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#anyways i just kinda find it funny how much i know about some popular franchises
bornfromchalk · 2 years
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I feel like I should explain the whole ‘blorbo’ situation to you… I had to do a little bit of research but I don’t mind if it at least means a little less being lost on this site for both of us.
The term blorbo is a newer term on here and it came from a post talking about how someone can make a more generic post about a fandom- like talking about the character but not naming them in the post but in the tags? Anyways, they were talking about how people bring their own favorite characters from entirety different shows and make it about that character instead of the original poster’s character? Blorbo I’m guessing is a random word they made up for this but it stick and now blorbo essentially translates to a character someone deeply loves or appreciates and will bring up to a point of being potentially annoying. For example, let’s say I deeply like this one character from A Legend of Sword and wouldn’t stop bringing them up, or somehow the most random of things makes me think of that character (like rice or something, I’m making stuff up here)- that I guess could be my blorbo.
Eeby deeby is a replacement term for a strange destination of some kind. That one came from some post about going up an elevator, but having no idea which floor because the screen eeby deeby. Some reason it’s implied they’re going to a purgatory of some kind as denoted by ‘eeby deeby’ which is from what I’ve read is supposed to be like a robot sound. I think that one gained traction because it tied into the superhell joke that a lot of supernatural fans were making when two dudes confessed to liking each other in the show and one got killed pretty much right after and went to the empty- aka, according to fandom, is superhell. I don’t know, I didn’t watch the show.
Glup Shitto apparently is a little joke to jab at the Star Wars fandom for how the names of a lot of the characters sound like gibberish. But also it’s also used as a fake name for a returning character in the series (usually the more obscure parts of the media like a small book trilogy rather than the mainstream films) and praised by hardcore fans but practically unknown to those who are more in the mainstream media of that universe rather than the more obscure portions. It picked up more speed when a new show for the franchise was released that was pretty mainstream brought back a lot of more obscure characters from like the animated shows aimed at a more older kid to young teenage audience.
Plinko horse apparently came from a video of a series of animations. The animations were being used as a visual on how things are projected to move and interact I suppose? Plinko horse was specifically from the Real Time Collision section, with a horse being dropped through a plinko-like board and going through the pegs, biting different ones on the way down. Apparently it made rounds on other sites first (https://youtu.be/Slt4z55PBhI, this is apparently a catalyst for its popularity). Gifs were made and those all had jokes made about them and it just kinda spread. Somehow this amuses us and it’s just now a thing.
Still no idea what scrunglo means, but if I find that one out, I’ll tell you! Hopefully some of this explains a little about tumblr slang.
Ah... you didn't have to go that far for my sake. I am grateful as always.
I think I understand now. So blorbo is somebody's favorite character one can't stop thinking of. And the word is just a placeholder for their name as the maker of the original post wanted to make a statement about the phenomenon without going into a specific fandom or character. It is actually quite smart. This is, essentially, how new words are introduced to a language.
Well, eeby deeby is a... quite funny sound I would say. That being interpreted as "superhell" however, is a little peculiar. Though the contrast itself between the funny and the serious sounding might be exactly what's making the comparison comedic. That, and the timelines coinciding with the surgence of each meme, that is a recipe for an internet gag indeed.
Glup Shitto... another combination of comedic sounds and inside knowledge of a certain fandom. I'm starting to see a pattern here.
The plinko horse seems to be an excellent demonstration in movement, velocity and contact. Why they chose a horse as the subject... might not be relevant to the experiment itself.
Thank you for this holy grail of information once again. This helped me understand certain things and aided me in forming hypotheses about internet culture.
~Albedo
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xoteajays · 7 months
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Oh! I did message you in instant messages. I can't always remember who I message someone. And I know that I send long messages that not everyone likes. So there's also that reason too.
Yeah. The High&Low franchise came out eight years ago. So you wish there was more people who still created content for the H&L fandom.
Which is bizarre to me? Because High&Low was a popular franchise when it came out, but now there seems to be nothing for the fandom. Especially because there are similarities between High&Low, Worst and Tokyo Revengers. Pretty boys who are delinquents. [I've only ever seen the Worst crossover movie with High&Low, not even the original series. So I can't comment much on Worst.]
Chimknj also wrote another High&Low story. Well.. There story would be a one shot, a one chapter story. Not that you have to read it. But it is a smutty story between Rocky and his girlfriend (original character) - during the events of the first movie.
And, I think, there is a person who's under the name FireOfJudgment on here. They have H&L stories, and AIB stories too. But I don't know what characters or ships they write for though. In case you may want to search their work. They might be an option for you.
It's best for me to write notes for ideas to stories, and characters, and who knows what else while being involved in the fandom. Because if I try writing when I'm not in any fandom, then my thoughts and ideas... I became fickle and scattered on what I want to write. It's a problem.
Being in a fandom makes me more focused to write for that fandom. If that makes any sense.
I mean.. The color coordination to my characters was accidental for me. Because I tend to go for a specific appearance for my characters, I was very adamant about using those people for my face claims but I wasn't sure for what fandom - and I probably will use them for a lot of other fandoms too. Most likely. But not sure which other fandoms yet though. Anyway. Anyway.. But one person's favorite color is blue, one is orange, and another is red which eventually became their signature colors. So I unconsciously connected them to their respective gangs, which is kinda funny because their personalities actually seem fitting for those gangs too. And since the High&Low cast of characters have been predominantly men, I wanted more female characters involved in the story. But there have been a few things I've been stick on lately.
i am just hella awful at answering my private messages. i’ll be like ‘ill reply to that in a bit’ and then completely forget.
it’s just weird. like fandoms used to stick around for longer and h&l is still relatively recent. like 2016 wasn’t even a decade ago yet! everybody go watch h&l and feel emotions you didn’t expect about a pretty boy gang show. the song ‘break into the dark’ literally got me F*cked Up, everybody go watch the unofficial music video.
i will absolutely go read a smutty fic, that’s half of what i’ve been reading lately anyway. love me an explicit fic. and rocky has grown on me, do really like that dude.
i used to be really good at writing short original stories, but now i find it a bit harder. need that high school inspired brain back. fanfics do come a bit easier for me, but i also second guess myself a lot and some stuff i don’t end up posting or even finishing. which is a shame bc it’s supposed to be a fun hobby. i definitely need a fandom to obsess over or i just go totally blank in the brain.
im so bad at colour coordinating my ocs, i can rarely ever decide on what colour suits them best. idk if anyone’s noticed how many light blue or pink characters i have ahsjdl. my own h&l oc kinda started as an oya oc and then developed into something more and got switched around a bit, i think i’m mostly happy with where she’s at rn tho. im having a lot of fun with her.
h&l is definitely lacking in the female character department. like even the strawberry milk girls don’t get a whole lot of screen time like i thought they would, which is a shame bc i think they’re cool and i love pink. i think naomi got the most screen time out of all the girls and even that wasnt a whole lot. n-e-way yamato’s mum and the bartender lady are, like, definitely gfs tho, that’s my hc.
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isanyonetoknow · 3 years
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the only experiences i’ve had with pokemon growing up are when, in elementary school, i and a couple of other kids were trying to trade the cards but we had no idea what standards to trade them by so we were sort of just shuffling them around and one vivid scene in which ash(?) and pikachu are in a canyon and it sort of pans to show team rocket and they’re maybe going to have a stand off.
#vt.talk#oh i watched detective pikachu a while ago so does that count?#and ive seen some stuff on the internet though not muc#anyways i just kinda find it funny how much i know about some popular franchises#like star wars was just the 'i am your father' through memes; my friends arguing about the best watching order; watching one of the movies#i think tfa on a bus ride and honestly that's where i learned the most. like the fact that darth vader was dead and luke and co were old now#and then at disneyworld someone dressed as someone from star wars was talking about padawans or something; oh and obv i knew what#lightsabers were.#naruto i learned about cause the naruto run and i was a bit of an obsessive middle schooler so i had to learn the context of the naruto run#i know nothing about star trek except data's great spock's great and there's a kirk in there?#marvel i used to know nothing about except through my friends but then i watched some movies#and there were various anime i learned about because i used to listen to nightcore and people in the comments would be like#'poor [character whose image was used as the image for the video]' and id be like who tf is character#and figure it out#then usually be like 'damn that was fucked up' before forgetting about it until something triggered the memory#like once i was shelving books in the library and some of them were black butler and i was like 'wait i know this.'#oh and atla i knew nothing about except that i thought it was the same as the avatar movie and i remember seeing the comics around#then there were how to write a good villain/redemption arc posts with azula and zuko respectively#lets see what else.#see if it's a popular book series i will have read at least the first book so those don't count#ig i learned a bit more about some animes through listening to their osts though i don't really care as much about learning then#and then i know the basic gists of a lot of movies. like indiana jones deals with artifacts and adventure#james bond i read the first few books of but wasn't impressed at all#hp i unfortunately read and then decided 'ok' and moved on#and now i can't look back without distaste#oh and i do know a bit about like bleach op and another i think?#oh and i also remember seeing arabic sub of hxh episodes but idk arabic so i didn't click on them#unrelated to everything in this post but i would not survive star wars#i'd see darth vader and just start LAUGHING#i won't be able to run and he'd just kill me
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wickedpact · 3 years
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so netflix just announced the schedule for that fan event on saturdays and now its official: there wont be a tog panel. charlize will make an appearance though, alongside other 5 actress in a panel about action movies. there's a moderator so its most likely gonna be a general discussion about the genre with an emphasis on female protagonists - she's certainly going to talk about andy and nile's characters as well as her experience as a producer - and maybe there will be a comment or two about the sequel, but i feel like nothing too specific or revealing and more like a brief statement. i hope i'm wrong tho! i mean they did kinda hint that there would be new content at the panel? (or maybe it was never gonna to happen and we're just clowns being baited yet again).
anyway, i keep wondering if its a case of netflix not giving a shit about promoting the movie, or if it there's another perfectly reasonable explanation for it and i'm being super extra about it.
because really, netflix has a lot of fucking money and they dont usually spare it on their marketing campaigns. and still we get nothing. not before the film came out (if i didnt have access to the gays from tumblr/twitter i would have never even discover the film - it had me at the joenicky gifs, obvs - and still, i had to introduce it to so many people from inside the community who had never heard of it.) and not even after people started engaging with it, basically begging for some crumbles. not a single photo or video of cast together, not any deletes scenes; we're all starving here!!! in fact, netflix just released the raw footage of an audition/chemestry test featuring the actresses from fear street vs the actual scenes from the film - including some dialogue that was cut from it which reveal some background info about the characters - so clearly they understand the appeal. SO WHY CANT WE HAVE THAT
[nonetheless i'm a fool who still hopes that someday we're gonna get more content of them together (i want behind the scenes footage! i wanna know more about their experiences training and shooting the film! i wanna hear funny stories from the set! i wanna see them teasing each other in several languages! also would sell a lung to watch luca and marwan taking part in back to back chef!). ]
anyhow, i honestly find that even when we take into account the global pandemic and its effects, the publicity was kinda wack; we can basically count on one hand how many interviews were made while they were promoting the film.
and i truly dont get it!!!!!!! im not even speaking as fan here. the old guard has the potential to be a hit among several demographics; now that disney took away what used to be netflix's flagship content the competition has never been more fierce in the superhero/ish genre!!! and its not like we're talking about some low-budget film cmon its a significal production with both experienced and emerging actors. its chiwetel ejofior ITS CHARLIZE FUCKING THERON. anyway my point is that in a time when movie theathers were closed and streaming reached its peak tog could - SHOULD - have been much more popular.
SO LIKE. WHY?????? does it have anything to do with skydance and copyrights? re: interviews, can it be that the cast just didnt sign up for this (is that even a thing? i dont know anything about the film industry, clearly)? unlikely for a movie that big i would guess but who knows??? i mean contrary to some hollywood folks most of the cast is extremely private and discrete people (GOOD FOR THEM) so perhaps they have some reservations about it? or we're really just the poor bastards that end up being obssessed with a media no one gives a fuck about it and thats it? WHYYY
p.s.: sorry for the word vomit! this was not supposed to be an essay i just had to get this off my chest and you're the most welcoming blog around these woods. thank you for the tea (or is it coffee? heh) and the biscuits and for always indulging our passionate rants. HAVE A NICE DAY I LOVE YOU
re: TUDUM, geeked week mentioned there will be a little interview thing for greg & leandro so i have a feeling if anything of tog importance will be discussed itll happen then
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but yeah i get what youre saying; sometimes i wonder if the reason that theres like no bts content is bc it just.. .doesnt exist? just people didnt film things like chemistry readings or the like while creating tog and thats why theres been basically no crumbs? (but then again, it was gina who took it upon herself to post the hair & makeup test footage AND theres at least one deleted scene that we know of thats never been posted so maybe not)
and yeah it does seem so bizarre since tog got such a big response from audiences (it was one of netflix's most watched original movies!) and critics did actually like it, unlike some of netflix's most watched originals. PLUS it has that ✨ Franchise Potential ✨that everyone has been searching for as of late and it also gives netflix their sought after Woke Points. idk it just seems like they should be leaning into tog as hard as they can but it feels like theyve been largely ignoring it. i mean i get the holdups in regard to finding a new director but other than that the response from netflix has been so underwhelming
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arsenicpanda · 3 years
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Hey! You seem to ship fairly similar Riverdale pairings to me, so do you have any fanfic ideas? Unfortunately, I have writers block and I don't have access to any maple mushrooms to get through this one.
