#and deserved more of the CGI budget than the dragons

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Legend of the Dragon S2 Watch and Rewrite

This season already shows how intense it will be through the updated intro. If I haven't mentioned before, the intro music is great, and the clips are just awesome. Yes, it shows a animation shift and Jeff "Swampy" is no longer assisted supervisor which is sad. But again, the intro so awesome, I'm already hyped and the pilot just ups the ante so let's get started.

Temple of the Shadow Dragon: Animation is much more crisp and fluid. At least when in close ups. In midrange, the faces aren’t always consistent. The flash animation is more obvious in the fight scenes though. And the CGI is wow. Very dated. But I guess it shows they got a bigger budget. Or smaller depending on how much flash animation costs. Also a side note, the animation made the color palette less vibrant and the characters more pale in general. And Ang/Ling have blue hair now instead of black with blue highlights. Kinda weird, I prefered season one palette.

Voice acting feels a little stiff during fight scenes even when the dialogue is in character, it feels like they’re trying to be overdramatic. 

Don’t remember as much monkey hooting from Xuan Chi in previous fights as he does now. Same with Bengail’s grunts and yells. 

Master Chin helpfully delivers exposition on the emperor combining his ancient magic with technology, hence CGI. 

Sadly, slo-mo has returned in a particularly egregious scene where Xuan Chi takes the blast for Bengali in a scene. But it is surprising that it actually turned Xuan Chi into a monkey, demonstrating that guardians who have taken the position long enough, have their powers in twined in their essence and thus when in danger, Xuan Chi went primal. Or primate in this case.

Probably to give them a cute animal mascot and to make up for the fact that the VA was probably unavailable for the second season.

But it is a big blam episode where the Emperor destroys the dragon shrine and dojo so the twins cannot recharge their armbands and become golden dragons. (Also I know they have no budget for extras but what about the other students at the dojo? Jungi? Their mom?!? I guess they’re dead, it was nice knowing them for one episode) 

Luckily, there’s a shadow temple for every yang temple. But Ling warns that isn’t the corruptive yin power what led to their emperor problem in the first place? 

It’s a risk they have to take, the same with Zodiac Master begging the group to take him with them. Apparently, the Emperor is the worst boss ever. Too bad he got caught and the emperor takes him away for punishment. 

However, they do have a jet to fight against the Emperor’s in a brightly colored CGI dog fight that honestly my eyes could have done without.  

Apparently one of the new bonuses is that they can create random machinery from their phones. Random but okay, gotta get toy merch somehow. 

Anyway, Master Chin takes the fortune cookie route by not telling them where the shadow temple is even though he clearly knows. I swear, some may say he’s letting them figure it out themselves, I say he’s screwing with their heads. 

Point is, the shadow temple is in Alacatraz (where else can you find mass amounts of yin than in prison) and their new dojo is in San Francisco’s Chinatown. 

Part 2 introduces a new villain. The ancient shadow rat guardian and the emperor’s sister, Yin We who has a slight British accent. I know it’s a british series but with the other characters have American or stereotypically Chinese accents (the emperor is the latter), it’s just weird that she’s British when she grew up in a time before British colonialism. Whatever, she sounds evil and loving it. Her moves are also very slithery and sinuous which is more snake like than rat like but whatever, she’s evil and loving it. 

As for Zodiac Master, he’s clearly become the bottom bitch for lack of a better term that they’re only keeping around because he knows the modern era and newfangled technology. It’s a pathetic step down and he so deserves it.

 As for the group back in the temple, Ling is wary of the shadow temple for good reason as she can already hear voices trying to corrupt her to fulfill her true destiny. 

Long story short, they mercifully don’t put viewers through a repeat of the previous season and Ling is able to regain control of herself and have renewed confidence that she can fight her dark side.

I would improve this episode just a bit by giving Ang more of an arc to go through. This season he is a bit lacking in character growth. While I liked the idea of Ling being wary of her potential dark side, Ang can show that he's still getting over the events of the previous season by not being totally trustful of her. Yes, he says he trusts her but he is first to jump on her when she seems to be corrupted. It can lead to a real bonding moment of how they're both trying to act things are normal but they aren't and they need to rebuild trust.

Enter the Shadow Wolf: Apparently some days have passed and we’re jumping into the new plot that since the twins already know about the shadow dog temple and is checking up on the guardian to see if he'll join the emperor. 

This case, they’re at the shadow dog’s temple or in this case, shadow wolf as fluffy and cute don’t scream yin as much as a giant man-wolf. 

K-Ho is true neutral evil as he has no interest in “sides” but representing yin so the world may remain in balance. A concept that Ang can’t quite reconcile in his black and white thinking. He doesn’t trust the wolf unlike Ling who is absolutely charmed. 

Ang’s negative impression is reinforced when Yin We comes out of the shadows to introduce herself and her alliegence to her brother. She also has shape shifting powers. Unlike the rat guardian, hers isn’t limited to just rats. She can turn into any person, making for some dynamic fighting your twin sequences. 

Anyway, the episode is all about whether trusting K-Ho a good idea and after some shapeshifting misunderstandings, Ang reluctantly concedes that K-Ho can be trusted. Well, the others trust him, Ang is still watching him closely. 

Yin We is a fun new character with her bratty sister dynamic as she says she’s more “with it” in understanding the modern era compared to her brother. But the Emperor asserts his dominance when he warns her against impersonating him again. Yeah, he’s “with it” too, he has eyes everywhere. 

To continue with my giving Ang more character development idea, I would like this episode to also explore Ang adjusting to being co-dragon with Ling. He's used to being the leader with Xuan Chi and Bengail as support. Now he has to sometimes run his ideas by Ling and it just rankles him after being independent so long.

Cats and Dogs and Dragons: Turns out Master Chin had a life outside the temple. A potential love life at that as the teens learn he has an archeologist friend who needs their help. 

So off they go to Egypt where the villains somehow already knew about Master Chin’s girl friend and have kidnapped her as bait to lure the dragons. Also to use as a bloodless offering to Bastet for anyone who brings Bastet back to life can ask the cat goddess for a favor. In this case, do their dirty work for them. 

You can also see the siblings are getting on each other’s nerves as the Emperor remarks that it’s too bad Yin We is his sister because then he can't chop off her head for being a smartass. 

Meanwhile, K-Ho is already at the temple as he literally sniffed out trouble which rankles Ang as he gets all territorial about the mission and not trusting him. Side note: I know there’s no budget for extra civilian designs but K-Ho looks prepared to explore the Artic rather than hot Egyptian pyramids. 

Anyway, there’s some reluctant team work between the boys after Ling yells at them, they free Bastet from the Emperor’s command, they free archeologist lady and we learn that the goddess was the original tiger guardian too. 

Which comes to what I’d rewrite in this episode which would be to give more focus on Bengail. As you'll see throughout this season is Bengail has been demoted from her badassery, often the first to be knocked out of battle. Same happens here even when Bastet has a real connection to the tiger guardian.

Bengail deserves some chracter growth too besides being mature supportive friend. So I would make this a Bengail episode, with her taking the lead on this mission, checking everyone for being unfocused with their crushes (Ling) and macho ego contest in K-Ho/Ang's case. I would highlight how Bengail has been working doubly hard, going back and forth between San Fran and Hong Kong to check her temple and help the twins and she wants some little acknowledgement for her hard work. Give her time to shine and save the time. Not just the golden dragons.

Shadow Tiger Take Two: The teens travel to a remote island to check on the shadow tiger temple where it turns out, Ang’s old superstar friend is making a new movie and he can be in it. (With only one camera man because budget problems. Hey, they can make meta)

Starstruck Ang immediately accepts as he can act opposite his celeb crush, Karen Kwan so Ling and Bengali go on a girls trip to the temple where the shadow tiger guardian, Sabre-claw lives up to his name by turning into a sabertooth-hybrid. The design is not unlike a low budget Sabretooth (hence name change). Bengail has a brief brush with corruption with how much she wants the shadow tiger band which I really wish they went through with. Show Bengail's dark side.

Meanwhile, Yin We has been impersonating Karen to get close to Ang’s armband but is foiled by Xuan Chi’s animal sense. Ang helps Ling and Bengail against Sabreclaw, they save Karen and the day is saved. 

Pretty standard so to add some pathos, I would have Ang be attracted to it because he is starting to miss some normalcy. He's been all Golden Dragon 24/7, and this used to be one of his childhood dreams. Now Ling is his co-dragon, why can't he take a break? Yes, I mentioned that he should have an episode in season one over his normal life vs new responsibilities but he can backslide, and start an arc of Ang working on a dragon-life balance.

A Horse of a Different Color: K-Ho has been training the twins on how to access their power bands without having to go through the transformation sequence. A feat which they quickly turn into a competition cuz sibling rivalries never go away. 

Anyway, before Ang gets turned into street pizza again, Master Chin’s Aesop gives him a brainstorm. All legends have a bit of truth in them so maybe they’ll find other shadow temples through the legends. Like England’s White Horse ruins sound perfect setting for the Shadow Horse temple. Ling’s Skeptical but Ang is quickly proven right when they find the temple and it’s defenses turn against them. 

Quickly they find the Shadow Horse, I mean Shadow Stallion guardian who can turn into a centaur! So awesome! Anyway, Yin We tries to destroy the temple when the stallion refuses to join the emperor and the twins figure out how to use their power by working together. 

It’s a simple episode so I would emphasize more of the competition part so their teamwork realization is more meaningful. In fact, I feel like the setting should just be changed to Scotland since they have so many loch ness jokes and a kelpie would be so much more of a yin legend-hello horse that drags unsuspecting mortals to their death just like the shadow horse draws people's destructiveness.

Rat Attack: Yin We has been breaking the teens’ defenses by attacking at all hours at random, making them lose sleep and leave no time to recharge. It’s a pretty wise strategy though I wish they did more with it as the episode goes beyond a few yawns here and there. To make it more urgent, just show the affects of sleep deprevetion on the teens, especially Ang.

But I found Bengail’s pep talk to Ang that it’s okay to take a break and he cannot be on guard all the time because he’s human to be sweet and just what he needed to hear. You can tell he puts a lot of responsibility on himself in being guardian all the time and needs to be pulled into focus as a season long arc.

So Yin We tries to pull a trap by kidnapping the rat guardian, Ming and impersonating her and the teens manage to pull off not one but two double crosses. The second one I didn’t even see coming. Plus Ming returns and the feisty girl never disappoints. 

So it’s a good episode, it could have just done more with what they had.

Spellbound: Sabreclaw and Yin We are back and have dug up a mystical were-Jaguar jade to call in another god to double-cross. Apparently, Yin We has been itiching to prove that she can do a good plan without her brother's input.

Back in San Francisco, the show finally answers my internal question about the safety of the Tiger Temple with Bengail in San Francisco this whole time, apparently she travels back and forth. And she’s been gone for a long time, Ang and Ling are worried and they head there to find it totally ransacked.

Long story short, they follow the clues to Central America and Yin We adds conflict by shapeshifting to the jaguar god so the teens would think the jaguar god is behind all this and not Yin We. 

It doesn't help that when they do see the real Jaguar God, he has hypnotized Bengail to be his future queen as he rebuilds his empire. Meanwhile, Yin We and Sabreclaw plan to ambush the god after he defeats the heroes so they can be double tigers.

Unfortunately, Bengail may be hypnotized but she's honest and tells the Jaguar god what backstabbing rats Yin We and Sabreclaw are, so he turns against Sabreclaw and Yin We and tries to sacrifice them in a pit. 

While I enjoyed the change in location, the brief fighting the wrong enemy, and the return of feisty Bengail before and after she breaks out of her trance, her reasoning that she felt bad for him trying to rebuild his empire as some tragic bad guy didn’t work. 

How did she know if she was hypnotized the whole time? I mean. the viewers knew but she didn't. 

Also, I was waiting for some clear Ang not quite realizing why he’s so distressed about Bengail being taken. I’m not saying to put them together or he has some big hero moment, but like some more intense feelings on his side as Bengail has already shown for him. 

So I would emphasize more of Ang's potential feelings for Bengail, and emphasize the god's tragic anti hero nature by having his empire be rebuilt after his tragic early death from conquistadors. Also give him a name, it will make him feel more human.

Friend or Foe: Since Yin We is weakened after their success in Rat Attack, the group takes advantage of Yin We’s state by setting up an irresistible trap-a seemingly abandoned temple. Yin We falls for it, and once they have her down, Sabreclaw nopes out of there like a coward. The Emperor watches this all from his all-seeing vision and while Zodiac Master suggests maybe it’s for the best, the Emperor turns on him for letting Yin We go without her band. Classic projection. 

Now it’s a race against time for the group to get Yin We to the shadow rat temple and send her back to the spirit world while the Emperor sends obstacles to stop them. 

And to make it a little more tricky for the heroes, without her band Yin We claims she’s good, no longer corrupted by the yin. That’s hard to believe and the whole group is skeptical of her innocent good girl act even as she begs them to let her help.

It all turns out to be a long con that Ang thankfully prepares for. I just wish it was a little more riveting and ambiguous. 

But besides the Ang/Bengail ship tease, there’s also a thing going on between Ling and K-Ho. Like he makes a comment about how it’s always a wild adventure with them, and she just smiles like he called her pretty or some huge compliment. She’s got it bad. 

While I think everyone could tell Yin We is faking, it could still add some conflicy by having Yin We observe the dynamics around her and pit the teens against each other like when she mentioned Ang and Bengail being together etc. It could also be another chance to have the twins discuss Ling's redemption.

They had a brief debate over whether Yin We could be held responsible if she was under the shadow rat power and if she is capable of change. Make it a real debate, and have the twins hash out why they (don't) believe in Yin We with Ling taking a more cynical stance to Ang's positive.

It could lead to a really dramatic climax when Ang asks Ling that if it was the smarter decision to not believe in redemption, than should he have not tried with her? And Ling says he shouldn't have. Reveal that past her nonchalant reaction to other's distrust, she still feels bad over what she did as the shadow dragon and feels she doesn't deserve redemption.

The Golden Babysitter Blues: After Yin We tries to steal the ox band from Robbie, he travels to San Francisco for refuge and Master Chin leaves the twins in charge of babysitting him while he gathers the other guardians to help. 

This was pretty much a filler episode with some highlights Ang's indignation at Robbie calling him "his elder," he's not that old yet.and the little boy effortlessly taking out the teens with ease when they underestimate his martial arts skills. 

But when they bump into the shadow-ox guardian in the park, it felt too convenient (he’s the town bully and can turn into a Minotaur) that Yin We could locate him and transport him so quickly just for Robbie to bump into him. Why not ambush? 

And then the contrived "urgent" situation where Yin We kidnaps Master Chin so she could force a stalemate and get Robbie to give his band in exchange, you feel no satisfaction from Robbie's bait and switch since it was so predictable. They did it a lot better in Rat Attack. 

To make it feel like a repeat of other episodes and maybe add some pathos have Ang and Ling really try to mentor Robbie as they were. Or even bring their mother in since she has more experience teaching kids only for her to be distracted in trying to bond with the twins and they're unsure of how to deal with having a parent in their life.

The twins could also have their own bonds with Robbie, reflecting in how they've learned and grown. Maybe ang realizes he wants to rebuild the temple and dojo. Maybe Ling even realizes she likes teaching kids and maybe Master Chin had a point that she has potential as a master like him.

Gone Shadow Ape: We return to the search for the monkey. Actually, it's the shadow monkey band. Master Chin and Ang head to Hong Kong at the behest of the previously helpful museum curator but Yin We and the Shadow Ape guardian get there first and turn into a beast worthy of King Kong (actually referenced within the show. Sadly, no tower homage) 

Unfortunately, Xuan Chin gets wind of it back in San Francisco and steals the jet to fly to Hong Kong to retrieve it, ruining Ling's day off (Apparently, they've been there for almost half a year and they haven't ventured past their street like a permanent house arrest, what gives?)

Anyway, fights ensue, Xuan Chin gets sent to the pound for rabies, and it's really not a memorable episode. We spent most of the time watching the antics of a monkey trying to fly a plane and rescuing the monkey from the pound. The fight with the shadow ape took only 3 minutes and it was painful to see the twins get beaten down by generic throws. 

