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liesoverthec · 3 years

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I don't know if you've paid any attention to this but do you know the official ages of the main characters? You've always paid attention to little details so i feel like you'd be the right person to ask this to.

Hi anon! ❤️ I’m SO SO sorry this took so long!

I appreciate you thinking of me for this - I have in fact paid attention to this 😂 I know about the general age of some characters, and I know within a year of others (depending on when their birthday is they may have aged up already!)

Bobby - 54. He says in the pilot that he’s 50 years old, and so you figure he’s at least 54 by now, if not 55 if his birthday was between January (when the pilot aired) and now!

Athena - mid 50s. In Athena Begins, I feel like it’s safe to assume she’s around 22 or 23, since she’s in law school but not close to finishing (and I really don’t think she took a gap year), and that was 1989, so she was *probably* born around 1966-67. Which would put her around 54-55 right now, which fits with how old Bobby is!

Hen - 41. She says in Future Tense that she joined med school at 40 (if she’s not rounding for dramatics). Since she got into med school last year in the s3 finale, I’d say 41 now. If she did just say 40 bc it was easy, I’d still say she’s between 39-42 now, bc she’d have to be close in age to 40 to round so automatically like that imo. But at this point I’m going with a simple 41.

Chim - Late 30s to early, early 40s. Chim is one of the two I really don’t have a good idea on. Chimney Begins is set in 2005, and he’s at least 21, since we see him drinking beer in that episode. So he was born sometime before 1984, which would make him 36 right now if he was exactly 21 then, but I think he’s a little older than that, since he’s been working in the bar for a while before the fire. I can’t remember any other details that would give him a more specific age, so if someone does and can provide them I would love to add them! Personally I’d say 39-40, bc I think he’s a little older than Maddie but not by much. I can say however that he has a March birthday! EDIT - thanks to the wonderful @shannon-diaz who remembered that we see Chim’s birthday on his license in 2x10 (you can see the pic provided in the notes!) HOWEVER! I want to make a disclaimer (which I would like to emphasize is not me trying to argue against the lovely Ann at all, she’s absolutely right about this, I just wanna say this) - they have already been changing Chim’s birthday since then, since the license says 10/20/1977 and they’ve since moved his birthday to March. So it’s absolutely possible that they’ve decided to change his age as well. BUT! At the point this was shown, they’d already committed to Madney becoming a thing, so it’s likely they thought about how old Maddie and Chim were in relation to one another. What I don’t know is if they thought about Maddie’s age before then, or if they put it off until they had to during the Daniel arc. All of this is to say - right now, as of end of s4, the best info we have says Chim is 44. But I could also absolutely see the writers pulling a switcharoo on the poor props crew and changing his age, since they’ve already discarded the birth date. So I say, go forth and know that Chim is 44! But also please don’t get mad at me if that information changes in the future 😂

Buck - 29. During the entire Buck Begins arc, they say multiple times that the family has been hiding a secret from him for 29 years, etc etc. In the Valentine’s Day ep in s1, Abby says Buck is 26. And in Kids Today (the opener to s3) Maddie specifically mentions he’s 28. So I’m most sure about Buck, out of everyone, esp since Oliver himself is 29. I think he’s the character where they’re sticking closest to the actor’s actual age.

Maddie - around 37. We know Maddie was 9 when Daniel died (Chim says she made the promise to not talk about Daniel when she was 9). Since Daniel died a little over a year after Buck was born, that puts Maddie around 8 at the time Buck was born, making her 37 to Buck’s 29 as of right now. Also, in ep 4 of s4, her mom mentions her being a “high risk pregnancy” since she’s over 35, but specifically does not say she’s over 40. So 37 or 38 for her. (Side note - Maddie is older than Daniel by between 1.5 to 2 years, since she says Daniel died when he was 7.) like I said, I’m most positive about Buck’s age but Maddie’s is a close second.

Eddie - early 30s? I also have no idea about him. My personal best guess would be 33, since that’s how old Ryan Guzman is now, and they’ve never in my recollection said anything to indicate a different age for him! (Same thing here as goes for Chim - if anyone can remember something let me know!) Note - I’ve been thinking on this a while and I actually feel pretty good about 31-33. We know Chris was born in 2011, so he’s turning 10 sometime soon, and that would make Eddie somewhere between 21-23 when he was born, which I feel fits with a timeline of him taking time to work with his dad after high school, and then joining the army, doing basic, and getting deployed all in time to get leave for Christopher’s birth.

And there’s all 7 mains! I’m going to link this in a bullet point in the next character details post, so if anyone wants to add information for Chim or Eddie (preferably with an episode number and/or scene so that I can verify it), I’ll edit this post and give you credit, so that way when I link this post, people will be able to see it all in one place, and the edits w credit will be in the tag for everyone to see!

Also all of these ages are as of right now, end of s4. If you want to write future fic or fic for a past season you’ll want to add or subtract years accordingly!

Thanks for the question, anon - putting together the “age puzzle” is like my favorite kind of challenge!

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

#b discusses character details #911 fox #asked and answered #anon answer time #bobby nash #athena grant #hen wilson #chimney han #maddie buckley #evan buckley#eddie diaz #I’m p sure there isn’t anything else to add to Chim or eddie #and honestly w any of them #I wouldn’t put it past the show to suddenly change their ages to be whatever the writers need #so I’m gonna clarify #THESE ARE THEIR AGES AS FAR AS I KNOW AS OF RN JUNE 5 2021 #if they change them in the future I’m sorry I was just going off the info I had right here right now #anyways lots of love!

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11byers · 3 years

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another unpopular opinion??? haven't really seen anyone talk about this so i literally have no idea if people feel the same way, but the way they handled el's character in st3 was kinda trash.

el's taken accountability during every major apology directed towards her except for when mike apologized to her. like she really wasn't held accountable in this season at all, and maybe the root cause is forced mileven drama, but yah it honestly takes a toll on her character.

literally in st1, lucas apologizes to el for thinking she ever had ill intentions, and el apologizes for lying to them. cute scene, both of them take accountability for their actions, and it feels like character growth.

st2, when el and hopper have their lil car scene, el is the first to take accountability, saying she shouldn't have left, and hopper apologizes for not being there for her. she acknowledges they've both been "stupid" and, like. she's fully aware of her mistakes and her actions. good, emotional, vulnerable scene.

but in st3????????? el somehow dodges all instances where she should've been held accountable. she's mad at mike for lying to her even tho they've both been lying to the ENTIRE PARTY the whole damn summer. and yet mike is crucified after being forced to lie and the whole thing just comes off as super hypocritical. el's been shown to break her whole "friends don't lie" rule before, but it still makes the whole situation and the mileven breakup feel legitimately dumb. it's as if "friends don't lie" has just........ lost all its meaning and is only brought up by el when she's inconvenienced. (even lucas doesn't seem to care that much, bc even tho he complained about mileven lying all summer and even questioned why mike would lie to el, he still went along when mike continued to lie. sucks.)

AND THEN when mike is genuinely upset about el spying on him and lucas, she literally. doesn't care 🙃

this could've been a great opportunity for el to learn boundaries, but no, she doesn't need to learn not to spy on people, bc she makes her OWN rules. (i also wanna emphasize the fact that these are mike's rules; these are boundaries that he's set, boundaries he's clearly communicated to her sometime during their relationship, which she doesn't even take into account after she's spied on him and lucas). but like, great for her!!!! let her make decisions for herself........ but noooot like this. not in a situation where it could've easily been read as el being in the wrong, and it should've been read like that, but it's wasn't. like dang, it's not like mike and el can come to a mutual understanding and set boundaries together like a functional couple would - but they're KIDS for gods sake, ofc they're not gonna be a functional couple…….. not like this could've been something el could apply to OUTSIDE OF ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS-

also i'm not gonna say hopper was completely wrong for at least being concerned about el's relationship w mike, but he definitely didn't do the right thing when he made mike lie. so whyyyyyyyy did el suddenly turn around and say hopper might've been RIGHT to do what he did???? i understand el having doubts about her relationship w mike after spying on them (even tho it wasn't made clear she even understood all the sexist comments in the moment), but hopper is still the one that made mike lie, and el just completely overlooks that. for literally w h a t r e a s o n. it just feels super weird to have her turn around and basically be like "the other guy who's also stunting my personal growth was right to meddle in our relationship which i completely blamed you for!!!!" like honey no, they're both doing a disservice to you, pls 🙏🏽

and yah mike's apology to el was whatever, but el not fully aware that her actions genuinely upset mike, or just ultimately not giving a shit??????? painful, that's not the el ik, and before anyone tries to blame max, el is still fully capable of realizing her mistakes as she's done so in prior seasons, and that was the entire point of this post. this is not an invitation for max slander, thank you and goodnight.

#although im not surprised bc the duffers kinda support stalking????#like they still portray stalking as STALKING but they like. Forgive it #it's /endearing/ when a character stalks another bc........... love JFDLJFSDJSLG #like its wrong and discouraged but its ENDEARING i hate it lol #el hopper #stranger things #if anybody has other thoughts i wanna hear themmmmm #op tag

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morvantmortuary · 2 years

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so I didn’t Go Here but I’ve been watching the fallout of a Particular Show’s series finale -

(like so)

and so Apropos of Nothing, I would just like to reiterate that we are absolutely not about killing off our cursed necromancers at the last minute here. That is a thing I refuse to do, for this exact reason. In my experience and believe me there have been multiple, it’s shitty, it leaves the story feeling frustratingly pointless, and I refuse to leave anyone who takes the precious and valuable time out of their day to read my work and get invested in the Morvants afraid that things are going to go more south for them just when a glimmer of happiness with their beloved finally seems within reach!!

Yes, they’ve definitely 100% murdered people, murdered innocent people, desecrated corpses, committed multiple counts of arson, consorted with demonic rabble of all sorts, undertaken acts of permanently altering dark magic, repeatedly broken and entered/stalked/hacked the digital devices of their loved ones, probably committed multiple acts of larceny at varying levels, impersonated a member of the clergy more than once, double parked, jaywalked all over the damn town, and definitely probably committed some sort of tax fraud, and I feel absolutely comfortable stating that I am never ever going to kill them off at the last minute just to give any reader the feeling of a gut punch or for shock value or to prove a point about how If You Don’t Repent You Must Die etc. etc. etc.

And I don’t even feel like that’s tilting my hand or spoiling anything about future arcs/the manuscript version, tbh, bc that’s exactly the reason I started writing this lot to begin with!! Not only am I a dyed-in-the-wool book!Clannibal and you can fight me about it you will lose, I believe that should someone in fiction want to fall in love with the shadowy being of questionable origin haunting their small town who definitely has a body count, they should be able to find love and not have to suffer for it at the end bc I Saw Goody Proctor Taking a Dude’s Skin Off. That is almost the entire point of it being fictional!! We do not have to prove a point of “oh welp you’re evil no matter what made you that way to begin with so into the Jaws of Death you go” - we can do the exact opposite, here, because believe me when I say nobody is actually getting murdered or used for demon chow!! I would know, I checked!!!

Anyway. I just feel super bad for the fandom (and secretly kind of glad I managed to dodge that particular bullet through constant procrastination), because I know just how cheap it feels for your dark beloved to finally get some chance of hope and closure, only to have that get snatched away at the last second by a shitty writing decision. So I just wanted to re-emphasize my promise that here, in all of my stories, shit can get bad and it can get dark but you are not going to lose your Morvant at the end of it. I still believe in the magic of spooky season all year round. 🖤

(…That’s not to say they won’t come out of things slightly… changed in odd ways or a bit worse for wear now and then, but that’s part of the fun, isn’t it? :3c)

anyway, just wanted to put that out there 👻🖤 carry on~

#and then rarae says #morvant mortuary #monsterkisser fics #‘but real life doesn’t always have happy endings—‘ excuse me but Rora’s a revenant Maxi’s eyes are red and Magnolia is a skeletal cat #Do I seem anywhere within the realm of reality here #…I can’t think of anything truly unbelievable about Hex besides being a medium but even that one I’m like ‘¯\_(ツ)_/¯ what do I know’

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springday-aus · 3 years

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Hockey Player!AU with Mark

moodboard link

Group: NCT

Member: Mark Lee

Genre: fluff, romance

Additionally: college!au

Type: Bulletpoint AU

Word Count: approx. 2.3k

→ Inspired by NCT U’s 90s Love!