So, I do have a few that don't fall under "I actually want to write this myself", you are correct, and I am a wordy bitch, so let's put this under a cut
-Jabitha + Jughead and Veronica friendship post-college au: so, we diverge from canon in 5x03. Betty still leaves Riverdale, but Veronica stays, and she and Jughead slowly bond over film, pretentious references, criminal fathers, and the whole getting cheated on thing. Maybe throw in Reggie and the other Serpents too if you want to. When Jughead becomes homeless (again), Veronica eventually notices and invites him to stay with her, and it's awkward at first, but then they get used to it. They develop a brother-sister bond. So, then when they go off to college, they keep in touch and stay friends. Their friendship keeps Jughead from being supes lonely at college, which means he stays and learns how to actually fucking write, so his book is actually good and not just successful, and also he doesn't take up drinking and drugs. And their friendship also keeps Veronica from dating assholes like Chad, so she never even gets close to that terrible marriage. But after they graduate, Jughead moves to NYC and they live together and she becomes the she-wolf of Wall Street and he becomes a successful author (genre undetermined) and maybe also journalist (look, I am just too fond of this headcanon, and most authors need second jobs anyway), and neither of them pine over their exes. Veronica can settle down with Reggie, Josie, Katy Keene, or someone else or no one else, but she is successful and happy. Also, Tabitha goes to school in NYC, settles down there, works a six-figure job for a while, and then opens a Pop's franchise. Now, it can go two ways from here:
Veronica and Tabitha become friends in college. Veronica keeps trying to set Jughead and Tabitha up with different people she knows to no success (she keeps trying to set both of them up with intimidating women (partial success and bi Tabitha 4 life) and himbos (zero success, they both prefer smart people, and also bi Jughead 4 life), until one day she's complaining about it to Katy Keene or Reggie or Josie or someone and the other person is like "V, why don't you just set them up with each other?" And she's like "ohhhhh" and she does, and they either hit it off pretty quickly or Tabitha is like "wait, are you the guy who mooched off my grandpa for years??" And he's like "pardon??" And she dislikes him until he proves himself/Veronica explains the situation (Jughead was neglected and poor and Pop helped him out). But then they get along and swap stories about Pop and fall into some weird investigation and fall in love, and Veronica is like "Victory is mine!"
Tabitha starts franchising Pop's in NYC, and when Jughead finds out he's like "sus, very sus" and goes there and eats and is like ".....this is actually pretty spot-on". And he becomes a regular (who actually orders food and pays because he can now), and Tabitha is supervising the diner for a time, and they start to chat on late nights when he's the only customer left but the diner isn't scheduled to close for another two hours, so Tabitha could use the company. Jughead doesn't realize she's Pop's granddaughter, and Tabitha doesn't realize he's her grandpa's favorite customer (and known moocher, in her opinion), and when they find out, they're both very shocked. They clear up the moocher thing and keep falling in love, and it's beautiful, and Veronica spends some her spare time prying into Jughead's newest late-night haunt and then teasing him about his crush on the owner and later "of course you fell for Pop's granddaughter, of course".
-Jabitha or bugabitha: Jughead cooks his tired (future?) girlfriend(s) dinner because yes, he does know how to cook because he loves food, so obviously he learned how to cook, and also he notices how much his girlfriend(s) work and wants to take care of them.
-Jabitha: Tabitha teaching Jughead how to cook some of Pop's recipes one late, slow night, and yes, they kiss at the end and/or when he makes her something on another late, slow night or slow afternoon or one morning when he opens and she shows up later
-Bugabitha: Tabitha needs help with a mystery/situation and goes to Betty and Jughead's PI agency to hire them (whether Betty and Jughead are together is up for grabs), and they are both charmed as fuck by her, and Tabitha tags along on the investigation for idk reasons, and they all fall in love and also solve a mystery
-Jabitha: smut/pwp of Jughead eating Tabitha out in Pop's while they're both still in uniform
-Jabith or Bugabith: like three students trip and fall into being way too invested in their teacher's/teachers' love life/lives and become convinced that something is going on between Jughead and Tabitha (and maybe also Betty) and start snooping while also documenting it on a popular "my English teacher is dating his other boss (and also my shop teacher)" or "my English teacher is two-timing his boss with my shop teacher" TikTok series that Jughead and Tabitha (and Betty) don't know about it until it goes viral after the kids finally get proof they're together / find out that it's not that Jughead's cheating with Betty and/or Tabitha's cheating with Betty but that the three of them are dating (see: that one fanart I commissioned of the Elite meme). Told from the kids' pov, very comedy-heavy (more comedy than ship fluff, tbh), includes replies to the TikToks and other social media stuff. Still considering writing this myself, but I don't know if I'm funny enough, tbh
-Bugabitha: how they do or do not celebrate holidays and birthdays, especially if the holidays involving shuffling between/avoiding their families and Betty recounts the disaster that was Jughead's birthday in 1x10, right down to (lovingly) roasting him for the "I'm weird, I'm a weirdo" speech (she will be kind by including how sweet he was in the diner, of course)
-Bugabitha: Alice finally finds out that Betty, Jughead, and Tabitha are all dating when Betty moves out of the Cooper house and into an apartment with Jughead and Tabitha. It includes something like the following exchange, Alice's last-ditch effort to convince Betty not to do this:
"Elizabeth, you cannot think that moving in with your ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend is wise."
"Mom, I'm not moving in with my ex and his girlfriend, I'm moving in with my boyfriend and my girlfriend, and you're making me late for lunch with them, bye." And then Betty leaves before Alice can respond
And then it's very important that Alice freaks out. If you want, you can also include FP and Gladys finding out (v chill) and Pop finding out (the most wholesome and supportive)
-Jabitha: Pop playing matchmaker with Jughead and Tabitha at any age, could be in an au where Tabitha comes to visit Pop every summer and Jughead kinda falls for her from afar as a teen, could be Jughead gets a job post-senior year at Pop’s during the summer when Tabitha is working there that summer, could be during the canon s5 or an au s5, could be any time, idk
- Jabitha, bughead, or bugabitha: Jughead's editor says that his novel needs a sex scene for whatever reason, idk, idc, but his POV character/narrator is a woman, and he's like "how do I write this without finding myself on one of those lists of 'men who can't write women?'" and bemoans this one day, and, idk, somehow his friend(s) Tabitha and/or Betty trip and fall into ~helping~ him by being very explicit and descriptive of how it feels while they bone
I think that’s it? Let’s say that’s it for now.
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murasaki-murasame · 3 years
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Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep8
They see Satoko rolling~~ They hating~~
Anyway, thoughts under the cut.
Not to be petty or anything but it’s getting more and more funny how like half of the fandom is going through the five stages of grief as it becomes increasingly obvious that this literally is meant to be a bridge between Higurashi and Umineko, lol.
I mean sure there’s always the chance that he decided to make a new Higurashi anime as a vehicle to elaborately troll the fans of a different, decade-old VN that was infamously way less popular than Higurashi was, but I think we can all agree that that just feels like coping at this point.
Now I’m just curious to see how many ways they’re gonna find to spell it out for us. We’ve seen Satoko bring up the idea of certainty multiple times while mocking Rika’s reliance on miracles, Featherine is literally a character in Higurashi now who gave Satoko her looping powers, they’ve referenced this new set of loops as a ‘game board’ with ‘pieces’ several times, and now they’ve literally used the word witch. Are we gonna see Satoko come up with the name Lambdadelta to describe her witch persona, like what happened with Rika? Are we going to get a look at Lambda’s character design from Umineko? Who knows at this point. Even after everything that’s happened up to now I didn’t expect them to actually bring up witches, since that doesn’t really fit with Higurashi’s whole Japanese mythology motif. But here we are.
Anyway, in spite of how pleased I am about the show barrelling towards the conclusion I’ve been predicting since like halfway into Gou, I’m definitely in the camp of thinking that Sotsu hasn’t needed to be anywhere near as long as it’s been thus far. I still think that a lot of it is just due to them wanting to cater to new fans as well as old ones, but I feel like even that only really applies to Oniakashi, since that’s the only answer arc thus far that’s actually built upon stuff from the VN answer arcs that Gou didn’t already cover. Wataakashi didn’t actually involve or rely on any material from Meakashi, so I honestly think that new fans could just have easily have figured out the mysteries to that in advance, and Tatariakashi also isn’t really based on any material from the VN. Tataridamashi was already more of an adaptation of Minagoroshi than Tatarigoroshi anyway. So it just feels like everything after Oniakashi could have just been summarized in a montage.
It’s kinda odd, since they have the whole framing device of Eua watching everything unfold, which could have been used more frequently as a way to skim over these arcs and just show the important bits, but we’ve only gotten a few scenes like this. It might have gotten a bit repetitive if they made it too frequent, but it’s also just kinda boring to spend most of each episode going over stuff we’ve already seen.
I think all of that is a genuine issue with the writing, and I doubt anything from this point on will retroactively improve it, but in spite of all that I still like what Ryukishi is trying to do with this series, and how it fits into the franchise as a whole.
I recently went back and reread some stuff from the VN to check it, and I feel like a lot of complaints people have with this series basically boil down to fundamental disagreements with how they view the story vs how Ryukishi himself does. I don’t think it’s wrong for people to disagree with him or see things differently, but still. Specifically, it feels like the whole premise of this series is built upon his afterword for Matsuribayashi where he talks about how that arc doesn’t actually represent the ‘ideal ending’ for Higurashi based on it’s world-view and philosophy, since it ends with Takano being the villain who everyone gangs up to defeat so that everyone except her can get a happy ending. He then poses that the ‘graduating question’ [aka where the title of this new series comes from, lol] is figuring out what the ideal ending would be, if it’s not Matsuribayashi. So in a lot of ways this is Ryukishi’s attempt to go back and fix his perceived mistakes with the VN, and the issue is just that a lot of people don’t think it even needed to be ‘fixed’ in the first place.
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the sort of idealistic, non-violent philosophy of absolute forgiveness that Ryukishi seems to feel strongly about, but I honestly appreciate just how far he’s willing to go to explore and communicate that message in his writing. I think it takes a lot of courage to go back and re-examine a famous story you wrote from the perspective of ‘the way it ended wasn’t actually perfect, and here’s what would happen if we kept following the characters and saw all the consequences of what happened’.
Ironically, I kinda feel like a lot of this narrative stuff ends up feeling like a somewhat half-baked version of Umineko, since a large part of Umineko was already about revisiting and expanding upon the ideas of forgiveness and abuse from Higurashi, but in a less literal way than what Gou/Sotsu is doing.
Anyway, now that we’re a couple episodes into this arc, I’m getting less confident about how they’re going to wrap this all up by episode 15, if we aren’t getting some kind of unannounced continuation. We’re two episodes into this arc and thus far we’ve basically only covered the first two episodes of Tataridamashi, so unless the pacing picks way up after this, it might take this entire arc just to get through this loop, before even getting to the Nekodamashi stuff.
But on the other hand, I think that after this point in Tataridamashi we don’t really see Satoko again until near the end of it, so if we keep following her perspective, we might just gloss over all the protest stuff with the main crew, and we might be able to get all the way up to the end of this loop in just one more episode.
I dunno if that’d be enough time to set up the descent into self-doubt and regret that they seem to be setting up for Satoko, but there’s a lot they have to get through before this can all wrap up. I’m at least assuming there’ll be a full arc left after we catch up to the cliffhanger from Nekodamashi, anyway.
I don’t think this episode does a whole lot to affect my theory of how this arc will go from Satoko’s perspective, but i’m more unsure now about when she might start to doubt herself and go back on her plans, if she does at all.
