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#you are being deceived ;; ask memes
blitzwingz · 1 year
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TAG DUMP !
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Whump Meme
"Stop crying and listen to me,"
Sooo you let me choose a character (which was hard because I'm not the imaginative type, you know!) and... for whatever reason, I chose Omega from The Bad Batch. So here's my small contribution, thanks a lot for the ask! If anybody still wants to do this, here's the whump meme (pleeeeease give me a pairing or a character, I'm so lost!) 😂
......
"Stop crying and listen to me."
There’s something in the man's voice that makes Omega look up. Something familiar. His words are firm, but almost any adult would speak like that; above all, they contain a certain authority. The man doesn't look like a soldier, but looks can be deceiving, especially in these times.
"I didn't cry," she says, wiping her face fleetingly with her hand. 
It's not a genuine lie. It's okay not to always tell the whole truth. Tactical. She clings to this thought, because it connects her to her past, to something she wants to return to. Someone, rather. The thought stings, but it also causes a warm feeling in her stomach. How peculiar. Omega doesn’t dwell on her train of thought. Times are hard on everyone, and she can do this. She will survive.
"That's alright," the stranger replies, "you must be scared. I'm sure you've been separated from your parents."
She looks up at the man, thinking, if you only knew. But then again... what is clone force 99 if not the closest to Omega's abstract idea of parents? She takes a deep breath. This man only wants to help, and that is rare in these times. In all the chaos around her, fire and screams and blood and rubble, she just seems like a frightened child. And maybe there actually was a weak moment. Not because of the attack that hit this planet out of the blue and abruptly interrupted her search for information, for answers, for the possible whereabouts of her unit. 
She has been alone for weeks, separated from her friends, her family, her bad batch. Now they carry this designation like an award, and Omega is one of them, and she’s proud of it. Whatever her purpose was, and it was probably not a good thing, is forgotten, because together they all make it a good thing.   The thought almost makes her eyes moist again. Almost. But it's good if the man in front of her, holding out a hand - she must have fallen during the last impact - thinks she's a child. Harmless. 
Omega takes the man’s hand, thanks him and looks around. Chaos everywhere. Perhaps there will soon be nothing and no one left here, and her search will come to another dead end, but that can't stop her. It must not. The pit of her stomach burns, but that's not fear. It must not.
"Where do you belong?" asks the stranger. 
His question is innocent, but is he harmless? Omega can't trust anyone, not even the kindness of a stranger. That's what Hunter would advise her to do. Echo would suggest gathering all the facts, Tech would agree with him, and Wrecker... well, he'd say that if nothing else helps, you can always shoot your way out. Or punch, Omega thinks, because she doesn't have a gun. 
And Crosshair... Most of all, and this is surprising, it hurts to think of Crosshair. He has made his decision, and so must Omega. But that doesn't mean she has to forget him. Because Crosshair, that much is clear, would have some very specific advice for her. 
Follow your orders.
Omega straightens and smiles at the man, a shaky little smile, but a genuine one. 
Trust no one. Follow your orders.
"Oh, but my family is back there," she says with convincing astonishment. 
She feels a little sorry for the man, because maybe, just maybe, he really is just being friendly. Really just someone who wants to help another person in need. Omega keeps that in mind, because she knows compassion is another thing that sets her apart from the ordinary clones, and that's important.
But now she enthusiastically points to a group of chalactans frantically turning a corner just a few blocks away. People are running everywhere, and only now does Omega hear the sirens. An opportunity, that's all she can think about. 
The man looks skeptically in the direction indicated, and Omega doesn't want to give him time to realize that she doesn't really look like a chalactan. She jumps up, she runs; briefly turns around and shouts a cheerful "Thank you". Her legs are often faster than her mind, but it usually works. Five streets and a pile of rubble that she has to laboriously climb over later, Omega turns around. There is no one to look out for her; she is just a child wandering around aimlessly like everyone else trying to get to safety. 
There is no safety, there’s only the Empire, and they’re still looking for her. It’s a crushing thought for somebody so small, an overwhelming thought causing a searing behind her eyes. She’s alone, and that’s a burden for most people. 
Only that Omega isn’t most people.
Fear can be transformed into determination. Another lesson from her friends. Omega looks at the smoldering wreckage all around, and the noise and screams and wailing of the sirens become quiet inside her. She looks up at the smoke-filled sky with dry eyes.
Follow your orders, she thinks. There is no one who can command her now, and there is no command. There is only Omega, and she gives herself an order. 
Find them.
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katyspersonal · 2 months
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3, 18, 24, 29, 32 for Mico :3
(Asks from this ( x ) meme)
3) What first drew you to this character?
Like I said, my first introduction to Micolash was his theme song, paired with a concept art image of him since it was on Youtube. And I already was instantly captivated! My initial impression was that for some reason he was a helpless puppet, and I wanted to know of what exactly! So I've caught up on his lore.... and was sorely disappointed, because back then Fromsoft barely giving information was a novelty for me XD Still, I appreciated the madness, and the mystery. I was really impressed as he felt like someone on much higher level of knowledge, in NO way I felt like he was "silly" or "a joke" x)
18) Do you prefer to see this character suffer or know peace? Angst or comfort? Both?
Both! Imagining him laugh genuinely, not in madness, is one of my most comforting fantasies... ;-; I love seeing him peaceful, happy and, of course, loved! At the same time, I enjoy depictions of him recollecting his humanity only to collapse in tears and horror. Reflecting on how far everything has gone, on the people he had lost (usually Rom), on having lost himself..
24) Do you ever dream about this character? If so, describe a dream you once had about them.
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This is... a heavy question. Micolash used to frequent my dreams. There is a whole saga about it, in a way, ahaha! I think my very first dream about him truly bound us. I dreamed about being Rom (even before I knew or created anything about her), walking on the water surface of the lake but it had water lilies, and seeing Micolash's back turned as he was praying. I tried to reach out to him and call him, but got absolutely ignored, then I looked down in the water and realised that although "I" perceived myself as a girl, I in reality became a spider. Realisation made me wake up, strangely with extreme nausea and thirst, even if I was not sick or poisoned.
But there were many other dreams a while later after that one. In this order: he invaded my average nightmare about my stepdad saying 'she is ours now' to him; him pulling me down into the sea to drown; him deceiving me with "loving me back" whereas he was hypnotising me to follow into apparently a trap (sort of an attic full of dust, books and mirrors) and I woke up when I snapped out of trance; the dream where he kept tormenting me by putting me through death by Frenzy over and over yet I kept respawning and unable to change my situation, and once I found a Sedative that was my only chance to get out of the 'loop' I've given it to a mother whose child kept suffering the same fate. When he saw it, he spared me and teleported me into a bed to have a rest... while he was very, very harshly scolding me for being "too obsessive" and weirding HIM out, that I was too much for HIM, and that he'd never love me and I was nobody for him?
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And the last one in this 'line' was when I was little again, in my room, in the time where a very particular trauma happened to me. Except, it was full of the same fog as Nightmare of Mensis, and Micolash was there, offering to undo it...? Unfortunately, it didn't happen, but I appreciated the offer. Ironic that THE nightmare man would offer to stop my nightmares (or rather, take control over them, as "lesser evil"). And, of course, don't forget semi-regular Micolaurence dreams!
29) Do you get defensive about this character? If yes, then why?
I DO! And sometimes not for a good reason. It is like an instinct! xD Like, at times I am unable to take the joke about him being "just silly unwashed unhinged failure wet cat" fsdhfhds I am dead serious, I actually sometimes pout and want to write a long essay on how WELL AKTUALY he is very complicated and deep and messed up character! This is why other simps don't like talking to me anymore fhshdfshfs
The most defensive I've ever gotten about him was when an anon complimented an artist that (deliberately) prettified Micolash because they liked "aesthetic" or whatever. Anon praised the artist for "fixing" the "ugly" character, without exaggeration, and for making him "actually attractive" :/ But you've been there with me, you've gotten mad at that anon with me, you remember. Saying that someone made the non-conventionally attractive character aKtUaLLy lOoK GuD by replacing him with idealised version true to one's own preferences in appearance.. You know how Gehrman haters say that 'Doll is prettyfied idealised version of Maria crafted to his tastes that in no way reflects Maria's actual vibe'? I think as hard as I cringed at that moment, but in the end, I am able to understand how Gehrman haters feel when gamerbros simp for Doll!
So yeah, after realising that I have this problem of getting too defensive over integrity of my favs, including appearance, I have to restrain myself and rationalise. For example, 'maybe he used to look much prettier and healthier in Byrgenwerth times!' is reasonable! I just... won that trait in 'unlikeable' autistic fan traits lottery. You know, that one. That, if left unattended, will surely one day make the fan completely alone. As anyone is scared of telling them anything in fear of being "corrected". With only the characters they so-much-cherished to keep them company now. What a sad fate. I am sure there will be a better use for it one day than acting as though fictional characters have human rights sighhhhh....
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32) If you could make this character a meal, what would you make them?
Well, look at this man, he never eats anything anymore because he's too focused on his research, so ANY meal would be good for him x) But greenish skin tone instantly makes me think of iron deficiency, so I would offer him chickpea spinach curry!
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Thank you for asking!!
