#bittersweet maybe but its not all tragic imo

[yuri-is-online]

Call me tragedy anon w the way i slurp that shit up real. Okay but in all /srs i'm a firm believer that most love stories or stories in /gen in TWST are mainly happy love stories tragedy? Never heard of them!!!

But i think most would be more fascinated to figure out thats its popular in Yuu's world. Like why??? Don't people not like being happy more than sad? and its true!! But there's always something cathartic about well-written tragedies (imo at least) and people enjoy that feeling. Personally the media i enjoy and stick to me the most are usually the ones that have open ended or ambiguos endings that leave a bittersweet after taste in your mouth. Something about retrospecting and finding peace that yes even though it never ended well, there was happiness, or maybe if not happiness then maybe peace to be found in a story like that. The love was still there!!!! Do you understand!!!???

Orpheus can never be with Eurydice ever again, but the two loved each other!! Icarus will always die but the sun kissed his face!!! Do you understand!!!!!!!!!!

I want to thank you for sending me this on valentine's day. It is so fitting I should have answered immediately.

Welcome to the stage tragedy annon! W takes in this ask right here your brain is massive.

Orpheus can never be with Eurydice ever again, but the two loved each other!! Icarus will always die but the sun kissed his face!!! Do you understand!!!!!!!!!!

I UNDERSTAND I AM THINKING I AM FEELING I AM CRYING BUT I FEEL SO FULFILLED!!!!!!!!!!

I really like happy endings and have a hard time playing the bad end in otomes but one of my favorites, Birushana has these tragic endings that I have done some of and GOD. The image of Shungen screaming at Tomomori as he cradles Shanao's dead body, saying he can't just take her away as Tomomori prepares to jump into the ocean and drown with her only for him to say "You misunderstand, she is taking me." .·°՞(≧□≦)՞°·. i am crying, screaming, throwing up etc. and so on because fucking damn that's what it's about. The love is so real it has to endure even when everything else is gone.

I think that Idia might find some morbid comfort in that concept which is why I mentioned the Orpheus and Eurydice connection in his long fic musing. I don't think he would find it romantic necessarily, but certainly comforting. Like at least by Yuu's weird standards his curse isn't the major set back he thought it would be and even if things end badly they will still see it as worth it? That's weird, odd, and something he outwardly wants to make fun of but not something he really can when that's what he has come to believe too after his overblot.

Jade and Azul both work really well for this too. Azul because he believes love is inherently exploitable, so the idea that stories end badly in your world just further cements his own bias. The idea that you would consider the bad ending to make things no less real or valuable though, THAT he would need some time with. What do you mean Orpheus fails to save Eurydice is the point of the story? He has a hard time coping with the idea of losing already, adding that into romance as a selling point doesn't make sense from a consultant's point of view. You want to win in the end no? Not just be left ugly crying alone. Jade on the other hand... I just like to see him eat shit on something like this tbh. "Oh I would never do something like that, what an idiot for looking back-" Jade would actually show up at the gates of the underworld and he would still look back because he needs you to be there exactly like the myth foretold and he would be cursing fate the entire time.

I feel like I leave Floyd out of these sort of things so I want to add him here because I feel like he would dismiss the idea of tragedy as a good thing but not because he like. Doesn't think it doesn't exist or something he just doesn't care. He already knows the time you spend together will be enjoyable, and if it ends with death or with him going too close to the sun, well that was the point wasn't it? Kind of like he gets the point but not because of the example given. It's also why I could see him actually successfully making it through to a happy ending. He has this line in Chapter 7 when Lilia is scolding the Octatrio that made me scream because of how good of a job the VA did with it:

And if he says his place is a happy ending I believe he'd make it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#<3 asks #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #i was prepared to write and post like #actual fic and then an inconvenience occurred #god i should think more about tragedies with the boys #i have some thoughts about a jean of arc coded yuu and rollo #and then like some stuff with azul involving necromancy #don't worry about it

[roobylavender]

i adore everything you have ever said about bruce and talia, the recent post about the romantic tension is something I thought about too. do you have any other similar post-lexcorp era headcanons for them. I agree on talia choosing her own path seperate of the playing house future people like to adopt for her but the bittersweetness of their relationship after that is so !!! something about tragic romances or duty before love romances are incomparable! do you have any other such ships?

so like. for whatever all i said and my many cries that if talia was never in a batbook again i would be happy (and i really would like fuck that editorial team) i do think it's obv it would be completely impossible to stage jason's return and damian's introduction without her being involved yknow. so i have a lot of overarching hcs about her being an ally during that time period in the batman mythos but less as someone easy on the eyes and more as someone truly painful for bruce to look at. bc there's a lot of explaining she has to do. how does she explain how the red hood came to be. how does she explain potentially killing the joker (bc let's be real. she would. killing is a non-option for talia until not doing so directly puts a loved one's life at stake and i do believe whatever fucked up effect the joker has on jason would qualify by her standards). how does she explain not telling bruce that she did have a baby. how does she explain that bc she walked away from ra's she wasn't careful enough and ra's found out and got the baby back. etc etc. to me the irony of the completion of lex corp era is that like. you had a glimpse of the repreive that could be wherein bruce and talia may have almost believed they could maybe reconcile and speak to each other on warmer terms. but with the way everything else in the batman mythos was going shit would inevitably hit the fan and everything talia thinks she walked away from would come rushing back to haunt her. and it would create a really great opportunity, i think, to turn bruce and talia's dynamic on its axis while focusing on how all of this only hurts talia more, bc obv bruce is going to be upset. but what about all of the times talia was upset and had to make the difficult decisions and go it completely alone. she was wrong and she made some mistakes but he doesn't get to patronize her after everything he's put her through yknow. so i'm really intrigued by the idea of this time period where they both want the same things - for jason and damian to be safe and happy - but there is so much grief behind how all of them got here that they'll have to wade through first and that will inevitably put them under the microscope of their surrounding audience bc everyone will see clearly how much they care for each other and yet how stubborn and principled they are anyway, and how this ultimately keeps them apart as much as their circumstances do

as for other romances of a similar kind this is why i recced song of the bandits recently! the main couple have very strong brutalia vibes imo even though the setting contextually is very different

