#And of course Cassie hates the war. Hates fighting hates killing hates it the whole way through | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tfw-no-tennis · 3 years

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ani....morphs.....

ok so picking up after the david trilogy, which hit hard as FUCK, we have book 23, which basically was a semi truck that ran over my corpse, jesus christ, they really followed up the david trilogy w/all that....

23 was so so good and also painful. its the culmination of a lot of tobias’s characterization in the series thus far and also we finally get the reveal we’ve been waiting for about elfangor....ooooh man

and there was a lot of painful stuff in this book but the worst imo was tobias wondering if it were possible that somebody wanted him and would take care of him, only to have it all come crashing down in the worst way when it turned out aria was visser three in morph, ouch.

that was so brutal augh. and when he figured it out and just crash landed and kept thinking about how he wanted to die and how he was stupid to think he could have a home...bro get these kids some THERAPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so yeah that book was absolutely brutal but also so good...and it further fleshed out the animorphs working as a near-flawless team, w/the whole setup of tobias meeting w/the lawyer being so airtight and well-planned

also more free hork bajir!! its cool that there's stuff happening w/them offscreen, I like that

I literally had to take a break from reading the books bc the david triology + 23 was like so much, and also bc the olympics were on and all my time got dedicated to watching those, but then I opened 24, not sure what to expect, and BAM it was the helmacrons lmaoooo

I don't even remember the helmacrons but ig a lot of people hate them? lmao so that whole reputation preceded the book and I was like oh wow time for a change in tone

which wasn't wrong but also I liked that book?? I was never bored, even tho the whole thing was patently ridiculous and also had very little bearing on the overarching story

but I think it would be a standout if it were a TV episode w/a good budget - the visuals were amazing even in text, and I can imagine all the cool shrinking/growing/cellular stuff would be WICKED cool visually (ideally 2d animation but an ant man-esque live action adaptation wouldn't be terrible if they had the budget for it)

whatever let me dream. so yeah I didn't hate the helmacron book even tho the helmacrons themselves were...sure something. lmao I think they come back? that should be interesting

next book is the arctic one, we have yet another alien of the week style adventure - I liked this one too, it felt like more plot-y stuff happened since they destroyed the base, and marco’s POV is always fun

I do find it funny/interesting how sometimes when the animorphs do something - like in this book, destroying that base in the arctic - it doesn't really seem to impact the yeerks much/it doesn't get brought up much after that. and then other things like them destroying the ground-based kandrona get mentioned a lot (that example is understandable tho bc that WAS a big deal). its just hilarious to me how blowing up entire building complexes has become so routine that it isn’t even worth mentioning at this point

Also I adore when they meet other random people/kids and are chill w/them, like w/that kid they met in the rain forest earlier on w/the time travel

the descriptions of the brutally cold weather were great. I hate the cold so I was like oof this is a nightmare lmao

also ig that was the first ghostwritten book and I did kinda notice it was slightly different than usual? maybe? I could be imagining it tho

okay but book 26 tho...BOOK 26. bruh

that was SO good and I really didn’t know what to expect - but when we finally revisited Jake’s dream w/crayak I knew it was gonna be good (but I didn’t expect it to be a chess game war epic..!)

basically I loved it. SUCH a good Jake book - I really appreciate his character now as opposed to when I was 10 and often overlooked him (sorry jake).

similarly, when I was a kid and read these I sympathized a lot w/the chee and felt bad for them towards the end of the series when they had to get more involved in the war (genuinely don’t remember what they even do but ik I felt bad)

but now I've basically 180′d and I'm like damn those chee sure are hypocrites huh.

like they could solve So many of the animorphs problems but their stringent adherence to nonviolence leads to them actively getting in the animorphs way sometimes? and obviously pacifism is a complicated topic, but in this case it also intersect w/the whole ‘child soldier’ thing, and as beings who are insanely old and wise, the chee probably shouldn't just leave all the dirty work to a bunch of literal middle schoolers

aaaaanyways. there’s so much I love about this book. the iskoort! they were sure something. and the ‘plot twist’ that they are actually 2 beings, the Isk and the Yoort - and the Yoort are essentially Yeerks - that slapped. the symbiosis of it all!

I loved the part where they all realize what this means, that this is why Crayak wants the iskoort destoryed - because someday the yeerks might come across them and realize parasitism is not the only way. I love it!

alas I don’t recall the iskoort returning in the story (but also my memory is terrible so who knows?) but still that would be cool

basically I feel like this is the book where Jake Truly comes into his own as a leader, in every sense. he outmaneuvers Crayak, and even the ellimist, who’s yanking them around in his own way

the scene where jake shoves the howler off the cliff and jumps off and morphs and acquires the howler...that was fantastic and tense.

also the murder is definitely becoming more overt. I mean, it has been for a while, but it isn’t really pointed out as much anymore. oof

more on the chee - as Jake points out in this book, and other characters point out in other books - the chee could have saved the pemalites, but instead just stood by while their creators were slaughtered. on the other hand, jake says, what do the chee do AFTER they’ve killed the howlers - where to point them next? when is the end of their violence?

buuuuut also standing by while atrocities occur is pretty damning, as is frequently mentioned in this series - from the very beginning, when marco initially doesn’t want to get involved in the war at all, and the other animorphs basically tell him that turning his back on the war and acting like he doesn’t even know it’s happening would be immoral and cowardly (which imo this reaction helps to push marco in the direction he ends up going, but I digress) - this topic comes up again in 19 when cassie quits the team and rachel is upset bc she sees it as cassie elevating her own feelings above the greater good (as in, as long as cassie feels good about how she acts, it doesn’t matter how much preventable evil the yeerks are committing while she turns away). etc etc. but that’s essentially what’s happening w/the chee - even tho they help w/intel, the lack of any sort of Action on their part means that they’re essentially allowing awful things to happen when they could prevent them. this is rambly but basically...animorphs deals so much in grey areas, and the chee are noticeably black and white in their actions, despite falling, in a meta sense, in an extremely grey area. its such good, thought provoking writing!

anywayssss I keep talking about the chee lmao what else was there. oh YEAH jake and cassie kissed for the first time awww that was super cute

and ofc immediately marco teases them as asks jake if he’s gonna kiss him next, and all I can say is...marco is a bicon

also I love the background worldbuilding w/the iskoort, how they have all these groups and guilds and stuff - its not dwelled on much, which actually works really well to give the world/species a sense of lived-in realness

okay oh man and the reveal at the end that the howlers were just like...children who thought the whole thing was a game...AUGHH man that’s sooo fucked

like, when jake morphs the howler and has rachel ready to knock him down in grizzly morph if he gets out of control due to the howler’s murderous instincts, and he morphs to find that the howler is...playful, like a dolphin morph. SUCH a good fucked up sense of dawning horror there

and the fact that as far as I can tell the chee KNEW this, but wanted revenge anyways, so they let the animorphs assume that the howlers were Evil On Purpose

also I love smaller moments, like jake seeing that ax is ashamed for briefly running away during one battle w/the howlers, and then entrusts him w/an important task bc he knows that ax will see that as redemption - and when everyone thought jake was dead and were so happy when he wasn't (they all love each other so much im gonna cry about these child soldiers augh)

basically that book was so good

man one thing I absolutely love is that the longer the series goes on the more obvious it is that andalites, despite inventing morphing technology, barely use it themselves

like, most of the andalite characters we see barely morph. its kind of a last resort to them, as they’re already plenty dangerous in their regular forms

meanwhile for the animorphs, that’s all they have to fight with. that’s their only weapons against the yeerks, and its so fun to see them use the power in so many varied ways, and so creatively, while the andalites have barely scratched the surface of their own technology

its also interesting to contrast against the yeerks who start out w/absolutely no technology, and the andalites share some but not all of their technology w/them...its too bad that morphing technology was just starting out cause that would’ve been interesting

like imo a lot of the conflict w/the yeerks could’ve been avoided if they could just nothlit into better forms - of course, there’d still be plenty of yeerks who want to go start wars or w/e, just like pretty much any species in the series, but a lot of yeerks would probably be like ‘yeah I'm good’ and just chill out as nothlits

also people online love to talk about how humans are alienfuckers and would definitely have sex w/sentient aliens and whatnot, and while I'm not saying that's untrue, its just funny bc in animorphs the truest alienfuckers are definitely the andalites

as of the hork-bajir chronicles, we now have a second instance of an andalite morphing another species to be in an inter-species alien romance (and eventually have kids)

speaking of, I don’t think I’ve talked abt the hork bajir chronicles yet??? even tho I read it a while ago lmao

HBC was great...I honestly haven’t really run into an animorphs book I’ve actually disliked at this point, I’m sure it’ll come w/all the ghostwriting and whatnot, but I’ve liked at least some aspects of every book

anyways HBC was great, and it’s funny bc I remember that I read this book as a kid, and yet rereading it now I didn’t remember a single bit of it lmaooo

I really liked the framing device of the free hork bajir telling this story to tobias. I also liked how we know from the beginning that this story wont have a happy ending - we know all the hork bajir end up enslaved by the yeerks, but it’s still somehow hopeful at the end? I think this is largely due to the framing device tbh.

also I love toby, and I love that the First free hork bajir named their kid after tobias ;_;

and oooh mannn I LOVED the different POVs from this book. all the characters were so interesting! aldrea was fascinating - I really like the increasingly negative view of the andalites that the readers are getting, all while maintaining the sense that they aren’t like, actively evil, just that they have their issues - like aldrea’s arrogance, and the general andalite arrogance which lead to the loss of the hork bajir. also, who knew andalites had their own brand of sexism? Ls

I did like getting a female andalite tho, that was cool. and dak was really cool, he was such a good, compassionate character who was able to maintain his morals in an interesting way throughout the story

and VISSER THREE...or should I say esplin 9466, because he’s not visser 3 yet...getting his ‘origin story’ was excellent - I really like how we’re learning about visser 3 backwards - we start off the series w/him as the main villain, and he’s campy and menacing, and then we see him in the andalite chronicles as a power-hungry sub-visser trying to climb the ranks and eventually getting alloran as a host, and then back even further here, w/the start of his focus on the andalites and the beginning of his ambition. its been very cool and interesting to see

plus, the beginning of the yeerks as we know them! seerow! alloran! it’s a party and nobody is having a good time, except for some of the yeerks.

I like how it’s pretty obvious that the andalites are well-meaning with their interactions w/the yeerks, but go about it the wrong way - they give them enough technology that the yeerks realize there’s a whole world out there to experience, and then they blockade the yeerks on their planet and tell them they can’t leave. nnnnot the best approach imo

again, as I said above, I’m interested in how things could’ve gone if the andalites had given the yeerks morphing technology early on - could a lot of the conflict have been avoided, or would it have been worse? the yeerks seem pretty evil in this book, immediately jumping to enslave anyone they can. otoh we hear from esplin that not all yeerks like having host bodies, and find it overwhelming, preferring to swim around in the yeerk pool as a slug - I assume as host bodies became more available this type of thinking was probably stamped out in yeerk society or w/e, but there are a lot of interesting what-ifs in the situation

I loved the scene where esplin first experiences having a host, and immediately knows he can’t go back. there are a bunch of great sensory descriptions, and it’s a nice scene to pinpoint as a foundational moment for the visser three in the current story, who spent a lot of time and energy getting what he sees as the best possible host body, an andalite

I find it interesting how much visser three clearly respects the andalites, even while constantly deriding them. and you can see the origins of that here as he immediately focuses in on the andalites, working to become an expert on them in order to make himself useful enough to move thru the ranks

another thing I like is how esplin seems a lot more crafty and ambitious than the visser three from modern times - I would guess that reaching his goal (andalite host body) and being given all that power was detrimental, playing on his weaknesses instead of his strengths. basically, I don’t think it’s ooc or anything, I can see how HBC-esplin became animorphs-esplin, especially w/TAC in between

as for seerow...poor dude. you really do have to feel for him, because you get the sense he really did just want to be kind to the yeerks, but it was borne from a place of pity, and he (and the other andalites) consistently held too much power over the yeerks for the species relations to ever be truly equal and functional

AUGH I have so many thoughts about alien space politics. omg. I need to talk about the actual story lmao

so yeah I also feel for aldrea, she had a rough time, watching her entire family die and being thrown into a hopeless war

and then the andalite council or w/e not listening to her bc she's a girl AND seerow’s daughter...oof

also, I really really liked the running theme of the andalites - specifically aldrea - looking down on the hork bajir as ‘simple’ and constantly underestimating them, especially dak

and I like how this is portrayed as a bad attitude for aldrea to have, and she still remains and interesting and sympathetic character even while having obvious flaws. it’s about being 3-dimensional baby!

and oh man I love that dak realizes that aldrea looks down on him, and his entire species, but he can see that that’s how the andalites are, and it all connects back to the beginning of the story w/the yeerks, bc the andalites looked down on the yeerks and treated them with pity and kept them pinned under their proverbial thumb ‘for their own good’ and look how that turned out

but dak is wise and kind enough to not hate aldrea for this, even acknowledging when she’s using him, but not pushing her away because he recognizes good in her too - and she ends up changing, partially because of his faith in her

and I feel like it can all be compared to that scenario of like - a hypothetical creature that lives in a 2D world suddenly being thrust into a 3D world, and comprehending what its seeing, and understanding that there’s so much more out there outside of the flat lines of its world - and then its dropped back into 2D-land with the knowledge of all the stuff its missing out on, and no way to get back to it or explain it to anybody else

I loooove that ‘trope’ or w/e you wanna call it, and it’s done beautifully here w/the yeerks - whos the say they wouldn't have been fine in their pool swimming around; as esplin said, a lot of the yeerks were terrified of having a host, it was only from the andalites’ perspective that their lives were sad and pitiful, and the andalites showed them what the world could be like, and then said ‘no, you can’t travel the stars like we do, you have to stay here on your planet and do what we say.’

and then again, w/the hork bajir - dak talks about how, even though he drinks up the knowledge that aldrea gives him, in the end it might have been better to just have lived peacefully, not knowing what was in the sky or the Deep - as aldrea says: “It was too late for Dak: he knew that the stars were not flowers.”

plus the hork bajir having to go from a completely peaceful species who don’t even understand the concept of violence, to a bunch of soldiers fighting a war...oof

basically everyone in this story uses the hork bajir. the yeerks use them as hosts, the andalites use their planet as a convenient place to dump seerow and then take their sweet time coming to help, and the arn created them as means to stabilize the planet, but block them off from their society and refuse to help when the yeerks come

like, the arn modifying themselves to be un-infestable by the yeerks and then being enslaved for physical labor instead? oof guys. if they had teamed up w/the hork bajir resistance things might have gone better, but probably not

more on aldrea - throughout the story I was always thinking ‘how am I supposed to see her? as a good person, or as a bad person?’

as a POV character, especially a ‘good guy’ andalite, you just start off automatically thinking of her as a good person, but as the story goes on, she starts getting lost in revenge and begins using dak and the hork bajir, and you’re left wondering if this is a story about her slide into darkness, and then towards the end of the story her character development culminates in her making the decision to stay w/the hork bajir, and the be with dak, and that’s about when I went ‘ohhh right this is animorphs so every character is pretty much gonna be grey’

I feel like that moral grey-ness was on full display w/aldrea, and I really enjoyed that. I love so much when characters who are good do bad things, for good or bad reasons, especially in media like animorphs that’s aimed at kids. it’s so compelling.

oof, and the ending when aldrea convinces dak to mobilize the hork bajir and teach them violence...and dak asks her if she’s ever killed another andalite, and she’s horrified, and says of course she hasn’t, and he says that that’s what she’s asking him, and all the hork bajir, to do - to kill their own people, even if they are being controlled by the yeerks. biiiig oof. I love that dak can keep up w/aldrea and her andalite supremacy attitude - it seems that the non-andalite characters who get along best w/the andalites are the ones who wont take their bs

what else happened....oh my god how could I forget about alloran, and his quantum virus. oooof. I like how we find out about alloran in parallel to visser three, in the same backwards way - in animorphs he’s the tragic host of visser three, in TAC he’s the disgraced but still semi-respected war-prince who becomes the first ever andalite controller, and here he’s the guy who decides to commit some war crimes because, hey, we haven’t tried that yet

but yeah that was fucked up, I love it. I’ve said it before I think but I like that alloran isn’t some perfect martyr tragically taken by the yeerks - it’s a lot more compelling that he’s a very flawed person who was taken as a controller partially due to his own bloodthirstiness.

but yeah, the part where aldrea morphs alloran and ‘sneaks’ into that room was great. aldrea’s dedication to disposing of the virus is a great indicator of her character development - it really feels like the straw that broke the camels back w/re: to the andalites not being what she thought they were, w/their tardiness coming to help the hork bajir planet and the way her father was treated being the precursors to this realization. it all culminates nicely in aldrea saying ‘fuck this actually’ and nothlit-ing into a hork bajir.

and it’s really tragic but realistic that even though aldrea and dak end up seeing eye to eye at the end and getting together, the virus ends up being released anyways (and fails in its objective to stop the yeerks from using the hork bajir - the whole thing was p much a lose-lose situation oof), and aldrea and dak still die fighting a hopeless war

but then we have the free hork bajir on earth, including toby, who, like tobias, has andalite ancestry, but no DNA to show for it - I like that they have that connection as well as tobias being her namesake

so yeah I enjoyed that one and its many-layered themes

WOW this got long uuuuuhhh ok I think i’ll leave this one off here. at the time I’m actually finishing the writing and editing, I’m on book 35 lol so I have some backlogging to do. never fear, I have a lot to say....

