#i ended up deciding not to really get into it with the specifics irt the theo stuff

[mattodore]

Did Matthias do anything illegal in his life? What I mean is morally unacceptable behavior that hurts people. If so, why did he do that?

I mean, has he killed someone? Has he beat someone up? How many times has he done it or has it only been occasionally? Do people find him rude? Should people be afraid of him?

I’ve said this about Matthias before, but he’s someone who’s had violent thoughts and urges ever since he was a child. I do think there’s a possible genetic factor at play there, but I also believe that the way he grew up left something chasmic in its wake, this gouge in his chest that he’s been clawing at ever since. Matthias was severely neglected as a child and his development was… slanted, for lack of a better word. There’s something warped in his head, you know? He’s a product of his upbringing.

To give you a picture of Matthias’s childhood, I want to make it clear that he never had any toys. His nursery was nothing more than a crib in a room. No bright colored walls, no alphabet blocks, no pop-up books. He didn’t play, or… not like most children, at least—not how you’d normally picture a child playing. His childhood was spent alone despite the sheer number of staff on the grounds of the estate. If Matthias reached for a hand or wanted comfort from a nanny or another member of the staff, he’d be pushed away. There was no emotional or physical warmth in the Evanoff household and a harsh line had been drawn between Matthias and everyone around him, including his parents, who he saw no more than a handful of times when he was young. What little socialization Matthias had was… well, it was nothing more than giving orders to attendants or having discussions with his tutors about the subjects he was studying. The staff were forbidden from interacting with Matthias more than was strictly necessary and the effect that had on him can’t be understated.

You can see, then, these early building blocks for cruelty being laid out. As a precocious child whose only real social connection with others was formed through analysis and study, it only made sense that Matthias found himself reaching for the books in his father’s library whenever he could, and through that those very same blocks began to stack. Play for Matthias was deconstructing humanity through history, through fiction, parsing through dense text in the ever-present child’s curiosity: but why? And Matthias’s father was an excessively cruel and frighteningly violent man, so his taste in literature certainly reflected that. This is also what I mean when I say there’s a genetic factor at play with some of Matthias’s impulses. Some of it’s inherited. In a way, he gets this from his mother’s side, too, although she’s a different kind of violent… a hands-off kind. I mean, that violence is how Matthias wound up being tortured for three years while trapped in a “therapeutic” reform school. It’s just as cruel, but it pretends to be righteous. So there’s this snapping violence and this opportunistic kind.

I’m saying all of this because I think it gives context to how much control Matthias exhibits over himself and his violent urges now as an adult. Sure, when he was younger he would react, he’d deride and break and hurt, but he doesn’t do that anymore. It’s not that he feels guilt over the impulses he has—there’s no shame there at all, really. To him, it’s just in his nature to get these flashes, these sudden images of brutality. They’ve been there all his life, you know? It’s normal to him. The only reason he doesn’t act on them is because he had impulse control beaten into him at the reform school and because he’s learned that the social contract is something that he can use to his advantage to get whatever it is he wants. He charms and obfuscates now. In that same vein, it’s not often that people find him to be rude, because he keeps his disdainful and unsavory thoughts to himself. You’d have to be someone who’s incredibly perceptive in order to see through Matthias… which just so happens to be Theo to a T.

So what I mean by this is that now when Matthias does actually act on these thoughts, these urges that dig at his brain, there’s normally a catalyst to them—this trigger that sends fire all through the synapses in his body. Matthias is incredibly loyal to Imani and Theo and he’s someone who’s very protective of them. Throughout his early teen years, back when he and Imani went to the same boarding school, he was constantly shielding Imani from the brunt of the corporal punishment that came with the turf. At that age he was volatile and would even hit back at times, but he knew that would land him in solitude and separated from Imani for days on end, which he just couldn’t have—not if he wanted to make sure nobody hurt her. He learned restraint for Imani’s sake then, but it wasn’t until he was trapped in the reform school that that restraint was fully drilled into him as a result of psychological torture and abuse.

He’s quick to offer a slicing comment, to give a chilling smile, to go eerily still and intimidate with his stare alone, but now as an adult he doesn’t often get physical unless provoked. He keeps it in and he holds himself back, this taut tension in his jaw only there for a moment before the mask submerges him again and holds his head under water. It’s really only when Theo’s involved that Matthias just… God, he really just can’t help himself. The cracks widen and he gets physical. It’s vicious. He has all this strength now, this imagination that only ever comes alive when he’s thinking of this, and he’s had years of experience in actual brawls that were just horrible—he’s been ganged up on, hit with metal chairs, humiliated and jeered at while bleeding everywhere, ripped out of bed and kicked until his ribs broke… It's safe to say that he takes pain like it means nothing to him now. So he swallows the blood he tastes when a hit lands and just plows through like it’s the only thing he knows how to do, like it’s programmed in him. It’s animalistic. It’s vengeful. It’s rapturous.

Like I said, seeing harm come to the only people Matthias loves has a disastrous effect on his self-control. Imani’s in a better place now that she’s an adult, but Theo… well, Theo’s been hurt by a lot of people—his parents, faces at clubs, ghosts from his past… too many instances to even begin getting into each of them. And Matthias has to unravel red yarn before a board and string together all of these physical reactions Theo has around some people, has to tilt his head as he replays the tapes and rewinds through remarks Theo’s made that felt off even before Matthias knew there was something going on there. Theo doesn’t talk about his hurt, doesn’t talk about anything that could make him weak, that exposes the nasty underbelly of his private life, so it’s up to Matthias to pick up on what’s been left unspoken. The specifics may not be there, but it’s enough to see Theo flinch at the sound of his own name being called, to watch him freeze up when a hand raises too fast, to track Theo as he checks the locks once, twice, three times in a row before he moves away. Matthias notices it all and he’s an eye for an eye kind of man. He can’t even help himself there, has no restraint when it comes to Theo, so… he handles it.

The furthest Matthias has ever gone, the worst he’s ever injured somebody, was when he nearly killed someone from Theo’s old summer boarding school. Theo managed to stop him, but only by a hair’s breadth. Matthias could have gone to prison for that one, he easily could’ve, but… there were circumstances and, when it comes down to it, Matthias is obscenely wealthy. In the end, he got off scot-free from attempted murder while the other party was hospitalized. He handled the rest without physical violence, though he certainly wanted to finish what he started. But, at the end of the day, Theo comes first, always.

He’s certainly engaged in far more illegal and immoral activities (his little blackmail moment was a personal favorite of mine), but physically he’s never gone so far as murder (though he’s not opposed…) and while he’s definitely lost control and grievously injured some people, I’d say he’s only ever hospitalized a handful. He keeps himself in check… most of the time, at least. He honestly doesn’t fly off the handle for no reason. If you keep your hands to yourself and watch your mouth then you don’t have to be afraid of him in that way. Still, it’s better to just keep your distance. He has too much fun pulling strings.

