#iconic little part of his costume in this series. and it's such a fun nod to the fact that his ring is the only thing remaining | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thecrownnet · 4 years

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Season four began filming immediately after three wrapped. The ever-aggressive paparazzi snapped many scenes of Princess Diana (Emma Corrin) and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) filming the penultimate installment, which just narrowly completed production before the Covid-19 shutdowns in the U.K. But the rush to finish didn't affect the costume department.

"With all those custom-made pieces, you have to be ahead of the game," explains Roberts. Her couture house-like department regularly operated on a three-week to one-month-ahead schedule, especially for the "ceremonial" pieces for principles.

"In fact, the last day, it was a huge scene with Diana and that was it," she continues. "We went out on a bang, you know. A massive scene with her in New York, and that was it. No more filming."

[Spoilers Ahead]

Season four extends to 1989, when Princess Diana embarked on a solo trip to New York City — actually shot in Manchester, England — prior to her 1992 separation from Charles. Playing the People's Princess, Corrin was photographed wearing a stunning re-creation of a gold-embroidered, pearl-embellished Victor Edelstein gown and bolero jacket that Diana wore to attend a Welsh National Opera Gala production of "Falstaff" at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music.

As "The Crown" stans anxiously await the announcement of a season four premiere date from Netflix, Roberts revisits some of the costume and behind-the-scenes highlights from three with Fashionista, including Colman's reaction to donning Queen Elizabeth II's intimidating investiture helmet, Princess Margaret's historically inaccurate White House visit dress and Prince Charles's and Camilla's imagined meet-cute outfits. And, yes, the costume designer drops more teasers for the upcoming season, including Princess Diana's "fantastic journey."

Your re-creations for Queen Elizabeth II were so accurate, like the fur-trimmed coat she wore to Aberfan (episode three) and her investiture suit — especially the hat. What was the most challenging costume to recreate and why?

The investiture costume with that extraordinary hat. In "The Crown," you have key moments with actual events that we know about. [The images are] very much out there on film and photographs and you are acknowledging those looks. I hate to say we're "copying" them. I think we're making a nod to them with hopefully a bit of us in there.

But that was quite a challenge because everybody knew that extraordinary medieval hat that the Queen wore. [We made ours out of] a very fine satin georgette and getting that color, that pale clotted cream color, [was a challenge]. For Olivia, that was quite a challenge to wear as well. She's a remarkable actress to work with, as you can imagine. She just lets you do your job. But even she looked slightly askance when that hat came out. But being Olivia, she went with it.

Which costume for Queen Elizabeth II allowed you the most creative freedom, because it wasn't a re-creation?

I'm really fond of when I imagine dealing with the real woman. There's a series of outfits [in episode five], when she is very involved with sorting out her riding stables and her horses aren't doing very well. And she leaves her [royal] role in the care of her mother and goes off [to Normandy, France and then Kentucky] with Lord Porchey [John Hollingworth].

I loved doing her like that. In macs [trench coats] and blouses and skirts and headscarves. The scarves are such a cool look. People can really relate to that now with that slightly Prada and Miu Miu-style shirts, blouses and colors that we went for. When she dines, for once, she's not done up in a long dress. She's in rather attractive — well, I think they were nice — floral silk dresses.

I loved being able to see or pretend or imagine that side of her; that kind of upper-middle-class country woman doing things that she loved. [Spending time with] her horses — not that there are many dogs in that episode — which I think she probably feels most at ease with. Olivia looked fantastic in those clothes. She's like glowing in a way.

Everybody assumes [my favorites are] all the big ball dresses, which are lovely to do. But I like doing that more real element of people. This other side. 'The Crown' gives you that fantastic opportunity — the big, glamour, out there moments — and there's a lot of very intimate personal stuff, where you don't know what they would wear or what they would say, but you can have let your imagination go with that one and that's lovely to do.

In episode two, Princess Margaret goes to the White House to see President and Ladybird Johnson, to help secure U.S. aid. You designed a floral, off-the-shoulder, arm-baring dress, which made sense for her to trade dirty limericks with POTUS. But in real life, Princess Margaret wore a pink, long-sleeved jacket over her gown. What was the inspiration behind changing the design, and what are the print and silhouette telling us about her?

I just wanted to be a bit bolder and more startling. I just remember when we saw that fabric in one of the shops, I thought, 'That's it. That's it! Let's use that for that [part].' Sometimes things jump out at you, don't they? Also, it's a portrayal of Margaret by an extraordinary woman, Helena Bonham Carter. So somehow you're also taking that on board. With Helena, you could push it a little bit further and she would just be bold and brave with it herself.

Princess Anne is considered a fashion icon and as young woman in the late '60s and '70s, she was able to push the fashion envelope and do things like wear jeans and mini-skirts. How did you use her costume to show her as the more independent one in the family?

I don't think she represented the wild '60s. But the mini-skirts — the short skirts — that she wore, represented the '60s in a kind of posh-girl way. The first image that we had of her [to work off of] was written in the script as Anne in jodhpurs. That blew it all apart, didn't it? Here's this girl, strutting through the palace in riding breeches and boots — I think that's how it was written — that was my big guide into how we would deal with her.

There's a little shot of her [in episode six], when she visits her brother, when he's performing the play and she's in the audience. She's got '60s baker boy cap on, but there's nothing extreme about her. It's sort of sensible. It's getting that balance of that youthful brashness, but still she's a princess.

I did enjoy the scene where a buttoned-up Prince Charles calls her from Wales because he's homesick. She's in her room at the palace — and it's all messy — and she's wearing high-waisted flare jeans and a Hawaiian-print, long-sleeved T-shirt.

[That] was a scene where you could do that. She's on her own and I quite like that because it was contrasted against Charles, who never gets to be relaxed. He's at university. He's still wearing those little old man clothes, like tweed jackets and sweaters. I mean he looks adorable, because the actor's quite adorable, isn't he? [Ed. note: Yes.] He never somehow lets his hair down. So it was quite fun that she was dressed like that and he was in corduroy trousers or slacks — they were called slacks then — and a jumper.

It was really quite funny, the director of that particular episode, Christian Schwochow, is quite young himself and also German. So his view on the Royal Family was quite refreshing and we wanted to blow it out of the water as much as we could.

What inspiration and process did you go through to design and create the costumes for imagined scenes between Charles and Camilla?

There's very little reference [imagery] on her in that early time. With Camilla, it's a sexy posh girl with, dare I say, not a huge amount of style. Why should she? Why should she have that? So it's just that Sloane Ranger girl. We were just trying to tune into that and her country pursuits. So after she marries [Andrew Parker Bowles, played by Andrew Buchan] in series four, suddenly she looks a whole lot more herself, really. She's living the life she wants to in the country, [as part of the] the country set. It was a little point to what she'd become, probably. She's fun, relaxed and not particularly into clothes.

In series three, you know that you'll see a lot of these people again in series four. So you're kind of giving little pointers to what they'll become when they're a bit older and more settled. And people have a style. You change, of course, but you are what you are. You just get a little more sophisticated or get a little more confident.

Speaking of, images of Emma Corrin as Princess Diana in famously-photographed outfits (or variations of them) have been caught by paparazzi. How does Diana's place as an international fashion icon influence how you designed her portrayal in season four?

Well, she was brilliant to do because she has a real journey in four. Most of them do, but she, in particular, has a fantastic journey — a real arc — again, like Camilla. We kick off with a nice little Sloane Ranger, wearing bobbly old jumpers, and you end up with a dramatic change. A complete manipulation of her look. Like, she puts on suits of armor to protect herself. So that's all we'll say about that.

What hints can you share about the other members of the Royal Family in season four?

The Queen grows in being steadier in her role and her marriage. I'm always saying this, but whatever issues she has — or had — in the marriage, [she and Philip, played by Tobias Menzies] found a way of dealing with that, like a lot of marriages. It's just everybody maturing.

And Margaret — that very tempestuous relationship she has with Tony at the beginning, it's just getting more and more toxic. Of course, in four, her life is really a real mess and we just illustrate that with her clothes. But the colors are much more dour and bruised and her flamboyance from three is slightly toned down now. Charles actually matures into a married man, quite stylish, but, again, an unhappy marriage. And good old Queen Mum stays the same. Lovely Queen Mum. I love her.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

#olivia colman #gillian anderson #helena bonham carter #josh o’connor #the crown #tobias menzies #ben daniels #erin doherty #emerald fennell #emma corrin #marion bailey #the crown netflix

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harrystyltistical · 5 years

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Pretend 0.1

Word count:1.3k

Summary: First chapter in a series, you’re starring in a movie alongside Harry styles and tonight is the premier.

A/N: thank you for being patient and hi to everyone that’s new! I’ll be updating more often, just wasn’t inspired. The next thing you see from me is probably going to be a smut piece so be prepared for that, you’ll have it by the end of the month tops. Dont forgot to like and reblog if you enjoyed!

My red dress sparkled in the flashing lights from the cameras that are riddled across the length of the carpet, looking toward the photographers shouting my name as a faux smile danced on my lips. I let my eyes roam, glancing through the crowd of faces as I took a few strides forward, my eyes eventually landing on my Co-stars that stood beside me and their smiling faces.

In this moment, I feel invincible, the highlight on my cheeks competing with my smile for brightest thing on my face, my curls bouncing as I took a few more steps forward. My best friend and Co-star, Brooke, walked next to me as an interviewer was fast approaching, a microphone on hand and a cameraman close behind. She whispered a quick compliment in my ear before shifting her full attention to the interviewer in front of us, who was now holding a mic up to our mouths.

“Hello you two! You both look stunning tonight, but besides that how excited are you for Pretend to finally be in theaters?”

“Oh, well first, thank you so much you look very gorgeous yourself, and second we’re so thrilled! Aren’t we, Rin?” Brooke says from beside me, turning for my approval as I gave her an an enthusiastic nod.

“So excited! We know you guys will love Pretend as much as we do. We all worked so, so hard on it and… Just, it’s my baby and I can’t wait for everyone to see it.” I say, containing my passion more than a little as I speak into the mic, keeping eye contact with the interviewer as I did.