#lj reads animorphs #animorphs

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beclynn-herondale · 4 years

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What annoys me is that the people hating on Jace aren’t thinking about the society he grew up in. The shadowhunter society is so corrupt it’s crazy and they definitely don’t make an effort to make sure their youth knows what they’re doing is right and what they’re doing is wrong. Young shadowhunters have to depend on the people they meet and their life experiences to stay “woke” but Jace literally grew up alone in the institute with three other siblings and no friends. (1/2)

Hi anon, so first

(The Tea is piping Hot, and thank you for bringing this up )

I honestly agree with you, and this is actually something I have thought on a lot and yes it was written so many years ago that yeah of course some things we aren't going to agree with cause it's 2020 and things are different now. And the traits Cassie wrote in Jace were popular back then and Cliches were too and we need to keep this in mind.

And yes the Shadowhunters are terrible with educating their own, most shadowhunters have not been educated in mundane history and terms and other Mundane things, Diana herself said she didn't know the term Transgender until she met Catarina I think right?

And Jace was not educated in what was right to support Alec and that is not his Fault cause the Clave don't allow Mundane education so how exactly would Jace know 100% what was homophobic and not or what fetishization is??? Cause he wasn't educated in mundane terms and something you need to look at is that that truly is on Cassie she should have known that that would be offensive and never had him say some of these things, but also that was years ago.

Also erasing his character development to hate him is wrong and unfair, how about instead we appreciate how he has grown, like how much he loves kids and his family, how he was nervous to meet Kit cause he wanted to make a good impression, how he wants to be a dad, how he wants a big family cause of how close the Blackthorns are and cause he wants his kids to be like them. Or how he loves with his whole heart, also lets not forget that if not for Simon, Clary and Jace, Jem wouldn't have been cured and would still be a silent brother and our precious baby Min Min wouldn't exist and how after the whole Heavenly Fire incident Jace was worried he hurt Jem and went to check on him before anyone, someone he didn't know really.

And how he said to Clary until she came along he didn't feel like he belonged anywhere, and boy do I relate to that, and yes he had the Lightwoods but he didn't truly know how much they loved him until Clary came along, cause Jace was afraid to open up until she came along. And he was told at Six years old that if he loved he would destroy and would be destroyed, he was manipulated, he was abused, he was tortured, he was neglected, he was used and he was used by others not just Valentine, Luke Garroway said himself that he wasn't surprised Jace didn't trust the Adults around him cause they have used him, and so he put walls up cause being used is one of the worst feelings and he had been before he was even born.

And he was lied to about himself pretty much his whole life and during TMI he had been lied to his entire life. He literally went through an identity crisis several times, also he never thought he would have a best friend/Parabatai aka Alec, he never thought he would have a family aka Isabelle and Maryse and Max, and he never thought he deserved or would find love aka Clary Fucking Fairchild, and then later on he got more family aka Blueberry and Rafe and Magnus and Simon as a good friend. He never thought he would be happy, he thought he would be an angry and broken boy all his life. And why do you think Clary and Alec are so protective of Jace cause they know who he really is and know he is fragile and can get hurt easily, that's why Clart is described as his Shield and why it is mentioned several times that she saved him, also he was suicidal when we first met him, even Alec said he was always rushing towards death and reckless decisions and that he is thankful that Clary came along cause she made Jace want to live and now he doesn't have to worry about Jace wanting to get himself killed, and he has mental issues ( yes I am mentioning this again). Also you say he didn't apologize but we truly cannot be 100% sure of that cause for all we know he did and it wasn't in the book and again that's on Cassie cause she didn't give us a proper scene. And you say he doesn't give a shit about Alec, well how about that scene in TDA when Magnus is dying and Alec is saying he wishes he told Magnus how much he loved him and Jace tells Alec he knows and then Alec says he should go on a watch so he doesn't let anyone down and Jace thinks to himself how could Alec let anyone down and tells Alec his watch is taking care of Magnus and I quote "this is your watch brother". Or the scene in Heavenly fire when Jace tells Alec that Alec is a better person then he could ever be, that he has the most faith in people and that he is kind and that there is no one else with more of that then Alec, or again in TDA when he was the one who sat up as soon as the words were off the consuls mouth and Said Alec for the new Consul cause he knew how much Alec wanted it. How about in Tales of the Shadowhunter Academy when Simon is feeling like his Falling is Bad and he tells Simon he did good. Also how about how he went to talk to Tessa and yes Simon encouraged him but Jace had the willpower to do it, past Jace wouldn't have. And how about in City of Ashes when Maia who hated Jace, saw through his mask and saw herself in his eyes.

And he had to fight two wars at the age of 16/17 he wasn't even an adult, and had to help save the Shadow world and had to help clean up mistakes of parents and then finds out that also Valentine killed both his parents, and so not only did Valentine steal his childhood but also stole his chance at having a Mother who would have loved him more than anything cause she never had that but also a father who was going to change for him and most likely would have loved him deeply. Like I can't imagine the grief even though yes he did/does have a family but imagine still. He lost so much before he was born and afterwards, and how about the people who are always telling him he is Valentine's son so he may be like him and his Mother was said to have killed herself ( she didn't Valentine killed her as well btw ) and people probably have said he is Crazy like her and will do the same, guess what the Clave is Toxic and that's why Alec is going to change it cause it needs to be. And I know what it's like to be said to be a crazy bitch cause of your mental illnesses and cause of other things, to have things consistently whispered behind your back.

And this is getting long but bottom line is Jace is so much more then an ass and sarcastic, he has giving me the strength to get through my current life situation and gave me the strength to save myself recently, and has encouraged me to be a better version of myself, he has taught me that love is strength and will heal and change me if I let the right love in, he is there for me at 2 am when I am contemplating giving up and throwing it all away, he is there telling me look how far you have come, don't give up. He is there telling me your scars show how strong you are and all that you have survived and you should be proud of them, he has taught me that my abuse doesn't define me and that the manipulative adults in my life won't always have control over me. He kept me from trying to kill myself again, he gave me the strength to say that something that has happened recently is not my fault, he gave me the strength to own my confidence and my gentleness and fragilety cause that's me.

And I mostly ignore the hate or at least try to but it keeps getting thrown at me and other Jace Stans and it's time to stop.

SO IF YOU ARE GOING TO POST HATE DON'T TAG IT.

Cause tumblrs tagging system sucks and guess what us Jace Stans and Clary Stans and Clace Stans have just as much a right to enjoy ourselves and be here, as much as you haters do, and you not liking him or hating him isn't going to change my mind or make me stop loving him and also WHY ARE YOU USING THE SHORT TIME YOU HAVE FOR HATE, WHY NOT USE IT TO SPREAD LOVE FOR YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTERS INSTEAD????

How is it fair for us Jace/Clary/Clace stans to deal with your hate be told it's just an opinion, well guess what it's not just an opinion, when it's messing with my mental health. So please just stop and yes he's fictional so 1. Why does it matter so much. 2. Why do you care so much? 3. Why do you care so much about us liking him then? 4. Is hurting people in real life really worth it? 5. Is spreading so much hate in this world really what you want to be known for? 6. JACE is not the only problematic character for Angel's sake, there are many many others so that Is no reason to hate him.

Conclusion please stop, we just want to enjoy ourselves, hell we don't even have to interact ever and just stay in our own lanes, also TSC fandom has become the most toxic fandom I am in and that's saying something cause I have been in toxic fandoms, is this what we want to be known as? A toxic fandom who you should avoid? Cause let me tell you I don't, so why don't we just respect each other and stop being hateful. I have kept quiet about this for months and I am tired of holding it in, you say you respect opinions but if you say that If we stan Jace/Clary/Clace then we don't have rights even if it's joke, guess what it isn't a joke to me and I don't laugh at it, and if we really want to criticize and have equality then we need to judge all of them and Jace isn't the only one who as you say has made homophobic and fetishization comments and he isn't the only one who has done problematic things.

Bottom line I want to enjoy myself and lately the only thing I have had is hate and hurt and getting upset cause I like a character who is actually a good example on growing as a person because of a few scenes how is that fair, basically you are saying you made some mistakes and don't deserve to have your growth acknowledged and you don't deserve second chance cause well you're evil, guess who has been told that many times in her life, me, so it's very triggering for me, the words I hate Jace are triggering for me and I don't say this lightly at all. And don't tell me I haven't thought this through or haven't looked at the bad parts and the cons cause I have but I also look at the good parts and the pros so that is why I love Jace, cause I love his good and bad parts and I acknowledge his growth and change. So to put it simply he is not who he was in TMI, just like Alec is not who he was in TMI.

I am working on a post to clear more of this up but all I am asking is for you to not hate especially in a time that is already stressful and hard for me and everyone else, you aren't doing good and it doesn't make you cool. SORRY but it's the truth, you are hurting people, Imagine if it was your favorite character(s) and how would you feel??? So just stop.

( this is my view on things and my opinion and if you have no intention of being civil then don't interact, I am not interested in a fight with you. Or throwing hateful comments at each but know that I will also not take your hate and will defend myself)

So yeah Anon I agree with you and let's spread positivity cause I would rather this end here and spread love and positivity.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

#jace herondale #jace lightwood herondale #jace lightwood #jace has too many last names #clace #tsc #the shadowhuter chronicles #tmi #the mortal instruments #clary fray #clary fairchild #my opinion #tw hate #tw mental health #tw mentions of suicide #tw mental disorders #tsc fandom #fandom #tw fandom

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deafeningnightcollection-things · 4 years

Text

Worlds Collide ~ TEEN WOLF

Chapter 4: Why is the truth so hard? (S1 E2)

Cassie was at war with herself the entire drive from the vet. Her parents needed to know that there were hunters in town and that these hunters knew about them. But she wasn't ready to leave Beacon Hills behind. She couldn't leave Derek or Stiles and she couldn't bear to leave Scott like this. Not when he'd just turned, and felt scared and alone, perhaps not ever.

When she pulled up to her house she couldn't force herself to get out of the car. "They're going to kill me. I survived hunters only to be murdered by my own parents."

Derek laughed, but his eyes were dark. She knew he'd worried and truthfully so had she, but it was easier to laugh and pretend nothing scared her.

"Come in with me," she begged. "My parents love you and they would never yell at me when we have a guest."

"Ok."

"Thank you. Thank you." She tossed his keys back to him with a smile.

"Wait." She turned, half out of the car. He tossed her his jacket, "you really don't want to go in looking like that." He indicated the blood and dirt caked on her shirt. She zipped it up gratefully. Pausing a moment, she dusted the dirt off her pants as best she could. Thankfully the jacket hung low enough to hide the worst of the blood.

Derek reached the door before she did, she was purposely dragging. She wasn't ready to lie to them. He stepped aside and let her open the door, she turned the knob slowly, trying not to make any noise. But, of course, parents always seem to know.

"Where have you been, young lady?!"

"Hi, mom." She answered sheepishly propping the door open the rest of the way. "Before you freak out just know that I brought a friend with me."

Derek stepped through the doorway awkwardly. "Hi, Mrs. Narm."

Immediately her mother's whole demeanor changed. "Derek Hale, sweetheart. It's good to see you. I was so sad to hear about your sister."

Derek nodded, seemingly unsure what to say.

"That still doesn't explain why you weren't in your bed this morning, Cassaia." It was her dad's turn to use the 'disappointed parent' voice.

"I know. And I would've called, but Stiles and I were talking last night and it was late and I just fell asleep." She rubbed the back of her neck, not sure what else to say, "sorry." She tried awkwardly.

Her mother narrowed her eyes before nodding and Cassie made a mental note to tell Stiles her alibi when she got to school. School! She realized.

"Mom. Dad. As fun as this has been, I have to get ready for school or I'm going to be seriously late." She nudged Derek in their direction before taking off for her room. She knew he'd get back at her for tossing him to the wolves, but she was going to be very late if she weren't ready soon.

She tossed Derek's jacket onto her bed. She'd wash it and give it back to him later. Her hair was a mess, greasy and frazzled. It needed a full wash, but for now, she ran fingers through it, wincing at the tangles, and threw it into a messy bun. She swapped her dirty shirt for a clean one and changed out of her jeans in favor of a pair of clean shorts. Her shoes were in good enough condition to leave alone. A spritz of perfume and she was ready to go. She was halfway out her bedroom door before she realized that she'd forgotten her backpack.

She spotted on her bookshelf and tossed it over her shoulder.

"Record time." She congratulated herself as she made her way down the stairs. She was grateful to see that Derek was still waiting for her. He looked pretty uncomfortable, trapped in a conversation with her parents. So she decided to throw him a bone.

"Derek, ready to go?" He looked up, nodding.

Her mother frowned, "but we were having so much fun talking to you, sweetie. You have to come back soon, it's been too long."

Derek nodded again, standing up.

Cassie waited until they were in the car to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Sorry about that," she told Derek as he started up the car. "I know how they can be."

"You'll make it up to me by getting the blood out of the back seat."

She laughed, he knew how to do payback. "Of course, but only if I get to school on time."

———

They made it to Beacon Hills High with 10 minutes to spare.

"Thank you." She waved as Derek pulled away.

She grimaced as she saw Scott and Stiles walking towards her. God, I am not ready for this conversation. I can't lie to them, but I can't tell them anything. Gah, why is the truth so hard?!

"Hey." She greeted them as nonchalantly as she could. "How are you guys?"

"How were you in the Preserve last night?"

Stiles gaped, apparently this was news to him.

Cassie sighed, way to beat around the bush, Scotty.

"I can't tell you that."

"Cassie. You saved my life, at least tell me how. Are you like me?"

She bit her lip, maybe she could skate the line a little bit. She let out a deep breath. "Truth. I'm not like you, I can't tell you what I am." She held up a hand to stop protests before they came. "It isn't my secret to tell, and even if I could tell you. It would put all three of us in even more danger. There are hunters out there, Scott." Her shoe scuffed the ground as she made a wild, frustrated kick at thin air. "People who like nothing better than to put a bullet before our eyes. Just for the crime of existing. You have bigger problems than my secret."

"Hi normal person here," Stiles interjected with a raised hand, "back up, please. No one said anything about hunters. Who are they? What do they want?"

"They want to wipe us out." The words hung heavy in the air, and she almost regretted saying them, but she needed to make them both understand the stakes here. This wasn't some movie where you got superpowers and went off to save the world while the adoring public cheered. This was a fight for survival, where the slightest mess could cost you your life.

"But, why?" Scott's voice was quiet, scared. "Why do they hate us?"

"Because we're stronger than them and people are always afraid of those that are stronger than them. They hunt us because it makes them feel strong. We're an endangered species, Scott. Welcome to the fight."

Scott's breathing was becoming erratic.

Crap. She was regretting snapping at him, if only he knew the night she'd had.

"Hey. Scott. Scott. Listen to me, you're not in this alone. Stiles and I are here for you." Stiles nodded.

Scott's eyes were still full of panic. She couldn't stand to see him like that any longer, she wrapped him in his fierce hug. He hugged her back with a force that was almost bruising. She pulled away when she heard his heartbeat slow down. She met his gaze steadily, giving him every emotion she had. "It's ok. You. Are. Not. Alone."

Scott's eyes clouded for a moment and he sniffed. "You smell like blood." He tossed it at her like an accusation, but she could hear the worry in his tone.

"Uh, yeah." How to phrase this so it didn't sound bad. "I got shot." Oh no, she cringed.

"What?!" Scott and Stiles screeched nearly in unison.

"How?" Scott.

"Where?" Stiles.

"It's no big deal, Derek found me before I bled out."

Stiles's eyes bugged, that had been completely the wrong thing to say.

"Before you what?" Stiles looked like he was about to faint.

"Ok. Keep your eyes in, Stiles." Cassie took a steadying breath, she was not ready to recount her near-death experience only hours after it had happened.