I’m gonna be completely honest: I don’t know shit about hockey so apologizes in advance

Mark is a left-winger for the team

he plays for his university’s team and they’re actually pretty good

within the three-ish years that he’s been on the team, they’ve won a couple of championships

it’s not really hard considering that Mark takes everything too seriously

(at least that’s what Donghyuk says during practice all the time)

Johnny somewhere: “okay Mark”

Yuta: “let’s not overreact Mark”

Taeyong: “leave my son alone”

Mark: “I’m a grown adult…”

Taeyong: “shhh”

since he used to play for his team back in hometown, he naturally joined the university’s team

he was a natural and everyone easily took a liking to him

especially since now they have someone to make fun of constantly

by they, I literally mean just Donghyuk

I’m just kidding—it’s all in good fun because it just shows how close they are

Mark is just that one college kid that’s still cute even when he’s not a freshman anymore

the other team members still treat him like the youngest even though YangYang and Sungchan are like

👁👄👁 hello ?

speaking of which, their teamwork is incredible and it shows through their games

and, on the rare occasions that they don’t win, they still have dinner together afterwards

well, it’s less of dinner and more of drinks and strategizing what went wrong—which are kind of depressing but it’s fine

at least that’s what Sicheng says as captain, but it sounds like denial

anyways, even though Ten is the co-captain, they all work to make their play plan together

they all contribute ideas, especially since they’ve been in the positions they’ve been in for, like, ever

anyways

again, Mark is like really good

so you know he got that bombass scholarship

and that’s what really pushes him to do well bc let’s be real, college is e x p e n s i v e

he also likes ice skating in general because the cold reminds him of home

so he’s one of those hockey players that also likes figures skaters and it’s funny because he gets so many weird looks from the others

(altho, Jeno goes with him sometimes bc he’s nice)

back to what I was saying tho: Mark is really good

despite his personality, he’s a bit more aggressive on the ice—considering he’s a forward

Donghyuk, the right-winger: he makes sense

there’s the passive aggressive-ness

Mark? who knew he had some strength to him when it’s actually applied

seriously, have you seen his thighs?

speaking of which, the team serves a lot of looks

which means a lot of speculators that show up to the games

which means lots of fans

people typically come for the looks, but then stay for the games bc the team is very underrated

they actually win games and everything but like

advertising for the team? nonexistent

@stupid college funding distributions that focus on mediocre sports like football

so, where do you fall into the mix? you’re an og stan

you’ve been in the stands since you entered university

it didn’t even have anything to do with the members (altho, it is nice to have some eye-candy)

you just……… like hockey

even if you don’t understand much about it

it’s just… interesting to watch

so, whenever the season rolls around, you go to the games

but to say over the years that you didn’t develop a particular attachment to our boy Mark…… is an absolute lie

so, do you have a crush on Mark?

yes

but also like

who doesn’t have a crush on Mark

this man is literally so talented and nice and adorable and he just makes you want to take care of him all the time and ugh

one of your friends went to a game with you and literally was just like “oh he’s cute”

You: “we know”

he’s def one of those guys who everyone has or has had a crush on at some point

and you are no different

the thing is that you are fine with not ever confessing because you’re happy with just being on the sidelines because you’ve. literally. just been on the sidelines…

the idea of confessing feels ridiculous bc realistically, what would you mean to some guy that literally e v e r y person has a crush on?

the thing is though is that Mark knows you

at least, he knows of your presence

if he didn’t, it would be embarrassing considering that you come to every game - he’s got loyalty unless some people

Ten: “who?”

Mark: “dude”

Donghyuk: “is this another one of your imaginary friends?”

Mark: “I TOLD YOU THAT IN CONFIDENCE”

jkjk , they all kind of know you, considering you’re one of the more consistent faces since they’ve been playing in these games (primarily the home ones bc free tickets for students but still)

you also don’t paint your face or anything—you just show up in your university sweatshirt with a couple of those foam light up sticks or something

again, not that wild like signs with his face or anything

you’re just…. a spectator

but yeah, Mark knows of you as a loyal fan ?

who also is kind of cute when you’re cheering for them

I want to emphasize that you have gone to, like, nearly every game, but the main ones you’ve *always* have gone to are the home games bc they’re more convenient

or the final games bc hello

they’re the finals, why the fuck would you miss the finals

I emphasize this because, when you’ve suddenly gone down with the flu, you literally cannot make it to the finals championship game

you thought: no one was gonna notice your absence anyways

haha, you thought

anyways

your friends figured you were sick from the beginning and were like, my friend, it’s flu season, stay away from me and pls stay at home

(wash your hands kids, it’s still covid season)

so you didn’t go and stayed in and binged watched iCarly or something

meanwhile, during the game, Mark was like

where... where are you???

so homeboy is highkey distracted and lowkey worried bc did you die???

(you were dying bc of your clogged nostrils, but otherwise, no)

they somehow managed to win by a couple of points so it was kind of fine

but the teasing was increased by all of Mark’s friends

i.e. Johnny, Donghyuk, Jaehyun, and everyone else

come on, it’s so easy to make fun of him

but like he doesn’t care about any of it bc he was worried about you

which got him thinking

why is he worried about someone whose name he doesn’t even know? is there something more? why is there something more? he literally doesn’t know you? except that you come to the games and you’re really cute cheering him on? what is this?

you know, ✨just Mark things✨

this bothered him for quite a bit more than he liked to admit

and it’s about a couple of days later

things are normal and you don’t feel like everything is dripping out of your nose

until you’re walking through campus from your class

and there’s some footsteps running from behind you that makes you coil up into a semi-standing ball bc you thought a bunch of frat boys were just excited or some shit

but then the footsteps stop at you and you’re standing there, wide-eyed

in front of an out of breath Mark

he was walking out of his class with Jaemin and he spotted you from across the quad

and immediately ran to you

Jaemin: I was talking but okay

this isn’t about you Jaemin

anyways

Mark is in front of you, panting and you’re just like sir?

You: “how are you out of breath? aren’t you an athlete?”

Mark: “oh my God, you’re just like Donghyuk”

you give him a bit of time (and some water bc he seemed like he needed it)

and once he’s caught his breath, he stands up and blurts it out

Mark: “what happened to you during the championship?”

You: “....................... what?”

seeing you blink at him confused, he can feel his ears reddening when he’s realized the situation he’s put himself into

Mark: “um, I just”

Mark: “I noticed that you weren’t at the game”

You: still confused bc how does he know about you

You: “huh?”

Mark: oh my God this is the wrong person, want to die

Mark: “you know what, I have the wrong person, I’m just gonna bounce I am so sorry—”

he starts backing up, but you aren’t letting him escape

You: “whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa, hold up hold up”

You: “I didn’t even know that you knew that I knew you”

You: “wait, did you run here just to ask me that?”

Mark is full on flushed at this point bc of all the questions and realizations and it’s all crashing down on him all too soon

and now you have this mischievous look in your eyes that remind him of Ten when he’s clowning Doyoung and he feels like he’s made a mistake

a good mistake but still a mistake

You: “is it?”

Mark: “well, you like, show up to all of our games and you didn’t go to the finals so I didn’t know if anything happened”

You: “oh, I got sick and I figured I shouldn’t be going into giant crowds while having my insides die internally”

You: “but, I did hear from my friends, congrats btw”

Mark: “thanks”

Mark: “are you feeling better tho?”

You: “yeah, but like, my throat is still kind of shitty”

Mark: “oh, if you want, I have a couple of friends who might be able to cook something up for your throat”

Mark: “I’d offer to make something, but Kun doesn’t let me in the kitchen anymore after finding out about the egg incident”

You: “the egg incident?”

Mark: “I can’t cook, like. at all.”

You: “I think I’m good, I was just gonna go get some tea to make it less scratchy or something”

Mark: “I can walk you?”

You: “sure”

so you two go to a cafe or something for you to get some warm tea and you two end up talking and you get to know each other a bit

and then you end up trading numbers and you make some time together

since Mark doesn’t have to go to practice until the next season, his time has opened up considerably

sometimes you study together

other times, you go check out some other places nearby campus

(eventually, you did get to try Taeyong, Jaehyun, and Kun’s food, to which there was no turning back at that point bc they make the best kind of food—free)

you’re basically dating at this point and his friends know you as his significant other so

Chenle: “is (Y/N) gonna be here?”

Mark: “no? it’s our movie night”

Donghyuk: “aren’t you dating tho?”

Mark: “what”

he told you he took it casually and cool, but considering how red his ears were getting when he told you………………. cute

Mark: “c-can you believe they thought we were dating?”

You: “is that not what we’re doing?”

Mark: “what?”

you both established your relationship after that and Mark got a lot more shy and it’s super adorable bc it makes you wanna take care of him and ugh

he’s precious okay

also cut to him trying to ask the other guys for advice, but then he gets embarrassed as Johnny and Ten tries to educate him about love

or how Lucas gives him cheesy lines to use on you

these boys are having a field day and Xiaojun and Doyoung have never felt more at peace

anyways

def the nervous type that he can’t even hold your hand and keeps asking if it’s okay

so you’re the top of this relationship bc he’s a shy lil boy

after a bit tho, he gets more comfortable and it’s great

he’ll get teased often right? when it happens in front of you, he just runs to you with a whine of your name and buries his face into your neck

and you end up yelling at someone

it’s cute tho

bc they def see you both as an adorable couple

when the hockey season starts rolling around again, you def spend more time at the practices—whether you’re there to watch, do your homework, or just help motivate him to play better

you started dressing up more too, especially since he gave you his jersey so you started wearing them to the games (and also face paint bc Jungwoo had some extra for an unknown reason)

and you make Mark Lee signs and it’s super cute

Sicheng also invites you to the afterparty dinners bc why not

also, remember that thing I said about watching figure skaters?

you two watch the Olympics for that and it’s like tradition now for you two to settle in front of the tv with snacks and watch them skate

so, since he’s an athlete, he has to be careful with his body bc then like scholarship will go poof

that means some of your dates might be physically limited

like he’ll go mini-golfing with you, but he can’t go to like self-defense classes with you

he’ll go to support you but if his foot gets busted, his coach and the rest of the team will be on his ass and he feels a bit bad about it but like you understand

considering that you absolutely refuse to get on the ice bc hockey is hard people

speaking of hockey, you told Mark he’s hot when he plays and he was FLUSHED

bc like the look in his eyes and the way he carries himself…. reminds you of when you’re doing some more………...steamy activities

anyways, stan Mark Lee

he’s a sweetheart who works so hard and you’re there to provide him with lots of love

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mego42 · 3 years

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Do you think the Lucy murder is done now or it’ll still come back into play??

honestly i’m of two minds about it!

on the one hand, i can argue to myself that it was reintroduced this ep to help thoroughly establish nick as a villain and with this being the mid-season finale, they’re going to close it out bc the (story) purpose has been served. we steadily built the pressure rio’s under until it came to a head with introducing nick and now we’re going to transition over to him as the primary antagonist for the second half of the season. there’s a structural neatness to that that pleases the robot part of my brain that wants everything to conform to lovely, predictable patterns.

BUT

stories don’t do that, stories are messy and while they have underlying structure, with good ones it’s never as neat as just snapping lego blocks together. plus, they’ve emphasized it SO MUCH, it seems like a p weighty thread to lleave dangling, you know? it’s such a ripe source of tension and conflict and something that nick can use against both beth and rio and as a wedge between them which i v v v v v much think is going to be his game plan bc he seems to fundamentally misunderstand both of them and how that’s the kind of thing that will drive them both right over their baggage until they’re snuggled up together united against a common antagonist bc they’re perverse little buggers and i love that for me us them.

beyond lucy’s murder being too useful of a stick for nick to give up, there’s also the annie and mick scene from 401 left floating out there. it was too significant of a chunk of screentime for me to believe it was only there to convey how worried annie is for beth. plus, they made a point to establish that there’s another cop that knows what the lucy cop was looking into, so. while i initially argued she looked so over it though, @foxmagpie pointed out that’s not a good enough reason to assume she wouldn’t get significantly less over it when dude ends up dead, which, okay fair.

so, yeah, i guess i have mostly talked myself in real-time into no i don’t think lucy’s murder is over and done with but i’m leaving myself the out of it’s going to depend what story the show is ultimately telling and that’s not the kind of thing we’ll know until it’s been told.

