#icons grace knight

[starflungwaddledee]

from: @starflungwaddledee to: @post-it-notes7

message from santa: "happy holidays post-it-notes! 🎄🥳 i know you very politely only wished for a few modest things- characters high fiving, or struggling in christmas attire- but i hope you'll still enjoy this given that i kinda went the opposite direction entirely! i'm an enormous fan of your work and most times you post anything i wind up browsing your art tag from tip-to-tail in enraptured delight. as such, i thought it was only fair i give back something a little more significant in gratitude for all the joy your work has given me. i knew i wanted to do a comic, so i was thrilled you already had a whole storyverse for me to work from!! this scene seemed the most obvious choice (chapter 8 of "wishful thinking" on ao3) given that i enjoy a dramatic fight scene 😂 i tried to stick as beat-by-beat to the writing as i could and worked in as many details as possible; i hope it'll be fun to see it envisioned this way! merry christmas! ~starflung 🎀🔔 "

#phew... this is by far the most ambitious piece i've ever posted here! 12 pages! this is why i've been so afk from other work haha! #shout out to the poor mods who sent through assignments and received no small amount of all-caps panicked screaming from me in response!! #me?! draw a gift for THE post-it-notes7!? immediately knew i had to overachieve to stand any hope of being up to the bar haha #if you feel these characters look a little different to how i usually draw them- that's totally on purpose! #i worked really hard to match post's designs and styling for them rather than my own; seeing as this was a gift! #actually think it stands out a *lot* surprisingly- given that they are still the exact same orbs. really interesting to compare to my usual #i hope some folks will notice all the details from the story in here! if you've read it and you recognised it please let me know! #genuinely hoping someone just recognises it on the first page. iconic canyon fight... what an honour to draw for this fic tbh #also thank you to the mods for handling all the wips and progress on this ridiculously sized entry from me with such grace #it's being posted on my personal blog due to length for anyone wondering. should be seamless... fingers crossed. #my art #my comics #meta knight #galacta knight #hnk secret santa #cw violence

[vineyard-edits]

stray gods - grace icons 2

pride themed. flags found on @/fantasy store

im order: night lesbian, narcbian, eventide polyamorous and nightfall lesbian

#stray gods grace #icon edits #icons #edit blog #vigneron edits #vineyard edits #edit icons #edits by me #edit by me #grace stray gods #stray gods #icon pack #pride icons #nightfall lesbian #narcbian #eventide polyamorous #the archive edits #game icons #knight lesbian #lesbian icons #grace icons #stray gods icons

[bejeweledblondie]

Fairytale Wedding

Captain John Price x F! Royalty Reader

Summary: a continuation of “A Knight in Shining Amor” After Y/N had recovered from her injuries she started to court Captain John Price. Even attending Trooping the Color with him. Soon a Royal proposal happened & the big wedding day is upon us

Warnings: Mention of a wedding night

Y/N had been waiting for this day ever since she was the flower girl at her Aunt Mary’s wedding. Years of preparation went into this ceremony, all the way from the tiara she was to select from her grandmother’s collection to the flowers in her bouquet. She had waited years to find a man suitable for her, then came along John. He had saved her life & she grew fond of him. Over the past year they had been courting each other & attending formal events. However behind the privacy of the palace walls it was a whole different story. She was able to see that tender side of him & he was able to see her without all the Royal protocol. He was used to seeing her in a gorgeous ballgown, or all done up but he found her most beautiful in blue jeans.

So here she stood in front of the golden gilded mirror in her bedroom. Her wedding dress had been designed custom by Christian Dior & was adorned with beautiful floral appliqués representing each of the Commonwealth countries. It had a high neck resembling Grace Kelly’s iconic wedding dress & her veil was a cathedral length. The blusher draped over her face & went down to her elbows. She looked the epitome of what a royal bride was to be. John’s niece, Evelyn was in seventh heaven & couldn’t believe that his new aunt was a duchess. When she saw her new aunt in her wedding dress her eyes lit up.

“Auntie Y/N,” Her little voice squeaked out. She turned around to see the little girl looking up at her. “You are the prettiest princess I’ve ever seen.” She bent down & hugged the little girl.

“Thank you Eve,” Y/N replied. “And I’m sure you’ll make a wonderful bridesmaid.”

Price’s sister, Katherine & her sister now the Princess of Wales Caroline came in. Both were wearing the custom pale blue gowns that had been designed for them. Katherine picked up Eve & Caroline helped Y/N with the train.

“Ready to go?” Caroline asked. Caroline had already experienced her own wedding day & knew the jitters that Y/N was experiencing. Then started to walk out of the room & into the hallway. The private photographer they had hired was already snapping candid photos. Y/N started down the staircase & saw all of the palace staff watching her. She gave a soft smile in their direction they had seen her grow up & were a vital part of her upbringing. They were of equal importance to her that she shared this day with them.

She finally reached the bottom & walked to where the carriage was parked. Katherine put Evelyn in first & then helped Y/N with her gown. Caroline was near the steps into the carriage to lend a hand to make sure she didn’t fall. Once inside & seated next to Evelyn both ladies joined them. The foot man climbed up & grabbed onto the reigns.

“You ready your highness?” He asked.

“Yes I am! Let’s go!” She replied. Evelyn was practically bouncing in her seat it was the first time she was in a carriage & was absolutely elated. The childlike wonder of her future niece made Y/N wonder what her future children will be like. Soon they were off towards the large brass & golden gates of Buckingham Palace. Screaming crowds of people from all over the world lined the streets. Y/N waved to the people & Evelyn being the social butterfly she was yelled “hello” & waved. Katherine couldn’t help but laugh at her child soaking in the royal treatment.

The sun was out & shown down on the carriage. Y/N’s tiara she had on loan from her grandmother reflected off of the sunlight creating a bright effect. It just added to the beauty of the day. Finally they pulled up to the Westminster Abbey, & her dress was able to be put on full display. Katherine, Evelyn, & Caroline all stepped out before letting Y/N out. Caroline held out an arm while Katherine held onto Y/N’s bouquet & Evelyn.

Once Y/N was out of the carriage the already cheering crowds erupted into louder cheers. Katherine handed her the bouquet & held onto Evelyn’s hand as they started to walk into the cathedral. The priest was waiting for her at the front doors. He grabbed one her hands & gave her some words of endearment to help calm her nerves. Very similar to the ones he gave to John earlier.

At the alter John stood there staring at the thousands people. His team was in the second row all smiles. Ghosh was Simon today, he had ditched his skull mask for a clean shave. Soap showed up in a kilt to represent Scotland. Gaz was there for a good time & to represent his Captain. John hadn’t been this nervous since his first mission. He hadn’t felt this way about anyone ever, she was his whole world. He knew that the moment he visited her in the hospital. The organ started up & the choir started to sing a religious hymn. The crowd stood up & watched as the religious dignitaries walked first lead by the priest.

Then his beloved niece & older sister. He smiled at her as she waved excitedly while throwing petals. It made him wonder what the future children Y/N & him would have. Soon he saw his beloved, looking absolutely ravishing. She radiated pure love & the sunlight from the Abbey’s skylight make her sparkle. Tears started to well in John’s eyes when he saw her. Finally she had reached the alter, & after handing her bouquet to Caroline he took her left hand.

“You look beautiful.” He whispered to her.

“You look handsome.” She whispered back. He really did know how to pull off a British Army Officer’s dress uniform. The ceremony was long but the both of them soaked up every minute. Once the ceremony was complete, they had started to make their way together down the aisle. He had looked over to his team & Soap gave him two thumbs up. John shook his head & chucked.

After carriage ride through the streets of cheering of crowds who wanted to get a glimpse of the newly weds they had finally reached the palace. While the guests were starting to arrive for the reception Y/N & John along with their families were in the sitting room that the main balcony is connected to. John couldn’t stop staring at his bride, she was the most of beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on. It was clear her inner beauty reflected outwards. She had bumped into him & he had grabbed onto her waist insuring she didn’t fall.

“Jonathan Price, that better be your sword poking me.��� She giggled.

“Its definitely a sword my dear but one you’ll see later on.” He whispered back into her ear causing her to blush. It was soon time for them to grace the balcony that was looking out onto the crowds celebrating the wedding. It was customary the couples saved their kiss for the balcony with the entire royal family.

With Y/N & John in the front both families surrounded them. The crowds were screaming “kiss her” over & over again. John placed his hands at her waist & took her in for a deep kiss. The roar from the crowd was amplified once they saw them lock lips. Once they broke apart they rest their foreheads against each others.

“I love you.” She said & looked into his eyes.

“I love you more.” He said & pulled her in for another kiss.

#call of duty #ghost call of duty #john price x reader #captain john price #captain johnathan price #cod imagines #john price #cod mwii #cod mwf2 #captain price x y/n #captain price #captain price x female reader #captain john price imagine #simon riley x reader #john pr

[superbat-love]

Gotham's Superhero Week: Bruce Wayne's Scandalous Antics! Is Romance Brewing Between Batman and Superman?

It's Superhero Week in Gotham City, and the excitement is reaching epic heights as people from all corners of the country flock to the city for the Superhero Festival extravaganza! The streets are teeming with attendees clad in their favorite superhero ensembles, ready to revel in the heroic festivities.

But hold onto your capes, folks, because Gotham's very own celebrity socialite, Bruce Wayne, has taken the city by storm! Sporting the iconic guise of Batman, the Dark Knight himself, Wayne has graced the festival to show undying support for his beloved hometown. The sight of him donning the Bat-suit and striking fabulous poses has sent shockwaves through the crowds, leaving fans in awe and paparazzi in a frenzy.

And the surprises don't end there! As the festival roars to life, Wayne takes center stage, belting out a heart-rending rendition of 'I'll Be Your Superhero.' Joining him is none other than the sensational Central City songbird, Alison Green, shimmering in the breathtaking attire of Wonder Woman! The stage ignites with their electrifying chemistry, leaving audiences craving more.

But alas, not all is smooth sailing in our Batman’s world. In an unfortunate turn of events, Wayne found himself at the short end of the stick in a boozy brawl with a belligerent “Green Lantern”. Fear not, dear readers, for salvation arrived in the form of Damian Wayne, the heir to the Wayne fortune, dressed as Nightwing, People’s Sexiest Hero Alive. With his height advantage, he swiftly put an end to the tumultuous scuffle with a nutshot, proving that perhaps not all Waynes are hopeless at combat.

And as if that wasn't enough to set tongues wagging, the Gotham gossip mill has gone into overdrive with jaw-dropping photos capturing Wayne in an intimate embrace with none other than a dashing Superman look-alike! Who is this mysterious Man of Steel? Word on the street is that he hails from Metropolis and works as a reporter. Could sparks be flying between the World's Finest superhero fans? Only time will reveal the truth behind this captivating enigma. Stay tuned, dear readers, as we continue to unravel the secrets of Gotham's Superhero Week! — Gotham Gazelle

#tabloid journalism at its finest #Batman pretending to be Bruce Wayne pretending to be Batman #dc headcanon #dc fanfic #batfam headcanons #batfam shenanigans #drabble #text post #superbat #superman x batman #batman x superman #superman/batman #batman/superman #dc #superman #batman #clark kent #bruce wayne #damian wayne #robin #nightwing #batfam #batfamily

[the-solar-system52]

Negative Weapon Symbolism

I'm back on my bullshit again. Modmad gave Negative a sword, so I am now legally required to analyse what this means for the LORE. (Despite the fact I really don't know a lot about weapon types)

So, Negative's iconic scythe. Despite him only actually using it once in the comic, its still a very memorable part of his character, and has been shown using it in merch and fanart alike. First impressions are everything, and modmad continuing to associate Negative with this scythe long after he was shown using it means that this weapon is important to his character. Or at least, how the fandom (and by extention, Hero) saw Negative before the recent chapters.

But what does it mean?

Scythes are commonly used as a symbol of death, both in mythology and modern media. 'Grim reaper' esque characters are almost always seen wielding them, and are just generallly a weapon best suited for an intimidating villian.

Scythes are also less coordinated weapons. Their real purpose is to chop down large portions of crops, and the long wide blade compliments this. If a character is fighting with a scythe, then they are usually attacking their enemies with effectiveness, but with no real direction. Their enemies are just crops that need to be struck down, and this is exactly what we see Negative doing to the fears in this fight scene.

Not to mention that in-canon, the blade of his scythe was snapped of the a personification of fear. And used to kill off even more Fears. So yes, it's clear this weapon is supposed to encompass just how intimidating and deadly Negative is in his first appearance.

But that SWORD. Negative has been associated with scythes since the introduction of his character! So why would Modmad draw him with a sword instead? It was a complete shock, and I'm sure it was intentional.

And I think I have an answer! I talk about it more in another post, but Hero's (and the audience's) perception of Negative has altered greatly from when we first saw him.

Negative is still powerful and skilled, but he is no longer as menacing and scary as he once was. Hero and RGB talked about him earlier in the chapter and learned new things about him. And on top of that, Hero intentionally made him appear this time because she knew he'd find a way to save them from this dangerous situation. He's still a mysterious character, but he is more of a calm but powerful savior in this chapter then a cold and calculated killing machine.