#outbox

[castielcommunism]

this is confession anon again, just wanna say YES to everything you've said, I think my point probably got across poorly because I have a fever and my brain is not on it. it being a win is entirely because I remember how toxic and homophobic this place was back then, and how difficult it was to come to terms with being queer when there was such an abundance of animosity (even if you avoided the actors, it really radiated across fandom in a very unpleasant way). I've never been able to watch the confession in its entirety more than twice and the only reason I feel I kinda warmed to it is because of the fandom content it generated and having that "oh my god, this happened" realisation (timing of the pandemic also cannot be underestimated, I was deep in my own mental illness and was in such a bad place and fandom really brought so much joy to me all because of this shit confession), but I've been a cas girl for a decade and it. Stings. Like you say, it makes no sense and it feels undeserved narratively speaking, and it does a huge disservice to cas and his character, because like you say, it's not even about him? You're telling me he's gonna get killed off and never shown again and not only is he never gonna get told someone loves him or that he's important or that he was more than how he could help, you're gonna make his final moments of the show all. about. Dean. And I KNOW this is controversial and I really don't blame anyone for finding the confession healing or nice or whatever, but even as a textually queer love confession it is so oddly palatable for that I'm-not-homophobic-but-gay-sex-makes-me-uncomfortable crowd. It's in just saying it? Biggest happiness is coming out? I know berens is gay but god. I don't want to downplay the relief and joy and happiness coming out can bring someone, but surely so much of that comes from being able to DO things and LIVE and be WITH PEOPLE. Why should he act happy and grateful when he knows he's gonna die? The person he has spent twelve years loving from afar is finally gonna see him without the enforced distance and he's gonna die and it's unfair and tragic and maybe he allows himself to be happy, but it should be angry and bittersweet too. Alleyway scene vibes should have been it!!! (sorry I don't mean to rant and I'm not sure if I'm coming across like a complete idiot, I just. have so many thoughts and feelings about this)

Isolating a few points from this ask:

re: pandemic stuff - the confession was literally the perfect storm of bullshit like it literally could not have hit at a better time. one of the most depressing and soul crushing US elections in recent memory paired with the terror of the first year of the pandemic, and then you have supernatural do the most homophobic gay rep of a main character you could possibly ask for. like it really was a such a good time that I’m genuinely glad it was that terrible, if only for the funniest 48 hours I’ve ever spent on tumblr.

re this part:

And I KNOW this is controversial and I really don't blame anyone for finding the confession healing or nice or whatever, but even as a textually queer love confession it is so oddly palatable for that I'm-not-homophobic-but-gay-sex-makes-me-uncomfortable crowd. It's in just saying it? Biggest happiness is coming out?

I’m of two minds about this. one of the one hand, yes, this was the most homophobic & vague way of delivering a gay love confession. “It’s in just saying it” is Cas just settling for acknowledging his feelings. Not having them be reciprocated, not actually experiencing the good parts of coming out (living life authentically as yourself), just like, saying them to someone, which is imo the worst fucking part of coming out. Who gives a shit what people say! That’s not the fun part! I fucking hate that part! I know peoples’ experiences with coming out differ but jesus dude. this is theeeeee most bs nonsense non-rep rep ever. it’s NOT in just saying it, it should be in living it!

on the OTHER hand, I find that most people saying they thought the confession was just Cas reiterating that he and Dean were super duper BFFs or whatever to be wilfully obtuse and operating in bad faith. if it goes over the heads of some conservative dads watching it then like fine whatever, but if you’re aware that gay people exist then I find it laughable that anybody would interpret the confession as anything other than what it was, which was a confession of romantic love. Anybody who does one of those cutesy “I just thought it was an expression of friendship!” is being deliberately malicious and obtuse, which I’ve seen mainly from anti-destiel people. And like just be honest and say you hate it bro! It’s super easy! I do it all the time! To deny its clear romantic intent is a pussy position to take and I don’t want to give those people any sort of credit just because the writers were trying to have their cake and eat it too vis a vis The Destiel Debate.

And to synthesise these points, I think that’s exactly what they were going for, which is what you said - plausible deniability with the conservative dad crowd (who inexplicably still watch this show for some reason?) while also appealing to the gays who watch the show. It’s a pretty good sleight of hand, especially because it’s NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN LMAO. Why make Castiel Supernatural gay if you’re not actually gonna address the fact that he’s gay and in love with the main character of the show, whose final and ONLY emotional reaction to this confession was to sob violently on the floor for hours after Cas was perma-killed.

Anyway yeah largely agree. It’s a “win” in that we have textual confirmation of something that was a long time coming and very dear to a lot of people, and a loss in the sense that it was done in the most ridiculous, homophobic, and terminally depressing way possible. But at least the posts were good!

#spn.txt #cas.txt #asks #meta #long post

[stormyblue90]

Writing Tag Game!

Tagged by @my-soliloquy-chamber 

How many works do you have on AO3?

Just 5 humble fics. All but one are oneshots. Ok one is actually a twoshot but...

What’s your total AO3 word count?

29069 (at the time of this post)

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Blessed by the Gods at 95

Patches at 75

Remembrance at 52

Flowering at 26

Under Your Scars with a humble 9

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I? Unless its hate or troll comments, but thankfully I don’t get those....

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Uhh... Remembrance. It has a bittersweet ending.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the strangest one you’ve written?

No. I’m not big on crossovers, at least ones that are meant to be taken seriously. However if they’re done for humor, or the crossover genuinely makes sense for the world to crossover. (for example Kingdom Hearts and any animated kids movie)

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Once. A long time ago when I was just STARTING to write fanfic as a teenager. It actually stoped me from writing ANY fic until fairly recently. Tragic really, because it’s likely I could’ve improved SO MUCH as a writer. I’ll admit, the fic I wrote back then WAS bad, but it was a simple Canon/OC oneshot I wrote while bored in school. And this was also back when Canon/OC ships were “cringe” “instant Mary-Sue” (which the OC of the fic was called), and just in general looked down upon.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have NEVER written a single line smut EVER! I...honestly don’t know IF I ever will. It would end up being a matter of if I’m COMFORTABLE writing such scenes, which, if you asked me that 5 or 10 years ago, I’d say “EW GROSS! No way!” However now...I’m not entirely sure...

But I have been told once IF I did, I’d probably write some really good stuff. Apparently Aces and/or Aros can be like...scary good at writing sex and romance.... I know if I did, I’d focus primarily on the INTIMACY and SENSUAL aspect of it as that is sooooooo much more interesting to me than just raunchy, kinky, hard sex. I’d prefer to write “love-making” and not “fucking”. Yes there IS a difference IMO. The former allows the characters to show more of their characters, what they like, don’t like, exploring each other, LEARNING about each other and bonding closer!

I will NEVER write dub-con/rape scenes EVER!!!!! I don’t wanna read it OR write it...

