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irondevilpunisher · 7 years

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Joy Meachum & Iron Fist thoughts

So while waiting for the Punisher I’ve had time to marathon the Marvel shows again before the new series dropped. And lets just say rewatching Iron Fist I got a better insight into who Joy Meachum is. It surprises me she isn’t as beloved in this fandom as some of the other ladies in the marvel tv universe. Then again Karen Page for the most part suffers from the same absurdity; guess that’s what happens when the actress plays the part so well. I mean Jessica Stroup is damn good as Joy and gorgeous as hell. She brings a lot of depth, intelligence, integrity and complexities to the character and commands the screen every time she’s on. Its not really shocking to me as her previous works in other shows have been outstanding. But I think for me Joy Meachum is by far my favorite of Stroup’s characters.

Joy is so unique because she can go either way; bad, good or somewhere in middle. Either way Jessica makes you feel for this person because underneath that tough, sophisticated business woman exterior is a tortured soul; damaged and broken which is ironic considering her name. I’ve come to realize of all the characters on Iron Fist, Joy is the only one who wears a mask [metaphorically]. In many ways she’s very much like Karen. All her life she’s put up walls, refused to get close to anyone and strictly kept her mind on the company and her family. She even wears her clothes like armor to protect herself. Unsurprising. Joy didn’t exactly have it easy or a normal upbringing. Her best friend and his parents supposedly died in a plane crash when she was 10. She lost her father to cancer at 13. And we know nothing about her mother. The only person Joy could count on was her older brother Ward; a man keeping secrets of his own.

Ward and Rand became Joy’s entire world for the past 15 years. She’d never formed any other relationships or interests outside of that. It kinda makes you wonder about what Joy fears. Her hardened closed off persona tells me she’s severely afraid of getting hurt again; of being loved or loving someone outside her blood.Though she loves her brother wholly and tries to help him and do right by her family; Joy deliberately forsakes herself from anything or anyone else and that’s what makes her such a tragic figure. I mean she spent years trying to live up to what she thought Ward was on top of trying to exceed her father’s expectations. she put so much effort into the company and for the most part made it better than what he father had done.

This was an ongoing trend for 15 years then BAM! Danny Rand comes back from the dead and throws her whole world out of wack. Just as Joy is content with the life she’d built for herself, someone from her past whom she loved and thought was deceased suddenly shows up. What’s her reaction to this? Terror and hesitation. If you really think about it Joy pushing Danny away no matter how much he screamed made sense. She’d already mourned him once and considering all the agony she’d gone through after the Rands’ and her father’s death these were just old wounds she wasn’t prepared to reopen. This woman literally thinks she’s seeing ghosts when he strolls up to her apartment. Nothing good had come into her life, why would it now? So Joy’s immediate response to Danny at every turn is to reject him.

But here’s the kicker, no matter how much she tries to drive him away in the beginning there’s still that twinge of hope in Joy, a part of her wants to believe him so badly. Even after she and Ward drug Danny and have him committed to a mental institution, Joy still finds herself searching for answers regarding his arrival; if he’s telling the truth and where he’s been for the past 15 years. First she goes through old photos to see if the kid she remembers resembles anything like the strange young man spouting things off about her life.Then Joy does the one secret thing only Danny [her friend] would know about, sending him a package of M&Ms to see if he dissects the brown ones like they use to do when they were kids. Sure enough he does and Joy knows without a doubt in her heart its Danny.

So what does she do afterward? Joy is torn between her loyalty to her family, the company and her feelings towards her childhood best friend. Sure she’s glad he’s alive but at this point Joy still feels she can’t afford any attachments. She doesn’t think there is any room left in her life to include Danny. And She’s convinced herself the girl he knew is long gone. So she resorts to push him away again this time at Ward’s behest by restricting Danny of his Rand name and rightful place at the company. This is the first time Danny glimpses the cold and cruel side of Joy which he doesn’t like at all. In fact her actions succeed in that he finally renounces any semblance of the bond or trust they once shared together; which ends up stirring him into Colleen’s direction.