What sort of fighter fits that character archetype perfectly? A KNIGHT! And what do knights have? SWORDS!

Ok so they may be a little bit of a stretch, but I hope you understand what I'm getting at. Swords are powerful and can still hurt someone, but they are still seen as more 'noble' weapons than scythes. I'd be more inclined to trust someone with a sword then any other weapon, since they are commonly associated with protecters. And that's exactly what Negative is doing in this scene, protecting Hero. So Mod gave him a weapon that better demonstrates that.

Swords are also more coordinated, and even graceful at times. People do fencing as a hobby because it requires more precise and deliberate jabs at your enemy to land a hit. When a character fights with a sword, they are typically only fighting with one person, and it gives the impression of them being less murderous, because all their attacks are thoroughly planned out. The swords long and thin blade also compliments this, because it is not a weapon designed for a mindless killing spree. I'd be much less afriad of someone with a sword accidentally hitting me than I would someone with a scythe.

I know he's only had his sword for one page, but from what we've seen, he is using this weapon to find a way out of the house, instead of immediately attacking the doubts or Anxiety. He could definitely defend himself if he wanted to, but right now he is on the defensive. It may tie back into what I said about Happy Tears VS Sad Tears. Negative is in a better state of mind this chapter, so a noble and diligent weapon suits him better.

Also do I even need to point out the symbolise of the sword being made out of MIRROR SHARDS? The same mirror that RGB was uncomfortable looking into after being told about Negative? The same mirror that was yet another Charlie Chaplin reference? The same mirror that reflected part of RGB's human appearance? Negative literally being a MIRROR IMAGE of RGB????? (Goddamn I love this series so much)

Edit: Nevermind, disregard this next part. Negative doesn't use a lancer, he uses a saber.

So I am definitely reaching in this part, but just hear me out for a moment.

This is a lance. A lance is a type of sword. I'm not sure if Negative's sword is supposed to be a certain type, but it could be possible it is a lance.

A person who uses a lance is called a lancer. But that word also holds another meaning in story-writing terms.

Going by this description, I think it is possible that Negative's weapon is referencing the fact that he is RGB's lancer character. I think it's a pretty accurate description of their dynamic, or whatever their dynamic could become once they get more character development.

Its a little silly, but knowing how much Modmad loves puns and visual gags, I wouldn't put it past them.

I'm no swords expert, so if Negative's weapon isn't actually a lance then please tell me. But if it is, then it'd like to think it was an intentional reference on ModMad's end.

#tpoh #tpoh rgb #tpoh negative #rgb #tpoh negative rgb #the property of hate #tpoh hero #negative rgb #tpoh theory #tpoh speculation #tpoh update #negative #hero

[moodyfish]

The creators of She-Hulk legitimately don't know what they're doing

I think a lot of people have heard the director state

"There's a lot of talk about her body type and we based it on Olympian athletes and not bodybuilders."

Does anyone want to know a specific "Olympian" they based She-Hulk's body off of?

"Olympian Misty Copeland was a body that we referenced, you know, of someone who was very, very, very strong, but also could walk through the world and operate in the normal world at a scale that is very large, but it's still very human because she has to go on dates she has to work in a regular office."

Misty Copeland. Misty. Freaking. Copeland. She is a goddess and an icon. Here are some of her greatest accomplishments.

"2008 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts and was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in 2013. In 2014, President Obama appointed Copeland to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. She is the recipient of a 2014 Dance Magazine Award and was named to the 2015 TIME 100 by TIME Magazine." - American Ballet Theatre

Misty Copeland is an amazingly talented person, who has dealt with immense struggles due to her body type, but she is not an Olympian. She's a ballerina. Ballet, by definition from Oxford Languages,

"...is characterized by light, graceful, fluid movements."

I'm especially pissed because when growing up, I was a ballerina. And my sister was a Track & Field thrower. When I heard of She-Hulk as a kid, I always imagined her looking like my sister. Looking like her build - not the ones of prima ballerinas.

While writing this, I've been sitting here thinking about how many great ACTUAL Olympians they could have used as inspiration for She-Hulk's build.

Raven Saunders aka The Hulk. 2020 Tokyo Olympics Silver Medalist in Shotput.

Hidilyn Diaz. 2020 Tokyo Olympics Gold Medalist and Record Holder in 55 KG Weightlifting.

Tamyra Mensah-Stock. 2020 Tokyo Olympics Gold Medal in Freestyle Wrestling.

There are so many incredible female Olympians they could have used as inspiration. There are so many strength-based sports. The Summer Olympics alone have 33 sports.

But they specifically wanted She-Hulk's build to be inspired by

"not bodybuilders."

Even if this meant putting more work on the VFX Artists of the show who made her larger to begin with. Sean Ruecroft, a VFX Artist who worked on Infinity War and Moon Knight, took to Twitter to let people know the struggles Marvel put their team through.

"I was at a company that did VFX for this. Apparently, she was bigger early on, but the notes kept saying to ‘make her smaller.'"

They put more work on the artists, pushing them into the same inspiration that was used for Natasha Romanoff.

"...light, graceful, fluid movements."

The creators didn't want a Hulk. They wanted grace, sex appeal, and a tiny waist on an hourglass figure.

#she-hulk #she hulk #shehulk #rant #Olympics #athletes #marvel #Disney

[lucyfloyenworkshop]

Awakening the Dragon : Malleus Draconia Overblot Theme

It's been now one year since Diasomnia Arc, “Ruler of the Abyss“ began...

There so many things, too many topics that I wish to talk and write about. About the tribute to Eyvind Earle's art in the esthetics and ambiance of Briar Valley. About the connections between the Arc narrative and its inspirations. About Night Faeries folk and Silver Owl Knights. About Silver, Malleus, Lilia and all the others characters... For tonight I will write down about Malleus Draconia's Overblot Theme.

When the Diasomnia Arc pre-trailer was released, some notes of Overblot Malleus's theme can be heard. The complet musictrack had been finaly revealed during the first fight against Malleus. Even with the few notes in the pre-trailer, this music really give goosebumps. It is dark, eerie, dangerous and yet graceful and noble.

Diasomnia’s Chapter is an intense turmoil of emotions and, after all that happened in the Main Story so far, I realized that Malleus Overblot's theme not just represent the Arc's climax like it had being the case for the six previous Chapter. Not just only about an epic battle music, but also about a character.

[Beware : the following post content some spoilers for Chapter 7 : Ruler of the Abyss]

Featuring song and music

There is something about Malleus and music.

In his personal data, it's say that his “talent“ is stringed instruments's practice (ref. Twisted Wonderland : Magical Archives and in game data). According to his close relatives, such as Sebek during “Harveston's Kelkkarotu“ event, Malleus appear to be a really talented musician. And yet that aspect of Malleus wasn't fully explored in the Main, Events and Personals Stories. That was just a fun fact about Malleus's hobbies outside school or his daily royal duties.

Then came the performance of Malleus longside Idia and Azul during the Symphorium in the Halloween event Glorious Mascarade : Crimson Flowers and Bell of Salvation.

It's could be logical since Diasomnia Arc and Mascrade's events released their preview trailers around the same time. But nothing could make us suspected how much deep of that aspect of Malleus's character design is important. Not just as for characterization but also a tribute from Sleeping Beauty.

But to go with Chapter 7 and the Overblot's theme, let's return to the Symphorium, during its preparation as presented in Malleus's Mascaquerade Dress Personal Story [link]. Glorious Mascarade's iconic song Let My Wish Resound ( Twst wiki's traduction [link] ), is the gift of Night Raven College's students to the invitation for Night Bell College's Symphonium and its three main singer featuring Azul Ashengrotto, Idia Shroud and of course Malleus Draconia. In Malleus's Personnal Story, the trio are gather in Diasomnia Lounge for practicing. Both Idia and Azul (and even Lilia), are amaze about Malleus's singing skills. Not just because of his tense practicing, even outside his royal education as confirm Lilia to Idia. If Let My Wish Resound had a special signification for Malleus and his character (his desire and fear about connect with the Outside World and meeting other peoples), the fact that such song, and by extension the music, resound deep within Malleus.

In Chapter 7, that particular bond between Malleus and music/song is once again up under the lightspot, and even become an major element of the narrative. Just after he took his Overblot's form and cast [Fea of Maleficent] on everyone, Malleus start to humming a lullaby. The medley is the one of Once upon a Dream, Sleeping Beauty's famous and iconic song. There is many things that need to be discussed about that familiar medley and Malleus's story and personal journey and I will in the futur write a proper and complet review about. For now, we can notice that reference make not only as a tribute to the original animated pictures movie but also to Malleus's paradoxe as a character in that very sequence, and, even if it is more subtle, in the rest of the story. Indeed he is now a Dark Fea Lord, becoming in a way Maleficient just like Riddle with the Queen of Heart or Vil with the Beautiful Queen. And yet there is that lullaby medley, that medley which took after Princess Aurora's song. Malleus is depicted as both Light and Darkness, an impression that can be found in his Overblot theme.

The Choir and the Cello, picturing a story

There is two main musical elements in Overblot Malleus' track. The Choir and the Cello.

If is true that in the previous Overblot’s theme, a kinda choir is used in the medley, but its seems to have for fonction to put some extra more tension in the music like we can see in many soundtrack from cinema or video-game, but in the others Overbolt's theme, the choirs doesn't lead the medley. The instrumental instruments does.

But that was before Vil's Overblot and Mascarade Event’s theme, where the chorus and choir became the main leading of the music. In a kinda latin language with Dies Irea's leitmotif, choir become the medley's core and identity.

In popular culture, the choir is generally used as reference to Medieval Age’s music and its esthetics, real or dreamed . From Historical productions such as in Kingdom of Heaven (a Historical Movie setting during the early years of the Crusades) to Fantasy realms Lord of the Rings’s trilogy, we can tell that kinda of music had a special power to increase emotions and ambiance in a song.

In Overblot Malleus's theme, the choir became an extension of the Dragon-Fea’s power and personality. Giving to his character so much strength and presence, just like with Davy Jones's organ and it make a tribute to Sleeping Beauty’s soundtrack. One of the particularity of this Classic Disney Animation Picture, it's one of the very few movie from Disney's Silver Age, than doesn't have song like we see it in Cinderella or in Alice in Wonderland. As explained by cinema historian, Charles Solomo, in the documentary Picture Perfect: The Making of Sleeping Beauty [link], those kind of “Broadway like song“ doesn't fit to that world made of the gorgeous detailed background designed by Eyvind Earl or the music score inspired by Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Ballet. Only songs in the movie are Once upon a Dream and choirs. Theses ones can be found in several track in the score. One of them, “Aurora's Return/Maleficent's Evil Spell“, is in my opinion, one of most powerful and representative of that directive for Sleeping Beauty's music. At one point of track a eerie and dark voice can be heard and as its materialize Maleficent's presence when Aurora is hypnotize by the curse.

Those choir segments supporting the narrative and characterizing each protagonists. Just like it's happen with Malleus's Overblot theme !

In Malleus's Overblot theme, alongside the choir, the second main leading instrument is the cello. The using of that particular string instruments in the track make a easter egg to both Malleus’s personal talents as to Diasomnia Dorm's music theme.

Cello, as other stringed instruments, are very often used in movie, video-game or musical composition because of a rich palette of tones and sounds that those musicals instruments can create and so increase emotions. Notes created by cellos are know to be rich and deep, and how depending how it played, it can express joy and light ambiance as epic, nostalgic world, mysteries or tension and terror.

The slight presence electric guitar (recurring in the Overblot music track) give an extra sensation of danger and tension in the medley, but without shadowing the leading of the chorus and the cello. It sound like lightings bolts, and each time the electric guitar is heard it increase choir's powers in the narrative of the medley with attacking notes. Giving the feeling that we are caught into a storm.

Conjuring the Dragon

As we start listening Malleus Overblot's theme, we fall into some dark or gothic fey world, more that Diasomnia Dorm's. Despite the presence of a electric guitar sound, the music had the same feels as Maleficent's themes from Sleeping Beauty. In fact the very first notes are very similars or at least sharing the same tones than some of Maleficent's leitmotif in “Aurora's Return/Maleficent's Evil Spell“ or in her music entrance.

The musictrack is divise in five segments. First, it start with a very aery voice sound, as we can found in mysterious or dark music track and then the storms began, leading by the choir. With the cello and the electric guitar, its give at that moment (and is reinforce in game by the image of Malleus in his Overblot form), that we are facing some kind of powerful Lord or a Dark Dragon. Malleus had a very complex personality and as far we know, at his core, ins't a evil character. But he is a Dragon-Fea and he had dark powers. If someone put in danger the persons he will care about (friends, family...), he will riposte with all his might and once of thoses times where Malleus's powers are show as dangerous and dark because its are beyond mortal understanding and standard, not as evil. It's true that consequences of some Malleus's actions are terrifying because of his non-human nature and can show him as the Dragon, the most dangerous foe of tales and legends, as the storm parts of the Overblot music despict it.