“I know everyone’s gonna love it, you can’t fail when you have the iconic duo of Brooke and Rin. I’m so excited to see you two in action, I can’t wait!” The interviewer replies, doing quick steps as she expressed her excitement.

“I can’t wait either, we’ll see you in there.” Brooke adds, walking us down the remaining length of the carpet and into the backstage area, making her way to our seats and tugging me along with.

Once again my eyes wandered, bouncing from person to person as we made our way down the aisle. I let my heart go wild with excitement as I noticed some of my favorite actors and actresses had showed up to the premier, conversing among themselves as they waited for the movie to be shown on the big screen. As we walked my eyes landed on one of my Co-stars. One I had avoided for the majority of filming. Every time I was around him I embarrassed myself, I recall I’d even spilled hot coffee on him during a late night of filming.

I sipped desperately at my mug of coffee, the hot liquid burning my tongue and throat as I swallowed the big gulp in a rush, sticking my tongue out as if the air would repair my burnt taste buds. I spun to get a glass of water, feeling an impact as I did, scorching hot coffee running down my arm, spilling out of my cup and onto the person I collided with. I looked up, apologizing frantically as I grabbed a few tissues to clean us both up.

“It’s okay, you’re good.” I didn’t have to wait for eyes to meet to know it was Harry, wincing as I saw the huge stain it made on the clothes he was wearing. Not only had I just spilled burning hot coffee on Harry, I’d ruined his costume for the scene we were shooting. On the bright side, however, burning myself with coffee (twice) really did the trick when it came to waking me up.

I shook my head and took a deep breath as I recalled the awful moment, even now I had to catch myself from slipping down the many sets of stairs below me when my heel caught on air, recovering swiftly and elegantly before walking along the rows of seats and taking one between Brooke and my love interest in the movie, Joey.

A few minutes later the director came onstage, walking up to the mic and saying a quick speech before the lights dimmed and the screen came to life. The movie was just as I’d imagined it, a beautiful mix of laughter and tears, and everyone seemed to love it, but honestly even if it was booed at I wouldn’t have cared. This was my proudest piece of work, and I was so proud to be so closely involved with every part of it that what everyone else thought was just validation to what I already knew, that it was perfect.

The after party was next, people walking up to I and the director, Ellie, to congratulate us on our masterpiece. If Brooke and I are close, Ellie and I are crammed, we’d known each other years before our fame and held each other up for years after and had no idea what I would do without my right-hand woman. We created separately for a while; Me, starring in my own shows and her, creating her own movies, but it wasn’t until now that we decided to collaborate our talents and create Pretend.

“How’s your night been so far?” I ask, making a lipstick print on my glass as I took a sip of my water, swishing it around with a flick of my wrist as I waited for a response.

“It’s been so good, I can’t believe we’re finally done with filming. I had so much fun it was a dream. I love you so much, come here.” Ellie says, her soft drunk side showing itself as she wrapped her arms tightly around me, careful not to spill her martini. When we pulled away my eyes scanned the room for Brooke, trying my best to make sure she didn’t get herself in any trouble tonight, but instead finding Harry’s. My heart rate sped up as his eyes met mine, saying a quick goodbye to whoever he was talking to before making his way over to me. I tried to play it off like I hadn’t seen him, going to walk away but instead bumping into Joey, causing him to spill his drink on me, pausing as the cold liquid made its way down the bridge of my breasts and spread its way across the top of my beautiful dress.

I hoped that the moment was embarrassing enough for Harry to walk away and pretend he hadn’t seen me, but he made his way over anyway with a hand full of paper towels and handed them to me so I could dry myself, shooing away the few lingering stares I had earned myself. Ellie was in my peripheral vision, laughing in the corner, knowing I always slipped up on something when Harry was around, but I tried my best to ignore her as my cheeks went redder than the dress I was wearing.

“Why do we keep meeting like this?” Harry says, letting out a little laugh as he ripped off another section of paper towel and handed it to me. The words caught in my throat as I shook my head and gave him a subtle shrug, patting down the top of my dress and avoiding eye contact.

“I—honestly, I have no idea.” I say, laughing quietly at myself.

“Maybe we should try again sometime?,” I paused, making eye contact with him and wondering if he meant what I thought he did “Do you like ice cream?” Yeah, he meant it like that, my heart speeding up in my chest as I thought about what to respond.

Harry’s eyes watched mine expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Rin, let’s go! We—why are you wet? Never mind, just hurry, we have to get you changed and ready for your flight.” My manager says, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me away.

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dewittsend · 5 years

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‘The Defenders’ Review [Episodes 1-4] {REPOST}

So far, so okay.

As of this moment, The Defenders has pretty much met my expectations. That’s not to say it’s great, though. Not yet.

It’s difficult to pick where to begin, because there’s a lot to cover. And I may not talk about scenes in their exact chronological order, because I’m summarizing the important information. And since this series won’t stop shoving his importance down my throat, I guess we’ll start with Iron Fist aka Danny Rand, played by actor Finn Jones—which, while I am on the fence about this, may be the first issue. I was disappointed with Iron Fist’s own Netflix series. To me, it felt rushed. A last-minute collage of sloppy choreography, boring writing, and confusing character choices. I often found Jones’s acting to be cringe-inducing at best, and his is the first character we’re reintroduced to.

SPOILERS AHEAD! Do proceed at thy own caution.

We find Danny in Cambodia, hot on the heels of The Hand after the events of his series left him looking at an empty mountainside where K'un-Lun, the monasterial city he was raised in, used to be, with no trace of his mentors to be found. He is currently joined by friend with benefits and best-part-of-his-show Colleen Wing. Rand gets into a tussle with the revived Elektra [Elodie Yung reprising, and notably annoying me less], who is here hunting down an enemy of The Hand. Brainwashed and merciless, a la the Winter Soldier, she gives Danny a hard time, but he fights her off and she retreats temporarily. Our heroes have a vague conversation with the target of Elektra’s assassination, who tells them that the war they’re fighting will be finished in New York City before croaking.

We’re privileged (and I do mean that because Krysten Ritter is a delight) to catch up with Jessica Jones next, as she’s kicked out of a bar that’s closing at what appears to be 8:00 in the morning and runs into her friend Trish Walker. Jones is still recovering from the psychological toll of her battles with Kilgrave, and as such has indefinitely suspended her investigative services. She is approached by a woman whose husband, named John Raymond, is missing. Jessica initially blows her off, but is driven to take the case when someone calls her office and warns her against taking it. She’s stubborn like that.

Luke Cage is on his way out of a short stint in prison. His fellow inmates are cheering as he is walked out of his cell. We get a great moment where a fumbling rookie cop can’t find the right keys to remove Cage’s cuffs, so he just snaps the chain himself and drops the crumpled rings into the warden’s hand. The supporting cast of these individual series are turning up left and right, and doing so in smart, sensical ways that really make this world seem well-connected. For instance, it turns out that Franklin “Foggy” Nelson was Cage’s attorney, and is the reason he’s out so early.

Foggy, by the way, now works for rich-people lawyer Jeryn Hogarth after he and his best friend Matt Murdock chose to dissolve their law firm. But they’re still friends, sort of. It’s complicated.

And where IS Daredevil? The Man Without Fear and the man who started it all, Matthew is currently a man defeated. Although he now takes the majority of his cases pro bono, the fulfillment of that isn’t enough to stave away the dissatisfaction he feels since choosing to hang up the horns. Karen Page, now officially a reporter, catches up with him over a slightly awkward cuppa. They have a solid scene together, illustrating the romantic tension budding between them. Karen still believes in Daredevil’s ability to affect change, as she always has. Matt thinks those days need to stay behind him. Of course, it’s only so long he can do that.

Promises promises.

This may be a good time to talk about each character’s signature color and lighting palettes. They’ve been used as tonal gauges, and they may have something to tell us about who these people are. For Matt, it’s obviously red, which carries the instant connection to the Devil and brimstone, to rage and blood. Cage’s is yellow, which is well known to be a color invented by God for black people to wear. It also reflects the warmth with which Luke views his community. Danny’s is green {EDIT 2021: representative of his status and wealth as well as a nod toward the importance of jade in kung fu symbolism}, and we’re probably never going to see him rock the Iron Fist costume so just be happy he’s got loose-fitting green clothes that look nice when he’s punching people. Finally, Jessica’s ranges between blue and purple; harking back to the “Purple Man” who consumed so much of her life when she was under his control, and also reflecting her much colder dispotion towards people and their problems, despite being a P.I. There are times when this lighting technique gets kind of oppressive, like when Matt’s entire apartment is bathed in fire-tones, but it helps to create some truly memorable cinematography. Case in point: one of this first half’s best moments is Luke’s bus ride back into Harlem. Set to a silky D'Angelo track, we see the golden glow of the sunset filter in through the bus’s gritty and fingerprint smudged windows. And views of the Manhattan skyline, and of Harlem’s streets, through what looks like avintage film camera, all with a sepia tint. It’s breathtaking, soothing, and probably had a little extra impact because I’m a Harlem resident myself.

Cage reunites with his boo Claire Temple, Rosario Dawson’s nexus character through all of these shows, for a little bit of brown sugar. But before the two can settle into a routine together, Cage is pulled back into the sorrows of the streets by Detective Misty Knight. She informs him that several young men in the community have been getting involved in some seedy affairs, and some of them have gone missing. It seems they’re being used as expendable henchmen, pulling off whatever odd jobs they’re told to, whether it’s delivering drugs or making dead bodies disappear (which is what Danny Rand catches him doing later on). Cage takes it upon himself to investigate the affairs of one young man in particular named Cole.

