#Steve’s redemption arc wouldn’t have been a thing if they were going will characterization like d&d alignment charts

[dinitride-art]

Some weird things I’ve noticed about one/Vecna/Henry - an incomplete list/analysis (also not excuses for all his shit, I’m just trying to figure him out)

I’d first like to start off by analyzing what we don’t see in Henry’s backstory. First, with Victor Creel, we are shown Vecna’s first attack through a very flawed lense. His father cannot see that his son was the one that killed everyone, not a demon. He doesn’t see Henry as the problem, but we also don’t see any other problems with Henry from his perspective. We don’t actually see much of Henry at all from Victor’s perspective. The thing I find interesting about Victors story is that he says that him and his wife were tormented by memories from their past. We get an explaination for his past, but we never see his wife’s past. Or at least we don’t get an explaination for it.

When we go to Henry’s version of the story, we get a whole lot of stuff that Victor didn’t know or care to mention. Like doctor Brenner, he didn’t come up in Victors story. Whether that be because of the plot reveal of Vecna or whatnot, he wasn’t mentioned. Henry made note of the fact that it was his mother that called in the doctor. Victor described Henry as a ‘sensitive child’ but when Henry said what his parents thought of him he said that they thought there was something wrong with him, that he needed to be fixed. We don’t get any evidence for them saying that, nor do we get them saying anything. Henry’s mother, who is shown more, is still not explained. She called the doctor and Henry described both parents as having dark secrets- but he never gave us his mother’s.

There are many many years we do not see with Henry and doctor Brenner. We can assume that after Henry went into a coma he was taken by Brenner and was with him for all the years until el banished him to the upside down. But we don’t see any of that. When does he get that tattoo in this time line? Is it before he murders his family? After? If it’s after, then what was the final straw that Brenner had that caused him to put that implant in his neck to suppress his powers? We don’t know. We’ve been given a lot, but we’ve also been given nothing. Why does Henry want to destroy everything? If it’s because he’s inherently evil and bad then that’s just boring. It adds nothing to the story or too the plot other than a cardboard antagonist put up for eleven to pour water on.

Henry is the main antagonist. He has been the main antagonist since the first season. The discussion of motivations throughout the series is always the first thing the think about. The why. Characters and trauma and secrets were a major theme in season four. Lies in season three. Deceit in season two. The unknown in season one. If Henry has been the overarching villain this whole time then he’s been connected to those themes this whole time.

Henry Creel isn’t a one dimensional character. His thoughts and motivations haven’t been established yet. Why four as a number, why his mother first, why the library, why not try to manipulate eleven further when she tried to save max, why was he a sensitive kid? Why is he the main antagonist?

A lot of season four was finding out who Vecna was. And they found out that he was Henry. But they didn’t find out shit about his motivations. It’s not Brenner, because Henry didn’t seem to care when el said he was dead. It’s not anyone he’s already killed because they’re dead. His motivations don’t seem to be in line with anything we’ve been shown yet. So, maybe his motivations lie with what we haven’t seen yet, Henry’s secrets.

We’ve only seen the consequences from Henry: His family, the children, the people of Hawkins. He’s manipulative, he’s powerful, he’s a whole super villain. But what is the cause? In everything we know about Henry, we’ve been given what he’s done. But everyone- even Henry- glosses over anything that might have been a cause. ‘I saw what my parents had done’ great, why’d he kill his sister before his father then? ‘He was a sensitive kid’, that’s not enough. Will was a sensitive kid, he didn’t murder anyone. He was different isn’t a strong enough explaination for his actions.

Henry is the way he is because of reasons that haven’t been explained in the story yet. And if his whole thing is absorbing people and their secrets so they can all suffer together, then he’s got secrets too.

#stranger things #henry creel #st vecna #st 001 #long post #he’s and evil evil man with evil evil plans because- [redacted] #saw a post saying that he’s been evil since like birth and my brain went uhhhhh- no. #not in like a ahaha you’re wrong and incorrect #but because I truly believe that we haven’t been given shit #also inherently evil character go against some major elements of stranger things #billy could have been a terrible human from birth but they gave him a backstory that explained his character #he was a terrible human being BECAUSE- everything shown about his family #Steve’s redemption arc wouldn’t have been a thing if they were going will characterization like d&d alignment charts #lawful evil isn’t applicable to the shows previous characters and doesn’t really make sense to be brought in now

[loopy777]

whats your thoughts on Venom, the green goblin and doctor octopus, the three characters who are generally held up as spidermans archenemies? which one do you think has the best potential as spidermans definite enemy if they were written perfectly, and which series do you think had the best portrayal of each of them respectively?

If I had to crown THE Spider-Man Archnemesis, I would have to give it to Green Goblin. Doc Ock is the oldest, and the first to both defeat Spider-Man and make him consider quitting, but ultimately Norman has taken more from Spidey, gotten more personal in their conflict, and created more of a legacy for the mythos. Sorry, Otto.

That said, I don’t really like designating a single archnemesis for Spidey because Norman hasn’t completely dominated the field. Ock runs the Sinister Six, Spidey’s big Villain Team and one of the best Villain Teams in all of superhero comics. (And let’s face it, the Legion of Doom is bigger only because DC characters got more media exposure for a long time and Superman’s villains are so good that Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Bizarro lift up the likes of Solomon Grundy and Cheetah when they’re all on a team together.) Venom has the whole Evil Knockoff thing going and a unique and terrifying ‘stalker’ gimmick that puts him in a special class, not to mention how he directly overpowers or counters all Spidey’s abilities.

And, honestly, the whole ‘Goblin’ gimmick is kind of arbitrary and has nothing to do with spiders. Clowns and bats don’t have a direct relation, but at least they’re opposites in terms of color and purpose, so Batman and Joker kind of seem like twisted rivals. Goblins and spiders are only linked in that they’re both kind of Halloweeny, but Spider-Man has little to do with Halloween or spooky stuff, anyway. But I better cut this line of thought off before I start explaining how Spider-Man shouldn’t be Spider-Man at all and him being Frog-Man would make just as much sense and then we wouldn’t have to deal with pictures of icky spiders in all Spider-Man media.

But yeah, Norman Osborne is still indisputably a cut above the others.

Ock is really just a typical mad scientist with a robot-arm gimmick that allows him to directly fight with Spider-man. He’s well-written and constructed, granted, and I love how his arrogance contrasts with Peter’s humility, how they’re such opposites in terms of empathy, and how different their paths become after science-based accidents that granted them unusual powers. Bendis’s “Ultimate Spider-Man” comics nicely honed in on this theme, and I also appreciate how both Stan Lee’s prose story in the unrelated “Ultimate Spider-Man” short story collection (...it’s a title Marvel loves to reuse for some reason) and John Byrne’s attempted origin revision linked the irradiated spider to the explosion that created Ock. All great villains should be dark reflections of their heroes, but while Ock has gotten some great stories that make him a top-tier villain, he still offers little storytelling potential beyond his mad scientist archetype. Now, I know what comics-readers are thinking at this point: Yes, I did read the original “Superior Spider-Man” run and I think there’s some real potential there, but honestly I feel like it was under-served by Dan Slott’s pacing and foibles. And I haven’t seen an adaptation of it yet that I think really fulfills the possibilities. But the idea is great, so maybe Otto will get his chance to level up his rivalry with Spider-Man.

Venom’s problem is that he’s a little too focused on his revenge on Spider-Man. The stories where he stalks Spidey, wandering into Peter’s life to fold laundry with Aunt May, popping up to have a surprise tussle with Spidey just to throw him off-balance, etc- Those are great and make Venom seem super-scary, especially since Spidey can’t beat Venom in a fight without some kind of edge or gimmick. But all Venom wants is revenge on Spidey, so after he’s failed a few times to get it, what do you do with the character? He’s not scary if he keeps failing. The original idea was to have the symbiote pass on from Eddie Brock and take on other hosts, and that might have opened the door for some new kinds of stories. I know this was eventually implemented 20 years later, with the original Scorpion getting to be Venom for a while, and symbiotes becoming a whole Thing with a bunch in various colors, but I didn’t read any of those stories and they don’t seem to have left much impression on the general Spider-Man fandom. Ultimately, it was chosen to ‘redeem’ Eddie Brock and make Venom into an “anti-hero” (for a definition of the term that means “protagonist who kills people but doesn’t have to worry about that whole ‘consistently laid low by their fatal flaw’ thing”) which did sell a bunch of comics in the 90′s and set up some tension-filled team-ups with Spidey. Nice idea, if implemented in a really shaggy way, but -- again -- what do you do after that? Venom/Eddie isn’t really a compelling lead who you can keep telling stories about. (Yes, I saw the Venom movie. It has like two minutes of amusing material and two hours of boring dreck, and none of it is memorable.) And making him evil again runs into the same problem as having left him evil in the first place. Venom was a good idea whose time came and went, and perhaps someone will find a way to make him fresh again. But until then, I think he gets by more on his visuals than anything.

