryokinesis, Flight, and Super Strength Bree: Super Speed, Vocal Manipulation, Invisibility, and Super Agillity Chase: Molecular Kinesis, Force Fields, Super Intelligence, Super Senses, Laser Bo Generation, and the Commando App (technically Super Strength as well, but that’s only Spike) Skylar: Flight, Super Strength, Super Speed, Acid Spit, Regeneration, and 21 other abilities (10 after the whole thing with Bree, but that still leaves her with the most) CHASE SHOULD BE #2 ON THAT LIST!!

And even if this wasn’t based on only their powers, he’d still be at #2!!

Then we have the Arcturian. The Arcturian Space Rock will kill you if you make direct contact with it, key word being direct. So Bree, being NUMBER #3 on the list (did I mention they overlooked her abilities, too, with the exception of one throw away line?), decided to touch it. After a series of events, she gets superpowers from it.

Bree got superpowers.

Because she was insecure about her bionic powers.

THIS WAS CHASE’S ENTIRE ARCH FROM THE BEGINNING!

And he wasn’t only insecure about his powers, he was insecure about his appearance, self-worth, and a ton of other things.

This arch was engineered for Chase, and they threw it away in favor of Bree.

Skoliver

Skylar and Oliver was the main romance of Mighty Med. Oliver had a crush on Skylar and Skylar was a lesbian didn’t reciprocate. This didn’t stop Oliver from trying to get with her, though. But the difference between Oliver persevering in Mighty Med and Olvier persevering in Elite Force is that in Mighty Med, he did it in a healthy, respectful way. In Elite Force, he became a stalker!

He watched her in her sleep, recorded her without permission, had a pretend version of her that he was dating, and more.

They turned a really nice thing from Mighty Med into something terrible just so that they could put less time into coming up with actual jokes. (The writers of these shows never really handled healthy relationships and comedy well, if Adam and Chase’s relationship says anything, but you would think [I’m only saying this because its Disney] they would put more effort into a romantic relationship.) The worst part about this is that they got together somewhat in the end of Elite Force.

Reese

Reese existed as a way to lead us to the finale of the show. She also existed as a love interest for Chase. She had the potential to be Elite Force’s Marcus or Experion, but they just didn’t do it right.

The Lab Rats’ relationship with Marcus was built over the course of two seasons, which let both the audience and the characters get to know him. Sure, we knew he was evil before everyone else, but how evil he truly was changed up until Douglas’ plan was finally revealed. He was also really close to a lot of the characters, so that makes it really painful.

Experion was one of Skylar’s close friends, almost like a brother, and we saw that play out on screen. He was only there for a short amount of time, just as Reese was, but he was already in a predetermined relationship with him. Reese had literally only met Chase that day, meaning that connection just wasn’t there.

(Also, was Reese just there to degay Chase? Because that’s what it seems like.)

Representation And Other Things Of The Sort

Lab Rats was a show that had a family in which half of it was married into. Shows have done this before, yes, but this showed the kids really just excepting it and not getting mad at their respective family. This was also a mixed family, which watching now that I’m older and really understand the importance of it, is really nice. Especially as a mixed person myself.

As for Mighty Med, and I’m starting with family again, it had a father figure who, more or less, actually cared about his kid(s) and was active in their life. It also showed him, a person of color, in a position of power. Skylar, who is a woman of color, was a badass who wasn’t boy crazy. She didn’t care about boys and the one time she did chase after someone, it was an introverted girl whom she wanted to be friends with which is pretty gay but whatever Disney. She was pretty freaking powerful, too, even without her powers.

Now for Oliver and Kaz, they were geeks. That’s a recurring fact in the show. It’s also something that is constantly saving all of their butts and was the main thing that got them their jobs. They weren’t picked on or made fun of for it, that was just who they were.

And unlike Lab Rats, Mighty Med showed a healthy relationship between brothers. Additionally, Gus was a really weird kid, but no one ever made fun of him, either. They treated him like they treated everyone else. He even ends up as one of the popular kids a few times.

Elite Force really just threw that all away in favor of (what became) a bunch of bratty kids in a pent house together.