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intogenshin · 30 days
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about the three betrayals
None of the betrayals independently made Scara who he became, it was an evolution of things. None of these independently pushed Scara into making bad choices, and it feels a bit that fans either push the blame on Ei’s negligence or Dottore’s manipulation, as if either of these two had set the path for Scara on their own, while at the same time interpreting the third betrayal as a misunderstanding or an exaggeration (because what fault would a child have in his own death?) but it misses the point of the betrayals as a whole.
The ideas of inferiority influenced by being abandoned might have formed early, but they didn’t meaningfully influence Scara’s existence while he lived in Tatarasuna. Ei left him the golden feather so that if he wanted to, he could contact her, his creator, but he never did until Tatarasuna was in danger. He had no need to investigate the reason of his existence, so he never sought an audience with the shogun until it was necessary and only as a last resort (other villagers had tried to leave the island to ask for help already).
Niwa’s false betrayal didn’t make him snap either, he left the village to never return, but he immediately formed a new bond with another human. Being harmed by another person, especially one that Scara was made to believe had done intentionally, did not make him lose hope in humanity. Seeing his compassion and kindness for the child, it also didn’t turn him cynical or resentful.
Both of these things affected him very deeply, he longed for a heart to truly be a human and he only formed this new bond with a human he considered equal. But they did not shape who he became alone. It was the third betrayal, hence why the three of them are important to understand him.
It’s not that the child dying was a betrayal of its own, Scara didn’t even resent him, he even goes back to visit his grave. It’s the fact that even when humans don’t purposefully cause him pain, they still will hurt him. Any and all potential connection to the world he forges will eventually be severed by death. And this natural course of life is not available for him, he doesn’t belong to this world, doesn’t have a place in it.
If you remove the first or the second betrayal, which are largely seen as something that was done to him with intent, the third betrayal still stands. All three of them shaped him, not just the ones where he was hurt intentionally. And that’s the point, that he can’t escape the suffering of his existence.
The first betrayal was never what he assumed it to be, Ei didn’t abandon him for “being flawed”, she did it to not impose a will on him. She had her reasons for this, since she herself viewed herself as a tool with a purpose and understood right away the conflict of Scara’s nature (“he’s fragile both as a human or as a tool”). It was a decision influenced by her own world view and reasoning, and it had tangible consequences.
The second betrayal was a lie, Niwa didn’t betray him at all. Dottore deceived him, but Dottore doesn’t consider himself a human, he sees all living beings as test subjects, none of what he did was strictly personal to Scara. No human chose to harm him, that’s the explanation behind this betrayal, and it had tangible consequences.
The third betrayal revealed the nature of his own existence to him, there was no intentions behind it and it still had tangible consequences.
This is central belief in Buddhism, which Scara’s character is built around. Suffering exists in the world as a fact, it cannot be escaped, and this suffering exists in a chain of cause and consequence: Karma. All actions are preceded and followed in this chain by other actions, and trying to look for the original cause of pain is meaningless. So pain must be dealt with in other ways. Basically the “nothing matters” meme with a thumbs up.
Karma is also the impulse behind the action, not the action itself. So all actions are deliberately made by individuals who decided to act on that impulse. The mistakes and bad choices Scara made after these betrayals are his own to reflect on, they can’t be blamed in whoever participated in the making of that karma, but it is understood that they exist in a chain of events that triggered each other.
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Wyler Fanfiction Rec List Part 2
For @ourloveisdahliaoh, here’s part 2 of that rec list I said I’d make.
My Monster by Wyler4Lifer
Summary: None
Words: 3,721 Chapters: 2/? Rated: E
There’s no summary for this fic and it breaks my heart that it might be overlooked because it is so much fun. I’ve talked about how delightful this fic is to my friends irl and how much fun it is to see Gomez pick up himself a pet hyde and Wednesday to find Tyler fucking Galpin in her house being dressed like a purse dog by her father who is excited about his new beast. The family meeting and harboring Tyler is so good.
Who is in Control? by green_writer
Summary: “Please, flattery will get you nowhere,” Wednesday says, holding her ground as he stalks towards her.
Tyler grips her lapels, jostling her roughly forward. She watches his face, the Hyde lurking just underneath the surface, wonders how much control he has, how much of the boy she met at the Weathervane is still there. She’s reminded of the last time he got up in her face like this, gloating about his kills at the Sherriff’s office. The rage that his little monologue had inspired deep in her gut. That he could deceive her so easily, not just covering his own tracks but misguiding her towards a wholehearted conviction that Xavier was the Hyde. She had felt stupid and small and entirely disgusted with herself. He would have to pay.
----
What if Wednesday, not Enid, had gone against Tyler in the woods in episode 8?
Or - How to Discipline Your Hyde 101.
Words: 10,781 Chapters: 3/3 Rated: E
I’m sorry. Did you say smut? Because this is 3 chapters full of Wednesday fucking Tyler from the cockroach scene onwards. green_writer understood the fucking assignment. 100/10. Will read again.
Friendly Neighborhood Phantom by ThatOneAntiHero
Summary: Strange murders, a mysterious ghost boy, a missing teenager, and numerous suspects.
Maybe Wednesday Addams was going to stay at Nevermore longer than she expected.
Words: 8,447 Chapters: 3/? Rated: M
I swear i felt like the three spidermen meme when i saw this. I had just rediscovered “Sex with a ghost” and had thought of my own haunting au and then i read this and i’m so happy. It’s dead amnesiac tyler investigating with Wednesday who can see him and it’s amazing. I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter.
Kiss Me Before It’s Too Late by JHoeUNeed2Stop
Summary:  Tyler & Wednesday's last encounter told differently.
More spicy.
Words: 2,090 Chapters: 1/1 Rated: M
It’s another cockroach scene where Enid doesn’t cockblock and I am having such a good time with each and every one of them. JHoe is making the world a better place.
my unconquerable soul by melpomenemuse
Summary: “Who is your master?” she asks dispassionately. 
Wednesday doesn’t care who Tyler’s master is. An objective part of her does, the one that wants a satisfactory conclusion to her novel, but the only thing she cares about right now is this: Tyler has a master.
And it isn’t her.
Or: an insight into Wednesday and Tyler’s relationship through the season finale and post Season 1.
Words: 16,983 Chapters: 13/? Rated: M
The amount of want between these two is delicious. Wednesday seething at the idea that Laurel touched him first is just *chef’s kiss*
Tipsy Truth Telling by Realmermaid333
Summary: Wednesday never thought she’d get drunk, she thought being drunk was for immature fools who couldn’t control themselves— that was until she went to Yoko’s party. 
Words: 2,675 Chapters: 1/1 Rated: T
This is just fun. It’s so much fun. @realmermaid333 is such a gift and I’m so happy I got the privilege of encouraging this in the server. Drunk Wednesday is exactly what I need to brighten my day with some silly little low stakes shenanigans.
Finding Dr. Jekyll by its2014again
Summary: “A Hyde is just a puppet, their mind brainwashed by the puppet-master. To reverse the damage, you have to delve into their subconscious. You have to find the Jekyll beneath the Hyde."
After 30 days in prison, Tyler still won't talk. He won't talk to his father, to the doctors, or to his therapist. Maybe this has something to do with being chained to a chair - or maybe it's because the only person he will speak to... is Wednesday.
Words: 8,154 Chapters: 5/? Rated: NR
Riddles and brainwashing and attraction oh my! The latest chapter had me on the edge of my seat and i highly recommend you all read this fic to see exactly what I mean
a crack run down right the front of me by Morbidmuch
Summary: Tyler's teeth are bright in his paint-splattered face.
“Red looks good on you.”Wednesday doesn't know what to reply when he says things like that: things like I mean it, Wednesday, you look beautiful and I knew there was a reason I liked you. It's all too much and the stone walls protecting her center quiver. Traitors.
Words: 2,194 Chapters: 1/1 Rated: T
what a wonderful dance au and there’s talking and emotions and Wednesday being Wednesday.
the simulation we’re dreaming in by angelconstellations
Summary: If the blood-paint hadn't rained and the dance had continued...
Set during ep 4. What might have happened if the prank didn't happen and Wednesday didn't have her vision to go after Eugene.
Words: 1,789 Chapters: 1/1 Rated: T
a what if they actually finished their date at the dance au and i love it to pieces.
Ennui vs. Wednesday Addams by Klyson
Summary: Tyler had always known he was better than everyone else. He couldn’t make it a reality yet, but someday he’d get out of this backwater hellhole called Jericho and make himself great.
His mother’s death throws a bit of a wrench in his plans, and so does the beast he can morph into and the woman who dares call herself his “master”. She will die for that… someday. Until then, though, at least she isn’t boring.
And then Wednesday Addams comes barreling into his life.
Or
Tyler is a sociopath or something and Wednesday is much more interesting than Laurel Gates.
Words: 15,821 Chapters: 3/6 Rated: E
This is one of my absolute favorites. Seeing Tyler growing up and meeting Wednesday? I love leaning more into the “sociopath finds love” plot. it’s a favorite au of mine.
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ryttu3k · 6 months
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Astarion, Wyll, and Shart for the chara meme? :3c
[send me a character]
Under the cut! Spoilers for all three of their arcs.