#gg speculative shitposting #gg 4x09 #gg spoilers #nbc good girls #anon #shut up meg

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sinagrace · 4 years

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Iceman’s been back on my mind lately. It started with the internet rumor that Shia Labeouf was being considered to play the role of Bobby Drake in a Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the X-Men. My DMs and @Mentions on social media were a mixture of intense reaction and then asking my take on who would make a great Bobby Drake (for the record: in my head I always saw him as a younger Antoni Porowski with a theater background, ‘cuz playing the funny guy with a vulnerable streak requires serious acting shops). My mind went back to the time of BC, when I was doing a lot of touring, and answering this very question because of my work on the Iceman book at Marvel. One thing led to another, and I decided to take a trip further down memory lane to look at my favorite volume of the series: Amazing Friends. Now, I know I’ve spent equal amounts of time publicly stating what a gift working on Iceman was, while also calling out the challenges that came with the experience, but the third volume really was a pure blessing. I was able to take every valuable lesson I learned as a writer, and apply it to telling a story that would be interesting to one person: Me. I’ve been a lifelong X-Men fan, I live and breathe comics, so my own expectations for a return to the series seemed like the only ones to really worry about meeting/ surpassing. The first two volumes had been so bogged down by rotating editors, complex continuity, company-wide events, multiple artists… The third volume was my chance to focus on what an Iceman series was outside of so much context. All that mattered was challenging myself to do an X-Men story that focused on the aspects of the franchise I felt were valuable and relevant, meaning: excuses to have Emma Frost be an asshole and finding an opportunity to make fun of Kitty Pryde’s haircut. Before moving on from Marvel, Axel Alonso made time to call me for a pep talk about the series. I wanted to get the series extended, and he wanted to help me succeed with the ten issues he could commit to. First, he offered an eleventh issue to give me more time on the stands. He took a look at everything I had planned, and basically told me to restructure with an eye for ramping up the pace. My writing background comes from prose and essays/ think pieces… both of which are methodical and provide some allowance from the reader to really take your time and set up the world before diving into the meat. That’s not the case with comics. You gotta work fast. Especially in today’s market, there is less and less room for a retailer to say, “give it two volumes, because shit starts really coming together by the third trade.” That was literally my speech for hooking people on such iconic series as Invincible, Fables, and Strangers in Paradise. Nowadays, every single issue is not a brick to be laid down as foundation so much as a bullet in your gun. Conflicting imagery, but that’s the point. Axel told me to think about the Big Moments in my life and sort out how to inject the mutant metaphor into it and make the most compelling comic book story I could. This was epic advice that I took with me into the new arc, but I struggled a bit with what could be bigger than the “coming out” storyline in volume one. Love was off the table because I wanted to keep Bobby single and ready to mingle. Death was off the table too, because my editor felt like we’d done enough with Bobby’s parents in the first two volumes. Upon looking at my own life, and considering the stuff me and my friends were dealing with, I landed on something a bit more reflective than LIFE or DEATH. I wanted to focus on that moment when a gay guy looks outside of himself and realizes the folks around him may not have it so easy. After everything we’ve been dealing with this summer, Iceman’s “big issue” of the arc feels oddly prescient. Bobby Drake had to reconcile his accidental complicit role in keeping the Morlocks down, and he has to investigate new approaches to being a better ally to those who don’t want to or can’t live under the protection of the X-Men. I used the Morlocks to allegorically speak to the issues that the trans/ NB community face today. Considering that trans folks are facing higher rates of homelessness and murder than other members of the LGBTQIA+ community, all I needed to do was find a perfect villain to treat the Morlocks as “lesser-than.” Cue Mister Sinister, who I wrote as particularly Darwinist with a major flair for interactive theater. While Amazing Friends definitely is the most fun I’ve had working on the book, it was also full of the heaviest shit I’ve written about. I’m so grateful that my editor let me use Emma Frost for a story about the trauma of gay conversion therapy with her brother Christian, but I’m still annoyed he wouldn’t let me put her in a sickening Givenchy outfit for her reveal. Similarly, creating the Madin character required that I chat with several mental healthcare professionals and members of the NB community to respectfully portray them as a resilient and fleshed out hero. I included personal lessons that I learned from years of the therapy (the sandcastle / sea image, a Jay Edidin fave moment). My editor and I weren’t always aligned, but we definitely were on each other’s side. He understood what I was trying to do and asked questions when something flew over his head, and he even had the good instincts to stop me from going too heavy handed with the ending. My original idea for the arc’s finale was to have Bobby become permanently scarred in his fight with Sinister, where he’d have a cool ice gash running across his face or something, a la Squall from Final Fantasy 8. The goal was to show Iceman stripping himself of his ability to pass as non-mutant to save the Morlocks, but the Mutant Pride fight scene being a stand-in for the Stonewall Riots kind of already made enough of a statement. Plus, no one in editorial wanted to deal with remembering to track his scar in other books. At first I tried to balk at his point of view, but when I looked over my original notes for the series, the point was to focus on optimism and hope. Giving Bobby a permanent scar and emphasizing the notion of sacrifice was too bleak a message for a series wherein the hero carbo-loads hoagies while riding an ice scooter and mutant drag queens emcee local festivals. Of course, the crowning achievement of the series… my mutant drag queen :) I’ve witnessed a lot when it comes to the world of pop culture and myth-making, and I 100% believe that you can’t plan the success of something. I’ve seen bands forced into breaking up because labels spend six figures failing at making listeners connect with an album. I witnessed firsthand how The Walking Dead was built from relatively humble beginnings as a buzzy cable drama into a literal international phenomenon over the course of its first three seasons. Everyone hopes for the best, but you never know how something will land with audiences. When the Shade character took off, I was truly astounded. Things I posted on Instagram while half-asleep became official quotes on major news sites. Queens and cosplayers were interpreting her like Margot Robbie had unveiled a new Harley Quinn lewk. The impact was so legit and immediate that we had to jump in and give Shade a proper Marvel hero alias, to truly welcome her into the X-Men canon. Hence the name change to Darkveil. (Funny story: I tried to fight hard for Madame X as an alias, but CB didn’t want another Agent X / “X-Name” character. Three months later, Madonna announced the Madame X album. Phew!) There was a time where I felt uncertain that the folks in charge at Marvel would bring Darkveil into any stories outside of the ones I wrote. My understanding was that Hickman was like the Cylons and had A Plan-- one that didn’t include her character. I made peace with my contribution to the Marvel Universe being contained, but then someone on social media pointed out that Darkveil showed up in an issue of Marvel Voices. After breaking down and reading Hickman’s House of X, I saw that his Plan was one of endless possibilities, and that he was moving EVERY character into new and dynamic places. I have hope now that he sees the possibilities with Darkveil, and takes advantage of her and all of her many body pouches. Amazing Friends really is my favorite thing I’ve done for the Big Two. I made a lifelong friend out of artist Nate Stockman (DC, please hire us for a Plasticman book), and I got to run a victory lap with the most encouraging and supportive readers out there. It was worth every dreadful conversation, every shitty thing a person said to me online, and all of the fun nonsense that goes into being creative for a living. Being stuck at home in quarantine has given me a lot of time to reflect on the gift that my career to date has been, and I feel so grateful to be where I am today. Other people may groan when they have to talk about something they’ve moved on from, but not me. I made people happier, I got to work with my favorite characters at Marvel, and and I'll say it again: it’s a frickin’ gift to make people move from your work. So, I will engage every tweet or message asking me my thoughts about who should play Bobby Drake in the Marvel Cinematic Universe… I’ll just never have a good answer.

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stitch1830 · 3 years

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ATLA Q&A

So I got tagged by @mycomfortblanket and @dannyurl but it wouldn’t let me reblog on the thread so I made a new one lol. Never really thought about these questions til now, so good exercise!

1. What is your favorite character?

Toph Beifong. Need I say more?

2. What is your comfort character?

Hmmm, does Appa count? If yes, then Appa. He’s a good, chill pal. I’d snuggle with him.

3. Which element would you bend if you could?

Probably earthbending. I like the fighting style of firebenders a bit more, but I think that the element of earth has more opportunities and possibilities to adapt the martial art and then also bending the different compositions of earth lol. Plus metalbending is a dope technique and I would love to be able to do that as well.

4. What’s your favorite nation?

Probably Earth Kingdom. Idk, maybe because it’s the biggest nation, so there are lots of different cities to travel to. I can’t really explain why it’s my favorite lol.

5. What makes you love ATLA the most?

Probably just the established world. If I ever try to make up my own stories, creating the setting and space the story takes place in is always the hardest for me. So the fact that there are multiple nations, maps, cities, and cultures associated with the story, and those background details are fleshed out is pretty impressive. And even as a kid I noticed that.

COULD GET YOU ATTACKED QUESTIONS

1. Who is your least favorite character in the gaang?

I think as a kid, I didn’t care for Sokka or Aang. Sokka seemed useless to the team to me as a kid and then all of a sudden he was an expert strategist in my head. And Aang bothered me because he was a bald kid with tattoos lol. Weird for my 10-year-old brain to wrap around at the time. I love both of them now, obviously, and see my flawed thought process as a kid lol. Otherwise, I never cared for Mai or Ty Lee.

2. What character do you think is severely underrated?

Mmmm, idk. No one from the Gaang seems underrated, nor do the main villains. I’ll find realms of the fandom that tend to overrate characters, so I feel like a lot of them get the love and appreciation they need. Even Cabbage Man has support. Like, okay.

Maybe Freedom Fighters? Like, all of the minor ones. They kind of come and go as they please, and they probably need more backstory than they actually get.

3. What’s your least favorite nation?

Again, as a kid I never liked that all the Air nation people were bald and had tattoos. Not the smartest logic on my end lol. But idk, I still prefer the other nations now.

4. What is your controversial ATLA opinion?

I actually struggle to watch the show now as an adult and after reading some fantastic posts on Tumblr about the show’s flaws. Obviously I shouldn’t judge the show based on bad writing near the end or series finale relationships, but I can barely watch it now without seeing the hints of romantic relationships and cringe or just... knowing that the outcome of the show isn’t what I particularly want to see. It’s easier for me to just stay in fanfiction and read about fan theories and then come up with my own outcomes.

The show used to satisfy me, but now? Not so much. I like, only watch season 2 now if I want to watch it at all, mainly for Toph and because there aren’t as many obviously displays of Aang crushing on Katara.

SHIPPING QUESTIONS

1. What’s your favorite ship and why?

Canon ships only.

JK. Taang. Taang for days. As a couple, I see them having a lighthearted relationship where they know how to balance each other. They are powerful and strong and independent on their own and certainly don’t need to be in a relationship, but they would choose to be together because they add value to their lives and want to be together. They’ve got that classic ‘opposites attract’ dynamic that isn’t like “I can’t live without you” feeling, but more like “You help me be better” feel.

Before finding Taang, I never really shipped Toph with anyone, and didn’t even know she had canon kids until like... the pandemic started lol. I just thought she’d be a badass and wreak havoc on the world and be responsible for only herself. And if I did ship her with a character, it was usually Sokka bc of the angst and canon compliance it provided. But after reading a few Taang fics, there was actually potential for her to be in a longstanding and committed relationship with someone that made sense to me. It was cool to find a ship that opened my eyes to that, because otherwise, I would’ve never assumed or thought she’d ever marry or have kids or anything.

Tokka is a close second because it got me into reading fanfiction, but idk Taang is just feels so right to me lol.

2. What’s your least favorite ship?

After reading lots of metas, I don’t like Mai/Zuko and Aang/Katara. They just rub me the wrong way now.

3. Do you sometimes self-insert?

As far as inserting myself into a romantic relationship with ATLA characters... No. Not my cup of tea.