The Green Goblin, in contrast, has a lot going for him in terms of storytelling potential. He’s a mad scientist, a wanna-be crime boss, a dark shadow of his civilian identity looking for revenge and/or illicit thrills, and personally has that ongoing personal hatred/rivalry for Spider-Man. That offers a whole bunch of storytelling paths, all of which have been taken and proven fruitful over the years. And that’s without getting into how Norman Osborne is the father of Peter’s best friend Harry, a flawed father figure to Peter in his own right, a ruthless millionaire industrialist before Lex Luthor gave it a try, and another dark reflection of the paths Peter could have taken in both aspects of his life. Even when Norman is dead, his legacy continued to be felt for 20-odd years with how Harry fell from grace. You can even link Norman to his spin-off the Hobgoblin; just Norman’s equipment getting passed on created another enduring villain. And, again, that’s without even looking at Norman’s murder of the one-time romantic lead Gwen Stacy being the event that ended the Silver Age of comics. Norman Osborne is just plain a truly great, versatile villainous character who has managed, despite being almost 60 years old, to still maintain an “Oh, no!” impact among Spidey fans when he shows up. Sure, there have been bad stories about him, and some over-exposure at times, but that hasn’t diminished his impact or ongoing potential.

As for portrayals, I’m overall a fan of the 90′s animated series and their takes. That show really petered out after a few seasons, but it introduced Ock with a bang and got a lot of mileage out of him. Venom got to do the whole scary stalker thing, and then the show put him on a shelf until his ‘redeeming’ death to avoid over-exposure, so that worked out fairly well. And while it’s odd how Kingpin and Hobgoblin took over most of the Green Goblin’s role in Spider-Man’s stories, what we did get of Norman was good, and the performance that went into the Green Goblin really sold the weird psychology of the character. Those three villains definitely got a chance to shine in this series, even if Green Goblin was under-used.

I also think the Sam Raimi movies overall did a good job. Green Goblin was perfect- aside from the costume. Willem Dafoe utterly nailed every aspect of the character, right down to the body language, and the movie did a good job condensing his rivalry with Spider-Man into a single movie. As for Doctor Octopus, I’m of two minds about how he got a sympathetic backstory and characterization. On the one hand, it made him a more compelling character and Alfred Molina danced nicely between the human side and the villainous side. On the other hand, though, Ock has classically never really been sympathetic; he’s an utter monster in behavior, and the insertions of bullying in his backstory have never changed that. Venom is the only one I think didn’t really get a chance in these movies; I like this version of Eddie Brock (really!), but he barely got an opportunity to be Venom and you can tell no aspect of the character really inspired the storytellers.

Spectacular Spider-Man, naturally, did a good job. I think this version of Green Goblin is the best of them all; I even got my DVD set signed by Steve Blum! Ock was also done well, getting to be the Master Planner as well as leader of the Sinister Six, although I don’t think I quite buy the timidity they gave the character before the accident. Similarly, I didn’t buy Eddie’s fall from grace as Peter’s best friend; one episode he’s upset because Peter’s blowing him off for hanging out, and the next episode he’s nearly killing Mary Jane just to mess with Peter. You might as well just start with Eddie being a monster, like the Raimi movie did.

I also think Bendis’s Ultimate comics did well by all three characters. I’m not really a fan of Goblin-Hulk, but Norman’s impact was fully in effect (even if we had yet another toothless homage to Gwen Stacey’s death with Mary Jane getting thrown off a bridge and surviving), and they fit him well into the Super-Soldier Arms Race aspect of the setting. Ock got some really great use, including an arc of character development and ‘redemption’ that still managed to allow him to be an arrogant monster to the end. Venom was under-used, but this might be the best ever interpretation of Eddie Brock and obviously inspired the Raimi version, and I love the origin of the symbiote here and how it tied to Peter’s father. My only complaint is that after that first great story, Bendis didn’t seem to quite know what to do with Venom; the video game and its comic adaptation seemed to be setting him up for more, but that didn’t come to anything.

So, those are my thoughts. As a Spider-Man fan, I think I’m spoiled for choice in picking an achnemesis. Despite the little flaws that keep Ock and Venom from topping the Green Goblin, they’re still heavy-hitters as comic book villains and could run the game in the rogues gallery of most other superheroes. But Spidey has one of the best sets of villains in the business, so that’s not surprising.

#thekingofwinterblog

[dreadnought-dear-captain]

You Asked, I Told - Part 2 of 2

More Endgame and Baghdad Waltz spoilers ahoy!

This is such high praise, and I’m really humbled to receive it. Well, I would be lying if I told you I’ve never daydreamed about giving up my current career to write. I imagine many fic writers fantasize about this. But it’s hard work to break into, as you’ve implied, and there really aren’t shows out there like the old Star Trek that have open submission policies, so my understanding is that you’ve got to hustle to get your shit out there. I am not a person who has that kind of hustle, I’m afraid, nor the confidence in my skills, and I really do love my current career deeply. But I probably won’t stop writing any time in the near future, because it’s my sole creative outlet, and who knows what the future may hold. I appreciate your kind words very much and will endeavor to keep improving my skills to deliver better character arcs than Endgame did. I hope my next fic will be better than BW, in terms of craft and consistency, though people will probably be lukewarm on the subject.

Okay, I don’t want to go full SALTMODE (edit: I totally did), but let’s talk about this Steve who goes back to Peggy. Can we agree that Endgame Steve is about 110-180 degrees different from the Steve Rogers who went into the ice? And, really, why wouldn’t he be? He’s been through horrifying, horrifying things and placed the burden of it on himself, whether he earned it or not, because he’s Steve Rogers and that’s how he Steves. And he’s had five years to disconnect and sink into himself and pine over Peggy the Idealized Woman/Past and probably get horribly stuck in his grief process over Bucky and Sam and everyone else, and I imagine he just get all sorts of messed up after failing to reverse the snap. So, why would Peggy want this guy? Would she even recognize him? And then there’s our poor Ice Steve. I mean, shit, he was the one who Peggy probably really would have wanted, but did Endgame Steve just leave that guy? Did he set him loose? Tell him about Bucky? Help him find Bucky? Who’s this Bucky guy again…?

And now that I think of it, if Endgame Steve came back to her, would he say he’s from the future? Would he lie and say he’s Ice Steve (fat chance pulling off that one)? Because if he didn’t lie, she would absolutely insist that they find Ice Steve and pull him out. That’s the man she loves! And you’re telling me, movie, that she STILL chooses the weird disaffected, depressed, traumatized future Steve she doesn’t know over the Steve she loves and knows already — and who just saw Peggy, like, 20 minutes ago, as far as he knows?? (All of this is functioning on the MCU’s presumption that Steve capital-L Loves her back, BTW.) Did Ice Steve and Endgame Steve fight over Peggy? Did he pull the ol “Hey your BFF is actually alive” card to win the fight and then compliment his own star-spangled ass? I mean, this whole thing is so patently absurd that it’s almost not worth thinking about, but Jesus. It makes NO SENSE why Endgame Steve would get Peggy while Ice Steve would either a) stay in ice or b) not get Peggy, if he was in love with her. Poppycock!! This MOVIE.

Welp, I can’t do really anything in one or two sentences, apparently, so...

