#i can already feel this show getting canceled after season 1 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kerubimcrepin · 9 days

Text

Dofus: The Production - what is left of the old movie

Originally, the movie was supposed to tie in with the game and the Welsh & Shedar series, and be a trilogy.

As we had already explored on this blog, this did not happen for a variety of reasons.

Welsh and Shedar got cannibalized by other projects due to its cancellation, and the script of the movie "Dofus Book 1: Joris Jurgen" had to be completely rewritten from its old plot;

In that movie, Joris was likely supposed to be a street urchin, who survived together with Lilotte, who was a rogue, and the trailer we have for the older version of the movie reflects that:

As we can also see from the trailer, and the poster featured earlier, proto-Kerubim is also a part of the movie, and Khan was not yet meant to be a boufbowler.

(And considering the posters, the cat that inspired Kerubim's design was also a part of the movie. I wonder if it's related to Welsh's cat from Welsh and Shedar? But maybe I'm just crazy.)

Subsequently, the movie came out at a much later date than planned originally.

(two images included because, bizarrely, there are two versions - one with Joris's tail censored, and the other with his tail uncensored. This proves that already at this point they had a draconic backstory in mind for him, though we do know that at the time of Wakfu season 1 (and, likely, the cancelled DS game, as was noted in my post about it) it was not the case.)

Also, interestingly, it is the only art of this time to include the tail. A possible error on Xa's part, or something that was considered very briefly?

In the end, Kerubim (as well as Simone) swallowed up not just the design of Welsh's cat, clothes, and Ecaflip friend;

He also got the role Julith was supposed to have, both metaphorically, and also literally.

Or not entirely — considering the fact that Joris was supposed to spend time with him anyway, since we have art of Joris on his mount from that old draft.

It's quite interesting, to think of all that could have been different in the 2009-2012 version of the movie!

But even during the making of the second draft of the movie, a lot of things have changed. From the first idea of Joris winning Kerubim back at a pachinko machine, to the concept art of Joris's non-possessed appearance.

The movie was being actively rewritten at the time of the making of Aux Tresors, so some of the early drafts were already tied in with its canon — taking place in Astrub, to be specific — but not with its ending, because the show was still ongoing.

At one point there was supposed to be a whole cast of Huppermage characters, and judging from the fact one of them is mentioned in the following text, they did play some sort of role in the plot:

It is likely that from this early draft it was decided that Joris would be a boufbowl fan, which was then worked in as a plot point in Aux Tresors.

(Stélina may be a proto-version of Bakara.)

It also seems that at this stage, it would be likely that Lilotte was reworked to be the Princess of Bonta, before eventually becoming the Ouginak we know and love.

After this Ankama once again returned to the concept of Lilotte as an orphan, though — even when the movie was still set in Astrub!

And it seems that the draft involved travel between Astrub and Bonta, judging from the usage of a Zaap to attack Luis.

And even at this point they have come up with the tragically cut "Joris and Khan go to adult industry workers and Joris (10yo boy) engages in depressed underaged drinking" scene.

(I'll never forgive Ankama for cutting this. I still argue that it's in character for Khan, our detested/beloved turbovirgin, to do this — as long as he doesn't get together with any of the women due to thinking himself "too good" for them.)

Also, at some point the gods were supposed to play a role. And personally, I am glad it was cut — it feels a bit too grand for the first movie in what was supposed to be a series.

I don't have any grand statement, or conclusion, but it is interesting to see all the ways the movie has changed.

#ro liveblogs dofus #dofus #wakfu #krosmoz #moviehistory

95 notes · View notes

oneatlatime · 3 months

Text

The Crossroads of Destiny

Strap in folks it's finally finale time!

I'm getting a bad feeling from the 'previously on' segment.

*gasp* Song's bird horse!?!?!

Toph gets some serious speed with that earth tongue walking.

Ty Lee's flattery gets less and less subtle. I get the feeling that a lot of Azula's more worrying tendencies could have been curtailed if someone had stuck her on stage as a child.

Is Zuko taller?

The cuts between these scenes are getting ridiculous. Some of these scenes are maybe 15 seconds long.

Zuko knows what's up. He and Iroh have teamed up on that particular fire breathing party trick before.

"It's time I face Azula." Buddy. No.

"You're so dramatic." POT. KETTLE. BLACK.

The last time Iroh and the Aang Gang teamed up, it was also against Azula. She has a way of uniting enemies.

The longer I stare at this the more I giggle.

"Good inside him isn't enough. Why don't you come back when it's outside him too, ok?" Congratulations to Sokka for articulating one of the fundamental human truths. Intentions can go take a hike when all that's visible are actions.

I love that! Iroh says he brought someone along in a tone that very much implies that he asked for help from a friend! Then you go outside and see he kidnapped a dude! And then they just leave him there!

I see your fake meditation. No one as rotten inside as this guy actually meditates properly.

The Dai Li be like

Katara? Why are you ripping into Zuko? Why is Season one bitchy Katara back? I don't want season 1 bitchy Katara to come back.

"No offence." "None taken." Iroh loves his nephew, but Iroh knows his nephew.

The one time Iroh's advice is explicitly solicited is the one time his advice is corny crap. That sucks.

Ba Sing Se is a tel? That's neat.

Hey Toph? Now would be a great time for that new metal bending trick of yours.

Avatar inadvertently validating my fear of subway grates.

I know this is life or death serious and all, but isn't the Sokka and Ty Lee dynamic cute?

MOMO!

This episode's thesis statement boils down to "what happens when you cancel arts programs and theatre kids don't get a chance to monologue in controlled conditions."

Honest question: Is Azula actually so deluded to believe that Divine Right of Kings crap she just spouted, or is she saying what the Dai Li needs to hear to side with her? Usually I think everything out of Azula's mouth is a calculated statement for manipulating others, but the way the show framed that monologue makes me think she actually believes what she's saying.

This conversation between Katara and Zuko, aside from showing that Katara is as capable as Sokka at sticking her foot in her mouth, is actually showing Zuko's growth well. So many of the things that he waves away with an "it's ok" are things that would have made him explode back in season one. It's about time he redefined that scar of his too.

"Aang! I knew you'd come!" "Uncle! The fuck?" Zuko truly has a way with words.

Hey Iroh maybe save your heart to heart until after you've exited the prison?

Wait so this episode is named after Zuko's arc? It's Zuko's destiny this finale is dealing with? Poor Aang's not even the main character in his eponymous show's season finale? Dang.

What was I saying about waiting to chat until you're outside the prison?

So every word out of Azula's mouth here is definitely a lie. She doesn't need Zuko at all. She's got a whole army and already has possession of the throne. What does she need with someone she considers to be an inferior firebender?

Father's love? That guy who burns off faces? The audacity.

"You are free to choose." Is it really freedom of choice if choosing the answer Azula doesn't want to hear ends with Zuko in a crystal cage?

Gotta say I'm intrigued by how quiet Zuko's being for this whole episode. Compare it to the volume of his confrontation with Azula at the Spa place at the beginning of the season.

This is so awful. This is so skin crawly. This is so going to end badly.

Toph can turn doors into ping pong balls. I like that. And what does she need Sokka scouting for Dai Li agents for? She can sense people for miles.

I love the line read on the "I'm not leaving without Bosco!" But does this guy really think he's in a position to make demands, after all the stuff he's ruined in the last, what, two days?

This is a cool move. Full body air bitchslap.

Katara cut her hair! That's kind of like what she did to Pakku with the ice disks.

How has no one been knocked out yet? Everyone in this fight should have at least 5 concussions by now.

I don't know what to make of it, but when Zuko says "I have changed" he sounds more calm and confident than he has all season.

I love the dynamic between Sokka & Toph and Mai & Ty Lee. Everyone involved knows they're second string and no one's really that invested. So they're all kind of chill.

I don't know what's going on in this fight, but Zuko is far too talented and Katara and Aang are both going down too easily.

And this right here is why this fight is only going to end badly for Aang. As soon as Azula's tired of playing, she'll call in reinforcements. Aang doesn't have those.

I hate Azula so much, which means I'm very annoyed to say that she and Zuko actually make a good fighting team. Did they practice drills together or something back in the day? They way they tag out and back in, and exchange fights, flows so well.

Jesus

Crap ok

She nerfed him in the power up sequence! That's not allowed!

So help me god if the writers hook these two up after pulling this crap I will riot.

Iroh could have been helpful if he'd been there earlier. Guess it takes a while to break out of crystals. Although I do like the detail that he stops fighting as soon as Aang and Katara are out & safe.

I was wondering why the magic water was randomly brought up earlier after disappearing for the entire season. I figured it had been lost in the desert with the rest of the stuff on Appa's saddle.

I'm so sorry, but the way Aang's arrow flashes once to confirm that Katara's saved him makes him look like an external USB device confirming successful connection.

I'm loving how immediate the regret from Zuko is. Proof that he has learned over the last two seasons.