Even the animation looked off in this episode, in character models and in matching audio with their mouths.

The only redeeming part is some of the snarky dialogue and yeah, that's it. It also ends the search for the monkey band on a cliffhanger! 

To make this a more meaningful episode, I'd potential bring back Xuan Chin as a human again, give Ang and Xuan Chi a real bro trip episode after a whole season without their friendship. Oh, and finally give him his dang monkey band. We've already seen the shadow monkey band in the first season, just give Xuan Chi the powers he deserves.

As a B-plot, Ling can decide to work on easing her conscience and make amends to the other guardians she attacked in the previous year. This can turn comical to heartfelt and really show that Ling has grown for her selfish, entitled nature of before.

Lone Wolf: Ang and K-Ho get a bonding episode! Since K-Ho has a connection to all wolves, he immediately sets out to the cold north to save a wolf cub being terrorized by some hillbillies. Unfortunately, one of those hillbillies is Yin We and K-Ho gets injured in the resulting fight. 

Now, it's up to Ang to care for a stubborn K-Ho and wolf cub in the midst of a blizzard while Yin We is waiting to attack them at their weakest. It made a great trapped among mountain lions scenario between Yin We and the blizzard and K-Ho rapidly decreasing energy. It was great to see Ang finally get the trust of the lone wolf and for K-Ho to finally admit he needs help and respect what Ang can offer in battle. 

Meanwhile, Bengail and Ling have their own girls trip to fight at the Tiger Temple with Sabreclaw which they deduce as a distraction so the twins would be split up and easier to pick off. Nuh-uh, they're too smart for that and so the day is quickly wrapped up with a full team beatdown. 

I don't have any changes or critiques to this episode even though it almost veers on a very special animal cruelty episode, I don't care. Animal terrorizers deserve to almost crash their helicopter. 

Also Zodiac Master was here, utterly forgettable and useless. He was fine in the first three episodes but I don't see why they had him stick around. The Emperor should have turned him into stone if only to emphasize that he's a real threat and inject "Anyone can die" scenario. 

Heart of the Black Dragon: Season finale time! With the help of the shadow snake guardian (who is promptly concussed cuz Yin We doesn’t share credit), the Emperor has the eye of the black dragon. A mcguffin never mentioned before because it in the time before guardians. Actually, it was why the guardians were created. To defeat the black dragon and then put the world in balance. 

So we bring things back to Alcatraz since the guardians thought no one would go to the “new world” to find the black dragon’s heart. Too bad the Emperor figured it out. 

So Master Chin ruins everyone’s day off (lowkey really nice to see them acting like normal teens, shopping, flirting etc. before it gets interrupted. Also Master Chin sarcasm is great) and they head to Alacatraz too late. 

But if there’s a black dragon, there has to be a gold dragon and once again, Master Chin tells them they have to figure it out themselves even though he already knows everything! 

I’ll admit the ending is cheesy as it’s inside themselves and after a brief moment of doubt, they turn into a double headed dragon. Something I’ve been waiting for and was disappointed at how cartoony it looked. Same with the final black vs gold dragon fight that was only 2 minutes long.

That’s the critique I’d give the episode as a whole. Great set up but the execution felt rushed and unearned and the fight choreography was a downgrade too. In season one you can see the martial arts moves that keep things dynamic and interesting, and the guardian powers had some relation to their animal. But here, it’s all kicks and colored blasts, it falls flat.

Even when it’s supposedly 10 terra cotta warriors against two, the urgency doesn’t feel real because the budget simplifies the action scenes. It makes them look lame honestly. 

Give their unique powers and fight skills back like Bengail and her dart claws, I haven't seem them all season. Show the actual martial arts moves and inspiration.

Although, I did enjoy Bengail and K-Ho as the last ones standing and vowing to keep fighting like any last surviving soldier in the trenches. Even though they didn’t interact much in this season one on one, you can tell they have a completely platonic respect for each other as warriors. I like it and I wish the show did more to switch up the group pairings. 

Final Thoughts: I really come to enjoy this show. The characters are what interesting and made me stay, the lore needs some work. As for the season, it started promising but showed cracks and budget issues in the end from color palette to fight chereography. It also got pretty formulaic by having the twins always being the one to save the day but the lessons felt too one-note. I wanted a season long arc as they did in the previous season.

Ang as I mentioned should get an arc on dealing with being a double golden dragon after being the lone dragon. Have him deal with sharing leadership, have him consumed with anxiety over his responsibilities, not giving himself time to rest. Learning to trust Ling again which is part of the reason he gives himself so much work because he doesn't believe Ling will care as much as he does.

Ling's arc would be complementary to his by having her take responsibility that she lacked. Yes, I want her to remain snarky but I also want her to be cautious of her own tendency towards selfishness and shortcuts. I want her to try to take accountability and make amends for the previous season instead of brushing off the other guardians' distrust of her (tho it is hilarious everytime. Guess there's no guardian newsletter update). Have her be a better sister by helping her brother acknowledge he is a good person but he needs to accept help and she wants to be someone he can lean on.

Master Chin shouldn't know everything. It makes him look like a jerk for not telling them basic information and warn them of potential dangers. Have him be just as unaware of the shadow temples since he's associated with only yang.

Give Bengail a focus episode as they did with K-Ho. K-Ho. . . K-Ho's cool. His VA reminds me of Greg Cipes the entire time which is so weird since its the same VA for Ang. I didn't mention before but the whole cast does double the amount of characters and its super impressive to me. They all did a great job!

The Emperor and Yin We were great as villains. I have no complaints, and Sabreclaw was nice attempt at giving Bengail a nemesis although it felt his indian accent got thicker in each episode he appeared.

As mentioned before, I would have just killed off Zodiac Master after the third episode. It would make the season darker and helps get rid of him since he was super unecessary and pathetic this season.

Upgrade everyone's powers. The only new thing the twins got was teleportation which eh. They can also "fly" but they did that in the previous season so I'm not sure why they were all surprised by that. It would be cool if the twin could breath fire though.

I would also up the ante with not just blowing up the dragon temple but forcing all the other guardian temples to move because they're not safe with Yin We and the Emperor on the loose. Displacement for all, and it can give the show a chance to show different Asian countries beyond Vietnam, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Speaking of dark, I would have focused more lore on the shadow temples as mysterious as they are as not all of them are explored in the show. Just half. Make the teens face their darker natures or face the worst of humanity in a deadly sins-like way or yin-esque way. Put focus on the importance of balance and harmony and how they need to both exist in the world. Bring back some of the yang guardians since those cameos were fun like the Rooster guardian and Chow Chow and the twins' mom!

Really bring the zodiac into play by having the yang guardians show the animal's best traits and the yin show the worst and how destiny/the animal doesn't really control the person' fate but the person's actions do. Explore all the nuances of morality and redemption through the zodiac.

Overall, I would recommend the series for the characters alone and for its potential lore even if there are some big gaps. I really enjoyed it and will be in my mind for a long while.

#legend of the dragon #watch and rewrite #random musings #season two

[thewingedwolf]

anyways so my final opinion on s1 of hotd is that the ten year time skip was too much. it should have been 9 years and it should have started with Rhaenyra finding out she’s pregnant again with little Joffrey. The season should have ended with either Rhaenyra finally deciding to go to dragonstone to be left alone OR with her and Daemon’s wedding. They skipped over too much and it made the deaths of the Strongs and Laena feel very cheap, as well as rushing too much of adult Laenor’s character (who all of a sudden is a very absent husband and father, but we see none of his depressive spiral or of his relationship with Qarl). I get they wanted to get to the war and the dragon fighting but they could have built up Laena’s death to be a really awesome and terrible scene PLUS they clearly don’t mind writing in big scenes with the dragons that never happened in the books, they could have just ✨invented✨a dragon fight or whatever. And showing more of the actual politicking from the greens might have made them look less stupid lmao. PLUS I miss baby Aemond and Aegon, they were amusing and incredibly good actors, and i wanted more of the other little ones! they deserved more than like 2 episodes. i think the emotional beats were all good, they were just too rushed!! if they wanted to end with the beginning of the dance, they should have had a 16 episode season 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

my other main criticism is LIGHT YOUR FUCKING SHOWS HBO. there were whole scenes were i couldn’t see SHIT like i did Not even know who was talking because the scene was so dark even Rhaenys pale ass and bright white hair were GONE. COMPLETELY UNSEEABLE. WHAT THE FUCK. they used that big budget on better wigs, better CGI, better costumes, better sets, but NOT A SINGLE DOLLAR ON LIGHTING APPARENTLY. RYAN CONDAL PLEASE LEARN FROM YOUR PREDECESSORS MISTAKES!!!! you put those gorgeous dreads on Corlys, that immaculate armor on Rhaenys, just a never ending parade of the coolest outfits on Rhaenyra, spared no expense to make Matt Smith as weird and hot as he’s ever been BUT CAN I SEE THEM? NO. I CANNOT.

#rani liveblogs game of thrones

[nahaspicks]

Jack the giant killer budget

Oxford Guide to British and American Culture English vocabulary Jack the Giant Killer is also sprinkled with homages to other fantasy films such as Pendragons transformation into a winged dragon which references the climax of Walt Disneys Sleeping Beauty (1959), the one-armed torch holders mounted on Pendragons walls are a direct nod to Jean Cocteaus Beauty and the Beast (1946), and the solarized demons. JACK THE GIANT KILLER - ➡ Jack and the Beanstalk.Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English JACK THE GIANT-KILLER - Jack and the Bean ‧ stalk /ˌdʒæk ənd ðə ˈbiːnstɔːk/ BrE AmE ( also ˌJack the ˈGiant-ˌkiller ) a ↑ ….More meanings of this word and English-Russian, Russian-English translations for the word «JACK THE GIANT-KILLER» in dictionaries. Linguistic-cultural dictionary Great Britain.Jack the Giant Slayeris predicted to get a DVD and Blu-ray release in July 2013. Were you one of the people who saw Jack the Giant Slayer in theaters last month? Did it deserve better numbers than it got? Share your thoughts in the comments. The film has received middling-to-good reviews, with Screen Rant's Ben Kendrick describing it as " surprisingly entertaining," and the majority of our poll voters rating it between 4 and 5 stars. Jack the Giant Killer has been touted as 'an adult look at the Jack and the Beanstalk legend' about a princess being kidnapped and how that threatens a long-standing peace between men and giants. It's worth noting, however, that critic and audience responses were somewhat more positive than the box office intake. If the estimated numbers hold, Jack the Giant Slayer's overall losses will fall somewhere between those for 2012 disasters Battleship and John Carter, making it an early contender for 2013's "Flop of the Year" award. The film's plot was conflated from different sources, with the magic beans and beanstalk derived from the classic fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk", and the title and royal love interest (Eleanor Tomlinson) drawn from the Arthurian folk tales of "Jack the Giant Killer." It featured Nicholas Hoult in the lead role and was produced and directed by Bryan Singer, who will hopefully make a recovery with next year's release of X-Men: Days of Future Past. This will leave Legendary Pictures (who financed half of the film's total budget) with losses of between $125 and $140 million, and Warner Bros. Despite a worldwide marketing budget of over $100 million, on top of the production budget of $200 million, Yahoo reports that the film has so far only earned only around $157 million since its March 1st release date, with THR predicting that it will top out at just over $200 million. Legendary Pictures hasn't been so lucky with its big-budget, CGI-heavy fantasy adventure Jack the Giant Slayer. Personally, I blame Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which was one of the few fairy tale success stories at the box office, earning a worldwide gross of over $1 billion. This weekend’s dismal performance of Bryan Singer’s much-anticipated Jack the Giant Slayer may have seemed familiar to those who recall the sad fate of Disney’s John Carter almost exactly a. It is a mockbuster of Jack the Giant Slayer. A modern take of the fairy tales Jack the Giant Killer and Jack and the Beanstalk, the film stars Ben Cross and Jane March. Jack the Giant Killer is a 2013 American fantasy film produced by The Asylum and directed by Mark Atkins. For whatever reason, live-action reinventions of classic fairy tales are incredibly in vogue right now. For the big budget film from the same year, see Jack the Giant Slayer. Next year we can expect to see Maleficent, a live-action origin story for Disney's Sleeping Beauty villain, and Guillermo Del Toro is planning another Beauty and the Beast adaptation with Emma Watson as the heroine. The fairy tale trend is not over yet, though. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and Snow White and the Huntsman both did well enough overseas to compensate for their lukewarm domestic gross, and it was more or less the same deal for Snow White and the Huntsman's rival, Mirror Mirror. "Beauty and the Beast in high school" romance flick Beastly was almost universally scorned by critics, though it managed to earn a modest profit off its relatively low production budget. Legendary Pictures hasnt been so lucky with its big-budget, CGI-heavy fantasy adventure Jack the Giant Slayer. It seems that Hollywood just can't get enough of reinventing fairy tales, though the audience and box office response to them has been mixed at best.

#Jack the giant killer budget

[natashampa]

Ghost is a very good boy

Edit: WoW this was meant to be a throwback to earlier seasons, but did I just accurately predict Jon back up at the Wall with Ghost??

#and deserved more of the CGI budget than the dragons #game of thrones #ghost #jon snow #ghost direwolf #GoT

[rationalnerd62]

Wheel of Time Screentime, s1e8

That first season finale was interesting, to say the least. Quite a few departures from the books, sure, but it does set-up some interesting things for book 2 and book 3 storylines. IMO, this is also the episode that suffered the most from the Covid situation: some late rewrites had to be done following Mat’s actor leaving, budget got tighter, the whole battle ended up being full CGI due to Covid restrictions, etc. Overall, I still enjoyed the episode, especially on a rewatch, so I’m willing to give them a pass for what did not work well.

Linked below are all the previous WoT Screentime and Speaking Time analyses. far-dareis-me did a fantastic job on those Wheel of (Speaking) Time posts, please check them out!

WoT Screentime: e1 | e2 | e3 | e1-3 | e4 | e5 | e6 | e7 | e8 

WoT Speaking Time: e1-3 | e4 | e5 | e6 | e7 | e8

Ep7 revealed who was the Dragon Reborn, and ep8 definitely developed on that. While Rand got the 2nd spot in four episodes this season, ep8 is the first for which our favorite sheepherder gets the 1st spot. His In-Scene time is 7min bigger than Moiraine’s, with who he was traveling, due to his dream and later on his mental fight with Ishamael. Rand also has 11min more than any other folks from the Two Rivers. This was definitely his episode, which was expected and deserved.

Talking about Moiraine and Egwene, both appear either in Rand’s dream or in the fake world Ishamael showed Rand. This isn’t the first time characters appear in other people’s dreams, and so far I have never made a distinction between dream characters and real ones. I considered making one here, but ultimately decided against for simplicity and better tracking of characters over the whole season. As a result, Moiraine’s dead time corresponds to when she is killed in Rand’s dream. Meanwhile, Egwene is considered as unconscious whenever she is frozen in the fake world. Without that mental fight, Egwene would have a lower screentime than Nynaeve: the two of them are mostly in the same scenes, except when Egwene is comforted by Perrin (a 52s scene) and when Nynaeve and Lan talk (a 1m57s scene).

Ishamael had almost 8 minutes and half of screentime, putting him 5th on this chart. However, I am guessing his rank will be higher on the speaking time analysis, as that man was quite talkative.

I was hoping to see more of Min in this episode. Unfortunately, she gets less than a minute in her bar, talking with the EF folks that haven’t left for the Blight, and then a few more seconds as she is leaving Fal Dara. Bets are on concerning where she might be going: my personal guess is Tar Valon.

While I considered Lord Yakota as dead in that scene with Perrin and Padan Fain, I marked both Uno and Loial as unconscious instead. We know those two characters are making a comeback in season 2, and we don’t get an obvious “death” moment for them like we got one for Yakota. Similarly, I marked Nynaeve as unconscious instead of dead: her make-up doesn’t appear as burned up as Lady Amalisa, and in the books the One Power cannot be used to revive someone already dead. This could change in the show (how come Aes Sedai don’t have some magical CPR and defibrillator, really), but for now I will stick to the “Nynaeve was only almost dead” theory.