I will open with the caveat that I am not a Loki person. I have nothing against Loki, I just never particularly attached to him. This is probably because I didn’t really enjoy the Thor movies (except Ragnarok, which I know is divisive and may mean I have bad taste?) and so never got deep into Loki’s story. And I am one of the five people on the planet who didn’t like the first Avengers movie, in part because I thought Steve’s character was so off the mark that it made me wonder if Joss Whedon even saw TFA, and I just found the jokes and the pacing to be so mehhh. And also Joss Whedon has none of my respect, first for Avengers 1’s bad characterization and flat jokes, and second for Age of Ultron’s rampant misogyny poorly disguised under gurl power. Prima nocta? Really? And most egregious — Natasha’s random dating of Bruce (i.e., any penis without a family, a girlfriend, or a gay love interest) just to give birth to some shitty infertility narrative, as if the Black Widow doesn’t have a tragic enough backstory that she needs some bullshit sterilization procedure to make her a sympathetic figure — I’m sorry, make her “a monster,” which infertility apparently makes you.

ANYWAY, about Loki. If I were a Loki fan, I would be pissed about the way his story ended. I was pretty irritated anyway, because his death in IW only seemed to serve as a device to trigger Thor’s emotional journey in that film. And even then, it was minimized by Rocket being like, “So, dead brother, huh? Yeah, that can be annoying.” And yeah, that’s totally a Rocket thing to say, but Thor responds with “Well, he's been dead before. But this time... I think it really might be true…” and then he launches into his grief about his other family and his people. There’s hardly a sense that he’s grieving for Loki personally, and we never see any closure or interaction between them in Endgame, which also minimizes the character’s importance in the MCU as the big sendoff movie. Sure, he gets ahold of the Tesseract and gets to escape, great, but what does that even mean? It wasn’t a moment of major emotional valence.

The audience didn’t really get a chance to properly say goodbye to him. You got a horrific image of his death, truly awful, worse than almost any significant minor character. I cannot imagine what that must have felt like. I can relate to the Loki bad arc thing through the crappy way that Steve and Bucky’s relationship was barely tended to in the last two movies, but they both made it alive, so it’s not even the same. I feel dissatisfied and frustrated on your behalf that his death was a mere device and that his behavior on the Asgardian ship was stupid at best and possibly OOC at worst, I’m not sure what you thought of it. Maybe that was part of some redemptive arc, but he seemed like he should be more clever than that. My condolences for your character getting short shifted along with everyone else except Tony Stark.

Another interesting question.

Bucky probably hasn’t talked to Steve much about George, because it’s just too raw of a subject for him. He still blames himself for George’s death, too, so to think of George is to almost inevitably feel pain. I think Steve has surmised that his death is a core wound for Bucky, which he’s no doubt projecting his own experience of losing his mother upon, but I imagine he holds George in positive regard because the little Bucky has said about him has been positive. I really think the more telling thing is Bucky’s behavior, which is emulating George’s career as a soldier (which, as an infantryman, is more closely aligned with George’s than Winnie’s), and Steve would probably see that as a reflection of the positive role George has had. But like most things, Steve undoubtedly wants to know more, especially as he learns more about Bucky. He would want to know why Bucky has such a bad relationship with his own sexual orientation. Why he started drinking so young. I imagine he’d start to wonder why the math doesn’t add up. Steve knows Winnie well and believes that she’s a very good mother, so how would Bucky grow up to be this way if he had two wonderful, stable parents? Was it just George’s death that threw him off? Maybe, or was there something else? I imagine he’ll get more suspicious as he learns more.

That’s all for now! Stay tuned in the next week or so for Chapter 34. Thank you so much for the wonderful Asks and keep them coming! 

#YOU ASKED I TOLD #asks

[br0kenphantasy]

Avengers End Game

Where do I begin. *breathes*

I hated the ending. I just. Hated the injustice of it.

Unapologetically, I will say I love Tony Stark. I will defend him with my life. The beauty of his characterization was that despite everything the world has thrown at him - the corruption in SI, the betrayals, the poisoning, the lies - he picked himself back up and tried to make the best of what he could. He was human in the way that he hurt, he was irrational and would lash out, that sometimes things would get so bad it felt like he couldn’t breathe.

He was relatable. Tony Stark told a story of how in spite of your trials and tribulations, you can tide through it. And for him to die... It broke me.

This is not a story of hope.

He had a family. He moved on. He was in his happy ending and he stepped out only to be met with this. And the worst part is that Pepper is right in the worst way possible - the greatest injustice done to Tony Stark is that as much as anyone might loathe him, they have always needed him. He was not appreciated for all he has done and that kills me. They cannot wrest him from his death bed no longer. Yes, he can rest.

But at what cost?

Of saying that being a man like him, having taken so much abuse, the light at the end of the tunnel is death? This is not a story about hope. It is not a fucking triumph. Closing off an arc does not have to necessitate a death. He could have retired. He could have lived happily in the background with Pepper.

And see - personally, I thought Tony would die in the movie even though I fervently wish he didn’t. Infinity War predicted it:

STRANGE: If it comes to saving you, or the kid, or the time stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can’t, because the universe depends on it.

...

TONY: Why would you do that?

STRANGE [to Tony]: We’re in the end game now.

And then he proceeds to ensure that Tony lives. The fact that only him and Nebula are left on Titan reiterates the fact that Strange is telling him that he is a key piece to ending this. And if you think Tony did not prepare, you are wrong.

The gauntlet manages to hold up the combined powers of the stone in spite of Thanos’ gauntlet having been made by a legendary craftsman. He expands his expertise to quantum physics and that is not a coincidence. Why he is able to tell Lang his stint is a one in a billion chance fluke is because he has ran the numbers. The entirety of the five years, Tony has not idling. He knows its got to do with time because that’s what Strange represents.

That’s what he does. He tries to fix things even if it seems impossible. His mind won’t stop running until he gets it.

And Strange’s bet on Tony is answered. He trusts that he’ll learn from Quill’s rage, Thor’s complacency, or the harms of stalling. He trusts that Tony will do everything in his power to reverse this and make it better.

The final nail in the coffin: when he saw Strange’s signal, he immediately understood what he had to do. One possibility. One snap. One person who could do it before Thanos does.

And he doesn’t hesitate about doing it because that is the strength of his character. That no matter how much the world hates him, he loves the world because that’s where his beloved are. For them, he is willing to do everything, even if the price is himself. See? It falls in line with his character, it’s predictable.

Even at that still moment, where he closes his fingers to snap, I held my breath with tears in my eyes. He was awe-inspiring in his determination, battered and bruised as he was, as he declares for one, final time:

I am Iron Man.

It was glorious even as I burst into tears because I knew he wouldn’t survive this last sacrifice.

But what makes it absolutely maddening is when you compare it Steve.

I cannot believe the absolute injustice they did to his character.

Captain America: The First Avenger (they might need to change that since Carol is technically the first btw) was first conceptualised when Director Joe Johnston wanted to put Steve Rogers in the present day to let him adapt and grow as a character.

Following that, The Winter Soldier and TFA were meant to show how Steve would go through Hell and high waters to save his best buddy Bucky Barnes. It does land in the characterisation that Steve misses the past (as he should) and also the loyalty he has for him, to the point where he would chase after a ghost for the better part of two years.

However, note that it’s slowly eroding what Director Johnston intended. He’s not adapting to the future but clinging to the past. Like, let’s not even talk about Civil War.

In End Game alone, by giving him the ending where he chooses to remain in the past, it is inherently problematic on so many levels.

1. His loyalty to Bucky is now moot.

2.  Attachment to the past? Somehow Peggy, a woman he knew for maximum a year (and this is being generous considering how he constantly had to go out for campaigns), weighs more than Bucky Barnes who was his childhood friend? Like, excuse you???

3. Following item two, you basically rendered Civil War useless. Throw away the fact that you defied 117 countries for your best friend. You somehow seem alright with leaving him alone in the present, thanks Cap.

4. Marrying Peggy Carter despite knowing she had a full life and a happy marriage after you. The children? Naw. Sharon Carter? Remember you kissed her? It really makes him look like he was using her as a replacement and that’s insulting to her.

Point is, all these are incredibly out of character. Steve Rogers, whatever he was, is now a caricature; the height of self-serving interests.