#IT WAS THE WAY THE IMAGE WAS CROPPED THAT WAS MAKING IT NOT SHOW UP... LITERALLY WHATTTT? WHATEVER IT'S BEEN CROPPED NOW SO. POST. PLEASE. #river dipping #asks #anonymous #matthias evanoff #theodore doe #echthroi #oc extras #ts4 #cw child abuse mention #cw blood #spent a bit editing this screenshot look at the blood i'm kicking my feet and twirling my hair <3 #while editing this i listened to animal impulses by iamx on a loop it's one of matthias's latest additions to his playlist and woof #''no civilizing hides our animal impulses'' fits him so well. this and bring me back a dog... iamx understands matthias more than anyone #but okay. laying down on the floor forever after finally finishing writing all of this... #i kept deleting everything i would write and starting over like i was going through it with this one #i ended up deciding not to really get into it with the specifics irt the theo stuff #idk i'm conflicted abt it i don't really wanna say anything for sure until i finally make the decision and feel like i can talk abt it #with like... a full grasp of it all? but to that anon from a few months back who asked abt theo's pinterest board: that's who. #................................anyway hello <3 #i was gone for over a week and you may be thinking wow river you must be really far in that game you've been playing about gates #or maybe you thought i've been spending all my time trying to write this reply but ach nae......................... #i've just been reading obsessively like literally reading 24/7 doing almost nothing else #[ayo edebiri voice] i have No. Hobbies. Other Than This. #also my activity feed has been staring at me and i've been staring right back at it since i logged in to post this kjnkgjnh #i need to catch up on some things too i rlly do but you see the draw of reading another epub............ she's a strong temptress #hope you've all been well <3 my avpd is still fighting me but whatever i'm used to it kjngfkjnfh

[son1c]

Ok but what does Shadow think of Jack and Teddy? Is he indifferent to them or do they big their way into his mind?

jack pisses him off cuz she's very combative and rude. this is HER town, these are HER slopes, and when shadow starts to infringe on ""HER"" rival, she teams up with sonic to take him down. like, she's petty enough to put her and sonic's rivalry aside if it means putting shadow in his place.

however, shadow might also see her attitude as a little... refreshing? it's hard to explain. but like, snowpoint is this idyllic hallmark town where everyone is nice and welcoming (to an uncanny and scary degree). so to have jack be like "piss off, i hate you" has shadow being like "finally, someone normal" LMAOOOOO

later when she decides to work with shadow as a means to protect her town, he doesn't really wanna. let her help? i mean, he's the ultimate lifeform. he's got this. he doesn't NEED anyone's help. but jack is SO pushy, and she's kind of... right. about how she knows her way around better than shadow, since she grew up around here. and she can get herself out of any sticky situation irt the terrain, whereas shadow has been struggling a little bit, because the ice and snow seriously disagree with his chosen mode of transportation (heat-based rocket skates).

so he begrudgingly agrees to let her help. and she pulls her weight. he's gotta respect it.

as for teddy... yeah, he doesn't like him at all at first. at least with jack, he's not unfamiliar with her specific type of bad attitude? but with teddy, it's different. he does feel a little bad for him, since, once he figures out that starline is behind everything, he also realizes that teddy has been manipulated into playing the role of sonic's "love interest" and has had his feelings messed with as a result.

shadow can sympathize.

and maybe he even opens up to teddy about it, just a little bit. that sort of emotional manipulation is extremely difficult to come to terms with, it can flip your whole world upside down. and he's BEEN there, with maria's promise being twisted into something so violent in the past. but teddy would've thrown it back in his face, like, "you're only saying that so you can have sonic all to yourself" or something like that. and for shadow, who rarely EVER offers that sort of openness, it would've stung.

but again, it's. familiar. isn't it?

and at the end of it all, shadow is just a little bit enamoured by teddy's boldness. maybe it was a little late, but teddy finally responded to shadow's openness with some of his own. and it's not every day mr dark and brooding gets a kiss for saving the day!

#anonymous #text heavy #i wrote so much and for what. i'm insane #snowpoint sonic

[mathlann]

Requisite Disclaimer: I don't see the point in keeping this OC specific but, my game isn't your game etc. etc. I'm coming from a Sub! Marazhai perspective for context but just my interpretation.

So I've been rotating that Act 5 Kiss in my head for too long but I think I've pinned down what makes the Act 5 Kiss work, for me at least. Because inasmuch as the "Marazhai hates kissing" thing is fun, I don't think the actual Act of kissing (with or without teeth) is really what he's objecting to that first time. It's that the Rogue Trader is messing up the Game (ie, the terms of their fling/him teaching them how to be more Drukhari). And I think the Act 5 Kiss, or rather how you get it, is a fun bookend on ending the Game/re-balancing the dynamic?

Long-ass ramble under the cut

So, like I was saying above, the RT and Marazhai's relationship is pretty explicitly a Game that he's playing out of boredom. The Rogue Trader receives "[an education on] the true Aeldari soul" he receives "a fleeting titillation" until it's time for him to become Archon/become a Merc/join the clown show, whatever. He initiates the proposition, and he's the one setting the terms through the whole thing. It's up to the Rogue Trader to stay in their role and meet his standards, or they give up, or he gets bored and leaves. And a major part of his romance is that he's very action over words in regards to what he wants and how he feels.

As far as the first two kisses go, it's not the act itself it's the context imo. The first (bitey) kiss, he initiates, and it's during the lust/murder-high part of the Feast, which is what he invited the Rogue Trader to do. The Kiss Attempt™ by the Rogue Trader is the next morning after all that's worn off. And, granted the scene itself is pretty cozy, considering (he's literally leaning over the RT and telling them not to keep him waiting ie, next hookup) so it makes sense why the Rogue Trader might decide a goodbye kiss is appropriate. But it's a misstep I think because it's too intimate, bordering on sentimental, which is very much not the Drukhari way of doing things (it shows weakness). You aren't lovers in that way, the Rogue Trader is a toy/a pet, fun time is over and he's headed out. To try to pretend more than that is past the Game and an expression of weakness that needs to be put in its place as a "mon-keigh absurdity" as he'd say.

Compare that to the Branding, which is much more his style. It is, for all intents and purposes, a commitment scene, but he doesn't actually say "I want this," he's decided that the Rogue Trader has earned it from him. He talks around, but doesn't even explicitly say, he wants the RT to brand him either, (if asked, best he gives is "well....I mean after I've been so ~submissive~ you would let me just walk around without???? 👀"). And he threatens to walk out if the Rogue Trader keeps asking too many questions because again, he's the lead here and to say so would be to play his hand, which is a major no. If he grabs the RT like he's going to brand them....and it just so happens they have a mighty easy time grabbing that knife from him....well, there's the answer, no words needed. And if the Rogue Trader doesn't grab the knife, well, there's his answer. Y'all don't need to see each other anymore.

Which also makes the final Feast/Big confession hit the way it does because it is the first and only time he's being very direct in how he feels and what he wants, ie. they're equals and he wants the to keep up *all of this* for as long as they've got. And...that's a slip up irt his control of the situation/the Game that the Rogue Trader can exploit. To see:

And for extra juice, the actual threaten to break up line after this is "I am not interested. I think I have played enough with you" which is a nice reversal ie. "testing the limits of who is running the Game." Because if Marazhai's confession is a test, accepting fails it, they were too sentimental. Except he's not actually testing them and he gets genuinely upset and scared at the idea that the Rogue Trader would just leave him like that. Also, (at time of writing iirc), you can't get The Kiss™ if you didn't attempt it earlier at the first Feast. I think it's interesting if, perhaps, that bit of sentimentality made him assume the Rogue Trader was the one who was down bad/being sappy this whole time. Which was fun to play around with before, but now he's caught feelings and the Rogue Trader potentially out-manipulating him on that front only to "abandon" him now is a major blow to his, being, frankly.

And if the Rogue Trader pushes further with the "I do not hear enough pleading in your voice" line, the narration notes he's stuck between "despair and pride" while still refusing to say more because it's not in him to say what he wants with that kind of honesty. And again, like, he's Drukhari so you're never going to get an "I love you" out of him, and he wouldn't accept that from the Rogue Trader in turn, but he doesn't know how to otherwise show that because Drukhari aren't big on straightforward lovey dovey kiss stuff even when they actually feel it. So the Kiss™, a real (romantic) one is an olive branch in the "you don't have to say it but I'll believe you're being honest if you do this" sense but also the Rogue Trader winning irt "the Game is over, show me we're equals, I met you on your level (see: his bullshit), meet me on mine (mon-keigh absurdities)."