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Once. LOOOOOONG time ago. I found it and confronted the “author”. It was straight up PLAGERIZED. They just changed the name of the character. Worst part was that it was a GIFT FIC for someone else and their OC! Thankfully the thief DID take it down and apologize.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. Never thought about it honestly, but it sounds like it could be fun so long as there’s plenty of communication to make it coherent.... unless you want it to be an absolute disaster for funsies.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Of ALL TIME? Uhhh.....I don’t really know. I’m not the biggest shipper to be honest. But frankly the one I’ve shipped the longest, since discovering “shipping” almost 20 years ago, would be Zutara (Zuko/Katara of Avatar the Last Airbender)

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Weeeeeeeell.... I’m HOPING Under Your Scars DOESN’T become this.... otherwise... hmm... Probably the Voltron Fix-it-Fic I started writing a few years ago, but never posted, because I essentially rage-quit the series. (the ONLY show I’ve rage-quit!)

What are your writing strengths?

I’m not sure honestly... Maybe writing (non-sexual) intimacy between characters? No one’s ever really told me what I’m GOOD at in my writing...

What are your writing weaknesses?

FINISHING A MULTI-CHAPTER FIC!!!! I’ve NEVER been able to do it! I hope I will be able to finish Under Your Scars.

Also, fight scenes. Like, I understand HOW to write them, but it’s writing the... “choreography” of the fight. Like...what moves are used, how its reacted to or countered, etc.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Uhm...for dialogue? Sadly I’m not bi or multilingual, and don’t trust Google translate to be accurate enough. So, unless it was a single word or phrase taught to me by a native speaker of that language, I wouldn’t use it. But I’d be sure to give a translation of course. Whether in the author notes, or have a character translate it in the story.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I....think it was some (terrible) Kingdom Hearts fanfic I wrote with two friends in highschool, circa. 2007-2008...

The second was an ATLA fic (the one that got the hate comment)

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

You DARE ask me to choose? Might as well ask a parent who their favorite child is! But seriously, I....really don’t know or have a fav... There’s different things I like about all the stuff I’ve written.

I’m tagging.... whoever wants to do this....

#writing #tag game #my writing

[sometimesrosy]

I’ve been thinking a lot about outlander and t100 which has led me to this; I see so many similarities between j/c and b/c. Yes, Clarke and Bellamy can “live” without the other, it’s like Jamie and Claire said to each other, it’s like living without a heart, or with half a heart. Claire had to raise Brianna so she did and she had a life and a job, Clarke raised Maddie and created a home. Jamie had a job and married someone, Bellamy became the leader of spacekru and got with echo. But then they

Pt.2 to an outlander/t100 ask; they found each other again and Claire and Jamie dropped everything to be together. And so did Bellamy for Clarke kinda. Dropped his people and echo and sanctum and ran off to save Clarke no matter what. So even though C/J are definitely more soul matey-dependent on each other, both couples have loved each other through space and time. For years, and have found their way back to each other every time. Love that for my two fav ships ❤️❤️❤️❤️

+++

I just caught up (almost) on this season Outlander (i still have to watch last night’s show because i couldn’t wait to get ALL the season on dvr,) so i dug this question out of my inbox. Sorry to keep you waiting so long.

Bellarke and J/C are, I think, the same romantic trope in many ways. That love beyond death, time and space epic love thing. 

In fact, is this a spoiler? I think this is a spoiler. So I’ll try to be a little vague.

The last episode I watched had Jamie near death, and the only thing that brought him back was Claire’s love/touch. Love’s true kiss/kiss of life sorta. 

And when they had their intimate discussion the next day when they woke up, (bellarke had one too,) Jamie told her that he came back because she needed him. (Bellamy told Clarke he needed her too.) Claire asked “not because you love me?” (which would never happen with bellarke, no saying the L word.) And Jamie said he loved her when they’re together and when they’re apart and even in death he’ll love her. Which, fine, that didn’t happen on The 100, or rather, they never SAID that on the 100 because Bellarke don’t TALK about things like that... BUT Clarke lived for 6 years talking to him every day because he kept her going. And Bellamy lived with a bit of Clarke’s heart inside his heart and tried to live for her. So their love, too, unstated as it may be, also follows Jamie’s statement. 

It’s the same archetypal story. Fated lovers, soulmates, separated by cruel fate/gods/apocalypse, but a love that is true and real and continues past death, time and space. 

Clarke was assumed to have died in praifaya/Jamie was assumed to have died in Culloden. Bellamy went to space/Claire went to America.  Clarke lived for Madi/Claire lived for Brianna.  Bellarke had 6 years apart/Claire and Jamie had 20? years apart. Bellamy discovered Clarke was alive through distant messages/Claire discovered Jamie was alive through distant messages. The lovers were reunited, in jeopardy. Oh and they had to deal with relationships over the time jump. Bellamy w E/Jamie with Laoighre (did I spell it right?Laoghaire) Hah then they had fights with the powers that be. Then they went on a journey. (Bellarke to sanctum/Jamie and Claire to America.)

Well then our two stories are separated, because while they both have the same archetypal love story, they are told in different GENRES. Outlanders is a time travelers and warriors history in a romance genre. The 100 is an epic love story in a post apocalyptic action tragedy science fiction genre. 

The romance genre has, as it’s core plot, “how do these epic lovers find each other/save each other/find a HEA.” Jamie and Claire are an established relationship, married (arranged marriage trope actually, they married before they fell in love,) with children (brianna, roger, fergus, ian, marsali,) and GRANDCHILDREN (Jemmie and all Fergus and Marsali’s kids.) Traditional romance should have a Happy Ever After ending or a Happy For Now ending. But this whole epic thing puts a doubt on how everything will work out. Their struggles never end. Is the book series even done yet? I don’t know. (there are ten books planned she’s only published 8)

The post apocalyptic science fiction show OFTEN has a romance at it’s center, but not always, and being post apocalyptic genre, does NOT have a required Happy Ever After ending, so the romance could end tragically or disappointingly. You never know if the post apocalyptic stories are going to end with hope or end with no hope. And that puts the romance at the center of its story at risk. Take, for instance, Maggie and Glenn on The Walking Dead. ): Great love story shown on screen. beautiful. D:  ): Not so much a happy ever after show. More like a life sucks and then you die and then you come back as a zombie show. HOWEVER, I do think that JR is tending towards the happy ever after bittersweet post apocalyptic genre, as evidenced by Marper’s ending. They broke the cycle and lived a life on their terms. HOWEVER again, it’s not certain, as evidenced by KABBY’s ending, where they DIDN’t break the cycle... or Kane broke the cycle that Abby was continuing. So though their love was lost, it was sacrificed to a better world. Anyway. It’s dangerous to ship on a non romance show. imo. 

