genuinely do not understand the number of people who think Steve Harrington has not seen Star Wars at all, much less not multiple times. He literally has a secret handshake with Dustin involving lightsabers- a handshake STEVE initiates when they're reunited, implying he's not just playing along with Dustin, he's excited about it. When Keith asks him about his top movies, and he says Star Wars and then is kind of a ditz about what they're about, it's not because he's lying and they aren't his favorite. It's not because he's never seen them and he's trying to get the job or look cool to Keith. They're literally some of his favorite movies because he watched them with Dustin and he loves that little shit. And yeah, he probably genuinely didn't Get everything about them, but he doesn't need to. He gets enough to know that watching them with Dustin may have genuinely been one of the best experiences of his life.

Because, like, how do you think Tommy and Carol watched movies? I can guarantee you it wasn't with their whole hearts. I can guarantee you it wasn't with wonder. I can also guarantee you that Steve wasn't allowed to watch things that way in their presence, either, not with "aww king steve has a heart" carol, not with Tommy cackling over him showing one (1) emotion. Dustin nerding out over, like, basically everything, getting genuinely excited about the special effects or the plot or the characters, and encouraging Steve when he thinks the fight scenes are cool or when Steve tentatively makes a connection about something in the plot? Steve actually feeling like he has common ground with Dustin? Hell, Steve finally feeling like he has common ground at all with the person watching along with him? Don't even get me started on the fact that he got so comfortable in his love for them that he blurted out "the one with the teddy bears!" to Keith, as if he has just been allowed to like the cute, fluffy Ewoks not only without being judged, but alongside someone else that enjoys them- because I'd bet Dustin likes them, too.

And like. idk how many of you have seen Animal House, it's an old movie. It's a comedy about frat house shenanigans, and an obvious choice for who Steve used to be because you need zero thoughts to watch it. Of course that's the first thing out of his mouth, he's probably watched it a dozen times with Tommy, doesn't even have to really think. But when Keith makes him focus and actually think? And he names Star Wars? Listen I've seen the original movies at least 20 times each, my best friend when I was a kid was (and is) obsessed with those movies (when I grew up it was only those three). We biked around pretending to be xwings. He had every star wars toy it seemed like. We played a computer game where you ran missions as a pilot and he'd fly and I'd man the keyboard so we could turn the 1-person 1st-person shooter into a two person play. Like, my childhood was jurassic park and star wars. And I genuinely couldn't tell you the sub-titles of the three movies, definitely not the order. The fact that Steve doesn't immediately recognize "a new hope" as the title of one of the movies doesn't mean he didn't LOVE them.

idk man! I just love the thought of Steve actually really liking Star Wars. And maybe he doesn't really Get them in the same way Dustin or the other kids, or even Eddie and Robin would Get them, but I think he genuinely does like them in his own Steve way, and I think it's only half because they're good movies. I think a lot of it has to do with having seen them with Dustin and the bonding experience that came with it.

I'm still not over the fact that in the book, Aziraphale and Crowley are supposed to look 30 and 24 years old...

This is what they would look like

That's David in 1995 in The Bill and Michael in 1997 (not quite 99 like it's supposed to be) in Wilde.

Those are children! Mere babies!

Katya / Goncharov

i lose 80% of respect for a movie the moment a female protagonist wakes up in bed with artfully tousled hair and a full face of unsmudged makeup what is that mcfuckery

and about a Scorsese film no less

Very curious about this implied friendship.

saw a screencap from an old 30s movie and it invoked them. full color version ⬇️

okay the nimona comic is so good actually. like i definitely think the movie is cute and good for kids, but (like i said previously) it has kind of a "gen z shrek" vibe to it that just makes me wish i was watching shrek instead. the comic is totally its own thing though, and i enjoyed it so much more. here are some of my favorite panels:

can we stop putting motion blur in video games forever please

it never looks good, and all it ever really accomplishes is needlessly obfuscating the game state.

like who the fuck says "oh gee this game is great, but i wish every time i moved the camera it would become 10 times fucking harder to tell what the hell is even going on"

Maybe it's a 'study finds water is wet' type of thought, but

considering it's an action movie whose overall plot is "immortal warriors Fuck Shit Up™️", I think it's significant that in The Old Guard the thing that makes Copley pull red strings through his Murder Conspiracy Board and say "[Merrick] doesn't care what [Andy]'s done with [her immortality]" is the people they save, not the ones they kill

Most of the Conspiracy Board is him circling random newspaper headlines and faces on old photographs to (more or less realistically) follow the immortals' treck through the world and big historical events. Which is, in-canon, not much different than putting portraits from different centuries next to a picture of Keanu Reeves and saying "they look the same, clearly Reeves is an immortal!"

But then there are the connections. A little girl holding Joe's hand in WW1 becoming the youngest (and first) woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize for Medicine (suck it, Kozak). Or the grandchild of a family that Andy saved from [something] helping people escape from the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia.

They are warriors. They have fought and been in the midst of countless wars, major or minor, throughout history. They must have killed as many people as they saved... and yet.

It's not them taking out a random warlord or dictator or rabidly hateful politician that has tangible repercussions in history. It's the children and families they get out of war zones, save from accidents, protect from natural disasters. People to whom they give a second chance at life, and grow to change the world (or even just their own world), like a mysterious stranger once changed theirs just by holding out a hand or patching a wound.