The scene at the very end with Eua watching Satoko’s classroom breakdown is kinda interesting, though, since it made it more ambiguous than I expected as to what Satoko was thinking in that scene. On paper you’d just think that she’s continuing her whole charade, but the way that we zoom out and see it from Eua’s more antagonistic and judgmental perspective, and how we see Satoko’s eyes flash red for a split second as she starts freaking out, makes me kinda unsure just how much she was faking it.
Also I just have to admit that seeing Satoko rolling around in the dirt while laughing maniacally was genuinely hilarious, lol. I still think that a lot of this is meant to be morbidly funny in a self-aware way. 
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Alex ze Pirate “Mini Review” 1: About Male Abuse
Alex ze Pirate is in my opinion the WORST “comic” series Dobson has ever written up until this point (date for archives: June 2020). Sure, I agree with people that his “hot take” comics on Star Wars Fans, political issues and virtue signaling for the sake of making brownie points are worse overall cause they are uneducated propaganda that give insight in how much of a loathsome human being driven by spite he genuinely is, but Alex “offends” me as someone who enjoys fiction. It may not be the worst thing ever written, but it just does so many things wrong in terms of storywriting, storytelling, presentation and creating fictional characters, I can’t help but wonder what went wrong that Dobson even remotely thought this thing would be a “successful” comic series to establish him as a creator. Cause I can tell you, having read the likes of Don Rosa’s work on Disney, Hilda, Cleopatra in Space, Spirou, Asterix, One Piece (of which I will talk a lot in my next few posts) and many more, I can confirm by comparison that Dobson’s pirates as a published comic would have only one use on the public shelves: alternative for toilet paper during the COVID-19 epidemic
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 Believe me, I would love to write an in depth analysis of everything wrong with Alex ze Pirate, from the lazy artwork up to even the publication history of this trainwrack. But doing so would take a lot of time and there is one individual part of this I think deserve at least extra attention. Something that in my opinion embodies quite well a lot of things I consider wrong with this comic. So before I am going over Alex in its entirety (and believe me, the day will come) let me just talk within the next few posts about one certain aspect and story of the comic, that genuinely got me to loath this comic to the core: Sam the Cabin Boy and “his” own individual story Dobson drew in three parts around 2010.  
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For starters, lets talk who Sam is: Sam is one of the main characters in the comic and actually the first person who joined Alex and Peggy in the initial pages of Legends, the “original” form of Alex ze Pirate.
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See, back in 2004, Dobson released Alex ze Pirate in form of a single comic volume called “Legends” which features Alex trying to recruit a crew. The thing is around 78 pages thick and based on what I saw pretty terribly paced. For comparison: When Luffy in One Piece got his crew together, he spend multiple volumes and at least three minor story arcs to get Zoro, Nami, Sanji and Usopp to join him. All while also giving us good insight into the kind of people his new crewmates were (especially Sanji’s and Nami’s backstory got to me), defeating the likes of Buggy and Captain Black, meeting Dracula Mihawk and defeating one of the biggest bastards Eichiro Oda ever created in form of Arlong. What is the story how Sam joins the crew? An orphanage organizes an auction and sells kids off. Which I assume was even illegal in pirate times, so kudos for already showing us how despicable the world of Alex ze Pirate is to begin with and how much it deserves to be nuked in some sort of alien invasion.
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 Sam also doesn’t really get anything to do when he is introduced, just helping Alex escape on a small boat. Which is weird because he does not know her at all, she is just some stranger who bought him off and has no means to keep him in check, so why even bother following her and not let the mob get rid of Alex? 
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Anyway, I wish I could tell more about Sam’s involvement in Legends, but I don’t have really more than some scans of it in the beginning and near the end. So I don’t know his involvement in the rest of the volume. I also can’t say how he plays out in volume two, because that does not exist at all. Cause for reasons I will never understand, Dobson just abandoned the idea of telling a “coherent” and ongoing story with Alex ze Pirate and instead went to his colored one page comics/strips with it, turning it into what some people called “Garfield with Pirates” (which I consider a genuine insult towards any newspaper comic out there, even something as Boondocks). And the first thing we see of Sam in “classic” Alex ze Pirate?
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 The perverted dwarf of the crew showing of his shota underwear so that Alex and Sam stop bickering who is the cutest, leaving him embarrassed and humiliated.
 Which kinda sums up his role in the comic to a t. Cause this is what Sam is: He is the buttmonkey of the crew. And honestly, I would not have a total problem with Sam being a buttmonkey, if a) he wasn’t it all the time, b) he would actually do something to deserve any form of humiliation and c) if the other characters in this comic itself would not be some of the biggest assholes I have ever seen, who get away with abusing the poor lad.
 See, here is the problem: In a crew featuring a choleric homophobic soulless ginger
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 A black rat person who wants to fuck the ginger even without her consent
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 A furry abomination that has the same brain wavelengths as Chris Chan 
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And a perverted dwarf who tries to impersonate Happosai from Ranma 1/2
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 Sam is the only decent person in the entire crew. He works hard, he even questions the morality of his friends at times, he is honest, he is not perverted, almost good to the point of childish innocence and he has a very humble “goal” which is he wants to own his own piece of gold. Not even a big pile of treasure, just one single coin would be enough for him.
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 So he is likeable and relatable. In fact, if anything goes by, he may have been one of the most popular ones in the comic. And yet he is the one who gets constantly abused by “fate” and his friends, because as Dobson would say it, he is supposed to be the buttmonkey. There is just one problem: People do not necessarily like buttmonkeys.
I can primarily speak only for myself here, but I hope what I have to say resonates with others too. See, I get it: A character who is the butt of a joke can be fun. Like Daffy in Duck Amuck. But there is a fine line where a character being humiliated for the sake of a joke is fun (and perhaps even deserved because of his own shortcomings or deeds/actions that make the humiliation sort of kharmic, like lets say Johnny Bravo) and a character being humiliated to the point it feels disproportional, unfunny and mean spirited if not outright sadistic, can be crossed. Take Meg Griffin from Family Guy for example whose only “purpose” for existing within the last 12+ years is to get shat on by her family and the writers. People have no idea for a plot with her, so what do they do? Have her father physically and emotionally abuse her, fart in her face for what is supposed to count as a joke and then add additional insult to it by acknowledging that they are only doing this, because they have no other idea for her and think abuse is fun. Let me just tell you from experience, it is not.
And that is essentially what Sam is: He is the Meg Griffin of Alex ze Pirate, used by his creator as the butt of very unfunny jokes, even if he does not deserve any of the things said or done to him. Want to see some examples?
 How about the description Dobson gives Sam within the introduction of one of his volumes, showing how little Dobson as the creator even cares for him.
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Why is he called an unworthy “slob” if he is the only one who actually works? Shouldn’t a slob be someone like Dobson, who can’t even take care of himself anymore? Also the confirmation that he was kidnapped at the age of 16. And as we have no clarification how much time passed between Legends Vol. 1 and anything afterwards, that means that in a way Alex is a child abuser.
And now, here some examples by the rest of the cast. Like Uncle Peggy framing him for all sorts of his perverted actions and even trying to kill him for no apparent reason?
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Alex trying to kill him with chicken pox…
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…Destroying all his worldly posessions which is hilarious because he is a poor orphan…
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…Essentially describing him as worthless because he was born with an Y-chromosome…
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… doing the kind of thing Dobson claims women would never do to man, using their sex appeal to hurt them…
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…forcing him to do some unnecessary and rather petty work for her in a physics defying manner (seriously, the way he holds the axe does not compute with how he swings it. Try it out yourself)
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… stealing his food and just being a cruel sadistic cunt to him just because it is fun.
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Which is “funny” in so far as that there are a few comics indicating she would jump his dick and ride it like a little pony if she could.
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 By the way, Talus and Atea are not better. None of them calls Alex out on her bullshit on average, Atea uses Sam to trigger traps in one story arc…
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And Talus, the closest to a “friend” he is supposed to have, once for no apparent reason made him dig through his litterbox
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And don’t get me even started when the characters decide to gang up on Sam, to the point he gets sexually harassedor is called to be less worth as a human being than the dirt you find in your belly button
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Fuck’s sake, even in fanart everyone gangs up on him, even the freaking big bad of the story everyone is supposed to hate or be afraid of
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 Bottom line, Sam is an abuse victim played for laughs in this comics. And just to clarify, I do not think this was Dobson’s intention. But if the character is undeservingly the butt of jokes for the majority of over 120 strips, it turns nasty. The way Sam is treated, I just find disgusting and indictive of just how unlikable any other character in this comic is to the point I do not want to see this being turned into a proper “franchise”. And I assume others were disgusted by it too, cause Dobson eventually decided to make a story more or less addressing the treatment Sam receives, while also attempting to prove that deep down the assholes with starring roles in this trainwrack care for him. How did this play out? Well, I am going to talk about it, so likely not well. If you want to see the details, grab yourself some popcorn and take a toilet break before we tackle part 2 of this thing.
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ziracona · 4 years
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One aspect I find fascinating about your fics is that Meg and a lot of the other characters are pop culture savvy, but also live in a universe where some of the most popular horror characters were real people. So, how do you think they would've reacted to meeting Nancy and Steve, who come from a universe where Michael, Laurie, and Freddy are all horror movie characters?
Ahhh thank you so much! I’m really glad you liked that. Pop culture was a really big element for a lot of the cast, & it is kinda funny I guess that several of them /are/ core horror pop culture.
So, this is kind of a hard one for me to answer, because I didn’t do ILM canon like DbD official canon. I do explicitly reference Stranger Things as fiction in Nearly Departed, but that was because I had not the foggiest clue DbD would /add/ a Stranger Things chapter—both because it’s super new and ongoing unlike their other horror “classic” staples, & because I wouldn’t even really call Stranger Things horror. I had been so damn careful 😂—I think the only horror film I name is Friday the 13th, which felt safe at the time because it’s got its own similar game & thus seemed unlikely to give DbD rights. If I had included Nancy & Steve, I would have gone back and replaced that segment with something similar, and just had ST exist in the same world as Halloween, NOES 2010, and Saw/all of the ILM cast. It’s the best solution, and you really don’t have to change any of the stories to do it. All that would have to change is that in this version of ST, Max wore a different Halloween costume, & three lines of dialogue are different. Fundamentally it’s exactly the same world. I know that’s maybe not the most exciting answer TuT, but it’s what I’d have done for a few reasons. Ima drop the rest under a read more bc I go way into writing & a little w horror meta tho: 💙
For one, it’s just kinda sad. It lowers the storytelling stakes because even a best-case scenario would be kind of a letdown for everyone. Not as much to gain: Not as much to lose. So, sad emotionally & kinda less motivating story-wise. Like, if any version of a happy ending even hypothetically would always mean these people who have bonded through years of self sacrifice and friendship and trauma and growth either /never/ see each other again, or go to one world together where only maybe one person would ever get to see their OG family again, and might also have to suffer with seeing their life as a film on that planet? Joked about, critiques, not taken seriously, no privacy? That’s just. It’s not a happy ending, or a satisfying one, even for the characters to /fight/ for, regardless of if they can win it or not. 
I’m aware that official DbD is multiverse, and there’s no assurance for even say Claudette and Meg being from the same world, let alone the world Halloween happens in, and was when I started writing. I just elected to ignore it. The devs even also explain a lot of the cosmetics as “alternate world versions” of the characters, instead of just fun costumes. I personally think that’s silly? And I’ve really never liked the multiverse decision. I got nothing at all against multiverse stories—they can be amazing—but you’ve got to have a reason if you do, and as far as I can tell, the only reason DbD is multiverse was so the Devs could release a bunch of classic horror characters into their game without worrying about continuity, which is lazy & not a great reason to pick multiverse. It can be great for stories, but in DbD, it would if anything just detract from the reality of the situation & the storytelling? Like, if I showed up in a hell pocket universe, and Michael Myers was there, it would be hard to take that situation entirely seriously, and it would fundamentally change how I interacted with others & they with me. If I knew his history, I’d use that to try to get through to him (what’s the worst that’ll happen? I’ll die like I do every day anyway?), but it would also be just weird & hard for people to relate. Like, if Steve Harrington has had conversations with a buddy about Laurie Strode being careless for not double-tapping her dead assailant & thinks of her as Jamie Lee Curtis & in some ways knows more about her life & family & universe than she does, but knows it all as an element of fiction? And at the same time, Kate’s seen Steve’s actor do interviews & play other roles and caught continuity errors in his /life/ while watching ST??? Hypothetically, someone /could/ unpack all that to tell a story, & maybe a fan has, but the Devs/game really, really haven’t, and in most instances, it’ll just mess up the characters’ abilities to relate to each other as human beings, as well as being miserable for the ones told they’re just characters from horror films in other people’s worlds.