Ring.

Saved by the bell, literally.

"Come on, we're going to be late." There was a silent 'we'll finish this later' passed between them as she turned towards the school. She started walking without looking back at them. She needed something normal in her life right now and there was nothing more normal than highschool.

———

The day seemed to fly by and all too soon the last bell was ringing. Cassie packed up slowly, not eager to talk to Scott and Stiles. She was not ready to talk about last night and if they asked why she'd probably break down. It was a very lose-lose situation. She picked up one of her pencils too forcefully and it snapped in half. Thankfully, everyone else was too busy chattering and packing up to notice.

Stiles and Scott had already rushed out to lacrosse practice, though not before Scott had given her a questioning look. Curse that boy for being preceptive sometimes. She slid notecards into a bag pocket before snapping it shut. The rest of the class had gone and the teacher was watching her expectantly. She swung her backpack onto her back with a huff and headed off towards the lacrosse field. She almost didn't go, but if Scott wolfed out on the field there would be no one else who could stop him.

Her dawdling had unintended consequences, she'd managed to avoid Scott and Stiles, but now the only available seat in the stands was directly in front Allison and Lydia. Cassie almost turned around right there. She did not to just calmly sit in front of Allison when only hours earlier she'd almost died from a bullet her father had fired.

But then she saw Scott's face and how happy he looked doing probably the one thing that still made sense to him right now. She couldn't turn away from that. As a last resort, she dug around in her bag for her headphones. She slid them on, blaring music to drown out the rest of the world. Hopefully, this would keep her from having to talk to Allison.

She slid into the seat carefully, doing her best not to draw attention to herself.

Tap.

Maybe it'll go away.

Tap. Tap.

"Yes?" Cassie spun around to face Allison. She did her best to keep her face neutral.

"Scott really bolted out of that party. Do you know if he's ok?"

"Scott? Yeah, he's fine." She answered distractedly, trying to end the conversation as soon as possible. But then Allison said something that surprised her.

"Are you ok?" Was that genuine concern in Allison's voice?

"Yeah." She lifted a hand as if to brush the comment away, but Allison caught it.

"Cassie, you're shaking."

I am? She hadn't noticed, but now the trembling grew worse. There was a faint ringing in her ears. I need to get out of here.

She tore her hand from Allison's, not even bothering to offer an explanation. Her fight or flight instinct that hadn't kicked in last night was choosing now to shoot her body full of adrenaline. She wrung her hands together, silently begging them to stop trembling. She moved as fast as she could while still walking. She just needed to get...away.

She didn't even notice where she was until she slid down against the back wall of the school and started bawling. It was all too much. She just sat there.

It could've been minutes or hours before she heard a voice calling her.

"Cassie?" It was Allison. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I was just worried about you."

She wasn't able to form a clear sentence in the midst of all her blubbering so she just shook her head, unsure what else to do. Allison slid down the wall next to her, slowly. She paused for a moment before cautiously wrapping an arm around Cassie. In any other circumstance, she would've shaken the Argent off and been on her way, but she needed human comfort and at the moment she didn't care where it came from.

"Shhh," Allison whispered as she walked rocked Cassie gently. She didn't say anything else, just held her softly. It was as though she knew that silence was the best cure. Eventually, Cassie ran out of tears. She sniffled softly one last time before removing her head from the crook of Allison's neck.

"Thank you." Cassie's eyes were red and puffy, and she still had a lot of the mess of the previous night on her, but the Argent girl just smiled at her sweetly and nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Now the silence that fell between them was awkward as Cassie avoided Allison's gaze. She was sweet, yes, but she was still an Argent. How much did she already know and how much could Cassie say before she became suspicious? Allison had shown her kindness though, perhaps she could tell her, with a few details omitted, of course.

"I was in a bad situation, a while back. I got pretty banged up. I guess...I never really processed it before today. And something just made it all come tumbling back."

Allison nodded slowly, and gently squeezed Cassie's hand. "If you need someone, I'm here."

Thank you. The words got caught in her throat and she was only able to nod. But Allison seemed to understand. They sat like that for a little while longer. The silence was thankfully less awkward.

"Practice is probably over now. I wouldn't want to miss my ride." Cassie stood up stiffly, her muscles screaming in protest. "But, maybe we could talk again soon?" She'd intended it as a statement, but it ended up more like a question.

Allison smiled at her kindly. Maybe she's not as bad as the rest of her family. The thought popped into her head unexpectedly. The last thing she'd expected today was to be sharing an easy smile with an Argent.

As Cassie approached the school she found Stiles, already changed out of his lacrosse uniform, sitting in the now-empty stands. He appeared to be waiting for her because as soon as he saw her he hopped down and jogged over.

"I didn't see you when practice ended." He used the accusation to forgoe a normal greeting, jumping straight to the point.

Cassie shrugged. "I just didn't feel like watching today."

She didn't know why she bothered to lie. Stiles had this uncanny ability to see right through her deceptions every time. Evidenced one again in the way his eyes pierced her, thankfully he didn't call her out. Instead, he changed tack.

"Scott seemed pretty bummed that you weren't there."

She reached across to smack him lightly, a half-glare on her face. "Low blow, Stliniski."

Stiles shrugged in response, clearly feeling unashamed.

"Where is Scott anyway?" Cassie hadn't noticed his absence until Stiles brought it up.

"Trying to patch things up with his girlfriend." She stumbled, an icy feeling in her chest. Why was she surprised, she knew that Scott wanted to make up with Allison. But something about the fact that he'd actually done it left her feeling cold.

Stiles's eyes watched her once more, with that look he always had. Like he knew so much more than she'd said. They continued toward Roscoe in a moderate silence, Stiles tossing in his usual brand of humor now and then. They were feet from the jeep when Scott barrelled toward them, his face white as a sheet.

His hands flailed wildly as he tried to explain his situation, but the words kept coming out jumbled. Cassie caught one of his flailing hands and squeezed it gently, not releasing it until he'd finally calmed enough to tell his story.

"Allison's dad is the hunter. He's the one who shot at us." You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed his words.

On instinct, she gazed in the direction he'd come from. Allison stood next to a black SUV talking to a man that Cassie knew to be her father. Almost as though he knew someone was watching he glanced at her. Cassie shuddered as she met the steel grey eyes that had almost killed her the night before. She ducked her head down quickly, wanting to disappear. The tremors that Allison had helped her through were threatening to rack her body once again.

She couldn't break down, not here. It was one thing to break down in front of a girl who seemed to want to be her friend, but to break down in front of Scott and Stiles, the people she always tried to be so strong for. She couldn't let herself do that. She took a couple deep breathes and shoved the fear back down into a deep dark hole where she could forget about it for now.

Scott and Stiles were too wrapped up in the shock of his news to notice her moment of weakness. Scott was still moving around sporadically, trying to come to terms with this new piece of information.

She squeezed Scott's hand again, beckoning them both closer to make sure that they weren't overheard. She grabbed Stiles's hand as well pulling them both close.

"I have experience with hunters. As long as we keep our heads down, and you don't go crazy on the full moon. We'll be fine."

Scott nodded.

"And this means you have to extra careful around Allison," Stiles added, a tad patronizingly.

"I know," Scott sighed. "I know it's the right thing to do. I just...don't want to."

"Ah, to be young and in love," Stiles said sagely, clapping Scott on the back.

"Shut up."

#teen wolf #teenwolf #stiles stilinski #stiles #allison argent #derek hale #lydia martin #fanfic #fanfiction #aliens #scott mccall x oc

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thenixkat · 5 years

Text

Animorphs notes: 20

Book 20

A Marco book

Marco strikes out with a probably Black girl at the school, who has probably been insulted about her name before

And frankly she’s got good instincts to not trust a class clown

Marco is still a fuckboy, ‘females’ really

Marco’s just shit at pickup lines

The general refusal to make a distinction b/w enslaved peoples and the yeerks controlling them.

So either the Animorphs never checked the spot where Elfangor died to see if there was anything left they could use, that the yeerks didn’t go through shit for anything they could use (I’m just going to assume there was no attempt to make a grave marker) or Toomin put the block there for David to find

Yeah Toomin put shit in places (won’t stop me from using it in a fic if I feel like it)

Have I mentioned that the whole litteral deity who does whatever he fucking feels like means that there are absolutely no stakes in this series? I don’t like that.

Yeah, weirdo stranger that ignores “I don’t want to interact with you” signals would get on the nerves

Ya know. It doesn’t feel like the Animorphs are all that hard up on getting the box if they wait that long to start to do anything about it

I still feel sorry for Ax. He is but a jock forced into the role of the one who knows shit.

Wait. Why can’t the chee just steal the box. Just ghost David, see where he puts it. Take it. And ghost out?

STill not fan of aliens having any sort of roll in building the pyramids in particular and non-White historical structures as a whole

There’s some yeerk plans involving the President and the UN afoot

The chee piss me off for so many reasons. SO many

Again, it really doesn’t feel like the box is all that important

Jake attempts to pass of a half bird morphed Marco as his deformed little brother

Very lucky those weren’t Controllers

Why exactly did they not decide to have Tobias the most experienced flyier there do it? Right these characters are dumb as fuck and don’t really care about retreiving the mnorphing cube

I mean its perfictly reasonable to shoot a big fuckoff bird trying to attack you

I am reminded of all the shit Cassie talks about Marco being perfictly willing to end innocent bystandars. Of course Cassie is not a trustworthy source of information.

They were not able to retraive the box through a fuck lot of incompenence and some bad luck

David is def one of those spoiled edgy kids

But the trained birds is not an out there theory given the behavior of the animorphs

Well he’s not that reckless, but Marco would be shit help in a dangerous situation as far as David knows. Dude’s tiny.

David is also very paranoid

Again, why can’t they ask the Chee to help?

Ax: Have you considered unplugging the computer?

Listen, Ax, do these kids look like they have that much common sense?

Oh, I see alarm systems exist again

A cobra living under teh bed in a cardboard box would be so unhealthy

The writers really hate nonavian reptiles

Ok. The writers have no idea what a cobra actually is.

According to these writers cobras have heat sensing pits like pit vipers and like to eat spiders

Ah yes, cobras do a threat display towards food they plan to eat b/c the writers know jack shit about anything that isn’t a thermal Those are hork-bajir controller not hork-bajir warriors

Slithering pretty well for a snake with 2 bullet wounds

Aww, David tried to get his pet snake out of danger

You’d think David’s dad would be taking his kid and fucking fleeing

Got damn how does Marco still have venom? Snakes don’t regen that shit instantly and he’s used a fuckload already

David’s dad and snake were captured by the yeerks. I’m going to assume that the cat is either dead or also captured

David was knocked out of a second story window, and def landed hard enough to lose consciousness so very lucky he’s still alive

David’s mom is also captured

So yeah lets recruit this kid who’s just lost everything partially due to our incompetence instead of trying to send him out of town or seeing if he has any other family he could go to.

I will give points to Ax for ya know thinking about recruiting help, this just isn’t necessarily the best time

You could go places and prove shit right now, you just don’t want to risk yer own necks

I feel like you should really be asking David before decding this shit or seeing if he has any intrests in fighting this war the way you do

Ax… proposes adding people to the group and then votes against the idea. There are multiple ways in which this doesn’t work.

SO why exactly does Marco hate David? B/c he’s edgy, a bit paranoid, and doesn’t like his humor?

Like you should ease someone into the yer parents are being tortured and enslaved thing after receiving a huge blow like you are now homeless and have to be on the run

Apparently visser rhymes with kisser

So yall really didn't ask him whether he wanted to join yer team and fight along side you. You decided that he was going to. That can’t end well. And given these writers it won’t end well in the way that it should

of course i know that later David does things like murder animals and try to kill the animorphs but like, how much is that just the writers going... oh, shit um quick how to we make it more clear that the Animorphs are better than this kid?

David whent home with Marco, sure why not

Marco catches him trying to call his parents and leads him to a payphone to use

Ah yes, the Animorphs unnecessarily causing hosts harm once again

Nice way to win him over to yer side guys

So they waste a perfictly good chance to rescue David’s dad

??? They move David… to jake’s house. Who’s brother is a controller…

Oh yer trying to get the kid captured. I see

Tobias get the fuck over yerself, Cassie can release her patients whereever the hell she wants. If you have a problem stop living in the fucking wilderness when you don’t fucking have to

David has very good points. Also you can aquire fucking both of the birds. You are not limited to one of each kind of morph.

Cassie, Marco clearly doesn’t like him and Jake’s trying to boss him around and you all forced him to join you

Like David makes very valid points. You’ve done nothing to show you’re trustworthy individuals not trying to use him to your own benifit

Isn’t there a big yeerk thing happening soon? SHouldn’t yall also be working on that too?

Ya know the controller at the meeting is probably a local, given i assume they have a portable kadrona machine and if that shit breaks or need maintenance they’d probably want to be close enough. And i know there’s no global pool network just from the stuff in like book 7?

And they’re taking the new recruit, in his first morph on his first flight on a damn recon mission. Nothing can go wrong there.

Oh look the other shoe i was waiting to fall. Ya know this would be a lot more interesting if the writers didn’t decide to make David an asshole and he still decided to leave/betray the team

So the yeerk forces on the blade ship are wearing their uniforms. But the ones on the ground? Nudists

ya know goading people into doing shit for the first time in a litteral life and death scenario ()b/c who needs things like practice() by calling them a pussy is not going to build any kind ill will

I don’t think this is a well thought out plan from the yeerk side if what’s happening is what the Animorphs think is happening

I wonder if the Animorphs will remember that roaches can fly

Ends on a too be continued

#nix reads animorphs #animorphs #david trilogy

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anjibooks · 5 years

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Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare (Book Review)

I'm just going to jump right into the review as I am feeling too lazy to really think out an intro, sorry. I have some mixed feelings about this book-- it's definitely my least favorite of Cassie's conclusion novels. Usually she's a goddess at writing the most satisfying and glorious conclusions, but here I found the finale somewhat lacking. The main reason for this is due to the fact that Cassie spent so much time setting up for her Wicked Powers series with the younger characters that there were way too many new issues opened and way too many loose ends created in this book. Like Cassie spent A LOT of time with Ty, Dru and Kit (lol I forgot what his nickname was and was like Chris? That doesn't sound right...) and creating tensions, plot lines and dramas there that are clear set ups for a series that is not this one. Usually Cassie's set ups or hints to other things are more subtle, and flow better with the story, yet this time it just made this book feel like another book in a series instead of a satisfying finale. A lot of people had issues with Clary and Jace's involvement in this book, but I would actually argue their parts were some of the best-- though, I may be completely biased seeing as I live for Jace and Clary. Like wow, wait... maybe I should save that comment for the spoilers section lol, but let it be out there that I have absolutely no issue with my TMI characters being involved in these or future books. So my biggest issue was with all the set up for another series, but the other thing that irked me was something that was supposed to irk me: Horace Dearborn and his biggoted followers. It's not at all subtle what Cassie is alluding to, and while I applaud her for adding her own social commentary, I found the big presence of Dearborn and his followers and what they were working for all together extremely depressing and irritating. Like I get it-- I KNOW that the political situation sucks in America, I couldn't agree with Cassie more on that, but I kinda read books to escape the real world, so reading a situation paralleling with what we're already dealing with just was depressing and irritating (as I already stated many times). This whole thing with the Cohort was also irritating because HOW DID NO ONE COMPARE HIM TO VALENTINE WHO WAS EVIL AND EVERYONE ABSOLUTELY HATES? Like they're the exact same, they even both hated downworlders?? Ugh. People were also making a shit ton of hasty, dumb decisions that got them into bad situations, which irked me as well. Actually, a lot of things just felt rushed in general, it was strange. There was also a LOT of drama in this book, and not the normal of level that felt actually enjoyable-- like a little too much. It just pushed certain things, which made the whole thing feel extremely melodramatic, especially the Julian-Emma situation. Okay, these are all my issues with it, but let me just remind y'all it's a Cassandra Clare novel-- obviously it's good! 8/10 stars, just there were some issues that stood out to me. OF course, it still had all the classic Cassandra Clare blending of action, relationships and characters that made a fantastic novel. It's just that I hold Cassie to on another level for ratings, which isn't exactly fair, but she's proven time and time again that she is a stellar author. Anyway, here's the synopsis: Dark secrets and forbidden love threaten the very survival of the Shadowhunters in Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness, the final novel in The Dark Artifices trilogy. What if damnation is the price of true love? Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the disease that is destroying the race of warlocks. Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love. And here's the spoiler section of my thoughts on the novel: Okay, so I feel like the conflict all came down to Emma and Julian turning into nephilim, and it was epic how they utterly DESTROYEd everything but...I feel like they got off wayy to easy. Like the whole forbidden love has been pushed on us since page 1, but there were no consequences from anyone after the big fight and I felt like it was all too easy. Maybe this is just because I'm biased, but the whole Thule situation where the TDA crew fought felt blasphemous. Like uhhh ONLY the TMI crew can kill Sebastian. And also the fact that it said Julian was fighting toe-to-toe with Jace felt like a joke to me. Like Jace normally is already one of the best warriors there is, but since he has angel blood he is legit like the best fighter. Julian wouldn't stand a chance. Also blasphemous-- Zara using Cortana. Like, no, sweetie fuck off. Oh yeah, and the ending with everyone leaving Alicante was just annoying and an extremely obvious set up for more to come. Like this book would've been SO much better had it not been marketed as a conclusion. Kind of a similar situation to ACOWAR, actually. Basically my all time favorite parts of this novel were with all the old cast, which is bad, I know, but I'm just so partial to those characters. Like Alec proposing gave me the will to live ahh. And then when Clary cries and Jace wonders what he did wrong this time for the proposal! I LOVE THEM. OH MY GOD. lIKE AH. And then Thule Jace showed up and wanted Clary and... excussee me? leave my Jace ALONE. Lol, but seriously, my biggest investment in the next series is still about Jace and Clary... whoops. Thanks for reading, Anji

#tmi #the mortal instruments #the infernal devices #the dark artifices #emma carstairs #julian blackthorn #jace herondale #clary fray #clarissa fairchild #clarissa morgenstern #alec lightwood #isabelle lightwood #simon lewis #queen of air and darkness #lord of shadows #lady midnight #livvy blackthorn #livia blackthorn #ty blackthorn

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cherrymoonvol6 · 5 years

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some avengers endgame Thoughts cause i saw the movie yesterday and can't stop thinking about it

of course..... spoilers ahead

nebula and tony playing!!!! i just love how nebula's personality comes through without it being ooc

also... nebula carefully sitting tony up. she Cares so much :(

steve immediately going to tony :( like im a stucky kind of gal but holy shit i love them

which was completely erased in the next scene where tony drags steve up and down and after that passes out, which is a confrontation Mood

i wonder how they made tony look so skinny and sick. if it was cgi then i applaud them cause it looked so good

the way they killed thanos so fucking quickly here... i don't know how to feel lmao. like cutting the gauntlet arm and then slicing his neck... that's what we were all screaming at them during infinity war. it's good to see them learn from their mistakes, i guess ?