Astarion
First impression: …tragically, it was "oh hey, he's the dude that fucked a bear." That was where I first learned of BG3. It was… memorable.
Impression now: My baby. What a shitbag. Needs a hug and possibly a slap upside the head. Meet me in the pit, Cazador. Blorbo of the year.
Favourite moment: Discovering the dungeons in Cazador's palace. Dude's going through the first four stages of grief all at the same time and Neil Newbon sells it. …That, or, "W~ell, apPARently there's a limit. Somewhere between a ~nice summer's day~ and the fuLL CONCENTRATED POWER OF THE SUN! *deep breath* [Astarion disapproves]"
Idea for a story: I have a whole list of the fuckers, but one I've been tentatively noodling at is an AU where a god does, in fact, answer him. Namely, Lathander. By the time he meets the rest of the Tadfools, he's been a Cleric of Lathander for about a century, and, yes, is also a vampire spawn. It's okay he and Lathander have an understanding.
Unpopular opinion: He was a Sun Elf. I know they're rare I know he's almost certainly a Moon Elf based on his hair colour and living in Baldur's Gate but I will die on this hill that he was a freckled, gold-eyed Sun Elf for the tragedy, okay. Ties in with the above story idea, too. He just loves the sun 😭
Favourite relationship: I have five OTPs for this jerk. Five.
Favourite headcanon: He's going to discover a talent for creativity and crafting. Embroidery and making perfumes and fragrances, yes, but also he's going to get quite into sketching, origami, all sorts of stuff. Post-game, he'd totally have a craft room.
Wyll
First impression: Designated hero, probably would be the main character without a Tav/Durge.
Impression now: Designated hero, probably would be the main character without a Tav/Durge, complete with all the complexity and fucked-up-ness (positive) that implies <3 He's still very much A Hero but he's definitely more complicated than just A Hero.
Favourite moment: Meeting Karlach face to face and realising Mizora has deceived him. He knows he's going to have to defy her and he's goddamn terrified but he barely even hesitates to do the right thing and keep Karlach safe.
Idea for a story: Ooh man I have one bobbing around about Wyll seeing Astarion's scars and realising he recognises them. Inspiration for wanting to save people, versus the helplessness of being all of sixteen years old at the time.
Unpopular opinion: Honestly I still go back and forward between reconciling with his father. On the one hand, I like seeing them move on and heal. On the other hand, he was seventeen years old Ulder you absolute fuck.
Favourite relationship: With Karlach. Probably due to design since their stories are interwoven, but I love how they just go from like… him being dedicated to killing her, to being so ride or die for each other that Wyll is willing to go to the Hells for her - and that Karlach is willing to go back somewhere she's said she'd rather die to return to, solely because Wyll promises he'll be there with her 🥺
Favourite headcanon: While chatting idly to Volo in the Elfsong, he learns Volo has that prosthetic eye handy. After breaking the pact with Mizora, Wyll approaches Volo and asks if… maybe he could have it, and replaces the stone Sending Stone eye with the Ersatz Eye instead. It's a hell of a relief.
Shadowheart
First impression: The Mean Girl tbh
Impression now: She is baby. Let her grow night orchids and feed pocket mice.
Favourite moment: Reunion with her parents ;_; I goddamn cried. Let her make her own choice and she let them go; when I do a Shadowheart Origin run she's going to choose them to survive and will get so many hugs.
Idea for a story: Got a silly little slice of life thing about getting frustrated at her hair getting tangled so easily in the wilderness, and Halsin teaching her some herblore for hair care. Alternatively, swimming lessons!
Unpopular opinion: Not sure if it's unpopular, but I find her the most unlikeable character in act 1 and a lot of act 2. I know a lot of it is her upbringing, and there are moments of sweetness (like with the night orchid), but otherwise she just kind of annoys me.
Favourite relationship: With Lae'zel. They instantly and immediately clash. They're also extremely similar, in that they both grew up in cult-like surrounds led by dangerous figures, and have to learn to find their own paths after breaking away from those surrounds in absolutely heart-wrenching circumstances. I think once they realise that, they'll start to develop a ridiculously close bond.
Favourite headcanon: She tended to avoid the full moon just because of its association with Selune. The first time she intentionally sits and communes with the moon at night, it'll trigger her first transformation going Full Werewolf and she will be quite surprised.
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nekoiscute · 1 year
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explanation on future drawings dedicated to the AU of helluva boss
I'll explain how the two characters are structured until I make more of the homestuck world in this new type of drawing that I'm loving doing.
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Let's start with Kankri Vantas, he was born in hell end up being a "lovely" imp but he will never be like the original i show you the differences between original and this of the universe funniest of silly scenes then the original Kankri we all know he is religious, he never lost his virginity is that he talks a lot to make a reader feel enormous hatred towards him. Well this Kankri from the helluva universe will not be so religious that he doesn't want to want a partner (even if the original wants it but without things to procreate), instead of being devoted to the lord of heaven he will be a religious of lucifer or satan depending on the group of situation, its body instead of a bright red or red on magenta tones shows a faded red with several white spots on the body. This reason because being hated by how he talks so much that he will talk here too but he will only use it to kill someone he hates by sending him to that point of killing the victim alone than getting his hands dirty, his horns are like those of the original only instead of 3 colors are only 2 colors. He can safely go to the human world but only if a sinner agrees to send this imp for evil or destructive business, the human form is like in his imp form but only hornless weird eyes and normal skin, in fact in one of these missions he knows Cronus who falls in love with the little imp is to get his attention he would do anything even kill himself to conquer him which in fact he does by dying in front of Kankri's eyes.
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Let's move on to Cronus now, let's say that there are few differences between original and this shark, i could say that one a preferred to be a something that remain human that infected happened. but I don't see so many differences in his own personality that he wants to conquer anyone but failing with only one exception, he even if he became a sinner is like saying he became a royal from hell or an overlord but as a meme of course. As you can see him as a sinner he has the appearance of a dark purple striped shark he holds his iconic scar on his forehead both as a human and as a sinner, noting that on his wrists both dead and alive he cut himself which obviously reveals to Kankri that before knowing him, he was already doing it out of boredom or to get attention from someone of his friend or family. The character has obviously been put as his native nationality as italian demonstrating the italian culture on everything from food to clothes to greese he comes from rich family that whenever kankri asks him about them he will keep dodging his question saying more or changing the subject even knowing that the imp will kill anyone of his family if he wants to discover such madness for a demon from hell. With the addition that Cronus just arrived in hell he was put in the suicide circle where kankri obviously lives being a clever little devil to deceive humans. 
I hope you enjoyed these explanations I will make scenes or maybe comics about these two in this crazy world if you ever want them, you are free to write it in the comments or leave hearts or even reblog to show that you are interested. see ya guys!
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fheythfully · 4 months
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snapdragon ; a flower of deception .. for a time my muse wilfully deceived another.
Another time Satella has willfully deceived another was when she was pulled into the First. Worrying for her friends' lives, furious about the trans-dimensional kidnapping of the Scions and herself, and the mental and physical strain of having been pulled from the battlefield and told to fight for another world's plight while her own was in the middle of a war created a horrible concoction of emotions and thoughts in her. She believed for the majority of Shadowbringers that the Crystal Exarch had meant to kill her (she suspected him of being an Ascian even when Emet-Selch showed up), with the Scions being the unspoken leverage, and lied to his face about being willing to help him the entire time. She fought his battles, seeing no way out, all the while looking for said way out on how to return herself and the Scions to the Source.
She had a lot of hatred and mistrust for the Crystal Exarch. Even when he was revealed as G'raha Tia, and even now when there is only G'raha Tia and the Exarch is a shade that lives on in his memories, sometimes she struggles with tempering all the ugly feelings she had for him.
(As an aside, I find the Exarch such an interesting character and consider him entirely separate from G'raha Tia. I admittedly like the Exarch more than G'raha, too. Ultimately the Exarch did what he did to prevent the deaths of the Scions and the Warrior of Light, but boy, it must have been a rough emotional time for the Scions and the Warrior until and maybe even when the truth was revealed.)
Thank you for the ask!
flower ask meme
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sunstranded · 5 months
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INTJ: Identity Crisis
I have asked myself numerous times if I truly am an INTJ. I always sound and tend to assert myself as someone so sure; I am not, nothing ever is.
In commemoration to redoing my layout fully (along with other personal reasons), I shall disclose a curious discourse today.
A four-narrative about being an INTJ, non-INTJs, MBTI is a tool, and the self. Let's get started.
One: Being an INTJ, Rarity
I can go so far to also say I am enneagram 5w6 and an INTJ female. If we are talking statistics, that is really rare. The enneagram type is rare already; the INTJ is also rare, but even more if it is associated to a female. Anyone would want to feel special enough and claim such a title. Not me. No.
Sometimes I wish I was simpler, more relatable, not so easily ostracized. INTJs are described to not care for the norm and others but that is only because of the trickster Fe function. The norm, other people's likes and dislikes— alludes us, deceives us. That manifests in not caring enough to fit in which is a more accurate thing to say. INTJs is a personality type associated to how a person ticks. So the human person in question still has the innate need to belong.
I sometimes wonder, in my search for belongingness, must I let the world shape me? I would rather not. I like being who I am, detached from the titles, the statistics, the stereotypes. I like being a human person, even if numerous times I am not deemed so.