But for Bellarke, the central relationship of The 100, with a love story archetype that matches the swoonworthy Outlander story, we have “how do these epic lovers find each other/save each other/find a HEA” with the CORE plot, and then the umbrella plot, the “plot” plot, of “How do Clarke and her soulmate Bellamy save and redeem humanity and become the good guys?” So we’re watching the umbrella plot while the core plot is going on. 

BOTH stories have the main characters suffering ENDLESSLY, with themes of love, love lost, betrayal, family, found family, war, the end of the world (literally for The 100 and for certain people [the highland scots, and i think the native americans] in Outlander, generations, warriors heroes, DOCTOR heroines, trying to become a hero/find your place, death and a heroine who stops death, saving your people, trauma, ptsd, tyranny, criminals, heroes who are called criminals.

Clarke and Bellamy are a good deal younger than Claire and Jamie, and in a time when people don’t start their families so young, and also where women aren’t subordinate.  But also, The 100 has a hope of breaking the cycle of violence because it’s about the future, while Outlander, about the past, cannot break the cycle of violence. We KNOW Britain defeats the clans. We KNOW that slavery will last for generations and the natives will be driven out and massacred. 

So what Claire and Jamie are looking for is a way to ESCAPE the fated horrors that they can’t stop. While Clarke and Bellamy are looking for a way to STOP the impending horrors and make up for the past.

These two stories definitely have a conversation going. Did JR read Outlander before starting The 100? Quite possible. In fact maybe THAT’S why he says it’s not a time travel story even when we know something wonky is going on with time. Because OUTLANDER is a time travel story and this isn’t like that at all. 

#the 100 #outlander #comparative lit #genre #romantic tropes #archetypes #parallels

[thirdmagic]

anyway now that i'm finally back on browser and can write long posts, full spoilery thoughts on rise of skywalker

i had a lot of time to think about it and honestly the more i did the more i went from 'i liked and was ok with most of it until the ending' and now the more i actually thought about it the more it progressed to 'actually, i kind of hate it, and there are individual moments that are very good that i love and then the ending ruins that too and now it rings horribly hollow and now i'm just sad and disappointed and also baffled at this whole movie'

first of all, the good part is: REYLO REYLO REYLO REYLO REYLO REYLO REYLO R E Y L O

i admit i had a very embarrassing reaction of pure unfiltered joy when they kissed because it was such a perfect moment, but also, in general? all the bits involving these two were easily the strongest and the most compelling. a lot of other very stupid bad moments tangled in between, but on the whole, when it was just them, their dynamic, their force bond, it was really intense and spicy and so resonant and beautiful all at one. i love them so so so much. their dynamic is SO juicy and good, their fights were amazing and gorgeous and also spicy and intense, and then the bits of palpatine fight where they interact without any words and just look at each other and you can just tell exactly what's going on without them even needing to say anything, the way they smile at each other and the love in their eyes, the tenderness in every motion, the encouragement when they see each other through the force bond in the middle of the ritual and rey just knows.... these moments are some of the best filmmaking in this whole movie.

unfortunately that was also when we got the bizzare exposition dump on her dumb backstory retcon that's very very delicately done so as to still be consistent with tlj and and this brings me to rey palpatine, which, on the one hand, is kind of the only rey heritage theory i'd ever accept and (ironically) the lesser of several evils that the heritage theories are, but also the undoing of what was really, really compelling in tlj about rey nobody and the horrible waste of potential that came from rey being a Nobody McNothing, her search for identity and ultimately accepting that it doesn't actually make her lesser as a human being, the potential that this movie is when she'll face her insecurities and emptiness and accept herself and find and forge her own path.... and also honestly it's dumb. it's really really dumb. if it had been built up to in any way in any of these movies, that would be one thing, and i actually find a lot of rey's struggles really interesting in concept but just awful and messy and forced in execution, and the idea of rey struggling with being good against an evil legacy and her own darkness is really compelling too, but rey doesn't need to be a palpatine or to want revenge on her actually good parents when being abandoned and alone her whole life is a very very good reason for her to have anger and hatred and darkness to struggle with. it also implies that she's evil because her great grandpa who she never met is evil and because genetics as opposed to like....... again, being abandoned and sold by two asshole jerk parents and having to repress the awful trauma of that her whole life and being unable to come to terms with it, which was interesting, and powerful, and very very real, and then it just throws away a really compelling set up for something really boring and bad. and then an ending for her that has no impact or emotional resonance and makes no sense and isn't in the least bit satisfying.

i will say though that i love love LOVE the dark rey fight, it was a vision but in the exact right Symbolic way, i loved rey struggling with her darkness in theory and it was the one and only part that was executed well, it was truly something that felt like it belonged here, it was eerie and intense and good. and unfortunately not properly followed on in any interesting way.

there were a few jokes that i liked and found funny! the way c3po says 'irony, sir' when poe asks him 'why can you not talk when we NEED you to' has me losing my shit, that was great, and also poe lighting the flashlight when rey uses her lightsaber as one was also hilarious. in general there were definitely a few actually purposefully funny moments that i liked.

ben's whole storyline up til the end was the only thing that really felt consistent and on track imo, a few missteps but mostly stayed solid, and I was very happy to get my bendemption. i can't describe how emotional i got at the scene with han and him throwing away his evil red saber and him calling han 'dad', and the force awakens callback-- i don't know why han is back as a ghost or if that's just a symbolic illusion or whatever, i don't care. adam driver is magnificent, and seeing him as ben again, seeing him comfortable with himself, and happy, on the light side, being playful while fighting and messing with the knights of ren because he’s so powerful and confident in his power, was worth everything. if there's one thing this movie really did right is that it made me suddenly realize that i actually love kylo-ben and also made me realize that i was so much more invested in his happiness than i thought, and unfortunately it made me realize this right as the story gave him maybe a few minutes or seconds of real joy and a beautiful sincere happy smile and then killed him off, and that's when i felt my soul being crushed.