(can't remember the order in which things happen from now so forgive me if i make a mistake)

i told my sister "that's one of the russos!!!!!" so it took me ten seconds to realize that the russo was the gay character everyone was talking about (i thought it would be fury for no other reason than it being shocking and fury having very little to do with the plot, but)

and steve being supportive of that :( man out of time said gay rights!

carol's new hair!! holy shit!!!!!

rocket insinuating carol has been experimenting with more hairstyles... i would like to see it

don't think i missed that carol x rhodey nod. i support it.

don't wanna say it now... for now ill just state: i love what they're doing with natasha in the movie. she truly feels like a friend to steve. like that small gesture of her sliding the plate towards steve is just so domestic and beautiful! it really makes her feel so human and complex at the end. i was so worried about her being wasted but i loved her throughout the film

it was a fucking rat who got scott out. i have to laugh.

also is that the guy from that old "gayyyyy" meme????

cassie is all grown up!!!!!! i can't even imagine how hard it had been for her

also what happened to her mom? and the stepdad??? are they fine????? i hope so

i was hoping we would get more tony as a dad in this movie and it delivered!! tony is so fucking good with kids. the bond between him and morgan was so well portrayed

also the place they live in is so cozy and that's what he deserves

when steve stepped down the car in that black outfit with the leather jacket on i gasped... he's fucking gorgeous

i kept wanting him and tony to kiss lmao tf is wrong with me

OKAY my hawkeye rights. i missed him so much

the stylish subtitles on the middle of the screen felt like too much. this isn't a tumblr gifset honey, just write them down!

thinking about the whole clintasha conversation really foreshadows the whole thing. natasha cares so deeply about clint and really puts his needs before hers. it's so beautiful to see

honestly... my clintasha rights!

i think the hulk/bruce scene was kinda endearing but then the ant man banter dragged on for toooo long

the dab i YELLED. these poor kids have to stand this man on 2023 pulling out 2016 trends to appear Hip and Cool

fat thor...... i hate how it was handled. hate it so fucking much.

new asgard! that's so cute. i hope that's on norway

miek and korg are alive!!!!

the thought of thor insulting a possibly 14 year old on fortnight is too much for me. it sounds like bad fanon talk. i still laughed (bc noobmaster69??? that's fucking hilarious)

tonys reaction to i love you 3000 is so beautiful. like the way he looks taken aback and so happy. i love irondad

steve in a white shirt and jeans!!!! i gasped again. he's delivering, the fucking model

i know they were like, barely being decent to each other again, but i still wanted my stony hug:(

when they're discussing their infinity stones memories and natasha and tony are laying down together on a table???? adorable. amazing.

also why tf didn't nebula said the soul stone required a sacrifice??? i thought that's what she got from gamora dying in volmir

as soon as natasha and clint arrived to volmir i began chanting "nonononononononono"

fuckkdjdksndk fucking nebula. cue to more nononono chanting

rhodey knocking out quill with a single hit is the funniest scene in the movie

clintasha calling on bullshit on the sacrifice thing was also quite funny

the forehead touch :((( im so weak! so sad!

clintasha literally fighting each other to be each other's sacrifice!!!! kill me now!!!!

jeez now i can finally say it: scarjo shined so fucking much on this movie!!!! her delivery was amazing, i really felt a connection between her and the avengers, it really showed her growth during the five year time jump. she fucking killed it. she did her best and she's the best black widow we could've ever gotten.

clint mourning her :((((( probably the third time i cried during the movie

thor's panic attack being used for cheap laughs was the most uncomfortable moment for me... or any scene where people only saw thor as Fat and Lazy (basically, two thirds of the movie)

the freya + thor reunion was so sweet though!

okay. okay. hear me out. tony was on a very serious mission to regain an infinity stone. and the first thing he does is check out steve's ass. and aknowledge how glorious it is. i couldn't believe what i was watching!!!!!! like that actually fucking happened. consider me a fully formed stony bitch.

and scott joining in to say it was "america's ass" ???? poetic cinema

so it's canon that everyone checks out steve's ass and appreciates it as a national treasure. that's all i never thought id needed.

steve saying "hail hydra" i YELLED. it was a nice nod to the whole "cap is a nazi" mess

and steve fighting himself... hot

using his bucky trauma to shock himself is :/// but also :((((

i loved that for one moment i knew everyone on the theatre was staring at steve's ass

and steve being appreciative of his own butt!!!! ok that's all i have to say about steve's ass

i loved the reminder that thor was still kinda goofy back in avengers 1, for everyone who says taika completely changed his character. and the little tony + thor moment was adorable

"howard..... potts" i can understand tony being a mess but how did howard not suspect of anything??? elevator lady took one look of steve's face and all of her alarms started ringing

peggy carter... ive missed my wife so much

did peggy marry souza. i hope she did. steve tf are you doing staring at a married woman (jk)

clint kicking the stones away as soon as bruce is done with the snap is the biggest mood

also... the hell was scott looking at that made him think it had worked? just... more birds outside? i was really curious

the irony of the only avenger without superpowers being left with the stones

"i know you" *hands out stones* how can you not love clint, he's so pure

nebula killing his 2014 self is a power move. that would be me if i met my 2014 self

thor with a braided beard!!!!! beautiful

thanos is like, a real threat and i love that

okay. i kinda saw it coming. i saw thor leave mjolnir behind and i thought "oh????". and then the shock of thanos being able to wield stormbreaker. and then fucking mjolnir moving!!!!! i was the only person in the theatre who yelled

but seriously!!!! steve wielding AND fighting with mjolnir!!!!! couldn't stop thinking about it all day!!!!!!!!! STEVE IS WORTHY!!!!!!!

parallels to thor going for the chest. it never works babies!

and just.... this was steve's moment. steve i-can-do-this-all-day rogers really fighting with every ounce of his body and soul against the most powerful being on earth. justice for him getting knocked after touching thanos for one second in iw!

and steve getting up again! all dirty and wounded!! trembling with exhaustuation and resolution!!! with his broken shield on his arm!!!! just him facing the biggest army of the universe!!!!! so powerful

sorry to destroy this epic moment, but like, okay. people had been reintegrated to life like, twenty minutes before. and i understand that they were all confused and out of place. but sam really needed ALL that time to just... try to communicate with steve????? ok

the "avengers..." *brings mjolnir with one hand while bracing his shield with the other* "assemble" moment was... oh my God. chills all over my body.

that One Moment where steve has stormbreaker on his hand... so fucking hot

the tony and peter reunion holy shit. the hug was everything i needed! like please just hug tony stark for ages

and tony and pepper fighting together!!! that's a power couple right there

i felt it when quill looked at gamora and just... stopped. im so sad his moment was played for laughs when it was obviously such an important moment for his character

thanos was so fucking scared of wanda that he put his own troops at risk to stop her for a little while. strongest avenger right there!

and carol coming back!!!! i was like

i felt so relieved at that point. i was like "yeah thanos is fucking over what's next"

no need to talk about all the women coming together to defend peter :')

thanos getting the gauntlet again... the nonono chanting came back

fucking CAROL trying to stop him. looking at him with such a determined face, like "you can't stop me from stopping you". it was so powerful he had to snatch one stone to stop her

and strange giving him the one finger to tony.... i knew what was coming holy shit. i knew it. they knew it.

tony really proved himself there. it was his best scene on the entire mcu, don't argue with me!!!!!! the way he stood there and took all the power of the stones, unmasked, unaffected, powerful and almighty

"i am... iron man" cue to ugly sobbing

tony knew there was no other way. pepper did, too... she knew exactly what she had to tell him. she was right. tony spent all of these years moved by selfishness first, then fear, then guilt. an endless battle since thanos was on his head. but the war was over. what mattered was that he saved everyone, and he sacrificed himself for everyone. a complete 180° from last movie's ending.... wow

gotta said... peter there felt a little bit out of place for me. i think it would've been more powerful if he didn't say anything, though peter is a teenager, i can get it

his arc with steve felt unfinished, too. i would've liked to see steve's reaction as well, since tony had told him he wanted everyone back and also for his family so survive. but whatever

im not against tony killing thanos instead of gamora and nebula but i would've liked if we saw them react to his death, at least:/ like a little parallel between nebula's reaction at the beginning and the end of endgame

the One stucky interaction here was pulled from cap1 and iw. i feel betrayed

bucky Knew what steve was going to do. i wonder if steve told him before or bucky just sensed it

you can't convince me steve would go back and carelessly dance with peggy knowing his friend is being used like a weapon by hydra and bound to kill tonys parents. nah nah. it all felt wrong

my steggy rights!!!

love that the russos foreshadowed cap!bucky on tws just to give the shield to sam at the end

anyways what the fuck bucky was all steve had but he lived the happiest life without it and left him alone on the 21st century? okay fuck y'all

#long post #avengers endgame #endgame spoilers #avengers spoilers #avengers endgame spoilers #a4 spoilers #mine #marvel #this is.... so long and idk how to add a read more on mobile #but enjoy my thoughts i guess

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imagitory · 5 years

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So I saw Endgame! [spoilers]

To save your feed from nasty spoilers, here's a cut!

Overall, this movie was half-epic awesome and half...well, not.

The Good!

+As always, it was so great to see all of our favorite Avengers interacting and working together, especially at the end. Nebula and Tony playing games in space -- Natasha's friendships with Steve and Clint -- Scott fawning over Steve -- Tony and Steve teaming up to get the tesseract and more of Hank Pym's formula -- Nebula connecting with her past self and Gamora -- PETER REUNUTING WITH HIS PAPA TONY -- these characters and their bonds are what make all of these movies. There are a few I feel that got a bit overlooked, but to be fair, there are so, so many that it's not hard to see why not all of them could be in the spotlight.

+All of the action was well-choreographed and executed. It never felt one-note and it never dragged, at least for me.

+STEVE USING MJOLNIR, HELLZ YES. I cheered like an idiot when that happened.

+Even though I saw it coming, Tony's sacrifice was still well-written and not only fit his character but also the story. RDJ couldn't have asked for a better exit from the Marvel film franchise.

+Scott's reappearance after five years was great too! His reunion with Cassie got me kind of emotional -- such a proud daddy!

+As much as I do have problems with Steve's ending (which I'll come back to), I liked that it saluted the Falcon taking over the mantle of Captain America as he does in the comics.

+That whole bit with all of the ladies charging in after Captain Marvel -- total girl power, man!

+Tony and his daughter Morgan's interactions made me laugh -- who knew Tony could be such a good daddy? I always support good daddies. (And "I love you 3000"? My heart.)

+Thanos accessing Nebula's memories and thoughts because the technology in both her past and future selves are on the same network was actually kind of clever, and I loved how Gamora decided to fight with future!Nebula for the hope that they could really be sisters like she claims.

+All of the comments about Steve's ass made me laugh so hard. Looks like it's canon now, guys: Tony has given Steve's ass and what flatters it notable attention.

+Hey, Carol. Nice haircut. ❤️

The Not-So-Good...

+I must admit, half the reason I dreaded seeing this movie as well as Infinity War was that I knew that any deaths in Infinity War would inevitably be completely undone in Endgame, effectively canceling out any fatal stakes you could assign to the Cinematic Universe. It's something I hate about Marvel and DC comics, that in their long history, there are so many ways to bring characters back from the dead that you either don't believe they're actually dead or are left wondering why they're still dead. At least in Harry Potter, Harry surviving the Killing Curse (both times) was a fluke -- something that only came about by extreme chance that most people wouldn't have, something that could only have happened to Harry. That makes it so we still feel something when people die, and therefore care about what's going to happen. But yeah, sure enough, all the deaths in Infinity War basically get undone, thanks to some time travel and magic stones. It unfortunately almost had to be like this, if this story was going to be told, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't like that aspect of the story. This invalidation of stakes wouldn't hurt as much if this was the last film Marvel ever made, but really, with how much money Marvel could make with the remaining cast of characters, I sort of doubt that.

+The filmmakers try to give some logical explanation to the time travel thing, but in the end, thanks to Steve's decision (which I'll get into), it's kind of thrown into question again. The idea was that they wouldn't be able to change the future by going back in time...and yet I can't see Steve not trying to do anything to hinder Bucky's suffering in the past, if he was back there. Yes, maybe it wouldn't change future!Bucky, but it would still be his best friend. And Steve's return to civilian life in the past would surely influence some things, wouldn't it? Wouldn't him living a life back then involve him getting a job, earning accolades for his past service, making friends, having children...anything? The alternate universe scenario proposed by the Ancient One would inevitably have to happen if Steve stayed behind, which was the whole reason he supposedly went back to put the stones where they were in the first place!!

+Okay, and now finally what I've been leading up to...Steve. As appropriate as Tony's ending was, Steve's was just as inappropriate in my mind. Steve not only had gotten over Peggy in previous films, where he got to speak with her as an old woman and make peace with the life they never got to have, but Steve was actively moving on. He had been dating Sharon Carter. He had developed close friendships with the other Avengers. He had an entire scene where he preached to others the value of dealing with grief productively and growing despite it...only to run back to the past as soon as he got the chance? And this isn't even touching how terrible of a friend this makes Steve, leaving Bucky behind and not even bothering to talk to him about what he was doing. Steve barely even spoke to Bucky in this movie: even after Bucky came back from the dead, Steve never had a proper reaction. They never fought side by side, exchanged affectionate one-liners, hugged, nothing. And this is Bucky we're talking about, the guy who Steve let beat him within an inch of his life -- who Steve protected from Tony -- who Steve openly and painfully grieved during Infinity War. And Bucky not only is left out in the cold by Steve, but Bucky thinks the Falcon should be the sole person to talk to him after his decision becomes clear. Bucky should have confronted Steve. He should have been angry. He should've asked why Steve didn't ask him to come too, didn't ask if he wanted to. Bucky deserved a happy life just as much as Steve did, after all the horrible things they went through. Why did Steve deserve to go back in time and live happily, and not Bucky? Why was Steve okay with the fact that he wouldn't see his best friend for decades? Why was Steve comfortable with the thought that Bucky would have to watch his best friend die of old age not long after just fighting side by side with him? Not only does this ending break Steve's character, but it doesn't match his arc at all. He was adapting well to the present -- he was growing, he was evolving. And yet his ending ended up being running back to when things were simpler, running back to the past like a coward instead of embracing the future. FUCK. THAT.