Unfortunately for Joy she can’t keep up the act any longer. Seeing Danny alive has already messed her up, but now its severing anything decent left inside her. Joy doesn’t like this as her conscience ends up getting the better of her. So on the day the Meachums meet with Danny and his lawyer to discuss a settlement, Joy goes behind Ward’s back and gives Danny the only evidence of his identity. A fingerprint under an old pottery key-holder, she’d been using, that he made for her. Ward of course figures it out right away, knowing his sister still holds a soft spot for Danny. It couldn’t be more obvious. Joy’s been living in his family’s old apartment, surrounded by photos of them as children. She keeps extra photos of them in a box at her desk; along with packages of M&Ms. Everything that reminds her of Danny is there in plain sight. Without realizing it Joy has been harboring her own personal Danny Rand shrine. She is either absolutely in denial or completely unaware of what she feels. But they’re there hidden deep.

Its funny because in all of Danny and Joy’s scenes together, the armor seems to crack. He somehow manages bring out Joy’s vulnerable side that she feels comfortable enough to confide in him. Danny is just so full of light and kindness that it cuts through the darkness Joy finds herself shrouded in most times. She tells him about her father’s death, what she went through since his family’s plane crash; things she hardly discusses with anyone. Not even Ward as close as they are which tells you something about the kind of friendship Joy had with Danny growing up. Now enter Danny trying to adjust as 51% shareholder of the company. He’s not very good at it but can you blame the guy? He was raise by monks for 15 years in a mythical place. At this Joy takes the opportunity to help him a little, maybe even get to know him again. For the most part they start bonding, Joy even smiles and laughs again in his presence. Gahh I can’t get enough of Jessica Stroup and Finn Jones’s beautiful chemistry; they’ve created this fascinating connection between the two characters. I live for that. Anyway they are however interrupted when a gang of assassins tries to kidnap Joy thus further straining any ties she has with Danny.

Now we get into the big stuff involving Ward and their father. In the midst of the Meachums being ousted by the board at Rand [something altogether painful for both siblings], Joy suddenly stumbles on her brother’s giant bomb that Harold had been resurrected and that he’d been forced to keep it a secret from her. Which means Joy had been living under a decades old lie. Danny of course found out earlier and only agrees to keep it from Joy to protect her from the Hand. This burdens Danny as he doesn’t enjoy being dishonest with her anymore than Ward. Joy is so conflicted, confused and shocked about her father she doesn’t know how to handle this situation. And strangely she’s more angry with Danny about the lie than at Ward, who kept her in the dark for years. Yet despite Ward’s continuous warnings that Harold is dangerous, Joy can’t let him go. Because like with Danny, Joy’s hope has been rekindled. And why would she regard Ward at this point after the lies and chasing him down for his drug habits? Joy sees her father alive in front of her. She wants that relationship again because she misses it. She needs it.

As much as Joy wants to be happy her father’s alive she can’t be. Something prevents those feelings. And Joy starts noticing Harold’s dark, more sinister behavior. It scares her. He gets physically violent and short-tempered easily. And he tries to screw over Danny’s right to the company which Joy whole-heartedly objects to. Then there’s Harold’s dealings with the Hand which put Joy smack dab in harms way. By the end of Iron Fist’s first season Joy’s more damaged than ever. But its not the bullet wound that has her in agony its the betrayal of all people she loves. Her brother. Her father. Danny. All of them let her down in ways she can’t discern. And because of that she’s officially closed the door on everyone. On the verge of making irrational decisions based on emotion; something she doesn’t do being as logical minded as she is. Its landed Joy in the cross-hairs of Davos’s feud with Danny and no doubt he will do whatever means necessary to take advantage of her fragile state.

I found that Davos/Joy cliffhanger interesting because it was unexpected. You’d think he would’ve tried manipulating Colleen or Ward but no he went right for Joy. Why? What purpose does this serve him? What is he standing to gain? I mean if Joy isn’t that important to Danny why not seek out someone who is? The Answer is because Davos wants to hurt Danny and what better way to do that than use someone else he cares about to do it. Just think of the chaos Davos could create pushing Joy’s buttons as she plunges further into darkness and pain. And believe me I expect a world of pain ahead for Joy in season 2. But will she accept his offer? Her feelings for Danny are already conflicted enough to hate him or at least try to. We’ve yet to know Joy’s head space at that point nor how she even met Davos. One thing is certain though she’s hurting badly. Its gonna take more than hugs on Ward and Danny’s part to bring Joy around.