Gender balance is somehow decent for this episode, as we have about 13min more In-Scene time for men than for women. This is pretty much in line with the rest of the show, as only episode 6 had women with more screentime than men.

As always, the data can be found at this link. I will follow-up in a few days with a summary for the whole first season. After that, I may do some random stats stuffs like “who did X spend the most time with?” and others, so if you have specific requests about some characters or some episodes, please send them to me!

#the wheel of time #wot screentime #wot analysis #rand al'thor #moiraine damodred #egwene al'vere #nynaeve al'meara #perrin aybara #al'lan mandragoran #min farshaw

[self-shipper-snowdrop]

Nobody:

Me whenever I remember how Smaug looked in the Hobbit movie compared to the book: Smaug was said to be a DRAGON and yet in the movie they made him a fucking WYVERN which is NOT THE SAME THING OH MY GOD do you know anything about dragon anatomy????? Are you a dumbass???? You won awards for this film and they were undeserved, because you can’t even do Smaug justice and make him the true dragon that he was meant to be. It’s like saying that a hydra is the same thing as a dragon, it is not, they are different creatures you rotten, inept potato directing the film for a book that is too good for your filthy hands. Dragons in western mythology have FOUR LEGS and WINGS which are SEPARATE FROM EACH OTHER while wyverns ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. THEY HAVE TWO LEGS IN THE BACK, AND THE WINGS AND FRONT LEGS ARE THE SAME THING. THE WINGS ARE BASICALLY BLENDED INTO THE FRONT LEGS, MAKING THEM LOOK COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM DRAGONS. They are NOT the same creatures and they should NOT be confused by a guy who’s one job was to make a badass dragon but instead of giving us the cgi dragon we deserve he gave us a FUCKING WYVERN. Absolutely disgraceful. Was a hydra also in the drafts???? Were you going to make him a wyrm???? or a drake???? or- hell forbid the idea makes me puke- AN AMPHITHERE????? You act as if these words are interchangeable, but they are not. These are different creatures and words have meanings, you fucking orange of a man. Each is lovely in their own right as a mythological creature, but they are not the same thing. This more than includes dragons and wyverns being completely separate species. You create a movie but you refuse to even learn basic dragon anatomy? You spend like a billion dollars of cgi that is a reminder of your failures as a human being? For shame. I’m certain J.R.R Tolkien is rolling in his grave at your egregious sins. I knew more about dragons at six years olf than you did when making an entire movie with a Hollywood budget. Absolutely despicable.

#In short. I have a problem. #This is why nobody would talk to me in school huh- #because I simply. did not shut up about stuff I was into vjfajhvcdsvhdschdvsh #Would the fixation last days? Months? Who is to say. We cannot know. #All I do know is that i am deeply annoying #from daydreams to text #long post #If you don't want your eyes to bleed at how absurd I am I suggest avoiding this post k thx bye-

[being-worthy]

Saturday Home Cinema: Mulan (2020) - A very honest review!

I just had to write this review because Mulan is one of my heroes and I’m a huge fan of the original Disney Mulan (1998). I saw the movie for the first time as a kid when I had trouble feeling integrated and was daily bullied at school. I re-watched it again and again and again until I was able to learn by heart the script and all the songs in German (and later on, even in English). I just saw so much of myself in Mulan (maybe except for the fact that I’m not as beautiful or witty as she is). I too always felt out of place and I couldn’t be my true self and I was never very ladylike either. I also looked up at her and saw her as a role model. Sometimes I thought that if I stared long enough at my reflection in the mirror, it’d show me my true self - and I���m still waiting to this day… Disney’s 1998 version of Mulan was and still is my favourite Disney movie.

> SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!! <

The best thing about this movie is the soundtrack, especially at the end. Christina Aguilera was the right choice to sing Reflection and Loyal Brave True. The goosebumps her voice gives, I can’t even describe how extraordinary her voice is. In the end credits, you can listen to the English version of Reflection as well as the Chinese version (sadly sung by Liu Yifei  ¬¬). It’s worth to watch the end credits and listen to the songs.

*My suggestion: Stop whatever you’re doing. Put on some headphones (even better if they’re noise-cancelling), close your eyes, play the song Reflection song (and Loyal Brave True if you feel like it) by Christina Aguilera, no distractions no interruptions, forget about everything and everyone, let the song flow through your ears, mind, heart, body, and soul, and you will feel like you’re Mulan, especially when the drumming gets louder, it’s epically epic! (Sorry for the redundancy but it IS a remarkable song!)

I welcome the idea of wanting to take a classic and do something new, something fresh with it but humanity could’ve gone without this movie and they shouldn’t ask for $35 to watch it on Disney+ and sometimes a classical doesn’t need to be redone. Additionally, I can’t entirely understand what’s going on these past years not only with Disney but Hollywood and all other big movie production companies. It’s either remake of this classic or a 2nd/3rd sequel of a movie that doesn’t actually require a sequel but it’s still done anyway. Why even bother wasting big amounts of money to create a disaster? You’re better of donating that money to charity (or to me lol). The main thing that Disney has been doing lately are remakes of many of our childhood movies Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, among others, and now Mulan. Some have a few good parts in them but they still can’t and never will compare to the original. Why is there no originality and innovation anymore? Have they run out of ideas? Furthermore, let’s be honest people will always compare the remake (either consciously or unconsciously) with the original because there are less than a dozen movies where the remake either was (almost) as good as the original much less better than the original. The movie Mulan (2020) had a massive budget and is the most expensive film made by a female director (Niki Caro), yet how they made it, the battle sequences and CGI effects, etc. they’re all crappy.

Budgets of all Mulan interpretations:

Mulan (1998) - $90 million > Directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Made $304.3 million in the box office

Hua Mulan (2009) - $12 million > Directed by Jingle Ma. Sadly, made only $1.8 million in the box office. It deserved more love!

Mulan (2020) - $200 million(!!) > All that budget was a waste!

I’ve seen all three versions. The 1998 version is for everybody and it’s funny and you feel with the characters and the film. Let’s be honest, the granny is one of the best characters, most of us have or had a granny like that in our lives. The 2nd one is a 2-hour long movie, a more mature adaption which illustrates the ugly harsh truth about war and the loss and death it brings with it and that there’s nothing funny or cool about it. This one is not suitable for children. You feel with the characters and their sacrifices and they also develop along the movie. I can only recommend to watch this version if you haven’t. And the latest one is a disgrace.

I’m a bit confused as to what the message of the movie is. On one hand, it tells you shouldn’t hide your inner beauty, you shouldn’t hide who you are, you shouldn’t hide your abilities, you shouldn’t try to hide who you truly are in order to conform to what the world/society wants you to be or who you should be, let your true self shine and be yourself and don’t allow anyone to tell you that you’re inferior just because they think/say you are. This is something powerful and admirable but, on the other hand, at the same time, it tells you that you can only do that if you are the chosen one. Let me explain... In the beginning, we see Mulan as a little girl chasing a chicken up to the roofs of the houses at the village where she lives. Basically, she’s born as a one-woman army (almost deus ex machina) and doesn’t require any further training which is total and utter rubbish. She has all the skills because of her powerful chi (vital life force energy) but has to underplay them because it’s not very ladylike to behave like she wants to and she still underplays them when she trains with the soldiers so as to keep a low profile. Her being so powerful from the beginning makes me feel alienated from her and I can’t empathise with her. It’s also not very realistic, nobody is born with their abilities fully developed. For example, even Bruce Lee had to train hard to get where he got and he wasn’t the only one.

The original version shows us a regular girl, at times clumsy (which is a cliché but we still liked it) and when she’s confronted with new situations, she analyses them and finds a quick canny solution to them. She also has to train her body and mind to get to the peak of her potential and accomplish what nobody else could in her time, and here the character is done from the start of the movie and the only thing she has to do is choose not to hide her chi anymore. This tells us that you don’t have to work hard to achieve your dreams whereas in reality you actually do have to work your butt off!

I’m not a fan of the leading actress they chose for Mulan, aka Liu Yifei, not only because she’s a police brutality supporter according to her controversial tweets a while back - this already makes her unworthy to portray Mulan who is the complete opposite - but also because she didn’t do a good job at depicting this great role. Mulan is a role model for every girl and woman and it’s a massive contradiction if a woman who agrees to the atrocious police methods impersonates her role. What message do we send out to every girl out in the world? In her acting she’s this blank and hollow person through the movie and transmits no emotion whatsoever - not even when she cries. This also makes it difficult for me to identify myself with her. She’s this wooden plank, she is and stays a blank canvas through the whole movie with no growth in her character and it’s frustrating having to see this because the character of Mulan isn’t at all like this. Mulan experiences many emotions from the moment where she makes the decision to enlist so her father doesn’t have to or when she experiences the loss of her comrades or has to kill someone for the first time, etc. she suffers along her journey and all this changes her but you see nothing of it in Liu Yifei’s Mulan.

In the Disney version, there are some crucial moments that are missing in the new one. For instance, the most crucial one is the moment where Mulan decides to go to war. If you remember the animation one, she’s sitting in the rain by the dragon statue and at that moment makes a decision that could kill her or worse bring dishonour to herself and her entire family (including ancestors) which was far worse than death during that time! She gets up, marches to the altar of her ancestors, takes her father’s sword and cuts her hair (I know men had long hair back then too but still), puts on the armour and goes to war. All this while being accompanied by an epic song written by Jerry Goldsmith called Haircut. This is one of the most intense and dramatic moments in the movie and in all Disney movies! You can understand and feel the importance of this decision for the character and you feel the weight of it! In the 2020 one, she takes the sword and the next shot presents her already with the armour on - there’s zero dramatic impact here. That was a great missed opportunity!! By omitting important scenes and their dramatic impacts like this one that are essential to the story and to the characters, to their development and their journey throughout the story and you really need to rely on the original from 1998 to have this context.

The battle scenes are like many modern movies: lots of action, lots of moving (too fast-moving), a few amazing fighting moves and fights but not showed entirely. I at least expected some similar quality, like we’ve seen in films such as Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and Tiger & Dragon (2020) to name a few. Sadly, these movies had better fight scenes quality than Mulan which were filmed in high frame rate but over-edited with action that is negatively frenetic and have artificial CGI effects (even the CGI effects in Independence Day were better - I’m watching the movie while writing this). We’re in the 21st century with great advances in technology and movies are given big budgets (particularly Hollywood films), yet despite all this, most movies end up with CGI effects from another era. How come this happens over and over? In this one, we see people running too fast, horses running too fast, and they’re all like a big mass of headless chickens and you don’t know exactly what is happening where. All this fast running, the constant cut and paste of scenes looks all too modern and doesn’t fit the current time period of the movie and it surely doesn’t transmit the way of fighting of that period. 

Moreover, we get lots of flashback-lesson learning scenes throughout the movie. This is another fashion in movies lately, playing the film in the present time while at the same time jumping back and forth between flashbacks. It spends a good portion of the movie with these flashbacks. This is not a big issue and admirable per se but when these scenes are insignificant because they’re glossed over and transmitted without zilch emotion, then why even bother to include them in the first instance?

As a last comment, I like the fact that they hired Chinese actors and actresses for the movie (although I don’t know why it had to be in English, I’d have preferred it to be in Chinese, it’s not like we’re allergic to subtitles - unless they’re not done properly), some of them of renewed name, like Gong Li, Rosalind Chao (I loved her in The Joy Luck Club), Jet Li, Donnie Yen (legendary Ip Man), Jason Scott Lee (saw him in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story), Tzi Ma but they won’t be able to save the movie even with a great cast like this one. 

#disney mulan #disney mulan 2020 #mulan live action #saturday home cinema #boycott mulan #don't watch it #don't watch mulan #don't watch mulan 2020 #disney should be ashamed #honest review #a very honest review #film night #movie night

[ladyandtheghost]

How “The Dany-Show” ruined GoT at the core: 3-point system

1. Sansa vs. Cersei: 

How is it possible that we had a million reunions - many of them involving secondary characters for fluff and fan service with zero impact on the plot - but these two women who had so much drama, so much unresolved business, never saw each other again? This is where you would have found the good story to tell and a major plot strand to resolve: the conflict between the Starks and the Lannisters. This is what started it all, this is where it should have ended. This is the story they should have focused on. 

So why didn’t they? 

Because Game of Thrones was already dead and gone and the series had become The Dany-Show and nothing but The Dany-Show. 

Every character, every story arc, everything had to be directed towards Dragon Barbie and her drama. So of course there was no time or space for anything that was not related to the The Dany-Show. Basically a black hole that sucked all the great storylines and characters into its dark void. 

Massive loose plot strands like the Stark-Lannister showdown were left to rot, because it was far more important to show off that CGI budget for gratuitous dragon shots and inane conversations between secondary character including sex jokes on the main. 

There was literally more screen time allotted to the dragons than to Cersei...

After four seasons of Sansa and Cersei constantly referring to each other and the day they would meet again (willingly or not), it’s scandalous that they shoved so many characters back together for pointless reunions that were more or less blatant fan service (Bronn and the Lannister boys, really?!) but the big conflict, the personal drama that was playing out between Sansa and Cersei - that had actually taken on political dimensions now - did not even get a single scene? 

Wrong choice. 

I mean can you even imagine how Lena and Sophie would have acted the shit out of their reunion, because I can and it makes me furious that we were robbed of it. When two characters have so much unfinished business, so much foreshadowing and so much history that still isn’t resolved, the least you can expect is to give them at least a half-assed resolution - but we did not even get that, because it had nothing to do with The Dany-Show. Because all the characters have to only think about Dany and relate to Dany and if there is to be a conflict between female characters, it has to involve Dany and no one else. 

Poor Lena deserved better than to be reduced to playing a two-dimensional shadow of Cersei Lannister who was little more than a prompt giver to The Euron Greyjoy Side-Show (because sex jokes!) 

Also Bonus fuck-up: the prophecy of the YMBQ? Cersei died in the arms of Jaime, if anything Dany’s attack had given her back the one person/thing she cares about. So how exactly did Dany rob her of “all you hold dear” when Dany’s attack caused Jaime to literally drop Brienne like a hot potato, declare his undying love for Cersei and run back into her arms for his final moment? 

Before that, Sansa had already “taken” Jaime into her services together with Brienne. He’d actually switched sides to serve “another queen” (just not Dany) and at least this prophecy made sense for two seconds but of course the YMBQ had to be Dany because it’s The Dany Show, whether it makes sense or not...

They just didn’t care anymore, did they? 

2. Little...who?: 

So we have half a dozen characters rolling up to Winterfell who knew Littlefinger and his dirty business, and Arya, Sansa and Bran are about to go: 

Only for some reason: NO ONE asks. 

There is not a single reference to the fact that the Stark kids found out that Littlefinger is the mastermind behind 90% of everything that has happened since S1 and that he was executed for this. It’s like it never happened and he never existed and neither did all the important plot points before S8. 

Did Jon ever find out that Littlefinger betrayed Ned and conspired with the Lannisters to bring down the Starks? 

Did Tyrion ever find out that Littlefinger framed him at the Purple Wedding?

Did Varys ever find out that his nemesis was outsmarted and defeated by three teenagers?

Nope. Nope. And nope.  

Ain’t we all?

A character who’s been hailed as MVP by a huge part of the fandom because he knew how to network and play the game™ that is advertised in the title like no other, isn’t even mentioned again. One of the most popular theories re: S8 was (ridiculous as I found it myself) “Littlefinger isn’t dead” because many people felt he was still important to the story and there was also a lot of unfinished business with other characters he was connected to...Jon, Varys, Tyrion, Cersei, Sansa...

Instead, Littlefinger himself, his death and every plot point he was ever involved in was simply erased -  because Littlefinger and his relation to these characters had nothing to do with, i.e. did not contribute to...you guessed it...The Dany-Show and therefore POUF, he never existed...

3. R+L = who gives a f***

But you know, these are minor grievances compared to the fact that Jon’s character was not only dumbled down and turned into a complicit in genocide...

Jon’s parentage story arc - you know, THE big revelation and PLOT TWIST  - was turned into a side note, a five-minute mini drama that was more about how this will affect poor little Dany and her feelings. 