#if you made it to the end yay standing ovation because this was way too long jfc #en tee ways #marazhai aezyrraesh #rogue trader #casimira von valancius #<- not because shes mentioned but to mark her playthrough #i didnt like exhaust every dialogue this isnt like holistic meta or w/e cuz again playthrough but yeah #rogue trader spoilers

[actualbird]

If Vyn lets his being a furry slip to the team I feel mc would absolutely be the first and most willing to share her own nerdy (anime) interests followed by Marius who teases Vyn before realising he probably needs some reassurance that his interests are Fine, so he pulls out his ridiculously long list of commissions for furries he's done because as fun as teasing Vyn is he's gotta make sure Vyn knows it's in good faith first.

How does Vyn get to know Luke's anime days? Mc and Luke absolutely had anime tumblr blogs or accounts on other social media that mc is completely unembarrassed about. Luke probably isn't embarrassed about it either but he also doesn't really take initiative to show his blog to the others unless Vyn really needs to know it and mc doesn't want to force him to give away something he might want to keep private so she decides to only show her blog. Except there's no way their blogs never interacted with one another and so, while looking through mc's many many posts:

Vyn, after reading a miles long rp post between mc's account and someone with sherlock in their account name: Luke that's you isn't it

Mc is just about to apologise a thousand times for sharing Luke's blog accidentally before he tells her it's fine and gives the team the go ahead to look through his blog too.

And after seeing how chill the rest of nxx is about nerdy interests Artem shares his own Star Trek days, offhandedly mentions his cosplay of Spock and is instantly bombarded with requests to see it. He tells the team to go back to work but the next Halloween when they're probably close enough to hold a party. He shows up in his fabled cosplay and the team goes WILD.

This sharing of nerd culture brings all of them closer together, but also just gave everyone ammo for everyone else. None of them ever hear the end of jokes relating to their respective interests, but of course it's all in good fun and doesn't go too far. Some of them probably get into the fandoms of the others. At some point all of them get into a common fandom and start scheduling meetups specifically for fandom business along with their actual important jobs.

🌌

irt nxx team locational coincidences: part 1. part 2. part 3. part 4.

hhhHHHH, MILKYWAYYYYY!! this genuinely just made me feel like pleading emoji the entire time i was reading, it's so sweet, so tender :((((

ive got nothing to add, you already made something wonderful, so i will just tell u Everything I Love About This

MARIUS IS A GOOD BEAN!!! yes hes an asshole but hes an asshole (affectionate) and the ribbing only comes after marius divulging his own "cringe" stuff and how cringe is shitty anyway, look at these fucking designs, vyn, furries are awesomely creative and are the best demographic to get commissions from OF ALL TIME.

sdkjbkjBKJKS YEAH, VYN CLOCKS IN LUKE FROM HIS URL. who tf else would have the url theadventuresofsherlukeholmes dot tumblr dot com (WHICH, I JUST CHECKED, IS NOT TAKEN. somebody go get it, bc i cant since ive hoarded enough tot urls HAHA)

sidenote: so curious as to what mc and luke were rp-ing, like, luke is obvi rp-ing sherlock, either from the og ACD or specific adaptations he likes, so i guess thatd mean mc is doing the same but rp-ing as watson. oh my god, their rp threads are just them doing johnlock across medias. LOSING MY MIND, i love them both so much, your honor.

YESSSSSSS ARTEM'S COSPLAY!!! i do a standing ovation, youre doing AMAZING, HONEY!!!!

im so emotional about all this :((( nerds coming together and having fun together //SOBS!!!

this is so fantastic, thank u for my life, milkyway!!!

#milkyway!anon #asks #what do i do with the tot urls ive hoarded. lukepearcewithagun and artemwingwithagun

[jonroxton]

can you talk about chlark beyond chloe? personally i think it's weird that the writers kept adding kisses and weird romantic moments without any pay off. i don't know much about the fandom back then but i think the writers were baiting fans since clark/chloe seems to be the second most popular ship after clex. second i personally think chloe would never be happy with clark or anyone tbh and she doesn't seem like the type of person who would have kids so the finale was weird to me.

this got looooong :)

0. it WAS weird, and the choice to never not once go for it with them was to the story's detriment. I'll get into it a little later on in this post.

Re: shipping in sv fandom. there was definitely drama (clana was HUGE when the show was airing and every ship was basically derailed by it lol) but I stayed in my clois lane with a small circle of fandom friends much like I do now. a good measure of clois fans were fans of lois and clark from other mediums, come to sv just for lois and clark, myself included. we were pretty insulated as a fandom even back then. I do remember seeing more Chlark after the S5 finale (when Chloe kisses him goodbye), but those dropped off after Jimmy was introduced right away in S6. The most drama I encountered was with Chloisers: Chloe fans who believed wholeheartedly that Chloe was Lois. They hated SV!Lois and were convinced she would die so Chloe could take her name and job and place by Clark's side, thus a Chlark endgame. this was a popular theory amongst that fandom even into s9, when the clois ball started to roll for true.

bait and switch

a lot of Chlark is rooted in this notion that chloe WOULD be the best thing for Clark, the ideal Lois, the true best friend, the human hand guiding him through Earth's troubles. she would be could be the BEST possible lois archetype for Clark. it's not a wrong interpretation. she was specifically written as a lois-and-lana-proxy (teenage lana is a reporter in some AUs and even some as an adult as a tv correspondent) and she's given many lois-ish traits (tenacious, secretly crushing on clark and in denial), but this interpretation is deeply flawed. first, because lois does eventually enter into the picture and she has her own defining traits that, when compared to chloe, make chloe seem much shallower than realized. secondly, within the complete context of the story, her position in the greater narrative is not as ~the one who got away, the way it did very early on in S1-S4, but one who clark tolerates.

they're friends because clark is forgiving and chloe has staying power. their friendship is riddled with insecurities and unknowns the characters create for themselves. their dynamic is defined by conflict, not resolutions. this is not made easy by the fact that chloe is such a strangely written character, but ultimately she is positioned as a counter to clark achieving his happiness. not a thematic narrative foil but an obstacle clark eventually relents to.

2. and it has been so from the get-go

S1 is the best season for them and the single season which actually considers Clark's side in this dynamic. everything about them later on can be explained with how they are in this season. and that's the problem. when they're 14 it's nice teen angst drama and works perfectly to establish the dynamic. when they're 24 it's at best a pattern, at worst regression. we expect certain behaviors, dismiss them too, when it's children, at least I do. clark and chloe never move beyond the dynamic they establish in s1 and early s2. in essence, clark and chloe remain children around each other. they have many discussions in the later seasons that make at least one appear petulant.

so S1 clark has just been told the greatest secret of his existence and he imprints on lana hard that same night (right AFTER jonathan tells him, he meets lana at the graveyard and talks to her for the first time EVER, a lot of childhood imprinting going on in SV). all of s1 follows clark's heartache over lana, watching her from afar and figuring out a way to be near her. this pain is exacerbated by the fact that he believes he caused her her greatest grief: the death of her parents via the meteor shower which he arrived in.

here the first beat of the chlark dynamic is established: chloe's job and passion – the wall of weird and her pursuing the meteor infected oddities of SV - directly affects clark in a negative way (he's suicidal for much of s1-s3). so her crush on him is countered with her unknowingly causing him great grief. om top of that: clark becomes part of this passion of hers and she eventually begins to pursue him as a story to be uncovered, very superman yes. here tho, it causes nothing but strife for them and paints chloe in an awful light (and clark too, highlighting his refusal to open up). I personally enjoy this aspect of them in s1. bc they're so young I give em a free pass and it's a good conflict playing around with old superman tropes, but it makes for a fraught friendship.