Backstory

Mighty Med ended off on a cliffhanger, with Mr. Terror escaping, Oliver and Kaz obtaining superpowers, Alan meeting his father for the first time, and Horace using his last revival. Not to mention, Mr. Terror is Oliver’s mother and was supposed to be Horace’s wife.

And then they completely forgot about all of that and destroyed Mighty Med, killing all of the people in it in the process while also forgetting about Mr. Terror completely?

As for Lab Rats’ ending, it was actually pretty fitting and satisfying, all things considered. Adam, Bree, Leo, and Chase split up after defeating Giselle, Adam and Leo going back to the island to help the students with the big change (an update that let them control their abilities, hence no need for them to be teachers anymore) while Bree and Chase joined the Elite Force.

But why Chase and Bree? Sure, I guess the fandom Chase, but we did care about Leo more than Bree if we’re looking at it from that stand point. Now if we’re looking at it from a logical, in-universe stand-point, it makes no sense. Bree and Chase were the smarter, more experienced of the four, so they should have gone back to the island, while letting Chase and Adam join the Elite force.

Also, Leo has just become a mentor, which was what he was striving for since the start of the season. He was always being overlooked, and now, when he finally gets his moment in the spot light, its taken away from. That just really bothers me.

What Was Good About Lab Rats: Elite Force?

Quite honestly, not a lot. But considering the target audience, it was pretty good. Having two well received shows come together into an, albeit poorly set up and attempted, spin-off where they can have their own battles and story lines together is pretty cool and different. There are some flaws, like how Mighty Med logic and Lab Rats logic really don’t intertwine, but you have to keep in mind that this is a kids show.

It also showed Douglas being a pretty good father, which is really nice. Sure, he’s their birth father and/or creator, but it also shows them mending their relationship.

There were some smaller things, too. AJ’s introduction, Skylar and Bree slowly become sisters, and Chase and Kaz becoming friends were all really fun to watch. (The characters growing relationships with each other, period, were fun to watch.) The villains had good motives, and the small cameos from other shows (Bob and Crossbow [she’s more of a piece of what Mighty Med used to be, but I’m counting it]) were really fun to see. The plot could definitely be better, but it was still pretty good. And, as much as I hate to admit it, the show was genuinely funny. The amount of times I’ve spit out my water while watching this show is surprising.

Conclusion

Was Lab Rats: Elite Force as great a show as the source material? No. Was it all we thought it would be at the time? That depends on how old you were when it came out. It was, and still is, a fun show to watch, though. Yes, it would have been better if it never happened and the shows continued separately, but I’m glad that we at least have an answer to what Mighty Med and Lab Rats alluded to in their finales. Am I upset about Elite Force’s finale? Yes, and I will probably die mad about it, but we didn’t have as much time to get to know the characters and connect to them, so is it really that much of a loss? That’s up to you. Is it a fun show to watch? Absolutely.

#long post #very long post #long post tw #long post tag #lab rats #lab rats bionic island #mighty med #lab rats elite force #lr #lrbi #mm #lref #lrmmlref stuff #answering asks #fave

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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years

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Although Loki has been a fixture of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2011’s Thor, the character has never had his own musical identity. That all changed with Loki - the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest Disney+ series - and the music of Natalie Holt. The innovative, versatile score is a perfect match for the God of Mischief’s sensibilities and is easily among the best sonic works we’ve heard in the genre.

As such, we were excited to sit down with Holt to discuss the inspiration behind the score’s instrumentation, sticking up for her music in late-night dub sessions, and being part of the MCU.

I want to start right at the beginning. What was your reaction when you booked the Loki meeting?

I just knew that it was the biggest opportunity I'd ever had, and I really prepped hard. I went into the meeting with my ideas really fleshed out, and quite a lot of my responses to the script seemed to by some lucky coincidence fit with the directors. That was cool. I then got to do the pitch after the meeting, so I had to score the time theater scene in episode one, and I totally went to town on that as well. I really wanted this job so much because I felt that Loki was a great character and I was a big fan.

You and director Kate Herron were immediately on the same page in regards to using a Theremin for Loki. What was it about that instrument that appealed to you for this project?