They gave us scenes of Dany waxing on about how Jon’s being the one true king stresses her out because she wants the throne and what she expects him to do about it - but they ROBBED us of the moment Jon tells the Stark siblings that he is not truly their brother, but their cousin. 

Because who cares about how Jon feels about this and his “siblings” coming to terms with the fact that:

their father Ned Stark had kept Jon a secret from everyone 

that he had not fathered a bastard and betrayed their mother

but saved the one true heir, at cost of his honour, 

they lived with the Targaryen crown prince and raised him under everyone’s nose...

No, no, the important thing is how Dany feels about it all and how it affects her. 

After the huge build-up, the theories, the overt foreshadowing,  even more infuriating - after throwing poor Elia and her children under the bus and making Jon legitimate...

After literally EVERYTHING in this series leading up to the moment when everyone would know who Jon Snow truly is...it had no effect on the story whatsoever, besides contributing to Dany finally revealing the full extent of her insanity (which was only a matter of time anyways)

Heir to the Iron Throne? Targaryen Prince? Rhaegar’s son? PTWP?

The point is: Drama for poor little Dany because her nephew doesn’t want to fuck her anymore is the actual heir. 

You can’t even say that it led to her advisors finding out and betraying her because that is something they should have done ages ago, at the latest when she burned the Tarlys. It gave them a legitimate alternative option, yes, but it was not the first time they thought she needs to go...

At least R+L=J served one good purpose: it rubbed Dany’s nose in it that she is not special at all. She is NOT the last Targ, nor the “princess that was promised” - and it was never her destiny to rule, she was only ever the “aunt” of the prince. 

Sadly, this is again ALL about Dany and her feelings and how everyone else reacts to her in light of the news that Jon is Aegon. 

So R+L=J is not even about Jon in the end, it’s just another element of The Dany-Show. And once Dany is gone, it’s like R+L=J also got erased (just like Littlefinger and the Stark-Lannister-conflict) 

...because let’s just send the Head of House Targaryen and last of his line beyond the wall again just because the murderous army of the mad tyrant, whom he heroically freed us from, demands it...and of course we have to wrap up the last five minutes of this shitty episode. 

Conclusion: 

D&D just REALLY didn’t care anymore once The Dany-Show was over and it’s painfully obvious to see. The good news is that all of these plot points that got erased/dumbled down/ignored^^ are things that are important to GRRM, which gives me hope for the last books at least...

#game of thrones #sansa stark #jon snow #anti-daenerys #anti-dany stans #anti-d&d #cersei lannister

[tsuki-sennin]

Mina-san, bonne lecture~! (Tsuki recaps his feelings about Kamen Rider Saber, a personal essay.)

So, Saber... what a wild ride it's been, huh? Just a quick heads up, this is very long and rambling, and also contains spoilers for everything in Saber. It's fine if you don't wanna read all this, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

TL:DR, Kamen Rider Saber's an undercooked hot mess I absolutely adore, warts and all.

Speaking as objectively as possible, it's a 6/10. Probably closer to a 5 than a 7... it's not great: All the different plot elements are cluttered and weirdly paced; character focus is disjointed and clearly biased toward certain characters, leaving great ones like Kento and Ogami, interesting ones like Kamijo and Hayato, and underdeveloped ones like Sophia and especially the Shindais in the dust; not to mention its balance of comedy and drama is off, and while both are very effective, there's a lot of mood whiplash that can take you out of the story. I also feel like a lot of the easily avoidable character conflict could've been easily resolved, even in universe, by simple conversations. Be careful Fukuda, I think Inoue might sue you if he finds out you've been biting his style and doing it worse.

Rider shows have a very frustrating tendency to drop cool form ideas and not do anything with them, and I don't think it's ever been more the case than with Saber. There's a similar argument to be made with the majority of Heisei Phase 2 after Gaim, but wow. The suits are expensive to make without just straight up recycling everything, I get that, but man, I really wanted to see more Wonder Rider forms. How come Touma got all the fun, eh? Of note are the Blades King of Arthur forms (which look amazing by the way), Espada's Jaaku Dragon forms (one of which I even drew last night), even the non-elemental random Wonder Ride Books all have awesome design elements that go tragically unused. Even if the other Swordsmen just kinda have the ones they do get to use slapped onto them, that's at least something. Touma also just straight up only uses Diago Speedy twice and never again. You have cool props guys, don't waste them like that!

Speaking of waste, Espada, goddamn. Since most of the Wonder Ride Books are Story Type and he needs one very specific Story Book to transform, he doesn't get much of... anything, really! No Wonder Rider forms like Blades, Lamp Do Cerberus being exclusive to Ganbarizing, only getting to use the Ride Gatriker like once, he even spends the second and third arcs as a completely different Rider, then once he comes back he doesn't get a King of Arthur-granted upgrade or even a Necrom Espada form. ...at least, not yet anyway. I'm holding out hope for Espada x Necrom and the eventual Saber V-Cinemas. Extra Rider stans, we will be well respected someday.

The Unreal Engine CGI used for fights in early Chapters was pretty good but wow it feels disconnected and they really drop it quick. I feel like if the animators had more freedom to use as many forms as they want, we'd have gotten a lot more mileage out of the books beyond... decoration basically. I actually really liked the CGI sequences, they felt creative and were fun to follow along with.

The soundtrack is pretty great on its own and conveys what it needs to, but they seriously overplay the orchestral themes. It honestly feels kind of... stock at times. I think my favorite parts of the score are when it winds down, since it feels a lot more natural and lets the cinematographers and actors speak for themselves.

As awesome as I think Falchion's design and the Mumeiken Kyomu are, The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin comes up short as its own standalone thing. You'd think 30 or so minutes of non-stop action would be awesome, and it almost is? It's as good as a typical episode of the series with a higher action budget, but it kinda drags on a bit too long; and although I think Emotional Dragon looks cool, it feels a bit tacked on. Coming off of the incredible Zero-One REAL×TIME, it doesn't give you much room to breathe, which Rider films are typically great at handling. I also thought the resolution for the kid's subplot was kinda forced. He does an okay job at acting considering his age and doesn't overstay his welcome, but I really don't see how 20 minutes of violence and action is enough to convince him to be brave enough to go play with the other kids. 5/10, it's closer to a 4 than a 6 and I think that maybe Zero-One should've stood on its own if they really had to push back Kiramager Bee-Bop Dream because of the pandemic.

Alright, with all that said... As imperfect and undercooked Saber was, like Ghost I can consider it a personal favorite, 10/10. Call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but holy hell it's just the show I needed. Takuro Fukuda has a talent for creating fun, wonderful characters and utterly fascinating worldbuilding and concepts. It's a shame he doesn't utilize them fully, but hey!

The action and fight choreography are pretty top notch as usual. Lots of beautiful shot composition and set pieces, and plenty of great angles to help keep up with the extra busy action. I love watching the suit actors perform and they deserve all the respect in the world for their hard work in those hot, sweaty, and heavy costumes. Their visual design is also top notch, with lots of unique and fascinating forms and cool weapons I desperately want to play with despite being broke, all with spectacular finishers and hype jingles with the voice of Akio motherfucking Ohtsuka calling them out. A real feast for the eyes. Not a single bad suit among them, yeah I said it, fight me.

The crossover specials are soooo good too.

-I went over my feelings on the Zenkaiger crossover episodes in a separate post (good luck finding that btw), but to sum it up, they were great character moments for Zox and the Shindai siblings with lots of great screwball comedy and some good old fashioned meta humor.

-The Ghost crossovers are great little side stories all about how Daitenku Temple somehow had the Ghost Ijunroku Wonder Ride Book? I genuinely have no idea why it was there, or how Makoto had the Specter Gekikou Senki, and as far as I remember neither of their origins are explained. Did Luna or Tassel hand them off to them and told them to wait for a sword guy? And why do these generic French Revolution Gamma villains working for Danton get their asses handed to them so easily by Kanon, who literally just became a Rider? I thought that Makoto deciding to adopt all the Kanon clones into his family was both hilarious and adorable though; considering all the crap they went through, I think it was a good ending to this plot. Gimme Espada x Necrom already Toei/Bandai/Fukuda/whoever I need to yell at, give Kento things to do, I beg you.

-I haven't actually seen Super Hero Senki since it's not available for subbing yet, but apparently there's a Journey to the West plot starring the Taros and Ohma Zi-O and I want to see that so badly.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra? Yoohei Kawakami? A match made in heaven, that's what they are. All of their themes are absolute bangers. All of them. Almighty, Kamen Rider Saber, Sparks, Taju Rokou, all excellent and empowering pieces. Rewrite the Story, Will Save Us, and The Story Never Ends are all amazing inserts done by the cast, and it makes me wish we had even more of them to help break up the monotony of the score.

The characters are what easily make this show such a great watch though. For the most part, they have great personalities and chemistry, consistently fun and interesting scenes, well acted and... sometimes well-written development, and deeply investing personal stakes.

Narrating it all is the delightfully eccentric Tassel/Viktor, portrayed by Romanesque Ishitobi "TOBI" of the Paris-based Les Romanesques. I was utterly confused by his presence at first, wondering why there needed to be a narrator when the story would've been perfectly fine without it. He even got a special spot in the opening despite having no stake in the plot despite seeming to live in Wonderworld, who the hell is this guy? But then I thought "OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD". I thought it'd be some subversion of expectations, true form, "That Was His Mistake!" shit. Trust me, it made a lot more sense in my head. I'm very happy that they didn't do that, as I grew to love having male Yuuka Kazami as my narrator, and when he was shown to be actually important by being friends with Yuri my mind was blown. And doubly so when I realized just how deeply necessary to the plot he really is.

Rintaro/Blades is up there as one of my all time favorite secondary Riders, since his curiosity is always consistently funny and adorable, his forms are all gorgeous and impressively designed, his relationships with Mei and Touma are absolutely sweet and compelling to see unfold, and his arcs about becoming willing to call out those he views as family and coming to terms with his feelings of inadequacy and both moving past and using them to strengthen himself are always great lessons to pass on to kids. ...even if they took like 10 goddamn episodes to be conveyed in what could've been 5, but hey, Takaya Yamaguchi does a stand-up job all throughout. Rider veteran Eitoku's refined, almost logical movements with the Suiseiken Nagare absolutely beautiful to see in action, and his final form having the same white and blue color scheme as Zooous's base form is an amazing touch I don't see appreciated enough.

Mei Sudo's also absolutely wonderful, serving as the perfect emotional core of the story, responsible for most of the funniest lines, sweetest character moments, and some of the most deceptively compelling drama. Asuka Kawazu brings the perfect energy for such a dynamic and well rounded character, and absolutely nails her scenes of quiet turmoil. As much as I would've loved her to become a Rider, I don't think she really needed to. She's already done so much to help, and as cool as it would've been to see her pick up a sword and fight alongside them as Espada, Calibur, or Falchion she's already endeared herself to me as one of my favorite supporting characters in the whole franchise.

I can't get enough of my homeboy Kento Fukamiya/Espada. Like Rintaro and everyone else for that matter, he also suffers from Saber's pacing issues; and like his predecessor Valkyrie from Zero-One, he doesn't get a proper upgrade aside from his Wonder Combo, instead becoming an anti-villain using a completely different powerset and shifting the Raimeiken Ikazuchi out of focus for the Ankokuken Kurayami, and I feel there's a serious missed opportunity to see him use Jaaku Dragon with Alangina. However, Ryo Aoki's performance is probably among the most easily praiseworthy in the whole cast, managing to convey both Kento's kind and knightly stoicism as Espada and his emotionally unstable despair as Calibur perfectly, in conjunction with Yuji Nakata's experienced and expressive stuntwork.

Ren Akamichi/Kenzan's a dark horse favorite for sure. I remember back when Saber was first picking up, people hated this breezy mad lad for being such a simple character at first. Overly concerned with strength? Black and white world view? Annoyingly energetic? Agh, real-feeling character flaws, I hate them, get him away from me! But then y'all came crawling back. Eiji Togashi's apparently a bit of a rookie actor, and it really shows with some stilted delivery and the way he sometimes bobs his head when giving his lines, but man he improves dramatically as the series goes on. His inexperience ironically ends up really selling his character development, and his unexpectedly beautiful relationship with Desast is special evidence of that. The Fuusouken Hayate's three modes and Satoshi Fujita putting them to excellent use through his stellar acrobatic movements are also really cool.

Why did Luna have to be a child for so long? Does Wonderworld not age whoever inherits its power? Well since Luna randomly becomes an adult in Super Hero Senki and some of the final episodes, I guess so? Miku Okamoto does a fine job for a kid actor, but she's basically done all the heavy lifting for the whole series and doesn't give Mayuu Yokota enough time to get a feel for her character as an adult. How did she choose Touma to inherit the power anyway? Does she just subconsciously decide to trust him with it upon seeing how kind and passionate about storytelling he is? Well if that's the case, why didn't Kento get at least some of that power too? He's just as important to the merchan- I mean Luna-chan, isn't he? Why did Tassel pick her over someone who isn't a literal child who'd be understandably terrified about basically becoming an embodiment of storytelling?

Sophia also kinda suffers from the same problems. Rina Chinen's voice is very pleasant to listen to, but she doesn't really do much beyond serving as a source of exposition and support. I think her dynamic with Mei's adorable, and given her kindness I can certainly understand the respect Northern Base has for her, but she doesn't really contribute a whole lot. If she could use the Kurayami and become Calibur all this time, then why didn't she take it from Kento and Yuri and do so earlier when Kento decided to go back to being Espada? I know she's not much of a fighter and as the closet thing the Sword of Logos has to a leader after Isaac's death I'd understand not wanting to put her at risk, but considering Storious is destroying the world, and she's very evidently kicking a lot of ass in the first part of the final battle even in the basic Jaaku Dragon form, I think it would've helped a lot, just sayin'. Tassel at least has the excuse of being unable to interact with the real world, but Sophia obviously didn't just be put in charge of Northern Base just because she's a pawn in Isaac's plans right?

Ryou Ogami/Buster is also a victim of the disjointed character focus. I have no problem believing he's an excellent father and fighter thanks to Yuki Ikushima and Jiro Okamoto, respectively, but he feels a bit flat and simple in comparison. His rivalry with Desast is randomly dropped, his wife doesn't even show up until the final episodes, he's kinda sidelined in terms of action a whole lot. I imagine that must've sucked for the Rider Dads out there. He does get to star in his own manga, and that was pretty good, so I guess I can't be too mad.

Tetsuo Daishinji/Slash fares better though. Hiroaki Oka, being a Kamen Rider fanboy himself, manages to make him among the most relatable characters in the series. Not only are his hyperfixation on swordsmithing and anxiety played surprisingly believably, Hirotsugu Mori letting him cut loose is extremely cathartic and hilarious, and you really feel for him when the Onjuuken Suzune becomes the first victim of Calibur!Kento's sword sealing.

Yuri/Saikou's another dark horse favorite, for me at least. "Oh great, Avalon guy's got even more merchandise to sell, I wonder what his Sword of Light is- it's himself. Well... that's different." I admit, I didn't like him at first. He felt like he was there to fill out character dynamics in the absence of both Rintaro and Kento, I thought his gimmick was too silly even if his design and jingles were bangers, I didn't particularly care for his power set. But then XSwordman came around I totally got it. He's an endearing, hard-working man trying his best to catch up on all the cool shit he missed, unafraid of experimentation, ready to throw down at a moment's notice, serving as a wonderful bit of consistent support for our heroes, a truly knightly individual, an absolute Chad. and goddamn does he make me worry. Tomohiro Ichikawa, I salute you good sir.