With all these, I feel the necessity of proof and reference, so let me just disclose that mere statistics of INTJ females and 5w6s mean nothing to me. I feel rare. I feel alone. I have been told too many times that I am rare; from how I think, present myself, all of that accumulate to justify that I am in fact alone. I am not so preposterous to say I am alone at the top; I feel as though I am on level ground with everyone else but I am alone anyway. Too frequently people had called me mature for my age or even when I was younger; it just begs the question: am I such an novel anomaly to people that it is deemed mature?
It hurts to feel lonely in supposed compliments. It makes me sound even more of a jackass for suffering in supposed success.
Do not be mistaken, I take pride in who I am but not how other people perceive me.
Two: Non-INTJs, the certain uncertainty
I fear, sometimes, that I may be wrong. That I am not at all an INTJ 5w6. Surely, I am physiologically female but whenever I hear INTJ memes, stereotypes, and numerous people asserting them as such, I then ask, why do I still feel like I do not belong?
There are people well versed in the Jungian Theory that they can tell apart the non-INTJs so adamant to be one and the real ones. I don't really have a purposeful use or need to be certain I am one but I know it would feel quite reassuring.
Especially since I have learned early on that acting in my default settings is so alien and frowned upon that I often times wear masks. I like to believe my behavior, the mask, is to be merely be appropriate and proper— it is my cognition and of my design, so I am still who I think I am. If I were to act as I think, I will be subjected to being that asshole of a person so detached from human emotion that I cannot possibly have a sliver of consideration for others. Hence, when the masks is to protect myself, the inevitability of hurt makes it all the more painful.
Enough of this dramatic masquerade of words, the point is I got lost in my masks. Who am I, in the barest reality? Who is this person I take pride in so much?
I want to answer that more than being an INTJ, paradoxically, I fear that I may not even be an INTJ— that it was one of the many masks.
Three: MBTI not AS a tool but IS a tool
The personality typing like enneagram or the MBTI to me started as a means to be a better communicator, a better person all-round. Of course, for a job you would need tools and I chose the personality system of Carl Jung's 8 Cognitive functions to help serve my purpose.
It works. It works so well that my tool became synonymous to my being. I became the hammer and nail to my own coffin. I have buried myself deep into relying the system that I sound so silly now, fearing if I am even an INTJ.
The lesson I learned in all these was behaving certain ways in certain situations is similar to wearing the appropriate attire to the occasion. It is normal— it is not deceitful. Moreover, I remember the start of this all, silly of me to forget. Knowing I am an INTJ is the tool I use to navigate the world as a person. To make my meaning known and to understand others better.
Four: The Self
This feels like a personal essay; I did try my best to keep it lesson-like and emotive but at the same time impersonal and unrecognizable. I hope this breaks stereotypes? I find the memes amusing but dangerous. I find the descriptions much the same. People need to be more weary and cautious of those descriptions that illicit the barnum effect. I am too lazy to explain it here, but let us just say there are descriptions that we all want to be and believe we are. Such as: wanting genuine friends.
This is so common that I fear people leave digital footsteps towards a misguided understanding of who they are. That really takes away the utility of having a system to comprehend yourself and make yourself comprehensible. Which, in reality, is the whole point of giving our personalities, our cognition, a name— to be known.
I am too lazy to properly tag, I don't really care. Oh, and as I have said, this is to commemorate my full layout change along with. The masterlist is on the works and yes, you may ask if you want.
I doubt, with how this app works nowadays, that people will and that people will even find me anyway... since I don't like properly tagging as well.
Also, I hate to break it to people, I don't talk like this because of the masks but this is how I think. There are cases where I forget to mask and filter how I speak and people that hear me are left confused.
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evelynmlewis · 1 year
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Okay, ah, this is dumb, but about the goncharov thing and the post you just reblogged on your other blog (I don’t know if tumblr is being broken or if you have asks turned off rn but I couldn’t send this there, I’m v sorry about this) but… I’ve cried and had a massive panic attack because nobody would tell me if a bug I was seeing actually existed or not. When you don’t trust your own perceptions of reality and depend on other people to tell you if what you’re seeing or hearing or whatever is real, then yeah, something like goncharov can be really scary. And obviously I can’t say for other people, but for my experience with this whole thing:
I really didn’t care about goncharov. I saw posts about it being fake before I’d even heard of it. Found it kind of funny. But if I’d come across it in a different mood, where I was having a bout of whatever-you-want-to-call-it, like I said I’ve cried over insects. Panic isn’t logical. I encountered goncharov when I was feeling fine, but if I had come across it in a situation where I was already doubting my perceptions, and I’d decided to look into it and been unable to find anything and have people telling me relentlessly it was real… my heart starts pounding and I start tearing up just thinking about that situation, honestly? I can see it messing me up really bad for days, if I’d come across it while already doubting myself and unable to think logically and realize that if tumblr is insisting something is real but the rest of the internet isn’t, it’s probably not true. So yeah. That’s my take, and it’s honestly a little hurtful that people would think nobody would care about being lied to about something small. In my mind, if I can’t trust someone to tell me if something so silly or small is real, then how can I trust them about something important? And if I can’t trust what I see and I can’t trust anyone else either… that’s really, really, really terrifying.
In all seriousness, I do understand that you can't exactly just block or unfollow people when a meme is so big it's taking over your ENTIRE dash. So I do support making it blockable with tags. (I know the post didn't say that but I often reblog things when I only agree with them in part.)
But the other thing is, we're not exactly keeping a tight lid on this thing. If you ask anyone, they'll tell you it's fake. We all just want other people to get in on it.
Trust me I understand what you're saying, because I do believe that purposely intentionally deceiving someone about something they cannot disprove (that is, LITERAL gaslighting) is a form of psychological torture.
But the fact that this is a meme is no secret. And if the influx of untagged posts gets to be upsetting for any reason, (being pulled around by reading a post then realizing it's fake. could be annoying) the x button is right there. If you're in a very delicate emotional state, it's a good idea to close the internet browser. I've had to do it myself.
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xivu-arath · 1 year
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Shooting star, milky way, and lying for omen!
(ask meme)
🌠 SHOOTING STAR - if they could make any wish with no repercussions, what wish would they make?
hmmmm I think xe would wish to never have another collapse happen! and omen would consider this a selfish wish since it would let xem just vibe in nature like xe has been doing for centuries and totally erase all underlying purpose for why xe exists. it would feel a bit cheap... (but it would make xem happy)
🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?
this one is funny because I noticed most of my ocs didn't really have many connections to canon characters or events, and I wanted to fix that, so I thought of having a messenger-type character who would have ample reason to meet lots of people! a lot of things, like xem gathering bones and having a reputation as a minor warlord, happened soon after that
omen did not really succeed in the "being involved" part of things, though xe does know a lot of people at least!
🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying?
omen is a horrible liar - it's not something xe tends to even think of doing,though xe can and does anticipate being deceived. if required to for some reason, xe sounds... very stilted and uncertain. very much not how xe normally acts, and extremely obvious to anyone who's watched xem for a minute
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bumblerhizal · 2 years
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Okay, first, for the Muse skillset symbol meme, my good fellow Novhen Tabris:
🔎 — investigating and 🚗 — driving because he seems like he'd be good at it and I want to know if my hunch is right
💃 — dancing because it looks like people like to dance at the Alienage
thanks for the asks! i'll be tackling them in the order they came in, so we've got novhen up first!
🔎 investigating
He's got that perfect mix of observant and clever you need to be a master investigator. There's good reason his technical role in the Grey Warden hierarchy is scout (before being made commander that is. I've modified the timeline to give him just enough time before Ostagar for that role to get firmly established). It's very difficult to get any lie or scam past him. There's only enough room for one chronic liar in this town and whatnot
The protagonist instinct of "at least consider taking everything not nailed down and some things that are" is also very productive towards this end
🚗 driving
Because of the setting, it's hard to give a single direct answer, but that just gives me an excuse to talk about my boy more! The short answer is don't let him deceive you about that (and you Know he will. I'm pretty sure you've seen the comics or at least enough of the wips to piece that together)
So if we're talking driving in the sense of carts and wagons, he's never really tried, so it'd probably be a bit of a mess to watch. He's never had to man anything bigger than the rare wheelbarrow prior to the Blight, and after he's become a Warden, there's always been someone else like Bodahn whose job it is to man the wagon if they have one. He could learn, sure, but he just never has
If we think of it in the sense of riding an animal, plain terrible. He finds pack mules and donkeys cute, but he makes sure to keep his distance from the horses. They can be a bit frightening. People have joked to him a couple times about trying to ride the mabari instead, but the dog shuts it down everytime. It's indignifying
Learning to ride a horse is probably on the seneschal's list of "Things to teach the commander", but Novhen has proven very resistant to the idea
And for a modern au Novhen, he just straight up can't drive. You put him in a car, and he won't know the gas pedal from the break. He's a poor kid from the city, he gets by just fine on public transportation please and thank you
💃 dancing
He's a competent dancer, but he can be bashful about it. There are caveats that he only knows elven dances and isn't good at improvised dance. While he is probably going to have to learn new steps for the human courts (another bullet on the seneschal's list), what he already has is plenty sufficient for any celebratory nights at the party camp
[Skillset Asks]
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ruki--mukami · 2 years
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[canon questionnaire] ALL OF THE ABOVE.
jkjk but 1, 20, and 21 👀👀
CANON QUESTIONNAIRE.