This is not even taking in account of the time travelling. If Steve did nothing to preserve the timeline like Strange, it makes him complicit in the crime. For a measure of how out of character it is, he willingly sacrificed himself and sank a plane and the Tesseract to stop HYDRA. He let SHIELD burn to the ground because of an HYDRA infestation. Him letting HYDRA grow like weeds, let his best friend continue to be HYDRA’s slave makes no sense. It completely tarnishes the fact that Captain America was meant to be a paragon.

Russo Brothers, from the zenith he came from, you brought him down to the grave. You have ruined all the hardwork you’ve put into his trilogy - the significance, the meaning... everything. And I hope you’re satisfied with the blackened legacy you have made for yourself.

To give Steve this “happy ending” with Peggy, something should have long passed against taking away Tony’s chance of happiness in the present is an absolute piss off.

Look. There are things I love about the film.

I was going to list them because they deserve a mention too.

I wanted to talk about the brilliance that was Natasha’s death even though it hurt me so much. How Scarlett Johansson truly portrayed her growth so wonderfully How Natasha, who spent her life trying to make better with her sins, trying so hard to clean the red off her ledger finally did so by bleeding all over the pages.

That in her fall, she goes back to red. A full circle. And she did what she wanted: she managed to save trillions of lives.

I wanted to talk about Clint’s descent, and how the two found salvation in one another. How they gave each other another reason to smile and try again. Their willingness to sacrifice themselves for each other’s happiness and that is one of the best relationship dynamics I’ve seen on screen.

How devastating it must have been for Clint, to see Natasha die from a bird’s eye view because they truly started how they ended: he was supposed to kill her from afar but chose not to, granting her redemption instead. And she found redemption through sacrificing for him, but it causes him to witness the one thing he sought to prevent.

I wanted to talk about Nebula’s growth. The small moments of family dynamics. Pepperony. Tony’s last will - a love letter to his family and the fans. How he did the one thing his father never did for him: he reminded his child that he loved her endlessly. So many moments where it brought tears to my eyes for good reasons.

But I’m exhausted, in numbness, outrage and sadness.

The characters deserved better.

#avengers endgame spoilers #endgame spoilers #avengers endgame #spoilers #read at your own risk #fuck the movie #marvel #mcu

[lightrivals]

so . endgame . this is gonna be a spoiler filled review so pls skip this if u haven’t watched it!! forewarning: this is a relatively positive review and I’m a tony stan so if you disliked the movie / tony stark and want to find more ppl like you, you are not gonna find it here but I am gonna critique a few things too bc there were issues to be addressed. also, while this is a Hot Také™️ opinion piece that doesn’t mean I lack the ability to understand or even agree with the opposing opinions; this is just what I came out the theater with and still think about after discussion with others.

Anyway let’s begin!

Personally, Endgame gave me great closure for one of my favorite characters. I’m extremely Tony biased like, to a very extreme degree but he’s a character I connect with who has personally helped me through the years with his story so I think my attachment and bias can be excused a little. Even with that bias, I believe I can also understand other characters without the “I Love Tony Stark So Much” goggles shaping what I see. This is also gonna focus on the main six because this movie is dedicated to them, but all the other characters were awesome and I enjoyed their cameos/presence.

I’m gonna talk about Tony first because he’s my main focus for being so invested in the MCU. I’ve been watching the MCU since it started and 11 years later, seeing my favorite character, a character I connected with so much especially because of IM3 where he had anxiety and panic attacks like I was having at the time / still have (to a lesser degree though), die hurts so much. I could not stop crying in about the last hour when I knew he was gonna die. I’ve said it before on this site that the logical conclusion for his story is death. The only way Tony is gonna leave the armor as he’s been trying to since Avengers 1 is to die. He IS Iron Man, Iron Man is HIM, there is no difference. The only way Iron Man is over is if his life ends, too. So with that I figured this would be the end for him. I’ve been thinking he’s gonna die since Infinity War so, his death was not too much of a surprise. It still hurt like hell to see it happen, to know he’s truly gone. What hurts the most is that Morgan Stark will never truly know her father personally. She’s too young to remember much but at least she has his legacy surrounding her and loving her, knowing her father exchanged his life for her and everyone else on Earth to live freely. I did like that Tony got to see his dad one last time while he was a father himself. He got to come to terms with his dad in a way he never could before. RDJ’s acting was on point in this movie and I love him for what he’s done with Tony Stark.

I also want to point out the talk between Tony and Steve when Tony returns. I found this conversation to be very vital in addressing the issues between the two and why they possibly lost in Infinity War. I’ve said this before but the obvious thing is that the Avengers probably stood a chance against Thanos if they weren’t all split up thanks to the events of Civil War. Steve said they would fight together and lose together but as Tony points out, they didn’t lose together. They lost separately and Tony was stranded from Earth in space miles away for a month starving and dying. He had foreseen what was gonna happen and tried his best to achieve protection—his armor around the world plan—but the others merely chided him for it and then fought each other because of the consequences of not wanting that particular armor. And then they lost in the end, separated and Tony is torn. He is damaged and weak and sick and tired, he was nearly murdered and he lost the kid in turn. It is a sad moment and I was very happy it wasn’t immediate apologies when Tony arrived. The others had a month to reconcile but Tony was still dealing with what he faced alone with only Nebula and the ashes of Peter in his mind. I really enjoyed that conversation and found it to be a really good prelude to how the rest of the movie would pan out. When he took off the arc reactor and shoved it at Steve and told Steve to run and hide, gave Steve the armor and told him to do something about it…powerful stuff right there.

Now about Tony’s death: I think it was really important for him to do the final snap of ending Thanos’ war. He and Thanos have been the two at odds with each other this entire time. We know it’s going to eventually end up being him against Thanos like it was in Infinity War. But when he took the stones from Thanos and said “I am Iron Man” in retaliation to Thanos claiming he was inevitable!! Thanos is always gonna come but as long as Tony is Iron man, he will be defeated. Tony is the one who can save the universe and I think it’s also super important that he uses the most dangerous weapon ever. Tony protects the world with weapons, he started off profiting from it, but grows throughout the movies to eventually be trusted to use the most powerful weapon in the universe to save it. The Avengers trust him to use it for good and he trusts them to deal with the stones afterwards. It’s beautiful, it so beautiful. He dies with two families: his biological/iron fam and his superhero family. He dies trusting them to carry on not only his legacy but the legacy of Earth, of the Avengers, of avenging the universe in full. He is Iron Man and he finally gets to rest. He gets to put down the armor and save the universe like he’s been trying for years with the Avengers’ trust backing him up. Personally, I believe this is the hero death Tony deserved. He used to be a man who was feared for the destruction he caused and he went through a deep and thorough redemption and self-realizations to then be trusted to use the most destructive weapon for the greater good.

Now on to Thor and Bruce, two characters who I have an issue with in terms of their characterization. Thor’s dealing with a lot of shit. Understandable as hell; his story is probably the most dark given he has no living family anymore. Tony got lucky and his loved ones, Peter aside, survived. Thor lost everyone. He killed Thanos, he went for the head, but still didn’t win. His depression, anxiety, and PTSD is so valid. What I hate is that he didn’t get the same treatment in Endgame Tony got in IM3. Yes, Thor’s is a lot darker of a situation but he didn’t need to be the brunt of jokes. I understand that he is over 1000 years old and in the grand scheme of things, this moment in time is a blink and a bit of a sick joke. I understand that he falls back into his old Viking ways of alcoholism and whatnot. It’s totally understandable but I will always be disappointed in how it was approached. They still could have been humor and jokes without resorting to petty insults. I am glad though that his weight gain did not suddenly disappear. The way the Russo’s went about presenting it was insulting and demeaning but I feel it’s important as well to show that his weight gain wasn’t gonna suddenly disappear now that he’s back to being the mighty Thor.

Bruce was…okay I like Professor Hulk. I think it’s important that Bruce come to terms with his Hulk nature but the point of Hulk is that he’s angry and he unleashes it with smashing and I was just. Expecting more Hulk smash and still that dichotomy even if Bruce has come to terms with being Hulk. The thing I like is that Bruce, who was always scared of his persona as Hulk killing people got to bring back billions of lives as Hulk instead of taking those lives away. Anyway, I had that small beef with Hulk but it wasn’t as much as say against Thor. Bruce’s humor was lighter and not as insulting, it was a refreshing continuation of his Ragnarok/Infinity War characterization.