A friend of mine had sent me ‘The Swan’ by Clara Rockmore ages ago, and I just loved the sound of it. I had also been listening to lots of BBC Radiophonic workshops, and I'd seen this documentary about Delia Derbyshire as well so I had all these 1950’s, analogue-y synth sounds buzzing around in my head. Tom Hiddleston has a Shakespeare-like quality to his performance, so I thought this needs to have some kind of classical, weighty grandness. So it was a fusion of those two things.

You weren’t on set for Loki, and I know that is something you like to do. In the absence of that, what sparked your creativity the most?

It was engaging with the character in a really deep way. The storyline really got under my skin and inspired me. I had the Loki theme in the pitch, so that’s been there from day one. And as for the riffs in the theme, I feel like Loki is the Salieri to Thor’s Mozart, so I was listening to lots of that. There's a bit of ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ by Wagner in Loki’s theme as well. That was all in the pitch. Then I had a month to write the suite. That was the Mobius theme, the Sylvie theme, and the Variant theme.

For all the hi-tech stuff we see in Loki, the TVA is also very analogue in some respects and you’ve clearly taken that into account with the score. How quickly did you catch onto that and are there any other ways that are reflected in your score?

I sampled lots of clock-ticking sounds. I worked with Daniel Sonnabend - he’s got lots of old analog tape machines - and we were messing around with that. The tape machine player almost became its own instrument. We had this big church bell for the timekeepers at the beginning of episode four. That was sampled and then downgraded, so it gets glitchy as it goes on to signify what’s happening in the story. I was just messing around with a lot of that in the background, and it's all over everything. There's always an urgency and a time-ticking feeling in the background of lots of tracks.

How long does one spend listening to samples of clocks before you find the right one?

I've got a lot! I'm sure they'll come in handy at some point.

I’ve read that you wanted a score that “reflected Loki’s personality.” What were some of the characteristics you were looking to emphasise and accentuate with your score?

Something that I touched on with Kate, from reading the scripts for the very first time was Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange. In that film, Alex commits these horrendous acts and he's extremely violent, and yet somehow you connect with him. I feel like Loki is the same. He's a likable villain. In the series, he comes to terms with his fallibility and it is quite painful for him. So I suppose my job is to help him reach those emotional depths. When he sees his mother in episode one, his past is calling to him and that's when we hear those haunting Norwegian instruments that suddenly seem to shine. Yearning for your mother is something we can all relate to.

We’ve spoken a bit about the use of the Theremin. What drove your selection of the other instruments?

I did this amazing lockdown project for an ad agency. They kind of got all of their artists to play Pass the Parcel with a theme, and we just did this lockdown piece. I'm not sure how successful it was, but the person that I got sent the material from was Charlie Draper who's a theremin player and a theremin enthusiast. So he was in the back of my mind, and I knew I really wanted to collaborate with him at some point. He played on my demo. And then the Norwegians... I saw them at a concert in Stoke Newington about three years ago. They're in this group called the Lodestar Trio. They're amazing, and they play with Max Bailey. I've known him for years, and I just went to this concert. He did all these interpretations of Bach, but with a kind of Norwegian folky twist. I just loved the instrument combination of the Nyckelharpa, the Hardanger fiddle, and the violin. It sounds mystical and magical and amazing. It felt like the perfect pairing with Loki’s past.

I read that you started with the finale and worked backward. Is that an unusual way of working for you or do you do that often?

This whole show has been a departure from anything I've ever done before, in terms of the scale of it, and, you know, the resources. It's all just been different. I think Kate and Kevin [Feige], the producer, saw it as a six-hour film. They didn't want it to be a TV show. The thing about scoring a film is that you do have that time to really craft themes and to have more of an overarching narrative than you sometimes get to do in TV because there's usually a quicker turnaround. And I guess because of the pandemic as well, I had more time.

I didn’t want to just work my way through the score in a linear order. I wanted to know where I was going and then seed it. I think writing a suite before starting on a picture, and having those themes in my mind before seeing the footage was super useful as well. I think I'm always going to do that from now on.