3. the second beat

is that neither chloe's crush on clark, nor his asking her to stop pursuing his truth, do anything to stay her. her tenaciousness becomes intrusiveness and inconsideration (many of her accomplishments irt the daily planet are directly bc she betrays clark). she simply will not listen to her friend and does not believe his livelihood and autonomy is worth losing a story over. this is literally the opposite of comics/live action lois lane, who in various versions drops the clark reveal story to protect him. this passion turns vindictive pretty early for chloe, who eventually pursues stories about clark out of jealousy and entitlement (against lana also).

4. the third beat

is that clark doesn't ever see chloe as romantic prospect except this time in s1. the tornado trapping lana pulls him away from any solidifying of the clark/chloe dynamic, and that's that. but we know clark was willing to go for it in early s2 when he apologizes to chloe about running off on her. it's chloe who decides not to go on with the relationship. clark is visibly confused, but also 15 so he can't see that chloe is putting on a brave front to protect herself from clark running off again. I liked this too as it's another play on superman tropes, but my sympathy for them stops here.

5. and stays here

these beats are the entirety of this dynamic. everything about chlark can be distilled down to their childhood. it's why I don't hate them completely, bc I have a lot of love for kids who hurt in such a way and that time is never easy. in s8 (I think its s8) when we get a flashback to when they meet as kids (more imprinting!). little tenacious cute chloe kisses insecure clark bc of the funny awkward tension, acknowledging it, and then immediately takes it back because they're better as friends. (also they’re like 11 lol)

every single romantic moment with them is undercut either by chloe herself, or by the presence of other storylines/romances the writers wanted to pursue. the lack of integrity in chloe and the lack of interest in clark, regardless of how sincere their connection or how messed up, is a central part of their dynamic that needs to be reconciled with their friendship. and its exhausting bc there is never a point they are ever truly comfortable around each other.

6. to a fault

knowing the secret doesn't change chloe's methods. it doesn't make chloe clark's great confidante. if anything, it complicates matters for both because their relationship then becomes about the greater good and clark's great destiny. everything chloe does becomes about that, which in theory sounds awesome, but is executed much the same way as s1!chlark: by reiterating behaviors that highlight the negative aspects of that loyalty and the negative aspects of their characters.

the single time they do actively examine what this loyalty means and how chloe's hero complex complicates things for chlark is with s8 and davis. she protects davis with the skills of subterfuge and secrecy she developed as clark's friend. and it costs her jimmy and a lot of her personal integrity as a character. tho ironically it makes chloe the strongest she's been as a character. this is the first time clark is forced to view chloe as an enemy and he never quite recovers from discovering the dark depths she’s willing to go to. 

it's an arc dealing with the established beats: how far chloe is willing to go for a kryptonian (very far), how much she's willing to do for him (A LOT and all of it illegal), and what it costs her (jimmy). it deals with her jealousy (always second choice) and her motivations (uncovering the truth). this great want that she struggled with for years is turned on its head and examined, revealing just how weird and dark her hero complex is because obviously davis is not clark. davis/chloe served to highlight more than any other arc how it's really too bad that clark never saw her that way, because she has so much love to give and when channeled, it's a great force. only it's a great force for evil. clark has to confront that it’s not just lex but his other closest friend who is willing to go so far. they backtrack hard in s9 and s10 but they keep this underlying wariness in clark towards Chloe throughout. it’s not anything new, but it’s no longer subtext that clark doesn’t fully trust chloe.

7. And that's the rub

in the end. chloe and clark have many storylines they're in together and chloe's important.... to develop clark and as a counter to clark. clark never instigates anything, not once, for 9 years! when the show did give us Moments TM, clark is reacting, not actively making choices to connect to her. if anything, clark is incredibly awkward about chloe when they become intimate. he doesn't seem to know what to do with her crushing on him (the elevator scene is a great one to show just how awkward chloe makes him feel). more than that. clark never tells her his secret. and later on, chloe doesn't tell him half the crazy wild shit she does to protect him bc she knows he would disapprove. I still hold that the only reason they work is bc clark is a forgiving character and would give her chance after chance after chance. that's the watsonian explanation, but the doylist explanation is that the writers just never cared to explore them beyond this point.

8. and what was beyond that point?

they would've been a great counter to lexana in S6 and early clana (clark finally having a gf who knows). it’s playing the clark/Chloe as a straight lois/clark proxy before actually pursuing lois and clark. it could’ve been the precursor to davis and caused an even more personal conflict! the kiss at the end of s5 was their chance. they could've written chlark devolving much the same way lexana did in s6 (or not). but again. the writers never went that far and clearly never wanted to. it kept chlark forever in this stage of childhood friendship always on the brink of collapsing, tittering either way. it's also tough to speculate bc clark's just not into her. in fact he becomes more and more wary of her, to the point where he believes she can do horrible things, and he's right. the stories continually make their methods complete opposite.

they go out of their way to show chloe realizing how happy clark is with lois. and even play a joke on the fandom by literally turning her into lois and seeing the sparks between her friends. it's almost... cruel but it does serve to show how clark is when he's smitten and he's never looked at chloe that way except during the dance when they were kids. other unrequited dynamics have at least some spark from the desired, but nil from clark. clark is into chloe in late s1, but she shuts him down, and when he seems to be into her again (damn that s5 kiss was a good one lol), she shuts him down again. it's just a weird writing choice all around, and that they kept nuggets of it throughout the show is the thing I cringe at most whenever I rewatch.

9. bait and switch 2

with hindsight it is definitely ship baiting and that sucks for that dynamic bc without it their friendship would’ve been the stronger, or at least not full of so much negativity. all it did was remind everyone that chloe’s been duped since she was a kid and that clark is both stupid and strange for never noticing and letting her get away with shit just bc she’s the most loyal. I don’t ship them and even I get frustrated lol

#mystuff #smallville #superman #anti chlark #sayruq #my meta

[legionofpotatoes]

we decided to watch all story cutscenes from the new resident evil village videogame on a whim, since it’s not really our cup of tea gameplay-wise but seems to be this massive zeitgeist moment that made us morbidly curious. And I know how much everyone cares about my thoughts on things I know very little about, so. let’s get into it huh gamers. and yeah spoilers?

for context, I’ve only played resident evil 4 and a small portion of 5. I also read the wikipedia entry for 7’s plot recently. all this to say I was only vaguely aware of how tonally wacky the series was going in

I also completely gave up following the plot of the mutagens’ soap opera, so that paid off in spades here as you might imagine

anyway so that baby in the intro. that baby’s head is just massive. humongous toddlerdome. when ethan finds the baby’s head in a jar later on. there is no way that head would fit into that jar. bad game design. no not even game design. basic stuff. one hundred years in prison for jar modeler

if I see a single functional hetero marriage in video games I will cry tears of joy. I understand their misery is kind of The Point irt them badly working through the hillbilly romp trauma but like. sheesh. at least set that up as an emotional story goal the plot will help resolve. but nope they start off miserable and it goes nowhere

I know I know the mia thing has a huge wrinkle in it but like. not really in terms of dramatic function?? set up a happy end to the re7 nightmare (miranda can keep up appearances for all she cares) and then take that all away from angry griffin mcelroy for manpain. it will still absolutely work to set up the dramatic forward momentum. why throw in this cliche Hollywood Tension in their marriage if you’re not going to address it oh maybe because it’s normalized as automatically interesting because nuclear families are a self-propagating pit of a very narrow chance at emotional happiness relying on social stigma to preserve their empty function oops my baggage slipped in yikes abort mission

I called him griffin mcelroy because I saw his face on twitter and. yeah. I will continue to do this occasionally. my house my rules

