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renthony · 2 months

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Animation (specifically 2D animation) is my preferred TV/film medium. A piece of live-action has to go above and beyond to get over my personal bias of, "most things would be better if they were animated," but it's taken me a long time to figure out what, exactly, makes a piece of live-action really do it for me.

I think what it really comes down to, for me, is the little details. If your live-action doesn't have some level of nuanced physical acting, intense detailing in costuming and set design, a strong sense of visual storytelling, or kickass practical effects, I'm pretty much always going to come away thinking, "I'd like it better as a cartoon."

I think some of this is due to my issues with face blindness--I need characters to have distinct silhouette and costuming, or they will all blur together in my head. Animation tends to stress the importance of silhouette, so I have an easier time telling everyone apart and following who's who. That's not to say that this problem doesn't happen in animation, or that it always happens in live action, but I do think it contributes to my personal preferences.

Anyway, just for fun, a random shortlist of some live-action that I think uses its medium well:

Child's Play/Chucky. Half the appeal of Chucky (IMHO) is the incredible showcase of practical effects and animatronics. Each incarnation of the Chucky doll incorporates incredible advances in animatronic and puppeteering technology. I have on multiple occasions compared the Chucky puppeteer team to Muppet performers. That shit is its own art form, and it's incredible. The current Chucky show makes some use of CGI, but it's all to enhance the practical effects, and the puppeteers are all given the spotlight in the show's credits. I love that.

Killjoys. The incredible nuance to the actors' body and facial acting is mind-blowing. The set design and costuming are gorgeous, and there's a lot of very good detail worked into the visual space that would be hard to animate. They use their CGI well when they do use it, but a significant amount of the show seems to be practical effects and props. Additionally, Hannah John-Kamen's ability to flawlessly portray multiple characters is so good it's uncanny and makes you forget they're literally being played by the same woman. She changes her entire body language, and it's phenomenal.

Jordan Peele's entire body of horror. His films pack in so much symbolism and subtlety that I could probably watch them all a million times and still find new details. The nuance in the acting, the sheer detail packed into the costuming and set design, the use of color...god. It's unreal.

Crimson Peak, because the set design for that film...holy fuck. The costuming and set design in that film are pure gold. The acting is also phenomenal, but I could probably talk about the set design for hours. The house is a character in its own right.

Galavant and Our Flag Means Death, both for the same reason: both shows feel like I'm hanging out at a ren faire being goofy with my friends. They feel like I'm watching a LARP. They feel like they could easily exist in the same setting as Muppet Treasure Island, and at any second Kermit is going to show up and start singing, and it wouldn't be out of place at all. I think I'd also include Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves in this category, along with The Princess Bride and Labyrinth--all of which also include kickass practical effects, choreography, and costuming.

This isn't some sort of objective truth or anything. I just like that I've finally been able to nail down some reasons why I prefer animation, beyond just, "idk, cartoons are fun."

#original post

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aangarchy · 6 months

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Alright. I've rewatched the trailer like 20 times by now and i've been processing it.

First things first: anyone that's gonna talk shit about Gordon Cormier is gonna have to go through me first. I've only had Gordon!Aang for a day and a half and if anything happens to him i'll kill everyone here and then myself got it?

Just look at him! This is the exact big eared cute little kid i wanted them to cast for Aang. He looks adorable and honestly his outfit is growing on me.

The glowing arrow looked cool as hell. I like that the light spread through his tattoo almost like veins. I'm still curious on how the full avatar state is gonna look, how they're gonna get the glowing eye effect. Please don't let it look goofy.

Y'know what does look goofy?

Is it better than the m night shyamalan appa? I guess. Does that mean it looks good? Well.... at least momo sort of looks cute instead of some folklore nightmare like in shyamalan's version. But also you can tell in this shot in particular that it's very green screen-y

Then we go over to the bending, the limited shots we have of it. Mainly firebending was shown (a little airbending too but kinda hard to get a stillframe for that one)

Idk how to feel about it. In screenshots it looks alright but the shots while they were moving looked a bit off, especially the one where zuko's kicking. We only got very limited shots and that's intentional. I feel like the bigger cgi fails are gonna show up once we get the full show. If the bending looked good all the time i feel like they'd be showing it off by now.