What made you pick up this character?
🧩 HOOOH BOY. SO MANY REASONS, HONESTLY. LIKE, TOO MANY TO LIST. Not me reblogging this meme to have an excuse to simp over my man. ANYWAY. Even years before making this blog, Ruki has been the strongest bias I’ve ever had in a fictional character IN YEARS. I’m definitely the type of person who rarely gets super hooked and obsessed with characters I like, BUT OH BOY, WHENEVER I DO. THEY TURN INTO MY WHOLE WORLD. To say Ruki is my comfort character is an understatement. But to be honest with you, something just struck me one day. Somehow roleplaying sounding like such a fun idea, and what better way to release my urge to write through my favorite character? I figured it would be a really easy hobby for me because this man already lives in my head rent free 24/7 so I knew a lot of the asks would just be a matter of me putting my thoughts and imagination into words HAHAHA.
At first it just seemed like a fun hobby to indulge in and I wanted to try my hand at not only roleplaying, but also writing something that wasn’t either a school paper or a work email for once in my life. Which is why it’s utterly bewildering to me that people would appreciate my style so much. I always feared it would be too “stiff,” and if it was, well at least it’s Ruki so it can probably be forgiven for some asks if I’m being real with you. But yes, unfortunately the essay writer is still in me. *GESTURES TO MY GARGANTUAN PARAGRAPHS AND CONVOLUTED LINGO* 🧩
If you could sum up your character with one sentence, what would it be?
🧩 This is impossible and it’s about to be terrible but I'll try.
“A troubled vampire who seeks vengeance and takes out his frustrations on the human world that deceived him in the most unimaginably sadistic ways, only to unironically fall in love with the poor victim in question and then eventually evolve into the weirdest Hellspawn fluffball hybrid after countless atrocious ordeals of bloodsucking and biting, losing his sanity faster than you can say ‘livestock.’”  
Run-on sentences who, am I right? 🧩
Which song do you feel describes your character the most and why?
🧩 I’ve yet to hear a song that perfectly describes Ruki, ahaha. As far as lyrics are concerned, I really like the Vocaloid song “Out of Eden.” The English translation has a lot of Ruki-esque vibes with the whole serpent temptation, forbidden fruit motif, etc. I’d link the song but it’s a 2010 Kagamine Len song oof my boomer side is showing and I don’t feel like listening to him rn KHFGKJHGGF SORRY LEN. I also have yet to find a cover I thoroughly enjoy, but maybe one day someone will revive it. 🧩
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fc oc meme: emilia clarke + bullet train — @xoteajays
I am legit kissing you for this ask, thank you so much!!
Okay, she’s obviously a Ladybug ship, just because I feel like that guy deserves an absolutely badass girlfriend.
A younger sister of the twins whom Tangerine christens Plum for the mission; she generally works apart from them, but they figure that for an assignment as important as rescuing the White Death’s son, they need all the help they can get.
Generally kinder and more less cynical than her brothers, despite how deadly she still is, but spends a lot of the movie trading snark with Tangerine and rolling her eyes at Lemon’s metaphors (you know, sibling stuff).
She has a short meeting with Ladybug before shit starts to go down (probably outside one of the bathrooms while he’s going to get the case) and flirts with him a bit. Ladybug is very confused on why such a gorgeous young woman would be flirting with him, but she finds him really cute and endearing despite clocking him as someone in the business right away.
Steadfastly agrees with Lemon about him not being the one to kill the Son, because yeah, appearances can be deceiving, but no chance is this guy actually that dangerous.
Argues with Tangerine more than once about offering Ladybug up as a sacrifice when they don’t know who actually killed the kid - Tangerine accuses her of acting like a stupid teenage girl with a crush and she pushes him against the wall and holds a pocket knife to his throat until he apologizes, at which point Ladybug is like, “Oh, I’m in love.”
Rather than standing there and letting Tan shoot the Prince, she full-body launches herself at the girl, face still streaked with tears and screaming with fury for her dead big brother.
The upside to this is that Ladybug comes in at the wrong moment and, instead of fighting her, pulls her off the Prince, which pisses her off and causes her to flee with Tangerine (also leaving Tan alive, yay!).
She’s absolutely thrilled to find Lemon actually alive, and the poor man basically has to push her off of him to keep her from hugging him in the middle of a fight.
After the whole battle (when Lemon still probably ends up dying again), Ladybug approaches her where she’s standing with Tangerine in the train wreckage and apologizes for not letting her get to the Prince. She’s like, whatever, you were protecting what you thought was an innocent teenager, it’s fine.
Tangerine goes to pull her away before Ladybug’s handler can get there, but Ladybug is like, “Actually, can I have your number real quick?” and she gives it to him while Tan is just standing there going what the fuck in the background.
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send me an fc + fandom for me to make an oc on the spot!!
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outeremissary · 1 year
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PFKM for the thing. gimme the god tier Emi Opinions
It took me long enough to type this up to get the question a second time whoops
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[Image ID: An ask from kuroimarzipan reading "someones gotta ask u about kingmaker for the fandom ask meme and im gonna be that person"]
Buckle up, everyone, because this will be very long, variably coherent, and likely things a lot of folks have heard before!
Favorite Male Character
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[Image ID: A three part meme taken from the Simpsons. In the first picture, a group gathers around Bart's desk, saying "Say the line, Emi!" In the second, Bart says "Tristian" with a dejected face of resignation. In the final image the class cheers around the despondent Bart.]
I know I have a certain reputation. The reputation for having lost my sanity and likely my dignity as well on account of that pathetic priest. That guy haunts me in ways you can't imagine. That guy was the cause of some strain with my ex, who was very tired of hearing about Tristian. It has destroyed any respect my irl friends have for me. And I think the worst part is that I don't even even think he's attractive. I find his face dull and in every way he's not at all my type. It would be better if this was just a mind lost to horny thing I think.
Anyway. For better or worse I'm in it with this guy for the forseeable future, and I have a Lot Of Thoughts About That. I know I've said before that when I started Kingmaker, I was so confident that I wouldn't be at all interested in Tristian as a character that I settled on playing a male character because of it. The universe mocks me, I swear. And I was right until that guy started being a little weird and a little fucked up! And then suddenly I had to know more, and then he was in the party temporarily, and then permanently, and he's just so pathetic in all the right ways... And the way that despite that sweet, holy character there would be moments of startling condescension or naive accidental cruelty... the fact that everything about his background was so clearly a lie... Agh, it drew me in, and then the betrayal sealed the deal. Curse my love of traitors, and of inhuman things straining under the weight of sudden humanity! Something wretched has taken hold of me. This is my own curse.
I think it's insult to injury that I really love Tristian's voice as well. Life is so cruel.
Anyway! Tristian is a fantastically compelling character because I love the way that nothing is actually quite a front with him despite the fact that he's deceiving you. He's so painfully sincere about being compassionate and altruistic. He really does want the best for you and to set you on the right path. He's blindingly sweet and kind and naive, but at the same time is capable of committing to truly terrifying acts for his own selfish goals. He's so terrified of his flaws that he can lie to himself about his own motives and overcome his intense aversion to falsehood to lie to you... I love the way that even when there are cracks in his story, he's somehow so difficult to disbelieve because it's so counter to his nature to be up to anything sinister that somehow, the mind rejects the evidence (mine did, at least). I like that much like Nyrissa he's someone who thought of himself as the main character of every story he was a part of (or at least deserving of a leading role) and who is now soundly punished for his hubris by living in a way he believes makes him a shadow of himself. And I like that all of his darkness is just a part of him! Like I said- no falsehoods. There's no "fake" Tristian. Every bit of it is real. It makes him feel so complex and human.
Anyway Tristian nonbinary I was told that by the owlcat itself it's true and I'm right
Favorite Female Character
In a game with two of the best girlbosses ever made, it's so hard to choose... but choose I shall, because I came to this game for one perfect woman, and I'm committed to the scythe wife, who has never let me down. I adore Jaethal! She's cool as hell, of course, by virtue of being a tall (no one argue I'm right) spooky undead lady with a giant scythe. But I also just find her a delight to be around. That unflappable immortal arrogance makes her funny as hell. There's not a single line from her that isn't iconic, I swear. The experience of being in some serious cutscene and having her interrupt with something mortifying like "well we all know family is what really matters" is integral to Kingmaker, I think. You're really missing something playing without that. And her backstory? Also an 11/10. She's a lawyer. She's a serial killer. She's a cultist. She's a milf. She's the worst person to have at your family gatherings. She's everything to me.
And of course, what I especially love about her are what we might term her "bestie qualities." I love that she's absolutely, unfailingly honest, even when she might have every reason to lie. She'll tell you so straightforwardly that she's undead, and then without any hesitation about her Extremely Criminal Past. She's confident that you'll either work with her, or that if you won't then she doesn't need you (she is, after all, immortal. eternal. everlasting.). But if you place your trust in her, it's rewarded with unwavering loyalty and earnest counsel. She always cuts to the point and never tries to manipulate or flatter. She's always absolutely, unapologetically herself. I love that about her. She feels like such a natural match for an evil character. She's ruthless and seeks power, but she's also content with what she finds at your side and is so fiercely devoted.