+I really didn't care for either Clint or Thor's development in the five year time jump. For Clint, as much as I like the parallels the script made between him and Natasha in regards to the awful things they've done, I still have difficulty seeing someone who was so devoted to S.H.I.E.L.D. being a ruthless, lawless, out-of-control assassin, even if he did lose his whole family. But Thor's characterization was so much worse. Thor has always been funny in the movies, as are a lot of the characters, but something I always loved about him in the series was how he balanced humor, sincere emotions and being a total bad ass. In this film...yeah, he's almost entirely there for laughs. He had a few bad-ass moments, but he didn't get the chance for much sincere pathos, when he kind of deserved some. The loss of Loki and how Thor dealt with it is never really addressed after the five-year time jump. Loki in general actually doesn't get addressed after he gets the tesseract either -- that almost inevitably will have to be a spin-off, but...hey, yeah, if Loki's still unaccounted for, then Bruce's promise to not let any alternate timelines pop up is already going to be broken, isn't it? The God of Mischief has a hold of the tesseract.

+As much as I liked the thought of Bruce being able to balance out the two sides of himself, I preferred the execution from what little I've seen of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, where Hulk is the dominant personality but listens to Bruce more often and is therefore smarter than he was previously. In this version Bruce almost seems out of touch with his Hulk side when he tries to fight at first, even if he's now green all the time. It's just less entertaining, and seeing how Bruce evolved to the point where Banner and Hulk are interacting peacefully could've been an interesting thing to show over the course of several movies rather than something just alluded to after a time jump.

+Does everyone's vision of retirement involve moving out to a farm? Like, seriously, both Thanos and Tony do this. Thanos is almost comical, but Tony's just doesn't make sense to me. He just dropped his whole company, all of his weapons, protecting the world, everything?? Tony is a total control freak who became a superhero because other people were using his tech in a way he didn't approve of, yet he leaves his company and tech presumably in someone else's hands to raise his daughter out in the country? That just seems kind of unlike Tony.

So yeah, this film definitely is feels-worthy! I can see why there are so many strong reactions to it. It was a rather fun ride a lot of the time, but I admit, as an ending for quite a few of these characters, it wasn't all it could've been, in my opinion. Not a terrible way to end the Marvel Cinematic Universe's long run, but it's not an ending I'll have much fun revisiting. Once is more than enough.

Overall Grade: C

#marvel #the avengers #endgame #endgame spoilers #marvel spoilers #avengers spoilers #opinion #reviews #oh boy here i go

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prettyboysdontlookatexplosions · 5 years

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ratinthewall replied to your post: Hi! So your reread is both hilarious and I love...

so… this does mean you have to dish on your horoscope headcanons for the rest of the kids too :)

i mean this from the bottom of my heart: SO glad you asked. honestly the animorphs, except (appropriately) for ax, are like, so easy to identify with astrological archetypes when i went through it i almost thought these were all too obvious? like, oh, pegging the leader as a capricorn, real thoughtful. but just as jake is a capricorn not just because he’s the leader but because he is a million-year-old disciplinarian who hates himself and will throw down at the drop of a hat, the more i thought about all of these the more convinced i became.

cassie is a pisces. the elemental rules of thumb lead us straight to water for someone as ruled by her emotions, and as full of real respect for the power of emotion, as cassie; cassie herself, of course, has a number of meaningful interactions with water and water animals herself, from suggesting their trout morph to making friends with a psychic whale to channeling the whale to drown the veleek to the spiritual regard she has for dolphins to bidding aftran farewell in water form. pisces is associated with dreams and sleep, which also are recurring cassie motifs, from her reception of ax’s distress call to her interpretation of her own nightmares about choosing someone’s death in MM1 to the dreams that hint at the unraveling of the alternate timeline in MM4. when i think of pisces i think of a certain porousness, the end of the zodiac meaning, kind of, the aspect of human existence nearest and most prone to drifting into the broader fabric of the cosmos, which is cassie all over; jake calls her mystical in the very first book, she’s sub-temporally grounded (whatever that means), she’s kind of the only one of the animorphs that gives a shit about what happens to the non-human parts of earth in the events that the yeerks when for real, she has a talent for beautiful morphing (pisces is also a mutable sign). empathetic to a fault, alternately wise beyond her years and blinded by the immediate overwhelm of her own emotion, trusting her gut more than anything else. pisces. keywords: intuitive, dreamy, artistic, humane, sympathetic, sensitive, compassionate, perceptive, tender, impressionable

tobias is a libra. libra is the only inanimate sign of the twelve, which feels appropriate for someone whose sense of self as an actual person is as weak as tobias’s. libra is the scales, which is to say justice but also a balancing act, and, like, is that not tobias’s entire life? hawk/boy, predator/prey, kill/save. he’s looking, always, for the true balance of the components of himself, and in true libra fashion is never fully satisfied. he’s also the most consistent swing vote on the team, specifically because he’s the only animorph who consistently sees both sides of a story, who can hold the micro and the macro in his mind simultaneously, who can really look simultaneously at benefits and costs—and he often expresses himself carefully, waiting to speak until he can articulate himself, not getting caught up in the back-and-forth of marco/rachel on one hand and cassie on the other. my favorite passage in the entire series is his interior monologue in 23 about how every single human lives on that edge between savage and saint—about how for everyone, doing the right thing is a balancing act, doing the right thing in fact requires a balancing act because there’s never going to be just one right answer that gets you through everything. he can be judgmental, but he is also willing to cut people slack—he tells rachel, gently, to back off a teammate more than once. IMO tobias is the character through which the true moral message of the books—which (again IMO) largely hinges on exactly that idea that there are no shortcuts, no easy answers, that you are constantly figuring out what is needed today and you don’t always get to be sure it was right—gets most clearly expressed, which i mention mostly because, and i did not know this when i first pinned tobias as a libra, K. A. applegate is a libra too. keywords: just, sociable, refined, accommodating, kind, fair, diplomatic, likable, indecisive, respectful, artistic

rachel as an aries, again, like, it feels almost too obvious? is it jake that literally calls her the goddess of war? but, well: rachel’s comfort zone is the fight. she’s a creature of action, someone who likes doing better than she likes thinking, and who is not great at sitting still. she is quick to anger, she does have the temper of someone ruled by mars, and she will fuck your shit up if she decides you deserve it. she’s got that aries impulsivity, too—how many times does she do something only to think immediately afterward, or even as she’s initiating the movement, “so, this is stupid of me”? she’s not one for planning ahead, and although she’s aware of the biggest picture she doesn’t intuitively take into account the consequences of whatever they’re considering. she’s restless, driven by an internal battery. but she’s thrilling to be around, she lights people up, she radiates strength that others can use. jake calls the shots, but rachel is the one metaphorically waving the flag. keywords: active, initiating, leading, independent, aggressive, impatient, combative, energetic, pioneering, naive, assertive. plus, rachel as aries gives some fun things with both pisces-cassie and libra-tobias. rachel and cassie very much are poles on the animorphs spectrum, which is captured by placing rachel as aries (the baby of the zodiac, holding only itself) and cassie as pisces (the eldest sign, containing all of them); the two of them are simultaneously nestled next to each other and a universe apart. meanwhile aries and libra are sister signs, which: Aries is drawn into the Libran mystery and benefits from diplomacy when they become confrontational. In comparison, Aries can teach Libra the skill of quick decision making; which although impulsive provides the spontaneity they need. Libra can be indecisive to a fault, they can benefit from any help in this department! sound like anyone we know? i also (1) as a capricorn who has only dated arieses and libras like the idea of them as a cardinal sign power couple and (2) love and find very fitting with them and the series as a whole the idea that rachel is ruled by the god of war while tobias is ruled by the goddess of love.

marco is a gemini. motormouth whose speed of talk is outpaced only by the speed of his brain. big on intellect, low on internal emotionality. a joker, vibrating a little higher, a little faster than everyone around him. difficult for other people to get a handle on, comes across as more glib, more callous than he is (i, a gemini rising.... Can Relate). a people person, interested in others—he is the only animorph we see trying to strike up new connections well into the war, and like yeah it’s mostly because he’s the thirstiest animorph by virtue of being the only human without a counterpart on the team onto whom he can focus and have reciprocated all that desperate energy but still—but also good with others, charming and likable and the best liar on the team by far, the quickest on his feet. containing a central duality, not the way tobias does, where there’s a constant tension and ongoing recalibration between hawk and human, but completely, even comfortably: the lightest animorph and the darkest, the most chipper and the most terrified, the most normal and the most ruthless, and, crucially, given to switching from one to the other on a dime. thinking in multiple dimensions. keywords: talkative, mental, adaptable, flexible, changeable, responsive, sociable, superficial, versatile, inquisitive, witty. (also, interesting to think of marco & cassie as the two mutable signs to whose openness, changeability, etc. cardinal jake is drawn to.)

ax... you know, it really is fitting that he’s the most difficult one. does astrology even apply if you weren’t born on this planet? is his astrological birthday the day of his first human morph? do andalites have their own zodiac, their own archetypes, their own beliefs about how the constellations shape their lives? (i bet they do. military andalites are probably too rational for it, but i bet everyday andaites do have their own set of astrological concepts). at first i thought aquarius, because of the easy Out There/weirdo/alien connection, and his technological prowess connoting a certain intellect, but the thing is, although ax is well ahead of humans scientifically because of the advanced position of andalites as a whole, we don’t know that he’s particularly impressive by andalite standards, and in fact the series strongly suggests he is... not. (falling asleep in xenobiology, anyone?) now i think—and again, i’m less convinced of this than of the others, but the more time i spend with it the more right it feels—i like him as a taurus. the food thing is obvious, yes, tauruses like to eat, like sensual pleasures, and we know that ax finds human senses just absolutely mindblowing all the time and has NO shame about sharing this fact. but ax is also determined (to kick visser three’s ass, as a mere aristh!), and yes, can be stubborn (”yes, prince jake” / “twenty-five of your minutes”). think of how he builds a scoop for himself, fills it up with concrete physical things to make it a home—that’s very taurean, to me. (the tauruses i know fucking love nesting.) i also like the idea of ax as a taurus to jake’s capricorn, because (as a capricorn) i always think of taurus as like, capricorn’s less deranged little sibling, and i think there’s something to be said for the fact that ax and jake are similar people—unimpressive students who deeply want to Do Right—who have a similar outlook on the war (which is to say that they’re the two who think of it most fully as a war instead of a series of battles, ax because he brings in the bigger picture of the yeerks and jake because he has to take a broader perspective in order to make the calls and lead the team), but ax is 6000% less tormented and fucked up about it than jake is. keywords: persevering, down-to-earth, stable, stubborn, possessive, prosperous, dependable, physical, sensual. in my reckoning, the only fixed sign of the bunch, which feels true. yeah, i’ll take it.

#animorphs

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kclovesart · 5 years

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I just saw Avengers: Endgame. So...

MCU SPOILERS! Avengers: Endgame SPOILERS! SPOILERS! I’ll be paraphrasing every quote but still SPOILERS!!!!! Did I mention there are spoilers beyond this point?

Spoilers final warning.

First this maybe an unpopular opinion but I'm glad Carol Danvers didn't play a huge role. For me, this was supposed to be the original 6 Avengers last hurrah sort of thing. Not someone who's literally been in only 1 other MCU movie.

Second, thank you Russo Brother's for letting Tony be mad at Steve. And I'm sorry but after all Tony went through he deserved to be mad. And it broke my heart when Tony broke down. That they were the Avengers and not the "Pre-vengers". Since as Steve said in AoU If they lost they’d lose together and Civil War split the team Tony has every right to be angry. And no matter who’s side you were on, no one can deny Steve’s heavy hand and hypocritical behavior in the movie. (But that’s a post for another day)

Third, how the **** did they have a time travel movie without coming off cheesy or like they jumped the shark?!?! This was so well put together! And so well thought out. Is it perfect? No. Will there be a couple of us out there trying to figure out the time hole/loops? Probably. But it did not come out cheesy? Awesome.

Fourth, It is incredible how well the Avengers are showing the stages of grief. Steve is Denial (getting over denial?) with his support group is beautiful. Clint’s Anger is beautifully and heart breaking beautiful. Bruce and Hulk’s Bargaining in literally becoming one, while weird is amazingly creative and cool. Thor’s Depression is so freaking relatable it’s almost heartbreaking. And Tony’s Acceptance of everything and having moved on is incredible.

Fifth, Morgan Stark is adorable. Like rivals my nephew adorable. And heartbreaking since my first thought when seeing her was ‘NO! Do not give us Peter and take away Morgan!’ She was honestly what Tony always wanted in a way. She is him being able to move on. He was so trapped by what happened in Afghanistan that it took him and Pepper 10 years before they were able to settle down with each other. Tony was destined to be a parent/paternal figure. Literally since the beginning of the MCU fan fic writers have been giving him children and now the MCU has made it cannon! And more importantly it fits. Look at them!

Sixth, I’ve seen my parents have the same conversation that Tony and Pepper have. They both want to help people so much it takes over their lives and relationships half the time. And yet they still do it. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. And because it gives my sister and I an example to look up to.

Seventh, The Vormir scene.

I was not expecting Natasha to die. but then they said they had to go to Volmir, and that it was Clint and Natasha going. I was mentally preparing myself to say goodbye to Clint. And then Natasha JUMPS after him. They saved each other for a moment and I was like ‘Red Skull will let them both live because of the love for each other.’ And the she LETS GO!!!!!!!!! And Clint breaks down for the lost of his friend. When in the EXACT SAME SITUATION Thanos did nothing!!! And everyone mourns. Yes! She has always said the Avengers were her family, but in that scene everyone shows how they are a family. Even when Thor blows it off thinking he could bring her back still feels right. Like how you expect a loved one to come back after they’re gone.

Eighth, The interactions during time travel is awesome. I love how all the Asgardians call Rocket a rabbit. I love that moment with Frigga and Thor matched only by Howard and Tony. This is truly the moment, both of them feel and understand their parents love. I love how they joked about the whole Cap is Hydra thing from a few years ago, and more importantly everyone’s faces in the elevator. Although I wish we would’ve seen more of Rocket on Asgard. Please let there be a deleted scene somewhere!

Ninth, Thanos and his army comes into the future. It feels so right. Of course even though he knows he’s going to win in his current course, he’ll do something to ensure it stays. And how he manipulates past Nebula is honestly heartbreaking. There you see all Nebula ever wanted was to be loved. And she honestly went down doing what she thought her father wanted from her.

Tenth, Nebula killing Nebula works on so many levels. Don’t tell me it’s a plot hole. This was such an important moment for her. This was her truly letting go of her past. This was her letting go of wanting to please Thanos. Letting go of the anger she had for Gamora. Letting go of her self hatred. It was her becoming her own person.

Eleventh, the Battle Scene.

I can’t get the GIF where they’re all together. But the simplicity of Steve’s “Assemble” Was just so beautiful I almost cried! This was literally 11 Years worth of movies coming together for one incredible moment. It had literally every able person fighting in one single moment.

Twelfth, I swear I’m not a lesbian or bi or anything. But that A- Force moment where all the female heroes are together, gave me goosebumps. And am a little turn on? Either way it was incredible!!!!!!!! And there better be another moment like this in any other movie!

Thirteenth, I love, love, love that they killed Tony. Not because I hate Tony. In fact I love him. But he has been trying to die a heroes death since the literal beginning. Heck, IM1 began with him almost dying. He has been a martyr denied the right to die. And the best part was that he died surrounded by the one he loved, except for Morgan. The love of his life, his best friend, and the person he saw as a son. Do NOT say Peter isn’t his son. That hug was the way you hugged someone you thought you’d never see again. And it was heartbreaking. And it was amazing!! And I’m pretty sure he made sure Thanos was the last one dusted. And I love that! Like a suffer what I suffer moment where everything he worked for turned to ash.

Finally, complaints. I wished Harley, Lila, Cassie and Morgan played a bigger part. I understand why they didn’t. Truly I do. But I wanted to see a set up for the next generation outside of Peter. They need to do a new generation, passing of the torch thing in my opinion. Also, I wish that Thanos had been able to split Steve’s shield in half like Tony’s vision in AoU. Imagine how incredible it would’ve been if Tony saw that and Steve (Unconscious or dead) before he turned the tables on Thanos. That would’ve been awesome.

I’m so curious how things will go from here. I’m not sorry for such a long post. MCU has played such a huge role in my life. I was 7 when the first Iron Man movie came out. And I have loved it ever since. I needed to share my thoughts. Please expect more.

And one last thing, I don’t usually sponsor others but please for the love of MCU check out the One Marvelous Scene playlist. They all have so much to say and the YouTubers have so much to say in general.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd7v7nQLQGwKQxfPtUPz6i1h3-JVxBx0D

Long may Marvel thrive, and may you all enjoy these movies for years to come.