In between all of this, we’re introduced to our Big Bad. National Treasure and sci-fi icon Sigourney Weaver portrays the enigmatic Alexandra, whose body is beginning to fail her after centuries of life. Weaver is doubtless a tremendous actor, but even she can’t escape some typical mustache-twirling clichés (a friend of mine put it better than I can: “It’s not innovative for the cream white villain to find beauty in Rachmaninov but not in the lives of others, like, we understand!!!”). That aside, she brings something fun to this show just by the virtue of who she is. And at six feet, the actress’ physical presence really makes an impact. Alexandra towers over characters like Madame Gao and is almost eye level with Luke Cage. Her presence feels like a legitimate threat, and Weaver does an excellent job of portraying someone with significantly more power than she lets on. Our first demonstration of this is in a scene between her and Madame Gao, who has been built up throughout these shows as a force to be reckoned with, who had Vincent D'Onofrio’s Kingpin shaking in his shoes. This scene between them ends when Alexandra literally tells Gao to “finish feeding the birds for me,” hands her a bag of seeds, and walks away like the CHIEF CHICK SHE IS GO ‘HEAD SIGOURNEY!!!

*ahem* So sorry.

It is eventually revealed that Alexandra is the person behind Elektra’s revival and reconditioning. Conveniently, Elektra doesn’t remember anything about her past life except how to fight. Thus, Alexandra has been using her to take out The Hand’s enemies and as a personal bodyguard. And after receiving the news that her body is reaching a terminal state of decline, Alexandra decides to accelerate her plans for the destruction of New York. As such, she has her people trigger a massive earthquake (the ramifications of which have not yet been fully uncovered) that affects everyone within the island of Manhattan. Nothing is exactly leveled yet, though. This seems to only be the beginning of her sinister plot.

This brings the first episode to an end, and over the course of the next three, our four vigilante heroes follow individual leads that start to bring them together, at first in pairs. Iron Fist has a confrontation with Luke Cage in an alleyway when Cage catches the Kung Fu kid beating up on Cole. They have an entertaining fight, as the petulant and bewildered Rand keeps striking Cage with no affect. He finally unleashes the iron fist right onto Luke’s jaw and knocks the big man off of his feet into a metal gate. It’s only later, when Luke recants the experience to Claire, that she sets up a meeting between the two, and they have a conversation that is another highlight of the show so far. Cage essentially privilege-checks Danny for being a rich white kid and taking out his frustration on the underprivileged with little regard for their lives, instead of trying to use his wealth and influence to take The Hand down from an administrative level. These two characters are famously friends in the source material, and I can see the direction the writers are trying to take them here, wherein the older Luke is mentoring Danny and opening his eyes to a side of life he’s never considered before, even with all the trauma of losing his parents and being tortured raised by monks. Danny has a tendency to fly off at the handle, so the more patient Luke is there to ground him. It’s more father and son than two good friends, but it’ll have to do for the versions of these characters we’ve been given.

Jessica Jones returns to her office at one point to find John Raymond with a gun to her friend Malcolm’s head. He’s panicked, telling her that there’s no future for him now that The Hand know he’s being investigated. On cue, Elektra crashes down the door to Jessica’s apartment and attacks. Raymond shoots himself before she can kill him, and she escapes before Jessica can catch her. But because of her rooting around in all of this, in addition to stealing evidence from a crime scene, Jessica’s put herself on Misty Knight’s radar. When she’s brought in for questioning, Matt Murdock steps in to defend (ha) her.

At one point, we see that Alexandra has a hostage—Stick, Matt Murdock’s blind mentor. They have an exchange that contains the phrase “old friend” and other related banter. Stick, rather unexpectedly, starts prophesying about the Iron Fist, which confused me because he’d never mentioned him in either season of Daredevil. You’d think he might have in season two, when the Hand presented a more imminent threat to the city. But nah, he just spent the majority of his screen time groaning that Matthew wasn’t joining “the war.” So it seems a bit ham-fisted for him to now have this hard-on for Iron Fist, even if it does make sense that he’d know who he is. I just think it required some more setup. Anywho, big surprise, Stick gets hold of a weapon and slices his own hand off to escape, continuing to cement himself as perhaps the most hardcore old man on television.

See? No biggie.

All our protagonists’ investigations lead them to one building: Midland Circle. Danny arrives there in suit and tie, ready to threaten them with financial and political action, as well as reveal himself to be “The Immortal Iron Fist,” which he says more often than “hello,” but since everyone in this series makes fun of him for it I can kind of excuse it. Alexandra, nonplussed as always, tells him that the only difference between him and the other Iron Fists she’s met over the years is that this time “I won’t kill you.” And GOD do I get chills.

What follows is the action highlight of the series’ first half. Iron Fist gets better choreography than anything we saw in his show. He spends about a minute fighting Alexandra’s security detail, and right when he gets overpowered, Luke Cage busts in. They do battle side-by-side for a while, all until Jessica and Murdock (wearing Jessica’s scarf over his face) arrive on the same floor. It may be this show’s “hallway sequence,” as these Marvel Netflix projects have become known for. It’s well-lit and gives everyone a good amount to do—except Jessica, who might be the most vulnerable of the four as she’s got no real fighting technique, and for all her strength lacks any indestructible skin to fall back on when confronted with weapons. Although for what it’s worth we finally get to see her reunite with Luke Cage. That reunion is built on in the next episode (not that way, pervert) and it’s great to see their chemistry ignite again.

There’s a point in the skirmish when Matt senses that “Someone’s coming. Something.” This something is Elektra, but he doesn’t realize it at first, and they fight for a good while. Matt takes a moment to listen to her breath, which causes him to stop fighting. But she doesn’t have a heartbeat. WHICH IS ACTUALLY SUPER SPOOKY AND COOL! She hesitates when he says her name, then raises her blade to strike Matt down, only to be knocked away yet again by Danny. What a guy, that guy.

The four of them escape together, and in the next episode commandeer a Chinese restaurant as a temporary hideout. This is the first time we get to see all four of them interact, and it’s pretty fun. Cage and Jones muse over how absurd this situation is, because oddly enough, they’re sort of the straight men in this situation. They may have powers, but their worlds have never been touched by the supernatural. Rand and Murdock, however, are well-versed in this field. Thusly, they spend a good deal of time trying to catch the others up. This is also the episode that has some of Charlie Cox’s best acting yet, as a paranoid and frustrated Matt who doesn’t want to give in to the idea that A. what he suspects to be happening is in fact happening and B. he needs to involve these people in his life in order to handle it. And to some extent, all of them feel that way. While Danny is keen to team up, Jessica is immediately against it, and Luke is reluctant as well. All of them are loners by nature, who’ve each experienced pain as a result of opening up to people.

When we’re done watching them bounce dialogue off each other, Stick shows up, sword in one hand, stump as the other, to do what he does best—exposit and tell the heroes what the stakes are. It’s not long before Alexandra ALSO sneaks into the restaurant (everyone can move like a ninja when this show wants them to) and tries to reason with her enemies, saying that if Iron Fist is willing to go with her, she’ll spare the lives of his friends. Which is almost definitely completely 105% a lie. The episode, and the first half of this series, ends with Elektra ready to square off against the four vigilantes + Stick.

To give my overall impression, I’m enjoying Defenders so far, and I think the actors are too. The problem to this point isn’t the actor’s level of chemistry, but that of the characters. I’m still hoping to see the bond between Danny and Luke expand into something more than just “shut up white kid,” even though that may well be what Danny needs to hear a few times. There needs to be a believable dependence between these four people. And although I know it’s a lot to juggle, I hope the supporting characters aren’t just dropped completely. They probably won’t be, though. I expect that as The Hand start getting closer to what they want, the ramifications will spread across the Defenders’ sphere of influence, from Turk to Claire Temple*.

Other expectations/hopes for the latter half include:

A cool introduction of the Hand’s remaining “Fingers”

Colleen v. Elektra!!!!

White Hat will be from, or have ties to Wakanda

Elektra will inevitably snap out of it. The hope here is to see her pick up her signature dual sai and stand with the Defenders

Alexandra could have some further connection to one of these heroes. Preliminarily, I thought it would be interesting if she was Matthew’s long-lost mother. Though, I guess that would really be pushing it

*Claire can’t survive this, right? I mean we all know Luke and Jessica have to end up together, and Claire’s not just going to give him up. I don’t want to see her go, but I also don’t know if there’s any way for her character to develop. Of course, there’s no guarantee Marvel will stick to the comics…but the Jess-Luke romance seems like too much of a fan favorite to pass on.

Stick’s gonna get stuck and tell Matt he’s proud of him

Whatever happened to Stone/maybe Lord Darkwind, the spooky dude Stick was talking to in season one of Daredevil? Let’s get him out here

Someone just say Tony Stark’s name. I mean, come on. The guy lives in the tallest building in New York and no one’s wondering what he’d think about all this? I know we can’t afford RDJ but is his character’s name gonna break the bank? (Yeah, it definitely would.)

Bullseye tease? Maybe? I dunno, man, they already robbed him of his big moment by killing Elektra without him

I already got THAT THING spoiled for me, THAT THING about THE OTHER GUY, but it would be on this list if I hadn’t

Oh and also Blade please

And so conclude my thoughts on the first half of The Defenders. There they are, lookin’ like Nirvana. Which I guess makes sense, given the marketing for this series. I’ll be writing a similarly long-winded and unnecessary reaction to the latter half. I hope you’ll check them both out.

THANK you for reading if indeed you did read! Keep on watching, friends. And as always: Blessings & Blexcellence!

-JKW

#marvel #netflix #superheroes #defenders #charliecox #krystenritter #mikecolter #finnjones #review #analysis

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 6 years

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20 Reasons you should love Spider-Girl!

Happy May Day one and all. Since this day shares a name with a certain daughter of our friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler (and because this year marked her 20th anniversary) we’re going to list of 20 reasons you should love Spider-Girl!

No deep dive analysis I am afraid and these are in no particular order.

Without further adieu...

Longest running female Marvel hero with her own series

In a day and age when much discussion is devoted to female characters in leading roles Spider-Girl was something of a trail blazer, though she gets far too little credit for it.

Spider-Girl was (and still is to my understanding) the longest running female Marvel character to have her own solo-series; at least without any re-launches.

This feat is even more impressive considering Spider-Girl was an out-of-continuity series which usually do not sell as easily as titles within the mainstream 616 universe.

Her costume

When discussing Spider-Man’s costumes thought inevitably drifts to Spider-Man’s original red and blue outfit or his black and white one. However the third horse in the race is the 1996 costume created by Ben Reilly and thus lovingly nicknamed the ‘Spider-Ben’ outfit.