And at the middle of the music track, just between the two storms part, for a brief moment a calm, noble music segment is played. Its the same medley than the rest of the track but the tone is completely different as tone and ambience from what had been previously heard, even if there is still a certain tension in it. In fact Malleus Overblot's theme where there is a such calm. Yes it's true that in Leona Overblot's theme there is a kinda of “pause“ in the music but the same amount of epic tension. It's sound like if the character taking a short break, checking if everyone is is okay before return to battle. In Malleus's if we got same general medley but the music tale an other aspect of that character, of that Dragon, at the opposite of the Dark Dragon previously depicted. In that segment, the cello leading the music instead of the choir which became calm like lamentation, giving a powerful, melancholic and noble ambiance to the music before the storm restart and end once again on the eerie voice and notes.

That melancholic noble music caught in the storm show all the balance between light and dark that Malleus carries with him during his personal journey. Give him an aura of nobility and danger as we can found it in the Malzeno's theme or Elder Dragons ( Amatsu, Alatreon or Shagaru Magala) from Monster Hunter for exemple.

Right at the beginning and at the end of the track we got some slight but clear notes of piano. Like cello, that chordophone instrument (musical instrument that use both stringed and percussion (ref, Britanica)), can create intense and emotional ambience. It's true that I wished to heard some organ note in that music track, which could fit to the medieval gothic leitmotif of Diasmonia Dorm but I think it would change the characterization of Malleus in the music track. Organs are, in popular cultures and soundtracks very very bond to the figure of the Evil Lords such as Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time or Dracula in his many adaptations from movies to video-games or it played by shady antagonists like Davy Jones or Erik, the Phantom of the Opera. Even there it's cannon that Malleus know to play organs (Endless Halloween event), it's a piano. To listen those cold and sad notes, featuring a eerie voice, as opening and ending of Malleus Overblot's music theme, give us the ton of the music but also of the character it depicts. In plus to reinforce the feeling of melancholy, its contrast with the storms that reign in most of the track. Like the calm noble leitmotif, the piano show the “softer“, tragic and lonely side of Malleus beyond his dangerous and scaring first apparence and nature as a Dragon and a Dark Fea.

As I was writing that post, I discover that during the battle between the Knight of Dawn and Maleonora, Malleus's Mother, the Overblot can be heard and that discovery make more deeper to Malleus. Making it more personal to Malleus than it's already etablished in the music itself. Far more than I originally suspected.

During the last showdown between the Knight and Maleonora ant their tragic ending, the use of the Overblot's theme don't make that scene feels like one of Maleficient in the original picture or only reflecting the way the Humans sees Maleonora. As a dark witch, a monster.

The Overblot's theme show her as royal princess, a Crown-Heir and a mother that will do everything in her power to protect her people, the persons she love and her child. Between him and his mother there is big similarities, and not just physical. Malleus had indeed inherited some of Maleonora's traits, but in his heart and his general personality, Malleus is more close to his father Lord Revan, as it's confirmed by Lilia.

"Just like his father, he is a kind person who ins't able to be ruthless“ "(Episode 7 Ruler of the Abbys Part 6, chapter 99)

At the end, that Overblot's theme not just a dungeon's final boss theme or a musical representation of the Arc's aesthetic.

Even more than Diasomnia bgm, this is Malleus Draconia's Theme. Not just his Overblot. His theme, as character, like we discover in both Diasomnia's trailer and Twisted Wonderland's Story. That music score give us more clues about who Malleus really is.

That music can be seen as the refection of Malleus's complex personality. Noble and benevolent, fierce and powerful ..

Both the Greatest Foe than the Devoted Protector.

Thank you for reading this review/analysis about Malleus. I hope you enjoyed it :-)

Lucy Floyen

Musictrack link : [Twisted Wonderland BGM - Overblot Malleus] (Soundcloud)

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland bgm #twst bgm #malleus draconia #malleus overblot #malleus bgm #fiction and lore chronicles

[goncharov-propaganda-factory]

Mishapocalypse: what the-

Hey, former redditors! Welcome to the hellsite, we're all glad that you're here (especially you 196 folk you warm my dead, frozen heart). While on the whole you seem to be adapting AMAZINGLY fast to site culture, if any of you are confused over one of our founding myths this may help.

(or if you're a veteran tumblrina and just want to read an essay that's fine too)

(others key parts of our national identity to learn about if you're curious include Goncharov, I Love You, Color of the Sky, My Three Girlfriends, and many more)

also if you don't want to read my entire fucking essay take this and run

but if you want to know the deal with this man, read on!

Mishorigins

Supernatural is a 2000s-ass TV series that ran on the CW from 2005 to 2020. It's about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who are "hunters" that protect people from various supernatural entities. The show was originally planned to last five seasons, with an angel character named Castiel (this is important) slated to be revealed as God in the finale. Castiel (nicknamed Cass by the CW and Cas by objectively correct people) was introduced in S4.

left: Castiel, the gay angel of our collective dreams. right: Misha Collins.

The Man Behind the Mish

Misha Collins is a straight man who was forced by a cruel and uncaring god to play a heavily queer coded angel on a TV series intended for any demographic BUT gay teens (which is what it became). His performance as Castiel, and the large queer teen fanbase he drew, were a driving force behind a show would ultimately continue for three times longer its original plan.

I don't have anywhere else to put these facts so they go here

he was an intern in the Clinton administration during the Lewinsky scandal

he knows Tibetan throat singing

he was arrested for climbing onto a bank roof (he was trying to... read a book? 👀👀👀)

he probably made Jensen Ackles (the guy who played Dean less homophobic? Maybe?

he held a scavenger hunt called GISHWHES several times for his charity, Random Acts

cool guy

he later played Harvey Dent on Gotham Knights this very year (2023)

there's icebergs of this shit

he farted on an airplane once

Mishion: Impossible

April 1st, 2013 is a date that will live in mishinfamy. Tumblr a main hub of the SuperWhoLock fandom (a mega-fandom amalgamating Supernatural, Sherlock BBC, and Doctor Who), was the only place the Mishapocalypse could happen.

For boring deets I'll redirect you to the KnowYourMeme page but these images should sum it up.

left: a list of Tumblr users, circa 2013. right: a fine example of Misha culture

There are two takeaways here:

You cannot outrun Misha.

You will become him.

On April 1, 2013, a significant portion of Tumblr changed their avatar to the now-iconic Mishapocalypse photo and their handle to "Misha Collins", followed by similar waves of Mish across other social media sites.

above: the modern Prometheus

This beautiful event was emblematic of pre-Dashcon Tumblr, an era as far away from us now as 1200 AD was from 1208 AD. You'll be pleased to know that the Mishapocalypse returns every April 1st to grace these ancient halls, a small group of pilgrims tracing new paths on the well-worn floor of the Church of Misha.

(this isn't to say the Supernatural fandom is dead, it's just somewhat diminished from it's glory days.

Thanks for reading! Reblog if you liked. I'll leave you with a bunch of Mishimages of my own that I posted for Mishapocalypse 23 (the 10th anniversary). Shameless self-promotion!!!

in clockwise order:

The Mona Misha

Mishius

Misha's extra hour in the ball pit

The Mishian (with Mish Damon)

Future ideas include Salvator Misha. Feel free to ask any questions you have, and I hope you enjoy Tumblr.

Happy Mishing!

ps I have not actually watched supernatural you just learn all of this via osmosis

#196 #mishapocalypse #reddit #reddit refugees #Tumblr #explainer post #r196 #long post

[probablyfunrpgideas]

The Once And Future King In Yellow

Isn’t it strange, how we tell the same stories over and over again? There was a king, and his court was full of heroes, and there was peace in the land. There was enchantment, and desire, and peril, but in the end betrayal from within brought an end to the age. And when the kingdom’s need is greatest, he will return from sleeping in the lake.

The anthology of King Arthur could certainly find room for another tale. Once, there was a great tournament, and the ladies Camilla and Cassilda were to judge who was the most worthy knight. Many brave lords broke their lances that day, but one rider was more graceful than all others. A mystery knight, he bore a gold shield and wore a white helm worked in a strange fashion. “Now, sir,” Camilla declared, when the jousting was finished, “it is time to unmask, that we may see our champion.” And in the same way across a thousand stories, the stranger replied “I wear no mask.”

I’m not sure if this is an idea for Dark Ages Cthulhu or modern Call of Cthulhu. But I really feel like there’s some interesting parallels to draw between the King Arthur story and the various accessories of Hastur. Something about the idealized world they’re selling, and the imagery of water and royalty. Maybe try running a campaign where the King in Yellow is feeding on this iconic theme to make itself real in the world!

#idea #tabletop rpgs #call of cthulhu #horror games

[mygalaxypoetry]

Sagau with the creator but... Pt.7

---

"The creator has been spotted in Mondstat?! Oh no! That means big bad news is coming, isn't it!? Is the world already come to an end?!"

"It doesn't seem like it..."

"We need to stock on food, and fast!!"

"Calm down Paimon, let's go ask what the other Knights of Favonius know"

"And then we'll stock on food!"

"Classic Paimon..."

---

"And the Creator said they'll be back after their trip, is that right?"

"Yes, Acting Grandmaster Jean"

"No one else is in the room except us two, Barbara, you can just call me Jean"

"O-of course, Jean!"

*knock* *Knock*

"Come in!"

"Hi Jean! We just came here to ask if you have any information about The Creator's whereabouts! Mr. Tone-Deaf-Bard said that they were spotted in the plaza a few days ago!"

"Well, lucky for you we do have some evidence other than that. Barbara here told me that the Creator came by in the Cathedral with Bennett and Razor. We wanted to talk to them but they said that they'll come back to meet us after a short trip."

"It feels like a long trip than a short one, it's been a few days after their sudden appearance!"

"The Creator is named the Creator for a reason, and that is to look after their creations. Maybe they just wanted to see how Teyvat's doing..?"

"Oh... you make a good point Barbara"

"We'll just have to wait for them to come back, I'm pretty sure their busy with their Duties as well"

---

You were busy alright... busy trying to climb the one thing that terrified you the most as a low AR player, Dragonspine

You swore you won't come back to this mountain after that quest... YOU SWORE!

But you wanted to check if you'd be able to get Todoroki's quirk after getting Bakugou and Midoriya's.

Certainly a low chance of that can happen... still a chance nonetheless.

"Your Grace... are you sure you want to climb up that mountain?" Bennett asked you while Razor held his warm hand, looking up to the mountain. (Bennett getting some flashbacks because of that one event)

... you forgot, you brought your (unofficial) kids here...

"If you guys don't want to, then you can stay here while I go get the other Anemo statue. I'm not forcing you to come up with me" you told them.

"But... you might get hurt! Want to stay with you!" Razor said and hugged you, trying to convince you to stay.

You patted his head and gave him a reassuring smile. "Its only for a while, alright? And if anything bad happens, I'll teleport to you guys. How about that?" You asked and pulled away from him.

"One of the adventurers gave me some goulash if it ever feels too cold so I should be just fine. I'll leave you with the other adventurers for a while, and once I come back, we'll head back to Mondstat. Is that good?" You asked, patting both of their heads.

They looked at each other and nodded. "Alright, I'll have my bandages ready once you come back, just in case!" Bennett said with his iconic thumbs up.

You smiled and said your goodbyes for now.

You walked down the same path you entered the mountain, passing by some fatui members and waving at the frostarm lawachurl.

It kinda frightened you at first, giving some PTSD because you HAD to fight it and your party members where at low health, but it was very friendly.

Even offering you a ride up the mountain, but you politely declined.

You went up all the way to the anemo statue, which was only for a few minutes since the mobs aren't hostile to you.

Half way up the stairs... you completely forgot you needed a special red crystal that can melt the frozen ice.

"... Better than getting the kids hurt, I just need a sword user... or a claymore user" you mumbled, looking at the red crystal.

"Looking for something, your grace?"

You jumped a bit and looked behind you to see, Albedo!

"Albedo! Nice to meet you-... hold on, just let me check something.." you said and pulled his collar a bit to check if he had his star.

He was kinda startled by your sudden boldness, but you were the Creator. He hypothesized that you know everything that happened in Teyvat and this is another piece of evidence.

"Okay, your the real Albedo... Nice to meet you! Sorry if my action made feel uncomfortable, I needed to check" you apologized.

"Its okay... understandable even. I came to this area to paint and just happen to spot you. You looked like you needed help, so I'm here to assist you" he explained, looking around the area.

"I do! I need to unlock one of the Anemo statues and for me to do that, I need this crystal to melt the ice" You looked down at the red crystal.

"I don't have a weapon on me right now. Even if I did have one, I have little to no experience with it..." you sweatdropped.

"Let me help you with that, Your Grace" Albedo said and pulled out his sword.

He gave you the red crystal and you proceeded to melt the ice to unlock the Anemo statue.

You placed your right hand on the statue and your whole arm felt cold in an instant. It felt like a big ice cube just went through your arm to your stomach.

You took of your hand from the anemo statue and looked at your hand. It didn't create any ice, but it did make your hand a bit white on the tips.

"Are you okay Your Grace?" Albedo asked.

You looked at him and nodded. "I'm okay, sorry to cut my visit short but I need to head back the the campsite. My Kid- I mean, Razor and Bennett are waiting for me there" you explained.

"No need to apologize Your Grace. I hope to see you soon" he said.