Speaking of Ragnarok, let’s talk Loki. Loki is my second favorite character and let’s be real, all Loki stans were basically expecting more out of Endgame when it came to this character. I figured he would be in flashbacks but I was hoping still maybe it would be more?? I said before that perhaps Tony breaks Loki out to get the tesseract and I mean, that did kinda happen. But at least we know we have a divergent 2012 timeline and this is probably where the Loki TV show is gonna be set. I’m definitely interested in seeing what happens in that alternate universe but we won’t see that for another two years so, just a big sigh. And also I’ve seen on twitter at least people upset that Thor didn’t talk to Loki when he went back to Asgard. Loki and Thor were at odds and not friends during The Dark World. I don’t think Thor talking to Loki would have done anything important, it wouldn’t have changed anything and it certainly wouldn’t have helped him with his task of getting the Aether from Jane. While it would have been nice to see more Loki when Thor went back to 2013, I think what we did see was the most that could have happened while Thor was also dealing with seeing his mother again.

On the topic of Loki, he seems to like go about as Steve, huh? I thought it was a cute nod to the scene from TDW (I cant remember if it was deleted or not I haven’t seen that movie in years lol) when he shape shifted into Steve to taunt the Avengers. Cheeky Loki is great and so is cheeky Steve. “I could do this all day” and “Yeah, I know, I know.” The Steve vs Steve fight was also really cool. I was surprise he used the mind stone to stop himself though? And I thought it was funny when he said “hail hydra” to get by with the scepter. Now onto Steve’s whole time loop. I am disgruntled but also weirdly okay with how that all ended. I am not anti-Steve in any manner but his MCU characterization is not on my personal top list of Cap storylines. I’ve seen someone say this before and I found I kinda agreed with it. Steve’s progression is becoming more and more selfish when it comes to keeping his family safe while in parallel Tony’s progression is becoming more and more selfless when it comes to keeping his own family safe. Very different takes on how to protect family, but I think it would be wrong to ignore that part of Steve’s story. He will do any and everything to keep Bucky alive at his side, to keep Sam safe, to keep the integrity of the Avengers alive even at the cost of his personal freedom. He wants, no needs, to have his family with him. He will risk damaging relations with everyone else to keep them save. That’s admirable.

That being said, Steve going back in time to be with Peggy is a pathetic conclusion even if I can come to terms with it. In my opinion, Steve is the only Avenger righteous enough to be able to go back to the past to fulfill his own timeline and not do anything about what is coming next. He takes a huge risk in staying back in time to be with Peggy; letting Hydra infiltrate SHIELD is one thing he could not change. No matter what, Thanos is coming. He is inevitable. But Tony is Iron Man, and Tony can only be Iron Man in the first place if he gets kidnapped in Afghanistan. This only happens because of Obadiah’s jealousy and greed, which comes out of Tony becoming CEO of Stark Industries after his parent’s premature deaths. Their premature deaths only happen because Bucky became the Winter Soldier and was brainwashed to kill them. These things have to happen in order for Thanos to be defeated so Steve has to keep these things alive. This also means he has to marry Peggy after he crashed in the ice so there are two Steve’s in the universe, one who is Peggy’s husband and another who is Captain America. He gets the future he always wanted and the superhero story he was born to be a part of. The biggest pieces of bullshit about this storyline is 1) Peggy being used as nothing but someone for Steve to lust over 2) Steve coming back somehow in the end as an old guy. You could sort of explain point 2 by saying old Steve always existed so it’s not actually disrupting the timeline, things are always supposed to be this. You know how in some time travel movies the present/future happens bc someone went back into the past and their actions caused it? Maybe Steve is something like that. I know they explained that it creates a split timeline but if old Steve is always there then it’s not a split timeline it’s just the regular timeline. It still doesn’t explain why old Steve was right there with the Avengers after they sent 2023 Steve to the past. Major plot hole. Also I don’t think him leaving Bucky in 2023 is a plot hole; Bucky has to live his life post being Hydra’s Winter Soldier and without Steve’s shadow over him. It’s gonna be great to see Bucky working with a new Captain America and forming a friendship with Sam.

Side note: I am so pleased about Falcon!Cap that is what I’ve wanted for years in mcu now and it’s here! That is definitely something I am grateful for in all of this. Another thing I liked is Valkyrie becoming the Queen of Asgard and Thor exploring the galaxy with the Guardians. Also Pepper in the Rescue suit, that made me super excited! Seeing all the ladies team up was very fun.

Anyway, on to the last two of the main six Avengers: Clint and Natasha. I think I saw some people upset about Natasha’s death…she was in a very dark place mentally but her sacrifice for her family to live on is just as important as Tony’s. They both exchanged their lives to save the universe and so her death was not pointless at all. It also is a great show of how much Clint loved her, how much he risked to save her and indict her into SHIELD after he was sent to off her all those years ago. As she said in Avengers, they all have blood on their hands, some more than others. This was her way of returning the lives she took just as Tony has done the same by snapping away Thanos’ army at the cost of his life. She was the soul they needed for these three Avengers—Natasha, Bruce, and Tony—who have taken many lives with their own hands if not just obscene amounts of violence, to reverse the Snap and save the universe. Clint can be included actually but since he was Ronin when he was slaying people for revenge I put that separate from when he returned to the Avengers.

MCU Clint isn’t my fave Avenger, both because of Renner and because of his characterization. But Endgame made me like him more, especially in the first five minutes or so as he taught his daughter archery and connected with his family. That was a beautiful opening scene and it wrenched my heart to see his family get dusted away. His dark turn was kinda corny imo I mean, the whole badass punk hipster vibe was funny but I really liked seeing him and Natasha interacting and being friends again. I’m glad he had a sword because while bow and arrow comes in handy, the battle requires close combat and he definitely was gonna get killed if he didn’t have something more than arrows.

Also the quantum realm suits grew on me…they are still ugly but it’s a tolerable ugly now.

AH! important point: Nebula’s storyline! I really liked how she had to literally kill her past self in order to keep herself and her sister alive. That side plot of Nebula battling herself was great and allowed for nice growth of her character and how her past self tried to sabotage her future.

Final point is that I enjoyed the movie for what it is: a beautiful close to the story of the Infinity Saga. It is meant to be a homage to the fans who have seen all the movies, who have followed the MCU for as long as they could. I don’t think this is meant to be for casual viewers, not that you can’t watch casually, but you definitely have to watch knowing what happened before. They don’t introduce Captain Marvel or Antman’s Quantum realm stuff much. It’s probably confusing if you haven’t seen Captain Marvel or the Antman movies. You’re expected to know what came before and I mean, it makes sense. Money making franchise or not, there’s a lot going on in this movie and taking the time to introduce new things over and over is not worth it.

tl;dr: Endgame is the story about end of the two who started the MCU, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. I think you could even say that Steve stuck by Tony’s side until the end of the line. The two leaders of the Avengers, side by side and trusting each other again to get the job done. That is the Endgame because part of the journey is the end and doing whatever it takes to get there. My final thought (before rewatch because lbr, I will most likely watch again) is that I am very grateful for the chance to love Tony Stark as I have, to love him 3000 and 3000 times more and more. I love you, Tony Stark. You can rest now, my love. The universe is indeed safe in your hands~

#mcu #marvel #endgame #avengers endgame #avengers endgame spoilers #tony stark #iron man #steve rogers #captain america #infinity saga #yams rambles #thor #bruce banner #hulk #natasha romanov #black widow #clint barton #hawkeye #ronin #loki #loki laufeyson #the stark gauntlet dream of mine came true #same with falcon cap and the rescue suit #i love tony stark to the end of the world and beyond

[star-shuttle-scout]

I just read your nancy thing and i read something last night about what you said about Jonathans characterization. I feel like the duffer brothers werent expecting the show to go anywhere and then at last minute added the will throwin up slugs because they were like “oh yeah we could make some money off this” thats just a theory but i KNOW they are either not thinking about the characterization of ANY of the characters or rushed to get finished writing this season. Maybe both. But they 1/2

2/2 completely changed Jonathans character for it to revolve around Nancy. We barely got him worrying over will. And the creep guy that “exposed” Hawkins was pretty unnecessary. I feel like Nancy and Jonathan might have been able to do it by themselves. I think he was just there for the sheer purpose of getting Nancy and Jonathan to hook up

-

The whole idea that they didn’t have anything planned out is a little far-fetched, however I think that they did plan things out like they said but not in the way we’re thinking. They are very into the creature aspect of it all, they are looking at the main plot with revolves around the kids mostly. They are focused on the kids and all of that, and everyone else just revolves around the kids.