What i don't like, is how apparently they're gonna SHOW Zuko getting burned. Like sure in atla they didn't bc kids show and Nickelodeon wouldn't allow it, and netflix can take darker turns if they so please. But i personally always felt that scene made so much impact because we didn't see it. Iroh is telling it from his memory and he didn't look when it happened, so we don't see it either. It's like a courtesy the show extends to both Zuko and the audience. We just hear the harrowing scream, and that's enough to know how devastating it is. I don't need a dramatic overlook so we can see the whole thing in detail, netflix.

Another thing is the hair in some scenes.

Daniel dae kim looked better in that promo photo, bc here you can just see how the bulky goatie was glued on. And then Sokka's hair..... where's the ponytail? It's laying completely flat against his head... why? Is it bc that's Ian's hair and they didn't know what to do with it? Literally get a comb and tease that bitch. This is like the complete opposite of Jackson Rathbone's hair in the shyamalan version, and somehow that full maybelline ponytail makes more sense than this sad excuse of a tail. Either way at least Suki looked dope.

Another thing i found weird about the trailer is the narration. I think it's either Iroh's voice or maybe Gyatso's? (I haven't heard Iroh's actor talk yet so idk, but it felt like it was being said TO either Aang or Zuko) but the lines they gave him... it felt like some weird mumbo jumbo tbh. Something something about the past and present being the same and it's up to us to know the difference and be the difference? It's saying everything and nothing at the same time and it felt kind of out of place. They're probably saving the iconic opening narration done by Katara for the full trailer (i hope???) but still they could have just gone with music, or maybe just a few iconic existing lines?

The music? Fire. Nothing needs to be added there. Was i kind of hoping for a different soundtrack? Maybe a bit. But am i mad? Not at all. They clearly took the nostalgia route with the more epic version of the avatar theme, and i can only respect them for that.

So far, very mixed reviews for me. I'm morbidly curious and very nosy by nature though, so i'm absolutely watching.

#avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar #atla netflix #netflix atla #atla live action #netflix

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ordinaryschmuck · 17 days

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*Sighs*...Okay, yeah, Wish really IS bad

And I didn't want to go in thinking that. I went in with the most optimistic view possible. Because with EVERYONE treating this movie as the worst thing possible, a POX upon the house of mouse itself, I went in thinking that there's no WAY it's THAT bad. So when I finally watched, I decided...I was right. It's NOT that bad. But...Well...Let's get into it.

This is the part where I'd say "Positives First," to show off what worked before picking apart what didn't. Except that, aside from a few little moments and easter eggs that made me go, "Aw, that's cute," I'm coming up EMPTY. Every single thing--And I do mean EVERY SINGLE THING in this movie, from the animation, songs, characters, story, themes, ideas, and even EXECUTIONS...is ALMOST good. Every single aspect of this film ALMOST worked. The pieces are there and I can see just how this film could have been the masterpiece that was a CENTURY in the making. The problem is that there's ONE THING holding it back: Not enough time. And I don't just mean that the movie should have been longer. No, I mean that this movie needed another YEAR of production to tighten up EVERYTHING. Why's that? Well, let's go in order of the things I mentioned.

The animation is clearly trying to go for this mixed-medium style that movies like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish or Spider-Verse popularized. Those movies mixed hand-drawn animation with 3D models, making storybook illustrations or comic book art feel ALIVE. That's sort of Wish is going for. I hear people say that Disney's 100 year celebration should have been completely hand drawn to call back to their early years, but I tend to disagree. I think Disney making a movie that's mixed-medium is a better way to honor its one hundred years, taking the animation that made Disney huge and mixing it with modern CGI as a way to make it feel like a celebration of the old AND new. EXCEPT that it doesn't really look good, aside from certain screenshots. There are SOME still images where if you paused the movie at the right time you can get something that looks like a 2D image with CG touch-ups. For the rest of the movie, it looks like a modern CGI Disney film with a storybook filter slapped on it. It doesn't look TOO BAD when your eyes get used to it, but it doesn't stop the movie from feeling like it ALMOST hit the right mark. The only times it REALLY works is with Star.