... fuck the reason I’m hung up on this is specifically because the rest of the game is so tonally dexterous (which is a shining point to me! more on that later!), and yet they felt weirdly compelled to create the aesthetic trapping of a family-at-odds trope without following it through too well. a sign of both the good and the bad stuff to come

but listen the real reason why I wanted to talk about any of this is to nitpick the fascinating backwards-engineered nucleus of the entire thing; in that this game essentially creates a melting pot of just SO many disparate horror tropes and then makes a no-holds-barred unhinged effort at weaving thick lore to piece them all together. it is truly a sight to behold. like straight up you got your backwoods fright night situation, your gothic castle vampires, your rural-industrial werewolves, and don’t forget your bloated swamp monsters over there, with then a hard left turn into robotic body horror, and the entire ass subgenre of Creepy Doll writ large, and the bloodborne tentacle monsters, and a hellboy angel bossfight, which rides on the coattails of a mech-on-mech pacific rim bonanza, and just jesus henry christ slow down

almost all of these are textural hijack jobs that don’t really get into the metaphor plain of any of those settings but the game sort-of makes an argument that the texture IS the point and revels in it. It is kind of admirable almost. The same reason why the intro felt boxed in and unmotivated is also why the rest of the game just blasts off of its hinges to the point of complete and self-indulgent tonal abandon. I kinda loved that about it. lady dimitrescu made sure to hold her hat down as she bent forward in mahogany doorways and then suddenly she’s a giant gore dragon and you settle in your temp role as dark souls man with Gun to take her ass down. Excellent??

this rhino rampage impulse to gobble up every horror aesthetic known to man comes to head when the game wrestles with its FPS trappings in what is the most hilarious solution in creating visceral player damage moments. Since most cinematics and the entire game is in first person, that leaves precious little real estate for the devs to work with if they really want to sell griffin’s physical crucible. To wit. This dude’s forearms. Specifically just the forearms. They are MASSACRED throughout the story. The poor man lives out the silent hill dimension of a hand model. by the end cutscene he looks like a neatly dressed desk clerk who had decided to stick both his grabbers into garbage disposal grinders just a few hours prior. like in addition to everything else it manages to rope in that tinge of slapstick violence into its general grievous genre collection except this time it IS for a lack of trying! truly incredible

but wait his miracle clawbacks from everything his poor paws go through are retroactively explained away, yes, but far too vaguely and far too late to console me as I sat and watched everyone’s favorite baby brother reattach an entirely severed hand to his wrist stump by just. placing it on there. and giving it a lil twist ‘n pop terminator-style. and then willing his fingers back into motion right in front of my bulging eyes. this game just does not care. it does not give a shit. and boy howdy will it work to make that into one of its strongest suits

cause generally speaking resident evil was THE premiere vanilla zombie content destinaysh for like a decade, right? and as the rest of the world and mainstream media started encroaching and bloodying its blue ocean it went and just exploded in every single conceivable horror trope direction like a smilodon on catnip. truly, genuinely fascinating franchise moves

yeah the big vampire milf is hot. other news; grass... green. although I do love the implication that her closet is just identical white dresses on a rack. cartoon network-level queen shit

apropos of nothing I’ve said there’s also this hobo dante-devimaycry-magneto man, and I can’t believe this sentence makes sense. anyway he made that “boulder-punching asshole” joke referring to chris redfield and it was probably the only easter egg that really landed for me and boy did it land hard. I have not seen him punch the boulder in re5, mind. I had only heard about how funny it is from friends. and here this dude was, probably in the same exact mindset as me, trying to grapple with that insane mental image. with you on that ian mckellen, loud and clear

I advocate vehemently against the shallow pursuit of hyper photorealism in art direction but I gotta admit it works really in favor of immersive horror like this. the european village shacks especially gave me super unchill flashbacks to my rural countryside retreat in western georgia. I could smell the linoleum dude. not cool

faces are weird in this game. can’t place it. nice textures, good animation, but the modeling template is... uuh strange? and the hair. it has that clustered-flat-clumpy look that harkens to something very specific and unpleasant but I just don’t know what. sue me

griffin’s mental aptitude to take all this shit in stride and end every seemingly traumatizing bossfight involving some fucking eldritch being yet unseen through mortal eyes by essentially throwing out an MCU quip is just. What the fuck dude? I mean that was funny how you casually yelled the f-word at a god damn werewolf that you considered a fairy tale an hour ago but are you like, all right?? it was swinging a sledgehammer the size of a bus at you, ethan

oh oh the vampires are afraid of cold and your last name is winters. I get it haha

Pro Gamer Nitpick: boss fights seemed a bit unnecessarily long?? idk why the youtuber we picked decided the ENTIRE propeller man fight counted towards the vital story scenes he was stitching together, but man mr big daddy lite there really had some get up and go huh??

why are they saying dimitrescu.. like that. is it really how you say that word or is the english language relapsing into its fetish for ending every single word with a consonant at all costs

I’m not saying it’s a dramatic miss of a twist in context of all that’s going on, but the “you died in the last game actually and have been DC’s clayface ever since” revelation is low-key. it’s. it’s just funny to me, I dont know what to say. century-old god-witch fails her evil plan after she mistakenly removes heart from what was definitely NOT just some white guy with eight fingers after all

chris realizing he’s about to become the player character and immediately swapping out his tsundere trenchcoat for the muscletight sex haver sweater

the little bluetooth speaker-sized pipe bomb he taped to his knife was nuclear?? really??? I must have missed something because that is just too good. I buy it though I totally buy it. chris just got them fun-sized nukes in his car trunk for, you guessed it, Situations

anyway this is all for now just wanted to briefly touch on how unexpectedly funny and tonally irreverent this seemingly serious game turned out to be. did not articulate any cathartic story beats whatsoever but my god it had fun connecting those plot points. he just fucking put his severed hand back on his stump and it Just Worked todd howard get in here

#text #another one in my bulleted review series with no rhyme or reason #sorry resident evil fans this could be a painful read pls turn away #i know almost nothing about it but i am gonna be super fake familiar and critical of this one hey ho

[volepaw]

this is probably a long time ago but i just saw it on my dashboard and if you don’t want to respond that’s fine! I feel so dumb but I really just want to know and I can’t seem to find any ‘explanation’ yet but why what’s thing about the Tribe that makes it racist? Sorry for bothering! (If i’m just being dumb and there is already someone who answered this please let me know)

long post. sorry mobile people

Hey, anon. Sorry this took me a while, my computer died a few months ago and I’ve been using other peoples’ since. Plus I’m just tired of answering questions irt racism but I wanted to actually give you a good answer lol

In universe, frankly, the first issue is the differences from clan cats.