The way DbD is set up really doesn’t lend itself to the kind of meta character vs humanity, role relationships between fiction & life narrative of, say, The Final Girls. Really all it does is make the world less real feeling. Less whole, more artificial. Less to be taken seriously, less belief willing to be suspended. Why are Laurie & Quentin fake in someone’s world? Does Meg not being in a story in Quentin’s universe mean she’s more real? It’s just messy. Multiverse is fine, but if you pick multiverse solely to make your job easier, at the cost of a more coherent, real, and engagable story (@ Devs >.>) that’s lazy/bad writing. I’ve read & enjoyed multiverse stories, but I’d never write DbD that way, bc I’d need a reason to, and I don’t have one. There was really no need for the devs to feel like they had to either, except pure ease w no work at all thinking about how or needing to explain anything, and I wish they hadn’t. : /
Like. Technically, Halloween & Scream shouldn’t be in the same canon—Halloween H20 plays a chunk of Scream 2 on TV, Scream 1 they’re watching Halloween 1978 & Scream 4 Sidney is asked “Who are you? Michael fucking Myers?” When she survives a murder attempt. But that’s not a big deal. It’s not a pivotal piece of world building and canon for either franchise. Scream is not fundamentally different if Randy is watching Friday the 13th or even some made up film, instead of Halloween. On top of that, a lot of horror references each other for fun and as tribute and I’m a huge nerd who adores this tradition. 😂 Scream & Halloween are so tight as franchises by the time Halloween H20 was released, that it actually uses chunks of Scream’s OST. It’s much better narratively for DbD if they’re all from one world, and in a way, it’s just a cool next step to the preexisting horror friendship metas between a lot of films. It’s really fun to figure out how they’d function together in one universe.
Anyway, that was long but I have so many thoughts on DbD & writing thank you for giving me an excuse to gush!! And thank you again for the compliment. I’m really happy you like my writing. It means a lot. 💙
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Pixar Films
I dislike Disney as an entity; it is an evil corporate conglomerate that makes focus-grouped schlock to appeal to as wide an audience as possible at the detriment of story.  That said, Pixar was once the greatest animation studio on the planet.
Keep in mind, these are movies for kids, so anything negative I say will almost certainly be rebutted with “you’re just old and you don’t like Disney because it’s popular and you’re a hipster and you’re not even the target audience anyway so shut up.”  I’m just giving my two cents, whatever that’s worth.
I’m not gonna rate them on a number scale, I’ll just tell you how much I would or would not recommend watching them.  Some are must-see-cinema, others are bland and skippable affairs that you should not feel obligated to watch just because it has the Pixar brand on it.
Let’s start from the very beginning (a very good place to start)
Toy Story (1995) Groundbreaking, the first feature length 3D animated movie, spectacular cast, great story, though a little wonky by today’s standards both in the visuals (though that’s just a product of the times) and in the characterization (Woody is kinda of a jerk in this one; he was worse during pre-production, so this is the tame version).  Pixar started off on the right foot.  Would Recommend
A Bug’s Life (1998) This has some flaws, but is still a really fun movie.  Not as good as Toy Story, but infinitely better than Dreamworks’ knockoff Antz.  Great ensemble, memorable characters and set pieces, really funny.  Would Probably Recommend
Toy Story 2 (1999) An excellent sequel, they knocked it out of the park with this one.  It’s surprisingly deep, exploring concepts like the inevitability of change; nothing lasts forever, you can’t keep kicking the can down the road forever.  The journey is finite, but that doesn’t make it worthless.  Would Definitely Recommend.
Monsters, Inc. (2001) To date, their best original movie, maybe even better than Toy Story 2.  Everything about it is perfect; John Goodman and Billy Crystal have great chemistry, Steve Buscemi plays the perfect sleaze, Boo is just adorable, it’s an excellent movie.  Would Definitely Recommend.
Finding Nemo (2003) This is a beautiful movie; they had to invent new animation techniques to make it look this good, new ways for light to bounce and diffuse through the fishy medium.  Amazing story, absolutely heart wrenching at points, hilarious at others, without feeling tonally dissonant.  Would Definitely Recommend.
The Incredibles (2004) Another home run, they’re just showing off at this point.  This is a much deeper and arguably darker story than any of their previous films.  It doesn’t pull any punches and explores adult concepts like mid-life crises, extramarital affairs, death (oh, so much death; red shirt mooks and civilians alike).  This may be my favorite (definitely top 3; I’ll expand the list below).  Would Definitely Recommend.
Cars (2006) A competent movie, though by Pixar standards it’s not quite up to snuff.  Not bad, by any means, but this one is the most blatant cash grab of them all, just a commercial for hot wheels and die-cast toys.  I have a soft spot for it because this is the one I’ve seen the most; my mom would turn on this DVD to keep my baby sisters occupied, so it was literally always playing in our house.  That said, I’m not nostalgia blind; it has good parts, but it’s not great.  Would Probably Not Recommend.
Ratatouille (2007) C’est Magnifique!  Patton Oswalt does a fantastic job, I identify with Linguini on a spiritual level, the human characters are all perfectly demented and the rats are equally so.  I love this moral; anyone can be successful, it’s about who you are not where you come from.  Funny and relatable, an all around feel-good movie.  Would Definitely Recommend.
WALL-E (2008) Top 3, hands down, this is a true work of art, a modern masterpiece.  A film mostly devoid of dialogue, it expresses so much emotion from how the characters carry themselves and react physically to their surroundings.  The body language, the color choices, the camera work (especially in the space dance sequence), just how RAW everything is, how grounded it feels, how fleshed out these little robots are..  I Cannot Recommend This Enough, Watch it Right Now. Now. Why Are You Still Reading This?  Now! Go Watch it Then Come Back.  Even if You’ve Already Seen it, Go Watch it Again.
Up (2009) Another near perfect installment under Pixar’s belt.  They’ve really nailed the art of opening scenes; Carl and Ellie’s love story moves me to tears, it is so beautifully portrayed.  Some of the characters can be a tad annoying and overly cutesy to sell merchandise, but the story never suffers from it.  The villain actually feels like a threat, there are stakes, and the image of a house sitting by a waterfall and the story connotations thereof are indescribably bittersweet.  Would Definitely Recommend
Toy Story 3 (2010) This is is sort of hit or miss.  It’s a very well made movie, and an excellent CONCLUSION to the Toy Story franchise (Conclusion: noun, the end or finish of an event or process).  I liked it, felt it really wrapped things up in a satisfactory way, but it’s not better than Toy Story 2 in my mind.  I feel like this was a turning point for Pixar; after this, they were never quite the same, never really bounced back.  May or May Not Recommend, I’m on the Fence
Cars 2 (2011) You don’t give the comedy relief their own movie.  That’s storytelling 101; the comic relief bit-character can rarely stand on their own and meaningfully carry a story, though corporations are laughing all the way to the bank as I say this because these types of movies keep making boatloads of money even if they suck.  Minions made bookoo bucks, the Pirates of the Caribbean series is still ongoing despite the loss of Bloom and Knightly (and bringing them back for the last one doesn’t really count because Depp is still the main character), Cars 2 is a corporate cash grab, and devoid of artistic merit; this is my first hard no.  Would NOT Recommend.
Brave (2012) This is not a Pixar film, it is a Disney film that they decided to make under Pixar’s name instead because they knew Pixar had enough good will and positive connotations to get people into seats regardless of story.  It’s not terrible, but it’s not great.  That’s the story of modern Disney; not terrible, not great, just okay because that’s all it needs to be.  People will watch it no matter what, so they put in the bare minimum amount of effort so nobody can say they suck at making movies again (because for the longest time in the early 2000s, they did suck; Dinosaurs, Home on the Range, Chicken Little).  Would Not Recommend.
Monsters University (2013)  Why did you do this, Pixar?  Why did you take one of your best movies and do this specifically to it? Nobody asked for this, nobody wanted this.  I can only applaud them for having integrity enough to NOT give people what they wanted; people wanted a sequel, and that would have bee terrible.  You can’t follow up on Monsters, Inc, it had a perfect ending, it was hopeful and heart warming and definitive.  A prequel is the only thing they could have made without messing up the ending of the original, so I’ll give them some credit for that.  It’s not good.  Would Not Recommend.
Inside Out (2015) Their best one since Toy Story 3.  Not terrible, I actually liked a lot of things about this one.  I like it when Pixar takes on more serious subject matter, and I thought they did a good job exploring how a kid would react to such a drastic lifestyle change.  The cast was good, the animation was fun (inside Riley’s head; outside was generic and samey).  Not bad Pixar, not bad at all.  Would Probably Recommend.
The Good Dinosaur (2015) It doesn’t matter what i think because this movie still made hundreds of millions of dollars.  Disney is losing no sleep over this.  Would NOT Recommend.
Finding Dory (2016) Again with the continuations!  This was better than Monsters University, but the original was still such a hard act to follow.  It had potential, and I liked how it respectably handled mental illness in a way that was easy for kids to understand without dumbing it down and underplaying its significance in the lives of those who it effects.  I think Marlin kinda regressed, having to relearn what he already learned in the first one. The hardest I laughed was during the climax, the truck chase scene, “It’s a Wonderful World,” just amazing.  Would Probably Not Recommend
Cars 3 (2017) I hope Disney was happy with this end product.  I hope the producers really enjoyed cashing their toy checks for this one.  I thought it was worse than Cars 2, but I can see why some people might like it more.  Either way, it’s worse than Cars 1, which wasn’t particularly great anyway.  Would NOT Recommend.
Coco (2017) I’m on the fence with this one.  It was beautifully made, and the songs made me cry, but it’s hard for me to look at this movie without judging it as a product made by a focus group of mostly white people.  By itself it’s a good movie, but when you know how the Disney sausage is made it feels disingenuous and calculated.  Might Recommend, But it Had Some Baggage
The Incredibles 2 (2018)  I am Boo Boo the Fool, Pixar suckered me and I fell for it.  I was legitimately enthusiastic for this one because the original is one of their best, and unlike Monsters, Inc it actually left room for a sequel.  It had so much potential, and big shoes to fill, and it did so in the most generic Disney way it could.  Like Brave it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either.  Middle of the road, some things were fun, others made little sense, it was “appealing” in that it literally appealed to as wide an audience as it could without alienating anyone by doing anything particularly risky.  I liked Voyd, I liked how Helen became the main character, I liked the villain twist; I did not like how easy it was to make superheroes legal again.  It felt like it was tacked on at the end, like he just says “and there we have it, they’re legal again, congratulations,” like he was announcing the winner of the Price is Right.  Would Probably Not Recommend
Toy Story 4 (2019) I want to be clear that I made a point not to pay money to see many of the previous films on this list.  If I thought they were going to suck, I waited until a friend bought it and saw it with them for free.  This one, though, I was forced to pay for because my mom insisted on seeing it in theaters as a family.  It wasn’t terrible.  Wasn’t great.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  It was the same villain again; Stinky Pete, Lotso, Gabby-Gabby... I can’t wait for the fifth one where the villain is an old toy who is mad because they weren’t played with.  Buzz was made much dumber for this one, and I felt they didn’t do enough with Forky.  I was excited to see how they handled the existential aspects of the series; what makes a toy? How are toys sentient? Why are toys sentient? In the first movie Woody implied that there were rules that toys were honor bound to follow, so what is stopping Forky from blowing their cover on accident?  None of these questions were answered.  I liked Keanu Reeves, I didn’t like Key and Peele.  Would Probably Not Recommend.
The mighty have fallen.  It’s just sad. 
”Onward” looks kinda dumb, like a kiddy version of the flop Will Smith movie “Bright.”  I have no faith in this production company anymore, but I’m sure it will make hundreds of millions of dollars; the cast are fan favorites, including Disney’s favorite topical pet celebrities (because let’s be honest, Disney basically owns Tom Holland at this point.  Whether they own Spider-Man or not, they own Tom Holland, he is theirs, his soul contractually belongs to them).
Speaking of souls, ”Soul” will probably go over well with critics, though I can’t help but notice that their main character of color is transformed into a non-human for most of the movie.  Again.  I’m also not a fan of this one-word naming convention Disney has fallen into in the last decade.  “Brave” was originally titled “the Bear and the Bow,” but one-word titles seem to test well with kids.  Hopefully this will pass, but I’m not holding my breath.
I’m swearing off Disney movies, firsthand.  I might catch them second hand, through friends or other means, but I refuse to give this corporate conglomerate one more penny.  They basically own Hollywood, so my money will eventually make my way into their pockets, I just want to put as much distance between them and myself as possible.  No more Pixar, no more Star Wars, no more Marvel, no more Disney.  I am one drop in the bucket, I will not be missed, and they will not be affected in the slightest by my absence, but I need to prove to myself that I have integrity enough not to keep funneling my hard earned cash into a trillion dollar snack company.