Even if they fall short compared to the rest of the cast, the Shindai siblings are at least cool enough to not wanna write out entirely. They kinda devolve into comic relief after they become allies, something that villainous Riders from Chase onwards are very prone to doing, and it's especially awkward in their case because I think that they kinda get off scot-free for obeying the obviously sinister and crazy Isaac for so long, as well as driving a wedge between a lot of people and threatening children in Reika's case. I think their sibling dynamic is nice though, even if Fukuda recycled it from Makoto and Kanon and has some... questionable possessive undertones as a result. It's cool how they're basically foils to Touma and Rintaro though. The dispassionate and methodical Reika/Sabela is beautifully played by Angela Mei and her moments of emotional depth are fascinating to watch. Her Rider form is a thing of beauty, and its use of literal the Eneiken Noroshi's smokescreens and Yuki Miyazawa's precise and deadly stinging strikes are a joy to watch. And while Ken Shonozaki's not given the best direction as the undercooked plate of 7-Eleven fried fish that is Ryoga/Durendal, he manages to sell him as an experienced and hardened warrior with an awkward side that's especially evident in the Zenkaiger specials. His goddamn RWBY weapon that is the Jikokuken Kaiji is absolutely sick, I'm a sucker for transforming weapons and its combination of time and water powers is really cool, especially with Yasuhiko Amai's deliberate and forceful acting in the suit.

Daichi Kamijo/the Second Calibur, for as brief as his story was, was a pretty cool starter villain. Hiroyuki Hirayama brings this poor bastard to life in a genuinely touching way. I love how as Calibur he goes full force on his creative use of Wonder Ride Books for attacks, and his debut as Jaou Dragon got my blood pumping. His end is also deeply tragic, and I really felt for him when he realized just how badly he fucked up. Hayato Fukamiya also does wonders for the backstory, and while he also doesn't get much to work with, Mitsuru Karahashi makes his regrets and love for Kento feel genuine.

Legeiel and Zooous are both very intimidating and entertaining villains. On top of being just the right balance of goofy and threatening, Kairu Takano and Koji Saikawa's stage presences are both very strong, and their mixture of camaraderie and in-fighting is extremely believable. Zooous's rivalry with Rintaro feels incredible to see through to the end, and although Legeiel doesn't get quite the same treatment, Elemental Dragon had such a cool debut that it more than makes up for it. Their final fights are also absolute spectacles. I don't think their sympathetic angle works even close to as well as it does with MetsubouJinrai or even the Gamma, but I get it, power corrupts, and you probably feel a lot of sadness and regret for things you've done when you die unless you're a right bastard.

Isaac/Master Logos/Solomon is kinda generic. As wonderful as Keisuke Soma is, he doesn't get much dimension to work with. The result of that is while he nails being as smug and punchable as possible, he feels almost... comically generic. Genta Umemori from Shinkenger was full of personality! He was also basically some guy, but he was fun, he felt connected to the rest of the cast! Meanwhile the only real time we get to see Isaac's depth is when we see him crying over his failures. I almost appreciate him being unapologetically evil though, since I've seen way too many shows where redeemed villains get off scot free for way worse things, and some where they outright demand you to sympathize with them despite them doing nothing to warrant it.

Bahato/Falchion surprises me by not just being a movie villain whose actions affect the main plot, but also being a movie villain who actually gets to appear in series as a recurring threat! ...and it's not a particularly great showing on his part, sadly. Masashi Taniguchi does a wonderful job with what he's given, but his character feels like a retread of Eternal without any of what made Katsumi Daido a compelling and frightening villain. I'd like to believe Yuri when he says that he used to be a good person and a hero to the people, but I can only hear so many anime villain monologues about the pointlessness of life and the beauty of destruction before I can never take them seriously again. ...I think that's his biggest problem, actually. I thought he was an overall uninteresting and generic villain in the movie, and the cartoon nihilist he's shown to be in series is only a small step up. He still feels like filler. If only there were a far better written and much cooler villain who takes on the Mumeiken Kyomu after his de--

Desast is probably one of the finest anti-villains I've ever seen in recent years. On top of an absolutely badass character design and the excellent combination of Kazuya Okada/Danki Sakae's suit work and Koki Uchiyama's stellar voice acting, his story being so thoroughly intertwined with Ren's makes their shared journey and bromance a borderline Shakespearean tragedy. His struggle for identity despite Storious treating him as nothing more than a failed experiment and the Sword of Logos treating him as a mere monster really gripped me, and the way he uses what little time he has left to encourage Ren into blossoming on his own is absolutely beautiful. I think his enmity with Ogami is criminally underexplored in series, considering he killed several of the previous Riders and how Ogami's in desperate need of screentime.

Then there's our main villain, Kamen Rider Storious. Robin Furuya brings an incredible amount of charisma to this character, expertly portrayed as both a sinister, manipulative bastard , and as a lonely, tragic figure that arguably makes him feel even more villainous. Speaking as a struggling writer myself, it's easy to feel stuck in the idea of "fuck it, who cares, maybe everything is predestined", but I can't imagine what it's like to know that as the truth and carry it with you for all that time. All of your grand ideas have roots from your experiences, and you're not the only one who even could have those experiences. It's easy to just fall into despair and give up trying, but would that make you happy? Sure, Storious is sadistic, he may be fulfilling his goals, he may be ungodly powerful... but it's not enough for him, is it? All of his friends are gone, one of them even at his own hand, he probably doesn't have any idea what to do after he destroys all the world's stories, Touma even reached his full power before he did, and his downfall is so predictable that even a blind person could see it. He even seems to welcome it, what's up with that? But then I realized... OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD. He's so far gone, he's so desperate to stick it to the Almighty Book, he's willing to twist the archetype of the Hero's Journey so hard, it snaps in two. What I think is interesting is that he's ironically trying to chase the trend of "edgy superhero story" that became super popular in the 21st century. The Boys, Brightburn, Kamen Rider Amazons, The Sentry, No More Heroes, Magical Girl Site, even mainstream comics from DC and Marvel... Surely Storious must've seen the cruelty and tragedy these stories are filled with, but he chooses to go through with trying to force the world into this direction anyway. Did they, along with seeing the ever-popular tragedies of legendary playwrights and bleak satire of the twentieth century fuel his despair?

And yet... there's one who stands in determination against his ideals.

Our hero, Touma Kamiyama, the titular Kamen Rider portrayed by Syuichiro Naito and Kousuke Asai, he speaks to me on a personal level. There're plenty of jokes to be made about his procrastination in early chapters, his godless fashion sense, and him doing the funny run up the slope, that's all fine and dandy, but I rarely feel so connected to a character the way I did Touma. The struggle to create, find companionship, live your life, reach out to others... these're things a lot of people struggle with, and of course you see them depicted a lot in media about creators, but Saber gets to the root of what the greatest thing about storytelling really is. Giving people hope, while using the pain of the past as fuel for the future. Sure, Storious may be right about how every story has been done as far back as human civilization gets, he may even be right about how any spin or creativity humanity has is outright predestined. It should be pointless to even try, right? That's where Touma Kamiyama disagrees. He didn't spend all that time fighting and creating just to give up at the idea of predestination. His novel writing-fueled creativity in his early training, his devotion to his friends that let him surpass Kamijo as Dragonic Knight, his compassion for the Primitive Dragon that let him combine their powers to destroy Legeiel as Elemental Dragon, his resolve that let Xross Saber dethrone Solomon, and his passion for the craft of storytelling that let our heroes channel their wishes into Wonder Almighty... all stemming from the belief imparted onto him by his predecessor that "Hope lies beyond your resolution." And that you decide how your story ends. He may not be the greatest Rider to some, he may be as lame as others think he is, he may not even be my favorite, but I have no issue calling Touma Kamiyama... Kamen Rider Saber, one of the all time greatest carriers of the Kamen Rider name.

The final chapter's definitely not as great as some other Rider finales, but goddamn. Primitive Dragon consciously choosing to save Touma is so sweet and such a great emotional payoff, I loved jamming out to the opening theme while our boys lay the smackdown on Storious. Wonder Almighty's a fitting final bit to close the main series out with, if not exactly a great one. I think the cover is great, and the book's body is a lovely shade of candy apple red, but I really don't like how its pages are just the covers of the other books copy-pasted onto onto the pages, that feels lazy. Maybe if it were a panorama of all the books' characters, I'd like it a lot more as a symbol of how unified the Swordsmen are, but eh, what can you do? On a related note, does this mean all the "last episode extra final forms" of the Reiwa Era are gonna be named after their series's opening? That's a neat idea.

I felt a lot of feelings seeing all those video messages of Rider fans all across Japan talking about their favorite stories, and how their passion and fond memories help reshape the world. Mei's monologue at the ceremony about is also really touching and- IS THAT A HUMAGEAR!? :O

Y-yeah dude, it is! Wow, where have you guys been for the past 48 episodes?! Are you guys doing okay? How come you're like... the only one here? Is the technology of Hiden Intelligence only really that prevalent in that very specific metropolitan part of Japan and they're just not coming around much over here? Is it like Dragon Ball where anthropomorphic animals are just vibin' with humans while the heroes are off kicking ass? Apparently he's played by Hasegawa Keiichi, who wrote this episode and had the award ceremony named after him. ...is Hasegawa Keiichi a HumaGear in this universe then? Did he set up this award ceremony in Touma's honor? If so, why is it named after him? Did reading one of Touma's books lead to his Singularity? I know this is just a cameo, but... god, I have so many questions that probably will never be satisfactorily answered.

Overall, if I had to compare Saber to anything, it'd probably be Sam Reimi's Spider-Man trilogy. It's awkward, stupid, overwrought, undercooked, illogically written, scattershot, cheesy as fuck, and has a tendency to squander its otherwise fine execution; but the sheer passion for storytelling, sense of spectacle, deeply fascinating characters, and belief in the ideals set forth by the cast, crew, and fans are absolutely admirable. Improvements would certainly make it an overall better experience, to be sure, but there's something deeply captivating about how wonky this series is. Seeing everybody get their happy ending after all they've been through felt extremely gratifying though, and I may have to wait another for the epilogue to and then wait for Revice, but... man. I'm hella proud of our awkwardly-emoting, fashion disaster novelist and all of his heavily flawed friends for carrying the Kamen Rider name on to the future. Here's hoping Revice will keep it going.

Alright, that's everything I wanted to talk about. Sorry this was so long and ramble-y, I had a lot to say. I'll probably be liveblogging Revice as episodes of that come out, so... look forward to that, I guess. See ya.

#kamen rider saber #long post #tsuki talks #personal #kamen rider #whew #ok bye have a nice day

[laterpeaches]

The 30 Best Movies for Kids on Hulu

This post is updated regularly to reflect the latest movies to leave and enter Hulu, which you can sign up for here. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.

You’re stuck at home, pushing the remote control through so many options on your smart TV, looking for something, anything, that you can use to distract the kids and not make you feel guilty. Let us help.

The truth is that none of the streaming services are particularly great at family options now that Disney+ has cornered that market, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some great choices on Hulu. Here are 30 worthy films to distract the little ones or schedule an entire family movie night around (if you have the energy after homeschooling).

It may have some familiar story elements, but this 2019 film has some of the most gorgeous visuals in any recent animated movie, including a wave of flowers and the design of its lovable main character, a Yeti who needs the help of a girl and her friend to get back to his home at Mount Everest.

The weirdest animated story of the early days of the CGI form was the competition between DreamWorks with Antz and Pixar with A Bug’s Life — two films that the detail lives of the Earth’s smallest creatures in clever ways. Pixar seems to have won the longer battle, but there’s more to like here than you remember, including a strong voice cast and fun visuals.

Nancy Meyers co-wrote this clever family comedy about a successful woman who finds herself the unexpected mother of a 14-month-old baby girl when her long-lost cousin leaves her the child after her death. This may be for the slightly older kids, and some of its gender politics are dated, but Diane Keaton keeps it moving with her ace timing.

Exactly which titles Disney allows to jump from its streaming service to others doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but here’s the adventures of a sweet stunt dog named Bolt, the leading pup of this fun movie from 2008. John Travolta voices the dog who believes he actually has superpowers, which allow him to head out on a cross-country journey to save his owner, Penny.

Travis Knight of Laika fame (Kubo and the Two Strings) directed the best Transformers movie in this unexpectedly joyous spinoff of the massive Hasbro series of films. It’s a movie with the same kind of family-adventure spirit as ’80s classics of the genre, buoyed by fun performances from Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena.

Remember when movies were as simple as pitting felines and canines against one another? This 2001 family flick has been pretty much forgotten by history, but it was actually a pretty big hit at the time. Maybe you’re old enough to have some nostalgia for it or want to introduce it to your little ones now. Which side will they pick?

We don’t deserve Aardman. The geniuses behind Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and others made their biggest cinematic splash with this 2000 hit. A clever riff on prison-break movies like Escape From Alcatraz (but with chickens!), this is actually the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time, a title it’s held for almost 20 years now.

Who doesn’t love the Man in the Yellow Hat and his lovable primate? This is the 2006 theatrically released version of the book series by H.A. Rey and Margret Rey that have been popular around the world for generations. With voice work by Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, Eugene Levy, and many more, it’s a sweet adventure story for the whole family.

This live-action adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon has no right to be as funny and clever as it is. It helps that newcomer Isabela Moner is a delightful lead as Dora, but there’s also a delightfully self-aware tongue-in-cheek tone to this film, one that’s funny without every taking itself too seriously. It’s a sweet family adventure movie that works equally for parents and little ones.

Maybe wait for the real little ones to go to bed first, but there are certainly some families that can handle this coming-of-age story from the master Steven Spielberg. Christian Bale stars in the story of a young boy whose life is changed forever when he becomes a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp.

It became something of a punch line, but this family film was huge when it was first in theaters. Who can’t relate to the story of trying to free a gorgeous animal like the orca that gives this movie a name? It made over $150 million on a $20 million budget and launched a franchise. Willy was freed to run all over pop culture.

From the director of Mad Max: Fury Road! The family filmmaker side of George Miller directed this musical comedy about penguins who basically have to stop the apocalypse with their dancing and singing. It’s not as good as the original, but it has some clever visuals, incredible voice work, and some good tunes to boot.

People often point to the Toy Story movies as the model for a great animated series, but credit should be given to the trilogy of movies about a boy named Hiccup and his dragon Toothless. The third and final film in this blockbuster series is already on Hulu, and it’s a gorgeous, heartfelt, moving final chapter to one of the best franchises of the 2010s, animated or live-action.

The LEGO Movie is one of the most creative and enjoyable animated films of the 2010s. The sequel may feel a bit too cluttered at times, but it retains enough of that energy to make it worth a look on Hulu, especially as all of our creative faculties have been reduced by the insanity of 2020.

This is not the Danny DeVito–voiced recent version but the 1972 short original that aired on TV about a thousand times when you were young. One of Dr. Seuss’s most beloved books gets a loving adaptation in this classic, a story of responsibility and environmental consideration that will never grow old, and should spark some memories for parents of the right age.

Look, a documentary! Yes, non-fiction films can be family ones too. In fact, it was that cross-demographic appeal to the story of the annual journey of emperor penguins in Antarctica to find their breeding grounds that made this such an amazing success, winning Best Documentary at the Oscars after making over $120 million worldwide. Having Morgan Freeman narrate always helps too.

Will Ferrell voices the title character, the supervillain who wants to get some of the credit and adoration of his superhero counterparts. After actually killing his superhero nemesis, Megamind learns that life isn’t worth living for a villain without a hero and ends up creating a villain even worse for him to defeat. A clever spoof of the superhero genre that would dominate the next decade of blockbusters, this movie plays even better now than in 2010.

We don’t give Laika enough credit. They don’t make nearly as much money with films like Paranorman and Kubo and the Two Strings as companies like DreamWorks and Pixar. Their latest is already on Hulu, dropping less than a year after its theatrical release. It may not be their best, but it’s gorgeous to look at, revealing the company that made it as arguably the most visually fascinating animated studio around.

My Dog Skip

This family dramedy from 2000 adapts the autobiographical book of the same name by Willie Morris. It’s the story of a 9-year-old who is given an adorable Jack Russell terrier on his birthday, whom he names Skip, and some formative chapters of his life that he shares with his pup. It’s a sweet coming-of-age movie with added interest for dog lovers.

Listen, this movie is kind of a disaster, but it’s always a fascinating disaster. Joe Wright directs this prequel telling of a new origin story for Peter Pan and Captain Hook, played by Garrett Hedlund. Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara, and Levi Miller co-star in this undeniably strange blockbuster that seems to be gaining a reappraised following over the years. Why are people still talking about Pan? Check it out on Hulu and report back.