look, i don't have tragic endings, okay, i don't hate even bittersweet endings, the purpose of an ending is to be satisfying and wrap up and tie together all the story strands in a way that makes sense for the story. that's not what this was. i would be willing to forgive the fact that the rest of the movie was a big stupid mess if it had just given the whole saga a proper ending, if it had been like umineko episode 8 which is also a big mess but with a perfect, beautiful, satisfying ending for the entire vn. but instead this just ruined everything, and made me feel miserable, hollow, and sad. this specific story, and trilogy, and nine part saga, did not need that kind of ending. we had a tragic and bittersweet ending for the first two, a happy ending to redeem all the misery of the skywalkers would have felt sincere instead of saccharine because you feel that they fought for it. and it would be a good complement to the rest of the movies and the message. instead we have two people who have both been lonely and emotionally isolated their entire lives finding solace and happiness and comfort in each other, finally finding a true connection and someone who understands them, but only getting to be together for all five minutes before the story rips them apart. and for what? what is this trying to say? what is the point? what is the point of doing that to either of them? how does this serve the story? what is the purpose of this? the tragedy and the depressing ending of the prequels is purposeful and intended and is done to make a point, because it's the story of a fall from the very start, by design, by its very premise. the tragedy of umineko is purposeful and done to make a point because it is about how these tragedies happen, and why, and the human behaviors that lead to them. how is it a good ending and how does it serve and complement anything in the rest of the saga to have one tragedy and one happy story with a bittersweet ending be concluded with a hollow pretension of a happy ending where one main character is miserable his entire life and dies when he’s still young after only a taste of the happiness that’s been denied to him, and the other loses her soulmate and is alone and surrounded by people who she herself said don't really know and understand her? taking on the name of a more famous family as if that's the only way she can forge and identity and meaning for herself?

ben's death actually had me so down and so sad i can't even be angry, honestly. the rest of the movie was full of dumb shit, it's like 80% mcguffin chasing with barley any actual character development or any substance and meat to it, rey-finn-poe have no chemistry because they were never supposed to have because they were never meant to be the trio of the movies until oscar isaac convinced jj to let poe live and that messed everything up because the thematic trio of these movies is finn-rey-ben, rose being sidelined because we need to please the racists who are threatened by her existence i guess and her relationship to finn ignored, the absolute waste of all the new characters and the incredibly stupid hux reveal that's also for naught right afterwards, rey's force lightning, the chewie death fakeout, the entire final battle being a big mess, finn not doing anything interesting or meaningful, the general weird bizarre baffling writing and dialogue choices and how it reads and plays out like something completely disconnected from not just the rest of the trilogy but the entire 9 movies and feels like a messy rough draft that a completed screenplay, and the all over the place pacing and everything... i would have accepted this is a weird, entertaining, fun movie if it weren't for the horribly depressing ending that makes what the creators apparently thinks is a happy ending ring terribly hollow and make me unable to find any joy in it. it's just so depressing i don't have the energy to even be fired up about hating it and i sincerely cannot for the life of me understand why it went this way. how is 'if you're miserable your entire life and make bad choices because of it your only way to redeem yourself is to sacrifice your life and have your one chance at happiness taken away from you because you don't deserve to live past your attempts to fix your mistakes and don't get to have a better life for your efforts'? how is that supposed to mesh with the rest of the story? how is that hopeful or uplifting or anything this saga is supposed to be? what even is this movie about other than the old and tried and redone ten million times 'believe in yourself and the friends you made along the way' message that means nothing at this point?

so yeah. thing bad. and i don’t even have the energy to be salty or angry. i’m just sad and disappointed and depressed about it all. and you know, coming from me, i’m very lenient and can find the good in nearly anything and can appreciate a lot of flawed and otherwise messy media for what it tries to do and for the good it does have. i love all the movies in the saga and i’m still a prequel fan. and the fact that i found this to be so disappointing and unsalvageable and tried to be positive about it and failed should tell you something. 

anyway i'm going to go get a warm blanket, some ice cream or other comfort food while i go watch tlj again to cleanse myself and remember what good movies made by people who understand what's important are like, and maybe go watch marriage story and whatever other stuff adam driver is in, and find a way to watch knives out again, and then binge on the most self indulgent reylo fanfic i can find and a lot of fix-its to heal my soul. i'm not going to stop liking or caring about star wars, or this trilogy, which had one very pleasant solid movie and one excellent and fantastic one, and plenty of other good content out there, just because the last movie dropped the ball so hard, but i am going to stew in my sadness and angst about it for a good long while.

#tl;dr [deep sigh] #textpost

[ashleylikeshorror]

Black Christmas (2019) | Trailer

“You messed with the wrong sisters...” 

Words cannot explain how bummed this trailer for the remake of Black Christmas made me. Maybe I’m missing something? If so, please message me and fill me the fuck in because I’m so damned confused at what I just watched. 

It seems like we’re in the age of remakes and burnt out sequels that just shouldn’t exist. It sucks ass, but as long as the money keeps flowing in for these shitfest films, they’re going to keep hitting the screens like fucking member berries from South Park. “Member Black Christmasssss????” Yeah, I do. It sure as hell wasn’t what was depicted in that trailer either. 

I’m just going to cut to the chase here, spare you all (and myself) the bullshit of digging into the three production companies and Takal’s credits. This post is about the trailer, this post is about Black Christmas and how what that trailer is ISN’T Black Christmas, so let’s get to it. 

First of all - the biggest fucking no-no in the trailer... Why would you show the fucking TWIST of the movie? The school knows about the murders, and it’s some ritualistic bullshit that has to take its course at the expense of the girls every year? With strong emphasis on every word, again: why would you show the fucking twist of the movie? By doing that you’ve basically shown everyone your film before it even hit theaters. Not only that, you’ve shown us that this movie isn’t a Black Christmas remake. If anything, and I’ll be generous here, this is a reimagining of Black Christmas. 

Look at this poster. How fucking lazy. The tagline? “Slay, girls”? 

Being a woman, I absolutely understand the draw this make this about girl power. However, the original Black Christmas was frightening due to the LACK of power these women had. The absolute brilliance of the film, making it one of the most notable slashers ever, was the constant undertone of dread throughout this film as the women were helplessly picked off one by one. It’s not like they did nothing to prevent it either. The police showed little concern, wound up catching the wrong dude, so the killer is left in the house with the last surviving girl. It was bittersweet. It was tragically fantastic. It stuck with you afterwards. The 74′ Black Christmas is a film most horror junkies run back to every year, and don’t necessarily wait til Christmas to do so either. IMO, the tagline being “Slay, girls.” is a fucking slap in the face. 

Another issue I have is, there was no emotion in this trailer. No agony, no fright, no confusion (besides me), no nothing. These girls all seem pretty chill that they’re being hunted down by their school. “We can just fight back. Woohoo girl power!” No amount of girl power is going to make me not shit myself if I know someone, more than likely Cary Elwes, is tracking myself and my friends down with the intention to kill us. The trailer was as lazily composed as the poster was.  You can look in all four cardinal fuckin’ directions on this one and you’ll see the lack of effort for miles. 