My theory is that since Steve wasn’t originally supposed to get a redemption arc, Nancy and Jonathan were supposed to be fighting the demo-dogs with the kids. But since they had Steve, they needed to put him somewhere so they put him with the kids and had to make a quick storyline for Jonathan and Nancy. They could have put Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan all with the kids but then J*ncy wouldn’t have happened and god forbid the teenagers don’t suck face.

#stranger things #jonathan byers #donnysasks

[bandaidkits]

After much too long, I (with a sprinkling of other alters) have finally sat down and watched Th/or Rag/nar/ok, and I have a hell of a lot of say.

So. Clearly it’s a major tone change from the usual Thor movies, previously told to me by the mother, which is. Really not fine. Honestly I feel the change messes with the narrative and the flow of how the series as a whole was. And I say was because I can’t get past the glaring errors of this movie.

Did I like it? Not entirely. As a whole, no. There were some bits I laughed at. Some bits that I’m quite pleased got addressed (such as when Hulk slammed Th/or around like a bean bag and I jumped up and shouted that now he knows how it feels! That was beyond rewarding), but there wasn’t enough. 

What’s going to happen to Bruce now that he turned into the Hulk after he said he shouldn’t? What will happen to me after I return to earth? Why did Thor suddenly become Odin 2.0? Being the king of Asgard doesn’t mean one needs to lose their eye. Honestly I feel that was in poor taste. Also the destroying of his hammer. I was waiting for that to be fixed at the end. Never happened. What’s Thor without his hammer? Or his hair for that matter? I don’t know if this was the director’s choice or the actor’s choice, but it was a bad one. I’m assuming Chris had extensions in for this movie and the last, so what was the point in cutting it? I don’t believe it was ever cut in the comics.

Now let’s move onto Hela and Fenrir. Marvel is already known for bastardizing Norse beliefs. We know this. We should not accept this but fans do so anyway because there is nothing we can do.

There isn’t much to say other than Hela (Hel) is actually my daughter, not Odin’s, as well as Fenrir. This whole “big sister comes back to wreck havoc on Asgard to get back at dear old dad and the family she never met before” is ridiculous. It’s a bad plot. Also, she looks nothing like Frigga or Odin and I’ve already seen people say they see the family resemblance between her and I, and that is... stupid. I am adopted. I am not Asgardian and I never will be because I am a Frost Giant and that is all it is and will be end of story.

Without getting too deep into their terrible take on that, honestly it would have been better if they stuck with the Loki has several children thing. It would make more sense why she actually looks like me. Are you scared, Marvel? Are you scared to show big scary mischievous Loki as a parent? It wouldn’t even do anything, in fact it would show me in a more “villain” light. I have a lot of odd children who do not so great things?? I really think that would tie into that (stagnant) character (more on that later) they’ve built for me. Unless, they are going for the Loki redemption arc. Which. How is that going to happen? The movie ends with us going to earth. A place where everyone is either terrified or scared of me. And after the whole Cap 3 movie with those treaties, how is that going to work?

The next movie coming out is In/fin/ity War. Just reading the plot is giving me a headache. Too many characters. So what Marvel is telling me, is that we are all taking the ship full of Asgardians to earth, to set up some sort of life there for all those otherworldly people, and then, somehow, Thanos finally makes it to earth after years and years, gets the infinity stones, and we team up with the Gua/rdians of the Ga/laxy to save the earth. All of us. All the Av/engers, who have fallen apart since Civil War, other people who’s names I don’t even recognize. Even me. Me! What is with that major shift? Please get a proper narrative for your movies, Marvel. I’m getting tired of all this running around in circles. You haven’t let me down this much since Th/or 2 and Civil War.

(And I did not like Civil War, because, even though I didn’t watch it myself, Bucky did. And he knows better than anyone how that movie should have went.

The most I can say is the movie babies Tony, as if he’s some feeble child who is suffering so dearly from something that is never mentioned to have affected him before this movie. This was not an Ir/on Man movie. This was a Cap/tain Ame/rica movie. If we wanted to see Tony being the star, we would have paid for an Ir/on Man movie. This was supposed to feature Steve as the main character, focus on his feelings, his views most of all, but it instead painted him as some stubborn idiot who has outlandish ideas and only cares about saving his friend.

And in the end, what happens. Tony blows off Bucky’s arm and afterwards they all decide to put this man, who has been trying to heal and be a better person, into the ice. I highly doubt Bucky would have wanted to get within five feet of that thing. And Steve somehow barely shows Bucky an ounce of that best friendship he insists they have. No hug at the end. Nothing significant. They just put him under. Why? Wouldn’t that remind him of Hydra? Nowhere in that entire movie did he turn on any of them. He was not a threat. There was nothing pointing him to being a threat anymore and yet, he comes out of nowhere with that? 

Unacceptable.)

Onto my character. They seem extremely intent on making my role the God of Misch/ief and nothing more. The little change of heart at the end isn’t enough. Especially with the pause, stare longingly at the tessaract, cut to another scene, oh Loki thanks for saving the day!, except oh no where is he oh that’s right he’s on the ship suddenly with no explanation at all whatsoever and Thor didn’t even seem the least bit concerned and it really gave off the impression that he didn’t care for me at all and essentially gave up on me halfway through the movie.

“I mourned for you” doesn’t mean a whole lot when you keep tossing me aside when I get too difficult for you. Thor’s undying love for me is a major element of his character! It’s so shoved in our faces in the first two movies and the Ave/ngers. And now it’s barely touched upon. And how can I even blame him when my character is so stagnant. Why am I not getting character development that even people like Tony got? (not very good development but that’s a review for another day and Bucky is more suited to writing about it) If there aren’t some improvements of my character by the next movie there’s going to be a serious problem. If they make me betray everyone by the end and it falls into the old grating shoved down everyone’s throat trickster god is only ever going to be a trickster and will never amount to anything else narrative I’m going to rip out all my hair and my eyes.

Moving on. Odin dying. My fault? How? I didn’t strip him of any powers. Odin is a god. He’s powerful. I left him on earth and if he wanted to leave, he would have, but he did not. He was perfectly content down there. Heimdall should have seen and known all of this (which is the issue with an all seeing all knowing character because if they are able to see all then why did they not do anything with their knowledge? Plot holes. So many of them). Odin died because he was old and should have died years and years ago. That was not my fault and to pin it on me was unfair. Grief is understandable but the scene did not play out properly.

Ruling Asgard so frivolously, so stupidly... and doing a piss poor job of acting the moment Thor comes back was cringey at best. Ridiculous and inconsistent with my abilities shown in the second movie. The shapeshifting ability is something that is very poorly presented in this movie. I know it is a Thor movie and it is focused on him but if they can take a Cap movie and make it into a Tony’s Very Sad Day movie then I think they can put a little more effort into characterizing me properly, especially when I have such a big presence in the comics and I’m such an integral part of the family and a fan favorite.

The opening scene sweeps everything Thor’s been doing under the rug with a very small explanation and nothing to show for it. 

And going back to the use of humour in this movie. Or rather, the overuse of humour. The other movies had their fair share of mild humour thrown in so as to not set the tone of the movies as more heavy than they already are. Just a little is enough. These movies aren’t humour based. They aren’t supposed to be funny to the point where I’m completely thrown off by the complete shift of tone from the other movies in the series. I went into this movie expecting more jokes, but not that many. It really took away from the main focus. It was too funny. There were too many light moments.

