#all of these offscreen things that I would kill to see onscreen

[comradekatara]

it’s actually really funny that despite being given ample evidence that sokka is a good hunter (he is described offscreen by the writers as being a good hunter; it is a role he clearly takes pride in and defines himself by, ie, “the meat guy”; no one ever starves when he’s around; there’s the way he can accurately describe the events of an entire battle through simply looking at some footprints and scorch marks on the trees; and most crucially, his impeccable accuracy with a boomerang that has been a mainstay across his entire arc clearly required practice at some point, and considering it is literally a hunting weapon, i’m not exactly sure what else he’d even be practicing on), we never actually see him hunt successfully. every time he does attempt to hunt onscreen, he is thwarted by the elements, and his attempt fails disastrously (and comedically). and yet, there is no doubt in my mind that he is, in fact, good at hunting.

some people, however, do take katara’s claim that sokka doesn’t do any work around camp at face value, which is understandable, not only because we never actually see him properly hunt, but because he’s also just an asshole, generally, who undermines the value of domestic (ie, feminine) labor to attempt to bolster his own precariously fragile ego. the thing about katara’s rage in those early episodes is that it is undeniably cathartic and powerful, but also quite misplaced. gran gran making her do chores isn’t the enemy, and neither is sokka. they’re both overprotective to the point of stifling her freedom and dismissing her desires, but it’s for good reason. she is in direct danger, and they feel an existential need to protect her. her enemy is imperialism, not her overbearing, cynical family members. she deserves to be angry, and she deserves to scream and yearn and rebel, but that doesn’t mean that everything she says is correct. for example, just because we first see sokka through her point of view, “playing soldier” and pretending to be a real man, doesn’t mean he isn’t pulling his weight in multiple ways at all times, even if his narrow worldview does need to be challenged (but then again, so does hers).

so why do we never actually see sokka hunt? well, atla is, fundamentally, a children’s show. there are some things that they just simply cannot depict. someone killing, skinning, and cooking an animal would probably disturb children, even though it is also an everyday, normal occurrence and how all the meat they constantly allude to is produced. it’s funny what lines they’ll draw in the sand. especially because we never actually see sokka kill any animals with his boomerang, and yet he does kill actual human beings with it. but i suppose nickelodeon said that was fine.

#sokka #katara #katara&sokka #analysis #basically just transcribing a convo I had w tumblr user bloodbenderz yesterday #but it’s a sentiment I’ve seen reflected before #and I KNOW im sokka’s defense attorney but like. he IS a good hunter. he is. he was just being CENSORED by Big Nicktoons

[crimeronan]

can i ask what amity’s canon deal is?

just read the fragile facade you show to me

oh for sure!! this question Delights me. i actually tried to rein this infodump in but as you can see it got kind of long. obviously spoilers for the whole of toh ahead

canon amity is introduced as an overachieving school bully who is incredibly nasty to luz's first friend in the demon realm, willow. she's being mentored by lilith, who leads the emperor's coven, and is on the path to join + lead the emperor's coven herself someday. this would mean having immense social power but also being directly under the emperor's very fascist thumb.

in the canon, luz stumbles into the isles at age 14 and meets amity at demon high school; amity promptly tries to get her killed due to insane jealousy antics, but then the two of them enter a rivalry-turned-shaky-friendship instead. amity realizes over time that she's been Kind Of The Worst and starts trying to make better choices. she also has a falling-out with lilith when lilith makes her cheat in a witch's duel with luz, bc amity values honesty/fairness A Lot. that knocks her pretty squarely off the Emperor's Coven Ambitions path.

(which is funny given that she's introduced as just being. So Awful. amity please consider any of your unfair biases for 2 seconds challenge level IMPOSSIBLE)

it turns out that amity's mother is a Viciously abusive and classist social climber who has been hyper-controlling of every aspect of amity's life, including who she associates with and what she prioritizes and what her goals are. so a lot of amity's season one arc is about redefining who she is, what she wants, and who she cares about. and distancing herself from her parents. and making amends for her bullshit. and being desperately pathetically Embarrassingly head-over-heels for luz.

season 2 kicks off with amity's mom trying to kill luz, in part over Corrupting Their Daughter. this isn't even a homophobia thing this is just a classism thing. & amity Fully breaking from her parents' influence and fighting back against them to save luz's life. it's incredibly gay and involves her snarling "stay away from MY LUZ" be still my beating heart.

amity meets hunter later as an enemy. canon luz is aligned with wild witches, who are very much traitors to the empire. canon luz loves committing treason and fucking with the empire. amity and luz are dating at this point. amity is therefore now down to aid and abet her in Anything

amity and hunter spend the beginning of the episode psychologically fucking with each other because they both have The Exact Same Neuroses around needing to be Useful and Good Enough. then amity recognizes that hunter is actually Very Very Suicidal and Very Very Reckless in ways she herself once was; she offers him help and is basically like, "hey, i've been abused, too, but it's gonna be okay. come with me and my found family can help you."

hunter, who accepted similar kindness from luz earlier and Immediately got in terrible trouble with belos for it, is like .....hmm... maybe. i'm considering it.

then he realizes that amity has a magical object that belos needs & is like HAHA WAIT. NEVER MIND ACTUALLY. I CAN GET THE EMPEROR'S APPROVAL BACK IF I JUST TRY TO KILL YOU INSTEAD the two of them have a Wild and Desperate fight that ends in amity holding a knife to an exhausted hunter's throat & hunter telling her that if she escapes or kills him, the empire will slaughter luz in retaliation. checkmate!

hunter you suck so bad good god!

amity and hunter bury the hatchet about this offscreen later, though. there's very little ongoing animosity between them in the canon bc from a doylist perspective, there wasn't time to flesh out an entire onscreen talk about feelings; from a watsonian perspective, amity is just like, "yeah man, i tried to kill luz the first time i met her, i get it. you were crazy. i have been crazy before. we're all good"

endgame amity is fighting against the empire and against her mother alongside luz n luz's found family. four years into the future in the show's epilogue, amity is living a cheerful life as a wild witch inventor-slash-adventurer who is in a happy relationship with luz, who has made up with the friends she lost in high school, and who hangs out in giant cuddle puddles of said friends (including hunter) at least once per week, usually more. she's cast off her high school ambitions and is much MUCH happier and healthier.

so the princess AU is basically just positing that if amity DIDN'T meet luz at age 14, she would have continued down the path she'd started out on instead. which would have meant selling her soul to become an emperor's coven soldier and, just. becoming the loneliest most miserable bitch alive.

#replies #there are a million additional details re why amity does certain things she does or fucks up certain things she does #but this infodump is long already. so i just centered it on the characters youve seen her interact with in the princess AU #toh #amity blight #lumity #and who is that other witch #shitty idiot repression gang #long post #abuse

[pinkandpurple360]

In "Hellfire" Frollo imagines Esmeralda floating closer to him so he can grab her. In "Look My Way" Stolas imagines Blitz pulling away from him.

Frollo: Would rather kill Esmeralda than let her go. Would never admit he's in the wrong.

Stolas: Admits what he did was wrong, wants to make amends. Is letting Blitz go.

You: omg they're exactly the same! 🤓

No. He isn’t actually letting him go. Plus, the parallels are definitely there. This isn’t coming from nowhere.

In the imagery they float towards him then pull away or vanish. While the man is moaning and reaching his arms out to grab.

both men hold themselves in incredibly high regard, they think they’re the only victim in any scenario, thinking that they have been an angel to everyone around them all this time according to their duties, despite how they abuse and hurt those they see as beneath them. and now they encounter this ‘new kind of passion’ that they can’t possess forever, and they can’t handle it. They’ve lost sight of everything actually important in their lives, to chase tail. Lamenting over this fact but still not stopping it. They think the peasant entertainer and object of their lust “sated for my dark temptations” in the lower class they see as inferior, is just out of their grasp. When he says “i don’t care you’re of lower station” that is yet again another offscreen development. If he wasn’t of lower station he wouldn’t be enslaved to be stolas’ pet by Paimon and blitz wouldn’t have needed to steal the book.

Frollo similar in some ways and in other ways different to stolas, presents Esmeralda a choice between him or the flames, like stolas is presenting blitz with a choice between the crystal and the book. Frollo is talking about death which is obviously worse, but both of these men are too selfish to just leave the person the fuck alone without mind games attached. They also both mention granting the object mercy “god have mercy on her god have mercy on me” and “i must grant you this one mercy” but he still says “what will i have if i cant have you?” And if that’s included in his rant next episode, then that’s manipulation. Stolas is practically on the level of “I’ll hurt myself if you try to leave but if I’m so terrible fine, just go”

So he has to admit the full moon thing was wrong, which means…,that it was coercion. It was not consensual. But none of this development happens onscreen he just wakes up after a drinking session, cries and sings. We just see a flashback and I’m not sure what is being said, is he remembering things? Does he see that blitz never had a choice back then or now? We never know. Stolas doesn’t understand consent, and we never see him in a conversation with someone about it, it’s just a once off line by Asmodeus. Actually both times, stolas needed to be reprimanded by Asmodeus, a more powerful demon, in order to wake up to how he’s been…behaving. Whatever that’s supposed to be. Interesting.