"The Earth Kingdom... has fallen." AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT? This King rubs me the wrong way. Consistently.

I'm fascinated by the fact that they managed to securely transport a bear on Appa's back.

Final Thoughts

Poor Aang has been demoted to secondary character in his own show. This finale was all Fire Nation.

Well done Azula. No matter which way you look at it, she won. If Azula was the main character, this episode would be the crowning glory series finale.

Sokka and Toph spent the whole episode running around putting out fires, only for five more to spring up in their place. I honestly don't know how they and Appa reconnected with the rest of the Gaang to fly out at the end. There's this feeling the whole episode of being consistently one too many steps behind, and I think it's most obvious in their incessant side quests.

Poor Katara went through about seventy billion emotions this episode. I take back my anger at her bitchiness. She deserved a vent session, although I don't think Zuko quite deserved to be the recipient of it. But he took it well.

Congratulations to Zuko for falling backwards into the only right choice for all the wrong reasons. This episode was only going to end with Azula victorious. She recruited an army and successfully executed a coup without breaking a sweat - that is not a level of enemy that Aang and friends has ever faced before, and not one they can realistically win against. Like with Long Feng, this is not a threat you can hit. You can't bend at ideologies and loyalties.

Zuko was going to end this episode siding with the Fire Nation as a free man, or in Fire Nation custody. This way, someone with an actual semi-functioning conscience now has access to the upper levels of the Fire Nation. This could be really interesting.

To be clear, I fully believe that Zuko chose to side with Azula because he swallowed her offer hook, line & sinker. For the guy who invented "Azula always lies" he sure does fall for her lies a lot, especially when she's saying exactly what he wants to hear. I believe Zuko believed her about getting his honour back bla bla bla, chose to follow her because of that belief, and has already realised at least some of what she said was lies by the end of the episode. Which is promising! It looks like there's potential for a Zuko mole next season!

I'm worried for Iroh. Firelords who burn their children's faces off with no shame don't strike me as the type to shy away from executing their brothers.

The Aang fakeout death at the end was not remotely believable unfortunately, mostly because kids' cartoons don't ever pull a Psycho and kill the nominal main character half way through. It probably would have freaked me out if I'd seen this episode as a kid though.

Azula hitting Aang during his power up sequence was inspired. A very well done subversion of expectations, which finally validates my frustrations with the concept of power up sequences in general. Few things bug me more than the mooks politely waiting their turn while the good guy does a quick wardrobe change.

So... is the war over? The Earth Kingdom's fallen, the Southern Water Tribe have been functionally out of the game for a while now. There's only the Northern Water Tribe left, which are only still standing because of a Hail Mary that I very much doubt Aang can pull off twice. So is next season's focus going to be defending the Northern Water Tribe from a final Fire Nation push? I think that's the only place that isn't conquered by the Fire Nation in name at least. On the bright side, this means the Gaang won't be returning to Ba Sing Se. Good riddance. I hate that place.

I've never seen a show with a finale that focuses so intensely on the conflict of someone other than the main character. I don't really know what to make of this episode. I think I liked the one before it better. To be clear, everything that happened made sense - characters were in character, events unfolded as expected (if you handwave an elite force of earthbenders preferring a 14 year old over their seasoned leader), but something about this episode is just a bit boring to me. Maybe they telegraphed it too hard in the previous episodes? I don't know. I'll have to chew on this one a bit.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #the crossroads of destiny #a resounding meh

142 notes · View notes

sage-nebula · 6 days

Text

Watcher Update Debrief

I am several days late on posting my full thoughts on Watcher's update regarding their streamer, because each day when I come home from work I feel too tired to do so (and I can't post while I'm at work because my work computer prohibits access to tumblr due to it being a "video streaming website" -- yes, you may laugh). Truth be told, I'm still too tired to do so, but each day that goes by this gets less and less relevant, and after posting so much about the situation over the weekend I don't want to just not post anything about the update video, because I feel I have to give some closure on this. So without further ado, here is that closure. This is going to be pretty long as well (hence not wanting to post it on my cell phone at work), so once again I'm going to put this under a cut to spare everyone's dashboards.

First, I want to address the actions they've announced they're taking regarding the backlash they've received in regards to the streamer, setting aside the actual content of the video itself. (Because there is a lot to dissect in the video itself, both in what they say and how they present what they say, and I want to give full attention to that.)

When Watcher announced the streamer last Friday, they said that they would be virtually quitting YouTube altogether. All they would post on YouTube in the future would be the premiers of each new show, while the seasons themselves would only be released on the streamer, which would require a subscription for the annual price of $60, or the monthly price of $6 (which would total $72 for the year). This of course was only factoring rates for United States residents; the prices would be higher for those internationally. It's also not getting into how the original plan was also to pull all older seasons off YouTube, as evidenced by what the company told Variety, before Ryan backtracked it in response to the initial backlash.

However, in the update, the Watcher team reveals that they are backtracking as much as they can with regards to the streamer. While they are still going to have the streamer for the prices listed, they are going to still upload new seasons of their shows to YouTube, albeit one month later than the shows premier on the streamer. For people who have already subscribed who wouldn't have had they known this was going to happen, they can ask for a refund and they will receive it. Additionally, patrons of the Watcher Patreon will now receive access to the streamer for free, and can also reach out to Watcher for a refund if they've already subscribed to the streamer.

In my opinion, this is the best case scenario. I know there are some people out there who are upset that they haven't canceled the streamer entirely, but for reasons I've spoken about in other posts / comments, I really don't think it's possible. When I wrote my initial debrief post, I thought that they had built their streamer from the ground up, because that was how they made it sound in their initial announcement video. It has since come to light that they're using Vimeo's OTT service. But here is the thing about Vimeo's OTT service: it is not free. And while there is a standard plan that allows a customer to pay $1 per subscriber, the much more likely plan that a company like Watcher is going to use is the Enterprise plan, which would require a contract.

Here are the details of the Enterprise plan:

The expanded bandwidth, upload hours, and 1080p HD streaming are reason enough for Watcher to go with the Enterprise plan over the Standard plan, but any company with half a brain cell would want a dedicated support team in case something happens to go wrong with the streamer at any point. The Standard plan is for individuals who want to get into hosting streaming websites for the first time; the Enterprise plan (as the name suggests) is for companies who want to do so, and Watcher is company.

You'll notice, though, that the Enterprise plan works by a monthly or yearly subscription, and that there is no flat rate available. This means that Watcher would have already negotiated a price, and likely has already paid at least some, if not all money up front (assuming they went yearly instead of monthly, and as Watcher's own plan shows, you normally get discounts for annual plans over monthly ones). What this means is that Watcher has absolutely already put money into the streamer, and that they are in a contract they likely cannot break without incurring more fees / losing money they have spent. So at least for the time being, the streamer has to exist. They can't simply walk away from it completely like some people still want them to.

So with that in mind, deciding to release the new seasons for free a month later on YouTube is the best possible outcome. They're still keeping the streamer for those who have and want to be subscribed to it. Releasing content early on a paid platform (such as, and I am just spitballing wildly here, Patreon) is a practice that many YouTubers have engaged in for a long while now. And I would guess the month delay is because they still really, really want to lure people to the streamer. Depending on how much money they put into that Vimeo OTT contract (and I really have no way of knowing how much money that was), I can understand why. Even so, it is a surprise to me that they are willing to compromise with the fans at all. I really was not expecting them to walk back any part of the decision. So this really is the best possible outcome any of us could have hoped for, in regards to specific actions regarding the decision they made before. The future of Watcher doesn't look as bleak now as it did on Friday.

With that said, let's address the content of the video itself.

Setting aside the "three ex-Buzzfeed employees on a couch" meme quality of the video (especially since the Try Guys on the couch hadn't done anything wrong themselves, whereas the Watcher guys did), here are the specific things I want to address:

1.) They centered Shane in the update video. I believe this was deliberate.

Over the weekend, huge swaths of the fandom blamed Ryan and especially Steven while exonerating Shane. At best, they just ignored Shane. At worst, they insisted that he was secretly against the idea all along and that the other two (especially Steven) had forced him into it / outvoted him. Setting aside the implicit racism in all of this (because although the fandom has had a very hard time admitting it, you don't find the men of color inherently untrustworthy / unlikable / unrelatable and the white man inherently relatable / trustworthy / likable without implicit biases, you just don't), it's unreasonable to think they didn't notice with the flood of hateful comments flooding Steven's and Ryan's socials while Shane got less heat. Not no heat, mind, but considerably less when compared with the other two.

So upon noticing that, they centered Shane -- who was still the most liked by the fandom, the one still seen as a "comrade" by a huge number of the fandom -- in the middle of the couch, to draw the eye, to play to the audience subconscious. The sight of Steven (and to a lesser extent Ryan) makes you angry? Put them to the side, put Shane in the middle. Let his white face calm you down. It absolutely sucks ass that this was needed, but again, there were both explicit racist comments and implicit racism at play all over the place this past weekend. It was disgusting, I'm sure they noticed, and they staged themselves on that couch accordingly.