#MCU #avengers #avengers endgame #spoilers #tony stark #captain america #thor #rocket #thoughts #ohmygosh #thisjusthappened #lovethemcu #infinity war

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elenafisher · 5 years

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chelsea watches (read: is agonized by) “avengers: endgame”

i just got home from endgame and i have a lot to say about it!

OVERALL:

i... liked it? i think? i can’t tell.

there’s probably going to be a lot of complaining in this post, yet i didn’t actually hate the movie. but there was a lot to digest, so i’m sure my feelings will change over the next couple of weeks.

this movie was edited weird and i think it gave me whiplash.

the tone was dramatic and desperate, then lighthearted and fun, and then back to dramatic and desperate before i could so much as blink. it was very jarring!

it also made me cry.

robert downey jr. has always been very earnest in his portrayal of tony stark, but he gave all he had in this one. i was on the edge of tears watching him the whole time, really. there’s definitely a sense of finality to his performance.

those last 20 minutes had me weeping a bit. when they put the arc reactor on the bundle of flowers... oh, my heart. :’(

THE GOOD:

(most of) our characters are back!

but was there ever any doubt? the stakes were made to feel high, but they never really were. you always came away with the feeling that they were all gonna make it.

no word on vision, though! pretty confused about that one. i know he was killed after the snap occurred, so i don’t think they actually can bring him back, but i always thought that he would, since they have this to film still.

it was very well made. i hope they keep bringing back the people who work on the sets, the cinematography, and the lighting, because it was all so well done.

we need to raise one for alan silvestri and his amazing soundtrack.

oh, did anyone else notice the emphasis on DAUGHTERS?

tony’s daughter morgan

scott’s daughter cassie

clint’s daughter lila

thanos’s "daughters”, nebula and gamora

to me, it felt like they were setting up these girls for potentially taking up their father’s mantles, which would actually be cool as fuck.

morgan stark is absolutely the cutest little bean i’ve ever seen in my life.

I LOVE YOU 3000!

her scenes with tony were so sweet.

that cheeseburger parallel... oh man.

really, every scene that every person shared with tony was really good. you can just feel that everybody was giving everything they had because they knew they only had so much time left to play these characters together, and they wanted to get these final performances right.

tom holland, you heartbreaker. the audience in my theater went absolutely nuts when he finally returned. but when he was crying as he was talking to tony for the last time, oh man.

“i lost the kid.” please...

THE BAD:

i still don’t really get what they’re doing with thor.

i don’t share this opinion much because this is tumblr and everyone loves this movie, but i didn’t like ragnarok, and i don’t like what’s become of thor or bruce. i wasn’t really checking on these two before, but now they’re just the comedy reliefs of the MCU.

chris hemsworth is funny, of course, and thor is a badass, of course, but they were just trying so hard with him.

it kind of feels like they’re just pulling him apart, like one group still wants him to be the noble leader of asgard and the other just wants him to be the court jester. so, rather than decide, they just mushed their ideas together.

captain marvel: i knew she wasn’t going to be in the movie much, because she would’ve done everything in, like, 30 minutes, but they really, really underutilized her. seriously, she was only in this one, at most, for five minutes.

but, in those five minutes, she got a new haircut and kicked all kinds of ass, which are both wins.

THE UGLY:

STEVE ROGERS, SIR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

i can’t believe they hit the undo button on cap’s story.

rather than have him grow and develop in his new role in the future he never wanted or expected to receive, they just had him go back in time to marry the one that got away.

but don’t get me wrong y’all; steve and peggy hurt me so good. i live for their angst. but they weren’t supposed to get together like this!

it’s gross because peggy moved on. she was able to pick up the pieces and create something wonderful for herself by having a fulfilling career and a happy marriage with another man.

steve should’ve accepted her choice. if he loves her so much, he should’ve accepted that he lost her and, since she moved on without him, he has to move on without her.

i can almost get the poetic cinema that they were going for: after tony loses his chance at having a family and living his life, steve is woken up and realizes how much he’s been missing out on, so he decides to go out there and discover what he’s been running away from all this time.

but, rather than do those things, or literally anything else, steve goes back in time to... marry peggy.

like, he could’ve traveled the world with sam and bucky, or gone solo for a while, or even hit up sharon again.

sharon carter, what a waste. they really couldn’t commit to the idea of her and steve together, could they?

but as soon as they confirmed sharon to be peggy’s niece, there was just no way a romance could blossom. it’s kind of hilarious how in a cinematic universe where raccoons talk, characters time travel, and AIs can be 3D printed, kissing the niece of your former flame is still considered to be the weirdest thing about it.

seriously: i find it all so vulgar and manipulative.

the one good thing that came out of this was sam wilson, the only worthy captain america, receiving the shield.

i’ve read that some people are upset that sam got the shield instead of bucky. like, did y’all watch the last movie? let bucky have his plums and his goats. he’s done fighting other people’s wars.

THE EVEN UGLIER:

i got problems, y’all, and those problems have two names: natasha romanoff and clint barton.

i ship these two because everything in the avengers (2012) led me to believe that these super cool assassins who were fighting each other were actually in love with each other and it was them against the world (which doesn’t sound familiar at all, i know).

the characters had history and scarlett johansson and jeremy renner had chemistry. i saw it and i know all y’all saw it.

so, y’all can imagine how goddamn appalled i was when i first read that natasha and clint were not only not lovers, but that clint actually had a secret family, with a secret wife, on a secret farm, and that we were going to be told this with absolutely no build-up whatsoever.

but y’all could tell that the russos were as tired as i was when it came to accepting those facts!

they decided to throw caution to the wind and show some more intimacy between natasha and clint, which was delicious. finally, some good fucking food.

i mean, the necklace? she was wearing her necklace again!

to me, it seemed like natasha had fallen in love with him all those years ago, but he was either already married or had turned her down (or both?), and she was never able to act on her feelings for him. i think that clint was also in love... and perhaps knew that he could never be with her, because of their lifestyles and her past, and chose laura instead. or something agonizing and unfulfilling like that.

(i really hope her upcoming movie expands on this.)

and i do think that she loved him. like, romantically. she couldn’t stop touching him the whole movie (HER HANDS ON HIS FACE!!! she’s so worried for him i’m crying) and was shaking, she was so relieved, upon being reunited with him.

it is some consolation that no matter what, you are never able to deny that natasha and clint love each other: even when they’re not romantic partners, they are definitely platonic life partners. their mutual devotion to one another, in almost every universe in the comics and in these movies, is incredibly strong and moving.

so, rather than endure clint’s death, natasha chose to sacrifice herself so that he could get the stone and, ultimately, be reunited with his family. and, on paper, it sounds okay... except, it really isn’t.

y’all wanna know why it’s not okay?

it’s not okay because natasha was an original avenger, and we were never given the chance to spend time with her, or become emotionally invested in her journey, or to care about her reasons for making the ultimate sacrifice.

like, i cared about natasha, but i felt that i would’ve cared so much more (and that the audience could’ve, as well) had we’d been able to have a front row seat to her “atonement” arc.

because, as an audience, we sort of started in medias res: while she was not initially forthcoming with who she was or what she was doing, natasha came to be seen as a reliable and capable ally by the avengers, her second appearance onscreen. we are given no real reason to distrust her because she’s so desperate to find redemption, which she’s made apparent in almost every movie, and it’s hard to hate somebody working so strongly for another chance.

i mean, this journey would’ve been made so much more badass by us experiencing it firsthand, rather than relying on the hearsay from the directors, writers, and actors. we should’ve gotta a miniseries starring natasha romanoff as the black widow, so we could finally see what she did to become so disgusted with herself and so feared by everyone else.

this is (partially) why so many people adore bucky. we’ve seen him as the best friend, the fellow comrade, before he was forced to become a mindless killing machine. we’ve seen him kill and cause absolute mayhem. but now we’re watching bucky grow out from that and become something more (and, hopefully, something better).

basically, natasha romanoff should’ve received that same treatment. we needed to explore all of her facets, not just some of them.

tl;dr: we should’ve had more time with natasha.

it’s also not okay because natasha’s sacrifice, one that was both irreversible and absolutely pivotal to the fate of the final battle, was not given nearly the same amount of respect that tony received after his demise.

while we all owe a lot to robert downey jr. for his choice to portray, and continue portraying, tony stark / iron man, he is not the most important avenger.

it’s also worth noting that he did not have to be the one to snap his fingers. i mean, anyone could’ve been given what tony was wearing and then wielded the gauntlet. but, like natasha, he made a choice to sacrifice his life for the greater good.

yet, only tony was given an elaborate funeral. no matter how you slice it, it’s enormously disrespectful to a veteran team member. for this ultimate sacrifice to be made by the only woman on the original crew is doubly insulting.

AND ALL OF THIS IS MADE WORSE BY THE FACT that natasha’s death mirrors gamora’s. they’re identical, right down to the music that plays and how the camera focuses on their bloody bodies.

the russos were probably trying to invoke poetic cinema again here, but the scene comes across as somewhat lazy and insincere. like, they can’t even kill her right!

as terrible as this scene is, i want to give scarlett and jeremy a round of applause for it. you really got the sense that these characters were more than ready to die for each other, and that’s only because scarlett and jeremy were able to sell the emotional intimacy of the scene so well.

all of it is too little, too late, however.

allow me to conclude this rambling nonsense by stating that i also think they condensed her character arc too much. like, i know this branches off of what i was just talking about a dozen bullet points ago, but even if natasha were to receive this ending, i feel that she received it too soon, y’know?

there should’ve been more scenes in the previous films dedicated to her, and her feelings, and how she relates to any given situation, because another problem that drags this scene down is the lack of any information about natasha.

like, even when assembled with the other avengers, she feels remote.

perhaps that’s intentional, given that the character’s a spy and has been enigmatic about every other area of her life for so many years. but i think she’s been written to be too enigmatic.

#endgame spoilers #chelsea.txt #this is so long lmao kudos to anyone that reads it #and yeah i probably have more thoughts swimming around in my head #but i've been trying to write this post for three hours now and i can't think of anything else to write lol #i need to watch the movie again

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eerythingisshaka · 5 years

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I made this post on Monday, and just now got around to edit and post

I’m basically going through the whole plot of Endgame and how I felt, I just had to hammer it out. If you haven’t seen it yet, please come back when you have! First things first, I did not cry! I feel like I’m in the minority, and I swear I am a devoted MCU fan and love Tony and Cap and them, but I did not cry and I’m so disappointed with myself! I got more emotional thinking about it in the days leading to the premiere than I did while viewing. I think it was too entertaining for me to find it sad? Not like movies I cry at aren’t entertaining but the action and substance was making my nerd heart pitter patter so much, I was over the moon and couldn’t come down. I will say though, ever since watching Endgame, every past Marvel movie makes me somewhat emotional. This whole thing is like a high school graduation, like I’m never gonna see my friends together again like this, an era is over! All I have are memories, aaaaggghhhh!

That being said. the movie grips me from the beginning with the song Dear Mr. Fantasy by Traffic. Marvel has some pretty good picks for songs to set the tone for their movies, to this day this song kinda pulls at my heart strings because of its message

Dear Mr. Fantasy play us a tune

Something to make us all happy

Do anything, take us out of this gloom

So of course, we all felt this way with the ending of Infinity War, having so many of our faves being sacrificed to dust for Thanos’ plan of rectifying what he saw as the decrepit state of the universe. Walking away from part one with the villain winning was a fresh slap to my face and a year of agony to find out how the heroes pull this off in the end. Take us out of our gloom Marvel!

And the characters must feel the same, as the film opens with Clint and his daughter doing some archery in their yard as a very American lunch of mayo and mustard hot dogs are being served. As his daughter Lilah is putting things away, Clint calls out to her only to see dust and turns again to his family with the same result. So much for freedom from our gloom, right? In case you somehow forgot, this little scene gives us a friendly reminder of what we were left with in 2018. If that’s not enough, Nebula and Tony playing the little hand goal, paper flick game that is just darling to witness. Nebula plays like a rehabilitated puppy still unsure about being around humans as Tony instructs her like a child on every development of the game. Her little perk up when he announces her win is so cute as they shake hands, finally sealing her character development from ruthless, blood-thirsty appeaser of a sadistic father, to a more stoic, regretful soft spoken but hoarse matured version of herself. All the while, Tony is beginning to starve from being malnourished and depleting oxygen. Nebula sets him in a piloting chair as he drifts off, losing consciousness until the homie we have all assumed would be coming appears as a glow in his irises, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel.

Carol flies the ship back to Tony’s compound where Cap, Rhodey, Natasha, and Pepper wait for him to descend. We get a moment with him and Cap that is sweet as Cap walks him down, Tony tells him he lost Peter Parker, an obviously huge loss for this to be the first thing he mentions. The warmth is lost quickly though as the next step of Tony’s grief comes afoot: anger and finger pointing. Tony, on an IV and all, is relentless as he festers in bitterness while lashing out at Cap and company that the fight was lost and even encouraged by Cap because they were together. This optimism is obviously not enough for Tony, who grows weary of Cap’s positivity, opting that he finish the work alone or that Danvers takes on the task herself before collapsing from exhaustion.

Carol, Thor and the gang have a slight dick measuring contest on kicking Thanos’ ass once and for all before Nebula offers to take them straight to him. And where is he? Why on a farm on a planet in the galaxy, nursing his wounds from the snap. His entire right side is burned to a crisp due to the snap, and at the same time has obliterated the stones much to their dismay. Thor wastes no time in chopping off Thanos’ head, a little too late but satisfying none the less. However, in the end, the stones are nowhere to be found, the last person to have them is dead, and no one from the snaps is back yet. Cue music!

So, the gloom we are supposed to be rescued from, when does that start right? Not for another five years according to a time lapse card. Our heroes have no means of figuring out the solution to the snap; Cap forms a support group for survivor’s, Natasha has grown out her blonde hair and is constantly checking in on happenings around the world, and universe since the snap, jumping at even the mention of an earthquake. Rhodey briefs her on a terrible killing spree of gang members that appear to have a style that is well known to them as Clint Barton’s aka Hawkeye. Despite Rhodey’s hesitance Natasha insists he keeps an eye on him, inferring that she may track him down eventually. (Quick side note here, something to be seen as a possible plot flaw: Hawkeye’s bloodlust and disregard for lives after losing his whole family in the snap isn’t dug into very deeply after this. Rhodey said it’s so bad he didn’t even wanna find him! But there wasn’t any in fighting or push back after that between them. He has one instance of almost interacting with his family on a test run for time travel which is against the rules, but other than that he isn’t killing people recklessly or even triggered to tears or drinking incessantly over his loss. But more on Thor in a minute).

If it hadn’t been for that rat running across the panel in Scott Lang’s van to activate his return from the Quantum realm who knows how long, if ever, would they figure out the means of traveling back to get the stones. I was so glad I watched Antman and Wasp right before seeing Endgame, so I knew the van, Cassie, and a little bit about the Quantum Realm. I’m actually upset that I didn’t realize the realm could be used for their benefit because I was always betting on the Time Stone being the corrector in all this, but anyway. Scott returns highly confused as he realizes the state of the world since his entrapment in the realm. Seeing his baby girl become a young lady was a powerful scene to witness, and had my heart dent a little bit, but I held it together. Soon after that, Scott makes his way to find Cap and Natasha, explaining how 5 years was really five hours for him, so time is different in the realm which could possibly mean something for them getting the dusted back. At one point in the movie, I’m blanking on which comes first but for now I’ll dive into this bit, we are reintroduced to Bruce Banner as Hulk…as one person. I completely forgot that we didn’t see Bruce in trailers, which is for this reason. Comic book followers would know, but there is a iteration of Bruce Banner becoming Professor Hulk, so he functions as his normal scientist self, while also being a big green being. Oddly enough, it does not take long for me to grow accustomed to The Bruce Hulk hybrid, he is hilarious and sweet and more confident even then he was as a regular man despite his appearance. He has fans, people love him and this is a far cry from when we are introduced to him in the original Avengers as Nat tracks him down somewhere in Southeast Asia, a nervous wreck loner who is quick to anger. I could see this Hulk being fanfic fodder, not my cup of tea, but he was just that damn appealing, I could see it.