I genuinely don’t know what to do with this one. It feels like a completely different movie that was simply named “Black Christmas” just so they could draw a bigger audience than what they would have. As much as I would love to see a GOOD remake of Black Christmas (sit down, 2006 remake, you’re not needed here). this new movie simply isn’t that in any way, shape, or form imaginable. If the poster, or the trailer, is any indicator of how decent that “remake” is going to be, then you all’d best save your money and stay home. 

I’m done here - mostly due to frustration and the lack of ability to organize my thoughts properly in this frustration - but I’ll leave this post with this. 

Black Christmas (1974) Trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6JuJHmVsh4

With that alone, you be the judge.  

#blog #reviews #review #horror blog #black christmas #black christmas 2019 #2019 horror #christmas #horror movies #horror remake #holiday horror #remakes #disappoinment #imdb

[ravenaveira]

Who’s most likely on the chopping block SPOILERS AHEAD

Ok in the latest trailer we see literally everybody's getting bodied and it looks like pretty much everyone's gonna die or at least a majority of them will but realistically speaking I dont think KH3 is gonna be THAT dark

HOWEVER I do believe there will be SOME deaths as KH3 is supposed to be the darkest kh game I dont see Nomura letting this be a and they all lived happily ever after ending, but I believe its going to be a more bittersweet ending where the good side wins but at a great cost

So the next question is, whos actually gonna die? well I have some theories on whos the most likely to die and whos most likely gonna survive

For starters Mickey Donald and Goofy are pretty much set in stone they’ll be fine, its not TOTALLY impossible but I highly doubt Nomura or Disney would kill off those iconic characters so lets just mark them off right now to the SAFE list

Aqua, Terra, Ventus and Lea are more unknown, they could die or they could not but I’ll explain why its so up in the air

Aqua can and will be saved so it doesnt make much sense for her to die after we go through all this to save her, that being said she could die trying to protect everyone just like she did in the past but I still think to bring her back only to kill her off is highly unlikely so IMO Aqua is safe

Terra is a gamble, hes been on thin ice since BBS and I always assumed he would eventually die anyway I just didnt know when but I always figured he would eventually muster up the strength to free himself and die to protect his friends, I felt like Terra would possibly end himself to prevent Xehanort from using him to hurt any more people, in this case, I see Terra possibly doing that in this situation and I feel like Terra’s ‘death’ is long overdue since at least to me its been hinted thats where his arc was heading since the end of BBS, so IMO Terra is marked for death

Ventus is also a high possibility, if it wasnt Xehanort it was Vanitas trying to kill Ven although in Vanitas case his reasoning is alot more complicated but the fact remains they have both tried to ‘kill’ him in some way shape or form and have been searching for him for years and now that they’ve finally FOUND him the chances are pretty high that Ven is gonna die, he is in a VERY vulnerable position and unable to fight or defend himself and thanks to Aqua nobody knows where he is or how to save him so Ven is definitely in the danger zone and thats why IMO Ventus is hanging by a thread

Lea is a gamble too, he’s already ‘died’ once, became Axel, died again and became Lea again, to have him die a 3rd time seems excessive but it would be heart-wrenching if he is killed by one of his former friends Saix, Xion or Roxas which although having Lea die AGAIN as I said would be excessive this would DEFINITELY be a dark and tragic ending for Lea and the impact would be much bigger than it was the previous times and it’ll hold that much more weight to it seeing him suffer from the loss of Isa and then keep remembering Xion and Roxas as well only to have one of them be the one to take him down for good is just beyond sad, so even though it may be excessive the impact would be massive which is why IMO Lea is marked for death 

Now to move on to the main two, Riku and Kairi

For starters even with my personal bias against Kairi Im not stupid enough to think shes gonna die infact I think its the opposite, Kairi is HIGHLY unlikely to die and here’s why

She’s part of the main trio that we’ve followed from the start, she’s Sora’s love interest, she’s technically the main female, she’s a princess of heart, she’s a keyblade wielder, in other words she’s too tightly woven into the story that for Nomura to take her out would not only be bold af but also extremely unexpected, its not often that you see a member of the main cast killed off but if they are its almost never the love interest which is why I believe Kairi is safe

Their also hyping up the romance way too much for them to just kill her off, unless this whole ‘oath’ and ‘dont think twice’ is just one big red herring and they pull a 180 not only would that be risky af but also pretty danm genius cuz nobody would see that coming but I will not be mad at it and infact would appreciate Nomura even more for takin such a huge risk that not many others would take, although I already know majority of the fandom wouldnt agree with me on that and I think Nomura is aware of the shitstorm he would get if he did that aswell so yea Kairi is definitely safe

Riku not so much, unlike Kairi, Riku is not a love interest or atleast not the one Nomura intended, true Riku is also a part of the main trio but the rival/best friend always has the higher chance of dying to protect the MC than the main female/love interest does

You also have to look at Riku’s character arc, his growth from giving into the darkness and doing horrible things to his journey of redemption, I believe his final atonement would be giving his life to protect Sora who in the past he had hurt so much, this and it leaves Sora still alive to save the world and defeat Xehanort since in the scene we see Sora doesnt have his keyblade and hes on his knees about to be attacked by a swarm of heartless and Riku being the last man standing protects him and if not for Riku, Sora would have died there, but Riku despite all odds against him, gives his all in protecting Sora

Someone made an interesting comparison of when Axel was fading away after ‘putting his whole being into an attack’ from the looks of the trailer Riku is DEFINITELY giving his all in this attack, Riku is ready and willing to die for Sora which is why Riku IMO is marked for death

But I also dont think Riku is gone for good, I think he might become a nobody and he IS the only one in the main trio who hasnt had a nobody, granted because he’s never been in a situation TO have one but now is the perfect time with the perfect setup for this to happen and come into play

How exactly this will play out in the future? I have no idea and until we play the game I cant think of any theories BUT I dont think Riku’s gonna be gone for good, I think he’ll have a Lea situation where he becomes a nobody, ‘dies’ then returns to being his somebody again, or in other words is revived/reborn

Anyway thats all for my theories on who’s most likely to die on the heroes side but what about the villains?