(In an unrelated criticism, the relationship with Jane being such a big thing in the first and second movies, then suddenly being tossed aside around the time of Age of Ul/tron and being only mentioned once in this movie doesn’t make sense. Why didn’t we see any of this? Why even put her in the movies in the first place if she was just going to be tossed aside later? Why the unnecessary romantic subplot that irked a number of fans to begin with? It’s almost as if the writers realized they didn’t have a use for her anyone and scrapped her. They shouldn’t have put her in the movies as a romantic interest in the first place.)

If this is the direction they’re going for the next movies, then I don’t know how I’m going to handle watching them. I wish it was as simple as sending a letter to Marvel and having them rethink their scripts but unless enough people complain about it, they won’t care.

TD;LR: Too much humour in a movie that really did not need it. Bad tone. Stagnant characters. Plot holes. Bad choices. I’ll give it a 4/10.

#loki.txt #don't reblog please and thank you.

[dorkshadows]

The Demons Strike Back

Objectively, the professional reviews give this film 2-3 stars out of 5 and I think that’s fair. 2 or 3 depending on how much enjoyment you got. It’s an alright movie in total and there are fun things for JTTW fans (provided you’re not a purist who can’t stand any deviation from the book).

Subjectively, I’m giving this a 10/5 for shipping bias lmao but that won’t have anything to do with the pseudo-review below the cut. Just look at that picture.

It’s important to note that this is first and foremost a Tsui Hark film: his style, his direction, his tone. There are elements of Stephen Chow, but as far as Chow comedies go, this really isn’t and shouldn’t count as an example. 

Things that this movie deserves kudos for:

The soundtrack; it’s better than the prequel and more emotional overall

Sanzang outright puts his disciples on display and charges admission LOL

Fight scenes are great and special effects are pretty good for a non-Hollywood production

Then things get more subjective from here on out. Reviews ragged on the storyline for “lacking coherency/ having no story”- I disagree. It was streamlined enough, it just didn’t have that 3-act all-connection structure you’d expect from a popcorn movie. And I do fault the filmmakers for that because I doubt they set out to make an arthouse film- this was a blockbuster and it does need that high-and-low plotline most audiences want.

Characterization-wise, I think we got a pretty good sense of Wukong’s persona. His actor was the best one in Sanzang’s group. Different than the prequel’s Wukong but not exactly like any other adaptations either- Hark/Chow at least succeeded in creating a new Wukong. The trailers made him look hilariously angsty, but he’s not as emo as I thought he’d be- just has anger issues and a #resting bitch face. His desire to murder/hurt Sanzang, but also be liked/forgiven by Sanzang, combined with the inability to articulate that desire, was a checkmark. And that would’ve been a highlight if it wasn’t for what happens later (more on that below). I was also surprised by how downright... sexy his performance was, I’d tap him. 

I don’t see the point in giving Wukong 3 monkey forms, with none of them looking like the monkey from Conquering the Demons. I know the whole cast changed, but still, that tiny yet freaky CGI monkey didn’t have to change (I missed it!). 

Kris Wu was, er, not great, better than his other acting roles, but not as good as the prequel’s lead. But I could tell he was trying his best haha. That aside, the character- a lot of what he does really depends on what you think of him- a genuinely smart person, manipulative, kind? All of the above? I liked that aspect of the writing. Ultimately, he’s supposed to be a good person (carrying on from the prequel) and there’s one plot twist that I both love and hate because it does wonders for his character but also undermines something (more below- it’s the same thing with Wukong fyi).

The film didn’t forget Duan and she’s integral to the plot/Sanzang’s character so that was a plus. Her memory really connected Sanzang, Wukong, and the new love interest TM. And it’s a good choice to have the film “honor” her by not giving the new love interest TM half the love it gave Duan in the prequel. 

Bajie and Wujing didn’t get as much screentime as I expected. That was disappointing because Wujing looks awesome in the movie. They had great designs and aside from some funny lines, didn’t get to do much. 

I liked the final villain- it was a logical twist and the actress wasn’t bad . She was funny and unrepentant to the end (not gonna spoil who she is). The spider demons were really cool too- they just didn’t have much to do with the plot. Red Boy’s design was unexpected, but I thought it was creative and the best fight scene was his and Wukong’s. I don’t have much thoughts on the final, final fight because it was WILD lol, but the transition to Sanzang’s trump card could have been clearer.

As for the love interest TM (Eng. subs called her “Felicity” for some reason lol), I honestly did not care. She came into the plot when there were like, 30 minutes left (!?), knew Sanzang for 1 day, and suddenly is in love with him. Her death was alright and SPOILER she’s actually the white bone demon. I appreciated Sanzang not loving her back though- he saw a bit of Duan in her but that was it. He was actually “using” her. 

But she was the worst written character and it just felt repetitive for the love interest TM to die, especially when she’s this inconsequential.  I would have preferred her 1) getting introduced earlier, 2) getting a redemption arc and leaving alive, 3) providing a better explanation for why she was helping the big bad. She was so unimportant that her death wasn’t even there for #ManPain. Her role needed a lot of work. 

Humor-wise, some moments made me laugh (Chow’s writing there), but this is more of a dramedy than a comedy. The tone’s more “serious” than Chow’s movies, but the humor and drama do balance out- some jokes (or I think they’re supposed to be jokes) just fall flat. Chow fans will be disappointed though. I know I was. 

Now for that twist I love/hate:

Basically, Sanzang and Wukong have a dramatic fall-out, where Sanzang admits he hates Wukong for killing Duan, and it snowballs from there. But it was all an act Sanzang organized to trick the big bad into showing herself. This shows that he’s smart, makes the love interest TM things 10x less cliched, and shows he does have chemistry with his disciples, but it also leaves you going “huh?” in retrospect.

Because this twist makes you backtrack through the whole movie until you realize every conflict Sanzang had with his squad in the film was an act. Then where’s the actual character development? How did he and Wukong move past the Duan thing? At what point did Sanzang really win over his team? It’s a very good twist, but awkward in retrospect, like they cheated us out of character development.

Misc (subjective) thoughts:

The script wouldn’t have been so awkward if some events were switched around (ie. swap the order of the Biqu Kingdom scenes with the spider demon scenes)

Bajie is into BDSM- this isn’t even a joke. He really does have a kink for it. Also, it’s implied he has a thing for Wukong in addition to women lol

Thanks to that plot twist above, it’s implied that Sanzang walked up to Wukong and said, “Beat me up and eat me”- I’m not sure how to feel about this, this is the kinkiest group of pilgrims I’ve ever seen

Wukong/Sanzang is borderline canon by the end, and I don’t mean in the queerbaiting way (maybe I’m biased but I hope to have better sense than that! Plus, Tsui Hark doesn’t have to resort to that), but in a “this is as much as we can get through the censors in a high profile Chinese jttw adaptation- we did it because we wanted to lmao” way. Not spoiling this one fantastic bit at the very end, but let’s just say Steve/Bucky shippers only wish they had this much canon support. 

(Lastly, Kenny Lin said Wukong suffers from “unrequited love” in this movie. Make of that what you will, but this Great Sage was not straight imo.)

Overall:

It’s not a deep film, but I don’t think it’s completely meaningless. The story’s all over the place and you probably won’t care for any of the characters unless you’re like me already attached to the JTTW team regardless of their incarnation. It’s not a good comedy, but certainly not a total drama, and it does make you want to see what happens next. 

I’d rec it if you A) like mindless but well-choreographed action B) are crazy about JTTW like me C) are a fan of the leads, and/or D) ship Wukong/Sanzang

Chow has a sequel in mind and regardless of what bored people on the internet reviews say, this movie made money. So here’s to hoping he gets to make a trilogy! 

#journey to the west demon chapter #journey to the west the demons strike back #journey to the west #I talked a lot in this WHOA #next time I'll ramble about how the script could be improved (tbh it's not hard let's be honest) #I wanna see it again \o/

[erynmorragin]

Everything wrong with Endgame (Spoilers)

Ok I’m not here to argue, and I’m not saying that I didn’t like parts of the movie. Or that I don't understand why some things were done the way they were. But that also doesn’t mean that I can’t also see ways it could have been done better for a very similar result. For the most part the things I liked about the movie come down to humor and the cinematic experience. So the videography, music, and visual experience like fights. Which given that it's a Marvel film was to be expected. They are very good at balancing humor and darkness and the filmography tends to be wonderful. However I had tons of issues with a lot of the rest of the film. And looking back over the films done by the Russo brothers I have in general not loved them as much as the rest of the MCU.