(And it was staged, as well, because on the podcast they've talked about how Ryan often likes sitting in the center and Shane (and Steven) prefer sitting off to the sides. And in the first video we see this; Ryan is in the middle, with Steven and Shane are on either side of him. But in this one, it's switched. Wonder why? This is why.)

2.) They acknowledge that they messed up, and they apologize.

Now, their bad business decision is their bad business decision. If they wanted to tank their company by moving completely to a paywalled streamer that doesn't have nearly enough content to appease less than the most diehard of fans, much less appeal to potential new customers, that's on them. But in their announcement video, they were obtuse about the financial situations of many of their fans; they were patronizing, they were arrogant . . . they messed up. They messed up, and they say it plainly, and they apologize.

This is the most basic, the lowest of bars to clear. But many YouTubers fail to clear it. It's refreshing to see that they haven't. Personally, I have respect for people who can own their mistakes, apologize, and then resolve to do better in the future. We are all human; we are all going to fuck up at some time or another. The important thing is to acknowledge when we do, apologize for it, and then try not to do it again in the future. The fact that these three acknowledged that they fucked up, apologized for it, and then outlined the actions they're taking to fix the wrong actions they took above are all good things in my eyes.

(On that note, I also appreciate that they specifically address what hurtful things they said, and explain why those things are hurtful. They acknowledge that they blew off all the fans that couldn't afford the streamer, as well as the fans who have supported them via merch sales, Patreon subscriptions, live shows, et cetera for all these years. They acknowledge the comment about "a price anyone and everyone can afford" was insensitive and wrong. Anyone can say "I'm sorry" and have it be meaningless if they don't know why they should be sorry. The Watcher team clearly did listen to the feedback and understands what they did wrong. I appreciate that.)

3.) The one thing in the video I did not appreciate and that I think was a misstep was the part where Ryan tried to once again explain why they thought the streamer was a good idea.

We heard them explain in the announcement video that they need money from the streamer, and that they have a hard time reconciling their content with ads. The problem they face is this: if the audience didn't buy that then, they are not going to buy that now when they've had an entire weekend to be upset. And not only have they had an entire weekend to be upset, but we've also had at least one YouTuber who owns a company that connects YouTubers to advertisers lay out exactly how much money Watcher should be making from their channel and how friendly their channel is to advertisers, so the claims make even less sense now than they did before. Attempting to insist that, "we really do need the streamer money though" is doing little to convince those of us who didn't already believe that. You can say, "we would lose the company if we didn't do it" until you're blue in the face, but you really are wasting that breath.

More importantly, though . . . an apology is not the time for justifications. This video was meant to apologize for your wrongs to your community and announce the actions you are taking moving forward to right those wrongs. Which, to be fair, is what Watcher did. What the video was not for was to say, "But we were right to introduce the streamer because . . ." No one in your audience wants to hear that. Even if it made financial sense (which it did not), this is not the time or place for that, especially when what you are saying now is what you already said in the announcement video. It feels defensive at best. It's simply not the best move. It's not the time or place.

Which is not to say that nothing else should have been addressed here beyond an apology. Had they read a chunk of the fandom the riot act for the racism and other out of pocket comments (e.g. apparently people were posting on Ryan's wedding photos on IG that Mari would leave him when she realized how selfish and greedy he was), I would have supported them in that. Alas, twas not to be.

All in all, my final judgment on the whole situation is this: the response video is the best possible outcome any fans could have hoped for. I will remain subscribed to their YouTube channel, because I am an adult with a full time job and a life and so I don't mind watching the videos a month later if it means watching them for free. I accept the apology that the Watcher team has given, and I appreciate the fact that they got someone with actual public relations experience to assist them in writing and presentation (because they very clearly have a PR person assisting them now -- that was not a Watcher original production).

But just because I accept the apology doesn't mean that I have forgotten, or will forget, what has transpired. I have known for awhile now that Watcher Entertainment is not the tiny underdog they pretend to be. After all, they got DISNEY to sponsor them for an episode of Ghost Files. (The Haunted Mansion episode, to be specific.) When you have Mickelous Fucking Mouse himself opening his checkbook to cut you some cheddar for advertising, you have hit the big time. You can no longer claim to be a small, pitiable underdog at that point. Previously, I was happy for them that they were hitting the big time. I remember messaging a good friend of mine so excited that they were getting paid by The Mouse. After this debacle, though? Seeing them pretend to be starving to death while still getting cut checks by huge corporations for ad revenue? That sweet taste has turned rather bitter, especially when their merch -- multiple items of which I have purchased -- is so overpriced as well. (I paid over $80 for that Mystery Files jacket. It's just a regular denim jacket with the logos stenciled on . . . I was glad to support them and to have a jacket featured on the show, but now . . . smh.)

All of this is to say: I will still watch their shows for free on YouTube. I'll listen to their podcast when I need background noise. But I'll never again buy a piece of merch. And I'll regard them as I do the owners of any other company: businessmen who are, at the end of the day, there to make money. They are company owners, they are actors, and they are nothing more than that. And that's fine. They don't have to be.

That's where I stand, anyway. Everyone else is free to reach their own conclusions on the matter.

#don't bother trying to argue that ''people weren't racist''#or ''it was ok to be vile to Steven bc [reasons ppl dug up to justify their racism]'' or i'll just block you tho #watcher #watcher entertainment #shane madej #steven lim #ryan bergara

32 notes · View notes

eddo-tensei · 1 year

Text

More thoughts on Derision (Spoilers, obviously)

I think it's amusing that the default counter-argument to anyone who criticizes this episode boils down to "Well, you're just a Chloe Stan!" Which is something I had to deal with myself recently. Apparently, you can only hate this episode if you're a Chloe apologist. First off, hi, I'm Eddo. I wrote a fanfic where Chloe literally gets thrown into the dirt and suffer an allergic reaction to cacti, both times being her own fault. I feel like my Chloe Stan license should be revoked after that.

Anyways, I'm not surprised with the direction they went with Chloe in Derision. It's been stated since around Season 4 that Chloe was on a "Damnation Arc", so they've been doing everything they can to make her worse and worse. So, I'm not surprised or even angry that they continued this here. I'm annoyed, but not angry. What I AM angry about would be the other characters who got mangled in this shitshow.

Writers? Could you please stop having Chat threaten people with Cataclysm after he's shown regret doing it to people by accident TWICE?! This has happened three times now, counting what happened with Scarabella. Yes, I know he did this before with Darker Owl, but that just makes it worse because that happened right AFTER he regretted doing this to Monarch. You know, the guy who's been tormenting and attacking everyone for over a year? I guess to Chat, Damocles and Kim deserve it more for ripping away a fantasy and pulling a shitty prank respectively.

I know I complained about this a lot already, but this needs to be stressed upon. If we're going to take Cataclysm seriously, especially with what later episodes showed us, maybe DON'T have your hero threaten people with it for relatively petty reasons? "BUT IT'S FOR TRUE LOVE!!!1!!" Yeah, no. When he tried to do it on Darker Owl, Ladybug told him to cut that crap. It then happened again with Dark Humor with Ladybug telling him not to do it. It doesn't matter if it's for "true love." Both times he did this so far, Ladybug made it clear that this was a bad idea. So, maybe you guys should stop trying to encourage it. I refuse to believe that Chat believes that Monarch is more deserving to live after everything that he did than Kim after what he did. Speaking of Kim...

My friendly neighborhood dumb jock, why would the writers do this to you? When we only had the leaks to go by, I actually tried to scour for any interactions Kim had with Marinette and I can confirm that with the revelations we got in Derision, they REALLY don't make sense. Yes, Kim was a bit of a douche in the first season. Origins had him push Ivan around to the point of being the trigger for the Akuma. But he wasn't THIS much of a douchenozzle. Moreover, I have a hard time believing Marinette would be as friendly as she is with Kim throughout the series given what he did to her as revealed in this episode. Also, I know this is going to sound offensive, but...Kim was Marinette's first crush? Really? That's what you're going with? I'm not trying to insult Kim, but there was NOTHING that hinted to this. I can't help but think this was the thought process of the writers when they brought this up:

"So, we need to have Chloe do something to Marinette that would explain why Marinette struggles to be with Adrien. It has to be something big and traumatic. More importantly, it has to involve Marinette actually having a past crush that Chloe ruined and it has to be a character we're familiar with, so we can't make up an OC for it. We can't use Nino because he had a crush on her and it wouldn't make sense for her to reciprocate. We can't use Nathaniel because his crush went almost completely unnoticed by Marinette and he's also gay now. We can't use Ivan because he likes Mylene and we can't complicate that. We can't use Max because most people think he's ace and subverting that would piss a ton of people off. Oh, and we can't have it be any of the girls either because our show would get cancelled if Marinette isn't straight. So, let's just make it this guy."

"This. Fucking. Guy."