It is simply a brilliant and beautiful design succeeding in evoking something unique and yet distinctly ‘Spider-Man’.

Whilst anyone coming to the black costume completely cold and with no context could be forgiven for mistaking it for an entirely different character (as Ron Frenz did way back in the early 1980s), nobody could look at Mayday’s costume and not realize it has something to do with Spider-Man.

Shifting around elements of the classic costume Mayday’s outfit succeeds in maintaining a balance of primary colours (as the best superhero costumes do) and making her distinct from any artistic angle.

The costume also (according to superstar artist Sal Buscema) in fact works more effectively on Mayday’s feminine form than on the typical male superhero body build.

Her other costumes

The beauty of Spider-Man’s black costume lies in its simplicity. However this doesn’t mean it is above being redesigned and around 20 years after its debut one of the key architects in its introduction (Ron Frenz) did just that when he created a black costume for Mayday.

Much like her red and blue outfit, her own black costume succeeds in being unique but retaining most of the strong visual elements that made her Dad’s counterpart outfit a hit. Sleek, simple and using white/silver in moderation to create a stark contrast this is probably Mayday’s most out and out badass look.

But Mr. Frenz had one more trick up his sleeve. In 2015 as part of the Secret Wars mega event Marvel was involved with Ron Frenz took to redesigning Mayday’s costume once again. Her previous appearance in Spider-Verse had controversially seen her hang up her original costume in favour of wearing one of her father’s old suits.

Quite apart from how the costume simply didn’t work as effectively on the Mayday’s female figure compared to Spider-Man’s, fans didn’t take kindly to the change. Apparently neither did Mayday’s co-creators Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz and so we wound up with yet another costume that combined elements of Peter Parker and Ben Reilly’s costumes together to create something once again familiar yet ultimately unique.

Whilst most Spider-Girl fans would’ve preferred a return to her classic look the costume unto itself has been acknowledged as a beautiful design.

A true all ages book

The majority of Spider-Girl’s run played out in a day and age when the content of comic books was going down an allegedly more ‘realistic and mature’ direction.

Titles such as the Ultimate Universe line, though paying lip service to being aimed at younger readers, were far from being for all ages. This was very much true of Marvel and DC as a whole throughout the 2000s and early 2010s.

Spider-Girl was a brave exception to this trend, actively engaging in sophisticated and at times challenging stories that nevertheless presented events in a way that tweens, teens and adults could enjoy.

Survival of cancellations

Infamously Spider-Girl lived under a near perennial threat of cancellation.

But Mayday’s fans were both too smart and too in love with her stories to let her go under.

Repeatedly they exploited their knowledge of the pre-ordering system LCSs use and saved Mayday’s series from cancellation.

No comic book has ever defied expectations and escaped cancellation more times than Spider-Girl.

Tackled tough and relevant subject matters in a frank, mature and realistic way without being grim dark

As I mentioned above, Spider-Girl was an all ages book but that didn’t mean it stayed away from tough subjects.

More than once Spider-Girl used mutants to discuss bigotry and prejudice.

Issue #26 of Mayday’s first series was a vital turning point for the narrative and it fundamentally hinged upon addressing issues related to suicide and the vicious cycle of abuse that can exist within families.

Multiple subplots touched upon women being physically and emotionally abused, to the point where the topic was brought up in the very issue where Mayday celebrated being the longest running female Marvel character. This is best exemplified in Spider-Girl #89 which has one of the most uncomfortably realistic pages in a comic book I have ever read.

Perhaps most audaciously one issue dedicated an entire scene to talking fairly frankly about the topic of abortion and making the characters’ stances on the issue very clear. What is perhaps even more impressive is that this was the second time that writer Tom DeFalco had dared touch that subject within a Spider title.

Regardless of what your personal views are on that or on any of the topics above, the sheer guts of the creative team to ‘go there’ must be admired and respected.

Consistent art that also has amazing action sequences!

Spider-Girl has been drawn by several artists across the years but the two most dominant ones are Pat Oliffe and Ron Frenz.

Whilst both artists evolved their styles across the run of the series there was enough relative consistency that the book rarely felt alienating to long time readers.

And it helped that both artists’ styles are just beautiful.

Oliffe leans more towards illustration and makes the characters seem realistic and yet fluid at the same time.

Frenz is more of a cartoonist and yet his art is not usually overly stylized and manages to retain the iconic features of each character he draws. His rendition of Mary Jane for example could never be mistaken for any given typically attractive redhead, it looks distinctly like Mary Jane evoking Romita Senior’s design for her.

Not only are each artist great in their character work but in their raw sequential storytelling craftsmanship. Nowhere is this more evident than in their well paced, cleverly choreographed and all round dynamic action sequences. At the time the stories were published (and even today) you’d have been hard pressed to find any action sequences in Marvel or DC that could rival those of Spider-Girl’s.

Continuity porn and fan service done right

Dan Slott’s run on Spider-Man has in the past been criticised of indulging in ‘continuity porn’. That is to say utilizing or referencing past continuity excessively to the point where it either takes you out of a story or outright undermines a story itself.

Spider-Girl demonstrates how continuity and fan service can be done well given the right context. There are in fact probably a million times more continuity references and examples of fan service within Spider-Girl’s whole run than in Slott’s collective Spider-Man bibliography.

The difference though is that the continuity Spider-Girl first and foremost concerns itself with involves organically building upon previously established events, whether it’s from its own series, Spider-Man’s wider history or Marvel lore in general.

Case in point Spider-Girl’s debut storyline hinges upon continuity surrounding the DeMatteis/Buscema run of Spectacular Spider-Man as it shows us Harry Osborn’s son following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps by becoming the new Green Goblin. He is even arrested in a scene that is framed near identically to a scene of Harry being arrested in Spectacular Spider-Man #189, whilst singing a variation of the 1960s Spider-Man theme song no less. Furthermore the climax of the issue takes place at the site of Gwen Stacy’s death, which happened in another Goblin story and Mayday’s first words as Spider-Girl are also her mother’s famous first words from ASM #42.

We are talking layers and layers of continuity here. But it never goes to the point of alienating readers, being obnoxious or hurting the stories.

The most significant and obvious ways in which the story (and any Spider-Girl story) utilizes continuity is the way continuity is supposed to function. That is to say it provides good world building and verisimilitude for the story and characters so that they can grow and react to events (and their repercussions) in much the same real people react to events in their lives day-to-day.

And the other references found in the story are subtle enough to not alienate new or casual fans, but still provide a fun nod for those in the know. Critically though for those in the know such references never grow obnoxious because they serve legitimate story purposes as well.

Every time in a Spider-Girl story where Mayday or Normie say, do or are simply drawn in a way that references old stories starring their family members it is touching upon the fundamental themes of family and legacy that define the series. It creates a subtext that spells out how they are the inheritors of their families’ respective legacies and have their ancestors’ traits within them.

And this is just me looking at one story.

You could make a whole series dedicated to just spotting various continuity Easter Eggs scattered throughout the series.

Revived the Hobgoblin

Remember back in 2010 when Dan Slott launched the Big Time era and there was a lot of chatter about the apparent return of the Hobgoblin?

The reason for the chatter was due to Hobgoblin being a major league bad guy during the iconic Roger Stern run of Amazing Spider-Man and his return marking the first time he’d be appearing in well over a decade.

Well guess what? Spider-Girl had Slott beat.

During the build up to her 100th issue the Hobgoblin was dusted off by DeFalco and Frenz (who used the character extensively during their own iconic run on ASM in the 1980s) and reintroduced in all his glory, proving to be one of Mayday’s most formidable foes.

For many Spider-Girl fans Hobgoblin was actually an even more effective villain for Mayday than he ever was for her father, owing much to the gap in their respective experience levels.

It might have happened outside the mainstream Marvel Universe but for many people at the time (and I’d bet many people who read through Big Time) this was the true return of the Hobgoblin.

And a more magnificent comeback you couldn’t have asked for.

The best symbiote character ever!

Symbiotes have traditionally been divisive within Spider-Man fandom, with seemingly few readers neutral on them. More often than not you either love them or you passionately despise them with the rage of a thousand burning suns.

Much of the latter point of view is owed to a perception (right or wrong as it may be) that the symbiotes are shallow and one note characters that emphasise style over substance.

To such detractors I present for you April Parker, a.k.a. Mayhem!

She is a clone of Mayday (or is she?) who also has DNA from the Venom symbiote granting her both the spider powers of Peter Parker and the symbiotes metamorphic abilities.

Putting aside the clever word play going on with her names, Mayhem has genuine substance to her character. She struggles with issues of identity desperately wanting to legitimize herself as the ‘real’ Spider-Girl as opposed to a clone and also make good as a superhero in her own right, but much like Venom (albeit far more successfully) her approach to crime fighting involves a desire to use lethal force in direct opposition to Mayday’s philosophies.

Her relationship with Mayday is beautiful in its complexity and contradictions. She views May as a usurper of the life that rightfully belongs to her and competes to outdo her in and out of their costumed lives; hence naming herself April, because it comes before May. But she nevertheless cares for May as a sister and can become violent when believing her to be threatened or harmed.

The dynamic between the two also ties into themes and relationships from the Clone Saga, as Mayhem is a combination of all three of Peter’s clones (Spidercide, Kaine and Ben Reilly) and his relationships with each of them has commonalities with Mayday’s and April’s relationship.

And on top of all that...she just looks drop dead cool.

Organic continuation of canon stories

Spider-Man is fundamentally about responsibility and there is no greater responsibility than family. This has been a hallmark of the series since literally Peter Parker’s first appearance.

Whilst Spider-Man’s series (when done right) emphasises family as part of the broader theme of responsibility, Spider-Girl flips the script and instead makes family and the related theme of legacy the primary point of the character and her adventures.

Thematically this makes Spider-Girl an organic continuation of Spider-Man’s story but more than this the nuts and bolts of the series and the universe built around it honestly feel totally believable as a continuation of the Marvel universe, or at least as it existed circa 1998.

All the child and teen heroes of the regular Marvel universe grew up to become the main heroes of Spider-Girl’s day and the surviving old guard adopted mentorship and commander roles within the superhero community.