"I hope to see you soon too, Albedo. See ya!" You said and left him.

"... Their peculiar compared to the Archons... "

---

The Frostarm Lawachurl was waiting for you at the bottom of the mountain, its hand reaching out to you when you came down.

It wanted to offer you a ride back to the campsite and since it was its second offer, you smiled and accepted its ride.

You sat down on its hand and it proceeded to ride you back to the entrance. The gang of fatui members didn't even look at your direction, probably too scared because of the lawachurl.

It stopped and set you down gently. You thanked it, petting its arm before leaving.

You were oblivious to the Lawachurl glaring at the fatui members that dared even to come up to you.

---

Uneventful, I know 😅 but I'll make sure that the next part will have some action.

#genshin impact sagau #genshin sagau #sagau #creator au #genshin impact #self aware genshin #genshin impact x reader #my hero academia #gender neutral character

[lorcandidlucienwill]

Why the Vanserras are elite

"Why do you simp for Lucien and Eris? The bat boys are so much better." Bestie, it's fucking obvious. One, they're the most charming.

Lucien: "If I offer you the moon on a string, will you give me a kiss, too?" “I’m Lucien. Courtier and emissary.” He gestured to me with a flourish. “Your eyes are like stars, and your hair like burnished gold.” Lucien was crouched over me, frowning. “I couldn’t heal you completely—they would know someone helped you. The bruises are there, along with a hideous black eye, but … all the swelling’s gone.” “And my nose?” I said, feeling it before he answered. “Fixed—as pert and pretty as before.” He smirked at me. “We’re not going to bite.” Lucien’s white teeth gleamed in a way that suggested otherwise. Eris: "When you get tired of the animal, come find me. I'll show you how a future High Lord plays." “You’re a pretty little treat. I’d be happy to play any manner of game with you, Nesta Archeron.” Nesta’s mouth twitched to one side. “And you? Who do you love?” His smile sharpened. “Are you inquiring after my eligibility?” “I’m merely saying it’s hard to find a good dance partner these days.” Eris laughed, the sound like silk over her skin. She shivered. “Indeed it is. Especially one who can both dance and tear the King of Hybern’s head from his shoulders.”  “They say your sister Elain is the beauty, but you outshine her tonight.”

Two, they're actually feminists, unlike the fraudulent bat boys. Lucien: Beyond us, I could feel Ianthe scrambling to regain control, to find some way to spin it. Perhaps Lucien could, too. For he took my hand, and then knelt upon one knee in the grass, pressing my fingers to his brow. Like stalks of wheat in a wind, the others fell to their knees as well. For in all of her preening ceremonies and rituals, never had Ianthe revealed any sign of power or blessing. But Feyre Cursebreaker, who had led Prythian from tyranny and darkness … Blessed. Holy. Undimming before evil. I let my glow spread, until it, too, rippled from Lucien’s bowed form. A knight before his queen. Eris: The music rose and rose and rose, faster and faster and faster, and as its last few notes sounded, Eris again released her. Nesta spun solo once more, three more precise, perfect rotations as Eris dropped to a knee before her and held up a hand. The final note blasted and held, and Nesta halted with preternatural ease, taking Eris’s hand in the same movement that her back arched and she flung up her other arm, the portrait of triumph. Three, they're the biggest doms. Lucien: “Easy,” Lucien repeated, and flame sizzled in his russet eye. The flame, the surprising dominance within it, hit Cassian like a stone to the head, knocking him from his need to kill and kill and kill whatever might threaten— Eris: “I don’t suppose your handsome brothers know, Lucien,” she purred. “If we did, Lady, we would be the first to tell you,” said the tallest. He was lean, well dressed, every inch of him a court-trained bastard. Probably the eldest, given the way even the ones who looked like born warriors stared at him with deference and calculation—and fear. Four, they're the smartest characters. Lucien: The Clever Fox Stares Down Winged Death. Eris: “I have to agree with Cassian. Eris is a snake.” Five, they're fashion icons. Lucien: He’d always had a casual grace about him, but here, tonight, with his hair tied back and jacket buttoned to his neck, he truly looked the part of a High Lord’s son. Handsome, powerful, a bit rakish —but well-mannered and elegant. Eris: Eris dressed as immaculately as Rhysand, not a strand of his long red hair out of place. Six, they're literally keeping Prythian together at this point. Lucien: He had to give Lucien credit: the male was somehow able to move between his three roles—an emissary for the Night Court, ally to Jurian and Vassa, and liaison to Tamlin—and still dress immaculately. Eris: “Eris bought me time.” Her words were laced with acid. Cassian had tried not to believe it, but he knew Eris had done it as a gesture of good faith. He’d invited Rhysand into his mind to see exactly why he’d convinced Keir to indefinitely delay his visit to Velaris. Only Eris had that sort of sway with the power-hungry Keir, and whatever Eris had offered Keir in exchange for not coming here was still a mystery.

That reason enough for you???

[lorianbladeoflothric]

BONK!

Hiyo! I bring a silly ask! What kind of pokemon do you think the ER cast would like to have around?

(Choose however as many or as little characters as you like <3)

Oh dude, be prepared for a long answer bc I was obsessed with pokemon for the first half of the pandemic so I make teams for characters a lot and I try to put a lot of thought into them, but sometimes it really is just rule of cool.

Starting with Ranni because I don't get her, so her team is basically just themed after her.

Shiny Midnight Lycanroc - She's had this one since she was a child Lunala - in a pokemon au she would have met it instead of the dark moon or maybe it was passed down from Rennala Frosslass - is ghost. is ice. is woman. what more do you want? Mega Banette - Mega bc it looks cooler than normal Banette, but in general it's the possessed doll pokemon so it makes sense to give it to her Mismagius - For the crone that taught her magic Alolan Ninetales - A doglike ice type to round everything out

For Rennala, I did what you would more likely find around her now than the team she may have used in the past.

Clefable - Among her sweetings, there are also members of the entire clefable line scattered around the library, gathering around her as they would the full moon. Shiny Gardevoir - Shiny bc blue to signify that Ranni has left this one to guard her in her slumber. Cresselia - Moon theme and pleasant dreams, it's a crescent moon so idk if this would be her Moon pokemon the way Lunala is Ranni's but it feels right Midday Lycanroc - the red wolf of radagon Hatterene - This one could go one of two ways. It's a witchy looking thing and it attacks anyone who shows too much emotion. This could either be a pokemon the Raya Lucaria scholars left to watch her and make sure she doesn't try anything, or it could be like Gardevoir and one of her children (Rykard in this case) put it there to guard her.

Like Rennala, Radahn's "team" is just the pokemon encountered while fighting him. Which is to say Leonard the mudsdale and various minior that crash down during and after the battle.

Rykard's turn! I know there's not a single snake on this team but hear me out

Magmortar and Delphox - He developed magma sorceries Groudon - This is Eiglay. I know it's not a snake but like. look. Big catastrophe causing thing sealed beneath a volcano. It's Eiglay. Yamask - explicitly the soul of a dead human. Not sure if this is on his team so much as scattered around volcano manor, but it felt important to mention. Magearna - Virgin abductors Mawile - This one is probably Tanith's but I'm not doing a team for her. It's the decoy pokemon, it fits both of them. Tanith is like the main body, Rykard is like the mouth.

Leaving the carians, we have the easiest team so far: Godfrey. Perrserker, Machamp, Incineroar - Self explanatory really, they fight like him. Sirfetch'd - His knights, the decorum he has as Elden Lord, and the Storm King he defeated was a bird. Solgaleo - Serosh, godfrey is sun-aligned. Azumarill - HEAR ME OUT. Huge power + high hp makes it a powerful foe, water to fight against all the different fires that oppose the erdtree, fairy to conquer the dragons, its shiny is gold, and the most important point of all: Gap Moe

I want to make a team for Godwyn, but it's very hard since he doesn't really...have much to him? Haxorus and Kommo-o - Golden + Dragon Roaring Moon - Literally an ancient dragon Cursola - Analagous to deathblight Fortissax isn't in his party, but he would probably be Giratina?

Godrick's team is a joke kinda, but Machamp - 4 arms plus one of Godfrey's iconic pokemon Shiny Magikarp - for the Lord of All That Is Golden Corviknight - For the storm king Dracovish - Grafting! Dragon! It was so hard not to make his entire team galarian fossils bc they're all grafted freaks

For Malenia, I think she would have a different team before her rot got too bad. These three go along with her graceful fighting style pretty well, and since she is a walking toxic status effect...

Bisharp is the only one who survives and evolves into Kingambit. Ceruledge - dual wielding swords, edgy and cool, since it's a ghost she can't kill it by just being near it. She trained it up alongside her cleanrot knights. Quaquaval - a gift from the blind swordsman The last three are some of many nuisances that follow her around at the haligtree. Things that like poison and rot are just attracted to her.

Miquella's team is probably exactly what you'd expect. Silcoon - It doesn't seem to want to hatch... Togetic - "These Pokémon are never seen anywhere near conflict or turmoil. In recent times, they’ve hardly been seen at all." They're also known to bless people, very fitting for what we know about Miq Shaymin - It purifies toxins and grows flowers Comfey - more flowers, more healing, I bet there's a bunch of these around the Halligtree. Musharna - dreamworld pokemon <3 Gardevoir - Counterpart to Malenia's old Gallade. It's his strongest pokemon and only fights to protect him

Marika has no pokemon, she may have at some point, but right now the only pokemon she's around is Ultra Necrozma (The Elden Beast, bc it's golden, evil, a legendary, and from space)

Aaaaaand the last character I'm going to do is Radagon, but if anyone's read this far and wants me to do a specific character outside the god family tree, I'd be hella down.

Zoroark - You Know Why He Has This (it can disguise as humans) Zacian - Radagon seems to be tied to wolves/dogs, plus it has his greatsword Aegislash - this one just feels right Trevenant - for the erdtree Minior - for his elden stars incantation

So yeah that was way too many words and I'm sure as soon as I post this I'll think of better ones but yeah! Ty for the ask bud!!

#circe talks #pokemon

[wayneprincess]

Okay but let's appreciate Diana's "off day" outfit because it's simply stunning

Amazons probably just have a fashion sense cuz it all makes sense: Wonder Woman can kinda blend in the crowd in that cropped jacket and white pants yet she slays that silhouette. It's causal, but not too causual, and the colors are still on brand for WW: blue, white and just a tiny speck of golden and red - homegirl did not forget to accessorise (in my headcanon she got that necklace from Batman).

In conclusion: she's not only a champion of gods, warrior princess, trusted friend, graceful Amazon and a perfect second half to a certain Dark Knight, she also a fashion icon

#justice league unlimited #jlu #dcau #justice league #jl #diana of themyscira #wonderbat #wonder woman #diana princess of themyscira #diana prince #dcau cartoons #dc comics #dc cartoons #she bad #that outfit #ww

[sagau-fruit-bowl]

Chapter 19? Within the month? Go Fruit! Go Fruit! Show your brain who is boss!

Tw: Graphic description of violence

Masterlist

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

Previously. After berating their followers of their abusive religious practices, [Name] has reached a Hilichurl camp and received a basic rundown on the types of control they can use from Paimon and is now preparing to drag Razor and Kaeya into battle, no matter if they're willing participants or not.

They turned to Kaeya and allowed their mind to take complete note of his appearance, hoping to all that was holy that this would work, and gave a sharp order in their mind. Move two steps to the right. 

[Name] was far too deep in their mind to take note of Kaeya's shift in disposition, but the others in their little team were not.

The haughty smirk on his face melted away to a gentle smile and a far off look entered his eyes, his shoulders loosened as his feet moved a somewhat clumsy and quick way to what was his left and Their Grace's right.

[Name] looked upon him with a sense of pride. "Perfect… you're doing absolutely perfectly." 

With a turn towards the camp, they smiled towards the others. "Are you ready? Goddess knows I am."

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

[Name] didn't allow themselves the chance to over think their actions, knowing that stalling would only result in their feet refusing to move from their place.

As they approached the monsters in front of them, they decided to issue another set of commands. Kaeya, follow me. 

The blue haired man's body moved faster than his brain, but it didn't bother him very much, the disconnected feeling being so wonderfully familiar.

They also spoke out a verbal command to get Razor's attention. "Razor, please keep me safe."

The only response they saw was his movement and the now distant look in his eyes but it was better than nothing. Razor joined the other man's side as they approached [Name] in very different ways.

Kaeya's steps seemed fumbling, almost as if it manifested [Name]'s own feeling of tripping over their feet as they gave him each order while Razor's stride on the other hand was very deliberate and harsh, different from his usual soft and quiet footsteps.

[Name] winced while watching and hoped that they would still be able to instruct the two safely.

They exhaled to chase that thought from their mind before turning back around to the monster camp in front of them… Wow Oh wow is that a mental sentence they never thought they'd say.

Regardless they walked forward anyway, eyes landing on a nearby Hilichurl digging at the ground and a smirk falling upon their face.

Kaeya, attack it. Start with your elemental skill.

It was seconds after when he sprung to life, [Name] was never sure where the weapons came from and seeing it in person didn't answer any of their most pressing questions on the topic. 

The finely cared for blade appeared in the knights hand as his arm moved into place for a strike and an iconic voiceline left his mouth.