Also why the hell was Madam Goa there? What’s she planning? Too bad the Defenders writers didn’t think to give us a tease on that.

All and all I’m pretty excited for what S2 brings. Anyway these are just my Joy Meachum thoughts for the day.

#joy meachum #iron fist #danny rand #ironjoy #ward meachum #harold meachum #danny x joy #joy x ward #iron fist season 1 #marvel's iron fist #iron fist season 2 #jessica stroup #joy meachum meta #character analysis #davos

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wheredidtheyallcomefrom · 7 years

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The Future of the Trainees (Part 5)

Boys and Girls

Im Youngmin (Rank 27 -> Rank 12)

Chances – Even though Week 6 was the first time Youngmin ranked within the Top 22, I think it’s pretty obvious that Youngmin will most likely pass the next two eliminations. He’s been consistently getting favorable edits from Mnet and it helps being from Brand New Music which is really the powerhouse company of this season. I do have two problems with his edit – the same two that I mentioned for Jonghyun’s edit. I’m not as worried about Youngmin being painted as a really nice guy (which I whole-heartedly believe he is) because they are not laying it on as thick as with Jonghyun. I am more concerned about the fact that almost none of the comments really mention Youngmin’s skills opting to point out his personality. It’s not helped by the fact that the two times he’s had a chance to really showcase his raps weren’t great. They weren’t bad at all, they were quite good but I am sure that the skills he actually possesses are a lot better than was he has shown so far and as a trainee from a hip-hop company I fear he might be disappointed with himself. Now, does Youngmin have a chance of debuting as part of B.O.I.? That’s a harder question. I do think that no more than two trainees from one company have a chance of making it into the final Top 11. And Daehwi, Woojin and Youngmin are all quite close to the cut-off line that I can imagine any two (if it is two and not one) making it. My guess is that one of them is still going to be Daehwi. Firstly, because Mnet really does like him (they’ve shown a bunch of his reactions in the last two episodes). And secondly, because even after he got hate and the votes reset, he still got a higher rank than Woojin and Youngmin and made it into the Top 11. Now it is pretty hard to choose between Woojin and Youngmin, they’re both getting pretty good edits. But Youngmin’s is more focused on his personality while Woojin’s on his skills. I don’t know what’s more important to the Korean fans but I do know that if Mnet doesn’t want all three of them making it into the final group (which is a possibility at this point), their editing in the next episodes will show who they prefer out of the two boys. Thankfully, it’s unlikely that Mnet will evil-edit either of them. I suspect that the most they will do is ignore one of the boys.

Skills – All of the Brand New Music boys are such polished performers, I can’t wait for their debut. Youngmin’s a great dancer, a great rapper (when he’ll get the chance to show it) and surprisingly a pretty decent vocalist. Not amazing, but I suspect that he’s be very stable during a performance.

Kim Donghyun (Rank 39 -> Rank 41)

Chances – All of Donghyun’s problems come from the fact that he is one out four talented trainees from a single company. Mnet just cannot pay attention to all of them which as much as it pains me to admit, I sort of understand. If Mnet payed attention to all of the trainees, Donghyun hetting some focus wouldn’t have been a problem. But as it is, most trainees don’t get any screentime and if Mnet showed all four BNM that would be an obvious bias. Even though they all are so good and debut-ready. Honestly speaking, my top 3 ranking performances were the BNM boys, the Ador and Able boys and the S. How boys. And the two latter groups have already debuted and have some experience performing in front of people, so that is a huge compliment to the BNM trainees. But we don’t get to see much of Donghyun and his skills. Choosing Rap for the last evaluation mission was a very smart decision – it’s a category that has the least number of people in it, the groups are smaller and it’s also a choice you wouldn’t expect from Donghyun which could’ve gotten him some screentime. Also because he’s from a hip-hop company it wasn’t that strange of a choice for him. So Donghyun was very smart with his choice, when you’re a lower rank it’s no use making safe decisions (that’s a good strategy for the higher-ranking boys). Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off to the point that most people probably thought Youngmin was the leader. I am almost a hundred percent sure that Donghyun played just as big a part in teaching Dongbin to rap and giving him confidence but showing that would not be beneficial to Mnet. Although I am little confused that they decided to show Donghyun in the preview for the next episode. I don’t know what kind of intent is behind that decision. Maybe Mnet didn’t want Donghyun to be anywhere near the Top11 but want him to pass the elimination. Maybe they’re trying to mollify the fans with at least some screen time. Either way, despite Donghyun not being close to the cut-off line I do think that he has a chance of making it. The thing that can save him is the same thing think that ruined him – he’s the fourth Brand New Music trainee. And people might want all of them to make it, to vote for him so they have a full house so to speak. Especially considering the fact, that Daehwi, Youngmin, Donghyun and Sewoon stans tried their best to stream his fancam.