And even though i know Viv is writing Blitz to say “no it’s fine I don’t mind it I like being used” that’s clearly not true and a retcon against every single appearance he’s had up until this point. Every single time he’s resisted his advances is being framed as a personal flaw in him, because he “can’t admit he secretly wants it” or maybe she’s going for “his body wants it but his mind doesn’t” rather than placing blame on the person preying on him. He uses him back. Ok. I don’t blame him for it at all when he’s a child. That just wasn’t his fault. But as an adult breaking into the palace for an unknown reason honestly, was just stupid of him, but mostly, stupid writing. But blitz used the object to help fund Millie moxxie and Loonas lives so honestly? I don’t care that much, stolas can cry to his palace servants about it. These two actions aren’t equal.

That’s why this shouldn’t become a relationship. Ever. It’s. Even more proof of that.

If he admits the full moon thing was unmerciful he’s admitting that Ozzie was right and the lust was about force all along. Do you realise what forced lust is? Viv just isn’t a brave enough writer to accept the story she and others have created and not romanticise it, all so they can make more merch sales and not upset the ship fandom on Twitter. There are a million other ways she could’ve handled it—say that the instagrams are an AU and keep making them so the shippers don’t riot, create a stolitz AU webcomic or something, have them end the “relationship” in a non serious but comedic way, where both are happy, instead of dramatic, or see them fall in love separately with other, nicer characters to redirect the audience attention.

I don’t even know what he could add to the story beyond this thing ending. I’d be happy to see him leave for good, and I don’t mean die, i just mean yknow, take a bow and leave with Octavia to somewhere new. He has no relationship to anybody in the main cast beyond this forced contract, no chemistry with really…anyone other than Stella Andre and Via, and those three have nothing to do with IMP.

#helluva boss #helluva boss critical #stolas stan cw

[kattahj]

The weight of Mae’s two murders

Thinking of Mae's two murders, the weight of them, and why it's significant that it's her, both times.

A lot of people die in 3WBF, but up until Leo, they have fallen into three categories (unless I'm missing someone):

1. People who may not have had it coming, but certainly played with fire. 2. People who were accidentally caught in the crossfire. 3. Offscreen. (It's implied that Ter kills the mother and child at the motel, but it's not actually seen.)

But Leo's is a premeditated murder, onscreen, and he has done nothing wrong.

Furthermore, Mae knows that.

Ter doesn't care. Ter would kill a dog for cutting him off. Everyone in the show has some kind of rationalization when they kill: They had it coming. I didn't mean to. It's the price of business.

Mae has none. Mae knows what a life is worth, she knows exactly what she has done, and she carries the weight of that, as much as she carries Phon, and later Ter.

I struggle to quite put into words her role in the show. It's not quite a scapegoat, and not a Christ figure, but it is someone who carries the pain of others. Perhaps witness is the best word. She asked to be shown Phon's world, she gets to see it, and she realizes that it has to stop.

She tries to stop it by getting Ter out, as she tried to get Phon out, but that doesn't work. It takes a lot more.

Which is also why she has to be the one to kill Thana, even though both Neo and Shin tried before.

Neo can't be allowed to do it, because Neo is spiralling at that point. When Ter told Leo that Neo was a murderer, a kidnapper and a whore, Leo said "You're lying." Unlike what Ter thought, this wasn't him idealizing Neo. On the contrary, Leo knew his brother. He knew that two out of three of those were just not who Neo was.

Except Neo towards the end is a kidnapper, and a would-be murderer.

Neo can't stop the cycle of violence. All he can do is drown in it.

Shin can't be allowed to do it, because Shin is his father's heir, and his one primary desire is to not become his father. If he murders his father and then takes over his business, that's too close to the edge. Not to mention what would likely follow – covering up the murder, maybe bribing the police, convince Thana's allies not to go after him.

Shin is Luke Skywalker; he needs to step away from the dark side. But once he's done that, Luke Skywalker can't save himself. He needs either Darth Vader's self-sacrifice, or The Millennium Falcon sweeping in.

Thana isn't the type to sacrifice himself. On the contrary, it's his cunning selfishness that spares Shin from becoming a murderer. And then the Millennium Falcon does sweep in, in the shape of Mae.

Without having to say so out loud, Mae places the weight of all those murders where they belong: with Thana. Ter, Phon, Leo, and all the others. The death she caused, the ones she witnessed, and even the ones Phon never told her about.

I see her then as someone who has followed the red thread of death all the way back to its source, and now cuts it off.

And then she walks away. Out of the cycle of violence. Out of the show.

We don't see her again. I don't think she gets a nice place at the beach. Whatever's ahead, it's likely to be difficult. I feel sad for her – but one thing I don't feel is worried. Mae won't be caught up in the cycle of violence again, as murderer or victim.

Mae will be okay.

#3 will be free #3wbf #3 will be free spoilers

[purplecyborgnewt]

Who is the flash character who is the most underutilized/which character should have had more episodes?

Hartley. I'm living on this hill, might as well die on it.

He had so much of his plot and personality developements happening offscreen. Turned good offscreen, worked with Team Flash offscreen, then turned bad offscreen, got a boyfriend - and not just a boyfriend - a boyfriend who's supposedly Love Of His Life! - offscreen... Roderick's cute, I don't mind him existing, but he started as a sexylamp in a glass coffin and didn't really progressed much from there after waking up. If Hartley got more screentime, more story - onscreen story - maybe Roderick would become more than a Mandatory (Not-Het-For-A-Change) Love Interest Out Of Nowhere. Maybe I'd even start to care about him for his own's sake, not just because he's someone Hartley cares about... Or maybe I'd keep feeling conflicted about him. We won't know, because their whole alleged Great Love Story happened offscreen. No flashbacks (beside one to the tragic incident on the bridge), nothing. He's a cute blank slate. Great for ficwriters who are afraid of fucking up and making a character OOC, I suppose. Look, I'm myself the person who's always afraid of fucking up and go too OOC - that's why I barely write serious fics and pretty much never publish them anywhere. Nonetheless, if you're trying to sell me this dude as Love Of Hartley's Life, I'd like something... more substantial.

They also randomly gave Hartley powers, then either forgot about those powers or quietly retconned them away.

All the Rogues were either underutilised or mishandled by the show tbh (or were both mishandled and underutilised). Hartley is the one I always have to stop myself from ranting about until I just run out of words.

And while we're at it: unpopular opinion - "should this Flash character have been on LoT instead" pretty much always gets "no" from me. LoT took two iconic Rogues and killed one of them (the exact one with the most fans, to be honest - sorry, Mick). Killed Stein in the way that still infuriates me. Somehow killed Mattobard twice. (Fine, so the things didn't go all that great for him when he returned to his own show either. When the fans who liked how Mattobard looked in 3.01 were saying we want to see him with a beard again, we meant his actual facial hair, EW.) Miraculously didn't mansge to kill Wally, but still. They all "should" have been getting better writing and more screentime on their own show. Alas, that wasn't meant to be.

(EW claimed lately that if he got another season he'd totally bring back everyone-everyone-everyone. Yeah. Sure.)

#The Flash #Hartley Rathaway #('you' in 'if you're trying to sell me etc.' means showrunner-you not ficwriter-you. ficwriters can sell me a lot. the show couldn't)

[shortpplfedup]

Chapter 2: The Temporary Chicken Rice

Whew I'm ascending. Where do I even start with this episode? Wen pursuing Jim with everything he's got? Gaipa hearing he's got competition and IMMEDIATELY going over to stake his claim? The everything Heart and Li Ming are giving me? Praew eating every time she's onscreen like the queen she is? Saleng just Saleng-ing? This show is such a vibe, and also tugging at my heartstrings in very specific ways. I love a good slice-of-life family drama; I was devoted to shows like Friday Night Lights and Parenthood when they were on the air, and this is giving me such similar feelings.

Look, it's only episode 2, but I would die for Heart and Li Ming. I would kill for them. I would do anything to keep them safe and happy. The way Heart's parents have isolated him, and how lonely he is, it makes me want to open-mouthed bawl. No wonder he was stealing his dad's liquor, he's 17/18 and he's not allowed to leave the house by himself AT ALL? FOR YEARS? I choose to think his parents are doing this out of some misguided sense of protection rather than hiding away their disabled son out of shame, but it's cruel either way. And his mum saying 'he understands simple hand gestures' ENRAGED me, like you can't learn sign to communicate fully and respectfully with your only son? Li Ming coming into his life and just hanging out with him and treating him like he's anybody else instead of like some kind of invalid must be so freeing. And for Li Ming, Heart just being happy to hang out and let him exist as he is, without pressures and expectations that he feels completely unable and unwilling to fulfil must also feel like freedom. Oh yes I understand exactly why these two gravitate towards each other.

I loved Li Ming finding it easier to open up to Wen than to Jim or even Saleng, and Wen providing him encouragement and a listening ear, even as he gently admonishes Li Ming to talk to Jim about his future plans. Li Ming wants to escape so bad it's palpable. I can see Jim getting angry with Wen about this in the future, he will probably see it as Wen meddling in things that aren't his business, encouraging Li Ming away from the expectations Jim has for him, but somebody he can talk to about this stuff who can guide and encourage him instead of dismissing it outright is exactly what Li Ming needs.