I'm having a hard time thinking of any other reason. I know some people theorized in the past that Kim and Marinette might've had a thing, but I don't think they held any water. Even now, however, I really don't think people should be happy it was canonized in this way.

I always held the belief that Chloe was responsible for Marinette's behavior, but my idea of it was that Chloe had been bullying Marinette for a long time and those years of sustained bullying took its toll on the poor baker girl that made it difficult for her to not only open her heart to people she loves, but have difficulties making friends in general until Alya came along. Yeah, Chloe doesn't look good in this case either, but it would've been more reasonable and would probably resonate with a lot more people who probably had to deal with bullies messing with them for a long time because these effects usually aren't instant. They get built on for a long time and it can really mess up their perception on things.

I think a good story would've been Marinette having to heal from that sustained trauma and while it is difficult since nobody can just quickly heal from trauma, it'd be a good journey for Marinette to be able to open up again with Alya and Adrien being just the first two pieces Marinette needs for her recovery.

But now, instead of all that, it turns out Chloe just pulled a prank that just unleashed a cavalcade of trauma on Marinette all at once that is hyper-specific to how she handles her crush that Adrien and ONLY Adrien can heal. All the while, it turns out that the prank was actually pulled by a guy who I really thought was just kinda fun and cool, but now I can't talk about him in the same way again because he's been thrown under the bus for the sake of this nonsense plot that's difficult not to call a full-on retcon. Do you know what I can call a retcon, though? Or rather who?

I am sorry to all of the people who are probably stanning Socqueline right now, but I CAN'T vibe with her. I'm not saying you're not allowed to like her either, because that would be dumb, but I DON'T like how she was presented in Derision. First off, to get this out of the way, we're no strangers to characters being introduced out of nowhere. Felix and Zoe are both characters that come to mind. The thing is you can at least explain their respective absences easily. Felix had likely been distant from Adrien for a long time with him only coming in out of obligation with Amelie. Zoe is actually even more easy to explain given that she was shoved into a boarding school by Audrey and wouldn't really be able to connect with any of the characters until she was forced to transfer. Socqueline, however, does not have that luxury and cannot be easily explained away not only with how we found her, but for the fact that there was NO hint to her existing until Season 5 and that is inexcusable given how much importance this character now has. To put it in perspective, this is how we are introduced to Socqueline in Jubilation:

Marinette: That fake Ladybug from this morning, I think it was Socqueline, a school friend from last year. Knowing her, I’m sure she means well. But I have to convince her to stop putting herself in danger like that.

That's it. She just calls her a school friend. Yes, it's clear that she's at least important enough for Marinette to remember her name, she was just called a school friend. At the very least, she did have an interesting story with her trying to be Ladybug in order to help people. Of course, she had to be talked out of it because it's causing issues with the real Ladybug, but it's a decent story and Socqueline had only made a few appearances here and there.

And then Derision.

Yes, Socqueline referred to Chloe as "that monster", so it's clear that they planned her to have something against Chloe since her first appearance. However, Derision showed us that Socqueline wasn't just a school friend. She was Marinette's closest confidant in the school years prior to the start of the series. She actively protects Marinette from bullies, particularly Chloe, and was clearly a huge inspiration for her until Chloe got her suspended from school.

First off, in case I haven't made it clear, we haven't seen Socqueline AT ALL until Season 5. Not even a hint to her existence. So given how significant she was made out to be in Derision, WHY HASN'T SHE MADE ANY APPEARANCES IN THE SERIES BEFOREHAND?! She doesn't even have the excuse of being outside of Paris like Felix and Zoe do because she's STILL there and in an arts and crafts store no less, which probably would've been a great place for Marinette to hang out in with her friends if the writers thought this through. But they didn't and Socqueline's debut comes off as severely jarring because we have this character who was really important to Marinette's life just not show up until she started cosplaying as Ladybug.

Secondly, it muddles Marinette's own backstory as well as severely hampering the significance of Alya. Now instead of being alone with nobody to help her against Chloe, which makes her friendship with Alya all the more stronger, Marinette just had this super cool friend who was always there for her until mean ol' Chloe got her kicked out of school. Doesn't that sound like something you'd see in a fanfic, specifically one that's salting Alya given how Socqueline was depicted as Marinette's BFF?

Thirdly, if Chloe was able to get Socqueline suspended so easily, then why hadn't she been able to do that with the other students? Yeah, she got close with Alya, but that didn't stick. If Chloe really had the ability to just make students disappear even if it happened once, she would NOT hesitate to try and do this again with any other student who slighted her, ESPECIALLY Marinette. But she doesn't. Once her attempt on Alya failed, she didn't try again. Hell, LILA had more attempts to get Marinette kicked out of school than Chloe did and actually got closer to doing it than Chloe would ever get, which is weird since she doesn't have the title of "Mayor's Daughter" to throw around like Chloe would. This just feels like something done to explain away why Socqueline didn't show up in the series which doesn't work because she's STILL IN PARIS and I'm pretty sure Marinette would be more than happy to meet with Socqueline given how close they were, but that never happened.

Fourthly, I'm guessing nobody felt like pointing it out because it felt too obvious, but doesn't Socqueline just come off as the writer's answer to Bridgette? You know, the older Marinette based on the anime PV that some fan writers implement into their own stories? Yeah, she's not one-to-one similar to Marinette like Bridgette is, but it definitely feels like another instance of the writers pulling stuff out of fanon just to put a canon spin on it. And like all the other instances, it's a bad spin.

Lastly, this whole incident with the prank and Socqueline's suspension took place a few months before Origins. Not even a year at the earliest. It was specifically stated that Socqueline was suspended three weeks before the end of the school year. Given how close that time gap, the way everyone behaves in Origins makes almost no sense. Marinette would be a lot more horrified of Chloe if Derision was anything to go by and Chloe would be more willing to try and cast Alya out so Marinette doesn't have any allies given that Derision showed Chloe REALLY wanting to make sure nobody helps Marinette. The only point I could even give any leeway to is Kim and even then, again, he's not that much of a douche in Origins as he was in Derision. So, really, it all just comes off as a blatant retcon specifically to try and explain the new direction the writers are taking with certain characters. And do you want to know the dumbest thing? Apparently, Socqueline was such an inspiration to Marinette that the latter changed her hair to be more like Socqueline's.

No, seriously. That's also how they explain why Marinette has different hairstyles. I know Expository Hairstyle Changes are a thing in fiction, but this is just awkward as hell given how traumatic and melodramatic the whole thing is. You don't need to say that Marinette's hairstyle came from someone who she considered a hero because nothing about Marinette indicated that her hairstyle is important. This isn't like Josuke changing his hairstyle to be based on the man who saved him as a child. It's a purely cosmetic change that's suddenly given a shit-ton of significance because now it's connected to this horribly traumatic incident. In fact, you know what this reminds me of?

Actually, the whole segment where this Linkara clip came from seems to sum up a lot of things wrong with Derision. It's not just bad because it makes some characters look bad or introduces stuff out of nowhere. It's bad because now everything in the flashback is now part of all of the characters! Every prior episode will now have to be viewed with a lens tinted by the events of this episode. Now nobody can discuss Kim without people salting on him for the prank, now nobody can talk about how important Alya's friendship with Marinette because of Socqueline's sudden boost in significance (In fact, it's very likely that Alya salters will try to use Socqueline as a replacement friend), and now nobody can speculate the intrigue of Marinette's past because EVERYTHING about her behavior is linked to this specific incident and nothing else. That's what pisses me off about this episode. That's why I share that Double D meme so frequently. I could care less about how much of a monster Chloe was depicted to be in this episode, but I am going to complain when other characters are butchered in the process. I will complain about one thing concerning her, though.

Isn't it amazing that you can tell the writers are trying DESPERATELY to squish any and all positive interpretations of Chloe, even trying to downplay parental neglect because "this character also didn't have a mom and they didn't turn out this way" even though Mylene's and Chloe's situations are still VASTLY different? You can make the argument that Audrey's absence doesn't excuse Chloe's actions. In fact, I don't think it really does either, but saying that there's only one valid response to an absent parent is EXTREMELY insensitive to people who might be going through similar situations.

Oh, and to cap this all off? This is the favorite episode of one of the main writers. Said writer possibly being considered to be the new director for Season 6 of Miraculous and onwards. I'm not gonna name which one for obvious reasons, but it's been confirmed.

I feel like this is a good indication that you need to hop off this series.

231 notes · View notes

coraniaid · 1 year

Text

It’s not until Season 3’s Helpless that the Buffy writers really started to lean into the idea that Giles is a father figure to Buffy. After Season 3, it comes up a lot, sure. It becomes a key part of his character. But it’s something of a retcon. It’s not exactly the role Giles plays early in the show.

(Yes, it’s possible to cast Giles as the parental figure of the Scoobies much earlier than that, and fandom often does. But I’ve never been entirely comfortable with that reading.