"Cool it!"

[Name] resisted the urge to behave like the excitable fan they knew they were and instead let their sight rest upon the monsters.

The green display bar was visible and [Name] questioned in their own mind if they had a health bar? It didn't matter regardless. [Name] watched the health of the first enemy fade into the red and then empty itself fully.

They took a step back upon looking at the enemy itself. The cuts and blood were never seen through the screen but in person it made their stomach twist.

The fur of the poor thing was bare in some locations and most obvious was a gnash across its abdomen. Dark red blood seeped   the wound both onto the sword in their friend's hand and onto the creature's arm that was now wrapped around the injury.

Flecks of ice were scattered on the dark fur but most horrifying were the icy shards burrowed into it's eye.

Another swipe of Kaeya's sword and the Hilichurl gave a pained cry of anger before falling dead.

[Name] didn't have time to worry over the morality of their actions, instead the sound of metal against metal pulled their mind away from the scene in front of them and instead to their side which sent them stumbling away from Razor and the metachurl whose strike he had just stopped in its tracks.

It didn't take long for Kaeya and Razor to both team up on the enemy in front of them, the sight of a super conduct upclose sent shivers up [Name]'s spine as they watched the creature scream in pain and flail wildly.

They quickly scrambled up from the ground and forced their mind to relax, instead of fixating on the enemy's that were being fought and instead focusing on the status of their friends.

Surprisingly enough, they didn't note anything beyond a handful of scraps and maybe a spot or two that would potentially bruise on Kaeya's person.

However [Name]'s focus was redirected from the duo to an archer readying an arrow crackling and popping with electricity.

They didn't trust their voice to move but it didn't take them long to figure out how long the shot would take.

Without a second thought, [Name] lunged in the beasts direction, tackling it to the ground and throwing off the shot, leaving it to hit a wall useless and fizzle out.

The claws of a Hilichurl dug into their skin as the back of their head hit the ground, the world around them started to spin and [Name] wrapped their hands around its neck as their thoughts filled with only one idea. STAY STILL AND DIE ALREADY.

They watched a strange look come into its eye and each movement from those sharp stinging claws stilled, only staring into [Name]'s eyes before it's flesh began to feel weak, disintegrating under [Name]'s grasp. 

They sat up quickly and felt the world around them spin. A few sounds of pain left their mouth but it was overshadowed by inhuman screams of horror before rough hands grasped onto their shoulder causing a hiss to leave them. The harsh contact sending shudders of pain down their arms and into their cuts.

They looked around the battlefield slowly, gentle on their now aching skull, only to make eye contact with a very worried looking Paimon and catching sight of Diluc's worried face with his hand on their shoulder.

"What were you doing?!" Paimon cried "Your control isn't meant to be used on those things! Just trust your vessels!"

[Name] let out a groan of frustration, realizing their rush into violence likely gave the group a heart attack. "Look, look, I'm okay.. Mostly. I'm sorry."

Diluc shook his head. "Fine is the wrong word. I should have never trusted them with your safety."

They rolled their eyes in response. "They did everything I told them to, I'm the one who made a mistake. Insult my mains again and I'll drop kick you all the way to the Jade Chamber."

Kaeya chuckled, the control having faded away after your focus left him, and he simply gave a soft smile. "Really care that much about us, Your Grace?"

[Name] glared at the ground and muttered angrily. "Obviously enough to stop you from getting shot and even that didn't work… all I got from that was causing panic. Stupid attempted main character moment."

Kaeya chuckled once more and shook his head. "We couldn't be more grateful, really and truly. Why would we not feel honored that our patron themselves threw their way into harm's way for us?"

Diluc's grip on [Name]'s shoulder tightened, causing them to wince and twist away as Diluc began to speak. "You were supposed to serve them but instead all you've done is result in their injury. Some vessels you are."

[Name] looked up to glare into his eyes and spoke two words. "Jade Chamber."

Diluc's face fell as he let go of them gently and stepped away. "Of course, my apologies, My Grace. Your wish is my command."

[Name] leaned their head back to the clear sky. "I wish to go back to Mondstadt? Can you worrywarts make that happen?"

Jean stepped forward to replace Diluc's now empty spot and nodded. "Of course. We'll bring you home immediately and get you treated to the best of our abilities, should you desire to rest, we'll give you that capability as well."

[Name] raised an eyebrow before laying down gently onto the rock below them. "If you plan on getting me back to Mondstadt within the next hour, you'll have to carry me somehow. I am not walking any further."

Aether shook his head. "I'll handle it. Trust me, My Guide.. you'll be home soon." 

The thought of a teleport waypoint entered their mind as they closed their eyes. Whatever, the group could use whatever methods they wanted, right now [Name]'s head hurt and they wanted a nap.

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

Well, another chapter and surprisingly enough, I actually like this one. Rare? Yes, but happily accepted.

Tag list! (Closed for the foreseeable future.)

@chihawari @samuelftm @mizuistrying @karylles-world @isaywhatiwant @multifandomvoyage @sayomiikaye @peacesong02 @chie-san @magica-ren @willburzone @harmonbrooke @sadlonelybagel @well-excuse-me-player @rizakari @eccedentesiast-sapphic @nasidibakar @@yue-caelum @irisxiel @detectivexheizou @ello-its-me-ya-boi @nin3ss @uh-kay-shuh @campanula-rotundifolia @whispereons

#genshin x reader #sagau #genshin impact x reader #sagau cult au #genshin self aware au #genshin impact x you #genshin sagau #genshin impact sagau

[catmansquad]

The Looking Glass: Alternate Miguels

Well... Here we go. The various versions of Miggy who appear in The Looking Glass. (A03) Some parallel worlds get... freaky.

The Soulmate – Iteration: 237

“I love you. With all I am. With my very soul, I love you, let us never be parted.”

Be his Soulmate, his twin flame. You’ll see the gentle man beneath the mask.

No dead daughter syndrome, a little more playful, prone to teasing and smirking.

Plays games, courting on two fronts; as himself and as his webbed alter-ego.

As himself, he tries to appear normal. Mumbles his words to hide his fangs, focuses to keep his talons retracted.

Doesn’t take much to break his focus, hold his hand at your peril.

As Spider-man, he is wild and flirtatious, behind the mask he knows the skintight attire works in his favour.

Expect to be piggy-backed across the city, loves your arms tight around him. May squirm to make you hold tighter.

Will tell you to close your eyes, and kiss you sweetly before putting his mask back before you see him.

Eventually, he either slips up or you get wise. Then you get the best of both the kindness and the flirtation near constantly.

Once that soul-bond is tied? Prepare to be loved and shown affection from every atom of him.

The Warrior – Iteration: [Unknown]

“I am of the Callisteri. I am as strong as the boles of the great-trees…”

A warrior from a lost world of magic and mysticism

A true knight in shining armour, clad in Fae Silver, with an emerald cloak bearing a majestic stag, the icon of his Order.

Per the rules of his Order, his sheathed blade is kept concealed beneath his cloak, as such his left arm is covered until battle is inevitable.

Unskilled in the arcane arts of other Orders, but his martial prowess is second to none.

If he becomes your bodyguard, you can consider yourself safe. Completely and utterly safe.

You can charm him into bed. Maybe. He’ll assure you he’s doing it to keep you safe. He’s holding you close in his strong arms to keep you safe.

This guy is ripped. Like he could break you over his knee like a toothpick then juggle cars for fun.

Silent, stoic, and watchful. With time and warmth, you can tease him out of his silver shell…

For the benefits of his Order, he is “as strong as he needs to be”. No upper limit is known.

Boasts he has the virility of the Great Stag. Will prove it if you let him.

The Merman -  Iteration: 5002

“I will teach you to swim, walker…”

Over nine feet long, tail to tip.

Beautiful scales of red and blue

He glows in the dark, showing even more shiny scales on his upper body

Confident, charming, and cheeky

Smiles a mouthful of sharp teeth.

Might actually be half-shark

Unknown if he’s a natural Merman, or one of Alchemax’s experiments that got loose.

Utterly majestic singing voice, deep and enchanting.

His song is wordless grace, as charming as any siren’s.

If you want to go swimming with him, bring a diving suit with a big air tank.

Will give you gifts; carved stones, gleaming pearls, trinkets from shipwrecks.

His gills don’t allow him to leave the water, but he can still poke his head above the surface.

If you can’t swim, or are terrified of water, he’s just the guy to help you out.

Will splash you with his tail if you bore him.

His skin carries the salty tang of the ocean.

The Vampire – Iteration: 300

“A night out? In my finest clothes… My sweetest smile… My irresistible charms… My aching kiss…”

Literal 500-year-old Aztec Vampire.

Mortal problems? Vampiric infighting? Literally too old for this shit.

He has had many names. “Miguel O’Hara” is his current identity.

Long ago got over the nature of his condition.

Has walked the world for centuries, meeting other Clans

Charming, friendly, almost romantic.

Very rich, very influential.

Has a history of broken hearts, mostly his own.

Not burned by sunlight, but has the eyes of a predator, very sensitive.

“… I was a father. Once… Then came the plague.”

Will feed on you, but will also ensure you’re well looked after and will do everything to make sure you’re healthy.

He despairs when he realizes that he’s falling in love all over again.

“Sunlight? Irritating. Garlic? Mm. Maybe good in some dishes. Crosses? What about them?”

Hates when people ask him to whisper seductively in Spanish. If they don’t speak it, he’ll lean in, and in his slow, seductive voice will, in Spanish, call them an “Absolute Fucking Moron”.

Does speak a whole lot of other languages. Ask him to seduce you in one of those.

Hurt? He’ll lick your wounds closed. It’s supernaturally effective.

Won’t fly into a bloodthirsty hunger if he sees you bleeding- don’t mistake him for a newborn Fledgling. He’s an Elder, and he will be respected.

If you ask him to Turn you, he will sit you down and make sure you understand in no uncertain terms exactly what you are asking for. If you come away scared, good, you were listening.

The Incubus -  Iteration: 2023

“We are spirits of passion. When we love, we love with all we are.”

Will laugh at your prudishness.

Horns, tail, pointy ears and fangs.

May or may not have wings based on his mood. Or yours.  

Can read your kinks like a book. He probably wrote it.

You feel the phantom touches of his fingers on your face at night.

Once you woke up to feel the covers being pulled up over you.

Sensual, romantic, wants to be loved and appreciated.

Can also be moody and possessive.

Tell him what you want, he won’t refuse it.

At your request he once shifted through a few different forms to try and help you out.

Turned into a near-androgynous twink with sparkling red eyes.

Also went the other way and turned into a sheer mountain of mass, sneering confidently down at you over folded arms while the silver chain around his neck was swallowed between those bulging pecs.

When you told him you loved him, he asked for you to repeat yourself.

When he found you were sincere, he wept tears of joy.

Will wrap his tail around your waist possessively.

On a bus ride, someone completely oblivious to the spirit world sat in the seat beside you. The seat he was in. You had to keep a straight face as he leapt up, snarled and ranted insults in Spanish at them for the rest of their journey.

“Don’t get up yet… Lay here with me…. Just for a while longer…”

The Sociopath – Iteration: 158

“What is the point in your life? You are but an echo. A reflection of a potential that never truly was.”

Spiderman couldn’t have become a worse guy

Had a loveless marriage, found his wife had been long-term screwing his half-brother.

Flew into a rage at the merest idea that Gabi wasn’t his

Sees everyone else as beneath him/ possessions/ toys

Will take by force what he cannot win through guile/seduction.

Kiled half of Nueva York, left the other half alive to tell the story of Spider-man’s rampage.

To him, you are either a useful tool or dead meat.

Is a frighteningly good actor, able to affect the mask of a patient, gentle, and loving man.

 Very much enjoys slipping into other realities and play with/torment/unnerve the people his other self is close to.

Enjoys it even more if those version of him are regular people. It makes him feel powerful.

Enjoys singing “Dead Man Walking”, later uses it to announce his presence to his victims.

A sharp, terrifying grin forewarns him doing something monstrous.

Will refer to his victims as “my little rabbit”/ “mi pequeño conejo”

Don’t try to run from him. You won’t make it.