Saleng and Praew coming to Jim as though he's a parent when they find out Praew is pregnant really stood out for me. Saleng's parents are dead and Praew's seem to live far away, so I suppose for all intents and purposes Jim *is* their dad, which is reinforced by him going without car insurance to give Praew a dowry. I wonder how Jim ended up taking care of Saleng like this, were his parents the original owners of the diner? I'm so intrigued by their relationship.

As for Jim and Wen, the chemistry continues to be absolutely insane. Wen is putting his whole pussy into trying to get Jim to be his man, because it's clear to everybody except Jim that Jim is totally that home he thinks he can't be for literally everybody around Moonlight Chicken. Wen feels Jim's warmth and presence in contrast to what he has with Alan (who remains absent this episode, and the longer he stays offscreen the more desperate I am to finally meet this character), and he is drawn into the orbit all the other characters inhabit around Jim. As for Jim, he says they can't be a thing, but literally EVERYBODY who knows him sees Wen isn't just anybody to him. Wen's mere presence galvanises Gaipa into a desperate attempt to lock it down, or at least look like he has it locked down to scare Wen off. And for somebody who insists that he's better off alone, he can't really leave Wen alone either. He could've walked away at the mall. He could've said no to lunch. He could have refused the fruit. He could have put up a firmer barrier when Wen asked to lean on his shoulder. But he ain't doing any of that, because Jim craves what Wen is offering him, which is somebody to talk to, somebody to share his burdens with, somebody to take care of him instead of needing him to take care of them all the time. Wen doesn't want or need anything from Jim beyond his heart and his presence, and it's why despite insisting they can't be anything Jim keeps inviting Wen in, allowing him to get closer and closer. In the end Wen makes a tactical retreat because he realises he needs a different approach, but he ain't giving up, not by a long shot.

Side Dishes

No but Li Ming, Saleng and Gaipa really clocked immediately that Jim is into Wen. It was especially funny how Jim tried to shoo Saleng away from the diner before Wen showed up, as though he wouldn't inevitably meet him anyway. And I loved Li Ming not accepting 'stay out of grown folks business' as an answer. Wen was in his house, stumbled into his room even, he has a right to know who this mans is.

Another person whose business is out in plain sight is Gaipa, whose heart eyes for Jim are being studiously but not unkindly ignored. Jim really doesn't want to hurt Gaipa's feelings, but Wen's gonna be the catalyst that forces him to.

So Li Ming doesn't appear to be in denial about his sexuality, but he doesn't broadcast it either. His crush on Heart is visible from space this episode, especially once Heart apologised, but I didn't expect him to ask him out!

Next week's previews are throwing up a few interesting tidbits, like Li Ming's mom not being supportive of Jim being gay.

Chin scritches are clearly a Gemini/Fourth thing, not just a Tinn/Gun thing.

Trying to make me believe Earth is in his late 30s is a stretch Aof, I'm just saying. I was expected to believe him as over 30 in ATOTS and almost 40 here...reaching. The suspension of disbelief on that one is hard.

I love how they're showing everybody's acne, sweat, stubble...it adds to the groundedness of the story that these people have believable imperfections on their bodies.

Next week it's Loy Krathong in-universe which puts them at the end of November 2022. I'm interested to see how all the relationships have developed with the passage of time. Also, if Alan is showing up next week that means that Wen will have been pursuing Jim for almost 3 months with Alan none the wiser, and I'm ready for the drama!

#moonlight chicken #midnight series: moonlight chicken #the moon is beautiful tonight #bl meta series

[luanna801]

I saw a post recently to the effect of “If you’re going to do the reincarnated wife plot in Dracula, it would at least make more sense if Dracula’s reincarnated love was Renfield”, and I think that’s a very intriguing thought, but I’d like to suggest an alternative idea that’s taken over my brain lately: Renfield as Van Helsing’s offscreen “mad wife”, who we briefly hear mentioned in the book but never see or learn any details about.

Let me just lay out my case here:

Van Helsing has a wife who, we’re told, is mentally ill and presumably in an asylum. Her mental breakdown is often assumed to have had something to do with Dracula, even though there’s nothing in the text that explicitly suggests this.

Renfield is a man around Van Helsing’s age (presumably - Renfield is explicitly 59, and Van Helsing seems to be middle-aged) who’s mentally ill and in an asylum. His mental illness is often assumed to have been caused by Dracula, although there’s nothing in the text that explicitly suggests this.

We never see Van Helsing’s wife onscreen, nor do we learn any details about her as a person, her relationship with Van Helsing, or the events that led her to where she is at the time of the book. It’s often theorized to be in some way connected with the death of Van Helsing’s son (also briefly mentioned but not elaborated on), which I think makes sense, but again, we know no details. Did she have a breakdown from the grief of losing her son, or did the same thing that killed Van Helsing Jr drive her out of her mind? Or is it a bit of both?

Van Helsing obviously couldn’t go around referring to a “husband” or male lover in the Victorian era, so it makes total sense that (when he can get away with it) he’d refer to having lost a “wife” to make people understand the kind of grief he’s talking about without giving himself away.

Now, to be clear, I absolutely don’t think this is canon, nor does it work seamlessly as an interpretation of canon. There are a number of nuances in canon that point against it - let’s start by looking at Van Helsing’s full statement about his wife:

“... and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by Church’s law, though no wits, all gone—even I, who am faithful husband to this now-no-wife...”

“By Church’s law” means that the Church still considers them married despite Mrs. Van Helsing’s condition, which obviously makes no sense for a relationship between two men that the Church wouldn’t have recognized in the first place. And that would be a very random thing for Van Helsing to throw in there if it wasn’t true.

Also, this is a very delicate topic (and the whole thing touches uncomfortably close to ableism, obviously), but... the way Van Helsing talks about his wife here - “dead to me, though alive by Church’s law”, “no wits, all gone” - makes me picture someone who isn’t as lucid and aware as Renfield seems to be. Like maybe someone who’s in a catatonic state, or who’s so completely lost her sense of reality that she wouldn’t even recognize Van Helsing or be able to interact with him in anything approaching a normal way anymore.

So no, I don’t think it 100% works within canon - but what’s striking to me is how seamlessly it fits into the canon framework if an adaptation or AU fic chose to go this route, while also bringing a ton of new dramatic and emotional potential to the table.

And I can see them making sense as a couple, is the thing. They’re both very intelligent, creative, and intellectually curious (and, perhaps, a bit high-handed at times). Jack writes that Van Helsing has “an absolutely open mind” and “his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy” - despite being a scientist whose work is rooted in facts and logic, he’s willing to consider ideas that others might consider absolutely crazy, like the existence of vampires. And the same, of course, is true of Renfield as well. He’s not just a crazy person with random crazy delusions - there’s a clear logic behind the ideas he’s pursuing, and one that isn’t even entirely bizarre when we consider that he exists in a world where vampirism is real.

The way Renfield systematically sets up investigating his theories, moving from one carefully planned stage to another and recording the results in his notebook at each phase, is like a twisted science experiment (again, something Jack specifically notes about him). And I wonder if there isn’t a clue to his past life there: Maybe once upon a time he was doing actual science experiments - unconventional ones, to be sure, maybe pursuing ideas that other people would dismiss as ridiculous, but not anything twisted or harmful. And I can imagine Van Helsing being absolutely fascinated by the work he was doing - that both of them, in fact, would have valued having someone they could always brainstorm with and discuss any idea, without the limitations that narrower minds might place on them.

I’m also kind of obsessed with the dramatic potential of the fact that the first time they interact face-to-face in the book is the scene where Renfield is begging to be let out of the asylum. Like imagine if up to that point, everything’s played out exactly the way it does in the novel - you have the scene of Van Helsing talking about his “wife” (maybe even in a bit more detail, in a scene where he’s trying to comfort Jack or something?), and you have Renfield having his whole plot unfold, and there’s absolutely no hint that there’s any connection between the two. And then suddenly you have that scene, and from the second Van Helsing walks into the room you see that immediate moment of recognition between him and Renfield.

And Jack is oblivious to this, going through the rounds of introducing everybody, and meanwhile Van Helsing and Renfield are just staring at each other in absolute silence. Like cannot take their eyes off each other, the rest of the gang might as well not even be there.

Until, before Jack can get up to Van Helsing’s introduction, Renfield very calmly and clearly says “Hello, Abraham.”

And like, how does that change Van Helsing’s reaction when Renfield starts pleading??? Would he beg Jack to go along with it? Or would he just be standing there frozen, not trusting himself to speak in case his feelings are clouding his ability to think clearly?? How much of an emotional punch does it add to the scene if Renfield can turn to him and say “You used to trust me before; why won’t you trust me now??”

Bear in mind, even in canon Van Helsing admits if it had been up to him, he would have been about to let Renfield go (at least, up until “that last hysterical outburst”). How much more might that be the case if he has an emotional connection to this man on top of everything else?