The Pink Panther 2

Let’s just politely call this one a gateway to better things. The sequel to the Steve Martin–led reboot of the Pink Panther series isn’t objectively “good,” but it may intrigue your kids enough to watch the brilliant Peter Sellers movies or even some of the original cartoons. And, heck, even if it makes them want to see more of Steve Martin, that’s probably a good thing too.

This was the first DreamWorks feature to be traditionally animated back in 1998 and was a bigger hit than you probably remember. It’s the story of the Book of Exodus and how Moses went from being just the title character to leading the children out of Israel. It’s a very pretty film visually and features some good music as well, but history seems to have forgotten it in the wake of how much Disney dominated the ’90s.

Gore Verbinski directed one of the best animated films on Hulu, this Oscar-winning featuring voice work by Johnny Depp in the lead role and some of the most inspired visuals in any animated film this decade. Rango is a chameleon who stumbled into a town called Dirt in this inventive riff on the Western genre that plays equally to children and adults.

Smallfoot

Channing Tatum wonderfully voices the lead character in this musical comedy from 2018. He plays a Yeti who descends from his cloudy mountain village and encounters a human — both realizing that the other species thought them a mythical creature. The visuals are engaging and the jokes are just clever enough to work for all ages.

Disney+ has stolen almost all the superhero movies but Sam Raimi’s original version of the webslinger is still on Hulu. Starring Tobey Maguire, this blockbuster doesn’t get enough credit for revitalizing the entire superhero genre in a way that plays to both parents and kids. It still rules.

This 2016 animated film is the story of how storks work to deliver babies, assisted by humans at a distribution center in the sky. One of those humans gets involved in a mistake when she creates a baby they’re not supposed to and end up having to help care for it with her stork partner. The visuals here are strong even if the story is slight. Still, it’s a creative story that you haven’t really seen before.

Not only is the beloved Tiny Toons series on Hulu, but so are several movies from the franchise: 1992’s Tiny Toons Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation, 1994’s Tiny Toons Spring Break Special, and 1995’s Tiny Toon Adventures: Night Ghoulery.

Yes, they made a movie about a creepy line of toys. No, it’s not a modern animated classic. But it is something recent that may get the attention of your kids. You can’t make them watch old shows and movies all the time. And sometimes they just want to see something that was in theaters not that long ago, especially given they can’t go out to one in 2020. So, what’s this about? You probably know. Dolls. They’re kind of ugly.

This 1988 TV movie actually landed 14 years after the end of The Brady Bunch, and reunited almost all of the original cast members (Cindy was recast. Poor Cindy). It’s pretty simple — reunite with the Bradys, this time around Christmas! With the kids all grown, Carol and Mike buy airline tickets so everyone can get together around Christmas, in-laws and grandchildren included. It’s likely to make you jealous in 2020.

Wonder Park

Paramount released this computer-animated flick in early 2019, which feels like a lifetime ago now. It’s a bit simple and silly, but that’s kind of all right in our current stuck-at-home situation. Wonder Park is the story of a girl who puts her imagination away when her mother gets sick and how an imaginary amusement park helps her find that creative spark again.

[thecartoonuniverse]

Currently Airing Cartoons to Watch: 2019 Edition Part 1

You may remember my list of upcoming cartoons to look out for last year, but this time around I would like to do something different! I am personally recommending cartoons that are currently airing (or are confirmed to get more seasons) and give my opinions on each of them. There may be other good cartoons out there, but if they are not on the list, it means I was not a huge fan of it, it’s a super popular show like Steven Universe or Star vs. the Forces of Evil, or I have yet to watch it. If you are looking for something to watch, this is the list!

Currently Airing:

The Dragon Prince

Summary: The Dragon Prince is an epic fantasy series by the head writer and director of Avatar: the Last Airbender. In the magical land of Xadia, magic comes from six primal sources. But when human mages create a seventh kind of magic, Dark Magic — they begin capturing and harvesting the unique magical creatures they need as ingredients. This sparks a catastrophic war between Xadia and the Human Kingdoms. Three kids from opposite sides of the conflict — two human princes, and the elven assassin who was sent to kill them — discover a secret that could change everything. They decide to join forces and go on an epic journey that may be their only hope of ending the war, and restoring peace to both their worlds.

Opinion: This is probably my favorite currently airing show right now, mostly since I am a huge fan of fantasy shows. Dragons, extremely hot elves, and magic- what more could you ask for? Every one of the characters is complex and likable (well most, depending on who you ask). But even the antagonists are compelling at there are always shades of gray present. Season 2 truly blew me away with how much the stakes were raised and the number of surprises that occurred. There is even going to be a AAA cross-platform video game coming soon set in the same world! The company that creates The Dragon Prince, is doing a fantastic job on their social media (it’s hilarious, trust me), and I cannot wait to see what else they create. A quick warning, the animation from season 1 will take a little while to get used to, but for the most part, it has been improved for Season 2.

Also, there a lot of memes, so get ready for that.

gen:LOCK

Summary: In gen:LOCK, Earth’s last free society is on the losing side of a global war, and recruits a diverse team of young pilots to control the next generation of mecha—giant, weaponized robot bodies. These daring recruits will find, however, that their newfound abilities come at no small cost. As Julian Chase leaves behind his life as a fighter pilot to become the first candidate for the program, he finds his endurance, as well as his very identity, will be tested beyond anything he ever imagined.

Opinion: For any current/past fans of Voltron: Legendary Defender- WATCH THIS SHOW! If you are a fan of mechas, you will surely enjoy this. But if you were more a fan of the character interactions from VLD, this show also has you covered. It has an amazingly diverse cast and even has a canon genderfluid character. It is a show made for adults, so the stakes are real and dark subjects are treated seriously. Even the romance is done very well with the characters acting like adults instead of arguing over each other like teenagers. Even from the first episode, you can tell that the show is willing to take risks and is sure to become one of the greatest shows of the decade. The animation is also beautiful, and is definitely the best looking show Rooster Teeth has created. The fan base is super small right now since the first season just aired and is RT First exclusive. But trust me, it is worth a watch.

Carmen Sandiego

Summary: Carmen is a modern day Robin Hood traveling the globe and stealing from V.I.L.E. and giving back to its victims. Carmen is publicly perceived as a criminal by most law enforcement agencies – correction, make that a master criminal due to the sheer scale and theatricality of her heists. We will follow her escapades and get to determine not only where but WHO in the world is Carmen Sandiego?  

Opinion: This show really caught me by surprise- I was fully expecting a kiddy edutainment show, but what I got was something much more complex and intriguing. Carmen this time around, as the summary suggests, is an anti-hero, and not an antagonist or villain like she was in the past. While some may not want to watch it due to this, I think this take on her is done very well, and once you get past the two-episode backstory, you will find the show is fun with a diverse cast of characters from all over the world. This GIF doesn’t quite do it justice but trust me when I say this show has some one of the best looking art styles I have ever seen. Surprisingly the weakest aspect of the show is the educational factor, which is puzzling as it was very much promoted as a show to teach children geography. In some cases, I have seen posts/tweets pointing out factual errors the show made! Normally it wouldn’t be the biggest deal, but this is a show that prides itself for its educational value. Also, some of the characters have pretty flat personalities or are just straight up incompetent, but hopefully that will change as the show progresses further. The finale was amazing, and I am patiently waiting for the next season!

Tangled: The Series/ Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure

Summary: Set between the events of the feature film and the start of the 2012 CGI short film, Tangled Ever After, the animated series unfolds as Rapunzel acquaints herself with her parents, her kingdom and the people of Corona. Her irrepressible spirit and natural curiosity about the world drives her to the realization that there is so much more she needs to learn before she can truly accept her royal destiny. She boldly puts her crown and impending marriage on hold to seek out epic adventures, much to the dismay of the King who, after missing out on Rapunzel's childhood, must accept that his daughter is now an independent young woman. Accompanying Rapunzel on her journey will be Eugene Fitzherbert; the plucky chameleon sidekick, Pascal; the no-nonsense horse, Maximus; most of The Snuggly Duckling's pub thugs; and newcomer Cassandra, a tough-as-nails handmaiden, who becomes Rapunzel's confidant.

Opinion: This series is truly a delight, and definitely exceeded my expectations for a television series based off a Disney show (I did not expect much as most of those types of shows from my childhood weren’t the best). But I was truly wowed, and this is a must see for any Disney fan.The series does not ignore anything that happened in the movie, far from it. Events that occurred in the movie still impact Rapunzel and are treated seriously. The cartoon mixes comedy, adventure, lore, and mystery quite well. It is also very beautiful, much like Carmen Sandiego (both have similar styles but I like CS’s lighting a bit more). The show can even get quite dark, as is evident with the season 1 finale. This show deserves a much biggest fanbase, so give it a watch!

Hilda

Summary: Hilda follows the journey of a fearless blue-haired girl as she travels from her home in a vast magical wilderness full of elves and giants to the bustling city of Trolberg, where she makes new friends and discovers mysterious creatures who are stranger –and sometimes more dangerous– than she ever expected. Based on graphic novels by Luke Pearson, who storyboarded for Adventure Time.

Opinion: Hilda is definitely a comfort show, and if you liked Gravity Falls there is a good chance you will also like this show! The art style is simply adorable, and Hilda is a delight to get to know. I love the way that the show not only has magical creatures, but it goes in depth into how these creatures live and survive in a modern world. Having read all the comics, I personally enjoyed the addition of Hilda getting some human friends. I know some people did not like this, but she seemed quite lonely once she moved to the city, and I liked seeing her interact with children her age. Season 2 is coming out next year, so there is plenty of time to watch the first season! If you love a feel-good show with mystery and magic, this is the show for you!

Star Wars Resistance

Summary: The series is set between the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, in a time when the Resistance is still learning about the growing threat of the First Order. It centers on the character of Kazuda Xiono, a young pilot in General Leia Organa's Resistance who is tasked with spying on the growing threat of the First Order.

Opinion: This show was one I was not expecting anything from at all, but as the show has progressed throughout the first season I have begun to enjoy it more and more. This show, like many on this list, features a very diverse cast (including some aliens, of course). Probably the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that the main character, Kaz, is 20 years old! I feel like that is not something you see with action shows these days, as they usually make the protagonist 16 or 17 years old. I really like the animation style, as I always felt that without the big budget, the Clone Wars style just didn’t look that good in Rebels. Resistance is so... shiny! As for the plot itself, it is sad that most of my favorite aspects of Star Wars are missing, namely the Force, Jedi, and Light Sabers. But since it may eventually tie in more with the sequels, there is hope to see more of that eventually! It’s definitely not at Clone Wars level of good, but I am finding it more enjoyable than Rebels (excluding a few episodes and the season finales). It may never end up being as serious as Rebels, but I am sure it will get darker as time goes on and the stakes get higher.

Young Justice: Outsiders

Summary: Young Justice: Outsiders is the third season of Young Justice. The backdrop for the season is one that will touch on “all corners of the DC universe,” and this time the team is tasked with stopping a metahuman trafficking ring, as well as dealing with the “intergalactic arms race for control of these super-powered youths.” You can also count on new heroes Arrowette, Spoiler, Thirteen, Halo, and many more joining in the fight.

(^I can’t recall if this is the exact line from the show but this whole episode is the best)

Opinion: If you loved the first two seasons of Young Justice, it is easy to say that you should give this one a watch. But now that it is on DC’s streaming platform, DC Universe, IT IS DARK. Seriously, this is no longer a show for children. And that’s pretty great. I truly love that the show can now explore darker themes and have some adult jokes from time to time. However, unlike the first two seasons, I feel constantly confused about new characters or things that have happened to returning characters offscreen. Unless you are very knowledgable about DC characters, there is a good chance you will feel this way. So, it is sadly a bit more unwelcoming to those unfamiliar with the comics. I still love the show’s characters and superhero stuff, in general, is always a lot of fun. There’s also LGBT characters apparently already in the show (and some that were LGBT in the comics have appeared, but nothing in-show is confirmed), so hopefully, there is also that to look forward to in the second half of the season when it airs in June.

Big Hero 6 The Series

Summary: The series continues the adventures of 14-year-old tech genius Hiro and his robot pal Baymax. Joining the pair on their journey is control freak Wasabi, scientist Honey Lemon, fanboy Fred, and no-nonsense Go Go Tomago, whom together form the Big Hero 6 superhero team. As the new prodigy at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, Hiro faces daunting academic challenges, not to mention the social trials of being the little man on campus. The stakes are also raised for the high-tech heroes when they must protect their city from an array of scientifically enhanced villains.

Opinion: Another very well made series based off a Disney movie. Once again, this show stays faithful to the source material. The art style is very interesting, and while not my favorite gives the show a very cool feel. Once the main villain is introduced, I was glad to report that he became a major threat very fast. And the season 1 finale was pretty great as well. My biggest issue concerning this series so far is that is still really hasn’t developed the side characters at all, despite them being in almost every episode. These are college students, so their families should still be quite important to them. But besides Fred, we have yet to really learn about them, and with that, a potentially important part of who they are as a person is missing. After a movie and a whole season, these characters should not seem as flat as they are, so I hope we learn more about them too. But we also get flashbacks of Tadashi, so for that alone the show may be worth a watch.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Summary: Deep in the sewers of New York City, four mutant turtle brothers lurk. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michaelangelo are in their early teen years, and the brothers go on new and exciting adventures. They tap into their mystic ninja powers to learn to work together as a cohesive unit and become a team of heroes as they navigate the modern world and other hidden realms. The brothers get a whole new look, new weapons, and new powers as they discover the hidden city beneath New York and find time for a slice of their favorite pizza.

Opinion: Okay I will admit this is one I haven’t actually seen all of yet. But the art style is just so cool I had to include it and will likely update this entry when I catch up. This show may be a worthy successor to the 2012 series, which I know a lot of people loved.

So that’s the end of my list. If I remember any other good shows airing, I may update it. But, if I got you to watch any, let me know and tell me your thoughts!

Shows to Look Foward to: Glitch Techs, Amphibia, Owl House, Twelve Forever, Hazbin Hotel, Villainous, Infinity Train, 101 Dalmatian Street

Shows Omitted due to being super popular already: Steven Universe, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, RWBY, Bojack Horseman, OK KO, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Duck Tales

Join my Cartoon Themed Discord: https://discord.gg/cartoonuv

And give us a follow if you enjoyed the post! We talk about cartoon related stuff a lot! I will probably do a part 2 later in the year when more of the cartoons to look forward to have aired. And I might even add some shows omitted or other shows I may have forgotten!

#tdp #the dragon prince #gen:lock #tangled #hilda #carmen sandiego #tmnt #bh6 #young justice #star wars resistance #rwby #she-ra

[actualhumantrashcan]

‪if y’all really think GoT is about breaking toxic cycles and everyone ending up better versions of themselves ‬then you really haven’t been paying attention. The core message of Thrones has been and will always be that power is corrosive, and that while goodness and justice have small victories in an unjust and cruel world, it is near impossible to replace tyranny with peace when tyranny is so heavily built into the core of a society.