Wha--No. No, not that one. That's the wrong Disney character named Star.

There he is. There's my little guy.

But look at him. He's a 3D character with hand-drawn touch-ups that really makes him feel like a 2D character brought to life. If the whole movie looked like HIM, then it would have been a revolutionary achievement for Disney. But it doesn't. Instead, it feels like a missed opportunity that would have worked better if they had more time to animate this film instead of leaving their animators scattered to the winds to make half-assed sequels or forcing out one to two projects every year.

There should have also been more attention given to the songs because...Oh my gosh, they're bad. They SOUND nice, I love the instrumentals and the POWER these people put into the vocals. "This Wish" and its reprise successfully gives me chills through how well they're sang and how epic the instruments make them. But the LYRICS...are messy. When you sit down and actually LISTEN to what's sung, it all just...BLEH. That's the best way I can describe it, I'm sorry! It's BLEH!

Why would a king in a fairytale kingdom in the distant past sing, "You're sure you're not the prob?"

"Throwing caution into every warning sign" doesn't come across as a person freeing herself from her insane king's vague warnings but ADHERING to them.

The way that Asha and King Magnifico sing about protecting wishes makes it sound like they're singing to EACH OTHER.

And "You're A Star." OH BOY! The song that's meant to explain how these animals can magically talk is just filled with allegories and allusions that think they explain EVERYTHING only to explain NOTHING. It's just vague nonsense that, again, SOUNDS nice, but offers no real substance. On its own, I guess I can get into it, but to tell a story, it falls apart. Because that's the difference when it comes to writing a regular song and writing a musical: You're not just making a good song, you're telling a story through MUSIC. Wish's soundtrack is one that's filled with catchy songs, but not ones that properly move the story forward. Not to mention how they're so jarringly out of character in cases like "This is the Thanks I Get." When Disney released the soundtrack, that was my favorite song because I felt like it perfectly fit this smug, egotistical prick who thought he was the best person alive. Turns out that's not what Wish was going for...Not entirely.

Magnifico feels like he's meant to be a mix between Gaston and Maleficent. A character that has a huge ego and loves himself more than anything, but has an incredible amount of power to make himself a threat. If done right, a villain like that could stand up to be with some of Disney's best. And, yeah, like everything else in this movie, he ALMOST works. When he's finally a villain, he's campy and over the top, making him entertaining...But notice how I said "When he's finally a villain." That's because Magnifico doesn't really become what he's meant to be until halfway through the movie. He starts off as a King with good intentions but paranoid ideals that doesn't make him evil, it makes him feel like a guy who needed evidence to prove that other magic isn't a threat. By the time he finally acts more like a Disney villain, it was such a jarring left turn that his sudden switch-up made me feel like it was somehow a nightmare sequence from Asha. He's NOTHING like the guy he starts out as, and it's not a natural change that flows well throughout the film. That's mainly because the story has a pacing problem worse than any movie I've seen. If King Magnifico's path to the dark side was slow and gradual, showing signs of his worst qualities first and make them more apparent as the film goes on, he would have worked INCREDIBLY. Instead, it comes across as his villainy was activated like someone flipped a switch in his brain that says, "Be evil now." It's the absolute REVERSE of a bad redemption story, mixed with a lazy explanation that it was dark magic that made him more corrupt when he should have been evil since minute one. And you want to know the worst part? He's probably the best character in this.

Asha...isn't bad. She's your standard quirky nice girl protagonist that Disney just LOVES to use, especially lately. It's just that Asha doesn't have that "Gets stuff done" attitude like Moana or Mulan, nor does she have the infectious charm like Maribel or Anna. Asha, instead, is a lot like her breakout song: Nice and enjoyably, but doesn't stand out from the biggest hits. As for her animal sidekick Valentino...He's not annoying, but he's not funny either. Honestly, his comedy peaked when it was revealed that this cute baby goat sounded like Clayface from that Harley Quinn cartoon. A joke, by the way, that got spoiled by the trailers, so it's not really AS funny in the movie. Honestly, Asha's SEVEN FRIENDS are funnier at times. Speaking of, those characters are very clearly meant to be the Seven Dwarfs. And it is VERY distracting because not only does it feel like only two or three of them are necessary to the plot, but they're the ONLY major reference that the movie shines a light on when it comes to Disney's history.