I think, if it was up to me, I wouldn’t directly tie Dracula into their backstory - that feels too pat and simplistic IMO. But I think I’d have it that their son was preyed on and eventually killed by a vampire, and they didn’t realize what was happening in time to save him. Afterwards, their attempts to piece together what had happened account for both the fact that Van Helsing clearly has some pre-existing knowledge of vampires (but is clearly not the expert vampire hunter pop culture often portrays him as), and also the cause of Renfield’s current obsession. I can imagine the grief and trauma of having lost his son, along with the unreality of starting to understand that something totally outside of the normal world did it, taking a toll on his probably already-not-great mental health until his attempts to solve what happened spiral into a full-on breakdown and end up with the obsession with vampirism we see in the novel.

(How do they have a son as a gay couple in the Victorian era, you ask? I honestly don’t think it’s that hard to justify. You can either say Van Helsing did previously have a wife and was widowed, or that it’s an orphaned kid one of them took in as a ward and considered their son (similar to Jonathan’s situation with Mr. Hawkins, perhaps?)).

I don’t think it was bad, at all, for the novel to leave some things up to the reader’s imagination, but I also really love how this idea allows us to take two tiny scraps of backstory which are either only vaguely hinted at (Van Helsing’s) or almost completely unaddressed (Renfield’s), and combine them into something which can add a lot of depth and emotional impact for both characters. It takes those hints that we know from canon, and even some of the more well-known theories attempting to fill in those gaps, and combines them  into one story that (to me) seems to fit together seamlessly while also fleshing things out beyond canon. It gives us a totally different picture of who Renfield was before he was in the asylum - a brilliant and unconventional scientific mind, a man who had a partner and son he loved and loves deeply - and a sense of everything he lost. And at the same time, it takes Van Helsing’s lost love from being a nameless and faceless woman we know literally nothing about, to a character who’s a major part of the narrative and who we get the chance to know in depth in his own right.

I just think there’s a lot of potential there, if a retelling of Dracula ever chooses to go that route.

#dracula #dracula daily #abraham van helsing #r.m. renfield #rm renfield #van helsing jr. #headcanon #books #literature #bram stoker #love #romance #shipping #rambling

[daylander1000]

Will you watch season 2 of HotD or you've lost interest in the show? I wasn't thrilled with season 1, but I do like some characters and I'm curious to see if they'll do them any justice in the next season(s). I'm still trying to be optimistic (which is definitely against my nature 😁), although the latest leaks from Spain (which I desperately hope to be false) doesn't sound promising.

Idk it you read Fire & Blood, but that book is often overrated imho, almost all the characters there are painfully one-dimensional, shallow and bland, while the plot is full of illogical things (especially the Dance part) . So, as you can see, I'm not the biggest book fan, and I do believe that the show did some things better and gave a bit of depth and complexity to certain characters and fleshed them out. However, at the same time it seems to me that they didn't complete what they started, like, you see the potential of the characters and understand their motivations, but then out of the blue they do or say something totally nonsensical and OOC. Take Alicent at the end of episode 8. Rhaenyra says something nice to her and she suddenly forgives everything and forgets that's the same woman who wanted to "sharply question" Aemond after her son Luke maimed him over an insult (a fact, actually), the woman her husband always favoured at the expense of Alicent's own children and finally, the woman who is married to Daemon, the sociopath who hates Alicent and her children and who will kill anyone (and apparently with Rhaenyra and Viserys' blessing) without remorse if it benefits him and his side. I mean, the guy even had the gall to look annoyed during the prayer for Vaemond. Still, according to the show, Alicent somehow needs to "misunderstand" Viserys' last words to crown her own son, and not because it's probably the only way to keep her and her children alive and safe and because her son actually has the strongest claim to the throne according to Westerosi laws avd tradition. And don't get me started on the Velaryons who are collectively depicted as "Dae and Rhae fan club". Like, what is Corlys even thinking?! I won't ask about Baela and Rhaena because they obviously don't get to think and are just unconditionally supportive of Rhaenyra and the Strong boys. Rhaenys is contradictory and inconsistent. It's frustrating, really. Also, the fact that the narrative/the framing of the show heavily favours team black is also off-putting. Nevertheless, I'm still curious and just a bit hopeful that season 2 will balance these things a little. Maybe I'll just be terribly disappointed, but oh well. Sorry for the rant :D

Anyway, as a fan of your fic, I would like to know your opinion. Does the show deserve our optimism and what are your predictions regarding season 2?

S2 predictions? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Why would you ask me this? This is a show where someone in a professional HBO writers room said, "So what if a dragon just bursts up from the underground?" And the showrunner was like "Fuck yeah!"

I don't think they even thought to do a camera pan of the carnage. It's like they wanted to make Rhaenys look badass but did a Koolaid Man scene instead.

Tell me that this isn't Rhaenys

Predictions? This is not Leftovers where you could do a whole video essay on foreshadowing and subtext and hidden clues. This is a series where there's a horse running loose in a writer's room and nobody knows what it's going to write next.

This is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.

My prediction for S2 is that during the time off at least one person realizes that they failed to make Aegon into Joff 2.0, that instead of having him be affably evil, he's onscreen affable and offscreen evil, and they'll try to double down on actually showing that he's evil and actually showing that he's worse than Daemon and Rhaenyra.

We've seen Daemon in brothels, grooming and marrying children, killing Rhea, killing innocent people and murdering lords at court, but we've only been told (by very minor characters) that Aegon is a baby-eating rape monster. It's all extremely "tacked-on."

I think Aegon's the biggest problem that they have to work on. Just getting at least this one character to make sense moving forward.

When Jahaerys is killed, I think they'll use that to really commit to making him the bad guy. Like he'll have to be killing a baby or raping someone or eating someone so that it's not Rhaenyra and Daemon killing a child but "Look at what this bad man was doing instead of protecting his son."

As far as predictions go, that's all I can see. If they only develop one character in S2, it needs to be him. Rhaenyra has Rockstar!Daemon, Rhaenys and Corlys on her side, so they'll have to upscale the green threat otherwise it's a bunch of grown people and veteran soldiers fighting two children who have no experience at anything because the oldest one is a 20-year-old frat boy and his brother is still a teenager. Aegon's going to have to really be villainous.

I feel like there's a reason all his nude scenes are with his mother, it's one of the few consistent things between them through the time skips and actor changes, and I feel like they're going to go fully 500% in that Commodus direction

and have him just be creepy and rapey with her in a "bad incest," how-the-turntables, "be careful what you wish for" way. Alicent's defining trait seems to be "perpetual victim," so I feel like they'll go this way and frame it as if she's getting what she deserves for slapping him around. Ten extra points if they have Rhaenyra or Rhaenys there on hand to be like "Is this your king?"

I don't see them doing anything with Rhaena besides sending her away, and I actively don't want to see Baela going out there getting her dragon killed and her face burnt off in defense of Rhaenyra.

I honestly try to not think about s2 of this.

I was a hardcore asoiaf fan but I didn't like Feast or Dance. I read Dunk and Egg, but he didn't finish that either. And when F&B came out, I got the audiobook and I listened to it for a few hours, probably less than five, and I couldn't concentrate because I kept thinking "Did this bitch seriously package his story notes as a novel for sale??? This is an insult to storytelling."

And I deleted it.

It's the quality for one thing. It's the lack of diversity, it's the author not finishing anything, it's the fandom being 20% fantasy fans, 80% trump rally...

Like, in just 10 episodes HotD has managed to give a voice to pro-rape feminists. Didn't even know that was a thing until I saw it on Twitter.

I saw some of the leaked pics of Helaena at the funeral on my feed, didn't have to scroll far to see people just casually r-wording Helaena and acting like having six fingers is a killing offense since eugenics rhetoric is apparently thriving in this fandom.

And on top of all that, the story doesn't even make sense.

I don't want to be like "dramaturgically speaking" but narrative coherence is a thing. Just from bing chat (yes, I'm using bing 😣):

Narrative coherence is the degree to which a story makes sense. Coherent stories are internally consistent, with sufficient detail, strong characters, and free of significant surprises. The ability to assess coherence is learned and improves with experience. Individuals assess a story's adherence by comparing it with similar stories. The ultimate test of narrative sense is whether the characters act reliably. If figures show continuity throughout their thoughts, motives, and actions, acceptance increases. However, characters behaving uncharacteristically destroy acceptance.

This show has curb-stomped narrative coherence.

Like, take that scene where they killed Vaemond. The way they write it, Rhaenyra has come back after 6 years of never visiting her father to drag him off his deathbed so he can support her in taking Driftmark, the seat of house Velaryon, away from Velaryon people to give it to her son by Harwin Strong. Vaemond is killed for telling the truth.

With different lighting and music, that's peak tyranny. That's some Mad King Aerys shit. In full view of all the lords at court. Every single person in that courtroom is aware that Luke is a bastard and they've just witnessed a lord like themselves get beheaded over it. This isn't Daemon killing commoners. He's killing the lords and ladies of Westeros.

But there's no fallout. Nothing. All the lords of Westeros cease to matter. It's just another Tuesday to them.

Hell, they go even further and frame the scene like Viserys is Old Theoden fighting off the curse of Wormtongue. Otto, Alicent and her goblin children all but shrivel and wither from the sunlight that Rhaenyra brings as Vaemond is cut down by noble Daemon. In that scene, Dark Sister might as well be Andúril, Flame of Old Valyria, sword of justice.