Then after saying all that, there's the fact she has easily the best companion quest in the game! Even though we see so little of Nortellara, I love the relationship between them. Jaethal has such complicated feelings for her offspring: she's controlling and condescending, but at the same time has some affection for the girl despite herself. I love the part of her first quest when after turning the nameless elvish girl for having a resemblance to her daughter, she reacts to her with disgust for displaying what she feels is a cowardice that would be beneath Nortellara. She thinks a lot of the girl- although at the same time, the way she thinks of Nortellara is also a reflection of how she sees herself. The question of how much of that affection and respect is for Nortellara as an individual vs. Nortellara as the miniature Jaethal she thinks that she's succeeded in making her is also one I find myself turning over in my head. Jaethal is one of the video game parents of all time to me
Least Favorite Character
Of the companions? Jubilost. Shoutout to Jubilost for being the only companion I hold no warmth in my heart for. I know this is a bit of a controversial take (and also that you've heard it from me already, for the most part), but I truly can't stand that guy. He's funny sometimes, sure, and I really like his questline (especially the Inconsequent Debates for letting me see my bestest immortal friend in the whole universe), but he frustrates me as a person. You know how Jaethal is a fun and cool fictional villain? Jubilost is a real dude I could find on Reddit right now. Or Twitter. Or in my high school yearbook, since he'd have been one of the classmates mad at me for taking the top spot in class rankings from my betters (cis men). I really tried to like him, and I did my best to committing to him in the party on my second playthrough, but he ran out my patience in record time with the way he talked to Octavia (as well as to Linzi and Valerie). I don't care if she started it, his responses disgust me.
In terms of non-companions...? That chieftain of the Six Bears, Akaia. For some similar reasons, that guy obviously sucks. Don't even need to say much more about it. He's lame and obviously he was made to be hated. He doesn't even have any amusing quips. Amiri deserves to do a little murder to him. As a treat.
Favorite Ship
It is no news to you or anyone else who's known me for more than two days that my brain has been absolutely melted by Balthazar/Tristian. That has held me at goddamn knifepoint for over two years now. Send help. I know I covered the two of them at some length here, here, and here. I really love the way that they're kind of foils to one another- the trickster and the earnest priest, the aasimar desperately rejecting his heritage and the fallen angel willing to do anything to claw his way back to heaven. And I love the ways that they're the same as well. They're both suffering at the hands of the expectations placed on them for a celestial nature, expectations neither can meet. Both have the same fierce commitment to their ideals, and both are also gifted liars. There's a lot there. It's like accidentally tripping into making some kind of shonen rival ship. It makes me so deranged.
Though if you asked me to pick something that doesn't involve my beloved special OC and isn't the easy Octavia and Regongar (I want them to work it out so bad)... I'd say Linzi and Amiri! i like Linzi's gay little crush on Amiri, it's really cute.
On the other hand my dark and evil fave is that I am secretly a Nyrissa/Tristian guy. I just like... there's something about that. There's something about the Stockholm ship.
Favorite Friendship
I mean. Jaethal and Balthazar, of course. Mean bisexual alliance. I love how in sync they tend to be, and I love the trust that can exist between two evil people. :) Every tyrant needs a loyal right hand! I also think that she's someone who has always been able to see through his deceptions and fronts and is able to cut straight to what's on his mind- she demands an earnesty that's terribly unfamiliar at first, but trusting her comes to be second nature.
If we remove my OC from the equation though... I really love seeing Octavia and Harrim interact, and the moments here and there that she's able to break through that gloom and coax out some little positive response, a smile or a good natured comment. The unstoppable optimist and the persistent pessimist being pals is just :)
Favorite Quote
For once in my life, I don't need to think for even a minute about it. "You are my reflection, Balthazar, just a little luckier." I know I even made a whole post gushing about it on the side blog! It's my favorite, and her telling you not to bow down before power, just as she never did, in the same conversation. Wow. Wow. I just... she's everything, you know?
Honorary mention though to "I'm lying to you again, Balthazar." I'm so insane brained about Tristian there had to be something here, right? All of his dramatic and self-pitying stuff (especially the self-pitying stuff) is dear to my heart, but something about the frank admission of not only the most abhorrent selfishness but the act of catching himself trying to conceal it is really amazing to me. I mean, there's so much character in just that. He's someone who's so burdened by shame that even when he tries to confess one he's compulsively still hiding and minimizing, and he sees it as a sign that he's fallen so far and become so sullied. But I think it's one of the most human things about him. I find it painfully relatable. I find it so fascinating that he's a character who holds himself to impossible standards who by the time of story has already long since failed in his attempt to live up to them. And of course, the attempt to return to the time that things were perfect and he could live with them only tangles him further and further in things that shame and humiliate him and make him a stranger to himself. I really love the struggle he's always going through to understand himself and accept these flaws.
Worst Character Death (if any)
That BASTARD TRISTIAN! I don't hold Jaethal accountable for what happened there just. Full hands in head. Aaaagh. Devastated! Heartbroken! Dismayed! Ripped my heart out of my chest! The only fatality I had in the House on my first playthrough and it was a NIGHTMARE. I knew it was coming, my roommate had warned me, but I still had such a hollow feeling in my chest afterwards. The book in the House that has Tristian's memories made me full on tear up. His death is also the reason that Balthazar killed Nyrissa instead of taking the opportunity from Shyka to be crueler- after that there was no playing around. She had to die, and that was that.
Of course, Nyrissa's death was also the worst. She's such a wonderful character that it was devastating to lose her. But I think there's a certain poetry to it. Even if you kill her, in the end you become her. And if you emerge victorious from the struggle against the Lantern King, then it's her victory too. You're the understudy who's filled her role and you'll see the show through to the end. I like to think she'd be happy to see what you did with it. I love her so much my heart aches btw
This made me so happy you have no idea Moment
Oh, there are many options in the epic highs and lows of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. But a really memorable one from the first go around was talking down the mob in Season of Bloom by seizing on the words of Balthazar's very few supporters and using them to just gaslight the crowd into sad submission. RIP to the common people of the Stolen Lands but I love the evil diplomancy win. Along similar lines would be talking Hargulka into beating Tartuk to a bloody pulp (sorry Tartuk) and then recruiting him on the spot afterwards, recruiting one of Nyrissa's lieutenants by being the scariest motherfucker she'd ever met (I love when my feeble posh aasimar gets to intimidate!), instilling a puppet ruler over the Tiger Lords... basically all the cheating bastard evil diplomacy wins. I'm so grateful that Kingmaker allowed me to play my concept to the fullest.
But also every moment that Shyka was onscreen because them make me so happy :)
Saddest Moment
Aside from that asshole Tristian dying on me? Well, I remember the ending slides I got the first time around were... largely pretty rough. Jaethal leaving was :( But aside from that. Umm. Linzi death. Linzi scripted death got me. Even having disliked her for most of the game before that, suddenly having her pulled away, finding that she died for you even after her spirit was broken and she had become disillusioned... there was something tragic about that, especially playing a character who hadn't really valued her and had encouraged her to make self-destructive choices. I think there's something about seeing her give herself up in blind trust one last time for the hero she's given everything to is, from a meta perspective, extremely sad. I suppose she didn't really know that her encounter with Nyrissa would end in death, but I think our robin understood what she was gambling with. And then the epilogues finishing with the "and now I shall go silent forever" as if her life amounted to no more value than being the vessel for the main character's tale... never! That's devastating as well! And hard to reconcile with a protagonist who had already told her not to put a period on things when the story was far from over.
Favorite Location
Vordakai's Tomb. *the crowd boos* No no hear me out I just think it's a really compelling and atmospheric story location!!! I think it's an excellently paced dungeon with a lot of fascinating parts!!! Like, it's so neat down there. I like the variation in the dungeon geography, which is some of the most interesting environmental storytelling in the game. Being stalked by Vordakai's familiar (and watching in despair as you optimistic dumbass companions give up their names) is neat. We get some sweet, sweet leadup to Tristian breakdown, and the iconic "if something like, happened to me, and you never saw me again for some reason, is there anything you'd want to say to me...?" He makes me yearn for the sweet embrace of death sometimes. But yeah. The sense of dread down there is cool, I like being properly locked in, it's a good dungeon. As a dungeon aficionado, I'm fond of it!
I love the capital before it becomes a city as well, and a lot of the nondescript forest locations. Many locations are hard to love due to being actively attacked in them, alas.
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munchflix · 2 years
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WHY ‘KNOCK KNOCK’ MIGHT ACTUALLY BE THE WORST MOVIE OF ALL TIME - A WELL-THOUGHT-OUT AND ORGANIZED LIST OF COMPLAINTS (AKA REVIEW) BY BISCUITSANDHORRORSLASH
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MAJOR CONTENT WARNING: The following review heavily discusses themes of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Film is an art form, right? Well, if you disagree, you've probably just had the insufferable experience of watching Knock Knock, a 2015 film directed and partially written by Eli Roth.