Are we ever gonna hear the full suites somewhere down the line?

I had never done one before. And I was like, “have you got any examples from anybody else?” So they sent me suites from a couple of other composers, like Ludwig Göransson’s one for Black Panther. I was totally geeking out on that. I heard Mark Mothersbaugh’s suite for Thor: Ragnarok as well, and that was kinda intimidating. But it was really good to hear that they've all gone through this process.

You get to see these epic moments in Loki before there’s any music to it. Was there any particular moment you watched that you were excited to work on?

I read the scripts, and I had Mobius in my head as something very different. I saw him being a bigger person who was quite slow, like a kind of cheeseburger-eating cop. The way Owen Wilson brought that character to life was so brilliant, as was the chemistry between him and Tom. I loved watching their bromance. It was really fun to score them as their relationship blossomed. When Mobius is pruned, that was so awesome. I loved episode four. I had seeded everything and built their friendship up. That moment where Tom walks down the corridor in slow motion with tears in his eyes… I loved scoring that.

Loki is a man of many multitudes, and the show goes down a lot of strange avenues. I love the tracks where you really get to do something different from the main body of the score, like ‘DB Cooper’ or ‘Miss Minutes’.

I had a bit more time for episodes one and two. Like, I had a month to score episode one. By the time I got to episode six, it was really frantic. So, with the tracks you mentioned, I just had the time to do it. Kate was like, “we've got a source track that sort of works, but wouldn't it be really fun if we could do a version of it with the Loki theme?” And I was like, “yep, cool, let's try it.” It was one of the upsides to the pandemic, that we had more time to work on it and do stuff like that. I did a film before with where I got Chris Lawrence - he's like a bass player in London, and he plays in orchestra’s but he also plays at Ronnie Scott’s - and he did the baseline on ‘D.B. Cooper’. He’s so good. And I sang on that track too!

‘Miss Minutes’ felt like a moment to tip your hat to those sci-fi shows and do a pastiche. So I got the theremin and the choir and had some fun with that piece. And again, that's got the TVA theme in it. I think that’s really nice, and it's something they did with WandaVision as well. There's cohesion in the score. Even when you're hearing this jazzy track, you're still getting the Loki theme and you're hearing a different side of his character.

You mentioned how you had more time to score the earlier episodes. Was there anything positive about having less time on the later episodes? How do you prefer to work?

I remember reading something about people who can see colours with music. I feel that I have the same thing with a scene. I can watch a scene and I can start hearing it in my head, and as I get more into a project... I remember watching episode six, and because I was so into the project and into the characters by that point, I was like, that's what needs to happen. I could hear it as I was watching it. I feel like sometimes if you’re spending ages working on something, that instinct can get a bit boiled down. Episode six felt like my most instinctive version of the music because I didn't have time to fiddle around with it. It just felt like that was my very undiluted response.

I like it. Natalie Holt uncut.

I just kind of sketched it all out on the piano as I heard it. It was very quick.

How long did you have to work on that particular episode?

I think it was a week. It was a very quick turnaround with the orchestral recording, and I thought we were going to need more time.

How involved were you with the track Tom Hiddleston sings in Asgardian?

They had found a Norwegian song, and he'd already recorded it. I was like, I think we need a musician in the background. There should be someone on that train who’s a little bit drunk and has an instrument, and it's a kind of space-age fiddle, and they're going to accompany Tom in the scene and I think that's going to really help. Kate and Kevin were like, yeah, that could really work. So I did a few versions where I just took what Tom had done, added some violins, and then improvised a bit in the middle where Loki sings to Sylvie. And they're like, yes, we've got to do this. So they went back in and shot a pickup of an alien musician in that sequence because I insisted. I really wish it was me!

We know that season two of Loki is in the works now. They better have you on camera.

Oh my god, I'm so up for it!

How did you find it working remotely? Were you involved in the mixing stage at all?