I don't know I just think it's particularly neat

OKAY who wants to hear about why i think nimona challenges amatonormativity? you do! 🫵

one of the main ways this is accomplished is through ballister and ambrosius’s relationship. it’s arguable that it doesn’t necessarily fit the traditional model of romance - not only are they a queer interracial couple, and not only is their relationship ambiguous in the book, but there are certain instances, especially in the movie, that subvert traditional ideas of romance and friendship.

one instance that really stands out to me is when the director asks ambrosius what’s on his mind and he goes on his imagined rant about how arm-chopping isn’t a love language - you know the one. when he mentions ballister, he refers to him as “the man i love, my best friend.” and not just one or the other, but both! the man i love, and my best friend. he places equal emphasis on both the romantic and platonic aspects of the relationship, valuing ballister in both a romantic context and a platonic context without treating either one as more important than the other.

and even moments such as the first “i love you” and the kiss manage to subvert tradition. both of these things are generally seen as a pretty big deal, especially in fiction - if the characters are kissing or saying “i love you,” it’s usually a moment in which everything changes. a line is drawn, dividing the story into after and now. sometimes it’s dramatic and climactic, with fireworks and a swell of music, but even when it isn’t it’s still seen as a turning point of sorts. now it’s official, now it’s real. but this isn’t the case in nimona. both moments are certainly significant - they do a good job of showcasing the character development and where ballister and ambrosius are on their respective journeys, and are certainly important in terms of representation - but neither one follows the path that most fictional romance does.

another way in which nimona challenges amatonormativity would be the emphasis on friendship! in the tavern scene (in the movie) when ambrosius suggests killing nimona, ballister disagrees and says “she’s my friend.” ambrosius replies with “aren’t i more than that?”, implying he’s more important than a friend - thus upholding amatonormative ideas. ballister becomes angry at that and leaves - challenging this idea and prioritizing his platonic relationship with nimona over his romantic one with ambrosius, as nimona is the one he wants to defend.

additionally, a big part of this scene is the way ballister deliberately rejects institute values while ambrosius unintentionally upholds them. and because the story challenges homophobia and transphobia (and other forms of bigotry) through the lens of the institute, it would make sense for it to challenge amatonormativity too! it’s something that’s become incredibly normalized, to the point that lots of people don’t even know it exists, and this is reminiscent of the institute brainwashing, especially when it comes to ambrosius - he’s been manipulated his whole life and probably genuinely doesn’t understand the level to which he’s internalized institute beliefs.

ballister prioritizes nimona many times, actually. when he tells ambrosius she’s “smart, kind, and quite sophisticated,” when he’s overjoyed to see her again at the end, when he refuses to kill her and saves her instead. over and over, he proves how much he cares about her, even when this involves directly going against what ambrosius wants - which, of course, is really what the institute wants. a core tenant of amatonormativity is the false notion that romantic relationships are more important or valuable than other types of relationships, but ballister actively goes against this!

to conclude, as a story that at its core is about identity and challenging societal beliefs, nimona defies expectations and traditional ideas of what it should or shouldn’t be. it’s possible that amatonormativity wasn’t what the creators had in mind, but the story still manages to challenge it with grace and elegance. just like its main character, nimona refuses to conform to what others want it to be.

I don’t think deku is a jealous or petty person at all (even though he’s a cancer so the possibility is still there he’s just young), i think he’s genuinely happy that bakugo has a friend like kirishima like that boy is rlly doing community service by teaching bakugo to be a decent person I think everyone is benefitting from that. however I think deku sometimes sees these two interact and gets overcome by a quick wave of bitterness like waaowwwww, is you can be nice and a good friend to others but not me </3. Idk, seeing someone who’s very unkind to you be decent to other people hurts like what did I do to you❗️❗️❗️❗️ this isn’t about deku anymore, I fear, but I think is an interesting universal experience idk the bakugo kirishima deku dynamic could have gone places in my mind palace

You're not understanding me. I can't look into the darkness with you anymore, Mulder. I cannot stand what it does to you or to me.

Dana Scully in I Want to Believe (2008)

Whenever I see a post about Chief Hiccup (or watch Httyd 2, for that matter) I'm always reminded of how Stoick did not want his son to become chief the way he did.

Maybe it's because Stoick saw his reluctance to succeed him, maybe it's something Stoick went through himself when he became chief and he wanted to spare his son the pain, but he had a plan. He was going to retire. Step down and let Hiccup take over in his stead. That way, his father could ease him into this insanely big responsibility, could be there to guide him, help him with the tough stuff he knows Hiccup might have trouble with.

Except, then he dies at Drago's hands. And Hiccup ends up thrusted into a position a feared to be in. And yeah, he does it mostly alone, just as his father did before him, which is exactly what Stoick was hoping to avoid.

You know, if Alex more or less looked like Marco's image when Henry first meet him, I too would panic, fuck up normal human social interaction and run away

Red, White and Royal Blue is a genuinely astounding creation. I’m trying to think of precedent for a book being both so completely batshit and such a huge hit and I think it has to go back to the Dan Brown book where the Pope parachutes out of a helicopter with a nuclear bomb inside.