If nothing else, the first three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer take place in a high school. It feels weirdly reductive to assume the only possible way an adult in this setting can interact positively with children is by acting as a parent. And early series Giles is not a parent. He’s a mentor. He’s a teacher.)

Partly that’s because, until Season 3, Buffy already has a father. Hank Summers doesn’t appear much, but when he does (in Season 1’s Nightmares and the Season 2 opener When She Was Bad) he seems cast in much the same mold as Buffy’s mom Joyce. He seems to be nothing more than a well-meaning parent who just doesn’t understand his daughter. Yes, we see in Nightmares that Buffy is worried that he might secretly resent her and not want to be around her – fears that, retroactively, will turn out to be true – but in that first episode those fears tell us much more about Buffy Summers than they do her father.

But Helpless sets up the comparison with Giles pretty directly, by firmly establishing Hank as a bad parent. Hank is meant to come and visit his daughter on her birthday, only to cancel his plans at the last minute. He does so because, as Joyce says, “his quarterly projections are unraveling and he can’t afford to take off right now”. He chooses his job over his daughter. Meanwhile Giles is meant to do his duty as a Watcher and send Buffy off powerless to fight a vampire as part of the Cruciamentum, even though this is likely to lead to her death. He doesn’t go along with it. He choose his daughter over his job.

And yet.

Well, I lied. That isn’t actually what happens in Helpless. Not exactly.

Giles does not choose his surrogate daughter over his job. Not consciously, anyway. He doesn’t refuse to drug her. To drug her repeatedly, even when he sees the effect it’s having on her. He doesn’t tell her about the Cruciamentum when she starts losing her powers. Even when he sees just how afraid she is. He doesn’t do anything but privately moan to Quentin Travers until after the vampire Buffy’s meant to fight escapes.

Then, yes, he tells Buffy about what’s happening. Then he confesses to what he’s done. But only because, as he tells Travers, “your perfectly controlled test seems to have spun rather impressively out of control”. The implication, surely, is that if the vampire hadn’t escaped, if the test had proceeded as the Council had planned, then Giles would have kept his silence, however reluctantly.

And even then, even while telling Travers that he doesn’t “give a rat’s ass about the Council’s orders”, a part of Giles seems to think he can do this and not risk his status as a Watcher. Rewatch the scene where Travers fires him. Giles is surprised. “On what grounds?” he asks, when Travers tells him he failed the test. He doesn’t think he’s done anything a Watcher shouldn’t do. He didn’t know that telling Buffy would cost him his job. He never does make that choice.

And that’s part of why I always get slightly irritated by fandom readings that uncritically cast Giles as Buffy’s Dad. About people who even sometimes act as though he’s a better parental figure than Joyce Summers. Because that’s just not supported by the text.

Yes, Giles clearly cares deeply about Buffy, and has done since the first season (witness his own fears in Nightmares, or his attempt to take Buffy’s place in facing the Master in Prophecy Girl).

He’s prepared to die for her, he’s prepared to kill for her. After being fired by the Council, when he's no longer her Watcher, Buffy's still clearly very important to him. Possibly the most important person in his life.

But he’s not a perfect father figure and he repeatedly treats Buffy really badly, even before copying Hank’s “shiftless absentee father” routine in Season Six. He lies to her, he hides things from her, he doesn’t trust her instincts. Even when she asks, he’s not prepared to take her to the Ice Capades. He repeatedly tries to distance himself from her. He’s not prepared to actually be her father. Even in Season Six's Life Serial, when Buffy offers him the role of substitute parent, he asks instead if there’s another part he can play: “is there some sort of, um, rakish uncle?”.

Yes, of course, Rupert Giles is a much more developed character than Joyce Summers – possibly the most developed character in the first three seasons of the show after Buffy herself. And yes, the audience are clearly meant to sympathize with him more than they are with Joyce. But I think it would be a mistake to think that this means the character of Buffy herself also feels this way. Giles is part of the story of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a way Joyce isn’t, but equally Joyce is a fundamental part of her daughter’s life in a way that Giles never is. In a way he repeatedly turns down the chance to be.

(Just look at how often Buffy worries about her mother getting hurt or about having to do something that makes her mother disappointed in her. Think about how much Buffy's desire to be "normal" is tied up with Buffy wanting to be a daughter her mother would be proud of. Look at how much she misses her after she dies; how afraid she is that she never knew how much she meant to her. This is a constant part of Buffy’s characterisation, from the first season until the last.)

Giles is not the uncomplicated Good Dad that some of the fandom wants him to be. He never has been. He can’t possibly be that person, when his role in the narrative is to prepare Buffy for her destiny of dying young, alone in the dark, fighting monsters. And that’s a smart writing choice! It’s what makes Giles a good, compelling character.

The Giles that appears in the show is much more interesting to think about than the sanctified fandom reading which ignores or downplays his flaws. And I just think people should talk about that version of the character more.

#btvs

299 notes · View notes

guess-my-next-obsession · 2 years

Text

Frankie Morales Masterlist

all fics marked with * are explicit and are 18+ only—all minors interacting will be blocked

oneshots

power outage* — frankie and reader find a good way to kill time during a storm. 1.5k

blind dating show — reader finds herself in a local bar’s dating game-show, the contestants Will, Benny, and Frankie. only one man can walk away with the prize, and we all know the perfect pilot for the job. 2.5k

blind dating show p.II* — part two of ^ where reader accepts an invite to frankie’s barbecue. things get spicy. 3k

oblivious — reader and frankie are the best of friends until a fight on a camping trip reveals things that neither of them ever dared to admit. fluff follows. 3.7k

cabin in the woods* — frankie and reader decide to rent a cabin for the holiday, but neither realize they’re walking into a “haunted house” courtesy of the rest of the TF boys. 2.9k

i’ll be home for christmas* — Frankie comes home after a long month of work just in time for the holidays. 2.5k

a new friend (1/2) — reader gets lost in the woods and frankie shelters her from not only the storm, but her shitty relationship. 4k

when we were young — reader sees their ex, frankie, i’m a bar after five years. 2.5k

series

august* — frankie x ofc. Rebecca Herrera goes on her annual family vacation and meets a handsome stranger. Only problem is, that stranger just so happens to be twenty years older and her uncle’s close friend. (CANCELLED—WILL NOT UPDATE)

meet me in the hallway* — frankie x ofc. when Dylan Jones, the struggling owner of a start-up bakery, lucks out and finds a cheap room for rent, she finds more than she could have ever expected in her group of four male roommates: friends, family,…love? Follow along for a New Girl-inspired will they/won’t they to see if they in fact do! (CANCELLED—WILL NOT UPDATE)

ivy & stone* — victorian au!frankie x ofc/javi g x ofc. Lady Florence Bell lives an idyllic life—summers in the countryside, autumns in the city, a wealthy bloodline, and unparalleled beauty to top it all off. After having spent last summer in an affair with her family’s handyman and gardener, an older gentleman named Mr. Francisco Morales, Lady Florence is reluctant to join this season of Court, her heart already set on her secret lover. But when a famed painter and old family friend from Paris makes a rare appearance in London, Lady Florence is forced to face her old crush as an adult—and her competing affections.

drabbles

the addams family* — part of Spooktacular ‘22. frankie gets turned on by wife!reader in a morticia costume.

facetime movie night — part of Spooktacular ‘22.

christmas cookies — decorating christmas cookies w frankito.

dressing room tears — reader struggles with weight gain and finding jeans that fit her, frankie is there to remind her how beautiful she is.

i can take it* — edging with sub!frankie.

lost in love* — frankie likes the way you look beneath him.

just a dream — reader struggles with infertility and has a dream that feels frighteningly real.

caught* — reader is dating santi, but frankie urges her to tell him about their affair.

real love, baby —plus size!reader meets frankie in a bar. fluff fluff fluff.

EXTRAS

my frankie playlist

#frankie morales oneshot #triple frontier fanfic #frankie morales fluff #frankie morales smut #frankie morales x you #frankie morales x reader #frankie morales #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fic #pedro pascal fanfiction

420 notes · View notes

gloomyfilm · 10 months

Text

A LOVE LETTER TO THIS IS US 🍋💌☁️

/for full ambiant experience click on the audio before continuing\

I still can't believe two summers ago I decided to give This Is Us a try, fell in love and binge-watched the whole 5 seasons available.

Every night, I would get to cooking in a very romanticized fashioned way à la Nancy Meyers main character, pour myself a nice fresh drink as people still enjoyed the warmth of the early evening hours.

By the time dinner was ready, world would accordantly settle for peacefulness as I made my way to the couch to get all cozy and snuggly.

Here would begin, the events I was truly not prepared for..

In just under 2 episodes, I was now finding myself unexpectedly and completely invested, all thanks to the writers for having done such a terrific job on the dialogues, cliffhangers and time traveling. For approximately the next two weeks following, my nights were paced up by This Is Us and driven by my own hunger to find out: what on earth happened to the Pearson family?