It was kind of frustrating. Getting picture to work in the orchestral recording sessions was a problem. Marvel is very strict about how a picture goes out because they don't want any leaks, so that was quite challenging. I could never send people the picture to play with. It's kind of nice for the musicians to come in and see what they're playing against, but there was none of that. That was a bit of a downside. With that said, it was easier to get hold of people because everyone was at home and really happy to be working. I don't know if I'd have got the job had it not been for the fact that everyone was suddenly happy to accept more remote working than they would have done in the past. So I feel like it's opened some doors. The frustrations and the benefits seemed to be in balance.

Speaking of opening doors, you’re only the second woman to compose an MCU score (Pinar Toprak scored Captain Marvel in 2019). That feels significant.

We're in a time, certainly, where I think people are very consciously opening up opportunities to all sorts of people that wouldn't have had those opportunities before, which I'm really grateful for. A few years ago, I wouldn't have gotten this opportunity until a bit further on in my career. So it accelerated things. We are moving forward. But the thing that I really struggle with… I went to a state school and I got scholarships to study music. It wasn't prohibitively expensive to go to university. I did a master's and I didn't come out with 30 grand of debt. The opportunities are here for me now, but I think if I was young and I wanted to go to film school I wouldn't be able to afford it.

So what bothers me is social mobility. I still think we're opening up our industry, but we're not supporting people being able to study music and being able to get into film, and being able to spend those years doing low-paid jobs from the ground up. I still think we've got a long way to go with that. But I think at my age and my level, I'm just privileged that I did have those bursaries and those opportunities to study music, and I hope they're still there for my daughter's generation.

You have a lot of synths in this score. How tricky was it to find that balance between the classical and modern instruments?It's a blend. There’s some in-the-box stuff. Some of the synths are recorded, and then I ran them through the analog tape machine to dirty them up. I've got a Juno 60, so I've got some analog synths going on. It's such a weird process, isn't it? Creating something and being like, no, that's right! Jake Jackson - who mixed the score - must feel like I’m a complete control freak. I was like, “yeah I really like your mix but can you just go back and basically listen to my demo?” I was quite specific with him. He did an amazing job. The D.B. Cooper track... I cannot believe that he made it sound like that. I've never worked with him before, and handing your work over to an engineer does feel a bit like, oh, how's this gonna be? But it was a really, really great experience, and I think Jake is a genius. He really gets it, and he was really collaborative and respectful of my intentions with everything. I never felt like he was trying to put his mark on anything. It was a really smooth part of the process.

What conversations do you have about how prevalent your music is in the mix when it comes to the TV side of things?

I was so obsessed with Loki that I couldn’t let it go. I went to the dub even when it was two o'clock in the morning. I just wanted to check in and I was calling Kate and asking her, “please can you turn the music up here?” I was like a dog with a bone until it was ripped out of my mouth and they were like that’s it now, this episode is locked. I definitely fought for things to be turned up.

You had a 32-piece choir for the last 2 episodes. What was it like to get that recording in? Are you watching as they’re recording it from a remote location?

They were a Hungarian choir. The male singers could really go down. I was adding notes in at the bottom for those guys to sing. I didn’t know anyone could sing that low. That was cool. I had never recorded a choir before, so it was a new one for me. I was really lucky to have Andy Brown from the London Metropolitan orchestra. He assisted me with the Brass and singing sessions.

I imagine that one of the cooler things about scoring something like Loki is that you are now part of the wider MCU universe. I think I heard hints of Alan Silvestri’s Avengers cue a couple of times…

I put in a Loki version of the Avengers theme at the end of episode 4. Also, at the very start of the season before the title card, it goes from an Alan Silvestri cue and then segues and then I take it over. It was really cool to get to play around with the multitrack from that. I was always a big fan of the Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther scores, so those were kind of my inspirations. I was just kind of honoured to be in the same league as those people and those scores because I thought they were great and quirky and had all these interesting flavours and textures.

I love that you’ve been given the freedom to be as bold as you’ve been with your score.

I wanted to do something a bit different, and Marvel's TV ventures... they're wanting to do something a bit different and challenging as well with this new direction that they're taking. It felt like there was a lot of creative freedom being dished out with this series, in every department. Kate was like, “let's try this DB Cooper scene with the theme, if it doesn't work then it's fine.” It was just trying things out and seeing what stuck.