There are shows that are easy to watch that we say are "no brain cells required," but HotD is like, "No brain cells allowed. Switch them off or put them on silent so you don't disturb anyone."

I have no hope for season 2. I would never rec this to anyone or say that I think the writing will improve. The foundation is shit. You can't build a strong s2 on a shit s1 unless you're writing a procedural or an anthology where nothing that comes before matters.

You can't undo things like Alicent supporting Aegon as king because of a misunderstanding. There's a limit to how many things you can retcon without destroying all sense of continuity and they've already gone beyond that in s1.

They're past plot holes. They have whole parts of the world that are just void of all thought. Alicent and Rhaenys are characters who respawn and disintegrate from scene to scene as needed. Corlys is three lines of dialogue in a trenchcoat. Daemon Targaryen is somehow, impossibly, a less-developed Damon Salvatore.

No optimism here.

I'm that jaded ex fan who's like, "hotd is a barren wasteland, riddled with racists, ableists and toxic stans, and those are just the writers. The very fandom air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten-thousand Lindelof-level writers could they fix this shit."

But that being said, I have a really bad habit of watching shit TV.

I've seen Catwoman more than 5 times.

Waterworld, Jonah Hex, Elektra, Daredevil (Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell), Battlefield Earth, Supernova. At least 8 of the Fast movies. All the Transformers. Dracula 2000. All the old school classics of bad cinema.

I haven't watched Morbius as yet and the only reason why is because I feel like Jared Leto is intentionally trying to become Nicholas Cage and I don't want to support that.

There is something about the cringe that hooks me. And with a TV series? That weekly cringe? That is peak entertainment.

It used to take me 4 sometimes 5 hours to watch and digest a single episode of Titans because there were so many questions to think about.

I hyperfixate on bad writing. Trying to figure out all the ways it went wrong and why and what they were trying to do. Once I start, I can't stop thinking about it. I'm hoping swhhw gets it out of my system, but I don't know.

Like, anybody can make good TV. Anybody can do that if you try hard enough. But truly horrible TV isn't supposed to exist. It's like 20 million an episode to make HotD? Nobody is supposed to invest that in a show where the showrunner doesn't even know how old the characters are. Bad TV shows are supposed to be snuffed out before they see the light of day.

But HotD is something special.

You don't accidentally end up with a Koolaid Dragon busting up through concrete. A director described that scene to a VFX crew. The actors had to rehearse that repeatedly. They had to do a read-through...

Like, just think about that.

And then they announce that they're going ahead with s2 without writers?!

That is insane. Part of me says look away, and the other part of me says that s2 of HotD will be something the likes of which I'll never see again.

I really don't want to watch S2, but honestly, I might. Not because I think it will be better but because I'm dead certain it can only get worse.

#long ass post #hotd rambling #answered asks #bad writing

[vyladromeave]

7 and 18? :]

07. best dynamic in the series? like, whenever these characters are onscreen your brain just explodes?

APHMAU AND VYLAD!!!!! VYLAD AND LAURANCE!!!!!!!!!!! THEYRE SOOOOOO GOOD. They don't get a lot of screentime, because Vylad doesn't get a lot of screentime, but when they do its almost always written well!! That's a lot to ask of MCD! Vylad being quiet and introspective, but also inherently tied to basically every plot/lore element MCD has to offer does a lot for his onscreen (and offscreen) dynamics. This reaally shines through in his interactions with Aphmau and Laurance.

And LAURANCE AND APHMAU!!!!!! Maybe its because they have sooooo much screentime, arguably the most any pair in the series has, but up until S2 starts shitting itself, their dynamic is SOOOOOO. listen to me. listen.

Aphmau is the person Vylad accidentally created. Laurance is the person he failed, the unplanned sacrifice he was forced to take in a plan that was supposed to only hurt himself. His life is a spiral of guilt. Everything is his fault, and everything has to happen the way it happened, or it would be even worse.

Aphmau is the person who, even before he became a Shadowknight, pulled Laurance out of the darkness. He loves her always, even if she can't return things quite the same, and he's fine with that, he knows he isn't owed anything. Laurance is the split second of hope in Vylad's 200 years of literal torture in hell. A split second of kindness in a life (and death) full of people who simply hate him, use him, or do not care about him.

Vylad is the person Laurance failed. Vylad doesn't see it that way.

Vylad is Aphmau's one hint at a past, the one person who might know more about her than she could know about herself. The one person who's been there since the beginning. She doesn't know him, until she does, and then she knows him too well, more than anyone else knows him. He knows her well, but not in person. He can only make guesses about all the things she wants to know. She already knows too much, but he struggles to hide anything from her, because its his fault she exists. Because its his fault he exists, because he knows her so well, he feels like he can tell her more.

Laurance and Vylad will throw their lives away for the things that matter, and when they're at their lowest, they'll do it for the things that don't matter too. And they're stuck looking to each other for hints on how to be people. They see a hope in each other that they can't see in themselves, but they don't know how to say it.

And the three of them can't all exist in the same room together, because if they do, the universe explodes.

18. is there anything about the fandom you dislike?

smiles. there is so so much and i think saying all of it would get me killed. Admittedly I do think fan spaces for mcd have calmed down SIGNIFICANTLY over time. I've been here since S1, I've seen some shit. But for what it's worth, people are less actively gross in full view of me than they were in the past. Likely a side effect of mcd/Aphmau rp content as a whole being dead for multiple years, but you know what I'll take it.

I still think a lot of people's critical thinking skills could use some fucking Work. I still see so much apologism for villainous characters across mcd (and Aphmau's works as a whole tbh) just because they're charismatic and hot lol. it gets REALLY telling when you compare how people treat Zane in comparison to like, Michi.

There's no harm in liking villainous characters. There's no harm in liking charismatic villains. But you have to admit that thats what they are. I personally think people like Zane and Gene are really interesting, they're decently well-written, their motivations are intriguing, I cannot deny that the way their actions were presented was often cool from a narrative standpoint, and if you find them hot then whatever. As characters, I like them a lot!! But when you consistently start talking about shit like [CLEARLY VILLAINOUS CHARACTER] isn't actually evil™ hes a soft boy™ he's silly he doesn't know what he's doing™ he just made some bad choices™ its not his fault™ he would've made a great dad/lover/brother/etc™ he never meant to hurt anyone™ he wouldn't have hurt anyone if circumstances were better™ oh torture is sexy actually™ you need to step back. and examine your actions. extremely quickly.

Anyone would do different things under different circumstances. Why is it different for them? These people aren't your next Zuko. It isn't your job to fix them. You are not immune to propaganda. You are falling for the charismatic villain boy act, and your life would be a lot better if you didn't.

(ask prompts from here!)

#be normal in the notes or i turn reblogs off ok? #“zane is a villain actually” shouldn't be a controversial take. and yet. #mcd #mcd meta #ask

[stglennfucker]

Between the Ryan reynolds thing and them LITERALLY asking the subreddit what they want to see in s16, I would kill for the confidence in rcg some of you guys have …like you and I all know Ryan reynolds isn’t going to grab a recurring role, so I’m not exactly going to enjoy seeing mac have a boyfriend for one episode (also has Ryan ever kissed a man onscreen either? Not being sarcastic I literally don’t know) and then all of his homosexuality going back to offscreen mentions :))) y’all see my problem?

Like I know you don’t have to be a MacDennis fan to be a sunny fan but also, if MacDennis did happen it would be the first mainstream sitcom (that I’m aware of) where the one true pairing, the will they or won’t they, is a gay couple and I’d rather see that in all it’s toxic glory than a one episode wonder for Rob to boost his career with his far more famous friends.

#iasip #it’s always sunny in philadelphia #macdennis #look #I’m down to discuss it #i don’t bite seriously #unless you ask me to

[youcallyourselfafilmcritic]

Here are events in Madame Web I will say as dispassionately as possible (spoilers obviously). I am not making these up:

-Ezekiel-the villain-wants the spider to become rich unlike Cassie's mom who wants to use them for healing. 20 years later he is rich. It's never explained how he made his wealth with this one spider if he didn't use it for medical purposes

-He murders their exploratory team the SECOND they find the spider even though it would make more sense to use them to get safely out of the Amazon and then double cross them once he can safely get away

-He shoots Cassie's mom in a struggle. It's implied this is because she's pregnant but it's weird with how quickly he kills the other guys and as she's holding the spider this would be a way easier way to resolve their scuffle

-The actor is ADR'd in every scene he's in and they go out of their way to make this obvious. Like he either speaks offscreen or they obscure his mouth in some way-he's also out of sync in certain points

-The main character nearly drowns. Twice. My guess is this is a motif because her powers get activated the first time and she becomes more Madame Web-y the second time and she was born in a pool while her mother dies-however for a movie that explains everything like you're a moron this is not made very clear and feels repetitive

-Uncle Ben is a supporting character and Cassie's best friend. Mary is a another supporting character, for some reason played by Emma Roberts. Peter Parker's birth is a plot point. Richard Parker is awkwardly absent for the whole movie and they heavily imply Ben has only just met May though they don't name her