Saix is definitely marked for death, same for most of the seekers of darkness, Vanitas and Ventus MIGHT actually make peace and accept one another and reunite so in a way you could say Vanitas ‘dies’ or he could go tragically and be killed being separated from Ven forever once again

And of course Xehanort is definitely gonna die, he’s the only one I am atleast 98% sure is going to die because at this point he has to unless they go the Iron Blooded Orphans route where literally almost all of the good guys DIE and the bad guys actually WIN with our heroes just having to live in hiding defeated Xehanort is almost gauranteed to die so IMO Xehanort is dead

Now to explain my ranking before I end this post so some of you who may be confused understand what I mean

Marked for death - means they have a target on their back and are within the enemies crosshairs and are highly likely to die unless they are saved by some deus ex machina and a miracle happens

Hanging by a thread - means that they are close to death but not quite sure if they’ll actually die hence why their hanging by a thread, maybe it’ll snap maybe it wont just gotta wait and see how things play out

Safe is self explanatory and the same applies for Dead

Thats everything, let me know if you agree or disagree or you think someone else will die that I didnt mention and why

#kh3 #trailer spoilers #kingdom hearts #theories

[holydragon2808]

Sorry for all the long posts lately. Just been in a sort of nerdy nostalgic mood here....The Final Fantasy XIII trilogy is truly underrated IMO. Maybe I have that opinion because I’ve never really thought the series had a certain set in stone way that they absolutely had to play out to be considered “a true Final Fantasy” game. It was always my understanding that they with each new installment, something different would be introduced to mix up the formula. 

I’m not saying that the FFXIII trilogy didn’t have its flaws. It has such a massive and rich story and lore....but sadly it was presented overall in such a haphazard way that many people couldn’t really appreciate it. Especially for the fans that aren’t from Japan that had to rely on fan translations of the many, many web novels that half the story is presented in (Episode Zero, Fragments Before and After, A Dreaming Cocoon Falls Into The Dawn, Reminiscence, etc). However, one of the things I’ve always appreciated about these three games is their tendency to put the player directly into the position of the characters emotionally (so you feel the same frustrations of being forced down a linear path or truly understanding the despair a particular character may be feeling) for better or for worse which is one of the reasons why this ending is among my favorites in the FF franchise. Oh and this isn’t my video! I just left a comment in the link about a year or so ago and like I said, nostalgic mood right now so I figured I’d just blog about it here on tumblr. Be mindful of spoilers if you haven’t played the trilogy.

One of the most beautifully tragic things that I love about this is how the ending was clearly foreshadowed throughout the game (Serah dying because of her Seeress abilities as well as what would happen if the Goddess Etro's Heart was pierced) and yet, even though the player was warned multiple times, it STILL catches the player completely off guard for a heartbreaking effect for many reasons: 

1) Most of the FF games end on bittersweet but overall positive note and you half expect Noel and Serah to be able to find a way to avert Serah's death or finish with the time jumping before it's too late and 2) the player actually did save the future from Noel's bleak time line and because of that and seeing Hope's new ark rise just as Cocoon falls (as well as knowing they got Vanille and Fang out in time, the player is lured in a false sense of security and 3) The way the ending starts is on such a high note one doesn't expect it will all come crashing down so suddenly right at the end with the melancholy (but overall very hopeful) lyrics and melody of the theme song. 

I've seen a lot of people say that the lyrics and the melody don't really fit what's going on during the cut scene but I would disagree to an extent. The theme song isn't just about what's going on in the moment of the ending. It's supposed to reflect the OVERALL journey of the characters and the underlying themes of the whole story and "New World" does that very well for both Serah and Noel. BOTH characters were more or less journeying with nothing but hope in their hearts that at the end they would find the people that they loved waiting for them in a New World that doesn't end up the way Noel's timeline does, (a crisis they do actually save the future from, but unfortunately with Caius possessing the Heart of Etro, he had back up plans) and yet towards the final chorus of the song Serah suddenly dies and Noel holds her lifeless body in his arms. 

At this point the song's overall "tone" (for want of a better word) does seem quite a bit out of place, however, the song is still playing because despite losing her life, Serah was never a character to be crippled by despair for long and was very dedicated to her goal for her desire to find Lightning again so they could live together as a family (notably the song ends BEFORE the truly bad things start happening with the Chaos being set lose on the world) and even if that wasn't possible, she was still not going to sit by and let the future fall into despair just to save her own life. She believed that a brighter future (A New World) could be born. And later in Requiem of the Goddess this notion is proven true because she says to Lightning word for word that she has no regrets about what happened to her and believed with all her heart and soul that she and Lightning could be together again. I mean REALLY read the lyrics and see if they don't sum up how Serah feels about Lightning's departure or how Lightning feels about being away from Serah or what happens to her later. Not to mention Noel and Serah's journey and how he was working to avert the disaster that was his timeline in hope for a better tomorrow and being reunited with his Yeul. 

 "New World"

Staring the stars, feeling the winds every time

I cannot stop thinking of you, since you've been gone away from here

Shedding the tears, crying out loud for once

Cause you are such a precious part of me

And there's no one who'll fill my broken heart

Oh but now, I have realized

The reason why I live in this world,

Even you have left me here alone,

I found the way where I can get hope for the future

Baby, I'm gonna see the new world

With nothing but the love you gave me

Only thing I can do, is to trust the time we shared

Baby, I'm gonna go to the new world

With nothing but the strength you gave me

There's nothing to be afraid of,

I know your love will lead me where I should be

Even if it is dark and hard time for me,

I don't wanna give up my hope

Having a dream, basking in the sun everyday

I'm starting to thank that I'm still here,

Though the pain of loss still hurts me

Making me smile, making me laugh many times

Everything is gentle to me, because you are making it so

Then now I have realized the reason why I live in this world

It's not to lose what I truly need

I will make, sure to build the beautiful days together

Baby, I'm gonna see the new world

With nothing but the love you gave me

Only thing I can do, is to trust the time we shared

Baby, I'm gonna go to the new world

With nothing but the strength you gave me

There's nothing to be afraid of,

I know your love will lead me where I should be

Even if it is dark and hard time for me,

I don't wanna give up my hope

Pray for all the things in this world

And believe in the power of our love

Sing a song of tomorrow

Now we are not alone

And we come to life again

A new day will come to you, for you and me

Baby, I'm gonna see the new world

With nothing but the love you gave me

Only thing I can do, is to trust the time we shared

Baby, I'm gonna go to the new world

With nothing but the strength you gave me

There's nothing to be afraid of,

I know your love will lead me where we should be

Even if it is dark and hard time for us,

I don't wanna give up our hope

Despite me praising SE for foreshadowing an ending so obviously and yet still managing to catch players off guard in the the best and worst way, I still felt sad and angry (just like Noel did) that things turned out this way for both Serah and Noel after everything that they (and by extension the player) went though to avert one bad future (and being successful in that goal) only to inherently cause another one right at the end...Fortunately, in the final game Lightning Returns, everyone gets their well deserved happy endings....