Usually, I’d actually like having groups with different cultures and the like in warriors! I like comparing cultures and seeing differences and effects when it’s handled properly. The problem is how the differences put them at a disadvantage against the clan cats as a whole or show them as strange, primitive, or as something similar to the Noble Savage trope.“The Healer also almost never leaves the cave, because unlike leaders they do not have nine lives and it’s easier for them to be killed.” (x) The fact that the Healer/Teller of Pointed Stones/Stoneteller doesn’t receive nine lives, while indicative of a different culture from the clan cats, clearly places the clans as a more ‘valid’ and legitimate group. This is heightened further when you consider the entire prophecy that they receive during the new prophecy arc.“However, the Tribe has their own prophecy to fulfill: they see Stormfur as their only hope, the silver cat mentioned by the Tribe of Endless Hunting, their spiritual ancestors.“ (x)”A silver cat will come, and rid the Tribe of Rushing Water of the dangerous mountain cat Sharptooth.”(x)While it some will likely argue that this is an unfair comparison considering that they are cats, this harkens back to the White Savior trope/Mighty Whitey trope. Despite the setting becoming more of a fantasy place as production continued, the clans were originally intended to be set in England, specifically in New Forest. (x) Arguably, the original clans can be considered relatively ‘aracial,’ ignoring metaphors such as half-clan kits and the like.This, juxtapositioned with the heavily coded nature of the tribe, creates some unfortunate situations when actually examined. The tribe, with practices including darkening their pelts with mud in order to hide themselves (something that makes me personally uncomfortable) and being able to hunt eagles, harkens back to the Noble Savage trope, with a group doing things that the ‘aracial’ main cast find strange and thrilling to learn and take back with them. Effectively, they use another culture as a backdrop for their own growth and for Stormfur’s story and emotional arc.Stormfur being accused of being the cat of prophecy and Feathertail’s death are just another drop in the bucket of stories of outsiders coming to save indigenous and otherwise non-white groups from problems they can’t solve themselves. There is no reason, truthfully, that a tribe cat couldn’t have dealt with the cougar themselves, given that it took no great skill for Feathertail to kill it. Merely sacrifice. Multiple times over the course of the series, the tribe needs the clan cats to save them from outside threats and every time it feels unnecessary and, frankly, insulting as a Native American myself. A group of cats shown to be able to hunt eagles being unable to figure out a way to drive rogues from their lands is strange, in my eyes, and upsetting at the same time.The argument of subversion could be valid in Stormfur’s case (as he messed it up originally and wasn’t the savior himself at all) if they didn’t go as heavily in the direction of Feathertail being the savior instead. Chosen by the tribe’s ancestors, she even hears voices of the ancestors prior to her death. Feathertail is buried by the tribe with the highest of honors. (x) While in character it’s great for her to have been honored so highly, the fact that the tribe cats had to rely on clan cats to save them is insulting at best.While he wasn’t the actual savior himself, everything with Stormfur and Brook, honestly, is uncomfortable to read when considering the implications of what’s going on. Brook reads like a Chief’s Daughter with four paws. “The Chief’s daughter […] is often the first to befriend Mighty Whitey during his visit to the strange new land. She’ll conveniently be beautiful by Western standards, but with just enough racial traits to be exotic.” (x)“She is the first cat to realize that Stormfur is the cat from the prophecy, and confronts him. Although scolded by Crag Where Eagles Nest, she welcomes the cats if they are not there maliciously.” “This disappoints Stormfur a little bit, since he likes the she-cat’s courage and friendliness. Brook shows up just as the Clan cats are getting ready to sleep for the night. She was sent by Stoneteller to make sure that the cats were comfortable, but Stormfur wonders if it was just him that she was sent to help.” (x)While this seems fine at first, if you just consider it a normal romance, it becomes more uncomfortable to think about. “More often than not, she will fall in love accidentally with the White Man who likes her as well and wants to marry her. Often this can be seen as a litmus test to see whether the white man is worthy of being part of their tribe.” (x)“Rock says that Brook had begun to love Stormfur while she was teaching him the ways of the Tribe. Although cats like her brother, Talon, didn’t care for Stormfur at first, they soon changed their mind because of the love Brook had for Stormfur.” (x)This trope, of a white man coming in and a Native American girl falling for him has been done over and over again, with one of the biggest examples being to Pocahontas. Even looking at the plot for both of these movies, similarities become clear. A young Native American woman, related to either the chief or the future chief, falls for a foreign man while teaching him the ways of her people. Following the conflict, she ends up traveling far from her home to stay in a culture foreign to her, learning their ways. In Pocahontas, there are two different men she falls for. In warriors, Brook leaves the tribe to stay with Stormfur, having become his mate after he elected to stay. Deciding to stay in the tribe, by the way, is almost the epitome of the Going Native trope.“The Going Native trope plays to this fantasy by having a character lifted out of his typical environment and thrust into a new one, only to become a part of that new world. […] As soon as they feel quite comfortable, possibly having fallen in love with a local girl and/or learned big lessons from a mentor figure, count on their old life to come messing with them.“ (x)“As the Clans leave once they have had enough food to eat, Stormfur decides to stay with Brook and the Tribe. Stormfur chooses to stay with the Tribe, with Brook and Feathertail’s spirit. The Clans thank the Tribe and leave.“ (x)The theme of clan cats being more connected to the tribe than the tribe themselves continues with Jayfeather, with him going back to the past using his power as Jay’s Wing. Jay’s Wing urges the group that would become the Tribe of Rushing Water to go to the territory that they’re shown in modernly. (x)The tribe is allowed nothing for themselves. Not history nor their own heroes or successes in the books. Their naming traditions, which are cringeworthy and borderline racist in the books themselves both for normal cats in the tribe and the practice of completely changing the Healer’s name, are mocked by Rock“Rock notes that he finds this method strange, as he perceives that this way of naming kits would cause many kits to be named things like ‘Wall of Cave,’ or ‘Floor of Cave.’” (x) and their first Stoneteller was involved heavily with Starclan (Which, along with the things do with Jay’s Wing, are remarkably similar to the Magical Native American trope in its bare bones), despite the fact that Healers aren’t given the same nine lives as the clan cats. While much of this is likely due to bad writing, it doesn’t excuse the implications that come with what they’ve written. It’s poor writing and an absolute shitshow of racism, with trope after trope being just stacked on top of each other in hopes of making a good story. It doesn’t work and it just shows a lack of care and respect for cultures other than their own. Don’t come onto my post and whine about it being celtic or some shit.

#anonymous #anon #ask #Warrior Cats #warriors #long post

[imdjcrazytimes]

lightsaber combat styles

i’ve been trying to decide which lightsaber fighting forms rey and finn would fit into? both of them would probably branch out a lot from the styles they chose to pursue (not that they would worry about going by the book) but anyway,

finn + form iii

this form was developed in response to figuring out how to deal with blaster fire

finn knows he’s going to be dealing w a lot of that, and he’s already pretty knowledgeable about how stormtrooper attacks are structured and would have that edge irt defending against it

he’s already pretty good at hand-to-hand combat!! integrating a lightsaber into that would make him even more effective 

finn has shown that while he’s ready to charge in and attack on behalf of his friends, he’s also very capable of scouting an easier, more devastating route if given a moment to think about it.

form iii waits for the weaknesses/fatigue of the opponent to show up and then leaps in and exploits those

finn is SO intelligent and would be great at this

in the past he hasn’t always been the most levelheaded under pressure (not that he’s exactly panicky but his whole “stay calm stay calm” mantra when rescuing poe is what comes to mind), and one of his first priorities when starting to learn about the force would probably be finding that source of peace

this form focuses on kind of finding the eye of the storm during battle and using that to your advantage

personality wise this form focuses mostly on survival rather than victory and finn is a both a team player and someone who was raised in a survival of the fittest environment and that’s going to be a part of him no matter what

he would probably mix w form v too so he could get some lightsaber-to-lightsaber training too but

and i think he would get into form vi a lot too just because a combination of someone like finn as a student (who doesn’t glorify violence or even really want to get into it unless he has to) and luke (good good pacifist boy) as a teacher means that any education would end up being super form vi yanno

rey + form vi

first off this one is used most by people with dual-blades and we KNOW she should have one of those

this and the incorporation of martial arts/the force into combat would be such a good and powerful combination she would be amazing at 

this form focuses on a big moderation of every specialization, but the real focus is on the user’s improvisation and intuition (to be quite honest i can see finn getting into this form for this reason too)

rey could learn a more specific form if she wanted to, but she would probably prefer to get a jack of all trades sort of experience--one that already mirrors her current fighting style

we’ve already seen that she’s very emotional in her decisions and charges into situations without a clear plan or a big picture idea of what’s going on--she would love a style that’s similarly improvisational

this form is also known as the diplomat’s form!! 

rey’s want to find peace with others and her tendency to see the beauty in the things around her is what made me choose this one for her

she only fights ppl because she has to she’s not a violent person so a style that accepts that violence might happen but also taking time to focus on other things

the form’s sort of non-focus on bladework also means that users bring use of the force into combat too

anyway i love these kiddos and both of them are gonna be great jedi 

#i have feelings about lightsaber fighting styles now i guess #star wars #finn #rey #new year new weird specific interests i guess #i dont even care if this post doesnt take off im proud of it

[vampxrebarbie]

quinn/nyx. SFW: 10, 15 NSFW: 4, 9

👀

SFW:

10. Any pets? Or plants?

neither on account of both of them are So Hecking Busy that they wouldn’t be able to take care of either. they talked about getting a dog in the future, but prior to endgame au resolution, no pets or plants.