“I’m a dead man walking… Before I die… I’ll take every soul I can into the night… (Soft chuckle)”

#aspects of glass #miguel o'hara #spider-man: across the spider-verse #vampire miguel o’hara #merman miguel o'hara

[grigori77]

2023 in Movies, My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 3)

10.  NIMONA – we almost didn’t get 2023’s most socially important animated feature.  When Disney acquired Twentieth Century Fox and everything went tits up for its various affiliates, animation house Blue Sky Studios bit the dust just as this long-awaited adaptation of influential She-Ra & the Princesses of Power showrunner ND Stevenson’s beloved fantastical graphic novel from Spies In Disguise directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quaine was nearing completion, and it looked like it might never see the light of day … at least until Annapurna Pictures and Netflix swooped in to the rescue, snapping it up, funding its completion and getting it out on streaming to the delight of all of us who’d thought it was essentially LOST.  The end result is just about THE VERY BEST movie I’ve ever seen about the struggles of being non-binary and not conforming to any set gender norms in modern society, viewed through the fantasy prism of a shapeshifting “teenager” who effortlessly steals their own film.  Chloe Grace Moretz is perfectly cast as the voice of the titular misfit anarchist troublemaker supernatural being, who finds an opportunity for some fresh chaos by joining forces with Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a newly-knighted commoner who becomes public enemy number one after being viciously framed for the murder of the queen of a futuristic medieval society (really!) built around chivalry and the righteous smiting of monsters.  Ballister’s determined to prove his innocence, while Nimona just wants to create havoc, while they’re both being hunted by his former fellow knights, led by his ex-boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang of The Try Guys), a direct descendent of the Kingdom’s legendary original monster slaying heroine Gloreth.  It’s a gloriously original piece of work, the animation presented in a truly GORGEOUS brightly coloured 2-dimensional 3D graphic style that at once riffs on the ingenious visual inventiveness of the Spider-Verse movies while also creating something COMPLETELY NEW but simultaneously lovably reminiscent of the classic Blue Sky cartoony look, while the frequently chaotic action is just as infectiously anarchic as the lead character herself.  It’s also fiendishly brilliant in its subversive message and twisty logic, making the viewer question what being a monster REALLY means, and if what we SEE someone as REALLY IS their true identity.  Needless to say, Moretz runs away with the whole film, while the character of Nimona herself is a truly ENCHANTING and thoroughly inspiring creation who’s destined to become an iconic hero for non-binary and trans kids around the world, but Ahmed and Yang are clearly having a great time here too, as is Frances Conroy as the Director of the Kingdom’s knights, having a blast bringing icy menace to her deliciously duplicitous villainous turn.  It’s an incredibly FUN movie, shot through with a rich and rewardingly infectious sense of humour, taking classic fantasy tropes and turning them on their head in new and wonderfully inventive ways, but it knows JUST when to get serious too, and there are some powerful moments when it grabs hold of your heart and DESTROYS YOU emotionally, especially in the incredibly evocative climax.  Ultimately this ISN’T an overly faithful adaptation of Stevenson’s original graphic novel – he was in a darker place when he wrote and drew it, going through his own complicated struggle with his gender identity before finally making his personal transition in 2022 – but it certainly is rewardingly true to the book’s spirit and deep-down message of inclusion, positivity and being true to your core identity, which makes it one of the most important animated films to be made in a very long time.  I’m so happy it’s received the TRULY MASSIVE amount of attention and LOVE it’s garnered since its release, and I thank Netflix and everybody else who made the effort to get this movie out after all when Disney seemed so reluctant to take a chance on it.  This deserves to be seen, it NEEDS to be seen, and I urge you to check it out.

9.  RENFIELD – my horror movie of 2023 sits very comfortably in the genre’s sub-category that I’ve always loved best, a jet black comedy of particularly rare quality and gleeful abandon that made it one of the most entertaining viewing experiences I had this past year.  Yeah, like the best horror comedies it has enough genuine darkness that it CAN be genuinely scary when it wants to be, but given the sheer (literal) batshit craziness of its premise this is a BONKERS FILM, and so it wisely embraces its sheer lampoonery to full effect without reservation.  Not that it’s overly surprising – director Chris McKay cut his teeth helming The Lego Batman Movie before branching out into live action with Amazon’s criminally underrated time travelling alien invasion blockbuster The Tomorrow War, both of which were excellent vehicles for him to master the gloriously anarchic style that he finally unleashes fully formed for this brilliant alternative sequel to the classic Universal Dracula movie with Bela Lugosi.  That being said, the big box office draw here was always going to be Nicolas Cage, who pays loving tribute to Lugosi as the infamous Count, kicking into his typical “manic” setting to chew the scenery with ruthless abandon and, as a result, frequently steal the show right out from under Nicholas Hoult as his titular ghoul manservant, the long-suffering Robert Montague Renfield, who just wants the opportunity to finally find a real, simple life for himself and thinks he can pull it off in modern day New Orleans, only for his Master to himself become inspired by Renfield’s newfound ambition and set his sights on world domination with the help of the Lobos, a brutal local crime family.  Thankfully Hoult DOES manage to hold his own in his scenes with Cage, as always proving ADEPTLY talented enough to deliver another winningly endearing performance while playing perhaps the single most pathetic specimen of his career to date … meanwhile the thoroughly adorable Awkwafina once again proves she’s well on the way to becoming the PREMIER kooky goofball female comedic lead in Hollywood as Rebecca Quincy, the one truly honest cop in one of the most corrupt police forces in all of America, who winds up falling for Renfield’s hangdog charm and puppy-dog eyes as he inadvertently becomes the key to her quest to bring down the Lobos after they murdered her legendary detective father.  Shohreh Aghdashloo brings a much needed touch of class to proceedings as Bellafrancesca Lobo, the family’s seductively sly matriarch, while Space Force and Sonic the Hedgehog’s Ben Schwarz is a frequent non-PC laugh riot all on his own as her entitled constant disappointment of a son Teddy, and Ghosts’ Brandon Scott Jones is lovably flaky as the leader of Renfield’s endearingly pathetic support group for people trapped in toxic co-dependent relationships.  This genuinely is a DEEPLY FUNNY FILM, perfectly geared up for a maximum hit count with the one-liners, in-jokes and situations, but then there’s no surprise here since writer Ryan Ridley (adapting a pitch from The Walking Dead’s original creator Robert Kirkman) is a seasoned veteran of TV comedy, particularly well known as an alumnus of the similarly edgy and madcap Rick & Morty, and this carries a lot of the same twisted, anarchic charm as that rightly beloved series, just in a much more big budget live action form.  It’s also SPECTACULARLY bloodthirsty when it wants to be, the welcome reliance on what are clearly LARGELY physical effects meaning that this movie is another gore-hound’s wet dream, even if the film does mostly play the horror elements for laughs throughout, and it’s an impressively inventive and chaotic beast in THAT regard too, delivering some of the most gloriously OTT splatter-fuelled action sequences I’ve seen in a good while whenever Renfield eats a bug and gets an ultraviolent power boost.  Altogether this is definitely some of the most fun I had at the cinema this past year, and I’ll admit I wouldn’t mind a bit more of this if they DID fancy trying the sequel road after all …

8.  LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND – Mr Robot was one of THE all-time great TV revelations of the 2010s, creator/showrunner Sam Esmail becoming a genuinely challenging counter-culture voice responsible for hard-hitting, thought-provoking material which really shook up the status quo.  Shocking, then, that his only real notable foray onto the BIG screen was with the offbeat but ultimately overlooked romantic comedy fantasy Comet, but that balance has FINALLY been redressed almost a decade later with this powerhouse leftfield tour-de-force dystopian apocalyptic thriller from Netflix.  Adapting the already hard-hitting, critically acclaimed novel by Rumaan Alam, Esmail wastes no time in weaving a spell of subtly inexplicable unease as we follow a family of well-to-do New Yorkers who take the opportunity to get out of the city for a break on the coast after renting someone else’s house for a long weekend, only for the owners to suddenly return in the night with tales of a blackout and more bafflingly worrying events unfolding in the outside world, hoping they can stay too until they know more.  Feelings of distrust and paranoia immediately settle in and refuse to leave even as the two families warily get to know one another, but then things are getting WEIRD – the internet and TV are DOWN, drones are dropping indecipherable foreign propaganda from the skies and there are sudden bursts of head-splitting noise coming from SOMEWHERE … all too slowly it becomes clear that something truly terrible is happening, and that there’s more than just rumoured cyber-attacks at work here.  This really is CHILD’S PLAY for Esmail, who’s clearly having a wild old time crafting a twisting, unnervingly unsettling suspense thriller which sticks the knife in and keeps on twisting as things get more worryingly desperate, all while casting a deeply critical eye on the state of modern society, capitalism, pop culture and pervading racial and social divides.  Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke are both typically EXCELLENT as Amanda and Clay Sandford, the white liberal upper class couple who find their deep-seated preconceptions forming their perceptions as they’re forced to deal with the as always truly MAGNIFICENT Mahershala Ali’s cultured stockbroker G.H. Scott and his brash, opinionated daughter Ruth (Industry and Bodies Bodies Bodies’ Myha’la), while there’s a brief but unsurprisingly POTENT turn from Kevin Bacon as Danny, the exact kind of paranoid, doomsday prepping redneck who’s probably gonna survive this coming apocalypse JUST FINE.  There’s SO MUCH to unpack and explore in this film, it’s definitely one of those film’s that rewards repeat viewing with neat little twists, fascinatingly subtle hints and clues which lead to insidiously profound payoffs and more sneaky little easter eggs than you could EVER spot on a single viewing, leading to a truly HORRIFYING existential climax which will lead to many a sleepless night given the way this world seems to be heading.  Speculative science fiction or worryingly potent prophecy?  Only time will tell, I guess …

7.  SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE – the animated feature that completely CHANGED THE GAME at the end of the last DECADE getting a sequel was pretty much a no-brainer, but it didn’t make the wait any easier, and after COVID put a dent in so many of the big releases coming forward this was definitely one of the most painful delays for me.  Finally getting to see it was, therefore, ONE HELL of a cathartic release of tension, so much that even later discovering that not everything was exactly GOOD in the production studios at the time (namely the animators being crunched LIKE CRAZY by the ever-shifting nature of the vision they were being asked to realise, leading to a toxic working environment for many, which is NEVER cool) still didn’t dent my truly AWED appreciation for the finished film.  Seriously, this is THE BEST animated feature we saw this past year, and ALREADY a strong candidate for best animated feature of THIS DECADE (although that’s likely to change if the incoming sequel turns out to be as good, if not BETTER, which it probability WILL).  Honestly, I could end the review right here just with that recommendation, it’s GENUINELY THAT GOOD, people.  But I still got a job to do here, so … once again, Miles Morales (Dope’s Shameik Moore), the new Spider-Man in his world, is at the centre of a whirlwind of narrative chaos as a new arch-nemesis he never knew he had emerges to hold him to account for what he did when he destroyed the Kingpin’s interdimensionally destructive supercollider in the first film – the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a former scientist at Alchemax who got turned into a walking mass of unstable wormholes when he got hit with the full brunt of all that quantum energy.  As he embarks on his quest to take his misguided revenge on Miles, his interdimensional spree of carnage leads our Spider-Man to become connected with a Multiverse-spanning cadre of Spider-People, led by the spectacularly stern Spider-Man of Earth 2099, Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), who police the various Earths in order to combat and remove “anomalies” that arise to threaten them … and

the Spot is a BIG ONE of those.  Oh, and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), the Spider-Woman Miles most definitely fell for in the first film, has started working with them too after her own father, police Captain George Stacy (Shea Wigham), who’s had it in for their Spider-Woman after she was mistakenly framed for the death of their Earth’s Peter Parker, discovered her secret identity and made her run from her own dimension as a result …yeah, it sounds pretty complicated, but this whole twisted labyrinth is, nonetheless, unveiled in the exact same super-slick, viewer-friendly way the first film pulled off its own exposition, which just makes more room for all the FUN as we get to follow our old favourites and a whole host of fascinating NEW incarnations of our favourite arachnid-themed superhero on their various insane adventures.  This is JUST AS SPECTACULAR in terms of action, character work, pure invention and sheer, unrivalled SPECTACLE as its predecessor, in many places upping the wow factor SIGNIFICANTLY (particularly during a particularly colourful visit to the distinctly Indian-flavoured alternative version of New York called Mumbattan, which is the stomping ground of one of the film’s most memorable new Spider-folk, the irrepressibly chipper Pavitr Prabhakar, voiced by Deadpool’s thoroughly brilliant Karan Soni).  Indeed, the most fun we have throughout this movie is definitely getting to hang out not only with our old friends but all these newcomers too, with Pavitr being joined by the fascinating likes of the very coolest Spider-Woman after Gwen, Jess Drew (Awkward Black Girl’s Issa Rae), digital avatar Margo Kess/Spider-Byte (The Hunger Games’ Amandla Stenberg), overly-angsty living Todd McFarlane comic panel Ben Reily/Scarlet Spider (the incomparable Andy Samberg) and even Mayday Parker, the impossibly adorable new baby daughter of Jake Johnson’s welcome returning fan-favourite OG Peter Parker (and, of course, Miles’ original mentor from the first movie), who’s ALREADY got her spider-powers, while Miguel is a FANTASTIC character, brooding like a champ and sometimes proving to be as much of an EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE villain in the story as the Spot, especially once his beef

with Miles is revealed … but at the end of the day, ALL of these new arrivals thoroughly PALE in comparison to one of this film’s BEST secret weapons, Hobie Brown/Spider Punk (Daniel Kaluuya getting to use his normal accent for once), a misfit non-conformist anarchist JOY with one hell of a problem with authority (Miguel’s IN PARTICULAR) who effortlessly steals our hearts just as much as EVERY SINGLE SCENE he’s in.  That being said, it really is SO GREAT having our old crew back – Miles and Gwen are SO SWEET, their chemistry is just OFF THE BLOODY CHARTS without them even trying, and I adore every single scene of them together, never mind their own individual storylines (it’s PARTICULARLY great getting to see Gwen herself get a SIGNIFICANTLY enlarged narrative presence this time round, becoming JUST as important in this story as Miles himself), while any time we get to spend with Johnson’s Peter is pure gold, and we get to spend even more time with Miles’ wonderful, loving, hard-working parents Jeff and Rio Morales (Brian Tyree Henry and Lauren Velez), which is ALWAYS a plus.  Needless to say, this is a whole LOAD of fun, shot through with the same classic winning humour, wild invention, visionary experimentation, thematic resonance and pure geeky in-joke easter egg-packing FAN SERVICE that made the first film such a winner, but it also comes through BIG TIME with more of those wicked FEELS, this time ramping things up FAR MORE with the serious emotional HEFT as we’re presented with some truly DEVASTATING character arcs whose after effects are gonna be felt for A VERY LONG TIME after.  The fact that this is just the first half of a two-part SAGA, with Beyond the Spider-Verse currently in the works, means that we can look forward to PLENTY MORE, although here’s hoping that this time they give their animators a little more BREATHING ROOM to get it done right WITHOUT having to break their backs in the process, yeah?  Then again, with the writers’ AND actors’ strike barely over, the likelihood of THAT is pretty strong …