#final fantasy xiii #Final Fantasy 13 #Serah Farron #noel kreiss #ffxiii #ff13 #lightning returns #lightning farron #Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII #Final Fantasy 13-2 #oerba yun fang #oerba dia vanille #Hope Estheim #caius ballad #etro #valhalla #paddra nsu yeul #gran pulse #final fantasy xiii-2

[anghraine]

It's always the most impactful when a character dies in what would've been the middle of their arc, especially if they've just hit an upward swing. One of my favourite stories did this with the main character and i think it's what a lot of people are forgetting about rouge one. Their deaths are tragic because of what their lives could've been, not because they died.

I think it’s … hm, I wouldn’t necessarily say more or less impactful, but I think the “arc suddenly cut short” tragic death is something very different from a tragic death that’s the culmination of the character’s arc. They’re both very bittersweet, of course. Just in different ways.

(A silly example, but a bit like a toy getting snatched out of your hands vs a beloved toy finally falling apart.)

The bleaker takes on Rogue One do seem to class both types together, yeah. Dying is itself tragic, but this sort is—well, it’s not at all like Vader’s, Obi-Wan’s, etc. The only one that functions in at all the same way, IMO, is Padmé’s (and maybe Qui-Gon’s?). There’s that sense of something unfinished getting unjustly cut off, and as with them, it’s … she takes plenty of risks, from politics to physical action to her marriage, but those in themselves don’t kill her. Even the possible reasons that would otherwise be probable are explicitly denied; ROTS goes out of its way to insist on the ??????? of her death.

Now, hers really was obligatory by continuity, and I think diminished by how underwritten she was in ROTS, whereas the Rogue One team of course gets full spotlight in RO (esp Jyn and Cassian). But I think the narrative place is similar—death that’s rooted in theme more than plot, cutting off possibility rather than fulfilling it, deliberately frustrating in function and structure.

(I suspect that’s part of the reason that Padmé Lives and Jyn/Cassian Live are such popular fic genres. It’s basically fandom going um I’m taking my toy back now THANKS NO THANKS.)

#anon replies #respuestas #sw fanwank #/ #// #/// #//// #star wars #jyn erso #cassian andor #padmé amidala #et al #Anonymous

[1hoodmedia]

Rap Groups That Need To Reunite, TODAY!

Tragically, we've seen way too many MCs pass away in recent years. The departure of Mobb Deep's Prodigy has laid to rest any hopes of another Mobb Deep album or seeing them perform live one last time. And the passing away of J-Dilla, ODB, Fresh Kid Ice, Poetic, Guru, Jam Master Jay, MCA, Eazy-E, Baatin, and Proof has effectively nixed any prospects for complete reunions of groups like Slum Village, Wu Tang Clan, 2 Live Crew, Gravediggaz, Gang Starr, RUN DMC, the Beastie Boys, NWA, & D12, all of which have classic (or at least great) albums under their belt.

Fortunately, and in bittersweet fashion, my favorite group of all time, A Tribe Called Quest, blessed longtime fans with an official farewell LP that was in the works right before the untimely passing of core member Phife Dawg. And it turned out to be the best rap album released last year IMO.

So here's a list a hip hop groups, who's members are all alive still, that I would like to see reunite for at least one more album, before Father Time and the Grim Reaper strike again. Some of these groups are beefed out and split up bitterly, some just had creative differences and went separate ways, others might just be on hiatus. But they made magic happen when they were together, and I'd like to see that happen again. So, in no particular order, this is who I wanna see make one last go at it:

1. Black Star- Mos Def and Talib Kweli joined forces for only one album, but that album just happens to be regarded as one of the greatest hip hop albums ever. Both these MCs have gone on to do solo projects, have solid discographies, appear to be on the same wavelength creatively and lyrically, and are on good terms with each other and friends. So reportedly, its just scheduling conflicts and other personal obligations preventing an official reunion project. But if it ever does materialize, expectations will be set incredibly high, and maybe that alone will prevent it from happening...

2. The Fugees- There is some understandable bad blood between Lauryn and Wyclef, but man, can't they put that aside to help out Pras?!! I doubt he's driving an Uber now, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind the income from another Fugees album and tour. Once they found their stride in the studio, the music they cranked out was nothing short of amazing. But right after they dropped their one classic album, they went their separate ways and Lauryn and Clef almost immediately started throwing shade at each other and Pras dropped Ghetto Superstar. SMH. This is the one group I think is least likely to get back together though.

3. Pete Rock & CL Smooth- Why Pete Rock and CL started not getting along is still unclear, but what is still clear is their chemistry together on a track. CL's buttery, clear flow glides perfectly over Pete Rock's soul drenched, jazzy, boom bap productions. Even when it's been years since their last collabo, they seemed to have never missed a step. Not to mention, no other rapper sounds as good and natural over PR's beats than CL Smooth, and Pete Rock has collaborated with ALOT of MCs over the past 20+ years.  

4. Little Brother- This group was a victim of what I call the Gang Starr Effect, where the producer's acclaim and popularity surpassed that of the group members he came in the door with. As a group, Little Brother seemed to be stuck in the underground, and looked at odd by television networks and radio stations who couldn't make heads or tails of them due to them possessing no clear marketing gimmick outside of dope beats and rhymes. But at the same time, underground rap fans adored them, musically they seemed to have picked up where A Tribe Called Quest left off. While the group seemed to have hit a glass ceiling in the industry, 9th Wonder's production was being sought out by high profile acts like Jay-Z, Destiny's Child, and Erykah Badu. It was only a matter of time before the trio went their separate ways. Phonte, Big Pooh, and 9th Wonder have all had decent careers since, and appear to all have plenty of gas in the tank, so I think if they were to reunite their talents one last time, the result would be phenomenal.

5. Company Flow- El-P has reached "super-producer" status since his Company Flow days, producing classic albums and songs for Mr. Lif, Murs, Aesop Rock, and Cannibal Ox while heading his own indie record label, releasing a jazz album, a movie soundtrack, stellar solo LPs, and most recently joining Killer Mike to form rap duo Run The Jewels. El-P's sound has evolved and become incredibly diverse over the years, so I'd be anxious to see what he'd cook up for Big Juss and Mr. Len. As a group, they never shied away from speaking on politics, religion, family structure, and commercialism, so given the current, modern climate in Trump's America, I'm sure they would have plenty to say. Their only full length project, Funcrusher Plus, is also regarded as one of the greatest independent rap albums ever. Big Juss' solo album didn't have much replay value from what I remember, and it was clear El-P's production kind of forces the listeners to be attentive to their dense flows. I don't believe Mr. Len ever released a solo project, but I'm really curious as to what they would churn out.

#Bug One #hip-hop #music