-The scene inferring to May is them at the hospital eating Chinese food. Ben says because Cassie's fortune cookie fortune is smudged they will "never eating here again". They are not eating at the restaurant-they got take out

-They set up a character only to kill him off about five minutes later. This is meant to be emotional. It's done in such an awkwardly stilted way it reminded me of this:

-Cassie reacts in shock and confusion to her future vision powers AT LEAST FIVE DIFFERENT TIMES before she gets a grip on them. This includes a scene of her saving a pigeon in her apartment which felt like a reshoot because Sony thinks their audience is really fucking stupid

-We only see Julia Mattie and Anya suit up in flashforwards in two really brief scenes. This doesn't even last 3 minutes

-Ezekiel's plan involve.s seducing an NSA agent to steal her clearance (keep in mind this movie takes place in 2003). He has a nightmare about the Spider-Women killing him and discusses it really bluntly with this woman post-coitus. As in straight up tells her he dreams of his death. She has zero reaction like a normal person for about 4 minutes before reaching for her gun. This scene goes on a painfully long time and it cannot be overstated part of his plan relies on her going to bed with him so he can get the clearance password

-Mattie crosses paths with Cassie right at the beginning flipping off her ambulance. This movie takes place in 2003 New York-there is absolutely 0 way you are that rude to first responders without getting crucified

-Actually while I'm here the "coincidence" thing is brought up cause Cassie ran into all three of the girls and obviously has a past with the man trying to kill her (unbeknownst to her at the time). This could be how they try to explain the Parkers being in this. This is either a desperate sequel hook or them lazily explaining how convenient the script is cause it does not really come up again-you decide!

-Ezekiel's not Spider-Man suit is the funniest thing I've ever seen. I laugh every single time it's onscreen

-Cassie is framed as a kidnapper after Sydney Sweeney shouts that she is and then steals a taxi and shoves the three girls in the back. This becomes a plot point once. It's never brought up again

-Cassie removes the plates of the taxi and drops them right next to the cab. She doesn't even attempt to get rid of them

-She also abandons the girls in the middle of the woods by themselves so she can go back to her apartment to get her mom's notes. She doesn't know how Ezekiel is tracking them so she is just going on blind faith that they'll be safe

-Cassie never once looked into her mother's notes in the presumably 30 years she's had them. This may be because she has anger over her mother. This is brought up at Mary's baby shower (really painfully) and then never again until it's resolved

-May as well mention it here-the acting is awful. From everyone-equally terrible. The three girls are trying with what little they're given-it doesn't help that they are slapped on sympathetic backstories really haphazardly and never stand out outside of being a unit

-There is a sequence with kind of a clever set up where Cassie has to time the song Toxic to her future vision to stop Ezekiel killing the girls. However when shown it's faster to get to their location cutting through trees she reverses the cab onto the main road. Despite time being a factor and something like what happens-she getting stuck behind a lorry-not really something she needs to be concerned. Keep in mind she saves the girls by driving the taxi into the diner so the car's safety is not really an issue

-Cassie, now a fugitive of the law accused of kidnapping and actually driving a cab into a diner, decides it's best to fly to Peru and abandons the girls AGAIN (at least this time she unloads them onto Ben). We see the fugitive drive away in the banged up taxi after going back to Queens to drop the girls off and there's a time cut showing a plane flying into Peru implying she made it. It is never explained how she got to Peru

-Some guy that's part of the magic spider people's tribe drops massive amounts of exposition onto her. This character is seen once in the opening promising Cassie's mom she will tell her all this and is never seen again after this

-When Cassie gets back from Peru she is driving the same fucked up cab. She then steals an ambulance to replace it after paramedics conveniently drive up next door to Ben's (not there to help Mary with her pregnancy of course-that would make sense-but that's already been used to get the girls away from Cassie to set off this climax-it's just an easy out for her yet again as she uses the klaxon to get through traffic

-She sets off fireworks inexplicably stockpiled in a Pepsi-Cola factory and one of them removes a wall that helps our heroes. It is a very specifically powered firework

-All the girls are put in dilemmas on the roof that is framed as a choice for Cassie but she instead gets her powers to astral project herself. My friend described it as like something out of a Tell Tale game-it's as contrived as it sounds

-Cassie calls a chopper to save them. Cassie sets off the fireworks and uses their powers to guess where they're coming from to dodge them. Her stupidity in combining these plans results in a firework hitting the chopper destroying it

-Incidentally the fireworks have some of the most convenient directions ever conceived in the history of fireworks. Same with how strong they actually are

-The Pepsi-Cola sign is part of the climax as has been revealed. What you may not know is that the villain of this movie dies being crushed by the P falling on him

-When Cassie nearly drowns the second time her face gets hit by one of the fireworks. This is how she goes blind. It''s also how she got her facial scarring. It's also presumably how she becomes wheelchair dependant

-Peter Parker's birth is framed through hospital curtains that look like webs

-Despite being a fugitive of the law who destroyed property and stole an ambulance IN THE MIDDLE OF A CALL Cassie ends up in hospital with 0 complications legally speaking

-A nurse comes in and asks if the three girls are kin. Cassie says they are. The nurse immediately leaves without question

-We only see Madame Web's outfit at the tail end of the film. They desperately want to sequel hook this fucking thing

I'm probably forgetting things

#madame web #madame web spoilers #cassie web #spider-man #sony #why is uncle ben in this?

[m34gs]

For the anime ask: 6, 9, 14, 25

Thank you for the ask, friend!! (from this post) There might be some spoilers ahead, but that kind of comes with the territory for questions like these. Beware!

6. popular anime you didn’t like

Are you trying to get me killed, friend. Do you want to see the Meags dead in the ditch. (I jest. Only god can kill me, and only when I'm ready.)

Alright, I have to admit: I don't actually tend to really know what's popular. Sometimes I know, sometimes I'm like 'oh this is so good I bet everyone watches it' and no one else I know has heard of it, or sometimes everyone is like 'oh this show is so popular!!!' and I'm over here like 'whomst?'. Comes from not being allowed a internet or personal ipods/computers when I was younger, and our TV channels were limited. So, bear that in mind while I list my answers and my reasons.

Sword Art Online: Hate. Hate hate hate. Loathe. Kirito? More like Kiri-NO. He's so...bland. And annoying. And I just despise him. Couldn't watch the full thing. Don't like. Don't like at ALL.

Yugioh: I used to watch episodes here and there on 4KidsTV. I didn't like it. I did not like the art style and character designs and I didn't get what the big deal was about them battling with cards. And even now that I'm older, I could probably go and rewatch it, but I don't really want to. Just. No desire.

Kuroko's Basketball: Let me just first start by clarifying. I was actually interested in this anime at the start. But then they started making the sports actions out to be super-powers...and I didn't know at the time that Sports Anime is just Like That. So then I became more neutral about it. And then. It dragged. It dragged so much. Like, the plot got so slowed and I got so bored I ended up not finishing it. So, there were parts I did enjoy, and I really liked a lot of the characters, but I can't say I liked this anime overall.

Chobits: Idk. It's cute and all, but also I just didn't enjoy the main dude. I found him annoying. Also stopped watching this one part way through. That's just something I do. If I find it does not Spark Joy, I stop watching the show. Because I don't like to waste my time on shows I don't like.

9. favorite anime child

This is a toss-up between Somali from Somali and the Forest Spirit and Anya from SpyxFamily.

Anya is cute and funny. She's so relatable in a humourous way, and she really does try her best. She fails a lot, but then sometimes her failures inadvertently save the day. Plus, she has some of The Greatest facial expressions.

Somali is an innocent human child discovered by a Golem in a forest; in a time and place where humans are nearly extinct and are hunted down by Beasts and magical being. The Golem is trying to get Somali back to her own kind. Somali is a sweetheart. She does her best to follow the Golem's direction and she genuinely cares about him, and she calls him papa. Similar to Anya, she is just trying Her Best. In contrast to Anya, she is much more quiet and timid.

Honestly, I can't choose. Both girls are very sweet.

14. saddest anime you have ever watched

Ok, Honestly, I've probably watched a lot of anime with sad things, and bittersweet endings...it's hard to really choose One. But, that being said, I do have one that comes to mind. Take it with a grain of salt, though, because this is my opinion, and my opinion is subject to change at any point and time lol.

Corpse Party.

Yes, I know it's based on a video game. Yes, I know it's in the horror genre. I don't care, it is still sad. It is sad more than anything. Why is it sad? I don't know where to start. I'm not going to recount all the deaths, onscreen or offscreen, because that would take too long. The situation itself is bleak; students trapped in a ghostly school with all sorts of spirits after them to hurt them and rip them apart? Maybe it's sad because they're children? They're supposed to represent hope and light and the future, and they get stuck in this school and (literally) torn to shreds. Also. The littlest one dies. Which, is like, that is a Big Thing, ok. LIke, even in regular horror movies; there was a time where You Did Not kill off the children (yes, I know there are plenty of child deaths in horror now, but it is still one of the more disturbing aspects of those movies). Kids end up being the unlikely heroes. The ones who persevere and survive despite their innocence and trust in others, or maybe even *because* of it. (or they end up being the demons, but that's not relevant here).