I do sometimes create OCs that are just like... best friends with the Gaang and went through their own shit during the war. But they don’t resemble me at all. If anything, they mirror the personality of the character they’re close with, simply because I think friendships where characters have very similar personalities would be interesting. We see a lot of opposite duos, romantic and platonic, and I certainly do the same thing in my life (I have lots of friends where I am not like them at all, but we’re really close). But to see relationships where they act very similar... Interesting dynamic. They probably butt heads a lot and fight a lot, but also really understand what the other needs for help, and... yeah. Those friendships seem unappreciated to me. So I like to make those up lol.

4. What ship would you make canon if you were the creator?

I wouldn’t make ATLA about romantic relationships. If anything, I would emphasize the family aspect of the team, then let fans and audiences decide who works best with who ~after~ the show ends lol. I tend to like endings with open interpretation, and also, just based on my personal life/preference, I think it’s sometimes weird when really really close friends get together in relationships afterwards. Like, I’ll think of those friends as my family, and dating ‘practically family’ is sometimes weird imo lol. Of course, I know why those relationships tend to happen, mostly because those characters are the only ones that can relate to the war trauma they all went through, so I get that and love that aspect of it.

I would certainly lean in the direction of the Big Three: Zutara, Sukka, and Taang, just by pointing out their dynamic, having them confide in one another, or something of the sort. But no one would like, get together at the end.

My thoughts on ATLA, and I’m going to tag anyone that wants to do this! I’m looking at you. ;)

#atla #atla q&a #asking the hard hitting questions #I barely knew the answers lol #tag game

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margridarnauds · 4 years

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I know you prefer a-cast, but what are some pros to buying m-cast instead? There's a bit of a war going on abt which is better. I heard m-cast is better bc the cast is more senior and experienced, but I don't know what to believe. Is a-cast or m-cast just a taste thing, or is it abt smthing else? Would you mind making a chart or smthing for the pros and cons of both versions? Maybe ratings per category? I know you have a preference, but I just think you are quite nuanced. Thanks in advance!

I am very honored that you would think of me as someone who’s fair and nuanced!

Before I begin, I’m going to say one thing that might or might not be considered....well. Very American of me, from the perspective of Japanese fandom: I do not believe, when it comes to spending the amount of money that these cost, on holding back information in order to appear diplomatic. I’ll try to be diplomatic, for the sake of people who might like anyone I criticize, but, also, if I dislike an aspect, I will try to find SOME way of making said displeasure known, because, again: The amount of money required to buy one DVD, let alone two, is quite a lot. I personally like to buy both, since it lets me compare and contrast, but my God, is it a bit of money (and this year, with the exception of the 2016 Elisabeth, I’ve had to cut down quite a bit while I’ve been abroad: I haven’t touched Frankenstein or Phantom...at least not yet.)

Also, I am always willing to arrange streams of either/both casts, since this musical is my baby, so that anyone reading this now can see whether what I say is true or not, as well as in order to determine your own preferences.

Alright, so that disclaimer out of the way, let’s start off:

I kind of disagree that M cast is more experienced, as a whole. Let’s compare:

Marie

Rena Sasamato (A Cast) - Had her debut when she was ten years old, in 1995. She is a Toho veteran with many, many musicals under her belt, including The Woman in White, Love Never Dies, Jekyll and Hyde, Les Miserables, West Side Story, Rudolf, Fiddler on the Roof, and, of course, the original 2006 production of Marie Antoinette, where she played Margrid Arnaud.

Hanafusa Mari (M Cast) - Almost needs no introduction, such is the fame that she has. And I say this as a detractor. My personal feelings about her personality, acting, and singing aside, I can admit that Hanafusa Mari is a living legend in the Japanese musical industry. She certainly lives up to her title of “Empress”, in all senses of the term. She had her debut in 1991 (after, admittedly, undergoing the training of the Takarazuka Revue, so I will give her that she had experience beforehand, just not in acting and singing on stage), and remained there until 2006, when she retired in conjunction with her fellow top star, Yoka Wao. From 2010 onward, she appeared in non-Takarazuka roles, including my very first exposure to Japanese theatre, Dracula, in 2011.

Now, of the two of them, I won’t deny that Hanafusa has more experience, however I also feel like saying that Rena has less experience is making it sound almost like she was some starving waif that Toho picked off the side of the streets in order to star in their new musical, as opposed to a seasoned actress in her own right who, on top of having an impressive number of musicals under her belt, also has experience in the musical itself. Hanafusa, when it comes down to it, only has four years’ more experience than Rena, though she is almost a decade older and undoubtedly, when she premiered, had more polish than 10 year old Rena. But, on the other hand, she DID remain with the Revue an impressively long time, which is very intense as far as how many musicals they perform on a yearly basis (most Top Musumeyaku only last about...2-3 years or so), she was the original Elisabeth in Takarazuka (a legendary role in its own right), and, my snark about her having the best career money can buy aside, I am willing to say that, for the most part, she’s earned her status as a legend.

And I want to say that I’m not ripping YOU apart when I say this, I want to make that absolutely clear. You’re asking me a very good question, but it is something I tend to find quite a bit of when I talk Japanese musicals, in the sense that there is often this...assumption that actresses who started off in non-Takarazuka musicals (also a moment of silence for the Shiki actresses, who I almost never talk about but who are kicking ass as Disney Princesses) are somehow...lesser, or that they have less training. Takarazuka is and remains very prestigious, but it’s hardly the be-all, end-all of all musical theatre, and, in many ways, I would argue that Rena has more experience than Hanafusa, in terms of the world of Toho musicals, which require a different style of acting and singing: Less stylized, less affected, more what you would expect from a Broadway or West End show. It’s actually something that I find quite a few Takarazuka actresses struggle with when they come to Toho, as they have to adjust how they’ve done things for a new audience.

Now, what does this have to do with the overall point? Well, a lot of people bought Marie Antoinette FOR Hanafusa to begin with, since she does have a huge following. I have seen plenty of people admit that they only bought it for her in the first place and didn’t bother with the other cast. I have even seen, in the past, people argue with me on the idea of a musical that DOESN’T have Hanafusa in it getting a proshot, simply because, for them, she IS the world of Japanese musical theatre. Coming from that perspective, of course Rena is less experienced, because she, simply put, isn’t Hanafusa.

In terms of their overall presentation of the characters, I found that their respective training really impacted how they portrayed the characters: Rena played Antoinette as being very elegant, with a pride that could turn to haughtiness. It made for an Antoinette that is interesting in her own right to watch, which is tricky, since I find that Antoinettes tend to be overshadowed by the other characters, especially Margrid, Fersen, and Orléans. She did include certain aspects of a Takarazuka performance in her performance, since her mother was a Takarazuka star in her own right, such as how to properly use an 18th century fan, but, for the most part, I’m willing to say that she played it much more naturalistically.

Hanafusa, meanwhile, emphasized the tragedy of Marie’s life. Throughout a decent portion of the musical, she can be seen crying, especially during the trial (which Rena played straightfaced, playing a Marie that is totally numbed by grief), and expresses her happy, joyful moments in a very exaggerated, almost forceful way, more what I would expect from a Zuka actress given that Zuka performances tend to emphasize extremes of sadness and happiness. (Keeping in mind, of course, that traditionally, it’s expected for musical/opera singers to act in an exaggerated way in order to be seen from the back.) If you are used to Hanafusa, then you’ll LOVE it, because she is very much there, and it’s very much what you’ve been accustomed to. She does show her training; she doesn’t miss a single note in the entire production, but I do find that, in this one area, her added age over Rena might be to her detriment, as I find that her voice has thinned somewhat with age, comparing her now to where she was in Dracula or during her Takarazuka days. Her vibrato also isn’t quite to my taste. Not BAD, but not for me. She isn’t UNPLEASANT to listen to, and again, if you are buying it to hear Hanafusa Mari’s voice, that is exactly what you’ll get, but I also do think the luster of it has faded.

So, in terms of overall ratings, here is what I would put them:

Rena:

Year of Debut: 1995

Acting: 9/10

Singing: 10/10

Hanafusa:

Year of Debut: 1991

Acting: 4/10

Singing: 6/10

Margrid

Sonim (A Cast) - Sonim’s history has been gone into detail here by my friend, @chibimyumi who, unlike me, has a native speaker’s understanding of Japanese (as opposed to getting lucky with Google Translate), so I’ll leave it to her. But, suffice it to say, Sonim had her musical debut about...2007 or so (she was involved in other stage projects, but for sanity’s sake I’m marking her appearance as Johanna in Sweeney Todd as her musical debut) after the idol industry decided to be cowards and kicked her out because she didn’t conform to their pretty pink princess dreams, was offered the title of Ogosho IMMEDIATELY upon her joining up with Toho, and, since then, has distinguished herself as one of their undisputed leading ladies. She has appeared, to my knowledge, on three proshots, two of which I own: Mozart, 1789, and Marie Antoinette, and has also appeared in Kinky Boots, Tanz der Vampire, FACTORY GIRLS, and Rent.

Natsumi Kon (M Cast) - Natsumi Kon is, admittedly, also no slouch in the world of Japanese musical theatre: She had her debut in 2011, with the coveted role of Juliette Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, and has since been in Les Miserables, Grand Hotel, the Addams Family, The Fiddler on the Roof, and The Secret Garden, as well as being the voice actress for Belle in the 2017 Beauty and the Beast. She has been praised as essentially being “the next generation of the musical world”.

By the same standard I’ve set re: Hanafusa and Rena, there isn’t THAT much in terms of their ages, since they have the same difference in debut time (though in this case, it’s in Sonim’s favor, and I also think that it’s much more dramatic in terms of younger musical performers as opposed to older ones.)

I feel like, of the two of them, more people would have come for Sonim, since she is an Ogosho herself, being at the same level of ranking as Furukawa and Hanafusa. What I suspect, in fact, is that Toho, in a CLASSIC Toho move, split the cast that most people would have wanted, with Hanafusa, Furukawa, and Sonim, but I can’t confirm and, honestly, I feel like Hanafusa’s very expressive Antoinette would have clashed with Furukawa’s more aloof Fersen, but that will be dealt with down the line. As it is, M cast has Hanafusa, and A cast has two Ogosho-level performers for the price of one with Sonim and Furukawa. (Meaning that, on a purely technical level, it has the most starpower behind it.)

Sonim has a strong belt and has a reputation for playing scrappy girls, possibly because she herself easily qualifies as a bit of a “scrappy girl” herself. Her Margrid is bitter and cynical, not necessarily kind. The years on the streets have warped her into someone who is primarily motivated by herself and her own personal revenge. She uses “the people” as a self-justification to pursue her own vendetta, only realizing by the end what it’s done and cost her. She doesn’t care for social norms AT ALL, and would be the exact type of person that you would see on a tabletop counter at 2 AM, legs spread out, trying to stuff an entire pizza down her mouth. She’s distrustful, especially towards men and, even for those that she trusts, she has a low level of tolerance for. She is, frankly, a bit of a bitch. And I adore her for it, because it’s more realistic to what I think someone would be like after undergoing what she has. She’s a kind of female character we get relatively little of, really. I do think that, on a few occasions, Sonim perhaps outbelts herself here but, in general, I feel like it suits Margrid’s personality more.

Natsumi Kon took a more tragic bent to the character. Her Margrid IS a good person, at heart, but she lets her desire for justice, along with her own revenge, steer her towards a course that just causes more suffering. She is more like an 18th century Eponine from Les Miserables, the street girl who, if she’d JUST had the upbringing that Antoinette had, could have been a great lady like her. She seems to play up the love triangle with Fersen more, getting a little closer to him at different times, giving him more longing looks, while also seeming to have...some sort of dynamic with Orléans, with the two of them often touching and laughing with one another. She does have a very smooth, strong voice, though I feel like, on some level, she has never quite escaped playing ingenues, and, rewatching it with a critical eye, I think that, as the musical continues, her voice starts getting a little breathy and strained. I don’t really know whether this is by intent or simply because of the musical being very vocally demanding for the Margrids, but I do think that, if Sonim overbelts at times at the beginning, Natsumi has some issues by the end; the notes aren’t coming out quite as clear or as strong as they should be. Her Margrid has a little bit more of a polish to her and, in general, seems a little younger and more naive compared to Sonim’s. I do give her credit for really being willing to go UP CLOSE to her fellow actors in stand-offs, giving her Margrid the sense of being a little bit of a bull in a China shop; during the duet that Marie and Margrid share, there’s one point where it seems like Natsumi is only INCHES away from her face. I know that it’s out of style to make Harry Potter analogies, but Sonim plays Margrid as a Slytherin; Natsumi as a Gryffindor. She didn’t do a BAD job as an actress, and in fact adds some nice touches to Margrid that I do like, but she doesn’t really do anything too new with the character.