6.  OPPENHEIMER – really, is there ANY SURPRISE over this placing so high?  You know what a MASSIVE Christopher Nolan fan I am, and him making a proper EPIC historical biopic examining the career and achievements of the father of nuclear power was GUARANTEED to not only grab my attention but also thoroughly please the serious high-brow cinema appreciator buried inside me over all that action junkie, superhero fanboy and sci-fi-nut stuff … but yeah, this was ALWAYS gonna be a fucking amazing film, wasn’t it?  Nolan’s most regular acting collaborator (outside of Michael Caine, anyway), Cillian Murphy, stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who spearheaded the Manhattan Project which led to the creation of the very first viable nuclear weapons which were then used by the American military to destroy the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and end the Second World War.  On the surface he seems like a driven, visionary man with a real fascination for the science he’s pioneering, but also a cool pragmatism which makes him the ideal man to usher in this astounding technological achievement, but as the film unfolds in Nolan’s typical non-linear narrative fashion we discover a far more complex man than we first supposed, Murphy unveiling Oppenheimer’s deep-seeded fears about the frighteningly real dangers his Project could give birth to.  After all, he may have been the father of the Modern World, but this particular creation also gave rise to a century of technological horrors and a whole new, long lasting Cold War.   Anyway, this is UNDENIABLY the greatest performance of Murphy’s career, if he doesn’t at least get an Oscar nod for this there’s no justice in the world, while, in typical Nolan fashion, the rest of the rich ensemble cast is a genuine embarrassment of riches, from Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s long-suffering wife Kitty and Florence Pugh as his ill-fated Communist mistress Jean Tatlock to Matt Damon as his nominal “boss”, Gen. Leslie Groves, Kenneth Brannagh as his mentor and idol Niels Bohr, the mighty Tom Conti as the even MORE awesome Albert Einstein and even Robert Downey Jr. in a particularly KEY role as Oppenheimer’s one-time colleague and later rival, Atomic Energy commissioner Lewis Strauss, who dominates the parallel narrative throughline presented over the course of the film as his own efforts to discredit and destroy the great man ultimately end up coming back to bite his own political ambitions.  To a man, they’re all as MAGNIFICENT as the rest of the film, which is a fascinating journey into the dark heart of one of the greatest but also most historically and socially destructive scientific achievements in the history of the world, the man who ushered it in, and the hell he then went through afterwards when he then tried to make sure we didn’t make it SO MUCH WORSE once we had the power to destroy ourselves.  It’s a film that raises extremely tough questions, and what answers we ARE able to come to are every bit as terrifying as any of the consequences that are either seen or merely suggested here.  Nolan is, as always, A MASTER in the director’s chair as much as in the screenwriter’s corner, bringing his usual visionary flair and artistic brilliance to craft yet more of his trademark IMAX-rocking BEAUTY and opulence, while his sneaky, snaky narrative shenanigans once again frame things in ingenious, challenging and sometimes emotionally DEVASTATING ways before we’re brought to the bittersweet denouement.  Tenet composer Ludwig Goransson’s expansive, evocative score is, ultimately, just the icing on the cake, making an already amazing film even more noteworthy.  If this ain’t the toast of the Awards Season they really didn’t pay attention …

5.  THE CREATOR – if ever there could be a film that would decry the state of the modern blockbuster blueprint, it’s this one.  Seriously, that fact that something THIS fresh and original could flop in a market so saturated with cookie-cutter franchises and exhausted expanded-universe IPs just says it all, doesn’t it?  Writer-director Gareth Edwards (along with screenwriter Chris Weitz, who previously worked with him on Rogue One) has had a look at our encroaching terror at the pervading rise of AI, taken a step back and looked at what COULD potentially happen if we actually end up OVERREACTING and blaming it for something which is actually entirely our fault … cue a troubling delve into a dystopian future where, after the accidental nuking of Los Angeles due to defence-Ai programming human error, the West has uniformly turned again artificial intelligence and set about waging an uncompromising war against it and the sentient androids it’s spawned.  These survivors have fled to the more sympathetic nations of New Asia, but the oppressive machinations of the Western coalition and their obsessive hunt for the AI’s creator, Nimata, have given birth to a terrifying weapon, the deadly orbital weapons platform NOMAD.  John David Washington is Joshua Taylor, a US Army sergeant who lost an arm and a leg in the LA blast, and then what innocence he had left in a subsequent ill-fated infiltration mission in New Asia, who’s drawn back into the fight by his former commanders when evidence emerges that his supposedly dead wife, Maya (an enjoyably complex turn from Gemma Chan), the daughter of Nimata he met and fell in love with on that mission, is still alive and in possession of a devastating weapon which they need to get hold of before it can be used to destroy the West.  Going in with a special forces team, Joshua discovers that this so-called weapon is actually Alphie, an android child (newcomer Madeleine Yuna) with the power to control electronic devices, and he finds that the truth is nothing like what was led to believe … Edwards and Weitz have created a spellbinding science-fiction MASTERPIECE here, a breathlessly thrilling and expansively EPIC science fiction war saga which takes some challenging and thought-provoking ideas and heavy themes and takes a very interesting direction in their interpretation while posing profound questions about the nature of humanity, morality and love, all while delivering a truly intoxicating masterclass in peerless world-building, brought to astonishing living, breathing reality through some of the most seamlessly engineered visual effects I have EVER seen in a feature film (then again, Edwards DID start out as a visual effects artist, so he knows the game INSIDE AND OUT).  Washington is an unusually complex, multi-layered hero as Joshua, fallible and driven by selfish desires but ultimately finding something much bigger than himself to believe in, while Yuna is a revelation, a sweet and inspiring little light in the darkness, while mighty support from the likes of Alison Janney, Ken Watanabe, Marc Manchaca (Ozark, The Outsider, No One Gets Out Alive) and Ralph Ineson rounds things out nicely.  Powerful, inventive, affecting and endlessly thought-provoking, this deserves to be remembered not only as one of the most rewardingly original and genuinely brilliant movies of 2023, but of the entire decade, and I think it’s a genuine crime it wasn’t a massive hit like it deserved to be.  Audiences really did SLEEP on this one …

4.  MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE – really, there should be NO SURPRISE that this topped off my list for the summer.  I may have grown up with James Bond, and I LOVE the Jason Bourne movies too, but the Tom Cruise-starring cinematic adaptation of the classic TV spy show has been MY ABSOLUTELY FAVOURITE espionage-based film franchise since JJ Abrams established the tried-and-tested formula for the series with 2006’s seminal classic third entry.  That being said, the franchise didn’t find its strongest voice until Cruise brought Jack Reacher writer-director Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, The Way of the Gun) on board for the dynamite fifth instalment, Rogue Nation, which was so fucking brilliant and well received by both critics AND audiences that Paramount saw fit to retain his services on the EVEN BETTER follow-up, Fallout, which came DAMN CLOSE to equalling the heights of Sam Mendes’ Bond masterpiece Skyfall … so of course it was a NO-BRAINER for him to return once again for this two-part intended send-off for Cruise’s seemingly immortal superspy, Ethan Hunt, as he not only faces his deadliest foes to date, but also a very dark ghost from his own past.  As with its predecessor, this is another spy flick where knowing as little as possible going in works best for your enjoyment, suffice to say that this time Ethan and his loyal friends, master hacker Luther Stickel (the legendary Ving Rhames), tech wizard Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and former MI6 spook Ilsa Faust (Dune’s Rebecca Ferguson), really have their work cut out for them when they’re forced to go rogue yet again in order to track down and deactivate a supermassive AI program known as the Entity which has become fully self-aware, broken free of its constraints and is now wreaking havoc throughout the internet and beyond. 

Unfortunately this seemingly unstoppable digital force has enlisted the aid of a particularly dangerous “avatar” to represent its concerns in the real world, a mysterious terrorist known as Gabriel (Ozark’s Esai Morales) who seems to be following a dark agenda of his own.  The ensuing race against time takes in a grand tour of impressively picturesque locales, a collection of winningly well-written characters and a series of knuckle-whitening, visually arresting action sequences that have long since proven to be McQuarrie’s bread-and-butter just as much as his ingeniously twisty labyrinthine plots and sparky, sharp-witted quickfire dialogue, again showing that he really is THE VERY BEST filmmaker that Paramount could EVER have found for this franchise.  Needless to say, Cruise is as spectacular as ever in what really has become the very best role he’s EVER HAD, by this point basically just INHABITING Ethan’s easy charm, admirably solid, unswerving moral principles and truly INCREDIBLE physical prowess, delivering equally well in the truly insane stunt-work which WE KNOW FULL WELL IS ALL HIM as he does in the acting stakes; meanwhile Rhames, Pegg and Ferguson once again shine bright in their now comfortably well-established roles while still managing to bring fresh depths and interesting new arcs to their well-worn characters, we get a lot more of The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby’s intriguing notorious second-generation arms dealer Alanna Mitsopoulis/the White Widow, and it’s an IMMENSE pleasure to finally welcome back the first film’s prickly yet verbose antagonist Eugene Kitteridge (Henry Czerny), Ethan and Luther’s former boss in the IMF, in a far much expansive role this time round.  Meanwhile the franchise newcomers all impress as well, Morales easily proving to be the series’ VERY BEST VILLAIN to date as he menaces, seduces and murders his way through the story, brutally tearing our heroes’ lives apart as he pursues his mysterious master’s nefarious ends, while we get a brand new series heroine in the form of Grace (the MCU’s own Peggy Carter, Hayley Atwell), a sly and duplicitous professional thief who essentially stumbles into the thick of the action before becoming Ethan’s EXTREMELY unwilling accomplice; meanwhile there’s strong support from Shea Wigham and Greg Tarzan Davis (who previously worked with Cruise on Top Gun: Maverick) as Briggs and Degas, a pair of US Intelligence agents sent to chase down the rogue IMF crew, and Cary Elwes as Denlinger, a particularly duplicitous US Director of National Intelligence.  And then there’s Paris … ah Paris, my sweet, psychotic demon child.  Guardians of the Galaxy’s Pom Klementieff actually gets to be FRENCH again as Gabriel’s unpredictably lethal pet killer, and she’s an absolute JOY throughout, so delightfully unhinged that she makes every second of her screentime an undeniable pleasure, and as a result she’s BY FAR my favourite character in this.  Altogether, this is about as perfect as spy cinema gets, McQuarrie and his cast and crew working tirelessly to deliver not only the very best film in the series to date, but also the best film I saw all summer, very nearly my action cinema highlight of the whole year, and one of the VERY BEST spy movies I have EVER SEEN.  Given the shake-up from the Strikes it’s not clear if we’re REALLY gonna get to see Dead Reckoning Part Two in May 2025 like it’s been slated since getting pushed back from its summer ’24 release,but whenever it DOES finally arrive, I KNOW it’ll be worth the wait … it just has to be bloody INCREDIBLE to be better than THIS ONE …