Skills – Youngmin’s the rapper, Woojin’s the dancer and Daehwi’s the vocalist. It probably seems like there’s nothing left for Donghyun. But while he’s not the best at any of the positions (although his voice is perfect for singing with a guitar), he is good at everything, even rap which I did not expect. And even though most people know the saying ‘jack of all trades, master of none’, the full version of it is actually ‘jack of all trades, master of none, better than master of one’. And although none of the other boys are only master of one, I do think that he is the only one who has a pretty good level in all three positions (unless Daehwi spits fire when he raps). And another thing that I noticed about Donghyun, is that he is the only one who performs even when they’re standing in front of the trainers. I assume that most trainees feel stupid giving their all in front of the trainers but Donghyun is a performer through and through and he will act like he’s in front of the audience every time.

Kim Dongbin (Rank 33 -> Rank 59)

Chances – I do believe that Dongbin is at least partially responsible for the fact that the performance didn’t really work (for me) as it definitely could’ve been better, considering the other two members. But I get so upset when I see comments, blaming Dongbin for everything. He’s a 16 year old kid who had only trained for six months before being sent to the show to compete with people who have a lot more experience and are years ahead of him in training. It’s obvious that while all of the guys (I hope) have fun from time to time, this experience is a stressful one and Dongbin was shown to have a hard time keeping up with the more skilled trainees. And while I don’t hate Dongbin at all and hope to see him succeed as an idol one day, it would’ve probably been better for him to be eliminated in the 5th episode. But Mnet decided to pay attention to him and the viewers decided to vote for him, so he was sent to the second evaluation mission where he was once again in way over his head. It’s not his fault at all that he had trouble with the mission. And while you’re allowed to be upset that Youngmin and Donghyun could’ve shown a better stage, you’re not allowed to blame Dongbin for it who was a victim of consequences. Thankfully, he’s probably not going to pass the next elimination, because his rank fell quite a bit. I hope that he took away from this show more than it took away from him. I hope he learned something, I hope he had fun and I hope just like with everyone that he will debut one day (although I do not know his company).

Skills – His first performance of ‘Chewing Gum’ wasn’t terrible skill-wise, it was decent and I just thought that it lacked an ‘oomph’. And my opinion hasn’t changed with the other performances. His biggest problem in ‘Boys and Girls’ is that it sounded like he was reading off a piece of paper with absolutely no emphasis anywhere. And it’s kind of the same with his singing and dancing. And honestly those things will come with more training and experience.

#produce 101 #broduce 101 #im youngmin #kim donghyun #brand new music #kim dongbin

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hatefilledpoptarts · 7 years

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for the salty asks: 7,10, 15, 26?

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?

tough to say since my opinion is pretty flippant and I change how I feel about everything constantly (example: flipped between loving sailor moon to thinking the show sucked to liking it again) but I guess if I had to bring up something I enjoyed but absolutely hated after a certain point it’d be Hal Blu for its shitty use in a twist that did not even bother filling in for that ending whatsoever, it had no f@%*ing right to be there at all except to make a ‘clean’ ending I guess instead of you know, handling and acknowledging its core story and themes but nope it was a bs fix-it twist and it showed me what I absolutely despise in a twist, no f*@#ing clue its gonna happen just have twist out of nowhere with no character or story buildup for it to happen!!!#@! bullshit i say just bullshit (ﾉಥ益ಥ)ﾉ

I also once upon a time actually watched family guy and thought it was pretty ok but then I started realizing how much of sleazy dirtbag character brian actually is and just how much I could not stand watching these ugly people anymore, now I just can’t stand it and will use every fibre in my body to shut that crap off or get the hell out of the room

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

mmm for context-wise lets go with arc v, I know s3 wasn’t a walk in the park but if I had to go with an arc I found I just didn’t like, in-spite of interesting things going on, I’d say it was the time between the 2nd half of s2 when Academia comes in and after they took off. I don’t care for that arc in the least and think was a pretty boring and disappointing arc overall just because it was the first instance when what the series had going for it was being put to waste.