Now, why does THIS matter? Well, for one, I think that, if you go in expecting the best of everyone, Sonim’s Margrid can be like a dose of cold water. Natsumi is more...palatable. Less conflict, less difficult questions, especially since it becomes that much easier to separate Orléans-As-Villain from Margrid-As-Heroine.

Overall:

Sonim:

Year of Debut: 2007

Acting: 10/10

Singing: 9/10.

Natsumi:

Year of Debut: 2011

Acting: 8/10

Singing: 8/10

Fersen

Furukawa Yuta (A Cast) - Probably one of Toho’s most bankable male leads at the moment. His presence in a musical is generally a VERY good sign to me that Toho is planning on a proshot, since they know that fans will buy anything he’s in. (To illustrate: I wasn’t PLANNING on buying Marie Antoinette, I had more than my fair share of doubts after the disastrous German run, but then I saw Furukawa Yuta and Sonim were signed on and I promptly got both casts. Best insanely rash move I’ve ever made in my life.) He had his stage debut in 2007 with The Prince of Tennis series, and since then he’s played in the Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji) musicals, Elisabeth, 1789, Romeo and Juliet, and Mozart. Though he initially made his name with his dancing and acting abilities, along with his personal charisma, he has since worked on his singing, putting himself through Hell and back to earn his spot as Ogosho. While Mozart was his official debut, I would argue that, in some ways, it was as Fersen and then, later, Romeo that he REALLY got to demonstrate what made him star material.

Mario Tashiro (M Cast) - Mario Tashiro, like Natsumi Kon, is absolutely no slouch either. He has a full, operatic voice that he uses to excellent effect, making him very recognizable even if you don’t know who exactly he is. Plenty of times, I’ll be listening to a trailer on Youtube and hear this BOOMING voice and go “MARIO TASHIRO?” He has been very prolific on the Toho scene, taking roles in Sunset Boulevard, Chess, Love Never Dies, Elisabeth (marking the first time in known history that Fersen is locked in a love triangle with Fersen for Marie Antoinette and then seduces Fersen’s son, Fersen), The Great Gatsby, Jekyll and Hyde, and Sweeney Todd, among others.

In terms of approach, both men took very different approaches to their role. Furukawa played Fersen as much more aloof and distant, which makes for a contrast with Marie’s sunny, naive personality. He has a dry sense of humor and has a long-running cat and mouse game with Orléans where both understand, on some level, that they’re on equal ground. His love of Marie, while definitely a real, true love, is also very idealistic: Marie represents a world that, for Fersen, is slowly dying out, she represents the best part of humanity for him, especially after being gone during the war. I do not believe, looking at Furukawa’s Fersen, that he and Antoinette ever actually slept together, rather that it was very much a courtly love. He cares for Margrid, entreating her to have compassion, but there’s just enough wiggle room to wonder how MUCH of it is genuine VS him needing something from her at the time, and he’s very aware of his status as an aristocrat and makes use of it. It’s really unlike any other take on Fersen I’ve seen, in any media, and it’s part of why I ended up leaning towards this production, since it’s generally a MASSIVE feat to make me like Fersen. Furukawa’s voice in the role is softer, lacking the strength of Tashiro’s but still making for some very impressive low notes.

Mario Tashiro, on the other hand, focuses more on Fersen as a romantic hero, full of dash and daring. He has a notably dramatic take on Fersen, with flourishes and exaggerated movements, which, as an opera singer, are probably part and parcel of his acting training. If he’s aware of Orléans’ general presence, he doesn’t seem bothered by him, with their being really little sign that Orléans has any respect for him at all. He loves Marie as well, but it is much more of a sort of fairytale, Rose of Versailles love. There’s not as much moral gray areas to his Fersen, even though he makes the exact same decisions as Furukawa’s and, like Hanafusa Mari’s Marie, tends to go through extreme emotions. His voice was, as always, phenomenal, I give him full and complete credit for it, however, unfortunately, when put up against Hanafusa Mari, I found that the two of them had the tendency of trying to outbelt one another, leading to a distinct lack of chemistry during romantic scenes. (And you’ll notice that, despite generally being weighted against Hanafusa, I am NOT giving her the full blame for this one.)

Furukawa Yuta (A Cast)

Year of Debut: 2007

Acting - 10/10

Singing - 9/10

Mario Tashiro (M Cast)

Year of Debut: 2009 (He had his singing debut in 2007, but his overall musical debut was 2009)

Acting - 7/10

Singing - 10/10

Louis

Takanori Sato (A Cast) - Probably the baby of the group, in the sense that he had his own debut a little while after the others, in 2015. In his case, and his case alone, would I say that there was a REALLY strong case for him not having as much experience compared to his counterpart. He has played in Titanic, Elisabeth, the Scarlet Pimpernel (the one with Kazutaka Ishi), Mata Hari, Legally Blonde, and Chess, the latter possibly most impressively since he did the entire thing in English.

Yuichi Harada (M Cast) - I’ll be honest, I’ve never in my life been tempted to look up his biography before, but when I did, I was impressed to find that he’s actually been working in the world of musicals since 1992, when he was in Anne of Green Gables and then again in Les Miserables as Gavroche. He has had a long career with Toho, too, being in musicals such as Les Miserables, The Sound of Music, Titanic, the Beggar’s Opera, and La Cage Aux Folles, none of which I literally had any idea about until today, but that is very impressive. Massive props to him, honestly, as well as working as a director for Bare: The Musical, which...well. Props to him for branching out. I will never understand the love for Bare worldwide, but you know what? Almost all musicals deserved to be loved by SOMEONE. He has an impressive track record, I’ll give him that. One of these days, I’ll probably have to dig deeper, since I suspect that there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye.

Takanori has a very smooth, strong voice, without the projection of Mario Tashiro. I found that his take on Louis was quite charming, tender to his wife, a normal man who Marie respects even if she doesn’t love him in the same way as she loves Fersen. (Honestly, can I just say: While we all know that Orléans has my entire heart....if Takanori’s Louis asked me to marry him....#PhilippeWho.) He’s a steady man, not really dumb, but well-intentioned and occasionally oblivious to the real danger, and it’s that that kills him, in the end.

Yuichi’s Louis is much more...confused throughout the thing and, while I think Antoinette has some compassion for him, I don’t really feel like it’s love so much as...affection, mixed with a certain amount of pity. He does show moments where it looks like he knows a lot more than he lets on, but in general, I think he did play it as much more humorous, a lot more...well, dumb, at least until the second act. He does have a solid voice, I give him that, but in general, it felt like there was a little less subtlety in how he interpreted the role. There’s something almost childish about the way that he grasps Orléans’ hands when he’s asking him to intercede for them, whereas in Takanori’s case, it’s more him realizing that his cousin is...well. Orléans, but knowing that he has to do a little bit of crawling if he’s going to survive.

Yuichi’s Louis DOES still get sympathy from me, but it’s in a way that is kind of insulting to him as a character, mainly because it’s less about HIM and more like “......god. Killing him is a bit like kicking a puppy. Like, you could do it, but my God, why would you?” Like, I do kind of want to write a fanfic where he can just......be safe........far, far away from everything, because I’m not sure if he would notice if they took him any place else, but it does kind of...take away his complexity? I will say, in his defense, looking over his entire performance, that seeing him constantly trying to smile as he’s being led while Marie panics, trying to let her know this is all going to be alright, is a tearjerker, though I still feel like his Louis is played a bit too much like the caricature of Louis that, at this point, I’m kind of used to seeing. That being said, while I don’t necessarily like all of the DIRECTION he took Louis, I can see that he put genuine thought into constructing the role, so I’m not going to nuke him too much in the acting category.

This one, more than any of the others, is probably YMMV, because I know people who were genuinely shocked to realize Louis is double-cast at all. Mainly because it isn’t like the role leaves THAT much of an impact, overall, having only one major song. I honestly think that the 2021 cast is making the right call in splitting Orléans and giving Louis one role, all things considered.

Takanori Sato

Year of Debut: 2015

Acting - 10/10

Singing - 10/10

Yuichi Harada

Year of Debut: 1992

Acting - 8/10

Singing - 8/10

The Case for M Cast

Now that we’ve gone through the rankings, it’s time for the original question: What are the pros of M Cast? And, if you just listened to me laying all this out, you would think that I wouldn’t have much positive to say. That being said, when I was back in the States and could spend an hour or two watching musicals every day, a LOT of the time, I would watch M Cast. There has never really been a point where I said “You know? I regret getting that cast, I wish I’d just had A the entire time.” If I was dangling off a cliff and I could only save one cast recording, I would HAVE to choose A (and then promptly sob), but I do, genuinely, like M on its own and would recommend getting both simply to compare.

- Mitsuo Yoshihara. Now, this is going to be odd for anyone reading, because I can hear it now: “But he wasn’t double cast! Wouldn’t you get him on A too?” Yes, you definitely would. But he is a very unique type of Toho actor in the sense that he changed up his performance for EACH cast he was in. If you look at M cast, he has a much warmer dynamic with Natsumi’s Margrid, either as a paternal substitute (making up for her own aristocratic father) or as a prospective love interest. He is MUCH more hurt in the final court scene, very clearly viewing Margrid’s decision as a personal betrayal. As the admitted and confessed Morléans shipper, I have to eat the angst up like it’s candy. The two of them have a nice amount of familiarity and chemistry with one another, presumably due to having worked with one another on other projects before.

- Mario Tashiro’s voice. This deserves its own section because it is REALLY, REALLY phenomenal. You know whenever you’re seeing Mario Tashiro in something simply because that voice is VERY distinctive and is totally overwhelming each time you hear it. I noted my misgivings in his section, but overall? It is very much worth the price of admission just to hear him.

- Different shots. I’m still figuring out exactly WHAT shots dramatically change from each cast, but M cast does contain some shots that A doesn’t have and vice versa. M cast doesn’t have this shot of Margrid and Antoinette, and A cast doesn’t have the one here of Antoinette and Fersen’s hands touching, which is a wonderful little bit of cinematography. I do think that, depending on the shot, you can get more or less of a character’s motivations in that moment. A personal favorite is Hébert trying to get Margrid alone during the scene just before the ball and Margrid shoving him off, which foreshadows what happens near the end of the second act.

-Hanafusa and Natsumi’s voices actually do go quite nicely together at the end.

-Mario Tashiro does make for a very splashy Fersen; yeah, you might not spend too long dissecting what he’s doing when he’s on stage, but he is fun to watch swish around in his 18th century officer’s outfit.

-My griping on Natsumi’s Margrid aside, I do think she has a lot of charm. No, it isn’t my FAVORITE take on the role, but I do actually like what she does, she adds quite a few nice touches to it, and she does make the song “Enough is Enough”, near the end of the first act, her actual bitch, adding her own riffs onto it to give it a sense of individuality. The parts where she’s smiling, hanging onto Orléans’ arm, make even my wrinkled, shriveled heart grow three sizes. I’ll be genuinely excited to see her return to the role in 2021 to see if there’s anything she changes, though I doubt I’ll be able to see any part of it in person.

-If you’re a Hanafusa Mari fan, you get to see the kind of performance from her that you’ve grown to expect and appreciate. If you’re not, you get to see her get splashed in the face with champagne. Win, win, win.