Ned was good and just and followed his heart, and those around him who weren’t killed him for it

Robb was good and just and followed his heart, and he was betrayed by his own men and murdered for it

Stan is was a just king but his self-righteousness and blind belief destroyed him

Jon Snow was murdered by his own men for doing something that was absolutely right, and upon coming back he’s been a man who sees the grey of the world much more clearly (except in season 7 and 8, because they were too rushed to continue this character arc and plunged him back into his season 1 arc)

Daenerys has always, always been a character who does not see the grey of the world she lives in. She murders those who have wronged her or committed atrocities (rightfully so, but still). She tries to rule Slaver’s Bay with these absolute morals and fails multiple, multiple times. She only begins to see the duality of her actions when she listens to Jorah or when she meets Tyrion (before he becomes a bumbling idiot in season 7 bc again, bad writing)

“The Bells” is not a betrayal of her arc, but it is a rushed and two-dimensional example of what that arc could have been. Dany has always been a tragic character, and fans who’ve read the books and seen the show know that it probably isn’t leading to a happy ending for her. She’s too stubborn, too idealistic, too convinced of her own destiny to make a good ruler. All of the things Varys said about her are true, they just haven’t been given the proper space to breathe in seasons 7 and 8. There should have been scenes of her reactions to the deaths of Rhaegal, Jorah and Missandei. We should have gotten two or three episodes of her struggling with her core desire to burn those who have committed crimes against her. We should have seen her heartbreak at losing Jon’s love, the only man she has opened up to and had true romantic feelings for since she lost Khal Drogo

Instead, their relationship is hollow and rushed. Dany’s descent into madness is framed as an inevitable product of her genes. Her decision to burn innocents when she has never expressed an agency to do so is out of left field and feels wholly unlike the smiling queen we saw just two episodes ago. The writers of the show have done her a great disservice, but I believe the ending of GRRM’s books will be the same. I anxiously await a Mad Queen arc that I can believe, that shows a strong, powerful woman who has lost everything she ever loved in the span of a year (or less, since everyone has unlocked fast travel now)

So for those of you saying that this is not a proper ending for Dany, I agree. It should have been given more time and care, and each of these last two seasons could have EASILY been ten episodes. Benioff and Weiss got lazy, they got tired, and HBO would rather end it with them than try to price together a new team to make GoT. I get it, it’s a hard, grueling, ridiculously complicated show. But it’s a show that millions of people love and have dedicated years too, and they should have had more respect for us and for our investment in the end

I never wanted a happy ending for GoT. I know that isn’t possible in such a cruel world not dissimilar from our own. I grow happier by the day with the small happy endings we’ve gotten. Arya and the Hound, Tormund, Sam and Gilly. (Probably) Sansa and Bran. The defeat of the Night King. Cersei dying afraid and knowing that she’s lost (however dumb and lazily written, it was still a death she deserved)

Dany probably won’t have a happy ending, and I’m okay with that. I can rewatch old seasons, revel in the good she did in Slaver’s Bay and by riding north with Jon. I understand the anger, but I also understand that this will always be my favorite show. Nothing has thrilled me like this show, nothing has made me so angry and brought me back more excited. Nothing can compare to the thrill of not knowing what came next, or the despair of knowing exactly what a character had gotten themselves into. Shoddy seasons happen, it’s TV, it’s the real world behind all these knights and kings and dragons. It’s real people who get lazy and impose stupid deadlines on themselves and rush through character arcs and burn their CGI budget on dragons instead of a warm embrace for a certain Very Good Boy™️ because they know dragons sell

It sucks and it’s frustrating but it is just life. It’s just a show. A brilliant, convoluted, thrill ride of a show. A show that I hope we can all remember at it’s best, and settle for rewatching seasons 3&4 when we long for the good old days when GoT was on tv

#game of thrones #got spoilers #the bells #daenerys targaryen #jon snow #robb stark #ned stark

[gawaine]

I will express this coherently at some point but to summarise;

this became longer than anticipated.

some common criticisms of the finale and why I politely think that, for the most part, they’re (respectfully) fucking wrong

what was the point of the whole show if not the Targaryen storyline?! The ascension of House Stark. The entire series is about the ascension of House Stark. How Bran the Broken’s forefather rejected the throne and died a traitor, like his fathers before him; how Arya escaped King’s Landing and returned as (however which way, or accidentally) a lauded hero, there to save others; how Lady Stark, who was mercilessly abused at the hands of Joffrey and held accountable for the sins of the Lannisters butchering her family, took forward their cause and everything that they died for. Love. Respect. Honour. The North. I’m fucking fine ok no I’m not my baby I’m emOTIONAL

there were good parts but it was a shitty ending! so anti-climactic! It’s the final episode. The penultimate episode of GoT is always the big one; the dramatic fight, the huge scenes. The ending is always quiet. It’s always about the aftermath. The but what is the result of that? That’s the GoT structure. GoT is about politics, human nature, cunning. If you expected anything more than that in the final episode of the final season, you haven’t been paying attention.

Drogon didn’t kill Jon! The argument that Drogon has always showed slight (albeit significantly less than with Dany) deference to Jon; we see he’s wary of him and I guess we all knew that when it came down to it, it would take something fantastic for Drogon to allow Jon to ride him, but we see it as Jon enters the castle and in multiple scenes throughout the season. Him not reacting to Jon isn’t well explained, but there’s an argument there that Drogon senses Jon is at least part Targ. And fire cannot kill a dragon.

what was even the point of Jon being a Targaryen if he’s not king? ... All of it. He chooses to be a Stark first. He denounces fire and blood. He denounces his own free will and choices, even if it means saving whatever remainder is left of House Stark. This is about the rise of House Stark. It always has been. Their suffering, their loss, their triumphs. I can’t remember when, but i remember posting once that as much as fans argue otherwise, we travel with the narrative. Our two narrative threads, that we’re led to follow as an audience, are the Starks and Daenerys. Jon symbolises that; more than that, he IS that. He is us in that world. The world isn’t that simple. Also, he goes down in history as the man who saves Westeros.

they played us with Dany. Right. No, they didn’t... And yes, they did. Her storyline has been there from the start. The schism between dual supporters of House Stark and House Targaryen only started around season 7, which was when Daenerys conveniently started exhibiting behaviour that indicated she wasn’t as stable as we’d been led to believe/before. I’m not anti-Daenerys, but there have been breadcrumbs this whole time. I’d go so far as to say that the writers probably overestimated the intelligence of their audience; that’s not me being abrasive, that’s fact. The nuggets people looked for in earlier seasons is based on source material. The nuances people enjoyed became ignored for the ‘bigger picture’ - but everyone assumed what that was based on the monolith that the show became (past tense! urgh), not on what the show has always been/was meant to continue to be this season. Was it poorly written? Yes. Absolutely. I felt betrayed by the voice over in the penultimate episode. It was lazy and shoddy. I may not like what Daenerys has become, but she deserved so much more. Also, there was a lack of consistency. This episode highlights her belief in her own benevolence and yes, it’s meant to be ironic and show us how stupid we’ve been - with Jon - and I would’ve respected it more if she’d been written to stand by her fury. But she’s also not her brother. She will purposefully not act that way whilst ignorant to her own faults. She’s delusional. I could write a whole essay on Daenerys’ mental health (did the show write it as misogyny? Yeah, I see it. Is that the basis of her character’s madness as a narrative? Um, no)

what the fuck was Tyrion’s speech? The writers assumed the audience was smarter (in their sense of the word) than they are. So they spelled it out for us, just in case. Clunky, lazy, etc? Yes. Fitting for that scene? Also yes.

lol the episode was so bad, the only good part was Jon petting Ghost It now makes sense why they didn’t have the budget for two Ghost scenes (you know about 70% of their CGI budget went on Drogon in this episode). There’s a reason for that; the season structure of GoT so far [see above], and the reminder of the true theme here - House Stark’s rise [see above]. Jon is at home in the North. At the Wall, he’s not a Targaryen, or a Stark; he’s Jon. It’s the only place where he can be just that. And that includes being half a Stark (ironically, the only consistent thing in his life), but not only that. Does it make relatively little narrative sense to have the Unsullied be invited to stay in Westeros, just to demand Jon is made a prisoner and then leave? True - but the point is, the door is kept open. That’s life. People move, people change, cultures adapt. The Unsullied are now a part of Westeros, no matter how far they go. Plus, Jon in the Wall... Knowing Bran knows the future... urgh, I see it. Poor writing, badly executed (props to the actors and production teams for doing a fantastic job with the material given), but I see the point being made.

the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives - what bullshit! Incorrect. Everyone assumes that’s meant literally; that’s only in times of war, that it’s literal (which is why it’s all we’ve seen so far; it’s eight seasons of war  against the Starks, or involving them). They are together. They are united. They are safe and they are happy. Personally, it’s all I’ve ever wanted from this series. I see others’ disappointment, I do. But Sansa is home. People saying she’s lonely and suffering the burden of ruling... No. Yes, she’s alone. But she’s not lonely. She’s home. With people who love her. With not just her father’s and forefathers’ legacy behind her, including in rebellion against the Targaryen’s for independence of the North/the ‘greater good’; but her mother’s and Robb’s, too. She’s always been somebody else’s. “x’s wife”. “x’s assistant”. “x’s chess piece”. Like Jon beyond the wall, she is just Sansa Stark in Winterfell. Like Jon, it was a legacy she craved - a home - and now she has it, without being the forced bystander she was as a child. Same with Arya. She always wanted to be free to do as she pleased, without losing her identity. House Stark is no longer against the world, fighting to survive. It has. They are a family. Your family aren’t dictated by who’s closest to you. They have survived. They’re not alone. This is the beginning of the series whilst it isn’t, because what’s changed? They know their loyalties lie. The pack must always survive. They have. They know that, after this, no matter what, they always will.

I could go on for hours but you get the point.

It wasn’t the greatest season. My favourite will always be seven. But that finale was one of the best episodes this season, because, as much as it may not feel like enough, it tied the strings relevant to the story it set out to be; which was ALWAYS about House Stark. 

The promo? Of their statues in Winterfell’s crypts? They bury their old selves. They become someone unrecognisable, born from who they were at the beginning.

But the point remains, they are, and always will be Starks first. Daenerys will always be a Targaryen first. You cannot escape your family. You can try and do better, but you can never escape who you are and how who that is affects you.

I fucking love it. Everything else can - bad pun intended - burn. The story this was meant to be got its ending. The stories in between may not have and that’s dissatisfying; but the ending to the original story was there.

#got #got meta #sansa stark #jon snow #daenerys targaryen #house stark #arya stark

[azorya]

new trailer feels

- ARYA!! SHES ALL BLOODY AND WE LOVE IT!! who is chasing her!! what is chasing her!! don’t touch my girl u fuckers!!!

- TORMUND!!! BERIC!!!! ALIVE!!!

- am i the only one who feels like the little kid whose head we see in the shot over Wintertiwn is like significant in any way? am i dumb? maybe but every time i see a child in GoT i’m like NeW cHaRaCtEr?????

- the gratuitous j*nerys shots can like stop plz they take up way too much screen time and i can’t be brought to care about them at all

- dany..... plz leave the crypts i beg u i don’t even hate u just stop completely swerving out of ur lane!!!!!!!! it’s not her place to go guys!!! i hate it so much!!!!!!

- GENDRY!!!!!!! I SWEAR WHEN I SAW THE GIFS I FUCKING ASCENDED I LOVE MY BOY MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD!!!! i’m not even thirsting here but THANK GOD HES SHOWING SOME SKIN GETTING BACK TO HIS TRUE NATURE OF LOOKING LIKE A HO AT ALL TIMES !!!!!!!

- WAIT if arya is saying her narration to gendry (idk why i feel like she is) imma Stab Somebody bc i deserve only to see some good real emotions between those two

- MISSANDEI!!!! GREY WORM!!!! GETTING SCREEN TIME WHAT FUCKIN CHAMPS

- BRIENNE! BRIENNE! BRIENNE! look at my mama go i loves her so much

- i’m like not a Stan per se but i’m here for whatever jaime is doing right now

- again with the gratuitous dragon shots now?? we get it the fans love the fuckin dragons for some reason WHERE IS GHOST? this is the real question!! did u not budget for the cgi wolves again???? HUH?!?!

- idk why but i like giggled when the girl pushed past arya while she’s looking at the sky

- arya is really coming for oberyns brand with that spear twirling

- *trailer pans the various characters faces without giving a single inkling of plot aside from ICE CASTLES DRAGONS WAR BLAH BLAH*

- what. is pod doing. who put him on the front lines. i get that he’s briennes squire but. i’m upset. plz keep him safe what the fuck.

- *bony horse legs in the snow w winterfell in the bg like we weren’t Expecting Exactly That*

#game of thrones #got #got season 8 #arya stark #gendry waters #in conclusion: ARYAAAA. GENDRYYYYYYYYYYYYY. #my babiessssss #logs.txt

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 2X18 - Selfless, Brave, and True

Hey, reader! And WOOD-n’t you know, August is here too!!!!

So while we’re all here together, let’s talk about this episode! Under the cut we go!