Disney movies are snacks, not meals.  And I’m going on a diet.
Anyway, here’s my top three:
Monsters, Inc
The Incredibles
WALL-E
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britesparc · 4 years
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Weekend Top Ten #413
Top Ten Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation
So, the Star Trek: Picard of it all. At the time of writing I’ve only seen the first episode, and although it was a touch exposition-heavy, and bounced to a slightly distracting degree from one location and event to another (France! San Francisco! Japan!), it was really very impressive. It felt utterly like a sequel to the Next Generation era, whilst also feeling like something new (my wife compared it to Blade Runner). A more contemplative sci-fi experience, which suits the legacy of the series.
I’ve talked a little about Star Trek before. The Original Series is one of those things that’s baked into popular culture at this point, like Superman and Star Wars. I’ve no idea when I first heard of it, but I don’t remember not knowing who Kirk and Spock were. But I never watched it, even in repeats (not the way I watched, say, Batman ’66). I came to Trek through the films, chiefly The One with the Whales and, later on, Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country. The first thing I remember about The Next Generation was my cousins telling me that this week the captain is taken over by the Borg; I have a funny feeling that the first episode I saw was “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”, with the whole “Resistance is futile” bit coming in the “Previously on…” section. And, to be honest, I wasn’t hooked. I didn’t really get into it until my teens, through repeats. But I saw enough for it to become my favourite of all Treks, and – like the original cast – I saw the movies and fell in love even more (Star Trek: Insurrection was one of the first films my now-wife and I saw together as a couple).
The 2009 reboot movie, and subsequent Kelvin Timeline universe, have been interesting and often entertaining, but they’ve not felt like “proper” Star Trek to me. A bit too flashy and gung-ho, more like space adventure movies; I feel like Trek should be more like Close Encounters and less like Star Wars. That’s not to say they weren’t enjoyable, just not Trek-y enough (and the less said about the second half of Into Darkness the better). I loved the original universe, with its sense of history and its forward momentum; my favourite stuff from the Kelvin ‘verse was the knowledge about life after Star Trek: Nemesis, with the destruction of Romulus and all of that. I wondered what Picard thought of it, how it played out politically, how the Federation had responded. Really, I just wanted to know what my favourite characters were up to. Was Riker still captain of the Titan? Did Crusher go back to Starfleet Medical? Was Geordi still being creepy on the holodeck? And did Data stay dead? With Discovery being another prequel series, I thought it might be a long time before we got any answers.
And so to Picard, a series I kinda thought I’d never see. Something I was very keen on was to go back and re-watch all of The Next Generation in preparation. I say “re-watch” but it turns out I’d seen a whole lot less of it than I thought, or at least had forgotten most of it. So it’s been a wonderful and rewarding experience for me, Code of Honor notwithstanding. I feel I’ve got a much better and more rounded view of the characters and the series than I ever had, which is nice. And it was fun in the first episode of Picard to spot some of the deep-cut references, from Bruce Maddox to Captain Picard Day.
Anyway, this is a really, really long preamble for me to say that this week’s Top Ten is my favourite episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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The Best of Both Worlds, Parts I & II (Season 3, Episode 26/Season 4, Episode 1): yes, both parts; it’s inseparable to me. Massive and dramatic but loads of great character stuff: Riker becoming captain, Picard as a Borg, Guinan… Star Trek’s Lord of the Rings.
The Drumhead (4-21): a brilliant examination of institutionalised prejudice, honour, justice… but really what sticks in the mind is arguably Picard’s best speech, when he explains the concept of a “drumhead trial”. Outstanding stuff from Patrick Stewart.
The Measure of a Man (2-9): another fantastic courtroom drama episode, another brilliant Stewart monologue. This also has the benefit of being an existential look at what constitutes life, and potentially seeds plot points in Star Trek: Picard.
All Good Things… (7-25): one of the greatest finales of all time, it has everything: Stewart on top form, trippy timey-wimey shenanigans, the Enterprise blowing up, Q… and an incredibly touching final scene. The sky’s the limit indeed.
Family (4-2): after the epic bombast of both Worlds, we come back down to Earth, literally, as a broken Picard recuperates at his family chateau and mends fences with his disapproving brother. An unusual but simply beautiful episode of TNG.
The Inner Light (5-25): boy, these are all Patrick Stewart showpieces aren’t they? Here Picard lives a full life in forty minutes as an alien probe shows him the death of a civilisation. Incredibly bittersweet and an episode that left subtle character ripples.
Sarek (3-23): bringing back an iconic Trek character is one thing, but giving him a tragic mental illness, one that feels very true but also suitably sci-fi, is a masterstroke. Brilliant performances from Mark Lenard and, yes, Patrick Stewart.
Chain of Command, Part II (6-11): Part I has some cool sneaky stuff and tense character work on the Enterprise, but Part II is where the meat’s at: a phenomenal Stewart cruelly tortured by a terrifying David Warner. Star Trek does 1984, superbly.
Remember Me (4-5): woah, a non-Picard-centric episode! Gates McFadden on fine form as Crusher questions her sanity on a ship with disappearing crew, the Twilight Zone premise artfully realised in a gripping bottle episode.
Q Who (2-16): arguably, this is where TNG really begins. The always delightful Q brings our heroes face to face with the franchise’s Big Bad, the Borg. Here they are unknown, terrifying, unlike anything we’ve seen before; the seeds of so many stories are sown.
This was quite a tricky list to formulate, to be honest. The top half was fairly set, but there could have been any of a dozen episodes bringing up the rear. Another bottle ep that I adore is “Disaster”, which manages to be goofy, great fun, tense, and have some superb character work. Similarly I’m surprised I didn’t find room for “Yesterday’s Enterprise”, another iconic episode and another of the timey-wimey ones I love so much. And Q only appears twice, both times in episodes that don’t really centre on his brand of off-beat humour. It’s also interesting that so many of my favourites centre around Picard, and so many of them seem to – at this stage – feature plot elements that are going to be referenced in the new series (Bruce Maddox, artificial life, Romulans, the Borg… I hope Q gets a look-in too!). Anyway, TNG is great, I’m loving Picard, and what more is there to say?
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kurt-nightcrawler · 5 years
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i’ve read a lot of people saying the didn’t like how focused the x men movies were on wolverine what’s your opinion on that?
Obviously, I’m no professional. I don’t know everything about the X-Men, but I have watched the movies and know quite a bit about them. (I need to read more comics lol) these are just my opinions, please don’t get upset over them.
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Strap in lads we have a lot to discuss
Now, obviously wolverine is important to the xmen. and hugh jackman did a very good job playing wolverine and going through all the training and body conditioning even as he got older, so kudos to him for that. ANYWAY lemme spill tea
Love triangles?
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The xmen movies are notorious for love triangles— specifically the Scott x Jean x Logan one. Obviously there’s sexual tension between them all in the comics, but that really doesn’t have to mean anything. One big reason why the last stand was so,,,, yikes... is because of said love triangle.
Sure X3 isn’t great, but if they dropped the love triangle I’m sure hey could have spun some bullshit around and made the film a bit better.
The solo movies—
Origins: what. The. Fuck.
That movie was too, a mess. Which sucks ass, because if it actually did well, there would probably had been more origin movies about other characters! (Victor and Logan, brothers???¿¿ was that a fever dream????¿ did I miss something¿?)(Did you know the script got changed so much that for some scenes the actors wouldn’t get the ‘official script’ until the night before/day of shooting said scene? yeah, hot mess) and I know this movie was made bc the whole point of Logan in the movies was “I don’t know my past! Help me find it chuck!” But idk. It was the motivator that got Logan to do stuff and stick around the xmen but they didn’t have to really hyperfixiate on it.
Wolverine 2–
Better than origins, but honestly? I thought it was meh. I watched it and I just couldn’t get through it, so I never finished it. I thought it was meh.
Logan—
Holy grail, I know, I know. It was good, heart wrenching, and pretty creative. Best out of the three solo movies.
Overall, I feel like the regular xmen movies were a tad Logan centered.
Obviously, fox saw how good/popular hugh jackman was at wolverine and they wanted to gain profit from that, that’s what any big company would have done. But also, there’s a difference between using something a lot and milking the cow until it’s dead
The new xmen trilogy cameos were dumb. There, I said it. They were dumb. Days of future past was creative and gave Logan a purpose and it was a decent movie, but we are talking about first class and apocalypse.
There was no point to have the scene where charles and erik track logan down and try to get him to join the team, only to get blown off. He wasn’t the first person they went to, and when they’d go to someone and were faced with hesitation or disinterest in the xmen, they’d still manage to convince them to join. With logan, they just left. He was like “Fuck you” and they just walked out. ??? This didn’t do anything. It didn’t add to the plot, and it wasn’t funny. I mean sure, at first it was kinda cool like, “oh! wolverine! The glue holding the xmcu together!” But looking back on it, the reason he held the xmcu together was because fox spun him that way. He didn’t need to hold the franchise together, the xmen has thousands of diverse, powerful, interesting characters— a lot which aren’t even in the movies and cartoons— to the point where if done correctly, you don’t need just one person carrying the load.
Also the xmen apocalypse cameo was stupid. I know it was supposed to like, show how the “timeline” changed since dofp, but it didn’t really do anything and most people I know are always like “I was so confused as to why he was there” and even after me explaining it they still don’t really get it. Again, they didn’t the wolverine cameo. Sure, this time he added a bit more to the plot— killing all the guards for Scott, Jean and Kurt— But they could have done something themselves without fox having to get hugh. Also the “bonding moment” where Jean “freed a piece of his mind” and Logan escaped into the snow? 1) made me hella uncomfortable because the situation had high sexual tension, and Jean is supposed to be 16-18 in xmen apocalypse. Logan is ??? (He’s like 200 years old? But he looks 45 ish so that’s still not great when having a moment with a minor/barely legal person) also Scott was right there which makes me go back to my original point about the love triangle— it’s dumb and unnecessary.
Overall, Logan’s character obviously added a lot to the xmcu— good and bad— and he will be remembered for a long time, but there were also other characters the light could have shined on for even a second, and would have been just as, if not, more interesting. If fox didn’t act like they could only use Logan, they could have had a lot more success and maybe, just maybe, not sold out to Disney.
But those are just my thoughts, what do I know? ¯\ _(ツ)_/¯
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Michael After Midnight: Dragon Age II
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Dragon Age is a series very near and dear to my heart; ever since playing Origins back when I was in college, I have been inspired by the stories, characters, and lore. Hell, Origins alone is a huge inspiration to my writing, and why wouldn’t it be? It has great locations, deep lore, a core main party without a single weak link with each and every party member you have being unique and entertaining in their own right, and an epic story with all sorts of twists and turns. And it only has two really shitty segments in the whole game! It’s truly a great first entry in a series.
But despite my love for it, I put off playing the sequel for most of the decade, only playing it for the first time this year. And why is that? Because… the critics said it was bad… yes, unfortunately in my younger years I took what critics said without any grains of salt. Dragon Age II was not very popular back around the time it came out, mostly because of its radical departure from the style of the first game, with more hack-and-slash-esque combat, a much more simple and self-contained story, and a cast of characters far more divisive than the first time around. It’s only over time that people have started to give it the respect it deserves, but much like fellow fantasy series The Legend of Zelda it comes at the cost of the current game being bashed.
So how is this red headed stepchild of a sequel, anyway? Did the critics have a point, or is this really an underrated gem? Well, I’m happy to report that this is indeed a fun and fantastic game, and I heavily regret being kept apart from the lovely Merril for so long due to poor critical reception, but there are a lot of problems too. For everything it does really well, it kind of shits the bed in other areas, and a lot of that can be contributed to a rushed development cycle that got this game churned out just over a year after the first one, leading to things like all items lacking the detailed descriptions they would get in the first game, which doesn’t sound like much, but then you get an item called something like “Uncle Horky’s Spanking Rod” as a magic staff and there’s no explanation as to why it’s called that and you have to imagine up some ludicrous backstory for it.
The lack of flavor text is a minor gripe, though, compared to the obnoxiously repetitive environments of dungeons. Reusing and flipping dungeons around and reusing assets would be one thing, but here they literally just take a map, flip it a bit with no changes to the details of the level, and just block off doors that lead to areas they don’t want you going. The worst part is on your mini map you can see the blocked pathways you likely saw ten minutes ago in another dungeon, which just makes a lot of the missions feel bland and samey. It also doesn’t help that enemy types are rather paltry, so you’ll be fighting a lot of the same mooks in the same maps over and over as you grind for items, gold, and EXP.