From the very first episode, --- which features one of the most beautiful closing scene I've seen on television along Labi Siffre's song "Watch Me" --- up to the last episode of season 1, emotions would come to the surface, hitting a specific spot within me...

By episode 14 from season 2 it was clear, if not clear then, that the tissu box would be kept close by for the remaining time of the entire series.

Imagine some stranger dropping on you some hard facts about life, death, society issues, love, mental health... to sum it up: YOURSELF.

precisely, accurately and totally out of the blue. 😃

As the seasons went on, I was admiring how the flashbacks and foreshadowing started to merge all together into one. It would only get all the more brilliant with each new episode I was discovering.

The show succeeded in giving its audience a range of life observations to think about. Therapy-wise, if you couldn't afford a therapist, This Is Us was there for you. I still rely on and appreciate many of the thoughtful and life inspiring excerpts.

Moreover, it delivered the people with a brand new music playlist. Yes, another key element to all this greatness is the symbiosis between the storylines and the soundtrack. Hold my Spotify, to this day I still listen to the score in my bed, to meditate, to get dreamy. I've also come to discover wonderful artists and can hardly detach their songs from the show as it gave their melodies a new sense of clarity and depth.

When having finished the fifth season, I was desperate for more but afraid to google the show and potentially find out it had been canceled.... which is NOT what happened of course because we're talking about thee show that has garnered over 17 million views in less than 3 days for its trailer alone. alright lovelies?

And so just like that, comfortable in my bed and all up to date, the sixth and finale season of This Is Us was premiered in early 2022.

Only couple of months after having cried an ocean over its past seasons, -- if reminder was needed --, I emotionally began this last chapter of what felt in some parts like my own life portrayed on screen. ✨hopes were high - tissu box storage ran low.✨

Season 6 would open to a flashbacks filled episode echoing Season 1, already preparing us for closure and ultimately heartbreaks. Eventually some people were a bit disappointed by the simplicity of the final episode, but the last minute or so really brought it all up for me. It was ending, right there before our very eyes and it was beautifully executed. The ultimate disappointment would have been to not experience any shivers, but that never happened, the show always got in my feelings in one way or another.

The empty boxes of kleenex that I've been sitting on can testify, your honor.

Last but not least, an aspect of the show that I've truly enjoyed is that all characters and actors were given dedicated moments to shine.

The chemistry between them was real, felt and seen both on and off the big screen and that's precious. I miss this cast.

This year, just a few weeks away from my birthday, there'll be no new Jack Pearson butt to be seen, no mothering singing Rebecca, no anxious Randall, no queen Beth, no indecisive Kevin, no self sabotaging Kate and oh do I miss them all. But I am so grateful for the people behind this project and their creative genius that bought us such a magnificent television program. I had low expectations, it now holds a special place in my heart like no other tv series.

This Is Us did not just narrate a story about some random family, it narrated life authentically at its worst and finest. With poetry and grace, it presented different storylines for each and every single one of us to identify, it offered us our very own reflection, and an opportunity to change, learn, heal or grow. This is the reason why so many of us worldwide described it as close to home,

because This Is Us.

🎂 And a very happy (late) birthday to our boo Milo Ventimiglia (08/07/1977) 💘

#milo ventimiglia #mandy moore #this is us #tiu #tiuedit #i am so grateful for this #filmedit #doyouevenfilm #my gifs #mental health #televisongifs #jack pearson #rebecca pearson #Spotify

32 notes · View notes

mia-talks-toons · 6 months

Text

(S1E4) Infinity Train: How Companies Disrespect Animated Shows PART 2

youtube

This is part two to my previous post about The Owl House and how companies disrespect animation, so go read that first if you haven’t already!

Infinity Train, oh where to start… Well, it first aired in 2019 on Cartoon Network and was created by Owen Dennis. It started as a 1-season miniseries but was quickly turned into an anthology series with a planned 8 seasons. As an anthology, it follows different stories set in the same universe, surrounding a common setting, which is the titular “Infinity Train”. The train, as you might assume, is a train with an infinite amount of cars, that goes on for eternity in a lifeless wasteland. It’s an unexplained place where those who have personal issues/traumas are transported and are able to work through them by making their way through each of the huge, unique cars on the train.

After 2 seasons, the show was moved to HBO Max (now simply called Max for some reason) and continued for 2 more seasons before getting cancelled. The 5th season, which was in early production, was canned for not having a “child entry point”, though the show is a mature cartoon, and is able to be enjoyed by people of all ages. The rest of the story, though bits and pieces have been revealed, will never see the light of day.

Now here’s where things go even more downhill. In August of 2022, Infinity Train, along with 36 other shows (20 of which were originals, and 14 being cartoons) were being removed from the platform, many of which aren’t available anywhere else, meaning unless you have a physical copy of it, you have no way of being able to legally watch it. And such is the fate of Infinity Train. What makes it all even worse is that many people involved with the shows weren’t notified whatsoever about their removal, and the only reason for their removal is due to cutting costs.

Oh, ANOTHER THING. While I was researching for this blog, I found out that according to a crew member, the first 4 seasons, the unfinished 5th season, and a Christmas special were all part of a singular season order. This means that even though 4 seasons aired, the writers were only paid for a single season's worth of content. This show has gone through hell and back, and if that wasn't enough on its own, the crew wasn't even paid fairly. Just... wow.

…When I was younger, I dreamed of becoming an animator, sharing my ideas with the world in the form of a cartoon show. That dream has long since been abandoned (though I still help other people with their projects, and work on my little original universes for my own enjoyment), but as more and more time goes on, and as stuff like this keeps happening not only to Infinity Train, but to so many other cartoons, I feel a sort of bittersweetness. I’m relieved that I didn’t make my way into an industry that would Thanos snap all my hard work away for no good reason, but it SUCKS that I have to feel good about not pursuing my passion. Art should be appreciated, not thrown in the trash to save a few dollars. Beautiful, mature, interesting and well-made art, no matter the medium.

So that’s all for this post. Sorry to end on such a downer, haha… Hopefully the next one will be happier? Actually, no. The next one WILL be happier.

#infinity train #cartoon #animation #writing this made me so mad oh my gosh.#anyways pirate the show it's SO GOOD-#Youtube

14 notes · View notes

naranjapetrificada · 3 months

Text

Fanfic Friday!

I still don't completely understand it, so this week I'm just gonna reflect on things that happened while writing this arranged marriage longfic, some of which I posted about on here and some of which I didn't.

I gave up on the Soup Paragraphs that were haunting me and realized I can introduce them later if I must.

I got in some "let go and let god" practice when I realized I don't have to get every little throwaway detail right, especially when it slows down my progress/makes writing miserable.

My therapist wants me to see about applying this Free Yourself skill in my non-writing life, to which I say I know you are but what am I

Characters put themselves in situations without my input and it was great!

Ceremonies are hard to write but at least I now know what Ed and Stede would be like if they were kids in a school play.

I started watching Rome again after thinking about it last week in the wake of the cancelation (I've had it on DVD for years). Still problematic in the way something made in 2005 will be, but otherwise it holds up incredibly well.

I've also stopped caring as much about all the people using the world's problems as a bludgeon against OFMD fans and the campaign to to save the show. For all the reasons other people have already articulated well but also, on a personal note, because of what this show has done for my relationship with writing.

I won't get into too much detail but suffice it to say I have a lot of baggage around writing, because of all the "gifted" nonsense of my childhood and my MFA experience as an adult. I don't blame anyone per se, but unhelpful social frameworks were unhelpful. Let's just say that when Pop-Pop said "if you were ever good at anything go do that" to Ed, it didn't not remind me of feeling obligated to do something that used to be rewarding but isn't anymore because it's what you're "supposed" to do. Anyway.

I wrote three short (<2000 word) fics between seasons 1&2, the first fic I've felt like writing in over a decade. It was liberating as hell to write again in a low-stakes environment, and with blorbo motivation to power me through the difficult parts. I never, ever thought I would write anything longer than 2000 words, but for the past (several?) weeks now I've been alternating between two drafts in tropes I can't get enough of, the shortest of which is around 10,000 (admittedly unedited) words.

The other is longer, and every time I work on it I keep having to break shit up so the chapters stay under 5000 words. This is unprecedented for me, and I've wanted to share it so much that I'm running out of shit to post on WIP Wednesday that won't reveal the plot or require too much context. I've never been in a fandom as creative (and creatively inspiring) as this one, nor have I every written so much in a single fandom before.

My relationship with writing wouldn't be healing like this at all if it weren't for this show and this fandom, and in particular I want to highlight the freedom in embracing the "David Jenkins School of Historical Inaccuracy." In fact, I've been keeping a running list of AO3 tags for the fic I've made the most progress on, and there are several "David Jenkins School of ________" tags, including Archaeology, Theology, and Comparative Politics. Thanks to seeing DJ's philosophy at work it's now possible for me to move on from certain details when I get stuck because they're "inaccurate" for the setting or whatever in a way I never could before. Now I feel empowered to move on from tricky details by asking myself:

Is it funny?