But even with Bruce’s brain, time travel isn’t exactly hammered down as an absolute possibility so they reach out to another source on the matter. Which brings me to my love/hate relationship with Tony. I ADORE that he finally had a baby with Pepper, Morgan “Cussin Queen” Stark. Tony is living his best life in the natural air in his log cabin, as off grid as he possibly can be before Black Widow, Cap, and Lang pull up to question the possibilities ahead of them. The strength of his cold shoulder gave me an insatiable chill down my spine. Tony is the King of Petty, but rarely passive so I was surprised by that moment of mean girl attitude from him. But luckily he served up something to drink (I’m thinking it’s iced coffee or chocolate milk. I’m still confused by what that held.) Tony basically tells them they are crazy and hoping for nothing, because he’s good where he is. He has his girls and no stress which is honestly what the Avengers always seem to guarantee for him since joining the group with SHIELD under Nick Fury’s insistence years ago. I do wish I could remember the theories and scientific laws he said would be fucked up with their plan, just to see if they are real ones but also I love when Tony just spouts his knowledge like it’s IKEA instructions. He makes it seem so simple until you have to break it down, and up until this point Scott seemed like the smartest one on the team but really Tony could’ve been figured this out if he wasn’t so granola now, which is great and happy for him, but he really did give up very quickly. Once again, probably good reason, self-care. But still.

Gotta say, I love a selfish Tony though. Quick shoutout to Robert Downey Jr. in showing his chops by bringing the emotional fortitude to this Disney movie. The man has been THROUGH IT and has had enough. Tony only has so much optimism in him that the cheerleading squad can provide before his is completely done and baby was DONE.

But without Tony’s help they test run moving through the quantum realm only to discover what Tony says later, that time kept moving though Scott instead of him moving through time, making him a baby, and old man, a kid again, and back to an adult. But with a fancy time GPS Tony doctor’s up on the fly after discovering that the group isn’t crazy about the time travel being an option, they are good to go like it’s day one! (Another side note to Paul Rudd aka Scott Lang giving us much needed comic relief. I have never laughed so hard at my precious baby trying to eat a taco in my life. Also, Cap’s yeehaw attire in this scene? The checkered white shirt with his dark jeans pulled up? Truly save the horse and ride the cowboy instead man.)

Now at this point we have to check in on Thor, our sweet pirate angel. How has he fared? Him, Valkyrie, and the surviving Asgardians establish their own town on Earth. Thor and Rocket go to find him, with a preview from Valkyrie of what Thor’s mental state is by the piles of beer kegs outside. So, when they enter his home, giving a wave to Korg and Miek playing video games on the couch, Thor tumbles out behind Thor and Rocket reaching for another cold on, camera to his back. By now we can see his hair is overgrown and greasy, and his midsection has a new pair of love handles we aren’t used to seeing on our svelte, brutish god of thunder. So when he turns around, audience erupts in the theaters, as do I, to see him now looking like a melted ice cream cone with a beer belly that somehow still has some toned abs on top if you look closely, paired with some man titties to complete all billowing over his pajama pants to complete his depression ensemble. This was more shocking to me than the Hulk/Banner hybrid reveal. We hadn’t seen an image of Thor outside of him giving Carol Danvers the Stormbreaker scare test in the previews, so thanks for another surprise. Despite his crumbling emotional stability at even the mention of Thanos’ name (tip of the hat to Chris Hemsworth for making my heartache with every crack in his voice), I have to get on my soapbox and say Thor’s body is beautiful! He is a supreme King, deliciously made who can still smash any pair of cheeks to ash and dust with the power Mjolnir in each thrust quicker than any counterfeit gauntlet. Just watch him later on, you’ll see! I’d have that belly slapping on top of me in a quantum realm millisecond after he takes a shower and attends therapy. A lil pudge ain’t killed no part of his power, whew. Don’t make me shout.

Back to plot, with the promise of beer, Thor the Dude tags along to start the plan of going back to retrieve infinity stones. After a synopsis of each one and where they were located, the crew drums up the plan to retrieve each stone from the past, bring them back to the future to put into a new gauntlet and snap the other half of life’s creatures back. This part of the movie is so stellar because if you have watched past Marvel movies (the first Avengers, Gaurdians of the Galaxy, Captain America First Avenger, and Thor Dark World) you will recognize the scenes that are featured with their past selves going through their past-current scenes. Natasha and Clint go to Vormir for the Soul stone, which I am surprised Nebula did not warn them that someone would have to die to retrieve it. What if two characters that didn’t love each other went for the Soul stone, is it over and done? But luckily, or unluckily, Clint and Natasha are able to get the stone with a sacrifice of Natasha’s life (who honestly sacrificed herself but it counted. And I need so much more clarity on the specs of the soul stone, it ain’t even funny. Will we ever see what the realm Gamora and Black Widow are in is like?) These two characters have been last on my list always so the scene was crazy watching them battle back and forth for a chance at ending their lives but the end result didn’t hit my heart but still great. I kinda would’ve wished little Gamora was there again to talk to us.

Then Hulk has to go see Ancient One to retrieve the time stone, which she will not relinquish until Hulk says that Strange gave it up willingly. On his word alone, she gives it to him, sensing the imminent danger that could come that is worse than the alternate reality she faces for not having the time stone with her. Then Rhodey and Nebula go to Morag for the Power Stone. So this is the first sign of overall trouble in their plan because apparently having two Nebula’s mix memory frequencies that reveal the whole entire plan to Thanos. I thought for sure at some point that Nebula’s eye was gonna have to be dug out to ensure the completion of the mission but it winds up that Nebula and Gamora take her hostage before past Nebula takes current Nebula’s place with the crew going back with their stones, none the wiser. Not even Rhodey gives her a check in like “why did you not come back with me when I jetted back to the future? what happened?” Nothing! The death of Natasha kind of takes precedent over anything else and leave Nebula to finish off bringing Thanos back with her to wreak havoc.

Lastly, Cap, Tony, and Scott are in New York circa Avengers number 1, fighting the space aliens and keeping Loki from the tesseract. And I am not exaggerating when I say this part of movie is possibly the greatest cinematic feature I have ever seen, or will ever see my natural life. You have Tony, creeping in the shadows to get Antman ready to help retrieve the tesseract, all the while admiring Cap’s ass! He does it, critiquing that his outfit does nothing for his ass, when we all know nothing holds back them cheeks from making an appearance. Scott, ever the voice of standom, downplays Tony’s critique and coins his rear end as “America’s Ass”. I EXPLODED. Ever since Captain America: the First Avenger, I have pined, no, thirsted, nay, LUSTED for that man in Marvel cinema. He has the BAWDY to be Cap, and never slacks. I have also always been a big fan of Tony and Cap having a torrid love affair that Marvel refused to implement but teases anytime they stare deeply into each other’s eyes or argue feistily until they are nose to nose, just get a room you two! Ten points to Gryffindor for feeding the fans what they want!

So, New York is the only place that doesn’t go smoothly, as Cap retrieves the scepter containing the Mind Stone after a quick “Hail Hydra” to throw off the double agent SHIELD opponents from Winter Soldier. All this time, Tony and Scott lose the tesseract in a freak incident that causes the case to fall into Loki’s vicinity, who picks up the cube and disappears to God knows where. And it is never figured out where past Loki goes, or what timeline he creates for himself now that he has the tesseract at his disposal with no one to oppose him. That is another thing I would love to know, all these alternate realities that have been constructed due to them tinkering with time, what happens? What damage is done to the Ancient One without time? What does Loki do with space? How is Jane and Asgard without the reality stone ravaging her? (Rocket got it btw as Thor got caught up talking to his mother, which was a very sweet scene and really amplified her character for me to love her more than I already had). But at least Cap got the scepter until he is met with his past Cap, leading to my most favorite fight scene in the MCU. Something about those two classic suits running at each other with the cacophony of the shields, and current Cap saying some choice expletives now and getting tired of the bullshit while past Cap still has all that giddy up and pure heart and “I can do this all day” attitude is an exceptional treat to be had. I love Cap’s development, as much as he has stayed the same, he has changed, grown more into his age even, getting weary with the world but never losing his positive outlook, just shifting his focus gradually. But to correct the tesseract blunder, Tony and Cap go back to 1970 to get the original tesseract from SHIELD in its infancy. Both Tony and Cap have a soft moment. Tony see’s his father who talks to him about his expecting wife (aka baby Tony) and Cap sees Peggy again in her youthful glory, panging our heartstrings. But in the end, the supplies are collected and they move on.

So after they get the stones, they construct the gauntlet out of Tony’s suit Iron man material and it is decided that Hulk must do the snap since gamma radiation is part of the stones and so is he. It is not a simple easy thing as he writhes in pain and burns under the pressure of power but does the snap anyway and successfully brings back half the world. This win is shortlived once Thanos bombards the compound and sends Nebula off to retrieve the stones. This is the start of the longest game of flag football/hot potato/rugby adjacent. Hawkeye has the gauntlet at first as everyone tries to pull themselves from the rubble (side note: seeing Rocket so distressed shook me. He is usually so cool and wily, getting out of so much bullshit that his helplessness when he couldn’t breathe almost sent me over).

So since they retrieved the stones, it’s not like they change their past, just create alternate realities. Once they return them, things go back to normal again. So Hulk uses the gauntlet to bring back the rest of the population again, we just don’t see them yet until later. Past Nebula gets killed by current Nebula after Gamora helps current Nebula out to stop Thanos because as we know from Infinity War, Gamora never wanted Thanos to find them all. Thor, Cap, and Tony all team up to spar with Thanos who was waiting patiently for the gauntlet to be brought to him. Much to my dismay, the fight is very even, no side truly overpowers the other. Thor really wants to put in work, but can’t quite get through until Cap does what I have been waiting for since Ultron: HE PICKS UP MJOLNIR! (which Thor took back from Asgard in his time travel). Wheew, I coulda passed out when I saw Cap wielding that thing like it’s his the star spangled banner itself, sending lightning down on Thanos, busting him upside his head and all! I was spent and feeling aftershocks until Thanos gets the upperhand again and bombards his shield with that weak ass helicopter blade sword thing. It breaks the shield up! Which is made of vibranium! THE STRONGEST METAL IN THE UNIVERSE! This how I know Russo’s were just grasping at straws; the only thing I can say is since Tony made him that one after the snap, he probably used bootleg vibranium because obviously nobody called Wakanda for input on a damn thing to make this mission happen which is a rant I can say on a completely separate post. Sure, take T’Challa and Shuri in the snap, it’s not like the whole country isn’t composed of melanated geniuses that could give y’all a lesson on quantum physics that would make your central nervous system dry out. No, don’t call Wakanda to make vibranium anything for y’all to help in the fight, it’s cool cuz y’all didn’t try and clean up anything after shit hit the fan! I wanted a 10 minute Wakanda clean up scene: I got DUST. The underutilization of such a great people while at the same time using them frivilously is a *blink blink* mindfuck. But I digress again!

Once Cap seems to be against the wall, he tightens his shield band around his arm and says slap me bitch. But before it continues, Sam gives him a quick “on your left” signaling the return of everyone, with first none other than our Wakandan royalty: T’Challa, Okoye, and Shuri. Dr. Strange’s portals open up as populations come to join the fight from Gaurdians and Asgard, Wakanda and other Marvel movies. The fight scene that begins I can’t wait to own at home becuase I know I have to pause and slow motion to capture everything. Someone said Howard the Duck is in the fight which I HAVE to see. Can you imagine getting your ass impaled by a cartoon space duck?

The game of keep the gauntlet from Thanos continues as Spiderman, T’Challa, and others all have a go at running the guantlet away from Thanos. This is a part that I kind of have to think to remember. I know that Antman and Wasp had to spark up the quantum realm van and I think the plan was to send the gauntlet into it, but I’m not sure. Eventually Tony is alerted by Strange that the one in 14 million chance at winning is upon them and Tony goes ham to get the gauntlet from Thanos, who nearly succeeds but Tony yeets them off the glove and onto his suit, proclaiming himself as Iron Man one last time before snapping the bad half of the population into obliteration. All the bad aliens and Thanos dust away, leaving the original population the watch them float away. However Tony’s sacrifice is his life as he dies after goodbyes from Peter, Pepper and Rhodey.

The funeral occurs with everyone there, even the kid from Iron Man 3. This is a really emotional scene, especially seeing Tony left a last message in case of his demise, ending it with telling Morgan “I Said What I Said” Stark that he loves her 3000. Once again, I almost got choked up there, but it just wouldn’t happen. One thing that took me out were Wakanda’s outfits at the funeral. All black everything, but the fit and the make of Okoye and Shuri’s dresses? With the gold accessories???? I can’t mourn when all that beauty is in my face!

And in the end, Cap goes back in time to send the stones back to where they belong but stays in the past to reunite with Peggy, finally bust her open and returns as an old man to give his shield to Falcon and that is it!

I almost got choked up just now thinking about that last scene but I still didn’t cry. A tear came down when the end credits showed the actors pictures and their signatures of the original Avengers though. There will never be a better Cap or Iron Man bruh, taking that to my grave.

I’ve been in this MCU life for just about the whole length of it; watching these amazing superhero action flicks for the fun of it before recognizing the structure of each film forming towards an ending so grand. “You see where you’re going? Now let’s focus on how you get there.” This is a statement that is about to be my mantra for life! This is a huge project for a studio to put together properly, having all of our superheroes in one place, sewn together with the journey of the infinity stones to take out the big purple meanie Thanos who is hellbent on controlling the universe the easy way (50% of all living creatures annihilated) or the hard way (100% gone, starting from scratch).

But Marvel has given me so much great entertainment to look forward to. Ever since I graduated high school, it’s been the May or November of each year, what’s Marvel putting out next? And it’s gonna be tough not expecting an Avengers film anymore, but I’ll be here for the new build up of superheroes, supporting Black Panther still of course as well. I will miss the Cap thirst, wardrobe really did their part in this one with the Black sweater, the grey Henley, the yeehaw outfit previously mentioned and EVERY CAP UNIFORM HE HAS WORN! I love this fucking fandom.

And now I just wonder where past Gamora went, because she came to the present and “present” Gamora died at Vormir so we have a Gamora alive now but she went MIA, or did she get snapped back when Tony snapped all the henchmen back? Thor at the end joins the GOTG or Asgardians of the Galaxy, so I can’t wait to see how they fair in I assume GOTG 3. How will Falcon do as the new Cap? What does Bucky do now?? He was the original ride or die for Cap until he became Winter Soldier, but Cap was very forgiving of him in all that. Yet, his closure seems open for anything, he got no special stuff in the end so maybe more for him? How is Spiderman and the whole teenage snap population going back to school when it is five years in the future but they are the same age? Where did Valkyrie keep her Pegasus this entire time? When Cap went back to Vormir, what was his reunion with Red Skull like? And what did Thanos do with the stones before they were destroyed? They said he used them again and that’s how they found him at the beginning but on what? Answer these questions for me please!

If you made it this far, I love ya 3000 and I owe you cheeseburgers (oh God TONY!!!)

#avenger #avengers spoilers #avengers endgame #endgame spoilers #marvel

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randomrichards · 5 years

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THE BEST MOVIE MOMENTS OF 2018:

HONORABLE MENTION:

The Opening/Closing Credits from BUDDIES

I’m putting this as honorable mention because this is an older movie recently rereleased.

The first film about the AIDS Crisis, Buddies strikes at the heart with its opening credits with a typed list of AIDS victim up to 1985. Set to a mournful score by Jeffrey Olmstead, the never ending list of lives cut short puts you in tears.

Alex Honnold faces Boulder Problem in FREE SOLO

Most thrillers can only wish they could be as gripping as in the moment when Alex Honnold maneuver’s his way through the most challenging section of El Capitan Wall without rope in this Documentary.

Ray Offers Wisdom from Mid90s

“If you looked in anybody else’s closet, you wouldn’t trade your shit for their shit.”

Ray (Na-kel Smith) and his friends may not be the best role models for the impressionable Stevie (Sunny Suljic), but in this moment, Ray teaches him a lesson in perspective.

Glenn Close’s performance in THE WIFE

I’m not referring to any moment. Just Glenn Close’s acting. She speaks more volumes with her face than most actresses could with dialogue.

10) The Beach Scene from ROMA

Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) is an extraordinary woman. Sure, her life hanging towels and cleaning dog poo doesn’t seem like anything special. But like many lower working-class people, she endures. Boy does she endure a lot of shit in this movie. Not only does her deadbeat boyfriend ditch her to practice martial arts, but her baby is born dead. Despite all this, she not only continues her work, but she shares a close bond with the family. She showcases this bond and her strength when a fun day at the beach goes horribly wrong.

When Paco (Carlos Peralta) and Sofi (Daniela Demesa) swim too far out, Cleo walks into the ocean to save them despite not knowing how to swim. We watch in dread as she faces severe waves to find the kids, the camera always close to her.

This scene also contains a beautiful scene of the family hugging Cleo when she tears up over losing her baby. Seeing them all huddled together in front of a bright white sun captures the heart.