Press Release While Mary Margaret goes off on her own in an attempt to come to grips with what she did to Cora and how her deed has affected her, she stumbles upon August, who has hidden himself away from the others and is completely made of wood – ashamed at the actions he has taken in life; and Emma is shocked when Neal invites his fiancée, Tamara, to come to Storybrooke. Meanwhile, before the curse was cast, August is introduced to a man of magic who may be able to prevent him from turning back into wood – but at a steep price. General Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness This is one of those episodes where the events of it are good, but can’t really be picked apart and discussed in specific segments like I usually do (Besides, the “Insights” make up for it this time! XD ). I like both of the stories and their use of character. I’m admittedly a sucker for episodes where a character makes a decision in one part and then ends up on the opposite side of the proverbial equation in the other, and this one was done pretty well! It’s a simple type of character development, but it honestly gets the job done. August is built to be just selfish enough for the episode’s purposes, but his fear of dying was an appropriate choice as to make his cowardice and selfishness never take him over the line of detestability. Additionally, while I take issue with one aspect of it, I think August’s redemption works well through his sacrifice as death was something he feared so much and was capitalized on well enough in the flashback, and his reward is well deserved. In both segments, Tamara works as a twist character and while I get tired sometimes of those overly mysterious characters who dodge most every question like a banana peel in Smash Bros, I think they did a good job in making The Dragon likable enough. If I had to complain about something, I just feel like the twist that makes August change his mind about leaving should’ve been more character based and closer to the theme of being selfless, brave, and true. As it is, it’s just seeing a photograph, and that’s not really all that revolutionary to someone who was content enough to run away earlier despite knowing what Tamara could do. It exposes nothing about his morality. What I would’ve done is have Tamara also take the string from the Dragon. It would’ve tied (GET IT?! TIED XD ) back to who August was and his father. Insights - Stream of Consciousness -Phuket? More like “fuck it.” Aren’t I right August, ya beach bum? XD -”I’m turning into wood.” Given your previous position, I guess the wood that goes around comes around! ;) -David, you sure that snowbells are the best flowers to give Snow to cheer her up? Because she literally just buried her friend with them a few days ago. Maybe you oughta go with tulips or a nice rose, perhaps? -Also, David! You look hoooooot in that shirt! Fuck the sausage and eggs! I’d be content enough with that big slab of meat you call a bicep! ;) -Ooh! I love that bit of indirect tough love advice Emma gives David on Snow’s behalf! It’s a nice callback to their friendship! And it works! AND Snow relays that advice to August later on! -”None of it will matter?” I’m with Snow, David. Shit’s not that easy. -”Please. Give me time.” There might be some in that breakfast he cooked. Just saying. -”She should be here at any minute now.” Neal, give Emma some notice! A text, at least! -”This town is turning into a theme park.” I’m about 1,000,000% sure no one who runs a Disney park is reading my cute little web reviews, but if you are, PLEASE make Storybrooke a theme park or even just a street in Disney World (And then get me free tickets as a thank you for the idea!) -I can NEVER hear Jennifer say “where I’m/you’re from” again without thinking about that fucking blooper! XD -”She’s bringing bagels.” To be honest, I’d be sold here too. New York bagels are objectively the best and I pity every one of you who has never had one. You poor souls! -Mary Margaret: Keeper of the best coping mechanism EVER since 2013 (?) -*August shows up* I’ve heard of Woodsman in this series, but this is ridiculous! -*August fucking stabs himself with a scalpel and is chased* What the fuck did you expect to happen?! -*August gets pulled into the supply closet* August was ready to throw down! And look at his hands. Is that cultural appropriation or did he actually learn how to fight in Phuket? -August is so well sanded! Either Gepetto didn’t get paid NEARLY enough or August did some grooming! -August ships SwanFire! Who knew? ...Besides everyone who paid more attention than me during the original airing of the episode, that is? XD -Tamara brought the fucking goods! Your revealed villainy aside, you’re a fucking champ! No wonder I liked you! -Awww! Henry let Neal keep the book! <3 -Btw, WHERE THE FUCK IS RUMPLE? Unghh. One thing I wish we had more of this season was more Papa Fire moments. I mean, the guy just got his son back AND avoided death. I feel like he should be knocking on Neal’s door every day to talk to him and his absence at this point is really noticeable. I know we see them together in the next episode, but it’s not enough. Yes, Neal still holds a lot of resentment, but in the last scene they were together, they had a moment of kindness and Rumple’s the type to jump on that like a toddler on a trampoline! -Tamara, I know you’re acting, but you’re giving a 10 and you need to pull that back to a 6. Hell, precisely BECAUSE you’re acting, you should pull it back just a touch! -”I have a soft spot for little kids in trouble.” Awwww! </3 -”If I were you, I’d try the fish -- blackened soul.” That was a fucking good one liner! -Damn, Tamara! Give you some ominous music and a glare and suddenly, out goes the cuddly and in goes the scary! -Dragon, don’t dodge the question! Goddd, don’t be one of those annoying types of mysterious characters!! -”Because what he was is what he is.” Blue! THIS is why everyone thinks you’re shady! -Tamara. Do not pull out the giant envelope of cash in public, and then LEAVE it out! Look, I love August, but he’s about as shady as the underside of the branches he was carved out of! -”For someone who spent his entire life running, you should be in better shape.” XD Great quip, Dragon! -”Are you two trying to steal the magic from Storybrooke?” How did you reach that conclusion? I mean, I get that Tamara’s shadier right now than weeping willow by the equator at high noon, but there’s a jump in logic here that I’m missing. Like, as far as you know, she likes magic. She cured her cancer with it! It makes sense when August finds out the truth, but it would only work when he discovers it. -Regina, who the hockey sticks do you think you’re fooling by playing dumb?! -”Mary Margaret. What are you doing? He’s apologizing.” Emma, he literally just told your mother that the thing she’s spent so much time blaming herself for (Possibly from the moment you were born) was orchestrated by him. She’s allowed to be angry. I feel like both you and I would have a harsher reaction if we were in her shoes! -”That wasn’t me.” Jesus, people! YOU ARE ALLOWED TO BE ANGRY! YOUR LACK OF ANGER IS MAKING ME ANGRY! I mean, I get that Snow knows she would’ve done the same thing, but she didn’t. Marco did, and that condemnation for it was well warranted. -I DO like how responsible Marco’s being for his actions and the effect that it had on August. That was SO needed! -OMG! THE TASER!!! XD -Damn, I wish we saw what The Dragon’s real form was. -Tamara, you’re a sneaky little asshole, but damnit you have a nice car. -The CGI for this episode must’ve eaten the budget like a kid eats a happy meal. -How the fuck did the Blue Fairy get there so quickly! Hell, maybe you ARE shady! -I actually like that we see that selfish side of Neal in the last flashback. It shows both how the world has changed him AND how the Stiltskin’ cowardice curse has left some bits in him as well. -Tamara! I’m supposed to hate you! Stop being so snuggly! -”I promise I will never lie to you again.” ...I’m sorry, Emma. I’ve gotta do it. *deep breath* Suuuuuuuuuuure, Emma. -”It had started to blacken because of what I did.” ...I guess I’m supposed to believe that she redeemed herself after the Maleficent stuff. -”But it [redemption] cost him [August] everything.” Yeahhh...no. He seriously went from what was probably a pretty miserable life to a fresh start. -I kind of wish Greg and Tamara ended up being recurring villains. We’d get the villain ship I always wanted and they could be curb stomped all the time! XD Arcs - How are These Storylines Progressing? Tamara - Tamara’s shown up! I actually love her first episode as a villain. Yeah, the taser is corny, but if that puts you over the top, then I have to ask just what show you’re watching! But onto the character herself, she’s incredibly intelligent with how she deals with people. Within ten seconds of seeing Neal, she knows how to play him like a fiddle and her time with August in the present shows the insight she’s gained about him in their one encounter. Hell, she sort of won the day, and all without using a hint of magic! Emma lying to Henry - Finally! This arc is over! I gotta say, this was a hard (Albeit well done) arc to watch. It’s never easy seeing your favorite character get antagonized, no matter how justly. That having been said, as there was no reference to the lie before Emma brought it up right before the final apology, I can’t help but wish that it was either brought up once more in this episode or done in the last episode where it had more thematic prominence. Favorite Dynamic Snow and Emma. As I pointed out in my “Insights,” Emma’s motivational speech to David and heard indirectly by Snow is the thing that bounces her back to life and that sentiment carries Snow throughout the rest of the episode. It’s such a small moment but it speaks so well of the bond that the two of them have built up over the seasons. I like the way that Emma inspires Snow, of ony for how funny it is to see her listen to “My Reputation” while shooting arrows for stress relief. And suddenly, the toaster scene makes so much sense... Writer Kalinda Vazquez and Robert Hull are here for their swan song of the season (Try saying THAT five times fast!) and they both do a pretty decent job here. The dialogue, story, and character choices fit well, and while there were some aspects I wish were handled better, they did an amicable job. Rating 8/10. Once again, I don’t find that there was a lot to say about this episode, but it was quite a good one! It was an entertaining watch with a nice new setting for the flashback, and characters that fit together to convey a great story! I found it to be pretty funny at times and it got me excited about what’s to come! And can you really ask for more out of an episode? ...Well, yeah, but it’s good enough! XD ()()()()()()()()() Thank you so much for reading and to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales. Sorry this wasn’t a super long or in-depth review, but I can only work with what I’m given. Anyway, if it’s not too much trouble before you go, I’d like to ask you for a little help! A couple of days ago, it was announced that the finale won’t be broken up for the final week of the Season 2 posts, and I want to know if you want me to do two separate reviews, or one mega-ultra-super-chocolatey-magical-sugar-spice-and-everything-nice review! It will be a LONG review, but if you think that these two episodes beLONG together, please let me know so I’ll know what to do when the time comes! You can leave a reply here or send me an ask or send me your thoughts by carrier pigeon. Really, it’s all good!

Next time...whoo. My cotton shirt is making me soooo hot! I’m going to change into something...lacey. ;)

See you all then.

Season 2 Tally (157/220) Writer Tally for Season 2: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis: (39/60) Jane Espenson (35/50) Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (31/50) David Goodman (24/30)* Robert Hull (24/30)* Christine Boylan (17/30) Kalinda Vazquez (28/30)* Daniel Thomsen (18/20)* * Indicates that their work for the season is complete Operation Rewatch Archives

#ouat #once upon a time #watching fairytales #ouat 2x18 #ouat rewatch #jenna watches ouat

[robininthelabyrinth]

Legends Recap

Because while I was determined not to (I was three episodes behind!), sometimes a girl's just got to scream into the void: "HOW DO THESE WRITERS KEEP THEIR JOBS?"

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Raiders of the Lost Art: Wow, I don’t care about Rip. Also, you had the fucking spear of destiny through all of season 1? Fucking incompetent.

I’ve seen the Mick scene before. *hugs Mick*

…Nate is such an annoying frat boy. 3AM blasting bad music? In a small space near other people’s sleeping quarters? And just “oh, yeah, sorry, I needed to do a thing” as an explanation? We have a name for those people: assholes.

Again: Indiana Jones is an archeologist. Not a historian.

“Anyone would have made the call to save Grey!” “Would Rip?” Answer: no, because Rip doesn’t care about the team. Remember how he did that repeatedly last season?  Why is this show trying to push Sara’s weird (and out of nowhere) crush on Rip?

I have literally no interest in Rip’s issues. Zero.

Fear of giant toads, somehow related to Mick’s mother (reference to “mommy talk”). Dragon!Mick confirmed?

Mick’s expression of “you’ve got to be kidding me” is going to be the highlight of this episode, I can tell.

I’m pleased they remember that Mick can knock someone out without harming them. I’m less pleased that they seem to have forgotten that Sara can do the same?

“Oh now, our way out is block! Pity we didn’t bring Jax, so that we could literally Firestorm fly our way out! That would have made sense, but cost precious CGI money!”

Mick’s tradition of carrying people continues.

Oh god, this episode’s only halfway over. Make it stop.

Goody, Stein insulting Mick to his face. Also, emotional problems leading to hallucinations are a serious problem??? Even if it’s just “emotions”, there are hallucinations?

NOTE TO AUDIENCE: Not having 4 PhDs or a history degree = total inability to read words!

NOTE TO AUDIENCE: Not being an inventor or a historian makes you useless!

Also, apparently getting mugged once can cause a change of career after dropping money and time into it.

Why did they move the chair into Mick’s room? HOW did they? (Why were we, the audience, deprived of the glorious scene of Mick and Stein hauling it down the hallway)

Also, Mick has been interpreting Stein’s academic technobabble without a problem the whole episode, and yet, everyone on board thinks he’s stupid…

I’m incredibly pissed at this episode for raising hopes of Len and then destroying them. Both for Mick, and for the audience.

I’m also not here for the Rip/Sara thing. Also the fact that this show seems to assume people will be super disbelieving despite being on a goddamn spaceship.

Oh, my bby! Mick’s head is literally SLICED OPEN in that scene! WTF?

I get all the Star Wars references, I just…don’t care…

George Lucas is holding the spear of destiny, which makes him a great director…or, at least, married to one. He’s a good tech guy, at least.

In which the Guy Who Has Never Been In A Fight Decides Not To Run From Evil Bad Guys Because…Plot.

Mick’s little smile when he says “ghost” and the heartbreak after it is just…unnecessary. Also, wtf, Stein, hallucinations are not a usual response to grief, okay?

Ugh.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Legion of Doom:

Damien’s intro is more interesting than 95% of the normal Legends’.

Okay, why is Merlyn having Feelings about Darkh dying? (Also, wouldn’t removing Darkh from the timeline mean that that timeline no longer happens? Why do G. Lucas’ ~~feelings~~ about filmmaking have an immediate impact but literally removing the person who doesn’t go on to do any of the shit he later does not?)

Fucking writers. This could be such a good show if they cared even a LITTLE.

I do enjoy the sheer bitchiness of the bad guys. Pity they’re Nazis. Also, do we need all the scenes of tortures?

ALSO: why the hell would his daughter help with a mystical artifact? Like, I see that she does because of plot, but couldn't they have put any effort into explaining why her specialty is required? Also, why does she have a radiation detector in her pocket when she goes to get coffee?

Bad guys: bitch-bitch-bitch.

Bad guys: bitch about each other.

Bad guys: yet MORE bitching!

Bad guys: worst bank robbers ever?

Mick’s difficulty thinking of the word is adorable. And yeah, she deserved to know. Everyone acting super weird about her, and she doesn’t know why? She would have wanted to know. It was clearly deliberate, too (I love how he goes to “asphyxiation”!)

Bad guys: going back to bitching. With swords! (See, I’d like them, but: Nazis.)

Stein is moping because Mick “spilled the beans” on a secret he shouldn’t be keeping. So sad.

Both sides figure out Eobard, finally. Also, can’t Eo just phase out through the wall?

Speedster: not…use…speed…force? I’m sorry, I don’t think I understand?

Eo’s terror face is hilarious. Also, did everyone just forget about phasing?

Stein’s family drama, yeah, yeah.  Stein: Can’t you stay? Lily: No, the budget can’t afford another regular. I mean, I have protein-folding to be doing instead of LITERAL time travel with future science! Because that’s totally how normal people/scientists make decisions!

--------------

Turncoat:

Mick’s intro is lovely.

Interesting mention about “time travel” being fun – I assume not all the memories are back in place. That, or being a Time Master is even more dull than I’d previously imagined.

I’m in for Gideon killing everybody! *notes down fic idea*

Go Mick! Use your skills! (Ray deserves all the arm twisting.)

Nate and Amaya – boring. And seriously, with the ‘falling into his arms’ thing?

Good lord, someone actually makes a plan that includes the line “and then if there’s trouble, Firestorm”? I thought I’d never see the day.

(Ray should totally go as a toy. And Ray, stop making faces at Mick – you’ve been a dick to him all season, only fair he gets some licks back in.)

“Oh you’re married to a black woman! Don’t you know we were racist back then!” says the man in late 18th century New Jersey, where rich black women could still vote. (No, really, in a handful of states black women could vote as long as they owned property. This was one of the rights that was lost when the US got itself a federal government. But the past was always racist! because we didn't make this joke enough when Kendra and Ray were dating!)

Ray’s “Mer-ry Christmas!” is amusing.

Mick identifies the problem faster than anyone else, as usual. Mick disapproves of Rip’s behavior – and Rip’s attempt to compare the two of them. For shame, Rip; as usual, thinking the worst of Mick.

“And Rory.” “That was implied.” Yeah, sure.  At least Jax gets next Captain after Sara goes! First time I’ve seen any reference to Jax’s leadership skills in…the entire series…

Really. Twice. That doesn’t make it funny.

“I’ll bet a hundred yous you’re wrong” = Mick is the best. Georgie isn’t wrong about there being rules of war, but Mick is still the best.

Jax. Jax. I love you, but there is a DIFFERENCE between “wow, I’m in charge of a handful of people and need to make decisions” and “I’m going to do a potentially life threatening activity involving literally digging into my friend’s stomach (which is filled with organs that, if nicked, could cause sepsis and death) with a knife, and I’m going to do it without a guide or any experience”. Stein wins this one hands down.

Okay, let me just be clear: somehow, Amaya has been on this ship for months and months and never heard the term ‘dating’ and is instead using ‘courting’, which is the most formal of formal terms used in the past. Because obviously a man – to use old-fashiony language like this show wants to – “called on” or “stepped out with” a woman a few times before officially declaring a courtship. Because the past didn’t have one-night stands, because people only developed libidos around the time of the internet. SERIOUSLY SHOW? People have been fucking for fun since forever. The whole “sexual revolution” thing was a revolution because women could have sex for fun WITHOUT RISK OF PREGNANCY.

Before then, they still had sex, they used what contraceptives they had and hoped for the best. There’s a reason shotgun weddings were a thing. And why

And I was told they went with the “huddling for warming -> sex” thing, I knew it was coming, it’s just…disappointing. Boring.

Jax Home Alone looks like it’s going to be fun.

Rip – the most ahistorical haircut, or the most ahistorical haircut? Ugly, too.

Georgie: “Don’t punish Mick! He’s not guilty!” Mick: “You bet your ass I am! Possibly not at the moment, but of many other things! And also, just generally speaking!”

Still bored with Nate/Amaya.

Jax Home Alone is not anywhere near as fun as I was hoping. Boo.

Mick: So I’m getting you out of here. George: No. Mick: *tries insults* *it’s not very effective* George: *stirring speech* Mick: *stirring speech* *it’s super-effective!* George: …

“Oh, no, what about George Washington and Rory!” says the person happily having sex and napping instead literally five minutes before.

Awwwww, Ratigan! That is some terrible CGI.

Why are they selling the Rip/Sara? It’s icky. (This is me: totally believing that Sara’s dead. Really. Totally. Even for five seconds.)

First, the historical critique: they shouldn’t ALL be standing around at a hanging with primed guns, that’s a recipe for disaster.

Second: I don’t even care this is glorious. Mick saves everyone! Mick tackles four people! George uses his superior height!

Also, if Mick convinced him early in the evening, then they literally spent all night talking.

First instance of Georgie-boy! (though poor Mick is still suicidal, oh dear)

George: …yeah, Americans out, stage left, pursued by bear.

Jax, Jax, baby, just shoot him in the kneecap. What the hell is with these heroes? Sara’s back and decides to use Christmas against everyone because…no, I have no idea why. Is it just me or does it feel like these episodes are massively out of order?

Awwww, Georgie and Mick drinking together <3 Mick and the criminal justice system! And then they hug! Mick finally has a good friend!

“Rebel spirit, steadfastness, crass yet effective use of language, you’re the best of what our new nation can be” – Mick is now officially embarrassed and hiding. Man, if I hadn’t already written that Barry/Mick fic, I would now.

Sara and Jax bro-ship is perfectly okay. More of that.

Mick in a hat! Mick with his new rat! <3 Mick kissing his new rat!

“We have nothing to celebrate – including Mick getting a statute!” – why, guys, why?

(Mick’s face of “yeah I still got nothing” whenever the statute is mentioned is adorable)

“Because the League may have everything – smarts, beauty, cunning, charisma…wait, where was I going with this?”

#dc's legends of tomorrow #lot liveblog