Overall, I think that it will depend on what you’re looking for. I really enjoyed the realism and the grit of the A cast, but not everyone WANTS grit, and in that case...I suppose M cast would appeal more, since M cast relies on everyone involved being much better human beings than A cast, though I do want to emphasize that everyone in A cast is still redeemable. (Except Hébert. Because fuck Hébert.) M cast is....easier to digest, in many ways. There’s a good queen, a stupid-yet-sweet king, a dashing hero, and a misunderstood-yet-angry-poor girl, manipulated by the siren’s song of the Revolution and her unrequited love for Fersen, who bullies the poor, downtrodden queen when she gets a chance before realizing the error of her ways. I think that, for many people, that’s perfectly fine, and that’s what they wanted, especially if they’re already used to Rose of Versailles. I do still LIKE it, because it’s a production of one of my top 2 favorite musicals, but I do think that, if it was the ONLY version of the musical available, I wouldn’t have spent so much time picking it apart. (Though I still would have thought it a MASSIVE improvement on the German.)

I do put a lot of it on Hanafusa Mari’s influence, though, because of the prevalence of her fanbase and the general belief that no one could ever come close to their star, so why bother getting another cast. Especially given how....devoted the Takarazuka fanbase is in comparison to the Toho fanbase, and the Thing I’ve noticed where fans try to argue that there is some sort of empirical reason for their bias as opposed to simply liking one more than the other.

#Anonymous #long post #toho stage #jmusicals

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wongyuhao · 5 years

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THE X SYSTEM OF PRODUCE X 101

is complete trash. that’s it.

i’ve heard some say that it’s to help prevent the curse of the trainees who ranked high but were not able to make it in the final debut line up, like in the past three seasons

while we actually hope that it is true and that it would never happen again... well it did! and it’s completely full of lies. (msnake really be doin devil’s work by playing with the talented trainees)

what’s most disappointing is that:

LEE JINHYUK JUST GOT THE SAME FATE AS KIM JONGHYUN

two extremely talented, hardworking, and humble trainees who were on their merry way to achieving their dreams but unfortunately got robbed by the snake. same vibe, same energy

honestly ik that the netizens love jinhyuk. so i’m just trying to process the idea of how he dropped to rank 14 from rank 3??? IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE (he was rank 11 in the final live votings but got pushed to 14 bc of the x system)

looking at it i do know that he already has a strong fanbase especially from how he climbed up the ranking and how high up he was in the last two rankings before the finale. so how is it that he dropped so low?

ik that the x system was made for the trainee who got the most accumulated votes throughout the entire season. but it seems like it didn’t work that way. so my opinion on this is that kim mingyu should’ve been the x trainee (not that i don’t like eunsang, i do, but everything just seems planned here)

if we were to solely base this on votes, mingyu should’ve been the x trainee considering that he was consistently in the top 5 except for that one time he dropped to 10

so how is he not the x? well, i love mingyu (he is so humble and works hard on improving everytime) but wbk that he may or may not be able to debut because he still lacks a lot in most things. that is exactly the reason why ment dropped him - he’s still awkward on stage, but hey, he’s so determined on improving! i can’t wait to see what the future has in store for him

my point is that if this was all about the netizens vote it would’ve been different and most importantly i want to emphasize that:

LEE JINHYUK SHOULD’VE BEEN IN THE FINAL LINEUP

majority of the people love him and have him as a part of their top 11. so why? well, the answer is msnke did jinhyuk dirty. they robbed him of that opportunity to have a spot in the debut line

we can’t trust mnet.

and we surely cannot trust/rely on this x system especially if the show is rigged. they obviously planned on who to drop and give a place in the top 11. they have a way of getting things into order making it seem like these were really made to happen but the truth is they already have it planned.

they already planned the members for what they wanted the group to have/happen. hell, they wanted yohan to get center so bad that they’ve done all the things to make wooseok look bad just to bring him down (i mean i love yh but im just stating the obvious)

they really have it all planned. i mean come on, rank 14? for the debuted trainees? they’re always ranked 14? i really don’t think that’s a coincidence

it’s so disappointing that this show let the opportunity of a genuine and talented gem to debut just go straight down the drain. even mc lee dongwook looked flat out upset smh

do you see this mnet?? pure dissatisfaction not just from the audience and other trainees, but also from the mentors and mc. bc they know better than to let talent go to waste

this is exactly the face i was dreading to see for the past few days. i was hoping it would not come true but it did and i really am upset and devastated. he deserves so much more than rank 14. he deserves to be up there with wooseok. he deserves so much more for carrying the burden of helping his team out, for not putting the spotlight on himself all the time and for always giving his members a chance of their own to shine when given the chance.

nevertheless congratulations to the final top 11!! im sure they would become a successful group and i look forward to their debut and future activities. FIGHTING X1!!

it breaks my heart so much. it really does. but it’s okay, jinhyuk, you did well and you’ve done great. you were a highlight in this show and contributed a lot in it more than you think. i hope that through this, you can finally bring up10tion to the top.

i will continue supporting you through up10tion (YALL BETTER STAN UP10TION YOU COWARDS) or in any other endeavors. let’s support wooseok in his activities with x1, too. you are and will always be my first pick, lee jinhyuk.

LET’S WALK THE FLOWER PATH WITH WOOSEOK & UP10TION, JINHYUK!! ✨ HWAITING! 사랑해~

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cheddar-the-dog · 4 years

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b99 podcast episode 2:

relationship goals

@jake-and-ames and I have summarized what we think are the highlights of the second episode of the brooklyn nine-nine podcast. maybe those of you who can’t listen to the podcast for whatever reason can profit from it a bit

it’s under the cut because it’s quite long

[[MORE]]

Part 1 with David Phillips, Tony Nahar, Dirk Blocker, Joel McKinnon Miller

a season that’s focussed on Ensemble rather than singular performances

not filmed on stage usually but practical locations (rooms with walls)

3 cameras and their crews —> “single camera” style but multiple cameras that open opportunities to cross-shoot scenes

MEJ plays in the B99 softball team

they have 35 background actors of which 90% were there since s1

Scully and Hitchcock almost never have full storylines and often have punchlines or chime in (requires timing)

S7 spoilers around minute 14 but I blanked out tbh

Episode 12 of Season 2 The Beach House is a very significant episode for the cast and crew

Beach House Cold Open is where Holt spilled soup on his pants and Andy only needed one take for him to go into Holt’s office and spill soup on his own pants

Whole episode was originally Boyle story and his divorce but they went ensemble because it didn’t work

the Amy-Drink-Scale and 6-Drink-Amy (aka Gina’s Sasquatch) is elaborated throughout the episode (not revealed though if there is a 7-Drink-Amy)

Boyle’s borderline creepy lines are discussed around Minute 25

they spent 2 days shooting on location in Malibu and some of the cast stayed overnight and got to know each other more (Andy, Joel, Joe, Melissa and Chelsea and her then boyfriend now husband Jordan Peele)

it was so far away that on the first day when their call time was 7 AM they started shooting at 10:30 AM and it was hot but they had to pretend it’s winter

“Scully is a quintessential rennesaince man” - Joel McKinnon Miller

The bubbles in the hot tub were silent

there were lots of alts and the cast and crew just had fun and tried making each other break and corpse the scene - especially Andre

they intentionally made Holt apologize as an example of how a boss can behave vs how he would be expected to behave (Jake apologizing to him)

Part 2: Stephanie Beatriz, Laura McCreary, Luke Del Tredici

relationships (friendships, romantic relationships, bromances and Rosas coming out)

Steph doesn’t get recognized on the streets because of voice and mannerisms

in the beginning it was more focused on the Rosa/Charles relationship than Jake/Amy because Jake needed a lot of character work before they could think about getting them together/ him more fitting to Amy

Jake/Amy: pacing but also they don’t know how long they have, there’s no opportunity to really plan years ahead - if they would’ve know how long they have they would’ve held back longer with the romance but they knew from the beginning that they’re endgame

they try to avoid making Amy only “the wife”

“RIP Cheddar Number 3” - Laura McCreary

Rosa/Charles: they had Charles pining over Rosa in the pilot and according to Luke you repeat a lot of storylines in the beginning of a series because you’re trying to figure out who these characters are but as the show grew older so did the writers and eventually they realized it felt very inappropriate to not take no for an answer (Luke describes it as a “mistake” to not resolve it sooner)

Steph felt like it was inappropriate early on but didn’t have the courage to go to the writers and tell them how she felt because she was scared of losing her job and she didn’t know how things worked in that particular workplace bc she originally is a theatre actress

Charles and Rosa remain friends though and their relationship grows stronger. So much so that Rosa comes out to him first which Steph loved a lot

MEJ is still waiting for the vow renewal of Holt and Kevin (he pitched another idea during that episode)

Boyle/Peralta: McCreary said that because Jake can’t really mess up at his job because of stakes and he’s not perfect they made him mess up a lot with Charles’ friendship (also the ladies but mainly Charles)

Rosa had a good amount of relationships

“She’s trying. I don’t know if she’s living it but she’s trying.” - Steph

Rosa/Adrian: very opposite characters and she described Jason abd Pimento respectively as loose canons. Mantzoukas also taught Steph how to relax more in scenes (she’s praising his improv skills a lot as well as “he’s like a thorough bred dressage horse but kinda like crazy” - Stephanie Beatriz)

Rosa/Marcus: first on screen relationship that the writers used to get a Rosa/Holt dynamic going

Steph played Rosa queer from the beginning (she built on talking about Tonya Harding being hot for example)

the coming out episode: Steph was involved in creating the 99th episode and the coming out of her character a lot - she wanted Rosa to use the word bisexual repeatedly and the language that was used is a lot of what she had to hear personally. She talks about bi-erasure as well

The writers wanted to incorporate real life experiences into their show more to make it authentic and it was important to them to involve Steph and not just go for it because they had nobody who could speak for her specific experience

they emphasize the complexity of the characters and not just token diversity for brownie points. also different takes on classic masculinity tropes (a subject that repeats often also in Episode 1)

it’s meant to be a socially relevant show but they want to normalize the subjects they target and don’t make it 30 minutes of education and “here’s everything that’s wrong with x”

Terry/Sharon: a stable loving marriage between two black people

“Title of your sex tape” is a favorite joke, and since the series starts with established dynamics everyone in the squad is cool with joking about it/ it doesn’t feel inappropriate in their workplace because they’ve known each other for quite a long time

there’s a cut scene from the s6 finale where the vulture heard Jake say “title of your sex tape” and stole it to use himself which Jake in return hated more than anything he did, ever. And a similar instance (also a cut scene) where Hitchcock heard it and stole it as well

#b99 podcast #b99 the podcast #b99 #brooklyn 99 #brooklyn nine-nine the podcast #brooklyn nine nine #brooklyn nine nine podcast

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demetdelic · 4 years

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ricky x gina - 1.10

Listen - we only got a tiny scene in episode 10, but it was stunning nonetheless 🤩

Anyways here are my favorite parts & realizations:

I am also too old to be doing this but here I am & here I shall be until classes start on tmrw

1. ^ Hello, did I think Gina was going to be the one to find him? Yes & no. Mostly no lol. I keep my expectations low because it’s easier that way...plus we knew where the story was headed this season.

But Gina found him! It was *unexpected*, much like their friendship is with each other. It’s also emphasized once again that they’ve found a safe space to confide in one another - quite different from the comfort Ricky x Nini have established, but still one that gave the two of them a chance to really express & talk about their feelings. That’s led to a their growth as individuals too. Ugh love that for them.

2. ^^ “This is Nini’s big moment. And the best thing I can do for her is take a step back and...watch.” To which we can SEE the wheels turning in Gina’s mind at her expression. Perhaps it was then that she decided she will also do the same, because Ricky is quite possibly her closest & best friend at East High & she respects him/Nini enough to fall back with her feelings. We know G had already “stepped back” in regards to fighting for the lead in the musical, so I’ll just take this as her thinking she’s doing the right thing by bringing R back so he & Nini can have their moment.

3. ^^^ “C’mon then, let’s watch.” Ricky is hesitant, as it’s not ideal to see his ex boo singing with her ex boo, but Gina convinces him through a “what team? let’s go watch this white boy do what he does” moment. And this made the other sad white boi laugh! I’m just- tears. the TEARS. Gina knew the best thing for her bff was to be there for him & the even greater thing? He only agreed because she would be by his side. Now this doesn’t mean that this is Gina’s sole purpose as a character. But as her support usually does, it helps R step out of his comfort zone for a minute - which we know Gina pushed him to do so he could be there for Nini. Because again, in her mind, her friends’ happiness is more important.