And then there are some of the characters. The worst of the bunch are sadly two characters who are returning from the first game and its expansion Awakening – Anders and Isabela. Isabela is arguably worse, because she honestly seems rather fun and nice at first, if overly and aggressively flirty, but as the story goes on, it’s revealed that she is actually the cause behind some of the biggest issues in the first few acts, which she neglects to tell you until it is far too late and unless you decided to maximize your friendship with her, she will run off and never return to your party. I can’t deny that this completely soured me to her, and at the end of the quanari invasion of Kirkwall I was only upset I couldn’t find her in act three and kick her ass for what she did.
Then there is Anders. Poor, poor Anders. In Awakening, he was one of the most funny and charming characters, a nice little substitute for Alistair that I actually ended up liking for than the Weenie King of Ferelden. Here though? Anders can not go one fucking conversation without bringing up how oppressed mages are and how much the templars suck and blah blah blah. The worst part is I do agree with him, but he’s just so whiny and obnoxious about it I left him behind all the time, dooming my party to having no healer even as I fought high dragons, blood mages, and Corypheus. It was worth it to not hear Anders bitching about templars and insulting Merril and Fenris. Oh, and Anders nukes the chantry and sets off a civil war. Isabela may be a nasty bitch, but Anders definitely comes out looking like a huge cunt by the game’s end.
The entire endgame is kind of an utter mess too, seeing as no matter whose side you join you end up fighting the same two bosses, with one of them just not making any sense whatsoever. And then the game just sort of ends on a very unsatisfying cliffhanger. And as much as I just complained, all of this stings because really, the rest of the game is quite good, and the story is fun if scaled back from the epic tale of Origins.
Let’s get the obvious best part out of the way: Varric. Varric is literally the best part of the entire Dragon Age franchise. He’s a snarky, wisecracking surface dwarf with no beard who writes best-selling novels, constantly has his shirt open to show off his magnificent chest hair, and has a crossbow named Bianca that he is uncomfortably attached to. He is one of the greatest characters ever created, and there was not one single moment I left him out of my party, because he is a blast to have around, and what’s more, if there’s ever a situation where the dialogue wheel pops up and you can let him talk… you’ve won. This guy can talk his way out of any situation. There’s nothing bad you can say about Varric, and he is in fact the only companion in the game I can wholeheartedly stand behind as a paragon of great writing.
I love the other characters, don’t get me wrong, but they have their issues. Aveline and Fenris in particular, with Aveline being a bit too by-the-books at times to the point where she exacerbates the quanari conflict by demanding that elves who killed a guard who raped one of their own be turned over to her after they converted to the Qun. This is all despite her knowing full well that the poor elf girl would have otherwise gotten no justice seeing as how city elves in this setting are second class citizens at best. Still, she has a rather adorkable romance questline where you hook her up with one of the guards, and she’s not a bad person, just a touch misguided at times.
That last sentence can also apply to Fenris, but on a grander scale. He’s a cool, edgy, brooding elf who absolutely fucking hates magic with every fiber of his being. He is the Anti-Anders, though he’s far less annoying about it, and it’s hard to really blame him for being bitter seeing as he was a sex slave for an evil wizard for most of his life and then just had misfortune after misfortune piled on him. I really hated how mean he was to Merril, but otherwise I warmed to him and befriended him.
And that brings us to a very special girl, Merril. Merril is an adorable, klutzy, scatterbrained blood mage elf who is hated by her people due to the lengths she is going to repair an ancient artifact to bring a piece of her people’s heritage back. While she can be a bit arrogant and stubborn about the whole thing, it’s mostly due to how no one around her seems to believe in and support her; naturally, I believed in and supported her, and while things still managed to go south, she seemed at least to learn a little bit. Overall I found her to be an absolute sweetheart, and she never left my party, much like Varric; frankly, I was going in expecting not to like her and was going to romance Fenris instead, but as it turns out Merril won my heart immediately and my Hawke went lesbian this playthrough.
On that note, as much as I like how Merril, Fenris, Isabela, and Anders can be wooed by either gender in principle, I do kind of feel making everyone bisexual with no rhyme or reason kind of cheapens things. It’s weird for me, a bisexual myself, to be saying that, but it just feels off to be able to get together with everyone, with everyone being Schrodinger’s Bisexual until a romance is initiated. It’s nowhere near as bad as Skyrim, but I just feel it kinda cheapens the romance options. I prefer Origins and Inquisition in that regard, where you don’t have all the options but you do have some unique choices. But, hey, at the end of the day I’m hardly complaining that my Lady Hawke got to polish Merril’s Eluvian, if you know what I mean.
Aside from the characters, I think the game’s real strength lies in its story, which is fitting since the entire game is framed as a story being told by no less a storyteller than our pal Varric. It has a three act structure, with each act detailing a different year in Hawke’s rise to become the Champion of the city of Kirkwall, which is a crime-ridden wretched hive of scum and villainy. The first act mainly has Hawke making a name for themselves, living in the slums with their uncle, doing dirty work to try and get back a little prestige, and recruiting all of their allies, with the act culminating with a trip to the Deep Roads, every DA fan’s favorite location. It’s a nice setup for a lot of twists and turns later in the story, and choices you make in certain dialogue options or quests actually can change what sort of quests you get later. Then again, this is Bioware, so this sort of “action have consequences” gameplay is expected.
Act two deals with just how Hawke becomes the Champion. Rich from the expedition into the Deep Roads, Hawke gets to do all sorts of fun things, such as track down a serial killer who ends up murdering their mom, being stabbed in the back by one of their friends, accidentally inciting a race war that nearly burns down the city, and having to duel the warrior leader of the qunari to the death in combat. Yeah, act two really piles it on to Hawke, but it does tie into the game’s themes of how no matter the level of success, great actions will also come with great consequences, even actions meant to better one’s lot in life, which also resonate in the personal quests of characters like Merril and Fenris, who despite ultimately achieving their goals in the third act feel hollow, lost, and even broken by the end, and that’s not even getting into what Anders does. However the conflict with the qunari is resolved, Hawke is declared the Champion, and things seem ok.
But then comes act three, and boy do things go wrong. Knight-Commander Meredith has gone cuckoo for Coco Puffs and conflict between templars and mages seems inevitable; this act is basically wrapping up hanging plot threads and companion quests until Anders finally nukes the chantry and all hell breaks loose, leading to the final battle. The ending here isn’t particularly happy, with Hawke ultimately ending up a fugitive in the epilogue, and things can get even worse if you make poor choices in Inquisition, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
Here’s the thing: everything I just said? It could be entirely different from my playthrough depending on the choices you make. Sure, some things are inevitable, like Anders committing terrorist acts, Hawke’s mother dying, and Meredith going absolutely bonkers and making you fight statues, but depending on how you play, maybe you’ll like/romance Isabela, maybe you’ll resolve things with the Arishok differently, maybe you’ll side with the templars… the story ends the same but there are so many ways to make your story different. Throw in some great lore, some fun DLC that reveals some shocking truths about the lore, and the fun albeit simplified combat, and you’ve got a game here that has a lot of replay value if only to see where all the plot threads can lead.
I definitely think this is a good game, even a great one. It has its share of problems, but so did Origins, and frankly I’d sooner put up with the backstabbing pirate hooker and the pissy mage terrorist again then go through the fucking Fade and Deep Roads one more time. If you liked the first one, definitely give this a shot; you may end up liking or disliking some of the stuff I dislike and like. That’s the fun of these Bioware games, different aspects are going to appeal to different people. The question is, do I find it better than Origins?
In some respects, yes; I much prefer the simpler combat here, and I like the more down-to-earth story in this one, but at the same time Origins just had stronger characters overall and I’m a sucker for “save the world” fantasy tales. While Origins infamously had some real mind-numbing slogs in the form of the Fade sequence and the Deep Roads, while those environments were tedious at least they weren’t boring. But on the other hand… Origins didn’t have Varric.
 It’s really a tossup, frankly, and I love both games a lot. I think each of them has their place and each of them brings something interesting to the table for the series. It’s one you really need to play for yourself to get a good grasp on; don’t be like me and put it off for nearly ten years, give it a go right after your done with the first game and see how you feel. Your experience is going to be a lot different than mine, that’s for sure.
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lokaneiscanon · 5 years
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Mighty Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder rant
Seeing Natalie Portman returning to reprise her role as Jane Foster, nevertheless wielding Mjolnir, finally getting the treatment this character deserves, was surreal to say the least. I had just started reading Lords of Midgard, the 8th issue of Mighty Thor (2015 - 2018), and had fallen in love already. But I didn't suspect at all that Taika Waititi would pull this card in Thor: Love and Thunder, considering Jane was barely mentioned in Ragnarok. The news about my favorite actress portraying one of my favorite characters coming out of the blue - you can imagine the excitement. Alas, I quickly remembered what the fandom thought of that comic (at least on tumblr) and imagined it now growing tenfold, cuz not everyone in the MCU fandom reads comics but pretty much everyone wants to watch another Thor movie. And yes, many fans weren't ready for this step, still recovering from Sam Wilson getting the shield in Endgame. Which is completely fine. We're not obligated to like everything Marvel throws in our faces, we're allowed to criticize and express our opinion on the internet or wherever. What is not okay is mindlessly hating, and even worse - using false facts to support said opinion.
I have seen some people using the argument that it is one of Marvel's worst selling comics. Which has already been proven wrong by multiple sites, including Comichron, just Google it, as I did myself. I read multiple posts, ones saying how good Jane is doing as Thor in sales, others disproving this, so I checked for myself the numbers at the site mentioned above month by month to be sure. The comic truly had its downfalls as the story progressed but in my opinion it's normal for the 1st issue to have more sales than the 21st. If we compare it to Unworthy Thor, which started running a bit later and followed the now unworthy Odinson, the data shows the latter had more sales. But then again, while Might Thor was at its 17th issue, Unworthy Thor was at its 2nd. Also, they later crossed paths, shared comic issues, it's fair to say they go hand in hand and Jason Aaron, the author, probably doesn't want us to compare them, as they complete and compliment each other's stories. Still I decided to check the comic that made Thor unworthy in the first place - Thor: God of Thunder (2012 - 2014), which seemed to me more "comparable" to Might Thor (2015 - 2018). *I keep putting the years it was being released so as to not be confused with previous Mighty Thor issues, whole Odinson was still Thor, please bear with me* So yes, the numbers were pretty close, but from what I saw, Mighty Thor had the upper hand if we compare first issue to first issue and so on. (In defense of Odinson, we have to take into account that this data is only from the US and does not include digital sales. Also, he's been around since the 50s. We could argue Jane was a breath of fresh air that some Marvel fans were indeed ready for. As a non-American, and also a person without a hint of knowledge in economics I cannot take into account inflation and whatever else has prevented or enabled Americans to get their hands on the comics or has affected prizes through the years. Bear that in mind.) Moreover, from what I saw on Comichron, both comics had much competition - God of thunder was released along with Avengers vs the X-men, the Uncanny X-men, pretty popular at the time, and the Goddess of Thunder faced Civil War 2 and DC Universe Rebirth (yes, DC is in the game too), also dominating with tremendous sales for the longest time. Yet I stick with my original statement - both Thors are valid and shouldn't be put against one another regardless of profit. Because at the end of the day what will matter the most is the story. And boy, what a story it is.