9) “A Place Called Slaughter Race” from RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET

Admit it, it’s fun to take pot shots at Disney Tropes. Hell, even Disney gets in on the fun. And boy do they seize on every moment to mock Princess tropes when Vanellope Von Shweetz (voiced by Sarah Silverman) encounters the Disney Princesses. Of course, it helps that Director Rich Moore and Head of Story Jim Reardon creates some of the best episodes of the Simpsons. Though there are many hilarious moments[1], none can hold the candle to Vanellope’s “I Want” song.

As she reflects over a puddle, Vanellope sings about her longing to be in the gritty game “Slaughter Race.” Seeing this little girl perform this lighthearted musical number over a background of riots and dumpster fires is comedy gold. Nearly every element of this number elevates the comedy, from singing shark (with cats and dogs in its mouth) to the creative lyrics (“Am I a baby pigeon spreading wings to soar?/ Is that a metaphor?/Hey, there’s a dollar store”). And the number still finds time to emphasize Vanellope’s fear of hurting Ralph (John. C Reilly).

Kudos to Alan Menken for mocking the trope he (and the late Howard Ashman) introduced to Disney. Just as deserving of Kudos is Silverman, who faced to task of singing in Vanellope’s high pitched voice.

8) Charlie Loses Her Head from HEREDITARY

With her unusual hobbies, connection to her late grandmother and that clicking sound, you’d assume Annie’s (Toni Collette) daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro) would be the centre of the whole film.[2] Boy, were we in for a surprise.

Spoilers!

When Charlie suffers a peanut allergy reaction, Peter (Alex Wolfe) races her home. On his drive, he sees a mysterious figure in the middle of the dark road. In his attempt to dodge it, he doesn’t see Charlie hanging out the window. Seeing her head slam right into a pole leaves us as traumatized as Peter is. To see them kill off a main character so early in the film is downright shocking. With this death, predictability goes right out the window and we are left uncertain of what direction this film will go.

7) Neil Armstrong Soars in the X-15 Rocket Plane in FIRST MAN

It’s funny how the most exciting scene in this film isn’t the moon landing. Don’t get me wrong, the scene’s still breathtaking in its realism, but it’s surprising how thrilling the opening scene.

Damien Chazelle hits the ground running with Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) soaring the atmosphere in an X-15 Rocket Plane. He soars higher and higher into the skies until he flies out of earth’s surface and gets stuck in space

Albeit, you know he will be back on earth in time for the moon landing. And yet, I found myself on the edge of my seat, wondering how he’s going to get back to earth. Most of it is thanks to the visual effects, which contains some of the most believable since 2001: A Space Odyssey. The effects leave CGI in the dust with practical effects that look so real, you’d think Gosling was actually flying into space.

6) The Ferris Wheel Scene from LOVE, SIMON

High School Movies are home to many unforgettable romantic scenes. There’s Samantha (Molly Ringwald) and Jake (Michael Schoeffling) standing over a birthday cake in Sixteen Candles. There’s Patrick (Heath Ledger) singing to Katarina (Julia Stiles) on the bleachers in 10 Things I hate About You. And who can forget Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) blaring Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” outside Diane Court’s (Ione Skye) in Say Anything. Be ready to include the closing scene of Simon (Nick Robinson) waiting on the Ferris wheel for online pen pal Blue from Love, Simon.

After being outed by a student, infuriating his friends for deceiving them in his attempt to stay closeted and abandoned by Blue, Simon makes a plea to meet with Blue face to face on the Ferris Wheel at a carnival. As he rides on the Ferris Wheel, he, fellow classmates and the audience wait in anticipation for Simon’s happy ending.

5) The Book Heist from AMERICAN ANIMALS

When Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan) and Warren Lipka (Evan Peters) plotted to steal extremely valuable books from the Transylvania University library in Kentucky, they thought they had the perfect heist. With the help of their friends Erick Borsuk (Jared Abrahamson) and Chas Allen (Blake Jenner), they thought they pull off a heist as smooth as Oceans 11.[3]

But reality hits them like a sledge hammer when they try to pull off the heist. Unlike their dreams, Librarian Betty Jean Gooch (Ann Dowd) doesn’t get knocked out with one taser jolt. It also isn’t easy to lug a six-foot book down a flight of stairs. Then there’s the fact the basement has no exit. That’s just a few of many problems they never consider. From then on, we witness them pay a huge price for their hubris and lack of real-world understanding.

Only youths as smart as they are to come up with such a stupid plan.

4) The Mutant Bear from ANNIHILATION

Biologist Lena (Natalie Portman) and her team find themselves in a quite a bind. After entering the Shimmer, physicist Josie Radek (Tessa Thompson) has barely survived an attack from a mutant alligator and Anthropologist Cassie Sheppard (Tuva Novotny) has been attacked by a bear. Now paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez) has gone mad and has tied up Lena, Radek and Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh). But when they hear Sheppard’s cries for help, they will soon find Anya is the least of their worries.

Their journey delivers many grotesque, nightmare inducing visuals (especially the slithering intestines.) But the most memorable moment in this film was the image of the helpless crew trapped in a cabin with a mutant bear. Bears are scary enough on their own, but a faceless one is pants spitting meeting. And then you hear it imitate Sheppard’s screams and suddenly you need a new pair of pants.

3) The Great Snap from AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

The whole Marvel Cinematic Universe had been leading up to this moment. The fact that nearly every character had a moment to shine in this one movie demonstrates the astounding direction of the Russo Brothers. But despite all the epic fight scenes, everyone agrees that this film’s greatest scene is the heroes moment of defeat.

Despite every effort made to stop in, despite outnumbering Thanos and despite Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) sacrificing Vision (Paul Bettany) to destroy the mind stone, Thanos still got all the infinity stones. And with a single snap, Thanos succeeds in wiping out half the universe’s population. One by one, we watch many of our heroes vanish into dust while others watch in helpless horror. But none are more heartbreaking that the moment when Spider-Man (Tom Holland) falls into Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) arms, crying “I don’t want to go.” All because some characters couldn’t make the sacrifice needed

Yes, we knew he was going to succeed in the end.[4] And yes, you know most of the heroes won’t stay gone.[5] And yes, their return will likely involve the surviving heroes sacrificing themselves.[6] But the ending still feels powerful despite this knowledge.

It all concludes with Thanos sitting near a cottage, content in his triumph. If the MCU ended here, it would have been a perfect ending. But I’m still curious to see how this will go.

2) The Closing Close-Up in CAPERNAUM

The closing image of Zain’s (Zain Al Rafeea) face will haunt you beyond the closing credits. Throughout the film, we’ve seen this kid struggle through hell on the streets of Lebanon, trying to protect his sister from their resentful parents and helping an Ethiopian Migrant Worker take care of her son. But when he’s sent to prison for assaulting a pimp who bought his sister, he decides to sue his parents for the crime of bringing him into this miserable world. Writer/director Nadine Labaki never looks away for a second to the brutality of Zain’s world and how it brings out the worst in Zain.

When the film freezes to the image of Zain smiling for a Passport photo, your heart breaks for him as Khaled Mouzanar’s haunting score plays out.

1) Tish and Fonny’s Walk Through the Park in IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

No other opening scene has done a better job of putting its audience under its spell than when loving couple Tish (Kiki Layne) and Alfonzo “Fonny” Hunt (Stephan James) stroll through a park holding hands.

There’s beauty in every element of this scene, from Nicholas Britell’s romantic score to the warm looks in the character’s eyes. But what really sells it is James Laxton’s lush cinematography. The colours pop through the yellows and blues on the couple’s clothes and the green of the grass. You are as in love with this couple as they are for each other.

Then the film cuts to Tish visiting Fonny in prison, this time the yellow is the prison, the blue is Fonny’s jumpsuit and the green is on Tish’ outfit. From then one, we know why their love is worth fighting for.

[1] Mostly at the expense of Ariel (Jodi Benson)

[2] Especially when she appears so prominently in the advertisements.

[3] As indicated by a fantasy sequence.

[4] Since we know this was going to be a two parter.

[5] Especially when there are already planned sequels to Black Panther, Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. After all the money Marvel’s got from Black Panther? They’re not going to give up that meal ticket.

[6] What with Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans retiring their characters.

#random richards #Random Richards Reviews #If Beale Street Could Talk #ralph breaks the internet #Capernaum #Avengers #infinity war #annihilation #American Animals #Love Simon #Buddies #Free Solo #Mid90s #Roma #The Wife #First Man #Hereditary #a place called slaughter race

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aesarctic · 6 years

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Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Ship of the Dead, by Rick Riordan

The third book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy. Finished it a month ago, but I just got the review done.

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★ ★ ★ ★ ★

FOR THE SUPER NON-SPOILERY AND THE NON-SPOILERY PEOPLE: This is the third book. Can't say much. Here: The Sword of Summer

FOR THE SPOILERY PEOPLE: Oh. My. Dear. Gods. Let's talk about my thoughts pre-book. I got this book maybe two days after it came out--in my defence, it was a busy time in my life. Marching band is a big deal. Marching band ending in my senior year of high school is a bigger one. After marching band, school got in the way. I wasn't able to read the book. A sad life, I know. I was looking forward to this book for forever at that point. (Where "forever" = about 1 year) But then. A four day weekend was coming up. It was time. I picked up the book. And I read it. Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Ship of the Dead is an end-book. The last book. It's the last book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy. I've read three other end-books by Rick Riordan: The Last Olympian, The Serpent's Shadow, and The Blood of Olympus. The Last Olympian is by far my favourite of the three. In fact, it's high up on the favourite-end-books list. It's amazing. TLO SPOILERS: The entire thing is dedicated to the battle that has been built up for four books. The battle is amazing. There was the right amount of death. The ending was near perfect. I loved it. END SPOILERS To be honest, I don't remember much of The Serpent's Shadow. If I wasn't on a rereading ban, I'd probably reread that series. And then, Blood of Olympus. We all have feelings about that book. Mine aren't the best. Not the worst, but not the best. The point is, I didn't know what to think about this book. Was it going to be a good end-book? Would it wrap up everything? What the heck was going to happen? Percy Jackson is my all-time favourite character in any Rick Riordan book in the history of Rick Riordan books. When I finished the second book, Annabeth ended the book by saying it was time to meet Percy.I remember thinking that this meant Percy was probably going to make a cameo at the beginning, teach Magnus a couple things, and be on his way. AND I WAS RIGHT. Some people I knew thought that he'd be throughout the book, and they were angry because of it, but no. Nope. Personally, I'd love more books with Percy as the main character. I know he needs a well-deserved break, but he's still my favourite. I'd even go for a series that just follows his current life. Anyway, I loved the beginning. And we finally got to know what Percy's baby sister's name is! Estelle! It feels like such a difference from the other names in these books, and it caught me off guard at first, but I actually really like that name. And he's so excited to be an older brother! I love Percy. Moving on, fast-forward to looking through Randolph's place. We get to see more of Alex's sass, which I love. The whole cast of characters in this series is fantastic. I didn't really think much of anyone other than the main four until this book, but now I love all of them. Which I'll get into later. Spoiler for The Shadowhunter Chronicles: Anyway, so originally, when naming Magnus Magnus, Rick asked Cassandra Clare if he could use the name Magnus, since Cassie also has a character named Magnus in her books. And Magnus gets together with Alec. In these books, Magnus gets together with Alec. I don't ship either, but I love the parallels. When we meet Sam, we find out that it's Ramadan, and I think this is really cool for a children's book to touch on. It also shows how powerful Sam is. She's an amazing fighter, and she can do all of it while going through the month of Ramadan. Talk about a powerful character. She's incredible. Sam has been struggling with her shape-shifting and resisting Loki when he tries to control her. Magnus says to her,"You'll find a way. A way that works for you." And it's never really mentioned in the book if she does. It's highly implied, shown in pages 363 and 373 (hardback, first edition) when she resists Loki. I do kind of wish we got a line about figuring it out, though. Chapter nine: I Become a Temporary Vegetarian. This needs a shout-out because this was definitely one of my favourite moments of the book. Aegir asks if there are any dietary restrictions. Sam imediately says that it's Ramadan. Aegir: "I see. Sorry. Yes, I don't think dwarves are halal. I'm not sure about elves." And I love this, because Sam then says, "They're not, either. In fact, it's Ramadan which means I need to break my fast in the company of dwarves and elves, rather than eating them or being around anyone who does eat them. It's strictly forbidden." Conclusion: Sam is amazing. But it gets better: Magnus claims he's a vegetarian and Alex claims he has green hair. Green hair of course means that he can't eat dwarves or elves. There are so many other funny moments and lines I wish I could highlight on, but I don't have the time to type all of them out. When Magnus challenges Loki to a flyting, Loki refuses. This made me so excited. It didn't occur to me that he might refuse. Probably predictable, but I was excited for the plot twist. Very, very excited. Then a couple pages later it turns out they're having a flyting and I could never describe the disappointment that arose from that. I have to say though, Magnus' speech had me kind of speechless. And embarrassed. I really liked it. I'm a sucker for friendship stuff, and it made me feel. In the end, we get a phone call between Magnus and Annabeth. This next bit contains spoiler's for Riordan's Trials of Apollo series. ToA and MCGA take place at the same time. In The Dark Prophecy, Apollo joins up with Leo and Calypso, they go through some times, and then the book ends with Apollo meeting (waking up) Grover Underwood. I admittedly don't remember too much, but that's what I think is a good summary. So, I don't know about you guys, but Grover coming back to reality seems pretty good to me. I missed him. So, when Annabeth seemed to be crying, you have no idea how badly I wanted the third ToA book. What happened? What's the bad news? Gods of Olympus I need to know. It was intense over on my end when I read that chapter. END SPOILERS Magnus and Alex opened the mansion for homeless kids in need, and I thought that that was incredibly noble and true to Magnus' character. I loved it. All in all, the book was good, I'm not sure where I'd place it with the other books, though. The first was my favourite, then maybe this one? I really liked getting to know the characters in this book. However, as a series ending, it wasn't the strongest. I expressed earlier how worried I was that it would be a bad ending, and it definitely wasn't the best I've ever read. I think major battles should feel major--not a couple pages long. Also, every Riordan book ends with a huge meet-and-greet with the gods at the end. I've read it so many times, I'm ready for something new. There must be some other way to end these books. A lot of our characters develop in this book, or we get to know them better, and I thought it was incredible. Here's some highlights and thoughts: Alex: She seems to be a lot happier in this book, and her relationship with Sam is strong The piece of evidence I have on me right now is on page 168, where Alex is texting Sam because she wouldn't just leave Sam on the boat without updating their cellphone plans and making sure they're able to text at all times. Alex even says, "Well duh. Gotta keep in touch with my sister." Maybe it's small, but as someone who is close to her sibling, it means a bit more to me. Also, her relationship with Magnus went through some major developments. Most of it was pretty embarrassing for me, and I really don't have much to say about it. Speaking of Alex, she has a lot of moments where it seems like she's forcing gender identity into the reader's face. I think that this is good. This is a children's book, and it's good to introduce kids to these things, because they're reallyimportant, to some more than others. It may even help out someone who's reading the book. It's also important to just educate the audience as a whole. And if you're wondering how I'm deciding to use which set of pronouns, I use the pronouns that match the section of the book I'm talking about, and if I'm talking about a generalization, I use she/her pronouns because that's when Alex said to do in the second book. TJ: He cannot back down from a fight. This is why he must fight Hrungnir, and we get to know a lot about him. We got a glimpse of what his life was like and how he came to be involved in the war. It was glimpses, but it's also a huge deal. Mallory: First, we learned how she died, then we learned who her godly parent is (Frigg, only the queen of the Aesir), where she is told that she's the key to retrieving Kvasir's Mead. Mallory then kills all the thralls, which of course gets them a step closer to getting the mead. That's a really short version of it all, but it made me from hating her character to liking her, and I was impressed. I still don't understand why Magnus wants to call her Mack, though. Halfborn: We start learning about Halfborn when he tells Magnus that they're heading towards the places that Mallory and Halfborn died. It gets worse as the crew heads towards Fläm, and it's revealed that that is Halfborn's hometown. Sixty pages later, we learn that Halfborn wanted to get out of Fläm--he wanted to be known. Be famous. Then, later on in the book, Fläm gets insulted, and Halfborn was not having it. He has a rather one-sided conversation about it with Magnus, and it was really nice to have a bit of closure to Halfborn's mini get-to-know-him arc. Halfborn's not my favourite, but at least I can respect him as a character now that he actually is one. I was really happy to know that we were getting to know his story as well (because this was before I knew we were getting to know everyone's stories.)

#MCGA #The Ship of the Dead #Ship of the Dead #SotD #Rick Riordan #book review

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