(Normally I side eye those who “push” others to do something they don’t feel comfortable doing, but I think it’s a little different with Gina/Ricky’s relationship bc she shows him that he has other outlets to cope w/ his problems.)

4. ^^^^ “I’m glad you came back.” bruh. you & me both!!! Look at her face 😍. I wonder why Gina never says anything to further *that* convo - when she told Ricky not to say anything more about it, when Nini just hugged her after “disappearing Gina act”, and then now as she simply smiled back at him. I guess at this point she thinks she’s not staying, but I get sad that she doesn’t fully realize how loved she is so she doesn’t talk about it much 🥺 also yeah my bb look she’s glowing at the fact that her new friends want her back & miss her 🥺🥺

This show makes me soft. and these TWO make me cry sigh

#hsmtmts #ricky x gina #ricky bowen #gina porter #all the characters have surely come a long way since episode 1 but these babies are something special

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bendthekneejon · 5 years

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Hey any advice on keeping hope? I really want to but with some of these (f)leaks these days I get more and more stressed and I try to avoid them but head just keeps spinning the possibilities. Your list helps for all the possibilities but I just need some assurances if it is not a bother

Hi anon, take a deep breath. Try to examine the fleaks with more reason than emotion, remembering what you know about the characters and the plot. I’m gonna ramble a lot now.

We’ll start with Dany. Her story is one of empowerment, a source of strength for slaves, women, etc. and a hugely inspiring character for the audience as well. Her arch is one of overcoming adversities, of growing up, of striving to help people.

And madness? She’s wondered a bunch of times in ASOIAF if she’s mad, she’s scared about that. But tbh, haven’t you heard that asking yourself if you’re mad means that you aren’t? Lol, anyway, she’s never enjoyed murdering others. She banned torture ffs. She wasn’t like Cersei who sipped her wine as she smiled while watching the Sept burn to the ground.

I’ll tell you something that just happened to me. I got into an argument defending Dany on Facebook this week. I was saying how clear Martin has been that she’s a selfless and devoted queen and not a mad one, and that D&D are clearly forcing this “role” into her for the sake of drama. A bunch of book readers came after me to tell me I was wrong. They told me they found book!Dany unbearable and annoying, and that the show had changed her character for the audience to like her better, that they wrote her friendlier and nicer.

Now, idk if you’ve read the books anon, but when people call Dany annoying they’re usually referring to i. how she usually yells “but i’m a targaryen!” and ii. when she fell in love with daario and she was horny af. Now, I don’t think neither of these are wrong (first, her last name is what she uses to demand respect bc she’s a small girl; and 2nd, she’s a teenager who’s lonely as fuck OF COURSE she’s horny and needs some cuddling and good dick ffs). Anyway I’m rambling. I wanted to get to the following point: for these anti book!Dany dudes, show!Dany was less annoying and friendlier for the audience (even though she’s cute and funny in asoiaf anyway). So I realized they were contradicting themselves. If D&D have made show!Dany more likeable and friendly by omitting certain scenes from asoiaf (eg. when she made out with daario in front of everyone), it’s because D&D are emphasizing the characterization of a good queen. If they wanted her to be the ultimate villain, the “mad” queen, they would have included maybe the time when she tortured the wineseller’s daughter (that doesn’t make her mad though, she banned torture after that), they would have added MORE violence to prove this point. But they didn’t. Instead, they’ve shown this selfless queen risking her life, dragons and armies to save her bf and then the WORLD. They could’ve omitted that. They could’ve made her kill Varys when he told her he wouldn’t give her blind loyalty, but instead, they wrote a line where she tells him: “if you ever see i’m failing the people, you’ll look me in the eye and tell me how i’m failing them”. See my point? If D&D wanted her to truly become mad, they would’ve made an effort to build that progressive fall to madness like they did with Cersei, but they didn’t.

This quote is important: “So you don’t want anything to surprise you for surprise’s sake. You want everything to feel earned and to look back and go ‘okay, yeah, I could see how they were building to that.’ And from that I know from the final season, it does that.” (James Hibberd, EW’s Game of Thrones Weekly podcast). The thing is, the mad queen bullshit DOES FEEL unearned, because D&D have strived to show the opposite through the seasons. It’s a “surprise for surprise’s sake”, so it makes no sense with this quote. You know those YouTube videos that are called “Every Daenerys Targaryen Scene”? Watch them. Watch her arch, watch for yourself how D&D have built her.

Now, Jonerys’ plot is also crucial for this mad dany bullshit. Let’s examine the order of events in their love story:

Jon meets Dany and he’s annoyed by her (and she by him), thinking at the start that she’s just power hungry like Cersei and just wants the IT. He even wonders if she really is the Mad King’s daughter when he talks to Tyrion on the cliff.

Jon starts realizing she’s not thaaat bad when she gives him access to the mines.

Jon witnesses Dany risking her life and dragons to save him and his people, which made him realize he had misjudged her.

Jon finally “sees her for what she is” and falls in love with her true personality.

So, if D&D’s point is that Jon is gonna kill Dany bc he didn’t know her well enough (enough to realize she’s mad), they would’ve had him fall in love with her the moment he met her and then see her true colors of a “mad queen”. But they did the opposite. Jon thought FIRST she was the Mad King’s daughter, and then fell in love when he saw her for what she was. They could have reduced her and Jon’s plot to only physical attraction and sex. But they didn’t. They could’ve omitted Jon telling her “they’ll come to see you for what you are” after witnessing her selflessness. But they didn’t.

The same goes for Dany. The fact that she fell in love with Jon shows that she isn’t mad–what attracts her is also selflessness and goodness–did you see the face she put when she saw Jon’s scars??? When he volunteered to go beyond the wall to catch a wight? These times when she saw how caring Jon was for his people were the ones where she fell in love with him HARD. If she were mad, if she enjoyed violence and all that shit, she would LOVE Daario much more–a super violent dude–yet their relationship WAS reduced to sex only, and when she said goodbye to him on the show “she felt nothing”, and when she slept beside him in ADWD “she felt alone”. She didn’t love him. Violence does not attract her.

Jon was the one who held her hand as soon as he woke up in the boat, the one who knocked on her door for sex. Jon Snow!!! The dude who used to be a fuckign virgin until he got begged for sex 1000 times!!! Remember. He loves her, and loves her since he saw her for her true colors. He’s just conflicted and confused rn for drama purposes. So the fleak makes no sense.

On the other hand, what makes perfect sense is the assumption that the leaker got the names wrong (Dany and Cersei) and that Jon kills Cersei bc he COULD BE the valonqar (he’s the youngest brother in his fam) and Dany is the YMBQ. And Cersei has said “what can lyanna’s ghost do to harm us?” (cheers to @tomakeitbeautifultolive and @the-last-targaryens for this) and also “how can the Targaryen girl on the other side of the sea harm us?” (not the exact words, but same thing) in S4. Hmmmmmm… fishy. AND the “bells” leak also makes PERFECT sense for Cersei, and zeeero sense for Dany.

Also: Jon on his own on the Throne would be the most expected and boring ending EVER. Also consider this boy would be MISERABLE in that job. It’s literally what he wants the least.

And remember: Jonerys IS point of the story.

Also: this ending has NO single common point with LOTR’s ending.

And also: read the fleaks omfg the rest of them make no fucking sense. Bronn in the council are you fucjgin kidding me. That ending for bran?? Bullshit. Everything about them is nonsense. Think about them cold-headed. They’re absurd, stupid, they’re fucking comedy material. D&D are stupid too but these fleaks make no sense with Emilia’s interview where she says that the ending isn’t about who’s sitting on the Throne either.

I’m not defending d&d, but conflict is necessary for a happy ending to feel earned. ESPECIALLY inner conflict. So they’re doing all this stupid fucking mad queen shit for her happy ending to have more sense. Look at it this way, we still have TWO MORE MOVIE LENGTH EPISODES ahead. If the ending would be tragic, they would introduce the tragedy muuuch later, not two movies before it’s over.

FINALLY, please take care of yourself and this stress you’re going through. Eat fruits and vegetables, work out and sweat out the stress, and try to remain active during the day to take your mind off this if it’s making you this anxious. Your wellbeing is first.

#got positivity #got leaks #jonerys #daenerys targaryen #keep your hopes up guys #keep your fucking hopes up #it's better to cry on may 19th if things go badly than to start torturing yourself from now #this self-torture serves no purpose for you #it's doing you more harm than good #jonerys positivity

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yiulee999 · 5 years

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Hey! What do you think of OPM season 2? I still love it & am looking forward to next weeks new episode but i just wish Saitama had more screen time ;-(

hey nonny~!

apologies for the late reply, its a combo of not getting notifications (tumblr u useless trashbucket) and being on surgery rotation (i miss sleeping so much)

firstly, i am truly glad you still love it and look forward to the new episodes!!! 💖💖💖please dont let anything i say from this point on dissuade you from that enjoyment

THAT BEING SAID

///cut for length

ive only watched up to the second episode, and i am having Such Difficulties convincing myself to keep watching. i know my rxns to ep 1 were overall pretty positive and I stand by it but the more i watch the more the Cringe/Hypercritique starts take over.

Turns out, the art style had a bigger impact than i thought on the length of which i enjoy shows. personally, i just really like when anime/shows have a happy marriage between writing and artwork. and when show directors know how to interpret writing, how to set up a scene (the angle, the music, the pacing), and then communicate with artists who have the skills to bring that idea to life using the medium they’re given -- that’s when writing becomes storytelling. OPM’s writing is still fantastic since they’re going off ONE (whereas GoT has the opposite problem where the production value is 4K and the writing is early 2000s livejournal/fanfiction lol god why is everyone dropping the ball in 2019??)

As for the art, since opm switched to jc staff and shingo natsume & co. left for other projects ( ;;_____;; im emo ), its inevitable we would see a drop in animation quality and i find myself constantly getting distracted by things i never used to get concerned about in the first season (bc of the high bar of expectations set by s1 artists/directors, like theres just no way jc staff would match up it to all of that and i feel bad for them, they’re trying their best but that doesn’t mean theyre immune to critique on the artistic liberties that they’ve taken that i feel as a viewer, may not have been the best choice?)

the shading: no, just, unnecessary and distracting and why is it the center of saitamas face, im by far no expert in lighting but a bish can tell something doesnt look right???

the shading pt II: color choices. just gonna say i was not expecting sai’s ‘hair shirt’ in ep 1 to be bright-ass neon green, it was a little jarring at first and i miss him in red ;-; i get hes supposed to have poor fashion choices but i dont see him as the type to pick something that stands out so much in the crowd, like he likes to be left alone. NEON doesnt really relay ‘hi dont mind me im just barely existing here lol’

the shading pt III: genos arms/neck. okaY so the bby looks good in screenshots. like he’s shiny and nice to look at when nothings moving. bUT this is animation?? movement of objections is different from still life manga so making every single scene almost 99% like murata’s panels translates a little awkwardly to the screen (like staff is lucky bc murata’s a force of nature with his panels playing out like a movie for ref). but when genos moves, the arms are just distracting bc everything around him is drawn simply without shadows so they stand out by themselves and i (visually) forget about the rest of him haha.