Now, I haven't read the Thor: God of Thunder, but as I was doing research I found one very well written summary and explanation of Thor's arc and his becoming unworthy and I will post a link below, because I honestly feel I wouldn't be doing this comic a favor by describing it without having read it. Which I plan to do in the future, tbh. It's a fantastic prelude to the Mighty Thor (2015 - 2018) that I've come to love. First, I'd like to ask you all to stop hating on the comic without having read it first. It doesn't make any sense and being petty for the sake of being petty won't benefit neither you, nor anyone, really. Now, about the comic itself - the art is magnificent. It's just gorgeous. Mighty Thor isn't , thank all the gods, sexualized, she is pretty buffed and generally looks like a warrior. As it is with the other characters, I dare say. The background truly captures the essence of every world Jane finds herself on. Action scenes are just the right amount and balanced with dialogue well. On a side note, it's pretty funny to read/listen to in your head the Shakespearean English cursive in which Jane talks as Thor. The plot line branches beyond this comic, starting from Thor: God of Thunder and leading to the War of Realms. And it is elaborately built in every issue. You don't know what to expect, yet it makes sense when it happens. Which leads me to the characterizations. My God, what a treat Loki is in this. Clearly, my opinion is kinda biased, since he's my favorite character, but you never know which side he's on. What his motivations are. And it just feels so... Loki. His writing is brilliant. Almost makes me forget what the MCU did to him. Also, he gets some daddy time with Laufey (not as kinky as I make it sound). Frigga/Freyja is just as awesome as in the MCU, even more, at least in the comics she calls Odin out on his shit, who btw is I guess an asshole in every version and universe. Malekith, the main villain, is unbearably despicable, I want to tear every page he is on. He really was mishandled in the Dark World, if you want some true action with the dark elves, you are welcome to enjoy. I saved the best for the end - Jane Foster/ Might Thor. Now, if you think Dr. Foster spends her time boasting about her worthiness and how Odinson is just called Thor, but she is Mighty Thor, you are horribly wrong. She just... does her job. Because the hammer chose her. Because there's no one else to do so. That's it. If you think there's some feminism involved, yes, there sure is, but it certainly isn't the reason Jane became Thor in the first place. It was not the creators going SJW because it's trendy, as such a mindset is honestly offensive to any descent creator with any self respect, but a well thought out story arc, which, I repeat, you have to read the comic to understand. Jane is not at all whiny about the hate she gets in-universe, not only from foes like Odin and who-not, but from Shield and generally people whose asses she's saving. Her having cancer is not something they pulled to provoke sympathy and make her look like a victim - on the contrary, she is a damn hero and a victor. I don't want to give out spoilers, but her being Thor is actually a giant sacrifice that no one really appreciates (both in-universe and in the fandom). She is not Thor to prove she can be, or just to prove "women can be heroes" - she doesn't have to. She is simply needed by the realms and so she does her job, even though she is called a thief, persecuted and generally hated. All that matters is that the hammer finds her worthy - the beauty and simplicity of that fact you will find out, for the last time, if you read the comic.
I'm not making you read the comic or watch Thor: Love and Thunder. I myself don't know what to make of this film yet because there's barely any information about it. I only know it will be based on the comic so that's a reason for my hopes to be up already. On the other hand, since I didn't like Loki's characterization in Ragnarok, I'm not sure what to expect from Taika. There are valid reasons to not like the idea of Jane returning to the MCU as Thor, which you are entitled to. However, reasons such as "why does everything have to be political these days" are not. Because if I had to make a list of everything politically related in the MCU, it would take forever. Steve Rogers kills nazis is the most blatant example. Make of it what you want. But I think we're far enough into the 21st century to realize art and real life are not that separable. It's undeniable that art affects people and that is to say, people everywhere. And they all have different opinions and aren't gonna like everything media is offering to them. And I wish I could simply tell you not to watch the movie but I'm a Marvel fan too and I understand that I can't just take away Thor from you because I want Mighty Thor as well. But none of us can stop Marvel from producing it. So, to quote an image I saw recently, I don't know how to explain to you that you should care about other people. Let the rest of the fandom enjoy what they want to enjoy. Yes, ik I can play around with the tags and avoid posts that unnerve me but, for example, I'm looking up Mighty Thor fanart, which obviously isn't anti-Mighty Thor, yet I get attacked in the comics for anticipating a movie that doesn't even have a full cast yet. Ik I'm not asking for too much when I wish to get the same internet experience (not only tumblr, but also insta, YouTube, Twitter, any site) as the Thor Odison fans, for example. I'm aware I cannot stop all the toxic fans and the trolls but I hope this post has inspired those of you who simply can't envision Jane as Thor, or don't like Natalie Portman in the role, or whatever eles personal preference that doesn't involve political issues and isn't harmful to the community, not to attack every post on your dash with hate. The movie is called LOVE and Thunder, for God's sake. (on a side note, is a franchise that is too afraid to show LGBT characters for more than 1 minute so as to not lose profit from China, THAT politically correct)
Anyway, that was a veeeery long rant, sorry to whoever reads this but, like, please, I put effort into this, hoping this time around I won't be the only positive reviewer of a movie, like I was with Solo: a Star Wars story (yes, I'm still bitter about this), which was boycotted for no apparent reason but was a decent film in reality, and I'm only bringing it up because it has a similar experience to Love and Thunder for getting hate before even being released. I'm not defending a billion dollar company that flopped in box office once, I'm defending the viewer's right to media they are interested in. If you don't like the character, remember - that's your opinion, not a fact that the character sucks. Kudos.
Not very easy to navigate, I advice you to do the research month by month individually for comics you'd like to compare. Also, if you happen to find more reliable data, pls say so in the comments.
Here you have the summary and explanation of the greatness of Thor: God of Thunder, Jesus, I'll go bankrupt if I buy this one too.
youtube
Yes, I want to end the sales dispute once and for all, I'm tired of seeing it on my dash. This guy probably explains it better than I did.
@awesomejenlawrence you said you'd like to read this and I delivered
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manygalaxiesinone · 5 years
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You’re worrying me Nippon Icchi!
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((There’s no denying that I have a huge fondness for Nippon Icchi Software, namely for its hit series, Disgaea. I’ve been a fan of them for a long time now.
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Heck, I just recently started playing Liar Princess and the Blind Prince. It’s a charming little puzzle game with animation style that I believe to be Tim Burton-esque or at least it reminds me of don’t starve.
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I’m also interested in the game Jim Sterling played before. You know, the one with all the jewels in it. What was it called again? Anyways, I have posted before about my concerns I had for the company around the time they announced Disgaea 6. And now that time has passed, things are shifting from just concerning to downright scary.
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As some of you may know, NIS released a trailer for Disgaea 4 Complete+. Yeah, looks like Disgaea 4 is getting a Switch port.
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I feel bad for all the Disgaea 3 fans out there since at least us Disgaea 2 fanatics have a PC port to go with. That being said, that’s not my only problem with it. First of all, I’m not even sure what the whole “+” thing is about anyway.
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And it’s not like I can go to the trailer to really find out since the trailer itself is just the Disgaea 4 intro with words edited into it. No gameplay that showcases any extra features, nothing. Like with the Disgaea 1 Complete port, I’m not against the idea of anyone just wanted to get the game so they can play it on a different console, especially if they don’t have access to other consoles the game may be available on, but I personally don’t really see much of a reason to get it for myself since I have the Vita port and I’m not sure what’s going to be different between the two. Are there going to be some extra story, more unlockable characters that weren’t available before? According to my brother, there’s just going to be some extra functionality to work with to give players a better experience, but until I know exactly what that is, I’m not sold on this myself. Next I’ll talk about the reason that my brother told me what he believes might be the case for this port.
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Apparently, NIS has been having financial troubles lately and this game might help make things more stable for them. Funny enough, I think that’s the same reason someone else told me for when Atlus released...you know,
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THAT. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but one could argue that Atlus had the better idea since while it is kinda milking off a popular franchise, they are dipping their toes into a different genre and trying to broaden the audience with a different experience, whereas with the Disgaea 4 port might be limited down to like I said, anyone that couldn’t already play the game before, but were interested or those who really REALLY like Disgaea 4.
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Kinda like who someone might love Skyrim to the point where they’re buying at least one copy of the game for every system it’s available on!
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Now this worries me because of two reasons.
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First, I still want my Disgaea 2 sequel! I was so excited when NIS announced that if Disgaea D2 did well, they would do the same for other Disgaea titles, and I feel that Disgaea 2 is the most deserving of the series to have one (with 3 being a close second now just so it can get some attention). Unfortunately at this rate, the chances of it ever happening are growing slimmer and slimmer and that sucks! I really want to see Adell finally learning about his parents and possibly the Netherworld they came from as well as what happened with Hanako, Yukimaru, Tink, and others! There’s so much potential with continuing off from Disgaea 2′s standpoint that it frustrates me seeing how unlikely it may ever happen now.
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Second, from the looks of things, NIS might be going down the same route as Atlus. Despite still being able to continue making games, they may have to sell the company in order to keep things afloat at some point.
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While I do find it possibly awesome and ironic if they end up being bought out by either Nintendo or Sega (especially Sega at that). I do keep in mind that some other company might be interested in getting them as well.
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Imagine if they were bought out by a company like EA. That’ll spell disaster for everyone! Next thing you know, they’ll announce a new Soul Nomad or La Pucelle game being released for mobile phones with lootboxes shoved up its ass!
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Not to mention the possibility of no one buying them out in which case they’ll soon be shut down for good, and this is one of those companies where I really hope that doesn’t happen to. NIS may not have a flawless track record, but it’s a company I do support. Well, hopefully things aren’t set in stone yet. They may just be on a path going downhill, but there may still be a chance for them to bounce back. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see how things go.
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surprisebitch · 6 years
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What are your anime suggestions, I’ve been trying to get into it but I don’t really know what to watch
Hey there! and yeeesss, i’m so glad you’re gonna give anime a try! there are so many good stories and plots in anime which dont exist in western media so it’s a great mode of entertainment! so as for recs, lemme copy and paste my previous answer to this similar question and update it to answer yours!
As for starter anime, I think these are good ones you can start with and have received widespread acclaim:
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Hunter X Hunter
Gakuen Babysitters (feel good anime that has babies!!)
Yuri! On Ice (gay anime)
Madoka Magica
Cowboy Bebop
—–
You can keep track of what I watch and watched through following my MyAnimeList account:
https://myanimelist.net/profile/carlowesome
I do my best to update that one. It’s kinda like an active anime journal where you can document the anime you watch, plan to watch, and completed but here are individual links for each
watched - https://myanimelist.net/animelist/carlowesome?status=2 
watching - https://myanimelist.net/animelist/carlowesome?status=1 
to watch - https://myanimelist.net/animelist/carlowesome?status=6
If you need to read like some opinions about all the anime I watch and have watched then click ‘Read More’. I put a mini paragraph next to each anime and also categorize them. However, i don’t want to overwhelm you too much but I’ll just put this down for your reference anyway.
[last updated: 28 Apr 2018]
Currently watching:
Neon Genesis Evangelion - i admit it has a slow buildup but be patient because you will really find it intense and see how it’s not your typical mecca anime. so far, i think it seems to be a deconstruction of the genre and has alot of psychological themes
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - i dont know why my memory about this anime is somehow a blur. i’m sure i finished it but also not so i’m rewatching it and honestly i think this is a good starter anime. i know many people who do not normally watch anime and watched this
Boku no Hero Academia - it’s a recent anime and it’s really good! i think it’s on course to becoming a really big anime that will last many seasons at this rate. the story is about a world where majority of the inhabitants are heroes cause they have quirks (powers).. and the premise is that the main character doesnt have one but he wants to be a hero so watch and see how the story unfolds
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures (currently on Stardust Crusaders) - macho anime with an excellent plot! the guys are hot haha and many of the memes are in japanese so watch the original subbed but if you prefer not to read, the dub isnt bad. it’s very memey but the story is really entertaining and has unpredictable moments
One Punch Man - a parody of a superhero anime. tbh this isnt really binge-watch material cause it’s like a running gag and the story unfolds after episode 5 so i’ve just been watching this during my cardio days in the gym. but it’s a parody of a superhero anime
Hunter X Hunter - this anime is popular and it’s about hunters. so the beginning has the protagonist wanting to be a hunter and then he meets some fellow hunters along the way. it’s one of the highest rated anime in MyAnimeList (the RottenTomatoes equivalent of the anime world) so yeah check this out!
Tokyo Ghoul - the opening song is what captivated me to watch this tbh. although i heard the manga is better. it’s interesting though
Anime currently airing and I’m caught up on (just waiting for the next season to air)
Gakuen Babysitters - super feel good anime about babies!!!!! 
Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun - super funny anime. if you need a laugh, this will really lift you up. i watched the first two episodes in sub and dub back to back.. and i can vouch that the voice actors for the English dub are excellent. it’s actually even funnier.. but if you prefer subs, then that’s fine. it’s just the lines are more humorous, expressive and have more variety :) Nozaki’s voice is also attractive in the dub.. it’s still very Nozaki imo. this anime pokes fun at the shoujo manga yet still has romantic elements. it’s mostly comedy though 
Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan - it’s the Game of Thrones of anime imo.. like it’s so GOOD.. it will just make you gag after every episode!!! it’s so intense and there are really badass characters. and the plot is really brilliant. like if you think season 1 was like WHAT THE FUCkk.. wait til season 2! this anime is crazy and exciting. not for the faint-hearted tbh cause it can be graphic and disturbing (also dont get attached. they could die!) but yeah, this anime is popular true and some say it’s overrated but that’s because it really deserves all the recognition and success it has for its amazing plot
Anime watched/finished:
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (Battle Tendency) - SONO CHI NO SADAMEEE JOOOOOOJOOOOOOOOOOOOOO the type of anime that’ll get you wanting to go to the gym and lift. that being said, it has a really amazing story
Kimi no Na Wa - universally lauded and recently released! it’s the best film released in 2016 imo. i swear it’s really next level storytelling
Rurouni Kenshin - i think i watched this anime twice/thrice.. It’s so suspenseful. it’s about samurais. and this anime made me interested about Japan’s history. it’s kind of a period drama with amazing fight sequences. and it’s critically acclaimed. it’s my father’s all-time favourite anime
Rurouni Kenshin OVA - it’s a prequel. also more violent and tragic than its anime counterpart.. like it’s really different from the series. but it’s so good. you’ll find out how Kenshin got his iconic X mark from here!)