Is it related to the plot?

Is it character-building?

And if the answer to all of those is no, then so is the answer to question 4: "does it matter?"

Assuming I finish these longfics they'll be the longest creative pieces I've ever written and beyond the longest works of fiction I ever thought I would write, and for that I'm eternally grateful. Even if the world we live in is a crumbling disaster. Especially if the world we live in is a crumbling disaster.

#ofmd #our flag means death #renew as a crew #save ofmd #fanfic friday #WIP it good #edward teach #ofmd meta #fandom meta #writing process #writing woes #fic writing #arranged marriage AU #ancient rome AU (sorta)

9 notes · View notes

ltwharfy · 4 months

Text

"Bob's Burgers" Season 2 Episode Ranking Rewatch (Long Post)

So, I've been rewatching "Bob's Burgers" from the beginning and ranking the episodes using the spreadsheet that @babsvibes created! If you want to know why I'm doing this or how I view the 1-5 rating scale, you can check out my Season 1 post!

Now, on to Season 2:

Average (mean): 4.22

Mode (most common ranking) : 5

I hid the director and writer name categories when I took the picture to make it easier to focus on episode ratings. I will share my director and writer rankings when I reach the end of this project.

Season as a whole thoughts:

I really enjoy Season 2! I know everyone's got their own take on when "Bob's Burgers" really hit its stride, and many folks say Season 3 or later, but I'm going to say that for me, it had already hit that stride in Season 2. It was consistently funny, and I was surprised by how many lines from it were just burned in my memory- some without me even recognizing the source. (For example, before starting this project, the line: "You know what's free? Loading. Freeloading!" popped in my head. I did not know where it was from- not even what show. It's Louise in "Burgerboss".) "Mommy doesn't get drunk, she just has fun." "Don't feed a guy a sponge, Bobby." I could go on...

Seeing all the familiar faces who started showing up also really made it begin to feel like classic "Bob's Burgers" to me: we've got Zeke! Darryl! Sgt. Bosco! Mickey! Tammy! Honestly, I always think there is something fun in watching all the pieces of something begin to fall into place to create something wonderful, and Season 2 gave me a lot of that feeling.

In my season 1 review, I noted that if "Bob's Burgers" had been cancelled after that season, I would've been annoyed because I thought it showed promise but I wouldn't've viewed it as a tragedy (Season 1 of "Bob's Burgers" is no "Firefly"). But, Season 2 was really the beginning of the time period when I would've been outraged had it been cancelled. (Thankfully, it avoided being a two season wonder like "Joan of Arcadia" or "Saved by the Bell (2020 Revival)")

That said, the show was still figuring out some of the characters (especially Bob) and the overall family dynamic and show tone, which lead to the few episodes I didn't enjoy that much, including the only 2 I've issued so far.

Some thoughts on particular episodes:

"The Belchies": I remember watching this episode when it first aired and feeling like the show had clearly leveled up- it felt like it was beginning to realize the potential I saw in the first season. For some reason, I specifically remember watching the end credits- with Cyndi Lauper singing "Taffy Butt" and JJ dancing- and knowing that the show was capable of being more than it had been in season 1. Also, this episode is really the first example of one of my favorite "Bob's Burgers" episode types which is "the Belcher kids and their friends have an adventure!" And one of the great things about Season 2 is that the kids gain a number of friends- Hi Zeke!

"Bob Day Afternoon"- After this rewatch thing is over, I may try to do a top 20 or 25 list and this episode may be on that. I love it! In particular, the scene where the kids cling on to Bob as he is trying to take the burgers to Mickey and the hostages is one of the best of the series in terms of improv and the humor of talking over each other. And if I ever don't laugh at the part of Gene's Robot College fantasy where he walks in on his robo-roommate performing "routine maintenance" it's a sign that I am dead.

"Burgerboss"- This was a really pleasant surprise! While I knew those first two were two of my favorites, I just thought this one was kind of good- but on actually rewatching it, I found myself laughing the whole way through, so it gets a 5.

"Dr. Yap"- I generally enjoy Yap the character, as well as Gayle, but the two things I really love about this episode are the Gene and Louise jawbreaker subplot (it's fun watching those two get into a ridiculous competition over something stupid) and the Prince of Persuasia. The Prince is such a great parody of that horrible "pickup artist" style, and I find literally all his lines hilarious ("Never make her pancakes. Force her to make you pancakes- in the middle of the night.")

"Bad Tina"- Another episode that might make a top 25 list. Both storylines- the introduction of Tammy and Bob's obsession with "Cake"- are A+. They had already established a number of Tina's core traits throughout the first two seasons, but now with the addition of friend fiction and Tammy, her best of frenemies, it feels like they've fully got Tina down and we get the first great Tina episode (and Tina episodes tend to my favorites, even if Louise is my favorite character).

Okay, now the episodes I didn't like that much:

"Moody Foodie"- Why did I give this my first (and so far only) 2? Honestly, I thought it was overdone and dry.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I actually enjoy the first half of the episode. Bob's nightmare about working in an office is hilarious to me as an actual office drone. The scene where he and Louise just start yelling "overdone and dry" at passersby is great. And the farmer's market scene at the beginning has some great family banter.

And then it goes completely off the rails in the second half. The second half of the episode is "Bob Belcher and his friends and family hold a couple of dudes prisoner" which sounds more like a WTF fanfic summary than an actual episode of the show. And it's likely that this episode bothers me more now than it did when it first aired. I think they were still figuring Bob's character out and if they had ended up making him more Homer Simpson-like (prone to anger and hare-brained schemes) maybe this episode wouldn't stick out so much. Similarly, I think that all animated shows struggle a bit with figuring out how grounded in reality they are going to be. if BB had evolved into a less grounded show, this episode also might not stick out.

But it does stick out, for me at least. I just found the second half of this episode more weird and disturbing than funny (although it still had some good lines- I enjoyed Tina translating "Wet Willie" into Spanish for Pepe). If the hostage taking was a shorter part of the episode, maybe I would give it a mixed-review 3, but it is basically the main plot, and I'd rather not rewatch it.

"Beefsquatch": I don't love the physical confrontation between Bob and Gene at the end, but what stops this episode from being a 2 is that really the worst part of it (in my opinion) is actually a pretty small part of the episode. And both of them realize they were acting nuts, and their motivations seem kind-of in character to me (Bob wanted the cooking segment to be a chance to promote the restaurant, Gene wanted his performance as Beefsquatch to be the center of attention). And I just enjoy some other bits in this. "More Scotch!". Louise first enjoying than getting burnt out by her involvement in Gene and Bob's prank war. And Gene's flashback to accidentally gluing his wiener to his remote control helicopter- followed by Louise's "accidentally on purpose!" and them high-fiving. (The high-five cracks me up so much! It's such a silly thing to high-five over!)

Random thoughts (stuff that doesn't affect the ratings):

-It was fun to see the introduction of the exterminator van being different each episode after seeing "Rat's All Folks!" for all of season 1.

-Peter Pescadero is back- and he has his correct face after that weirdness in "Spaghetti Western and Meatballs"! Has anybody written a fic about why his face changed? Like "Face/Off" but with Peter Pescadero (just one idea)?

-Generally, I try not to nitpick about continuity on the show that much. I think they do a really good job, especially by standards of animated comedies (but honestly, really all comedies). But it does bug me that there is a whole episode in a later season about how Louise can only poop in her home toilet when in "Synchronized Swimming" she poops in public pool. She named it Jezebel for crying out loud! It's Bob and Linda's grand-doody! JEZEBEL CANNOT BE FORGOTTEN!

Well, clearly I've been writing for too long and have gone crazy. See you when I'm done with Season 3, whoever may be reading these!

#bob's burgers #bob's burgers season 2 #bob's burgers episode ranking rewatch #long post

15 notes · View notes

psychic-refugee · 4 months

Text

I literally do not understand this spin off. I get expanding the Wednesday universe, but I figured that meant introducing completely new “cousins” that can attend Nevermore or maybe go to a Normie school. I think a more logical spin off would be a Wednesday like cousin who has to walk in her shadow and resents that. Or maybe a Marilyn Munster type Addams who is the blonde sheep of the Addams Family. A spin off staring Uncle Fester feels so…completely unasked for and out of the blue. lol

Between this and adding four new, named characters with descriptions to Season 2, I feel like Netflix is doing everything BUT writing a cohesive narrative. I get that with a new season/story there is always room for new characters, but they have so many already established characters that they could go deeper on that they barely touched on in Season 1. Namely, Xavier, Enid, and Ajax. These are popular characters to boot that people WANT to know more about, and now they’re crowding the cast?

I’ll admit, I really like the idea of Wednesday and the characters more than I liked the actual storyline. I think Jenna made some really good points and good calls when it came to Wednesday’s character and what made sense for her, she got a lot of flack for changing some of the script but I’m with her on it 100%. There are so many plot holes and inconsistencies that if I didn’t personally like Jenna, Percy, or Georgie and their characters despite the plot, then I would have not bothered with the series after one watch.