15. Vacation ideas: who decides them? Where would they go, if anywhere?

They never really got a chance to go on a legit vacation--any time they had ‘off’ from crownsguard/glaive duties was mostly just spent at home or doing everyday stuff in the city. neither of them really take the lead on deciding what to do, though quinn does tend to be the more assertive in terms of getting agitated and Needing To Go Do Things. nyx is usually just happy to be with her.

if they COULD go on a legit vacation--Galdin Quay obviously is the first choice, but the both of them always wanted to visit altissia together--and the country her family originated from.

NSFW:

4. Oddest place they’d have sex?

i wouldnt say it’s odd, exactly, but they have ABSOLUTELY went at it at like 2am in the citadel garage

9. Quickest turn ons? Immediate turn offs?

all nyx has to do is say ‘yes ma’am’ and quinn goes gooey. nyx digs knifeplay, both on the giving and receiving end, and both of them really dig when their usual roles are swapped up (nyx is usually the dominant one and quinn the submissive). quinn also gets off on being an AWFUL, AWFUL TEASE to poor nyx at all the worst times. its ok tho he usually pays her back for it.

as for turn offs uhhh. well specifically irt: the knifeplay any actual blood drawing brings both of them pretty out of the moment quickly. dirty talk also tends to not go over well--quinn’s just straight up not good at it, and beyond that nyx doesn’t like it anyway.

#otp: when the day met the night #blackspacelion

[archirenaux]

Wait can I ask for Wynn and Niall on the "get to know my characters" thing? I'm interested in if you'd make changes now :)

yes you can!!! it was fun to see what i’ve discovered about them over the years, tbh, especially in the case of niall. i think he has changed the most vs. how he was when i first “made” him, like, 4-5 years ago? yikes.

01. Full name: Wynn Ercwlff Carmichael (I couldn’t actually remember the middle name I originally gave him so I went with the most Welsh bastard I could find)02. Best friend: I remain a BIG FAN of him being best friends with Marcas and Helbert.03. Sexuality: He’s an artiste... who knows.04. Favorite color: I won’t waste your time by naming them because he fore sure cannot decide, though he does keep coming back to pear green.05. Relationship status: Married B)06. Ideal mate: Wynn found his way into being a lil’ uptight under the careful watch of his mother and then after he started working with teenagers who can stress him tf out, so someone who would help him relax at the end of the day. Someone who doesn’t put too many expectations on him, or demand too much of him. (Not that he can’t handle responsibility, he just can’t really handle demanding people at this stage in life.) Someone funny, creative, and supportive. :’)07. Turn-ons: Nice smiles, lots of laughter, affection, a feeling of security with the person, compassion, and humor.08. Favorite food: Crempog/pancakes09. Crushes: His wife @theblushdahlia aka you)10. Favorite music: Duran Duran, Hall & Oates, Men at Work, aaaand probably Tears for Fears tbqh.11. Biggest fear: He got two. 1) Not being able to provide for his family and 2) waking up one day and feeling like he didn’t do enough re: his career in art/that he settled by becoming a teacher.12. Biggest fantasy: Rn his biggest fantasies really revolve around his children succeeding and being happy when they grow up? Lame!!! (jk)13. Bad habits: He’s so dang indecisive!!! Midnight snacking, biting the ends of pens and pencils and things, tries too hard to make people feel okay about something until they’re like “ok thx but pls stop”, can get kinda whiny about small things, leaves the toilet seat up a lot, and not to drag him but he probably drinks a lot of expensive juices.14. Biggest regret: His falling out with his mom because it was right on the cusp of her getting sick and he didn’t try to patch things up for awhile.15. Best kept secrets: He can’t count to 100. Lol jk. I think, for a long time, it was his family (specifically, the state of it and his relationships with them).16. Last thought: “When will these children finally all be asleep AT THE SAME TIME???”17. Worst romantic experience: That time he proposed to his gf at the time and she said no lol.18. Biggest insecurity: His art and his ability to make art.19. Weapon of choice: Even in the FWW verse I wouldn’t say his wand because he is just Not Great at defensive magic, so idk. He’s the least violent character I have, probably.20. Role Model: I don’t think he has a role model but in terms of someone who he respects and inspires him, it’d be Calista, especially after everything she’s gone through and how she’s such a great mom to their kids.

xxx

01. Full name: Niall Brennan Mulloy02. Best friend: [banging pots n pans together] JER-EM-Y WOOD ( @multisamicis​​ )03. Sexuality: Hetero but I mean, we all know the Jeremy/Joce/Niall ot3 is something he’d be into.04. Favorite color: [Niall Mulloy voice]: Who over 10 has a fuckin’ favorite color? (It’s a blue-gray.)05. Relationship status: Obviously it depends on the timeline, but where he is in the verse in which he currently exists, he is in fact in a loving and committed relationship with Marlene ( @theinglenook​ ​). 06. Ideal mate: From his perspective, someone intelligent and relatively spontaneous, not boring or naive. Someone who’s not very dependent or WEIRD (lol he’s v. judgmental so he would not fare well with someone Quirky). He likes someone who can take charge but not necessarily controlling/bossin’ him around. But I also think he needs someone who will pull him out of shell (though, to be clear, I don’t mean in the He’s Shy type of shell, because he definitely isn’t, but the shell he’s constructed for himself that can limit the things he experiences or the people he interacts with cuz he Jaded and closed-off). Also, someone who’ll call him out when he’s a dick and not like, police his behavior but make him face the facts when he’s being ridiculous. And, depending on the timeline, someone who’s not only chill with him having a daughter but likes and is kind to her.07. Turn-ons: You know as well as I that he is a Butt Man(TM). But also, back to the taking charge thing →  ✓. Ummm. Long hair, good hygiene, lots of kissing, aaaand idk, I don’t want to sound redundant by saying intelligence but it’s true, but he’s also kinda shallow so like if you hot, he’s like “nice.”08. Favorite food: Forfar bridies09. Crushes: Other than the babysitter his parents hired when he was like, eight? His gal, Marlene.10. Favorite music: He’s not a huge music person, tbh. He will mostly listen to whatever his brother, Ian, is playing, which is 70′s/80′s punk music (Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, Joy Division, Ramones, etc). He’s been conditioned to enjoy it. But if he were to make the steps to explore more and see what he really likes, he’d be more into The Who and, like, Cream, haha. 11. Biggest fear: Losing the people he loves/cares about.12. Biggest fantasy: Tbh, to just be a good dad, brother, friend, bf, etc. He has always felt like he’s not doing enough irt his interpersonal relationships, but he’s reached a point where he wants to make an effort to be better.13. Bad habits: Can I call general apathy a bad habit? Lmao. But also, hardly remembers to do the dishes until there’s a full sink, judging people before he gets to know them, bad at communicating, swearing a lot, smoking, and ya know being generally unfriendly for no valid reason (though less so than he has in the past).14. Biggest regret: He has... A Few of those, but I guess his biggest one, in FWW verse, was that time he disappeared and didn’t tell anyone where he was for months LOL!15. Best kept secrets: He reeeally, really truly believes he let his brother down. Niall thinks he failed Ian in so many ways, but it’s something he doesn’t want to say aloud for fear of it being validated.16. Last thought: It was either about Maggie, Marlene, Jeremy, or work lmao.17. Worst romantic experience: He didn’t have very many romantic experiences before he got together with Marlene when he was around 18. But I guess if I took the definition of romantic much, much more loosely, I could say that the two-birds-one-day fiasco was like, super great while it happened, but the backlash was A Lot ahahahhaha.18. Biggest insecurity: Niall’s reluctant to show his emotions because he’s forgotten how and it makes him feel Weak when he does, so -- that!19. Weapon of choice: Tbh, I honestly don’t know. His fists? Prob.20. Role Model: His mom.  