Ghost Stories - THE DUB IS A MASTERPIECE! THE SUBBED IS SHIT. TRUST ME. the DUB is the popular one too cause it’s the superiour version. You really have to see this one. the anime bombed in Japan so the english dubbers got all the rights for the anime and they gave the go signal for the dubbers to do whatever the fuck they want and the end result is fucking hilarious. it shits on the Scary Movie Franchise tbh
Puella Magi Madoka Magica - i swear do not be deceived.. it is a really intense and surprisingly dark anime with excellent plot twists
Jigoku Shoujo / Hell Girl - angst, tragedy, philosophical anime analysing humanity’s hatred, need for vengeance, and suffering. Futakomori or the 2nd season is my favourite but it’s worth finishing the entire series. 3rd season is very painful to watch though and you dont have to watch that one tbh if you dont want to lol
Love Live! School Idol Project - i honestly just watched this like out of curiosity and just for kicks. i was not expecting to love it but after episode 3, i was like wait??? wasnt this anime supposed to be fun?? why am i crying?? so yeah, it’s super good, touching, entertaining and sweet! and the songs are really catchy and good.. TBH this anime is like so gay since there are no men (except Honoka’s dad) so yeah it passes the Bechdel Test with perfect score
Love Live! Movie - the conclusion to the anime!
Love Live! Sunshine - i watched this like a few months after finishing the original series cause i loved the original girls and i was worried i wont like these girls.. but honestly, you will appreciate them. and it has more gay subtext. btw tell me who your fave girls/best girls are after watching Love Live and Sunshine. my best girls are Umi Sonoda and Kanan Matsuura :>
Yu Yu Hakusho - occult, spirit world, ghosts, and fighting. you most probably have heard of this
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters - 1st series starring Yugi is iconic. it might seem juvenile though so i’m not sure if you will like it but the anime is really good if you love the card games
Digimon - can be very intense! better than Pokemon imo
Cardcaptor Sakura - this is also suspenseful. like the premise is essentially that Sakura has to catch all the “monsters” that were freed from this book. and it’s up to her to “capture” them and put into cards. magic, fantasy, and beautiful animation
Ranma ½ - this was so funny but the ending was disappointing cause it got cancelled apparently.. i really hope this will go out of limbo and give us a proper ending like InuYasha did but i doubt it
Danganronpa (murder plot twists, intense and despair-filled storyline. click this to know more about the premise. it’s like Battle Royale meets CSI meets How To Get Away With Murder. btw i highly suggest you play this game (it’s available on Steam) instead of watching the poorly condensed anime. so buy it on steam or you can download it how you like cause it’s one of the best games ever. and if you plan on watching this, there is no Danganronpa 2 anime so yeah just play the first game tbh. here’s a trailer of the game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwJeZPMhdUk. if ya dont wanna play the games then you can watch the anime. and after watching this, here’s a link of the playthrough of the 2nd game. it’s super fun, full of plot twists, and interactive) 
Yuri On Ice - it’s a really cute gay anime. people will argue it isnt and its queerbait but i’m gay and alot of the things which happen are too much for just bros to do so yeah, i believe it’s canon gay or mlm. and i enjoyed it so you watch it and be the judge
Blood+ - vampires and sword fighting
Ghost In The Shell - it’s a sci-fi movie
Yakitate Japan - baking and cooking!
Getbackers - still up to debate if the duo are gay but if you google art of them, there have been official art released and it’s so gay lol. but yeah it’s shonen genre and it’s not canon gay
Cowboy Bebop - a CLASSIC. the dub is great!!
I don’t remember if i finished these but I watched a lot of episodes enough to recommend it and will rewatch them soon to relieve memories. I’m pretty sure I tuned in though and watched like 80%:
Fushigi Yuugi (i think this is shoujo but it has a nice adventure storyline)
Gundam series (i think i finished the first Gundam and the second)
Tsubasa Chronicles (it’s like a spin-off of Cardcaptor Sakura but they’re like all grown up and the plot is different)
Naruto
One Piece (i watched like the first four seasons)
Bleach (i remembered watching until episode 40 omg)
Great Teacher Onizuka (this is so funny tbh. i think i watched almost all of it)
Studio Ghibli films I watched:
Spirited Away
The Wind Rises
Ponyo
Tales from Earthsea
Anime I plan to watch (many suggested this to me and i plan on watching them so i’ll write them down here) :
Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice)
Anohana The Flower We Saw That Day
Re: Zero
Your Lie in April
Shin sekai Yori
Gintama
More of Makoto Shinkai’s movies like 5 centimetres per second, etc.)
More Ghibli films too
Final Fantasy XV: Kingsglaive (after i finish FFXV game im watching this one)
Persona 4
Here you go!!!! I know it’s an extensive list. I’ll probably make this a masterpost of anime recs and will update this list, and add more soon. If you have any questions or anything, don’t be shy to message me! :)
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spaceorphan18 · 6 years
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MCU Rewatch: Iron Man
This is going to be a fascinating experiment, that’s for sure.  
The interesting thing, to me, is that there are a couple of ways you can look at Iron Man.  On one hand - it’s on the tail end of old school (god - am I really calling superhero films of the 00s old school?) comic book films.  The X-Men and Spider-Man trio had wrapped up at this point.  Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight came out right at this time - and comic book films felt either super gritty or super tired.  Looking at what’s around it - Iron Man feels like a breath of fresh air.  It’s fun, funny, tense, heartwarming, action-packed, and just generally a good film.  No, the villain isn’t that great - I couldn’t even tell you his name and I just watched it (though I can tell you Jeff Bridges was the actor).  But Tony Stark is a complex character who does have a brilliant sense of charisma about him - and maybe that’s why I’ve always gravitated to Marvel films.  Because it’s not about the dark complexity of its psychopathic villain (as compelling as that can be) but it’s about the growth of the character within the film.  
It’s interesting to me that this is contemporaries with the Nolan Batman trio -- because Iron Man is, essentially, Marvel’s answer to Batman.  And, yeah, I don’t really care that Batman will always be the more popular character.  He’s too dark and brooding for me.  Iron Man might be cut from the same cloth (super genius, billionaire, with parents who died early on) -- but man is he a romp.  And there’s a great character arc within this movie, that feels much more human and flawed than the stoic and often cold Batman. 
Anyway, on the other -- you have the beginning of this huge and layered universe.  Of course - they didn’t fully know what it was going to be -- even with the (exciting) hints of SHIELD and Nick Fury popping up at the end, they must have had a vague plan if Iron Man did well at the box office, this is still very much a stand alone movie.  That said -- and maybe this is hindsight speaking -- this film feels like the first chapter of something much bigger.  And that’s the really cool thing about Marvel films -- they all build off each other, and this movie works fantastically as its foundation.  
(Thinking a lot of the MCU in general this past week -- I’ve come to realize that MCU works more like a TV series than a movie franchise -- which I think is awesomely cool. And I kind of hope they are able to keep that feeling going.)  
The original Iron Man feels simplistic, in a way, especially when looked at against the complex web that is Infinity War.  And in many ways - it has more in common with its predecessors (the early X-Men and Spider-Man films respectively) than it does with the later Marvel movies.  It’s an obligatory origin movie - its plot almost standard issue.  But what makes it stand out is how it uses what we’ve come to expect about comic book movies and plays with it.  
The strongest thing it has is a sense of humor, something the Marvel movies are really going to end up being known for.  Snarky banter, great one-liners, unexpected beats of comedy that, yes, lighten the mood -- though I’ll argue that it doesn’t detract from the darker aspects of the story or the tension that is built throughout the film.  
The other thing that stands out to me is how far we’ve come with special effects - and that it’s not necessarily a bad thing that we weren’t as advanced in 2008.  Iron Man’s tech is gonna get extreme (and extremely CGI) in a few years, so it’s nice to have a film that has a ‘real’ feeling to it.  Yeah, there was a lot of CGI here, too, but there were also some practical elements that grounded the movie, too.  I’m not a huge action person (yeah, why am I watching these again?) but the thing I appreciate is that - yes, there are some great action sequences in this film -- but they never outshine the story.  And the story is what matters at most.  
So.  Tony Stark.  Robert Downy Jr, as everyone says for a reason, was born for this role.  On paper, he could be incredibly unlikable -- but RDJ is able to masterfully pull off a sympathetic character without betraying the fact that this guy is, often times, a real asshole.  And it’s funny - we’ve come so far with Iron Man (and yes, I’ve heard the criticisms that they keep playing the reset button) but I’ll argue that -- he has grown in a lot of ways over the years.  Tony Stark is stumbling in every since of the world.  And while he’s in his 40s in this movie, I’d say he was emotionally stunted keeping him mentally around a wild child of 22.  And here (and of course over the years) he’s forced to grow into the godfather of the Marvel universe that he becomes.  
I mean - at the end of the movie, he’s starting to figure things out.  He and Pepper don’t have that grand sweeping kiss - but it’s slowly coming.  He and Rhodey aren’t bffs /yet/.  Tony Stark still has a long way to go before he can be apart of the Avengers - work with them and lead them, before he can have deep friendship with Steve Rogers that hurts when it’s broken, before he can mentor a young Peter Parker who will look up at him like a surrogate father.  So yeah - there is a complete emotional arc here - but it’s just the beginning.  
Meanwhile (and man does this movie benefit from not having a ton of cast members)...  Pepper Potts.  I still kinda wish we knew more about her - like, how did she get that job in the first place? But, and I can’t believe this is going to be written down - Gwyneth Paltrow does a really good job here.  (Huh - maybe there was a time she could act.)  And the banter between Pepper and Tony is incredibly engaging.  I actually like the dynamic here - and really, I’m fine the little bits we get with her over the years since it’s never a central plot.  But I also appreciate that it’s not about two hot people just finding each other attractive - but about two people who’ve essentially been together for a long time learning how to navigate real romantic feelings along with all the other ways they’ve bonded.  It’s a neat twist on an otherwise cliche thing.  
(And anyone else notice that Marvel, the longer it goes on, the more it kind of strays away from that normal romance narrative?) 
Then there’s Rhodey.  Hmm.  I think, tbh, I’m just used to Don Cheadle and his interpretation.  Terrance Howard’s Rhodey is a lot more of a straight man to RDJ’s Tony.  And I’m not really sure that works for me.  Are they friends? (I mean they learn to be) Does Rhodey feel like he’s just dealing with Tony and is sometimes amused? Howard feels slightly wooden here.  (Oops, sorry, am I allowed to feel that?) 
And then there’s Jarvis and all the tech pieces with personalities of their own.  Kinda love this twist on the whole Alfred/Butler thing.  Adds another layer of fun to it all.  
As I stated above -- Jeff Bridges’s character (who I did go look up  - Obadiah Zane?? Really?? Let’s just go with Iron Monger) is perhaps the weakest link.  The fight stuff is cool, and god, can we talk about Tony having his own surrogate parent turn villain on him -- I mean, that puts a new spin on his relationship with Spidey -- but he’s kinda forgettable after this movie -- which is fine.  It’s not about the villains anyway.  
Some smaller notes: 
Can we talk about the German doctor dying in Tony’s arms - and this is the first time he really understands human compassion? 
I realize this stemmed from the 60s - but can we talk about Iron Man and the political commentary about weapons of mass destruction? 
I’m not usually into this sort of thing - but I kind of liked the evolution of Tony’s suit throughout the film.  The suit gets an arc, too! 
The room where Tony and Pepper had their dance scene is the same room that will be used for Glee years (and years) later -- it’s used as the NYADA hall where they all sing their finals and where one Kurt Hummel will sing about Being Alive.  
Final thoughts: This movie holds up for being ten years old! It’s not perfect by any means, and a bit formulaic, but it’s still a lot of fun. 
Infinity Stones watch: Yeah - they’re not planting seeds of /that/ yet.  But I do kind of want to see if I can keep track of them.  
After the Credits: Nick Fury shows up and the fanboys lose their shit.  It’s a good thing this movie did well.  ;) 
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