Even the fandom at its most hopeful wasn’t helping when it threw its exhilaration and dissatisfaction at the wrong places imo since the whole merging thing felt ill timely and throwing shades at yuzu was overboard since logically speaking that was what was going to happen, the writers weren’t going to own up to that subplot anyway, least of all at that time, since they didn’t even bother to explore it prior to it happening. It felt like a reminder more than being pivotal plot shit happening to move the series along.

Yuri was equal parts at his weakest during this time since he lost the intimation factor he had in s1 and was much more fun to watch in s3. He did nothing honestly except remind us that hey he’s apart of this whole counterpart mystery thing going on too oooh *rolls eyes at the yuri fans*

just boring overall imo along with frustration at the clear sign of lack of planning on the staffs part. leaving the night escapades of that arc and heading back into the tournament felt disjointed and ran a bit of whiplash for just needing to happen but not leaving a mark on the series as a whole I guess is what i mean ;;;

15. Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

I was born with an unpopular opinion in fandom lmao but lets go with love interest female characters, I’m going to go with my thoughts on Orihime’s role in Bleach which was her development both hinged but was not defined by her interest in Ichigo.

ok I have actually haven’t dealt with the fandom in any way but I feel like orihime might be considered a poster child for how to degrade your female into love interest role exclusively but i don’t feel that way, the only thing that degraded her was kubo not following through on the development he set her up for, orihime could have grown as a character from all lot of her negative attributes about being jealous, feeling like she couldn’t contribute and falling behind. she could have taken initiative for her actions and could have pulled through on the merit of her choices but kubo going back to status quo just sucks and brings down an actually steady romantic development. she doens’t have the catharsis to make it go from alright/boring to ‘i may not ship them but they earned it for its exploration.’ He made her role pointless and he made her feelings unimportant and thats a shame because it would have felt less like her role was set from the start to just end up with Ichigo.

She was an enjoyable character with little personalities quirks that made her charming even to a ichiruki shipper like myself so i’ve never found her to be a bother and her docile nature was perfectly in line with who she was, sometimes I enjoy docile character but thats based on certain criteria she luckily didn’t tread on.

Orihime going from a decent 5-7 in exploring her feelings for him to falling short by going back to the starting point wasn’t the fault of being a shonen love interest, her ‘kuns’ or eventual marriage aren’t the issue, its kubo giving up on her that is.

And I think its important to have some kind of development for it whether it be big, small, nuanced or full heartedly simple. The only thing wrong with a female character in love with the mc is not giving it enough substance, I’m both fine and can enjoy that type of archetype so I’m not one of the more vocal fans who say love interest heroines just suck outright or are pointless. Its fine and if done right can actually be enjoyable.

26. Most shippable character?

since theres no specifications I’ll go into a list of character I find myself shipping most outside of my main ship:

Midoriya Izuku gets way more ships than he has any right to have but I just end up putting him with whoever it seems, I have about 2 otps with him, which is never a thing with me i’m a 1 otp kinda girl, but there are plenty of rare pairs I find that appeal to me with him involved

Yuzu Hiragi is the most shippable imo and I’m constantly finding plenty of matches I like, probably put her with anyone and it just works thanks to who she was is

England from hetalia bizarrely ended being my most shippable character and I don’t know how that happened

Maka Albarn hands down went ahead and just owned everyone ok, best mc and best relationships with whoever fight me on this (งಠ_ಠ)ง girl can have whoever she wants k bye

#a-fool-without-a-clue #poptart replies #ask meme #my salt #forgot to mention but sunday without god is another anime with a shit fix-it end twist i am still salty about

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