As for Peter Parker and Mary Jane, if you took them circa 1998, gave them a baby and cut to 15 years later they’d be near identical to their Spider-Girl counterparts.

Various subplots within Spider-Girl also follow through on being an organic continuation of the Marvel universe of the later 1990s. One of her villains, the Black Tarantula, was last seen in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man as a young boy fleeing the influence of his father who wished to make him the new Black Tarantula. John Jameson and Ashley Kafka who were seen dating in the 1990s are shown as married in the world of Spider-Girl. Johnny Storm is the leader of the Fantastic Five which includes a grown up Franklin Richards. Normie Osborn becomes consumed by his family’s legacy of evil and becomes the Green Goblin, etc.

A robust rogue’s gallery

I admit it. Spider-Girl has neither the best nor the most original villains out there.

But I will say this...she at least has a rogue’s gallery.

In all honestly think about just how many superheroes out there honestly couldn’t say as much. Maybe they have 5 or so villains to call their own and be reliable sources of conflict but by and large try naming 6 villains Carol Danvers has consistently had personal one-on-one encounters with across the decades...besides Moonstone or Doctor Minerva.

Try doing the same for the Black Panther when you exclude Klaw and Killmonger.

You’d not run into such a problem with Mayday though

Super villains are vitally important to a superhero series and having some to call your own that you can definitively say are your rogue’s gallery is something to be proud and protective of. As Geoff Johns proved on his run on the Flash, villains are what you make of them. So even if Mayday doesn’t have the best rogue’s gallery she at least had the scope to never run out of opponents to challenge her and rivalries to explore.

Additionally, what made her rogue’s gallery special was it’s healthy mix of relatively original foes, her own spins on classic Spidey enemies and a handful of Spidey’s old foes (for example Hobgoblin).This created a robust villain pool from which to draw stories from as they allowed the creative team to explore similar power sets from a different point of view, pit a Spider character against a whole new type of opponent or explore Mayday and a villain’s identity via contrasting her battles with her fathers’.

It gave the Venom symbiote a character arc

In 1984 Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz introduced the world to what would later be revealed as the Venom symbiote. Though they weren’t involved in every step of its consequent development in their own little universe they gave the symbiote a poignant death scene that totally re-contextualized its older appearances, granting it emotional layers, sympathy and a beautiful character arc. Oh and it was also the first ever example I know of where the symbiote was referred to as female.

It inspired things in the 616 universe and MCU

Much like the return of the Hobgoblin the MC2 universe both pioneered ideas later repeated in the mainstream 616 Marvel universe and also directly inspired concepts later introduced within it as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

These include: making Cassie Lang a superhero called Stinger, giving Jessica Drew a son called Gerald, giving Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne a daughter named Hope, introducing a villain team named the Savage Six, making the Venom symbiote female, granting the symbiote to a supporting cast member and making them a hero, introducing an A.I. Iron Man suit programmed with Tony Stark’s brain patterns, giving Wolverine a daughter, and other stuff I am sure I am forgetting.

It could make lemonade out of terrible lemons

Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz were nothing if not inventive problem solvers during their time on Spider-Girl. In particular they had a knack for making something worthwhile out of a bad situation.

In the 1990s a new female version of Doctor Octopus was introduced and roundly lambasted by the fan base faithful. Was this criticism unfair? Maybe...then again her plans did almost exclusively revolve around nonsense involving virtual reality.

Nevertheless the Spider-Girl creative team dusted off the character and introduced her afresh, doing away with her old schemes and playing her as a more straightforward and down to Earth villain who could easily overpower Mayday. Though she had but a few appearances it ultimately redeemed her character.

More significantly though when Dan Slott as part of Spider-Verse controversially killed off Mayday’s father and established her as now wearing his old costume DeFalco and Frenz decided to do a follow up story that believably and touchingly showcased Mayday’s grieving process and moving on.

Though most were unhappy with the situation that existed they nevertheless respected and appreciated the creative teams’ never flagging efforts to serve the character.

Actually involved the parents instead of killing them off as would be the cliché

Many critics and readers have praised Kamala Khan and other recent superheroes for subverting the typical superhero clichés of having dead parents.

However Spider-Girl is a precursor to many of these modern series. In fact as mentioned above her parents being recurring characters was essentially the wholesale point of the series.

And they weren’t just there as background characters either.

Through subplots such as their new baby and accepting April Parker into their family Peter and Mary Jane were given subplots of their own that were organically woven into the wider fabric of Mayday’s life.

Whilst Peter would on occasion suit up and go into action as Spider-Man, act as a mentor and dispense fatherly advice when necessary, MJ got to be a counterpoint to Peter and had two issues focussing almost exclusively upon her character.

Mayday was a brilliant fusion of her parents

Speaking of her parents, one of the charms of Mayday’s character was how believable she was as the child of Peter and Mary Jane.

This is evident from her very first appearance.

Like her mother Mayday is very popular and on the higher echelons of the high school social ladder. And yet she is scientifically inclined and friends with the ‘nerds’ as well as the ‘jocks’.

She has Peter’s hair and eye colour and sense of guilt, but her mother’s facial features and outgoing personality.

In a very real sense she is the embodiment of both of her parents’ best qualities.

The first ever digital Marvel series

Not much to say about this one.

Marvel Unlimited is huge now but once upon a time in the earliest days of its predecessor service Spider-Girl blazed the trail as the first and to y knowledge only digital Marvel series.

It was an all-ages female led comic book series at a time when none of those things were strong sellers

In addition to being an all-ages female led book, Spider-Girl deserves major, major credit for existing as those things within a marketplace actively hostile to them.

These days as much as digital series or female led books might struggle it must be said the playing field is far kinder to such books than it was in the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s.

Outside of some big names like Batgirl or Wonder Woman making a female led book an ongoing success was a profound uphill struggle doomed to fail as Marvel and DC were far less open to the idea that there was an untapped market of female fans, let alone a notable segment of their existing fan bases that were female. In truth there is a case for neither company having figured how to exploit those facts in the near decade since. The point is that female led books were a rarity and expected to fail more often than not. And yet Spider-Girl tried and succeeded in spite of that.

The same was very much true of an all-ages book. Though these had arguably better success in the 2000s then female led books they were still books that lived on borrowed time and yet despite being able to ‘course correct’ this fact the creative team stuck to their principles and resolutely refused to fall in line with the sensibilities of most of other comics of the day which were almost outright rejecting the idea of younger audiences.

The ultimate Spider-Man legacy character

Take your Miles Morales and your Miguel O’Hara’s and go home kids, because Mayday is without a doubt the greatest legacy character Peter Parker could ever ask for.

What makes Mayday so brilliant in this regard is that because she is Peter’s daughter isn’t just a legacy to Spider-Man but to Peter Parker too.

This provides a totally realistic justification for why she shares so many similarities with him and yet because she’s been raised differently and has her mother’s influence in her too she can zig where Peter zagged.

When she does act like her Dad (or her Mom for that matter) it is satisfying to the readers because we see her parent(s) in her. It’s a little bit like if you have an old friend and then see them in their children and how they act. Because we love Spider-Man, we love seeing Mayday honour his heroic legacy as well as just be like our old friend in her general personality.

And when she does act differently to how we’d expect Peter to behave, it brilliantly helps shine a light upon who Peter himself is as a character because we are so intimately familiar with who he is. At the same time it subtly clues us into what Peter is like as a parent as he had a hand in shaping Mayday to be the kind of person who’d act in those different ways he would have in similar situations.

This is beautifully demonstrated in Mayday’s debut story where she doesn’t need tragedy to drill the old great power/great responsibility lesson into her head. In fact she doesn’t need to be taught that lesson at all. She intuitively knows it because her Dad made sure she grasped it better than he did at her age.

Then you have her costume. It is of course Ben Reilly’s old Spider-Man suit and as such was conveniently custom built to work as evoking Spider-Man’s look whilst being its own thing. Which is exactly what you want out of a legacy character. Something unique that nevertheless honours and reminds you of the original.

The fact that it is also Ben’s design enables Mayday to serve as a dual legacy to both her father and her Uncle Ben.

And there you have it. 20 reasons you should love Mayday. Now head over to Marvel Unlimited and check out her adventures!

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fereality-indy · 6 years

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The Night Is Young

This is the sequel to The Geeks Get The Girls. Dipper and Wendy Have been dating for a month when she tells him that her roommate is co-hosting a Halloween party. Dipper uses this info to plan a surprise for Wendy.

Wednesday October 14th, 2020

Tanoak Terrace Apartments

Apartment 42

Beaverton, OR

“Dude, don’t go through that door!” Wendy called out at the television screen. She then stuffed a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

“Come on, it’s b-movie horror 101. When your friends start dying you don’t separate and you definitely don’t go through doors with blood on them.”, Dipper said as he walked back into the living room with a couple cans of Pitt Cola.

He sat down beside her on the sofa and placed and arm around her. As he did she snuggled into the embrace.

“So Halloween’s coming up,” Wendy started as she opened her can of Pitt and took a drink.

“Yeah?” Dipper prompted her to continue, the movie half forgotten with her in his arms.

“And I remember that it used to be you and your sister’s favorite holiday,” She continued.

“Uh-huh,” He murmured as he took a sip of his cola.

“Well Lacey, my roommate, is co-hosting a Halloween party and she invited us. She wants to meet the guy who broke the ‘Corduroy Curse’ as she called it.” she said with a smirk.

“Corduroy Curse?” Dipper asked confused.

“Yeah, she kept setting me up with guys during our freshman year and none of them lasted more than the first date. Guess I just kept looking till I found what I wanted.” Wendy replied as she leaned her head back and kissed Dipper on his chin.

“Well I’m glad you found me when you did,” Dipper said as he leaned over and kissed her nose.

“Well actually, I have her to thank for that even.” Wendy said as she settled back into her snuggled position.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, she had been at a conference for her sorority and ran into Pacifica. When Paz mentioned that she was originally from Gravity Falls, Lacey remembered me mentioning it before. Lacey said she thought that her roommate was from there and told Paz my name. Paz asked her to call me so we could talk. And the rest is history.” she said before she grabbed some more popcorn and popped it into her mouth.