3.  JOHN WICK CHAPTER 4 – and so, it has come to this … honestly, who’d have thunk it, back in 2014 when the first movie came out and (rightly) became a surprise sleeper hit that went a long way to revitalising Keanu Reeves’ career for a SECOND TIME as he found THE GREATEST ROLE HE’S EVER HAD, that almost a decade later it would’ve blown up into something THIS BIG?!!!  I mean sure, back then it definitely was The Little Movie That Could, but still … well, after two increasingly BIG sequels which each maintained a surprisingly impressive level of quality throughout, the fourth and final John Wick chapter is finally here, and GODS is it good.  I mean it’s FUCKING BRILLIANT.  It just might be THE BEST ONE YET.  Certainly it’s proving to be the most well received, landing BY FAR the best rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it genuinely seems like almost nobody has ANYTHING bad to say about this movie, even the CRITICS largely seem to LIKE this one.  And it deserves every lick of love it’s been getting, this is definitely both the pinnacle of the series AND a perfect swansong for the greatest assassin in cinema history.  I don’t wanna give too much away about the plot, even those who HAVE seen what’s come before shouldn’t be spoiled, even if these movies have never exactly been SHAKESPEARE in their construction they do still frequently leave you guessing in the best ways as to how they’ll turn out, and this one is definitely no exception.  I’ll just say that, after all the killing John’s done to get to this point, his one-man-war with the international criminal network’s High Table has finally reached its zenith as Winston (the great Ian McShane), the Manager of the newly-demolished Manhattan Continental Hotel, gives him the means to finally find a way to get out and find peace while he’s still alive – namely by challenging the Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard), a high-ranking Table member who’s taken it upon himself to rid the criminal underworld of the “cancer” that John and his constant disrespect have wrought, to single combat in a ritualistic duel in order to take his place at The Table should he win.  The

subsequent battle that ensues as John sets about facilitating this duel and the fallout that follows as he fights his way to that final, fateful meeting fuels the film in HIGH STYLE, so that even though this movie’s almost THREE HOURS LONG it never feels overlong or outstays its welcome.  Once again the cast are all ON FIRE, Reeves once again proving that he is just about THE BEST LOOKING and most interesting action star working in Hollywood today when he’s mowing down endless bad guys with a stoic expression and the odd deadpan response, the role once again VERY MUCH playing to his strengths, while McShane and Laurence Fishburne (returning once again as the dethroned Bowery King) are both on fine form throughout, and it’s both a pleasure and privilege but also a genuine heartbreaking SHAME to watch the late Lance Reddick deliver one of his very last performances as Charon, the noble and quietly charismatic Concierge of the Manhattan Continental (at least he also shot one more turn as the character for the upcoming Ana de Armas-starring spinoff feature Ballerina, so it’s not QUITE the end); meanwhile the newcomers all serve admirably as well, with Skarsgard particularly impressing as one of the franchise’s best villains to date, slimy, entitled and exquisitely arrogant, the kind of Big Bad you just LOVE to hate, Wynnona Earp’s Shamier Anderson is a delightful revelation as Mr Nobody, a precocious up-and-coming hitman talent who certainly has a whole lot of potential for a possible future spinoff franchise of his own within this larger universe, Donnie Yen excels as usual as Cain, a former friend of John’s that the Marquis brings out of forced retirement in order to take the unkillable Baba Yaga out (clearly the filmmakers saw his blind badass take in Rogue One and they were like yeah, let’s have a whole lot more of THAT), Hiroyuki Sanada once more delivers effortless class and cool gravitas as Koji, the honourable and principled Manager of the Osaka Continental, and Scott Adkins is viciously impressive but also thoroughly surprising in an almost unrecognisable prosthetic getup as Killa Harkan, the brutish Head of the High Table in Berlin.  In the end, though, we’re once again here primarily to MARVEL at all the action exploits on display while wallowing in some of the richest and most well-crafted world-building there’s EVER BEEN on the big screen – this is a thoroughly fascinating universe, realised with

exquisite precision with so many cool little winks and nods and in-jokes to make the geeks among us grin and chuckle with sheer joy over the immense bounty on display, while veteran stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski once again wrangles some of the VERY BEST cinematic action EVER COMMITTED TO FILM in a series of astonishing and punishing set-pieces bravely executed with nary a visual effect in sight.  There are almost TOO MANY cool action beats in this movie to count, although the final BIG sequence, in which John fights his way up the spectacular but infamously punishing Stairs of Montmartre in Paris against an endless onslaught of thugs all determined to not let him reach the top, which includes one of the BIGGEST belly laughs I have EVER HAD at the cinema in my life, as much just over the joke’s sheer, ingenious AUDACITY, has to be the film’s undeniable highlight (closely followed by a genuinely INSANE run/gun/drive chase/shootout/fight sequence through the sheer chaos of the traffic around the Arc de Triomphe – every single one of these sequences is thrilling, they’re adrenaline fuelled and each crafted with such precision but also brilliantly varied inventiveness that it NEVER leads to vicarious battle fatigue.  Best of all, though, as with the previous film’s there’s a surprising amount of soul and heart and heft to the film too, which ultimately leads to a climax which is both immensely satisfying but also pretty devastating in its emotional power.  Altogether then, this was EASILY my action movie of the year, a fitting climax to an franchise which has come to SET THE BENCHMARK for this entire genre, and, honestly, just a damn fine movie in its own right.

2.  NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU – the scariest movie I saw in 2023 is a very strange beast indeed, a genuinely original and very leftfield piece of work despite tackling one of the most classic movie plot tropes out there – the alien invasion of a small American town.  What makes this such a noteworthy piece of work is that this film plays almost ENTIRELY without dialogue … SERIOUSLY, throughout the entire film’s run there’s only a SINGLE line of actual spoken dialogue delivered by its lead, the rest of the film relies entirely on sound effects and Joseph Trapanese’s atmospheric score alongside visual storytelling cues to gets its narrative across.  It’s an incredibly brave prospect and one which I’ll admit I wasn’t even EXPECTING when I first sat down to watch Hulu’s most blindingly successful offering of the past year, it kind of snuck up on me realising that nobody was actually SAYING anything, but I still knew EXACTLY what was happening.  This is because there’s ONE HELL of a writer-director at the helm of this project – I’ve been a big fan of Brian Duffield for a while now, having really loved his screenplay work in The Babysitter, Underwater and Love & Monsters, so when he dropped his actual FEATURE DIRECTING DEBUT in the middle of the Pandemic with 2020’s ingenious jet black teen comedy horror Spontaneous I was already onboard and in the aftermath simply COULD NOT WAIT to see what he’d do once he got his hands on a budget decent enough to actually deliver the kind of films he’d already been WRITING.  But even so, this one STILL left me shocked by just HOW FUCKING AMAZING it actually is, seriously, this is almost certainly THE MOST IMPRESSIVE movie I’ve seen in the past year, and DEFINITELY its most important from a filmmaking standpoint.  The story itself revolves almost EXCLUSIVELY around a slightly odd young woman named Brynn (Booksmart and Dopesick’s Kaitlyn Dever) living a seemingly idyllic but ultimately lonely life in her isolated home on the outskirts of a small town which seems to have universally shunned her for some initially unknown past crime … which means that she knows full well that there will, indeed, be NO ONE coming to her rescue when, one night, an alien walks into her home and starts tearing the place up using devastating telekinetic powers.  She

manages to escape after accidentally killing the creature, but this simply makes things worse as, when morning comes, she discovers that the whole town is in the middle of a subtle but TERRIFYING alien invasion and that they seem to have marked her as a particular threat.  From this beautifully simple starting point, Duffield has crafted a simply PERFECT scary movie, exquisitely paced and relentlessly driven as we hit the ground running the moment night falls after that initial time taken to establish Brynn’s place in the story, and he never lets off the brakes again until we reach the end.  This is a genuinely TERRIFYING piece of sci-fi horror, with the varied creatures in particular presented in impressively near flawless standards of CGI which really should be used as a major benchmark moving forward with the artform, while the frequent and substantial knuckle-whitening set-pieces are executed with a precision that verges on the simply RUTHLESS throughout.  It all plays out with a surprising denouement which feels cathartically PERFECT for everything that came before once you think about it a little, and the whole endeavour is aided ENORMOUSLY by the MASSIVE contribution of the film’s star herself – this is essentially a one woman show, and Dever easily proves the equal of the task, delivering an immensely potent performance that makes the striking lack of dialogue an ultimate significant VIRTUE since she’s able to convey SO MUCH with just a look, no matter the scene, so you find yourself latching onto her in the first ten minutes, meaning that when it goes from bad to worse to truly NIGHTMARISH you’re thoroughly invested in her desperate fight for survival.  This really is a star-making role, and I don’t doubt she’s due for a MAJOR raise in her profile moving forward … altogether this is a genuine MASTERPIECE, easily one of the undeniable HIGHLIGHTS of the past cinematic year and a great sign of things to come, one would hope, should the rest of Hollywood take notice.  Only time will tell … in the meantime take my advice, check it out and experience something TRULY SPECIAL …

1.  DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOUR AMONG THIEVES – so what, then, could POSSIBLY have beaten such astounding fare to the top spot this time round?  If you’d asked me that at the year’s start I DEFINITELY wouldn’t have thought it could be THIS … I mean SURE, I love D&D as much as the next geek, but even so this felt like SUCH a shameless cinematic cash-grab from Wizards of the Coast and Disney (producing through Paramount) that I felt there was NO WAY it could REALLY be an actual GOOD FILM.  At best I was expecting to be mildly entertained by a serviceable guilty pleasure, something that’s good for a Saturday night-in with a pizza and a six pack, not a genuine MASTERPIECE of cinematic adaptation.  And yet, it turns out that’s EXACTLY what we got – this film has ONE HUNDRED PERCENT clearly been made with the utmost love and respect for the source material because the only possible interpretation for the way they wrote this was by taking Player’s and Dungeon Master’s handbooks, a Monster Manual, some character sheets and a few dice bags and just turning the mini-campaign that ensued into a two-hour screenplay.  It’s clear that they are heavily steeped in respect and knowledge of the game itself, or were at least CONSTANTLY advised by experts who are, because this movie is AT EVERY STEP a pretty much PERFECT representation of the Forgotten Realms setting, the bestiary and even the game mechanics themselves IN ACTION, and it EVEN colours the way that the plot is laid out, how the characters interact and how some of the action sequences go.  (Seriously – a perfectly executed knockout on a knife-wielding hostage taker with a hurled potato?  That’s the Barbarian’s player landing a Natural 20 Critical Hit on their Attack Roll.  It love it.)  Sure, the results are likely to INFURIATE some people who think a little too highly about how FORMALLY WRITTEN their cinema should be, but for most folk this actually makes for a refreshingly honest and pretty unique piece of cinematic storytelling that actually works DAMN NEAR PERFECTLY from start to finish.  It also helps that the writer-director duo in

charge here are a pair of stalwart comedy movie veterans, namely Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daly of Horrible Bosses, Vacation and Spider-Man: Homecoming fame, whose extremely enjoyable previous directorial collab Game Night actually likely provided a useful throughline for them to get into tackling this one.  The main cast of dysfunctional heroes we follow through the story are even put together like a typical motley band of player characters – Chris Pine once again proves that he’s at his best when he’s doing broad comedy, thoroughly delightful as self-centred, opportunistic roguish Bard Edgin Darvis who, along with his platonic partner, tough-but-fair and sweetly naïve Barbarian warrior Holga Kilgore (played to absolute PERFECTION by Michelle Rodriguez in what’s UNDOUBTEDLY the best role she’s ever had, and definitely my FAVOURITE character here), enlists the help of bumbling, neuroses-riddled half-elf Sorcerer Simon Aumar (Pokémon Detective Pikachu’s Justice Smith, twitchy, unsure of himself and UTTERLY adorable) and shape-shifting Tiefling Druid Doric (It’s Sophia Lillis, forthright, dependable and immediately done with all of Edgin’s shit) to help them knock over the accumulated fortune of their one-time colleague, Rogue-turned-nobleman Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant once again expertly bringing home the scheming sleaze persona he’s perfected in more recent years now he’s finally said goodbye to his earlier days as an upper class heartthrob) and foil the dastardly machinations of the monstrous undead Red Wizard Sofina (a genuinely chilling and unsettling turn from Shadow & Bone’s Daisy Head); meanwhile there’s a top-notch supporting cast of “DM-controlled NPCs” that help the story flow and breathe as effortlessly as the main stars, from Bridgerton’s Rege-Jean Page as deliciously dry Paladin Xenk Yendar, the obviously-overpowered PC from another campaign that the DM brings in to help the party out when things go COMPLETELY WRONG for them, and Chloe Coleman (Gunpowder Milkshake) as Edgin’s estranged young daughter Kira, to Bradley Cooper in a truly INSPIRED and genuinely hilarious cameo as Holga’s decidedly diminutive ex-husband Marlamin.  Every single one of these is a well-rounded, living-and-breathing vital person in their own right, and the writers have crafted them and their misadventures with proper precision throughout, while the world has been realised with genuine skill and clear loving attention to detail, as well as a welcome reliance on real sets and locations and good old fashioned physical make-up and animatronics over pure digital effects wherever possible.  There are some pretty spectacular action sequences on offer here (the Underdark sequence with a decidedly overweight dragon is a particular highlight, although my personal favourite has to be the scene in which Doric has to pull off an unexpected escape by Wildshaping between different animal forms, all unfolding in a spectacular unbroken “single” take), but in the end this film is, first and foremost, a COMEDY, and while there’s plenty of heart and pathos on offer, as well as more than a little genuine DARKNESS here and there, ultimately almost everything is VERY MUCH played for laughs, and the end result is definitely the funniest film I encountered this past year.  It’s also just about the most effortlessly ENDEARING film I’ve come across in a very long time, and I have to admit I am SO GLAD that it managed to defy my low expectations SO MUCH, I feel VERY HAPPILY HUMBLED that I was proved SO WRONG this time round.  I’m genuinely hopeful that we get LOADS MORE of this going forward, I’d love a whole campaign’s worth of movies to grow out of this humble one-shot.  Best get those D20s rolling again, guys!

#2023 in movies #nimona #renfield #leave the world behind #spider man across the spider verse #oppenheimer #the creator #mission impossible dead reckoning part one #john wick chapter 4 #no one will save you #dungeons and dragons honour among thieves