I don’t have high hopes for Season 2’s plot. I worry that because of the strike and they still want to capitalize on the popularity, it’s going to be rushed. Haste makes waste and I think they care more about pushing characters for fans to get obsessed over rather than the story. I really do think that Netflix’s formula is to push for celebrities rather than plot, so they can dump the series at Season 2 and therefore not pay residuals.

My gut feeling is that Season 2 will be nothing but a cash grab and it’s going to show through the writing.

They get more money from new subscribers by luring them in with fancy new shows and save money by canceling shows regardless of popularity.

I always want to give things a fair shot, but as of now I just can’t think of a show that revolves around Uncle Fester of being any interest to me or any Wednesday fan I know.

#wednesday netflix #uncle fester #wednesday addams #jenna ortega #percy hynes white #georgie farmer #enid sinclair #emma myers #ajax petropolus #xavier thorpe #fester addams #entertainment weekly #fred armisen

9 notes · View notes

somanyfuckedupiftruebooks · 1 year

Text

Mag 38

We love a man who's well organised <3 He has experience with needing to get the fuck out of dodge and I respect that.

Surely these can't all be Leitners? It would be insane to store them like this, right? And as far as we know Salesa isn't a moron.

Although it is cool to think that he stole them all from (laughed out of town cowboy motherfucking) jurgen leitner after his internship ended. Punitive damages.

Homophobic vase??? Already??? I didn't know this was a Season 1 statement! I thought this motherfucker showed up in like 3 or 4.

Anyway, great to be like, 'This disorienting vase had a pattern so impossible that it gave me a headache. It was amazing and I bought it immediately.'

What is with people in TMA wanting cursed shit in their homes? (Remembers thst I have a framed bat skeleton on my bookshelf next to a Japanese puzzle box full of replica human teeth and directly opposite the lovechild of a porcelain doll and a rusty tin can that I have to keep nailed to the wall) ...nevermind.

Hello David, the gaslighting king. I had a headcanon about him that relistening to this episode may have ruined, but I'll expand on that later.

Wild that Salesa now seems to be afraid of that vase. I mean, it makes sense from his POV. He just received a photo of what is obviously a Spiral artefact that he has absolutely no memory of but apparently owned at one point. Fear is an appropriate response here; he's obviously only narrowly dodged some kind of bullet.

But what about when he had the vase originally? How did he get it? Did he not know what it was, or what it did? I know he lives a dangerous life, but it seems deeply reckless to be a person who makes a living by aquiring and selling goods and in any way interact with something that makes it impossible for a person to keep or own anything. If he hadn't somehow fluked his way into passing the vase along without consequence, it could have destroyed him.

Actually you know what commentary cancelled. I am being such an idiot. I am asking how and why Salesa came to own a thing cannot be owned and (at a minimum) distorts the memory of anyone who tries to buy or sell it. Salesa had never set eyes on that vase until the exact moment that Andre wanted to buy it, then he lied and pretended to know what it was until the sale was over (because he's a criminal) then he promptly forgot it ever existed.

These certainly do seem to be the actions and thought patterns of a person who is mentally well.

Again, I've said this before, but Spiral statements like this get under my skin because they feel so unfair. Of course a person will start losing track of their sanity if you mess with their literal reality to the point at which they can no longer determine what's real. David isn't gaslighting Andre, Andre isn't losing tough with reality, it's the vase's fault for changing reality around both of them! And even saying that sounds crazy!

Alright Salesa, no need to be a cunt about it. This could have very easily been happening to you.

You see this shit? How can this not break your heart? He's not wrong; it's the vase's fault!!

I don't know why this kind of thing bothers me for the Spiral specifically when all the Entities do basically the same thing. It doesn't feel unfair for the Buried to eat cave divers alive, or for the Lonely to isolate depressed loners, but when the Spiral takes people who are perfectly sane and fucks around with them until they are paranoid delusional messes it just feels like bullying I guess.

It's not fair how crazy he sounds when he is accurately describing what is literally happening to him!! The Spiral can fuck off.

Keep these details about David in mind for the theory I will be expanding on later.

#a mag a day #reeah reacts to tma #mag 38 #homophobic vase #the spiral

77 notes · View notes

captainimfangirling · 6 months

Text

Upload season 3 so far

Not sure how I feel about Upload season 3. The big reason I loved the show was seeing Nathan live in Lakeview and exploring this futuristic afterlife but now we hardly see Lakeview anymore. The "real world" is just so lame and gross. What was with the cancer meat and cottage cheese?! Also many shipped Aleesha and Luke in season 1 and they hinted their relationship in season 2 but now it's like Luke is in love with Nathan and Aleesha is with that girl. I mean Aleesha and Luke can still be together someday but I don't see any hints of it. I get the plot line is about going after the big evil corporation but that's not the reason people liked the show.

To be honest I kind of want Nathan back in Lakeview and Nora to still be his angel or at least have them in their own version of Lakeview. I wonder if they cut the budget and that's why they couldn't have the beautiful settings anymore. To be honest the only interesting character to be is Aleesha and her family. The printing ham was pretty funny. Ingrid's story is ok but I do hope she gets over Nathan because what she's going through is just sad. Also having a copy of Nathan in Lakeview kind of downplays Nathan because they're basically the same. The real Nathan is dead. I didn't feel that way in season 1 and 2 but now I do. That's what I mean by downplaying Nathan.

I heard so many people surprised there was a season 2 so I feel like it was a big ass mistake for Prime to stream the show weekly. Our fandom is already small so nobody is gonna subscribe and cancel their Prime Membership for Upload.

#upload #upload season 3 #upload tv #nathan brown #ingrid kannerman #Nora Antony

9 notes · View notes

cringecompanionapologist · 5 months

Text

So, there's a lot going on with Doctor Who right now, and I'm not sure it's all gonna work out, but I really want to give RTD the benefit of the doubt right now, because he's got a nearly impossible task here.

The show went through a dip in ratings and he was brought back in to rescue it. He revived the series from the dead in the first place. But, he now has to create something keeping a very diverse audience in mind. I don't mean "diverse" in a race/gender/sexuality sense, though that's certainly also true. I mean diverse in what they actually want from the show. I mean, you've got:

Fans of the Classic series who generally hate everything new.

Long time fans who like the new series, but weren't really into the Chibnall era.

These can be divided between "We didn't like Chibnall and we want things to be like they were before him" and "We didn't like Chibnall and we want something completely new."

People who stopped watching the show some time between 2010 and 2022 who want to get back into it, because it looks like it did when they were watching it.

Literal children who just watch Doctor Who.

Fans of the Chibnall era that don't like that it ended.

Fans very critical of the first RTD era who just don't want him back in general.

Fans who think the Chibnall era was "too political"

Fans who think the Chibnall era played it too safe politically. (Compare the treatment of capitalism in Oxygen to the treatment of capitalism in Kerblam.)

And I'm definitely forgetting some people here. He has to make the show like it was in the classic era, like it was the last time he was running things, like the Moffat era, like the Chibnall, and like something completely new. Something different, but not too different. Something inoffensive, including to people who get offended by attempts to be inoffensive. Something that appeals to children without seeming too childish for adult fans. And it all has to bring up ratings and turn a profit.

So everything he's done so far that you don't like was done in an attempt to cater to someone else.

David Tennant's back for the people who stopped watching after he left. This is stupid to everyone else.

Series 14 is a new Series 1 for new people who feel weird starting a show in its 14th season, who we don't want to binge 13 seasons to catch up. It ruins the numbering system for anyone keeping track.

13's cloths changing when she regenerated into 14 was an attempt to avoid controversy with one group which created controversy with others. Same thing with all the Davros stuff recently.

Meanwhile, you have Tales of the TARDIS, a popular dw comic villain appearing in the show, and the return of a one-off villain from 1966 to appeal to classic series and eu fans, as well as make new fans curious about those things.

He's trying to do something for everyone, but some things that are for one group are against another. Still, I can't be mad at him for trying. He's being giving a near-impossible task of saving a sinking ship, which wasn't sinking for half of its passengers, and already underwater for a good portion of the other half. Things are going to go wrong in there somewhere.

I'm still going to wait and see how this next season goes before calling it a success or failure. I don't believe Doctor Who can be Ruined Forever. Even if it's cancelled, it'll come back eventually. It's already happened. And even if it's not on TV, we're still got a lot of other stuff. This show, even if it's doing things you hate, is unkillable.

I know I have absolutely no sway over this fandom, but I think we should try to be patient. Even if you didn't like the RTD era, he's still trying here. If you didn't like the first RTD era, don't be surprised if you don't like this one. This era will end and you might like the next one. If you don't, whatever you do like will still be there.

Everything's gonna be fine by someone's standards.

#rtd2 #doctor who #this fanbase is incapable of being happy

10 notes · View notes