So when that little girl gets tortured and murdered, After putting her trust in an older boy who said he would help her...it brings a huge wave of sadness. She was so helpless. She just wanted to find her big brother. She went from hopeful and trusting to Terrified, and then dead. (not to mention the ghost possessing the place to begin with is Also A Child)

25. anime you would recommend to someone who hates anime

I don't really know if I have one specific anime for people who hate anime. I don't think there's a catch-all that everyone would enjoy. And I don't really like pushing things on other people if they've indicated they don't like it.

If I were to recommend one, it would entirely depend on the person. If they're nice to me about it and they indicate they want to try anime, I would talk with them and find out their interests before recommending. Someone who loves romance might not wanna sit through One Punch Man, you know? So I'd take the time to figure out some actual suggestions that they might genuinely enjoy.

But.

If they're mean to me. Or talk down to me.

I'm gonna recommend they watch Boku no Pico with their Grandmother. 😀

#asks #responses #anime asks #personal opinions #kimium #Thanks for the ask #I had fun answering! #hope you enjoyed!!! #feel free to ask more if you want! #ask games

[daxieoclock]

haru x ann or yusuke x ren

Ty for the ask!

Haru x Ann is extremely high quality, thematically they are so interesting together, even though they never interact once in canon in any significant way because Atlus is a fucking clown house. Like even platonically the two of them foil each other fantastically. They’re both victims of statutory abuse who have opportunity enough to kill their abusers, but choose to spare them.

The major difference in their circumstance is that Ann could not ever be the lynchpin of her own vindication, she could stop Kamoshida but killing him would be taking away the autonomy of that choice from every other one of his victims, basically all of whom she was close friends with; while we have no knowledge of anyone else Sugimura abused, but canon Haru decided not only to not murder him, but to not even attempt change his heart onscreen. If she does either, it is offscreen, away from the Thieves, and not until after Ren fakes his death in the interrogation room. It’s entirely possible she waits as long as she does specifically for the sake of killing him while the Thieves (and Akechi and Shido) are otherwise distracted, which is a phenomenally two-faced thing to do, something that Ann would necessarily resist as per her whole complex about lies, stemming from being repeatedly lied to by her best friend and primary love interest before said friend/crush tried to kill herself.

And obviously none of that is explored in the text because both of them are relegated to dating sim archetypes in the background of the actual plot after their respective arcs conclude (Haru arguably is shuffled into that role as soon as her second awakening concludes, since the few compelling moments of masked inconsistency she shows in those initial encounters are dropped off the face of the earth once she and Morgana joins the thieves and Atlus forgets whose Palace arc this is supposed to be anyway).

Anyway that was a lot of words uhh. Kind Villainess shtick x Vengeful Heroine shtick, Good. The fact I can make an arguement for either of them being on either side of that dynamic, Extremely Good. They’re both soft and sharp and they would be absolutely adorable together, and also possibly kill some people, and that’s extremely cool of them.

.

Sadly I have far less thoughts about Ren and Yusuke beyond that I think Yusuke being extremely autistic and extremely gay is kind of the only sympathetic reading you can make of his initial arc, and even that is stretching the definitions of sympathetic. Within that reading though, I think his otherwise extremely lackluster confidant could come off as essentially “I’m just going to invite my crush to spend time with me at all points because I like being around him” while very possibly being in denial about being attracted to him cause he’s been Extremely Repressed under Madarame’s thumb, and this blossoming love is something that feels to him as another language of beauty and self-expression, even as he struggles to understand what his own emotions are telling him.

And from Ren’s point of view, that sort of constant attention is primarily digging into his lack of self-confidence, the fact that he’s used to preferring that he goes through life in the background of other people’s shots, living the world as a passerby; since he’s been punished so harshly for stepping out of line, and clearly was raised by deeply neglectful parents. He’s not used to people paying attention to him in a positive way, let alone encouraging him to stand out, to make silly poses in a public church for the sake of art, or join his friend on a boat to people-watch other couples. He is not used to people who not only want to see him, but who want OTHERS to see him, who almost want to show him off, the way that Yusuke making art of Ren would do. And I think that’s a meaningful thing for him.

And distilled down further yet again: pushy clueless prettyboy and awkward wallflower is a good combination.

(Also also also. A significant amount of what I just said does not apply to their DV appearances, since they’re all pretty different there than in canon. Though these readings do influence how I’ve chosen to characterize them there.)

#do I even tag this #fuck it sure #haru okumura #Ann Takamaki #ren amamiya #yusuke kitagawa

[shaiappreciation]

i know you already have two other asks in your inbox , so dont worry about taking ur time answering this ! but i dont see a lot of people talking about how , when pouf died , there was a trail of blood to his body like he was dragging himself . he was most likely doing it because the king told him to continue looking for pitou , which just shows how dedicated he was to the king , even though the king was completely going against what he wanted him to be , , he mustve been completely broken after realising the king would be both dying and choosing to die with ( and metaphorically as ) a human but still dragged his body in dirt for him . it could maybe be partly because he genuinely worried about pitou too though

sorry that wasnt much of a question though ;( i just wanna know other people ' s thoughts since i dont hear this part discussed much

OKAY I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS ON THIS

First though, the ask box doesn't have to just be for asks lmao! I welcome commentary of all kinds, things that spark discussion or even just little thoughts. I'm absolutely loving the community engagement I've been receiving here and I'm gonna encourage yall to give me whatever thoughts you wanna share via my inbox 💌

That being said, let me get the whiplash out of the way and say that I do have a lot of thoughts about Pouf's death, and yeah there's a lot to be said from a narrative perspective but it's the little details that absolutely kill me, like the blood trail you mentioned. I saw someone once bring that up as a sign of how quickly he was dying, that he probably tries to fly first and either couldn't get enough lift or actually fell when his wings started failing, then tried walking, then dragged himself until the very end. It really is a poignant sign of his loyalty and the longer you have to think about it, the more genuinely heartbreaking it gets, realizing that he probably knew he was never going to make it anywhere, that even if he was fully intending to look for Pitou or even try to get to the warehouse to be with Meruem, he wouldn't have enough time to be able to do it. And yet, he tried.

I have a few other facts on this that devastate me but I just realized while writing that that Meruem's memory comes back while he and Pouf (and Welfin) are standing in that crowd of people, and that's also where Pouf died. He was on the ground sobbing and now that I'm really thinking, there's a pretty good chance he may have tried to stand up, and then immediately collapsed, then tried to move forward and carry out the order he'd been given which. man I don't even know what to say, that's just a lot to take in..

The two specific things about his death that upset me most are that 1) he's the only guard to die offscreen, and 2) he's the only one that died alone. Pitou died onscreen in brutal detail (and the anime did in fact exaggerate some scenes; that wasn't one of them. Going back for the manga and realizing Pitou's death scene was practically 1:1 made me feel a little physically ill), and Youpi died in a flashback, but Pouf's death took place entirely offscreen. All we see is the pan over his body. As for the other point, Pitou died fighting and was grateful to have done so, Youpi very nearly did the same with Welfin before the poison overtook him, but Pouf wasn't granted that.

Pouf died alone in the crowd of humans he'd hypnotized, before they all awoke and died with him. Pouf, who hated humanity with a fiery burning passion, who likely tore himself to shreds in his final moments for how things didn't work out, who watched his king literally turn his back on him and walk away from him, died alone. We know what Pitou's last thoughts were, and similar can be said for Youpi (for the most part, anyways), but the same can't be said for Pouf. We get to hear his internal monologue so many times in the arc, and then in the one moment where it would be absolutely crucial, all we're left with is silence.

Truth be told, I didn't feel bad for him at all the first time I finished the CAA; I got very swept up in a lot of the other things happening and, while even then I knew Pouf was my favorite guard, maybe even my favorite character overall (at that point, needless to say now I definitely think he's one of the most characters ever), but seeing him dead didn't even make me sad. I mostly just sat there like wow,, you absolutely wild man, godspeed, what was ANY of that all about,, but the more I rewatched the arc, the more I really felt for him. I don't think I could go through the CAA again and not tear up a little at how solemn an end he gets.

I once saw someone else say that all the guards' deaths were direct contrasts to their entrances, and how with Pouf, it's how he came in so strong and flamboyant and loud, and then went out with a whimper. How everything he does gets more and more extreme and then fizzles out in a moment.