I remember handing over my score for episode one, just before Christmas 2020. I'd scored the whole thing and was very nervous because I think it was the first time Kevin Feige and the execs were going to hear my stuff. I’d really worked hard on it, and it had a lot of live stuff. There was just one note back from Kevin Feige - push it further. I think that's so cool. As we went on the execs were really happy with it, I got calls from Victoria Alonso and Louis D’Esposito [Marvel producers]. They both rang me and just thanked me and they were like, 'we're just so happy that you've taken the ball and run with it'. I couldn't have asked for a nicer bunch of people to work with. I wasn't sure how it was going to be, I was a bit intimidated. I thought it might be a bit more terrifying. But actually, it turned out to be a really amazing, fulfilling experience.

Welcome to the world of Loki YouTube covers! How far down that rabbit hole have you fallen, and how much are you enjoying that side of the MCU experience?

It's really flattering. I’ve posted some of them on my Twitter. It’s just amazing how quickly people will post music from the show after episodes. They sound almost the same as my demo, and they’ve knocked it out in about two hours the minute after they’ve watched the episode.

Once your work on Loki was complete, how did you detox? Do you delete all your voice memos?

I've still got them. The TVA theme actually came to me as I was walking down the high street. I've got some in the bank for the future as well. I'm always noodling and sketching things down on manuscript paper. How do I detox? I just bought a new piano. It’s 100 years old. I haven't had a piano for a bit, so I've just been playing a lot of Bach.

#Loki #Natalie Holt #composer #interview

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jinxthejubilee · 3 years

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The Disney Villain Recruiters Personalities Part 2

Continuing our journey, we have the lovely entertainer, Jack Heart! For those of you who don't know, the Disney Villain Recruiters was a Tokyo Disneyland-only show held every Halloween. Basically, the minions of famous Disney villains come to our world to try and tempt us to join their villain bosses.

- By the way, they are not the sons, daughters, or genderbent versions of the villains. They are just minions.

- Just a heads up by the way, I do not speak Japanese. Thankfully, there were a few that had English subtitles, but not a lot. These are just my interpretations of him based on the videos I've seen, along with my own personal ideas about his character. So, let's get started!

Jack Heart ❤

Serving as a guard to the Queen of Hearts, Jack Heart was once a simple jack of hearts playing card. As the main entertainer of the group, he's boisterous, friendly, charismatic, and knows how to put on a show. As much as he adores being the center of attention, he's not too prideful that he hogs the spotlight ALL the time. I have this idea that while Jack is essentially the clown of the group, he's an absolute nobody to everyone else in Wonderland. He's just another card guard, what else is there to see? So he desperately wants to stand out and be someone.

The Queen of Hearts: As her loyal subject, Jack adores his queen. So much so that he wouldn't mind if she cut his head off. I'd imagine that they have the standard "royalty and guard" relationship, he respects and fears her and she treats him like a normal guard. You know, threatening to cut off his head every five minutes because someone ate her tarts....fun times!

Alice: I'd like to think that they have an adorable 'confident big brother and confused little sister dynamic. If Alice ever goes back to Wonderland, I'd assume that Jack changed quite a bit while in the Real World. He's not a normal card anymore, but he needs to fit in if he doesn't want his head cut off! What is he to do?! Maybe he'd help her get out if it meant that he could leave too. While reading about Jack, I found that he talked about Alice a bit. According to him, it was Alice's fault for his head almost getting cut off. I'm not sure what exactly he's implying here. If he's talking about the 'Painting the Roses Red' incident, that's not quite accurate since the three cards are a black 2, a black 3, and a black ace. And he's not the red ace card that got dragged off from the croquet match. So I don't know what that means really. But regardless, he is quoted stating: "I don't think that I can hate her, because she's cute. I wonder if she'll come and fall in again."

Apple Poison: These two can't stop getting on each other's nerves. Apple is very mature, calm, and collected, Jack is loud and chaotic, they're bound to butt heads. They fight like brothers, arguing over the pettiest things imaginable, from their height, to their age, and Jack LOVES to antagonize and start a fight when he's bored. But they do respect each other to some degree. Apple is the oldest out of all the recruiters, he was in Disney's very first movie after all. And Jack is the best performer out of all of them, and Apple finds that impressive. Overall, Jack just likes to poke at Apple for the fun of it, it's funny when he's angry!