the pacing: it feels scripted, person A says this so we’ll show person A in the shot, then person B is saying something so we have to cut to person B, etc etc like keeping pretty steady to manga lines to the point where i was starting to get bored bc i knew what was coming. it was really intervaled? like someone had to be saying something at a certain effect and i think s1 had more dramatic pauses (lol) but thats how you can place emphasis on scenes to have an emotional impact if the character doesnt say anything and just let the soundtrack do some talking and the cadence of the script will change too (im 10000% talking about the sunset scene in s1 god bless. like it was slow, there was MOOD there wasn’t any rush and really gave the viewer time to think about the relationship between the two characters and what that moment meant to each of them) i feel like there were several scenes that could have been more like in the scene where sai protected fubuki, could have been a little more dramatically emphasized (aka just a pause) so the viewer could get a chance to understand that he purprosefully shielded her or when genos says that strong heroes are drawn to saitama--bUT nope its the same pace, like c l o c k w o r k just like my t eARS--

the fight scenes: how do i even start. the one scene that got me INTO opm (like watching the anime, reading the manga, drawing fanart, writing fanfic, reading fanfics etc) was kickstarted by the fight scene between genos and saitama in s1 that was circulating on tumblr a while back. i thought the characters were interesting and the fight was badass and it just looked SO COOL. (also the forehead flick at the end just kinda sealed my fate). going from that to s2 fight scenes where its mostly cut scenes and freeze scenes?? where theres a cut out behind the characters back?? during a fight scene????? this isn’t a calling card or an anime opening??? i dont understand. when they dont do cut scenes, its interesting but my initial impression is just underwhelmed. i can find good parts but it feels like i have to replay the scene to notice it? theres also an overwhelming amount of graphics/cgi manipulation that overpowers the actual art sometimes. its lacking some of the fluidity that comes from hand drawn fight scenes from first season. OTL

the sound directing: so i thought that the mood just felt off for certain scenes and the sound didn’t seem to support the scene as well (unless it was like the character’s theme or smtg) and i looked it up and the sound director was also replaced (Yoshikazu Iwanami replacing Shoji Hata). i have no idea if the sound director is also in charge of character lines but there were parts were fubuki was monologuing and i had no idea she was inner monologuing, i thought she was talking out loud and that just took extra effort on my part to re-orient myself (im nitpitcking i know but its just how i watch shows lol)

there are still some parts i like about the animation:

fubuki looks bangin and i love her👌👗

all of this just made me realize how insanely lucky we were to have an amazing s1 and just have it exist and how i really could not care less if they had just waited forever to make s2 as long as we had the same crew come back. but anime is still a business and the quicker they dish out merch/seasons, the more money they can bring in. which they do in the short run but they would bring in more if they spent a little more on quality in the long run and it becomes one of those classics that ppl will rewatch and keep recommending to ppl who want to get into anime and oh my god we’re never gonna have that now, are we. if im gonna rec it to a friend its gonna be ‘read the manga!’ or ‘just watch s1!’ uGH. its just an unfortunate situation, its not one person’s fault either, so many factors go into what made opm s1 so spectacular and seeing s2 just made me appreciate s1 more. i guess im happy to have a s2 regardless?

i’ll still watch to support (and bc i like suiryuu and wanna see sai in a karate gi and wig lol). maybe i just have to get used to the new style.

so in summary,

#this got outta hand real quicc #sorry nonny u really didnt ask for this😅😅😅#i just have paragraphs of emotions #my inbox is open hit me w discourse if u disagree lol #this is just imho #Anonymous

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twdmusicboxmystery · 6 years

Text

Updated Thoughts on the Music Box

Good morning! One thing I was asked to post about is an update on the music box. I’ve thought a lot about it since S8 ended. You’d think I would be somewhat depressed or hopeless about it, but actually, I'm more hopeful than ever.

I know there are certain people, mostly haters and skeptics, who get annoyed when our theories change to match the show, but the fact is that as time goes on, we learn more about where the plot is going, and our theories change naturally. It’s only logical that they would. We’ve been wrong many times about when Beth will appear, but looking at the whole, we can see the structure better than ever before.

Let’s talk about the 4-season structure (S4-S8). When Gimple took over in S4, he set the show up for a whole new chapter, as was emphasized in the S4 trailer. He knew a 4-season arc starting with Rick as a farmer and non-leader in order to save Carl. Gimple knew he would move through Rick becoming brutal, having his ups and downs, and Carl would die. The whole point (as far as Rick’s arc goes) was that Carl’s death led to him showing Negan mercy, rather than killing him. It’s what brought Rick full circle and out of his brutality mindset.

Now we come to Beth.

She came front and center in 4x01 with the Bethyl hug, so obviously she was part of Gimple's plan. Let's take a little trip down memory lane, back to S2. TD has talked many times about how Gimple introduced Beth. Though he was only a junior writer in the show at that time, remember that he and only he worked on her suicide arc. With that arc he introduced her to the fandom in a way that made them root for her. Not necessarily like her, you understand, but root for her. I say that because her mindset and actions in S2 made her be perceived as a weak character.

Because she chose to live, people were glad and hoped she would continue to live, even if they saw her as weak overall. That way, they knew her and would remember her back story. That made it easy for him to have her step into a bigger role later in the show, which she did in S4.

I also want to point out that we actually know the showrunners have considered using Beth's death more than once as a catalyst for events in the show. Specifically, as a focal point of tragedy and to affect the other characters’ mindsets. They could've had her actually commit suicide in S2 if they wanted. They didn't, but if they had, what would that have accomplished? In terms of her character, not much. She would've been a disposable character that no one really liked and few remembered. But it would have caused a great deal tragedy for the Greene family. Rick and co. didn't know her very well then, and therefore wouldn't have been very sad about her death, but they would've had a lot of sympathy for the Greene family’s loss. Glenn would have had sympathy for Maggie, Rick for Herschel, and it probably would have affected Daryl, at least somewhat, because he was already in a dark place after losing Sophia.

Then in S3, although it again didn't happen, we know the showrunner planned to have Axel murder Beth in the prison. By then, the whole group had been together on the road for a season, and were much closer. Again, this would have affected TF bc of the tragedy of it, and probably been a catalyst for various plot lines. My point is that they planned more than once to use Beth's "death" to affect other characters and the plot.

After letting S8 percolate in my head for a few weeks, I've concluded that Gimple actually did the same thing when he brought Beth front and center in S4 as he did with her in S2. Of course, it was on a much bigger scale. He set her up in a way that would make people (Daryl) and the audience (again, because of Daryl) care about her deeply. Then Gimple took her away.

Her loss greatly affected both Maggie and Daryl, but also Rick and other members of TF. Because of Noah, it greatly affected events in the plot, sending TF north, toward DC, and sending Daryl spiraling downward into darkness. But I believe that Gimple very strategically reintroduced Beth to the audience in S4/S5 as 1) Daryl's love interest, 2) a person who's become strong, going from suicidal to bad ass, and 3) in an arc that would make us remember her and her back story and allow them to very easily have her step into a bigger role later down the road.

We see a lot of repeating arcs in the show, and the way they've written Beth's arc is no different.

So basically, I believe that Gimple always planned to do the 4-season arc and he had S4 through S8 plan from the very beginning. Because TD identified so many 8s or instances of 4-8 in the show and around Beth, we naturally assumed she’d be part of the 4-season arc. Obviously were wrong. But I think Gimple set her up early in S4 but always planned to have her return later, after that initial 4-season story.

This is been done other shows, in other universes. It may sound silly, but the best example can think of is the Marvel universe. (I'm sure there are better examples, but go with me on this.) TWD, like the Marvel universe, is full of dozens of different characters story lines, arcs, settings, and plots. So, remember after the first Avengers movie, there is an after-the-credits scene (not unlike Morgan's after-the-credits scene in Coda) that introduced Thanos (the purple bad guy in space, for those who don't know).

People who read the comics instantly recognized who Thanos was. (Kinda like people who read the TWD comics instantly recognized Beth’s scars as being Andrea’s.) We then didn't see him for several movies. He’s the focus of Infinity War, so he finally showed up in a film several years later. So we had a post-credits scene where they set up a foreshadow or a hint of something to come. But they had other stories to tell, other characters to develop, and it was years before the character they teased in that post-credits scene came into play in a big way.

So I think Gimple set Beth up as part of his 4-season arc, but she was never going to re-enter the story until after AOW ended. We thought she would, and were wrong about that. That doesn't mean she won’t reappear, though.

To recap: Gimple, who is famous for planning 10+ seasons in advance, set up a 4-season arc, and knew from the beginning how S8 would end. He had all the characters and arcs planned out, so he must then have known what would come after as well. He must have S9 already planned.

He tasked a certain female writer (Angela Kang) with writing the important Beth/Daryl episodes,

knowing that Beth would be written out of the story for a time, but that a return would be teased. Meanwhile, in the midst of everything that was going on with Rick's arc (remember what @thegloriouscollectorlady said about Coda really being all about Rick and from Rick's POV) Gimple apparently killed Beth off and then her body then disappeared. The episode in which that happened was called “Coda.”

So think of it this way. If the S4-S8 arc represents the main part of the song, well, the coda should come after that. Norman has hinted at a romance for Daryl in S9, we have some interesting things going on with Morgan in Fear, and Angela Kang will take over as show runner next season. Hmm.

Okay, I guess I haven't actually mentioned music box very much, so let me just say this:

The music box waking up was a resurrection symbol. I just don't think we can get around that. I know not everyone agrees with me on that, but we haven't seen any other symbol associated with a character that has woken up like that after the character dies. Granted, it would be kind of hard to do with other characters. For most others, like Michonne’s sword, Daryl’s crossbow, or Rick's gun, if they woke up and started doing things on their own, well, that would be creepy.

But they particularly chose something that could wake up for Beth. When Carl Carl found it, it was broken. They could've done things differently. The could've used her diary, or her necklace, or something else associated with her as a symbol and left it on the grave as they did with other people like Tyrese. If they wanted to use a music box as her symbol in this same way, they should've introduced earlier. Perhaps she and Daryl could've found it while they were together. It could have stayed broken or just worked the entire time. No, this was very specifically crafted. They used a music box to represent her, even though it was never actually associated with her in the show. It was very obviously broken, even after Daryl “fixed” it. Then, explicably, it suddenly burst to life and started singing again.

Not many ways that you can interpret that symbol other than resurrection. So I stand by what we’ve always said about the music box. It represents Beth being alive. I also think the symbolism we saw in 5x09 with Glenn breaking the CD goes along with this. Thinking of that reminds me of the line from the American Pie song: The day the music died… So then to reiterate that, we had a BROKEN music box. But then what happened?

“I still sing.”

Last time we saw the music box was in 5x16. I think showing it there represented, as I’ve said before, that the music box and what it represents are still in play, but we weren’t going to see it for a while. And we haven't. In 5x16, we saw Carl and Judith looking at it with the Morse code poster behind them, and it was in conjunction with scenes of the Wolves. All of which in my opinion are hints to how she will return. She will return after Carl's death, and probably in conjunction with the Wolves.

I also want to throw this out there. In 5x16, Aaron found a license plate on the wolf truck that said 816. We hoped that pointed to Beth’s (and possibly the Wolves) return in 8x16. Obviously not. However, we saw the music box in that same episode. So I'm wondering if perhaps it was meant to show that Beth and the wolves would return after 8x16. In other words, the current arc (S4-S8) would end after 8x16, and then the music box would return. Just an idea.

So maybe you will think this is compelling stuff, or maybe you’ll roll your eyes at it. Once again, Norman did hint that Daryl would have some romance after AOW, which will be S9. And Gimple said beginning of S5 that Daryl would eventually find love. So I’m going to reiterate this once more. If next season they bring on a new love interest for Daryl, and it's a genuine love interest, with a lot of the same symbols we’ve seen with other couples (like intertwined fingers while holding hands)

and phrases we’ve heard with other soulmate couples, at that point I will finally give up on Beth's return. Because it will be obvious that they always planned a different love interest for Daryl and it’s not Beth.

But I don’t believe that will be the case. I think Daryl’s love interest will be Beth and she’ll finally get her coda.. The intertwined fingers always show a person’s long-term partner. If Beth wasn’t meant to be that for Daryl, they wouldn’t have shown us the symbols. We’ve seen them with Richonne, Carnid (which made sense bc Carl was never going to have another love interest since he died soon after kissing Enid) and we’re starting to see them with Carzekiel. Between these facts and Norman’s, “If Daryl falls in love with you he’s going to love you for the rest of his life,” Beth is really the only love interest Daryl will ever have.

I think we may see the music box again next season, just before or when she appears, because that's her symbol.

So these are my updated thoughts on the music box. It's going to be a long hiatus, but I'm very hopeful for S9. Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl #beth's music box

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