"2015?" You might ask, "Why did you write out this whole long-winded review of a movie that came out seven years ago?"
Well, because I have a lot to say about it.
Not long ago here on the Munchflix blog, Munch and I made a tier list of all the movies we'd reviewed. The one we ranked as the worst was a 2018 pseudo-documentary called Demon House, the brainchild (in the loosest sense of the word) of one Zak Bagans. We placed it there not because the movie fails on any front to deliver the basic qualities of a movie - writing, acting, directing, editing, etc. No, while all those things about Demon House most assuredly do suck, the reason I truly hated it was because the film came off as a morally dubious vanity project built on the foundations of exploitation and intentionally trying to deceive its audience.
That was a movie that really, genuinely made me angry - and, for a long time, if you asked me what I thought was the worst movie ever made, I would've said "Demon House". But I have found a movie I think I hate more than that.
Even the trailer for this movie made me mad. This is a movie so unwatchable I could barely even watch it all, even when I was drunk. The first time I tried to watch it all the way through, I had to stop and come back to it later.
This movie is a genuinely harrowing watch for all of the wrong reasons. Now, I don't want to sound like too much of an armchair crusader or anything, but some things make me angry. Sometimes I feel like I have a right to get angry. And at the end of the day, this shit makes me mad.
I do want to say as a disclaimer that this is all my interpretation, and that my takes on this movie and on the portrayal of sexual assault in horror movies (we'll get to that later) in general are most definitely not the end-all be-all. I also do not claim to speak on behalf of victims of sexual assault or abuse and, again, the views and opinions expressed herein are solely my own.
Anyways, I'm still going to eviscerate this movie.
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(You may notice that there aren’t any of our usual gifs in this review, and that’s because a. I really didn’t want to have to scan back through this movie to make them and b. what I assume is screen recording protection has made it so I literally can’t capture gifs or even screenshots, so I just made some memes instead.)
To help make my thoughts more linear and digestible and not in any attempt to mimic the success of Jenny Nicholson, I have condensed my deranged ramblings into a numbered list.
Point #1 - The "Plot"
The plot of this movie, summarized succinctly, is as follows:
The story follows Evan Webber (Keanu Reeves), a wholesome family man, who invites two young women seeking shelter into his house. These women then spend a gratuitous amount of screen time violating his personal space despite his obvious disinterest, culminating in them forcing themselves on him. They then go about ruining his house, blackmailing him, and spending the latter part of the movie mostly just torturing and berating him. He survives, though, and is rewarded by being buried alive up to his head in the backyard while they publicize a video of him having sex with one of them (which was against his will, by the way) on social media.
Yep, that's it. That's the plot. Ignoring all the supremely objectionable content therein, take a moment to notice how I was able to summarize the entire film in a short paragraph. I'm not omitting much here. This movie is labeled as a 'thriller', but I think that might be a simple mistake - they obviously meant for this movie's genre to be 'filler'. Most of the things that happen are pretty inane and irrelevant (an accurate parallel to the movie itself); this film could've been about 30 minutes long and honestly it probably would've been way better. Nothing thrilling really happens. Hell, nothing entertaining even happens. The first half an hour is basically one of those workplace PSAs about sexual harassment, except just the uncomfortable parts. There's some gross shit and a lot of stuff that just makes you uncomfortable, but it sure as hell isn't scary or tense and it honestly isn't even engaging. While Eli Roth is known for over-the-top torture porn type movies, there's not even that much gore in this one, just some tasteless shock value shit. Most of the actual action is exceptionally short-lived and there's literally never any sense of suspense. It makes the movie feel even more pointless and vapid than it already is.
Oh, and it's also choked to death by the fucking over-the-top cringy-ass tone of a goddamn Adam Sandler movie and some of the most repulsive acting and dialogue I've ever seen put to film. It has a 'cheap' quality to it that I think might be intentional but really just makes you feel like literally nobody involved in this movie gave even 1% of a shit. This film was released in 2015 but its combination of uncomfortable ignorance, trashy style and crass tone give it the flavor of an early 2000s comedy released at a time when shit like the Scary Movie franchise was still popular. It honestly feels like a time machine to one of the worst eras in cinema.
Ok, that's basically it for the technical aspects and whatnot. Now it's time for the real shit. Much like our film's duo of unbearably unsubtle antagonists, let's do some digging, shall we?
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Part #2 - Just Give Me A Reason
Yeah, this movie has rape in it. In fact, it's a two-for-one special: you get two rape scenes! It's a special Black Friday BOGO sale!
What's that you say - why does this movie need to have rape in it?
Well...because.
Now, rape being mishandled in a horror movie is unfortunately nothing new. Many a horror film has thrown in a completely unnecessary rape scene for the sole purpose of shock value - and shock value is something Eli Roth is a known fan of. In my opinion, using such an element in this way is honestly one of the lowest lows a film can stoop to. Doing so only ever serves to trivialize and ultimately commodify a traumatic event into a cheap and shitty way to get a guaranteed reaction. Naturally, I'm not saying that you can't use heavy thematic elements like that in a movie, or even in a horror movie, but it is a very delicate subject matter that needs to be handled with a great deal of tact.
Of course, this movie was directed by Eli Roth, an overrated hack known for making movies that are unbearably trashy and ultimately hollow and derivative. Roth is the kind of person who thinks that if he tortures characters on screen for long enough, his film will automatically become 'scary’. It's honestly no surprise that he handles the concept of rape in this movie about as well as a toddler with butter-covered hands would handle fine china.
However, in this case, I don’t even think the problem is that it’s being used for cheap shock value. I think that this movie is simply genuinely unaware that it’s about rape at all.
For example, the promotional materials for this movie seem to frame it as if it's a story about a man getting some sort of deserved comeuppance for cheating. All the synopses use words like 'seduced', which is a very funny way to spell 'sexually assaulted’. This cheating angle is particularly egregious when the 'cheating' scene in question involves two young women exposing themselves to a man without his consent, groping him and quite literally pushing him into a corner after he repeatedly said he doesn't want to do this, then insisting that it's 'just sex' and he should 'let himself enjoy it'.
I wish I was kidding.
Oh yeah, remember how I said there were two rape scenes? Yup, later on in the movie when Evan wakes up tied to his own bed, one of the girls comes in wearing his daughter's clothes, roleplays as his daughter while going on a bizarre diatribe about him molesting her, and then proceeds to have sex with him while he is being held against his will and physically restrained. That's what they broadcast to the world at the end of the movie.
And let’s not forget that the girls also claim to be 15 in an attempt to blackmail Evan. They spend the last forty minutes of the movie tormenting Evan for being a 'cheater' and a 'pedophile', before revealing at the end that they were adults the whole time.
You really have no idea how much I wish I was kidding.
But this is all important to the plot, right? This movie actually makes a point about all this fucked-up shit, right?
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Point 3 - So-Called "Satire"
Spoiler alert: no. This movie is pretty much exactly as ignorant and asinine as you’re worrying it is.
I have seen this movie described as 'black comedy' and 'social satire', and honestly either idea is fucking terrifying to me. The thought that anyone, let alone enough people to make a movie thought that there was anything even remotely comical or satirical going on in this film leaves me baffled.
You might think, though, that maybe this movie secretly is smart, that maybe it actually knows what it's doing. But then you remember it was directed by Eli Roth.
Having seen the film, the idea that it means to somehow mock the idea that a man cannot be victimized by a woman requires a stretch Mr. Fantastic could not manage. If that is indeed supposed to be the point, then I would say the movie does an exceedingly bad job of actually coming to that point. Of course, a movie doesn't necessarily have to have some sort of deep, complex meaning behind it - but if it's supposed to be a satire, then yeah, it kinda is supposed to, y'know, at least have a point?
The idea of Knock Knock being some sort of 'social satire' feels like nothing more than a weak justification for why it should get away with being straight-up gross and offensive. With everything else in this movie having all the subtlety of an explosive plane crash, I have a hard time believing Mr. Roth slipped any sort of surreptitious theme in there. Also, acknowledging Roth's previous body of work makes me doubt his willingness or even ability to create anything genuinely thoughtful.
Saying this movie is a satire of misandry feels like the same thing as calling a prank a 'social experiment' or saying a slur and then trying to claim it was 'just a joke'. Trying to genuinely analyze this movie as if it were 'satire' or 'social commentary' is a grace I just genuinely don’t think this movie is even worthy of. 
If the film is indeed mocking the hypocrisy of gender stereotypes and double standards, then first of all I'm baffled as to why the promotional materials frame it as if it's a story about a man who cheats on his wife. Maybe they thought nobody would actually watch the movie if they thought it was too subversive, so they had to dumb it down a bit.
But the problem is the movie is honestly probably even dumber than it looks. Like, when I said this movie has the tone of an Adam Sandler flick, I meant it. A prime medium for some intelligent social commentary, am I right? The tone of this movie, including its vomit-inducing lack of subtlety (which has come up before and will come up again), would indicate the film isn't taking itself very seriously. After some thought, I do genuinely think parts of this movie were supposed to be funny. This movie acts, throughout its entire runtime, as if it's funny. Like Eli Roth was behind the camera laughing his ass off while his antagonists overacted blunt dialogue about underage sex. Not a single frame of this movie is even remotely humorous.