My thoughts will be divided into different sections based mainly on the main 6 and their arcs/ characters and relationships to those around them. Again this contains spoilers for the movie. I am not trying to argue about the film or why it was done the way it was done. Just needed a place to rant my thoughts and emotions about the film. (For all I know I may never post this anywhere.) But basically it’s an “I recognize the council has made a decision but given that its a stupid ass decision I’ve elected to ignore it.” Except sub Russo’s for Council. Also while I am trying to organize this logically it won’t be chronological because I can’t do that and have it be fixed by characters.

Bruce/ The Hulk:

Ok Starting off small with Bruce and the Hulk. In general its character issues for them. I hate what was done to Bruce. Not only is it creepy I don’t feel it was fair to the Hulk. While I do get wanting him to reconcile with the Hulk and understand that Hulk isn’t evil and they need to work together. But it felt more like Bruce figured out a way so he could be in control while having the Hulk’s body and strength and that just doesn’t seem fair or ok. Not to mention just it was kinda creepy to watch. I feel like if they had wanted to go this way it would have been more fair for like 50/50% control or having a timeshare thing. After all it has been shown- in Thor Ragnarok, the comics, and cartoons- that Hulk is more than just rage. He’s more like instincts given form. He can even talk and wants to protect those he cares about. So I just don’t think what was done was the best for the character or for the relationship between the two sides. Also like I feel like it was unfair for the Bruce/ Natasha relationship. Which while I am not a fan of was introduced earlier on and I think needed to be handled better.

Thor:

Thor just pissed me off. I felt like it was so out of character that it was ridiculous. What they did to him doesn’t fit his character or situation at all. Becoming a recluse, frat boy, alcoholic and using his weight for tons of fat jokes felt in poor taste and completely OOC. Added to that having him turn to Valkyrie and go “you’re king now.” Was also unprecedented and just random. It felt like it was just a “let's tie this up fast and get it out of the way.” We had no previous evidence of Valkyrie having done anything leader like. When they showed up in New Asgard it looked like she could just be a fisherman or craftsperson. Not that she was a leader for the town. I feel like Thor would have been more the type to be out in the galaxy helping Captain Marvel than secluding himself in a house and becoming a drunkard. Or even leading his people, he had shown growth of that in Ragnarok and the characterization between that and Endgame was so different it was ridiculous.

Clint:

For the most part I agreed with how Clint was handled. Except for a couple main things, I think Natasha would have been out looking for him and found him faster. And I think he should have had a redemption arc. I understand they wanted him to reunite with his family but I feel like Clint needed the redemption more and would have been a better fit for sacrificing himself to get the Soul stone. I also still hate how much of Clint’s character was erased for the films and wish his disability was acknowledged. He was deaf and far sighted (I see better from afar) and I wish his character had been done more justice in general.

Natasha:

We now get into the “I’m really pissed off about this” section. Natasha. Oh where to start. First off I feel like the MCU in general has been extremely unfair to Natasha. I feel like she has been underused andher character has been pretty ignored. But she is very important to the dynamic in the original 6. She’s pretty much everyone’s best friend. And she was just basically brushed aside. And then in this film they go and have her sacrifice herself and then that's only acknowledged once when they return to the present. It was also kinda selfish because Clint had lost the rest of his family and then she goes and jumps and makes him lose the only person who is basically his sister. So he has to watch his last family member die and be unable to bring her back. Which is another issue I have. She deserved her own series of movies and now we will only ever get prequels. Also like in the comics you could bring people back out of the soul stone. Which it was confirmed that's where the souls sacrificed went into. They became controllers of the stone and could basically do a lot from inside and have come back before. And while this does introduce the idea of time travel it still felt like this was the end and that wouldn’t be used again.

Steve:

Mostly I just hate Steve’s ending. It felt very OOC and like brought up a bunch of inconsistencies in the universe.  It also kinda felt like the Russos didn’t watch AOU. In the end Steve says “Family, stability... The guy who wanted all that went in the ice 75 years ago. I think someone else came out." So the fact that they had him go back in time and end up married to Peggy was like ??? Not only did it ignore a lot, if not all, of Agent Carter. It then made no sense as to how he ended up back in our time in our timeline. If he marries Peggy in the past we wouldn’t have probably found him the same way/ time. And just it would create an alternate timeline. Plus he ended up kissing his own niece. Which, ew? Then he came back and was old- which isn’t how his aging worked in the comics at all. And he gave the shield to Sam. I think it would have made more sense for his character to give the shield to Bucky and Bucky to tell him no. Then leaving him to give it to Sam. I Also think it would have made more sense for him to just want to be a teacher at the compound or been incapacitated rather than become old.

Tony:

In general I kinda understand Tony’s ending the most. But I also really disagree with it. First he wouldn’t have done what he did in the last scene because as he said earlier in the film- “I have a family now. I can’t just give that all up.” And like that was the whole reason they decided to go with the plan they were going with. So that they would still have had the past 5 years progress. Then I just think they shouldn’t have killed him. There were tons of other ways for this to be an “ending” like they wanted without killing him. I think he should have become unable to leave a wheelchair or just unable to use the suit due to strain and, like Steve, passed it on. I think he should have dedicated his time to making better and better tech so that none of their protegees would die. I think he should have tutored them. But mostly I think he should have gotten to be a father to Harley, Peter, and Morgan. I think he should have gotten the happiness he deserved.

Plot points and inconsistencies

1. It's been 5 years and they suddenly bring back everyone who died in the snap. Which, like? No acknowledging all the issues with that? People who moved on from loved ones. The growth that would have happened in those 5 years. The mass PTSD caused by all this in the end. What happens if someone was snapped back into the same spot as another person? Or the other issues with half of the world's population suddenly coming back from nowhere.

2. Thanos dying by being snapped, while it made sense as a kind of justice for him having to experience the same as what everyone else did, was just anticlimactic.

3. Present! Nebula killing Past! Nebula

4. Past! Gamora suddenly disappearing in our time.

5. Nebula should have gotten to kill Thanos. She deserved it more than anyone else in the world.

6. Thanos still having the chautari army. Like even if he came from the past that would have been after Avengers 1 which would mean his army would have been, you know, dead?

7. For all the hype for Captain Marvel she kinda didn’t feel used enough? Like all the “Fury didn’t contact her until something MAJOR happened cus she's so OP and would be who we need to fix this” she was just kinda… there?

8. Strange effectively keeping Tony alive only for him to die.

In general I felt like Endgame was a poor attempt at “ending” the first arc of the Marvel movies. I also kinda didn’t feel like an ending was needed? Like yeah the actors want to do other things. But I’d have liked to see them appear in the rest of the films as the kinda Stan Lee cameo. Tony sipping coffee as something destructive happens outside his tower. Steve at the park sketching as Spider-man swings by fighting someone. Clint appearing at the end and being sassy to someone. Just the main 6 taking over Stan Lee’s cameos and continuing it. It wasn’t well done, and frankly didn’t make sense for the characters. Plus it left so many things unanswered and making no sense that it was just hella confusing.

In general it felt super rushed and disconnected from the original films. And looking back over most of the Russo’s films I’ve had issues with almost everything they have done. And while at points it seems they understand the characters it also just feels like they don’t. Plus I still have the huge issue with every singe Avengers movie being the Avengers just fighting and arguing until they work together. Like it was ok for the 1st one but can’t we have more scenes like the one in AOU in the tower at the party? Where they are friends and family and just joking around? Because that's what they are. And the largest number of fanfics is about that. I’ve read fanfics that understand these characters better than a lot of the directors. Its sad, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. This is the one Marvel movie I don’t think I’ll go see in theaters a second time. Because no, I didn’t enjoy it.

#avengers #endgame #avengers endgame #spoilers #everything wrong with #stupid ass decision