#ch: niall mulloy #ch: wynn carmichael #ask meme #theblushdahlia

[legionofpotatoes]

alright here’s ma thoughts on that flick I mentioned

we hatewatched a*my of the dead because we were CONVINCED “zombies in las vegas” would be an impossible concept to screw up, but in so assuming we obviously invoked a holy wager with the universe and got reminded, once again, that hoping for improvement from someone who’s dependably put out bad art is never a wise choice 😐

but we were honestly kinda roped in by the marketing??? and expected a goofy fast-paced flick with the odd traditional undead metaphor thrown in, framing some sort of relationship drama maybe or hell even nothing at all! we’d have taken pure indulgent storytelling, idk italian job with zombies in las vegas, I don’t know fucking anything but??? whatever this was???? spoilers below for it is time for One Of My Rants

I mean the main reason I really want to write all this and complain. this film here probably has the most unappealing cinematography I have ever experienced in my life and that is saying something. who the fuck signed off on that CONSTANT shallow-ass depth of field that imprisons your eyeline and turns every shot into bokeh paste???? and I mean every shot almost!!!! I promise if you think I am overreacting just throw a dart at the seek bar and watch twenty seconds from wherever it lands. it is horrifying to look at. at least it gave my girlfriend a good visual shorthand for what it’s like when I lose my glasses

why was sean spicer in this movie. did they pay him to be here. was sean spicer paid hollywood money for his scene in this film because fuck everyone who was involved in that decision

the legitimately baffling hints at the extraterrestrial origins of the infection that went absolutely nowhere and had no dramatic or plot-level bearing. we love to see the franchise sprouts fellas

yet another big budget waste of everything hiroyuki sanada has to offer. and bautista too I guess? I like him but man was this an odd career move

what was the crux of his conflict/resolution with his daughter btw. I understand it was rooted in miscommunication over their forms of grief irt mom but uhh… it was all rather clunky and didn’t land for me. I tried I really tried to buy in but something was wrong fundamentally with the groundwork there, it did not click and their catharsis felt unearned. I know there’s massive amounts of tragic baggage being projected there from the author so I’m not slapping any judgment down really;

but again it would be an easy thing to wave off if they just had a vibrant cast of lovable simpletons with good chemistry and the kinetic sense of plotting the trailers promised (and this premise never discounts good drama, either). but instead it was just two and a half (!) hours of meandering into situations the filmmaking instincts had no idea how to flow in and out of

to wit. I know talking about “bad pacing” is associated with armchair bullshit but consider the example of the scene were dieter does an out of nowhere little dance after childishly screaming but then still-killing a zombie, with the film framing this as a micro character triumph, and not a second later the bg soundtrack instantly fades into an orchestral score dramatizing a nearby mcguffin reveal, completely 180 degreeing the tone without a semblance of deft insert shot stitching or even I dont know a fucking jump cut maybe. now imagine this whiplash for 2.5 hrs uninterrupted

I will keep complaining about the length yeah because this was not a story requiring this much real estate to be told. Uhh in my humble and personal opinion, of course

[man sees zombie tiger] “this is crossing the line!” you can in fact write dialogue that is not utter nonsense that falls apart once you drill down its single fickle layer of referential meta winking. what line are you talking about. you have rules in this insane situation you’re in? total nitpick moment I know but it got burned in my brain for some reason. like a microcosm of the mismanaged dramatic instincts paired with weird writing that dots this movie. I am sure the director calls this either satire or genre deconstruction. I am SO sure

tumblr domino meme that goes from “dude getting sucked off while driving” to “entire las vegas literally nuked”

tig notaro is always great to see but once you know she’s been filmed as a separate greenscreen plate months after photography wrapped - cause she had to apparently replace some abusive asshole but that’s a whole other pig not worth fucking - it becomes impossible to unsee her odd detachment from everyone else in the movie lmao. it doesn’t really “ruin” anything on its lonesome but it is hard to unsee

why. was. sean. spicer. in. this. movie

a very simple key ingredient missing from fully turning lip service sympathy for main uruk hai dude into actual empathy that would generate meaningful conflict with hero family would be to spend a bit more time articulating what he internally wanted the most. because he was obviously trying to do something here with pointed agenda. a family, to have kids, build a caste system, save his wife’s head, return to his planet??? all of these could represent the bigger context in his psychology that spurred his vengeance but none of them are dramatically emphasized long enough for you to cheer him on. I’m not asking too much I promise. Articulating interiority of a mute character is pretty doable with deft cinema language, just gotta linger and hold a shot here and there for a few seconds, frame as his POV, donezo. I know this is also one of those like. “who cares” moments but the movie does, very evidently so, in making this guy an actual character. you can kinda piece it together and create a framework of sympathy for him, sure, but then again he ultimately becomes a foil to be killed and not defeated, so. Ehh whatever

quarantine zone stuff was not a wildly childish covid allegory quarantine zone stuff was not a wildly childish covid allegory quarantine zone stuff was n

the rooftop helicopter fakout at the end was such an ass-backwards, manufactured moment of what could be a simple setup/payoff it just pissed me off??? you gain nothing by giving sad dad five seconds of pointless crisis that flips right back to previous status quo ANYWAY, except for a weaksauce waste of runtime, which could be used instead to get inside notaro’s head and actually SHOW the remorse form as she took off, literally maybe even a frown playing on her face as she’s headed for safety right before we cut back to drax and the kid. just a simple-ass, minimal, momentary setup for what is the most basic filmmaking trick of creating macro catharsis moments. Just???? g o d if you can’t even land that shit why are you even doing any of this

that lil run final pam did was very very charming and super choreographed in a way that was the tiiiniest bit overdone

the whole intro with the simul-backstories and posing with family photos was just… oddly motivated. what was the goal? “here’s what we’re fighting for” vignettes? why? it’s not a functional setup in that vein. what was all that

also I am sorry if this is insensitive but the reasons most characters end up articulating to justify going back into the hell that destroyed their lives makes them sound seriously insane

I dont like complaining about CGI (honestly) but so much of it in modern movies can achieve higher fidelity if the animation is simply subdued. Do not overengineer and over-apply 2D cell methodologies and kinematics to each tiny twitch and movement in a hyper 3D model and I promise you. it will look a thousand times more natural. look at thanos in those last two movies. your rendering and detail are absolutely perfect with the tiger you just have to let stuff sit instead of constantly simulating swaying hair strands and firing off all facial muscles at once. great moment at one point where makeup zombie horse and CG zombie tiger are both in one shot together and just by unnecessary amounts of movement alone you can tell who doesn’t belong. again; detail, rendering, compositing, lighting, all picture-perfect; but y’all just gotta let the animation breathe sometimes, and chill it out

plot holes don’t really matter to me but it was kinda funny how lilly decided not to mention the enormous wrinkle in intel pertaining to an actual territorial tribe of intelligent zombies that require human offerings to let you pass, just so that reveal could play out in real time through the joyous punishment of the cartoonishly misogynistic dude

total chad move for mister uruk hai and final pam to rule from a rusted swimming pool complex

the ending with vanderohe oh my god. with the. cash stacks at the airport register. and specifically them working in his favor. that is literally something you do to get arrested under suspicion of theft. it was almost played for laughs and I respect that. coulda been goofier. make these movies goofy ya dorks

anyway, weird, weird movie. bad marketing. message unclear (something something sins of the father???), baffling editing instincts, literal worst-looking cinematography I ever laid eyes upon. Confidently dying on that last hill

#text #long post #aotd spoilers #aotd critical