“That explains it, that has been bugging me a lil bit. But I definitely didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth.” Dipper replied as he prepared to take a drink.

“So?” she queried.

“So what?’ he asked back.

She looked up at him and asked, “Do you want to go?”

With a smile and a twinkle in his eye he said, “If you do, then of course.”

“Are you sure? It’s a costume event.” Wendy said, remembering his reluctance at dressing up back when they were younger.

He perked up a bit at this, “Even better, if you’ll let me I’m sure I can come up with a great couple’s costumes set if you want.”

“You mean Mabel will come up with a great couple’s set of costumes.” Wendy said as she jokingly elbowed him in the ribs.

“Hey now, I’ll have you know I came up with at least half of our costume ideas in Mabel’s scrapbook.” Dipper said defensively as he jokingly rubbed where she had elbowed. He then added, “Of course she would always make them.”

“Well we could just get something from a store.” she teased.

He physically flinched at the suggestion, “No thank you. Have you seen those outfits. Lord, no. Ninety percent of those ‘costumes’ are nothing more than an excuse to show off skin.”

“I get you. Not that I wouldn’t mind seeing you in one of those thong outfits.” he started sputtering as she finished and she burst out laughing.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” he managed to get out despite his flustered sputtering.

“Yep, deep down you’re still the same sweet, shy, dork I fell for all those years ago.” and with that she pulled him into a kiss.

Thursday October 15th, 2020

The Spiced Panda Buffet

Beaverton, OR

“And so that’s the situation sis,” Dipper said before he took a bite of his sweet n sour drenched rice.

“So you asked me to make the hour drive, to leave Pacifica in the dark, and make it sound like an end of the world type crisis all because your girlfriend wants to go to a halloween party as a couple.” Mabel said after she had finished her third crab rangoon since he had begun. “Ok, sounds like fun. Any ideas?”

“Well I want it to be a romantic costume set. Possibly Romeo and Juliet.” Dipper said as he gathered up another spoon full of sweet n sour rice, ignoring his chicken. His chopsticks lain to the side of his plate as he ate the soupy concoction.

“Too cliche, how about Bonnie and Clyde. Talk about a ride or die couple.” Mabel tried. She was looking at her plate and trying to decide if she wanted to eat her schezwan barbecue or orange chicken first.

“Uhm, I dunno. I’m not sure how I’d feel with us carrying around guns, especially on a campus. How about Arthur and Guinevere?” He said before finally eating a piece of the chicken from his sweet n sour plate.

“Well, wait a minute. You said it was her roommate that’s throwing the party right?” She asked. Once he nodded in affirmation she continued, “Then nope. No can do, broseph. Paz and I are going to that party as Lancelot and Guinevere. We got invited by Lacey after Paz helped her get seats to a Seattle playoff game for her dad’s birthday. I can’t risk Wendy’s Guinevere out shining Paz’s. Also the party is supposed to be a big bonfire get together, no wait a minute that’s not right. Think, think. Ok. I got it. it’s gonna be at the other co-host’s family farm and they were going to have a bonfire with it so you wouldn’t have to worry about the gun issue, but I totally understand. Maybe you could do one of the Mizmey Princesses couples, like Echo & Narcissus or Othello & Desdemona.”

“Nah, she’s still too much of a tomboy for that. Mizmey always makes their princesses be way too girly. I almost think it needs to be something where she can be seen as my equal or even superior.” he pauses there and absentmindedly shuffled the chicken and rice on his plate. After a moment he he saw that somehow he had separated the dishes so they had some familiar paths in between them. Routes he hadn’t traveled in years, the paths in the woods of Gravity Falls. Including the one to Wendy’s house. The woods where they sure used to have fun. “Wait a minute, I got it. Robin Hood and Marian.”

“But isn’t Marian a Mizney Princess?” Mabel said around a mouth full of orange chicken.

“Well yes, but not the one I was thinking about. I’m talking about the one from the Sherwood television series. Marian was just as much part of Robin’s band as Little John. And she dresses similar to the rest also, so breeches and such. See.” He pulled out his phone and looked up pictures from the series to show her what he meant.

“Ok, I think I can pull this off fairly easily. I’ll need to meet with Wendy to get her measurements of course.” Mabel said as she pulled a notepad out from her purse. As she wrote she continued, “And I have a friend in the costuming department that should be able to help get the two of you jerkins that fit properly.”

“Can’t you just make them?” He asked as he looked over the table at what she was writing. Once he got a better look he realized that she had not only written down the show name and the website he had just showed her, she had already started sketching out the pieces needed for the costume.

“Not all of them bro-bro, I may be a mistress of fabric but leather is out of my wheelhouse.” she explained as she continued sketching. Pausing she took a bite of her barbeque before she asked. "Do you want to keep the traditional Errol Flynn hat?”

“Yeah, it’s iconic.”

“Hmm, how about I use the idea from the show as a basis but blend in stuff from other versions of the characters. I mean there’s the old black and white serials, the Flynn movies, the one with Azeem, the parody one, etc.” Mabel rambled on as she kept making notes.

“Oh, the parody movie. I loved that one.” Dipper replied with a smile, “The opening rap, the one guy stopping to pump up his shoes, the panty hose gags, the songs…”

After hearing her brother stop rambling caused Mabel to look up from her work. “What’s up Dip-Dop?”

“Well there is something else that I’ve been thinking about,” Dipper said looking down at his plate, somewhat avoiding his sisters eyes.

“Ok, what?” Mabel said putting down her pen and studied his face intently. She knew it must be something good as he was starting to blush and he hadn’t even said anything yet.

“Uhmm, as you know Wendy and I have been together for almost a month now. And you also know we haven’t exactly been chaste in that time.” Dipper went even redder as he said that.

Mabel smiled as she remembered the morning after her brother and his other first got back together. “Oh yeah, I remember seeing her in flagrante delicto half buried in your covers that that first morning. You certainly got lucky there broseph!”

“Yeah, well. Like I was saying, we’ve been together for over a month and,” he turned his head at this point blushing even more, “neither of us have said the L-word yet.”

“Don’t be a fool Dip, you told her that years ago.” Mabel said with a serious look on her face.

“That doesn’t really count sis,” Dipper said as he turned back towards Mabel, still red in the face. “I was still just a kid. Look let’s not get off track. I’ve been wanting to tell her but I don’t want to do it during a make out session or something heavier. So this party will be the perfect chance and I think I have a plan.”

“Uhmm, Dipingham.” She said with a wane smile, “You don’t usually have a good track record when it comes to plans and Wendy.”

“Well this party is where it’s gonna change.” he had a gleam in his eye that he hadn’t had for awhile (since around the time he had given up on his dream of filmwork) and Mabel had missed it “Cause really there’s only a couple items needed for this plan; an instrumental recording of the song, speakers, and a couple of back up singers.”

“Now where could we find you back up singers,” Mabel started till she saw Dipper give her a ‘You’re not fooling anyone’ look, “Oh you know I’m just kidding you, of course I’ll talk Paz into it.”

“Great, now here’s the plan.” Dipper said as he leaned in closer.

Saturday October 31st, 2020

Gladden Farms

Beaverton, OR

Our young couple have just arrived at the party after parking his truck. They had noticed that there were only about a dozen or so cars parked in the drive. Wendy had said that Lacey told her they weren’t inviting that many people.

He was dressed in a pair of cedar colored breeches, a dark hunter green leather jerkin worn over a dusty tan tunic, and the Robin Hood hat in the same hunter green. On his back were a quiver and real wooden longbow that Wendy had insisted on getting from her dad once her told her of the costume idea. And finally he had a stage scabbard on his hip. Wendy was in a pair of forest green breeches, a ladies cut version of the jerkin Dipper was wearing, and a white tunic. Like dipper she sported a quiver, longbow, and scabbard. Her hair was pulled back in a gentle braid.

The door to the farmhouse was opened by a by a somewhat mousy looking brunette, dressed as a stereotypical nerd. “Wendy, glad you came.”

The brunette pulled Wendy into a hug. As she was released, Wendy said “Hey Clarissa, thanks for inviting us.”

“No problem, so is this the curse breaker?” Clarissa asked as she eyed Dipper up and down.

“Yeah. This is my boyfriend Dipper.” Wendy said as she went about introducing the two, “Dipper this is Clarissa. She’s one of our hosts this evening and one of Lacey’s Theta Sigma sisters.”

“Good to meet you,” Dipper said as he shook Clarissa’s hand, “I like your Tri-Lamb outfit.”

“Finally, someone who gets it. So far most of the guests have called me Leonard, Sheldon, or Leslie.” Clarissa said shaking her head.

“Well I guess it takes a nerd to know a nerd.” Dipper said with a smile.

“Ok, I like this guy.” Clarissa said to Wendy, “Lacey was in by the refreshment table the last I saw her.”

“Thanks.” Wendy said as she and Dipper headed into the party

As they walked through the farmhouse Dipper took stock in their fellow party goers. There really were only about a two dozen people at the party with a sixty/forty slant in the female to male ratio. Surprisingly there were really only two ‘sexy’ costumes and the Gladiator and the Cowboy seemed to be together. At least he doesn’t have to worry about Pacifica and his sister being out of place here.

Truth be told he never was a party type but he planned having as much fun as possible with Wendy. The plan was to start the song sometime after the party moves outside for the bonfire.

As they walk up to the snack table a pair of mocha colored hands cover Wendy’s eyes. “Guess who?”

“Well considering only three people are foolish enough to do this and I’m holding one of their hands and another is gonna be in armor, I’m gonna say Lacey.” Wendy said before the hands dropped.

When they turned Dipper saw a mocha skinned beauty dressed as a calico cat. She gave him a once over (including an appraising walk around) before she turned to Wendy and remarked, “So this is him? Sheesh girl, if you had told me you into the bookish type I’d’ve had you hooked up ages ago.”

“Nah, this one is special. Ain’t another like him in the world.” Wendy said before she kissed Dipper on the cheek.

Lacey chuckled at his blush, “Man, this is too adorable. So what’s your name Loxley?”

Still blushing Dipper said “Everybody calls me Dipper.”