Mr. Dalmatia: Oh boy...if you think these two are chaotic on their own, you haven't seen anything yet. A playing card forming a friendship with a dog, who could've seen that coming? As the most extroverted members of the recruiters, Jack and Dalmatia formed a friendship rather quickly. They both love to harass Apple, share jokes with each other and the audience, and love to pull pranks and visual gags. The two of them are the chaotic duo that share two brain cells, pray for the others 🙏.

Malfie (Malfi): Not exactly considered the third member of the duo, but he's definitely an honorary guest. Malfie loves partake in making fun of his coworkers, but he's not too immature to go for silly little pranks. No, no, no. He's a little more...extreme. For him, it's go big or go home. He love causing chaos, but in a more mature-ish and mischievous way. He'll take on the task as either a way to get back at someone, or if it doesn't ruin his hair. He might be unreliable when it comes to that last part, so they better not hold their breath. Jack likes Malfie, he's a good friend, but he's not immune to Jack's tricks. Watch your mirror, Malfie. . .🪞

Eight Foot Joe: Yikes! And Jack thought Apple was uptight. The overworked, sleep-deprived, cynical worker and the fun-loving, hyper entertainer. As expected, it's like mixing oil and water. Though, even if Jack can be annoying, he's one of the few that can make Joe laugh. Besides, they surprisingly have one thing in common: they both have overbearing bosses. I'm picturing those two waking up in the ungodly hours of the morning, sharing coffee or tea, and getting work done. It's one of the few times when Jack would be quiet, aside from a few quips every now and then. I'm sure they'd tolerate each other more as time goes by, just give Joe a little time to adjust.

Pretty Scar: Definitely the third member of the chaos group, much to Dalmatia's dismay. Pretty Scar is just as hyper and excitable as Jack and Dalmatia. She likes joking around and laughing, she's just fun! I'd imagine them being fairly close, only coming second to Dalmatia. He actually ships Pretty Scar and Dalmatia together, not just because he likes to annoy Dalmatia, but he actually thinks that they'd be cute together. They go on shopping sprees together, you can not change my mind!

Veil: These two are seen quite a lot together, they seem to have a bit of a rivalry going on. Veil loves impressing the audience with her voice, while he wants to be the one man showman. I see it as a popularity contest, with both of them competing for the audiences attention and praise. One time, after she made fun of his pose, they argued, and she said: "I think I hate Jack more than I hate dogs!" Veil can be prissy, but he does admire her confidence and likes the fact that there's someone that he can consider a rival. Plus, he likes her voice, who doesn't?

Lady Hock (Hook): I haven't seen these two interact that much, so this is mainly based off of my own ideas. Although Hock likes to tease Apple too, she won't go as far as to outright ruin his day unless he really crossed her. That doesn't mean she won't find the pranks Jack pulls on Apple funny, but she's mature enough to know when to stop. She finds Jack immature, but fun. And I'd like to think that Jack looks up to her a bit, almost like a big sister. I mean, look at her! Look at her hook! Her outfit! Her confident attitude! She's so cool!

Ms. Hades: Another recruiter he's hardly seen with, but I'll try. I wouldn't put it past Jack to play around with her fire hair. Just anything you can do with normal fire, he has done with her hair. Roasting marshmallows, using the fire for heat related pranks, keeping himself warm by going close to it. She doesn't really mind as much. Ms. Hades is surprisingly chill about most of the things he does, but she does nag him once in a while. She's like the mom of the group, so he definitely doesn't want to anger her too much, and there is a level of respect he has for her. But that doesn't mean he won't try and play with fire every now and then. It'll be your fault if you get burned, Jack.

Faja (Farja): Oh, he loves her magic! It's perfect for pranks, whether she participates or not, he's going to use it. They clown each other ALL the time. His nickname for her is "Fajako, and he often makes fun of her poor magical skills" She likes to imitate his dance moves and his spunky demeanor. It's entertaining to watch them squabble because everyone knows that they're not being serious, most of the time.