I know "rape isn't funny" is a pretty toothless criticism, but I don't think it should exactly be a hot take. Maybe that’s just me.
Point 4 - Villains: How They Do and Don’t Work
I'm not gonna lie, the evil girl characters in this movie are the fucking worst.
Now, of course, the women are the villains of this story. We're supposed to root against them. And boy are they two of the most insufferable characters I've ever seen put to film; both these characters are written in such an agonizingly overt way that their actual effect as villains is completely diminished. You go right past hating the characters and straight to hating whoever wrote them. Not to mention both actresses chew the scenery like they're starving to death in every single scene they're in, but especially Lorenza Izzo. I can't even hold that against the girl, though, because I can only imagine the direction she was given was basically 'do that again, but worse'.
But the antagonist role in a story is supposed to serve an important purpose. For this exercise, let's talk about how a villain's motives contribute to a theme (or lack thereof).
These characters' mentality is basically that Eric Andre meme:
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But the movie doesn't make any sort of attempt to examine the villains’ motives on anything other than a surface level. Shit, their motivations aren't even clear for the vast majority of the film. The movie never really tries to criticize or even analyze the villains' obviously fucked-up belief system. At worst, these two characters make the film feel very misogynistic as well as misandric. They’re sex-crazed, unrealistically awful simulacra of human beings who are sadistic to the point that they get a kick out of falsely accusing a man of sex crimes and seem to have no real complex thoughts or motivations. Oh yeah, they’re also literally unapologetic rapists.
Why does the movie even take the angle of them trying to frame him for pedophilia? I’m genuinely asking here, 'cause I sincerely cannot think of anything that this element actually contributes to the film other than just being excessively nasty.
Oh yeah, it's Eli Roth. That was probably the entire thought process.
Also - if we're supposed to be rooting against these characters, why are they literally always winning?
The villains basically play out like some sort of mary-sue self-insert ocs because they absolutely can't lose. Any power struggle is usually short-lived and you never genuinely believe for a second that Evan will actually get the upper hand. Kinda defeats the point of making a ‘thriller’ movie.
And, as I mentioned, the villains win in the end! Evan survives, but the gratuitously awful characters we've been rooting against this entire movie receive no consequences for their actions.
Again, I must ask why.
To subvert expectations? Subversion of expectations only works if it's clever. Just doing things because people won't expect it is much the same as putting rape in your movie just because it will shock people. If the bad guys never get punished or even questioned, then the movie might as well be on the villains' side. I'm not convinced that it isn't.
If the thesis of this movie is 'wow women can be horrible and abusive people too!', then it gets that message across basically as soon as these two cunts show up on screen; the rest of the movie is completely unnecessary. Also, despite what Eli Roth may think, he’s not the first person on the planet to come up with this incredibly intelligent and in-depth take.
Oh yeah, and also, there don’t really need to be two of them. There’s no contrast or interesting dynamic between these two because they’re basically just clones of the same character, and Ana de Armas is honestly barely there for the latter half of the movie. It’s almost as if the only reason there are two of them is that someone involved thought it was unrealistic for a single woman to be able to overpower a man on her own.
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Point 4.5 - Metaphors: How They Do and Don’t Work
Some dialogue could be interpreted in a way that would make the villains a sort of metaphor for the way society treats male victims of sexual assault. Of course, I doubt this metaphor was actually intentional - partially because the movie seems to moreso imply that it's about Evan being unfairly judged for his sexual appetites, and partially because it’s so fleeting and inconsistent it basically has no effect. It’s only really plausible for two scenes.
In one scene, a friend of Evan's named Louis comes over while Evan is being held hostage in the house, and he ends up dying when he trips trying to get his inhaler back from the two rapists. Evan begs them to help him but the girls crassly say it was 'his fault' because he tripped. This could be seen as an allegory for victims being blamed for their own assault, but the scene is so disjointed it honestly feels like most of it was edited in after the fact or some shit. It's also immediately preceded by Louis bizarrely declaring, 'I'm from Oakland, ho! I know two ghetto-ass hoes when I see em', in a joke that is both unfunny and vaguely racist. Oh yeah, it also completely ruins the tone of what is maybe supposed to be a meaningful scene.
That possible attempt at a metaphor continues in the next scene with the girls accusing Evan of ruining his family by sleeping with them. But then it gets thrown out the window at the speed of a Randy Johnson fastball when Evan breaks into a nonsensical rant where he yells things like 'you came onto me' and 'you wanted it' at them. He then compares the girls to 'free pizza' showing up at his door and says, 'what was I supposed to do?' 
I can't say enough times that I wish I was kidding.
This is it - the part where Evan finally revolts against the unfair moral inquisition he’s been under, and all it amounts to is him screeching nonsense and slobbering. All of this happens in a scene where Keanu gives 0 shits about acting and he screams 'fuck' so many times I think it's supposed to be funny. And also remember, Evan still thinks these girls are 15 at this point in the movie.
This scene squanders any credit I was willing to give this film. It comes so close, so close to giving this insufferable slough of detritus any sort of meaning, and yet it's still so unimaginably far. A helpless and desperate rape victim yells at his abusers in what should be a deeply painful and emotional moment but instead reads like he's trying to victim-blame himself. Way to go implying your protagonist was somehow culpable in his own rape because he secretly wanted it. It's like free pizza showing up at your door, right? What are you supposed to do?
The dialogue directly shies away from acknowledging the undeniable fact that Evan was raped. They had to have the implication that Evan 'secretly wanted it' come out of his own mouth. But you know what word doesn't come out of Evan's mouth? Yup, the r-word. Evan says 'you fucked me' but the only time this movie uses the word 'rape' is when one of the girls mentions statutory rape while they're trying to convince Evan they're underage.
Oh yeah, and near the very end of the movie, the girls tell Evan 'I thought you would be the one to finally say no' and that 'no matter who they are, they never say no'.
I have never seen a movie so blatantly ignorant of its own premise.
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Point 5 - Pizza Cutter
How is a pizza cutter like an Eli Roth movie? They're both all edge and no point.
Okay, I know that joke isn't original. But Mr. Roth sure as hell took his fucking all-edge-and-no-point pizza cutter and flayed this movie into Pizza Hut cheese sticks. (I hope they show up with my free pizza!)
I have never seen a movie more grotesquely devoid of art or meaning than this wretched film. It’s so agonizingly shallow that the deep end of its pool is still no deeper than a puddle in the floor, and the shallow end is the fucking Sahara desert. Eli Roth wouldn’t know art if it broke into his house and groped him uncomfortably for half an hour.
Roth depicts a male protagonist being raped (multiple times), blackmailed, manipulated, victim-blamed, and tortured. But why? He has nothing to say about the subjects. The film is not challenging to anyone's preconceived notions or beliefs. It doesn't present any sort of point or thesis. It just shows these things, but makes no attempt to make the audience actually think about them. The movie never even seems to acknowledge that Evan was raped, which is really fucked up.
It should have been obvious, of course. But, like I said, anyone who came into this movie thinking that men can't be raped is not coming out of this movie thinking any more deeply about that viewpoint, I assure you.
With all the stigma there is towards male victims of sexual assault and abuse, you have to be exceptionally careful when handling the subject, or else you fall into the trap of just feeding into those exact negative perceptions. This movie doesn’t even really try, though. It just does a bunch of misandric shit and then pretends like it's deep because 'people don't usually do that in movies'.
If you put misandry in your movie, but fail to actually say anything about it (or even really address it at all), then all you're doing is just…being misandric.
Point 6 - In Conclusion, And Without A Moment to Spare…
Is Knock Knock secretly a misunderstood subversive masterpiece?
You can probably tell by the title of this review how I would answer that question. No, it's really not.
But part of the reason I hate this movie is because I feel like, in the right hands, it actually could have been a subversive masterpiece. If it just took its own fucking subject matter seriously instead of trying to be some sort of goofy horror comedy, I think it could've been a really interesting and provocative piece. But I genuinely don't think Eli Roth had any sort of intelligent artistic vision for this film. I don't think he cares about men’s rights either; I doubt that a man known for his misogynistic comments and throwing unnecessary homophobia into his movies suddenly decided to give a shit about social issues for this one film. I think he just likes making shitty torture porn movies and lets other people defend his work by using social commentary as an excuse for why it's 'satirical' and 'subversive'.
The worst thing, the absolute worst thing about it, is that this movie is so dull and empty that it probably isn’t even deserving of the ire it has evoked in me. Its ratings are pretty abysmal for a production of its size and it seems that most people have more or less entirely forgotten it exists. In a way, it’s poetic. The worst punishment a movie can receive is to simply be shoved so far back into the collective consciousness that it may as well not even be real.
Also…why did he have to do this to my man Keanu Reeves?
Don't get me wrong, this movie would have been equally as abominable if it had starred literally any other actor, but at least then I would be far less likely to have ever had the displeasure of knowing it exists.
Keanu Reeves does show big daddy milkers tho, 10/10 would watch again 👍
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( Footnote: I hate that this frame came from this movie. I hate how goddamn hot Keanu Reeves looks in this film. I swear if I were to summit the cloudy steeps of Mt. Olympus and come face-to-face with Eros himself, he would look like Keanu Reeves in glasses and a cardigan. )
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