“Oh, I’m sure you do.” Lacey joked as she shot Dipper a wink.

“Lacey!” Wendy exclaimed as she chucked her roommates shoulder.

“Well, she hasn’t complained yet.” Dipper said with a little smirk as Wendy went as red as he had been and Lacey snickered at her reaction.

“Dipper!” Wendy marveled at what she just heard her normally quiet boyfriend say. He just leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.

“Ok. I like this guy,” Lacey said around her laughs, “Girl he’s a keeper.”

“Oy, I see you found my brother.” Mabel called out from behind them.

As they turned around they saw Mabel standing there in full chainmail armor, with her hair done up in a crown braid that led to braided tail, a blue tabard with a gold fleur de lis in the center, and a glorious blonde van dyke. Pacifica was beside her in a flowing regal purple gown with gold and silver inlay, her hair was plated and topped with a silver tiara. and a golden scepter.

“Mabel,” Dipper said as he walked over and gave her a hug. As he leaned near her ear he whispered, “Is it ready?”

“Yep, take the path to the left of the bonfire as you leave the farmhouse.” She whispered back before she released the hug.

“You guys look great,” Wendy commented, “Beautiful dress Pacifica, and Mabel I love the armor.”

“This old thing,” Mabel said as she attempted to twirl around as if she were showing off a dress. “It was just something I had laying around in my closet.”

“And she means that, it’s been on the floor of her closet since she helped the design costumes for the theater department’s production of MacBeth last year.” Pacifica remarked with a smirk.

“Well it was too great to be thrown away at the end of the production’s run.” Mabel smiled as she patted down her tabard.

Later That Night

Dipper and Wendy walked around the bonfire while the party went on around them. Dipper led them down the path Mabel described. When he got to the small clearing that was partially hidden he said, “You know Wendy, we’ve been together for almost two months now and I have something to tell you.”

Dipper called out to apparently no one, “The Night Is Young, B-flat.”

“Dip, what’s going on?” Wendy asked as suddenly music began to play.

“The night is young and you're so beautiful,” Dipper sung out as he looked into Wendy’s eyes.

Pacifica and Mabel walked into a nearby clearing and began to harmonize to the music.

“Here among the shadows, beautiful lady, open your heart.” Dipper swept his arm out to show they were currently in a shadowy part of the farmland.

“Oooooo” Mabel and Pacifica sung along to the harmony

“The scene is set, the breezes sing of it,” Dipper sang as he pulled Wendy into a hug.

“Oooooo”

“Can't you get into the swing of it, lady, when do we start?” the two of them spun around in a slow waltz like dance.

“Oooooo”

“When the lady is kissable,” he bent down and kissed the back of her hand, “and the evening is cool.”

“Oooooo”

“Any dream is permissible,” he place their hands over his heart, “in the heart of a fool.”

“Oooooo”

“The moon is high” he sung looking up to the sky before coming back down to her. He took his right hand and traced her jawline as he continued, “and you're so glamorous,”

“Oooooo”

“And if I seem over amorous, lady,” he leaned over and placed a kiss on her lips, “what can I do?”

“Oooooo”

“The night is young” Dipper paused here before he quietly said, “and I mean this from the bottom of my heart”

“I'm in love with you.” Dip finished up the song looking directly into her eyes.

“Dip,” Wendy said with her eyes beginning to mist up, “You didn’t have to go through such a production just to tell me that.”

“Oh I know, I just wanted the first time I told you that to be memorable.” Dipper said a little more shyly than he wanted.

“And it was, but this isn’t the first time you told me. Remember.” She said with a smile on her lips.

“Yeah but…” was all he got out before her lips met his. And while the party, the bonfire, heck even the world seemed to disappear he did hear ‘I Told You!’ from somewhere in the distance.

Sometime later when they finally came up for air Wendy whispered to him, “I love you too, dork.”

#gravity falls #dipper pines #wendy corduroy #wendip #mabel pines #pacifica northwest #mabcifica #songfic #Robin Hood Men In Tights

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fandomshatewomen · 6 years

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Wakanda has at least two precious natural resources: a trove of the rare Vibranium mineral that has helped vault the secretive African nation a century (or more) ahead of the rest of the world – and valiant, fire-hearted females.

While Chadwick Boseman breaks new ground in Black Panther as Marvel Studios’ first black leading man, the film also showcases an abundance of warrior women who each save the day in unique style.

Emphasis on style.

While Boseman’s T’Challa must both protect and rule his kingdom, he depends a lot on the powerful women in his life. The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira plays Okoye, the general in charge of Wakanda’s defense and the head of the all-female Dora Milaje secret service, while Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o steals his heart as Nakia, a Wakandan “war dog” spy who’s like James Bond and a Bond girl rolled into one.

Meanwhile, T’Challa’s brilliant little sis Shuri, played by Letitia Wright, is a Vibranium gadget-master on par with Tony Stark, fashioning everything from Black Panther’s kinetic armor to remote control fighter jets.

Finally, there is Black Panther’s foundation, his home base, his home — his recently widowed mother, Ramonda, played by Angela Bassett, who despite her grief summons history and wisdom to her son’s throne. He’s going to need that, too.

Entertainment Weekly sat down with the Women of Wakanda just a day after they saw the film for the first time. They still seemed awestruck and praised director and co-writer Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) for allowing their characters to stand tall alongside the iconic male hero. He was backed up behind the scenes by powerful women as well, with cinematography by Mudbound Oscar-nominee Rachel Morrison and dazzling African-inspired costumes by Ruth E. Carter.

“Watching the movie for the first time, I was seeing the different women occupy the same space and be their full selves, acting not with competition but with agency,” Nyong’o says. “Their personal motivations are what leads them forward. They are not eye candy. Although …” She leans forward to high five the other women. “We do look pretty damn fly, I must say!”

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Wakanda is ahead of its time technologically, but it’s also ahead of its time in terms of equality. What is it about the culture of this fictional country that makes it such a place of resilient, brilliant women? ANGELA BASSETT: It’s a nation that respects and reveres women. They think of us not just as Queen but Queen Mother. Mother is nurturer and the first teacher. That position is embraced. She’s not someone who is off to the side. Every mature woman is your auntie or your mother. DANAI GURIRA: And in contemporary African cultures, it’s exactly that. It doesn’t matter if she’s a literal mother or not, an older woman is considered with respect. If you go into a store and you’re greeting someone or calling out to someone you call them “amai” in my country. [She was born in Iowa, but grew up in Zimbabwe.] That’s something Wakanda brought to the forefront that was beautiful.

Is part of it also the lore of Wakanda? That this is a fictional place that has never been conquered, so it never had to adopt the outside world’s views? GURIRA: They were a nation uninterrupted. They got to go through their full evolution. Other countries on the continent were very interrupted and traumatized through colonization. Wakanda didn’t have that disruption. It was such an advanced nation, it actually allowed for evolution of gender roles. It recognized that you allow all your citizens to advance to their full potential. LETITIA WRIGHT: Wakanda as a nation is so open to forward movement. It will, hopefully, inspire us in reality to go “Okay, cool, don’t limit the women to what they want to do.” [Gestures to Lupita] For example, Nakia is allowed to go out and be a spy and gather information for her nation, and she gets to choose whether she stays or goes. She’s not controlled by anyone. That’s powerful. She’s motivated by what’s in her soul and what she wants to do.

The same goes for your character, Shuri. She’s trusted with creating the tools that keep her brother safe as he keeps Wakanda safe. WRIGHT: Her brother doesn’t look down on her like, “Ugh, you’re a kid, you can’t make a suit for me.” He’s like, “No, this is your domain! Kill it! Do a great job and make sure I’m protected. And I will respect that.” Life for women in Wakanda is beautiful. It’s inspirational. It’s something I’m gonna take from watching this film in my own life and for the future of my children as well, [laughs] when I have a family. LUPITA NYONG’O: It was such a breath of fresh air seeing men and women living in their power with out one dwarfing the other. To me it was reflective of the fact that sexism is learned. To see a society where that’s not the focal point, where gender is not the fabric with which society is built and the delineations of sex are not oppressive, that’s really cool. And it’s possible.

That’s the value of a story like this, right? It’s a fantasy country and an imaginary world, but it’s nice to imagine things can be better. Why not? GURIRA: Why not! It really does make you say, “Why Not”? To me, it’s about equality, and allowing each gender to come to the fullness of their potential without discriminatory hindrances. That is what this nation figured out.

Ramonda is queen of Wakanda, but now she is widowed. Her son is taking the throne. What would you say makes her powerful? What makes her a hero? BASSETT: I think in her position she has a great deal of wisdom – and appreciation for generations coming after her. Her son is becoming king. She has the fine balance of mothering him, of being there for him and being proud of him and letting him go. She’s visionary in that she perhaps sees what he will become more clearly than he can. I think in another time and another place she was a warrior as well. She’s a support for these women around her and all that they are truly capable of being and doing. She loves unconditionally.

That is truly a mother’s power, isn’t it?

[Bassett gets called to leave early for work on Fox’s 9-1-1 series and departs the group.]

BASSETT: I love you. Kisses all around!

In the case of Shuri, you can tell her brother T’Challa really respects his little sister because he takes so much abuse and mockery from her. [Laughter] WRIGHT: She’s a relatable character to other young girls with that brother sister vibe. Not only does he respect Shuri, but all the women. He holds his own as a man and a king, but he respects everyone and what they’re doing.

Same question for each of you that I asked Angela. What is it about your character that makes her a superhero? WRIGHT: I’ll go first. What makes Shuri a superhero is not the physical side. Superheroes are usually very strong or masculine. They’ve got some muscles. But… [Starts giggling] This is why mum needs to be here, because she keeps us balanced! But I think what makes Shuri a superhero is the way she thinks. Her mind is a weapon.

What surprised you about her as you found the character? What’s below the surface? WRIGHT: When I read the comic books, she’s serious all the time. With the script they wanted her to be smart, but she is so much fun. She picks on her brother, and she makes jokes – even if it may not be a joke. [Laughs] She’s witty and sharp. Always got something fiery to say. NYONG’O: What I love about Nakia is she’s worldly. She speaks many languages. And she’s a chameleon in a sense. She is at once extremely rebellious and wants to do her own thing, but wants to do well by her country. I love that tension in her. I love her relationship with T’Challa. It’s … complicated. [Laughs] That’s the Facebook status.