I'm running out of like. coherent responses to make about this, I'm just looking over all this like aughhghh he was loyal until the very end and his loyalty was complex!!! He did bad things because he was absolutely sure that they were the right thing to do!! And in the end, he did in fact have to face consequences!! They were immediate and direct in him seeing Meruem's evolution completely head on (which is something I talk about in another ask that's already been posted) and like. people say he's the worst guard or the least loyal when there's just so much more to him than that. So many people were glad he died which, I totally understand where they're coming from, but his death makes me so genuinely sad. All the guards' deaths do, but Pouf's especially feels so unfair. It's just another thing for the pile, with the pile being things about Pouf I wish other people would think about more 😔

#i just. think about him. i just think about him. truth be told i had those realizations while i was a little tipsy ksjxkx #i was fully expecting to be like heheho pretty pretty man but instead got hit with ''hey wait his death was so unfair actually-'' #people dont have to love him but i just wish they would try to understand him 😔 #most of the time i think about him im just like oughhghg heart eyes mf'er but sometimes i just (gross sobbing) #also realizing my answer took a slightly different angle than the question whoops; i stand by it anyways 👀 #hxh #shaiapouf #asks #text #mod.txt

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Tiger Claws (Makin, 1991)

I’d caught a few minutes of this years ago, back when it was seemingly on Canadian cable constantly, and this is the only thing I remembered. The hero, a cop who is searching for a serial killer who kills his victims with the mysterious and deadly style known as Tiger, waltzes into a martial arts tournament and asks the first person he knows if the fight they’re watching is in Tiger style, which the other person immediately tries to shush him for. Having seen the film proper now, I must regretfully report that the scene is less funny than I remembered. One, it isn’t the first guy the hero talks to (he greets a friend who is preparing for a match). Two, Tiger isn’t quite as rare as I’d assumed, as the hero professes some experience in the style. Sadly, reality did not live up to my memories.

The hero is played by Jalal Merhi, who I understand was a jeweler who went into the movie business and became a bit of a mogul in the Canadian low budget action scene. He has a presence that can be best described as Canadian Seagal, in that he has a ponytail but is otherwise substantially more milquetoast, lacking the streetwise swagger of Seagal at his onscreen best and the pungency of Seagal at his offscreen worst. His accent also sounds a lot like Jean-Claude Van Damme’s, so you get a multitude of action hero flavours. All I can say is that his is the only character I’ve ever seen in a movie who has the same first name as me and has it pronounced (by others at least) the same way as me. And in the very last scene, he wears a Hawaiian shirt, so I’m counting this as onscreen representation. (For the record, I neither have a ponytail nor do I know any martial arts.)

As an action star, he gets an A for effort. But he’s joined by Cynthia Rothrock, who is very good at kicking people, and Bolo Yeung, who is in glowering, hulking mode a la Bloodsport, so it evens out. Having watched three Yuen Woo-Ping movies and a much better Rothrock vehicle within the last few days, it would be hard for me to call this a great action movie, but the fights are directed with a bit more style than I expected, savouring the North American martial arts movie vibe you would expect from this kind of thing. There’s also a couple of other cops who try to arrest the hero the moment they get reassigned the case, and a self-promoting martial artist named Bill Pickells played by somebody named Bill Pickels, who wears a Thriller-style jacket in his cheesy ad, and expresses some insecurity about tall houseplants. (One wonders if he had the extra “l” added to his name to distance himself from the obnoxious character he plays.) This is also very obviously shot in Toronto, meaning you get to hang out at Spadina and Dundas in Toronto’s Chinatown. And there’s a dojo with cute tigers on the wall that were supposed to have been painted by Yeung’s character. See, plenty to enjoy here.

Thanks to @thedrillerkiller​ for the recommendation!

#film #movie review #tiger claws #kelly makin

[firebirdsdaughter]

So…

… I’m not gonna watch more than That ep of s5 only partially out of protest, but I have Thoughts of the way they went about things in a general sense, too.

I mean, first off, I understand why this happened. Sometimes things don’t work out and you just gotta deal. I don’t know the details and it ain’t my business, but I do wonder if they tried contacting Eads for s5 and he either turned them down or couldn’t fit it in, all are equally possible. Would that result have changed had the show continued? Maybe. But we got what we got.

But I do like analysing how stories deal w/ situations like this. So.

Things they did I liked:

It was an explosion, and they don’t go into detail. This is part of what makes me wonder if they had asked or were at least hoping Eads would maybe agree to come back in the future. Explosions, esp in tv and esp in this series are incredibly escapable when they need to be. Jack’s death happening offscreen and by explosion leaves more than enough room for him to have secretly survived somehow; once again, perhaps if the show had continued, they would have been able to get him back on. And besides that, it gives free reign for all headcanons and fanfic authors to work around it. A distant explosion w/ few details on exactly what happened? I know fanfic writers who could work around that in their sleep.

Mac receiving Jack’s dogtags. Sure, maybe they didn’t feel like casting Jack’s sister, but I can’t help but draw a parallel between Jack having his father’s dogtags and Mac receiving his. I’m sure they never show up again, bc a common complaint I have w/ stuff in these types of shows (not just this one) is that very rarely do we get real lingering effects from deaths, w/ the primary reason being the drive to keep moving and find new content. Would I prefer that the show acknowledge the hole left by Jack and have Mac hold onto the dogtags/have them be a thing, however minor? Yes. But shows, esp ones that know they risk cancellation, don’t normally want to dwell on the past. Anyway, the main point of this is Mac confirmed for Jack’s son, he has one (1) dad.

Lucas Till. I’m sure everyone has their opinions, but I’m personally very fond of Till and the way he plays Mac. He’s very young, earnest, determined, clever, naive, fragile, and very good at the ‘hiding the scars behind charm’ thing Mac has going on. He and Eads had phenomenal familial chemistry, and I loved the small scene in the airplane bathroom where he can’t even wholly break down, but the avenging is over and now he’s just a young man who just lost the first person to ever come back to/stick w/ him, but he’s so used to holding it in, been through so much, he can’t even really let it out.

In a way, the plot of the finale. Whether the show went on and they eventually got Eads back, or just potential for fanfic… The idea of Jack, who believed in what the government told him enough to go on multiple tours and originally claimed he came back for Mac bc of loyalty to his country, having to choose between his surrogate son and said country would be absolutely delicious angst. Naturally, he’d choose Mac, bc he absolutely loves that boy way more than he loves America. Which is valid. I love Mac way more than I love America. But the point is, that kinda plot would be something to see.

Things I don’t like that they did:

The Interpol lady being the killer. I’m not fond of having Jack’s (alleged) killer being someone so outside of… Everything. A one-off threat done essentially in an episode (I know the cover identity came up before but it was an external excuse for Jack to leave, plus much of that story happened offscreen). Understanding that they couldn’t get Eads back for any onscreen death or lass hurrah, I’d’ve at least preferred that this plot be even more personal to Mac and Riley, or at least one or the other. Jack was a fixture in the show and both their lives in such a similar yet different way. Having him killed by someone so distant from everything makes the whole avenging feel less… Satisfying? I’d rather see Murdoc, or some other old foe if he’s unavailable. Reveal that this was the Ghost’s special bomb he made for Mac or something. Bring it home more than some rando Interpol traitor you introduced in the same episode. (Also Murdoc’s actor is always having the time of his life as the character, so he’s a delight to watch)

The way they tried to ‘replace’ him. Now I’m a big fan of these types of shows. I know you can’t hold onto anyone, even main cast, forever. For ex when Thornton was removed, they deconstructed her into two characters, Matty and a regularly cycling roster of female agents. While it’s absolutely possible for new members to mesh so well they become a staple (take Rossi from Criminal Minds)… This complaint is very opinion based, but I feel like the characters introduced to try and ‘fill in’ Jack’s post were poorly managed. Desi feels like she was made younger just to hook her up w/ Mac/to be the ‘pretty agent,’ which I dislike, the first more than the second. While I don’t in theory object to characters having romantic relationships… This is subjective, but in general I don’t enjoy romantic plots in these types of shows, they usually come across as over the top and obnoxious. Tbh the only rather tolerable ‘romancing’ that I didn’t skip through was Bozer’s. I’m being confusing, but besides that point, at least in the ep I watched, they completely lacked any romantic chemistry. Her being a stranger to me probably contributed, but while I will say Desi behaved like part of the team, I struggle to imagine her and Mac as romantic, additionally, maybe I’m ruffled that they’d insert a romantic relationship w/ Jack’s ‘replacement’ bc it gives the impression that that somehow makes Mac ‘okay’ from losing Jack. Forgetting your dad died just bc you have a girlfriend. Don’t wedge a romance shaped peg into a family shaped hole. which sounded weird, but the point is, a romantic relationship w/ Desi is not comparable and should not be compared to what Mac had w/ Jack. They have not known each other nearly as long, nor do they have as much history. On the other hand, the other guy… Lacks the chemistry and vibe Jack had w/ the others. He doesn’t have the same team-dad feel. Basically, the point is that neither character at all fits into the position left open by Jack, and if anything makes his absence more visible. There are some characters a show just can’t afford to lose—like Abbie from Sleepy Hollow. Don’t at me, still mad about that.

The fact that he’s largely forgotten. This I recognise is something that happens on these show, and maybe what I’m reading up on is lacking in details and he does come up more often, but in this situation, w/ how long they’ve known each other and how much they meant to each other, that Mac would bounce back that cleanly. A side effect of the media, yes, but given the established story, it sticks out.

#MacGyver (2016) #plus I just #I'm love them #Jack is Mac's dad confirmed #all that stuff about Mac looking for his dad and I'm just #he's right next to you honey #I should make a posy about them honestly bc I have so many thoughts #like the fact that Mac turns down the penknife his father tries to give him by showing him the one Jack gave him #I thought it was still his grandfather's which is sweet af already but no he lost that and JACK gave him a new one #that was dunking on James MAcGyver the EP and I support it #get you a dad who will agree to work w/ a murderous former dictator in order to protect you #the best #Things You Didn't Know Fire Was Into