Finally done! Took a little while for this one. Here's something to chew on before I release my Obey Me characters. Thank you all for patient! See you guys later! Byeee!

#disney villain recruiters #disney villains #jack heart #disney villain characters #alice in wonderland #alice in wonderland characters #apple poison #malfie #eight foot joe #disney villain recruiters personalities #villain recruiters #disney tokyo #disney movies #disney

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chubby-dumpling · 3 years

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Disney World's Enchantment: My Thoughts

Helloooo beautiful people! Yes, I am still going through "Happily Ever After" withdrawal, but I decided to watch the new fireworks show tonight: Disney's Enchantment. I didn't want to watch it earlier since I was already in a bad mindset, so I waited until I felt it was right. I compiled my final thoughts on the show (good and bad) below. Also, because I was soooo in love with HEA, I do compare the two at times.

Pros:

-The opening/closing song is pretty nice. It doesn’t pack the same punch as the Happily Ever After opening, but I can see it becoming catchy.

-That Coco segment with Miguel playing his guitar and the castle exploding in color is absolutely gorgeous. By far my favorite moment in the show.

-The "Almost There" cover is really beautiful

-The "Just Around the Riverbend" instrumental went HARD, and I'm glad they kept it without anyone singing over it

-Points for acknowledging Luca (even if they were only there for 5 seconds)

-The fireworks timed with Elsa’s powers were really cool!

-Angela Bassett’s narration was nice! She has a motherly voice, so it added a nice touch! And I can tell she had fun recording her lines

Cons (despite trying to stay positive, this part's kind of long):

-HEA's opening instrumental was so iconic, but here, the opening is very soft, so I feel like it's hard to really get into it from the beginning

-The projections have beautiful quality, but it’s almost like they scaled down on them compared to HEA? They tried to fit in too many characters at once, so it was hard to figure out what to look at

-No connecting firework when Merida shoots her arrow :/

-No song had its original singer. HEA had a great mix of new and original singers, but here, every song had a different one, which didn’t work out in some cases (I'm looking at you, Into the Unknown)

-Why did Raya just stand there for 5 minutes doing nothing like 🧍🏻‍♀️

-So many weird pauses between segments, almost like they're expecting people to clap. At least fill the gaps with instrumentals?!

-No cohesion of story. That’s my biggest issue. Just random movie clips in no order. There were a few connecting themes (eg water, if that counts as a theme?), but not in a way that felt cohesive

-Why did they do a rock version of Into the Unknown? The song is beautiful on its own, and it definitely didn't need to be covered

-No real feeling of nostalgia

-The conclusion of the villain segment didn’t feel… earned? It was so quick and chaotic, but not in a well put-together way

-WHY WOULD YOU USE A COVER FOR THE BEGINNING OF "I AM MOANA"!? The grandma singing it always gives me goosebumps, but it felt like all the emotional weight was pulled out of it! However, the choir singing the rest of the song was very nice!

-It’s so short! The buildup to the ending narration was awkwardly timed, almost like it wasn't the true ending.

-The buildup to Tink was kind of awkward too? It didn’t feel like the whole moment of that show was meant for her, as it was previously. Everyone would clap the entire way of her journey in HEA, but this show just keeps going without her, like they couldn’t fit in the right moment for her.

-Weirdly timed fireworks. Don’t get me wrong, they were beautiful, but in HEA, they were perfectly timed with the story (Merida shooting her arrow, Mulan setting off the fire). Here, the only time that occurred was with Elsa’s powers.

Again, I hate being negative, and I really want to like this one. But it just didn't really do it for me, especially for the 50th anniversary. I do completely respect all of the artists and engineers who worked hard to put this together during a pandemic, but I could tell there were some budget cuts, so they probably did their best with what they were given. Anyways, I'll be binging HEA for the next 20 years :)

#disney #disneyworld #disney world #enchantment #disney enchantment #fireworks #disney fireworks #disney animation #walt disney world #walt disney #happily ever after #happily ever after fireworks

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