She makes him stronger. But she’s also sort of his Kryptonite, to steal a reference from another universe. Just the sight of her makes him freeze. NYONG’O: Yeah, exactly! WRIGHT: [Quoting Gurira in the movie] “Don’t freeze!”

It humanizes him. It takes the … NYONG’O: … the edge off. He’s just a guy.

I love the distinction between Okoye and Nakia, who insists she’s not a member of the Dora Milaje. GURIRA: She didn’t go through the process. The training!

The Dora are all about collective consciousness, moving in unison as one. Nakia is more of a rebel. More independent. NYONG’O: [Nodding] A lone wolf.

That unifying power seems special to Okoye, like that’s one of her strengths. GURIRA: I envision her as a very intense young girl, who was competitive, but in a good way. She’s part of the border tribe, and very connected to the idea of nation protection. She’s a protector. I imagine her as a very focused 12-year-old. [Laughs] There was this idea I had whenever Okoye or any of the army are in the streets, that little girls look up to them and want to wear that uniform one day. She was once that little girl. She has been a very one-track-minded person. She is a very strong traditionalist. She believes in holding the country together.

It’s a great time to be a female warrior. When shooting this, Wonder Woman hadn’t come out, and some people were wondering if women would turn out for a superhero movie. Do you feel a change in the way audiences want more and different kinds of female heroes? GURIRA: I never doubted that. People decide things based on lack. You don’t provide and then you say people don’t want things. But they didn’t have options on the table, so how can you really make that assessment? I actually think it’s the opposite. It was then learned through Wonder Woman, which was no surprise to most women. We were all ready to flock out to that.

That’s what I wondered. Something changed, but was it the gatekeepers who decide which films get made, or the audience? ALL OF THEM: Gatekeepers. GURIRA: I’ll see some films and some storylines, and whatever, and I’m like really? Maybe because I’ve been doing The Walking Dead, and that’s a gender-neutral world. … I’m always wondering, what is this representation where women always need to be saved by men? What is that about? That’s gatekeepers deciding that that is what we need to see. And it’s time to change that. Please.

We’re living in a time of women rising up in real life, too. Black Panther is hitting right in the heart of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movement. Does it connect or draw energy from that with its many powerful women characters? NYONG’O: I feel very strongly that change is not an event, it’s a process. What we see happening in this moment is pivotal. It’s not over. We cannot assess it yet. We have to keep going.

When I visited the set Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and executive producer Nate Moore both said I would be surprised by how topical and political it was. And I was surprised. GURIRA: This is a movie so full of relevant arguments. We’re not short of those. One of the things we were concerned about was [Michael B. Jordan’s] Killmonger as a villain, because he has a very, very good argument. Very believable. It’s valid. The audience can’t sit there and only root for Black Panther. They have to come to terms with what all the villains are saying. NYONG’O: [Pointing at Gurira] She’s spoiling everything. GURIRA: He’s seen it though. NYONG’O: But the world has not!

Don’t worry, I promise to take out the spoilers and leave it a little vague. I’ll protect the secrets for people. GURIRA: See! NYONG’O: Okay, he’s on your side. GURIRA: He’s on our side!

I’m on the country’s side. Wakanda forever! NYONG’O: [Laughs] This is his visa application. WRIGHT: We’ll see if he can get citizenship. GURIRA: You might, you might. I know some people. WRIGHT: It takes a little more than that.

#black panther #black panther spoilers #lupita nyong'o #angela bassett #danai gurira #letitia wright

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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 10 Best Moments Of Season 6 | ScreenRant

Every season Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. takes bigger and better risks with storylines. Season six expanded beyond Earth. Not only did a team search for a lost agent in space, but a threat from outside the planet came to Earth with one very big plan.

Though the scope of the show was bigger, a lot of the character moments reigned the story in. There were plenty of lighthearted moments to give fans a breather during the action-heavy season. Likewise, a lot of emotional moments and character growth were there to satisfy fans. All types make the list of the best moments from season six.

RELATED: 10 Times Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Broke Our Hearts

10 Jemma Hallucinates A Fitz-Monkey

When Jemma and Daisy shared an alien snack dubbed “puffies,” they were in for quite the surprise. They ended up on a not-so-serious hallucinogenic trip. Though the episode doesn’t rank high amongst critics, fans lauded the hour for being a lighthearted departure from the usual Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. storylines.

Amongst Jemma and Daisy’s girl talk was a moment at the bar. Jemma, drink in front of her, saw Fitz dressed in a monkey suit. He wasn’t actually there but appeared to be dancing on the edge of her straw. Fans everywhere thank the special effects department for the sheer fun of that moment, and the nod to Fitz’s love for monkeys.

9 Quake Absorbs An Atomic Bomb Blast

Daisy’s powers grew exponentially in season five, but we didn’t see the extreme version of her quaking in action much in season six. One particular scene highlighted just how finely tuned her powers now are.

It seemed like all hope was lost for Daisy, May, Deke and Snowflake as Sarge abandoned them with an atomic bomb. After exhausting their options, and nearly admitting defeat, Daisy took matters into her own hands - literally. She used her quaking abilities to contain the blast of the bomb between her hands, saving all of their lives in the process.

8 Snowflake’s Girl Crush

The Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. audience had an interesting relationship with Snowflake. Some loved her carefree psychotic antics. Others couldn’t care less when she disappeared for the final stretch of episodes. Most, however, would agree that she had one of the most iconic lines of the season.

After already voicing her admiration for May numerous times, Snow got to see Daisy in action as she quaked a flock of shrikes to dust. She excitedly asked May, “are all the females on your planet this powerful?” May, of course, affirmed they were. The series has always had incredible female characters, but season six reminded the audience of that.

RELATED: Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6: 5 Things That Worked (& 5 Things That Didn’t)

7 Mack VS. Sarge

In the early days of their working relationship, tension existed between Mack and Coulson. They disagreed on a lot of things regarding S.H.I.E.L.D., but they always had respect for one another. Coulson making Mack director in his absence, and leaving him Fury’s black box, showed how much faith Coulson had in him.

That’s why the appearance of Sarge, a being wearing Coulson’s face, hit him particularly hard. When agents brought Sarge into custody in “Toldja,” Mack couldn’t take Sarge’s smug attitude for long. After trading witty retorts and questions, the two came to blows. It was emotionally satisfying to see Mack let out all that aggression, and Sarge certainly held his own.

6 Fitz And Simmons Reunite

Jemma Simmons started her season six journey searching for a lost Fitz. The two narrowly missed one another repeatedly, only for Fitz to end up captured by Chronicoms when they did come face to face. When the two finally reunited, it was in a mindspace created by the Chronicoms to help them figure out time travel.

While the reunion itself is sweet, one of the best moments is Jemma immediately regressing to her 12-year-old self in an effort to hide parts of her mind from Fitz. Too worried about how he’ll react to things like his season five death, her defense mechanism is to become a stubborn and immature child. A light and funny moment in an otherwise emotionally cathartic episode.

5 Sarge Remembers His Family

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. built a lot of mystery around who Sarge really was. Daisy was initially in denial that any part of Coulson could exist in the being. She found herself proven wrong as memories of Sarge’s “family” surfaced.

Coulson’s memories provided Sarge with a confusing backstory, but the family he grieved for was revealed to be May and Daisy as the audience saw flashes of his memories. When he called Daisy “Skye,” she allowed herself to hope Coulson was still in there.

Of course, that hope was dashed shortly after, but the moment still ranks as one of the best for the season.

RELATED: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 10 Best Episodes, Ranked

4 Deke Confronts Nana And Bobo

Deke is a fairly polarizing character for the audience. Some hate his perceived selfishness. Others just want him to be part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. family. In the episode “Leap,” both of those points of view collided as he got the chance to confront his grandparents.

Fitz believed Deke stealing technology from both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the future was wrong, and him making money from it was morally reprehensible. Deke pointed out, in a heated exchange, that he left S.H.I.E.L.D. and started his company because nobody wanted him around. Even Jemma didn’t tell him about what happened to Fitz the previous season. The exchange allowed both the characters and audience to better understand Deke’s abandonment issues.

3 May Saves Daisy’s Life

The audience always knew May was the toughest S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. With the finale, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. proved that yet again.

After Sarge stabbed her through the abdomen, not only did May take out a few enemies on Izel’s homeworld, but she also returned to Earth through Izel’s portal for another heroic moment. Using the same sword Sarge stabbed her with, May ran Izel through before she could take Daisy’s life. Though May was in bad shape, she still made it possible for the team to save the day.

2 Jemma’s Jewelry Box Opens

“Inescapable” was a great episode for longtime fans. It focused on Fitz and Simmons and their relationship, yes, but it also provided them with a bit of intense therapy.

The episode revealed Jemma had a coping mechanism for all of the trauma in her life. She packed everything away in a jewelry box in her mind, the same tactic her father taught her as a little girl. That way, she wouldn’t have to deal with it. When the jewelry box opened in the shared mindspace, she and Fitz were terrorized by all of her repressed trauma in the form of a monster that looked just like Jemma. The monster even had costume pieces from so many major show events for her. It was a brilliant reveal and Easter egg for fans.

1 The LMD Coulson Reveal

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. got its start on television with the resurrection of Phil Coulson. It seems it won’t end without a version of him on screen. Though the real Coulson’s life ended in Tahiti with May by his side, we’ve already seen other versions. A Skrull impersonated him in Captain Marvel, he had a Life Model Decoy in season four, Sarge wore his face in season six, and season seven will feature another Coulson.

The final moments of season six saw Jemma give Mack and Daisy a choice. She explained that using Chronicom and LMD technology, they created their most advanced version of an android. He would have all Coulson’s memories and be filled in on the events of season six. Without a second thought, or letting Jemma finish Daisy activated him. The audience welcomed him to season seven.

NEXT: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 10 Things That Need To Happen Before It Ends

source https://screenrant.com/agents-shield-best-moments-season-6/

#screenrant

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