Would I have wanted this entire movie to be nothing but references of past Disney movies? Of course not. That's not how movies work. But Wish seems to have this problem where it doesn't really COMMIT to honoring Disney's legacy. The most it does is give the Seven Dwarfs human OCs, make them supporting characters, and throws in tiny little easter eggs here and there. Again, some of them are cute, but it's not enough. The same goes for when Wish tries to honor some of the tropes and cliches that Disney popularized. It's an animated musical with talking animals, a campy villain, an objectively pretty protagonist, and goofy sidekicks. But it takes more than ADDING that stuff to your movie in order to honor them. You need to look at what made those tropes and cliches work in the first place and make something that calls back to those classic films while still having something new to say. And Wish almost--ALMOST--has something new to say.

With everything surrounding King Magnifico and how he got more power with people's wishes, I almost thought Wish was going to be a film that called out modern Disney. At least, modern CORPORATE Disney, a company that takes ideas and thoughts created by dozens of talented people, twists them into something unrecognizable, and refuses to give those ideas back when choosing to do NOTHING with this great idea leaves them free of competition. And to stop something evil like that, you must make something of your own and work hard to make your idea yours instead of letting someone more powerful take it from you. I thought that would have been a GREAT message...But of course DISNEY wouldn't want a movie calling them OUT for their one hundred year victory lap. So, instead, we have a message that tries to get the same idea across, but in a simplified way where the wishes are taken LITERALLY and that the only way to get what you want is to wish hard enough for it. That is...NOT the message I want kids to learn from this as it often leads to bad expectations. If this movie tried an ironically anti-Disney message in ANY OTHER year, it would have a better chance of getting away with it. But for a hundred year celebration, there was no chance in hell.

Wish is NOT Disney's worst movie, but it's nowhere near the best. I love SO MANY of the ideas and what it TRIES to do, but there's a difference between good ideas and good executions. It was ALMOST good, but Wish was not the movie anybody was really wishing for...

#disney #wish critical #quick thoughts #what i thought about

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rose-reveries · 4 months

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⚠️BEWARE THE EPISODE 4 PJO SPOILERS⚠️

Episode 4: The things I like, the things I don’t, the things I miss but I’m okay with them not being there

The things I liked about the new episode:

I liked the conversation at the beginning in the train. Very reminiscent of the book where we get to learn a little bit more about Annabeth and how she arrived at camp. I found it interesting how here we changed it from Annabeth’s father always resenting her birth to Annabeth’s father considering her “a gift” until her step-mother came along. I don’t mind this change at all and all in all still makes sense as to why Annabeth ran away when she was 7.

“But at least with gods you know the rules” okay Miss Chase your autism is showing (/j)

The flow from seeing the centaurs (which is something I believe only Percy saw in the books) to letting this be how Grover opens up about Pan and why he wants to be a searcher was a nice little combination of scenes to save time. We still understand how Grover feels about humans and their mistreatment of nature but it’s just in a slightly different way than the books and I’m okay with that change.

The BANTER between the trio was SO good this episode. You can really feel the bonds between these characters (especially Percy and Annabeth) forming this episode.

The pacing in this episode finally started to feel a little bit better than the first 3 episodes. I actually do think the change in how they meet Echidna helps with this because it prolongs the hunt whereas in the book the Echidna and Chimera scene IS quite short and fast. Meeting Echidna on the train, having them run and try to heal Percy, Percy gets worse, Percy sacrifices himself to let the other two get away, fight scene, he falls into the river, etc. Just way better pacing than like, for example, episode one where Alecto literally just flies at him and without moving he stabs her and she dies 💀

Okay, my FAVORITE new thing about the episode does have to be making the Arch a temple to Athena. If the gods still rule but have adapted to the west it makes total sense that they still have temples but they’re just modern American landmarks. Super cool and I loved this change.

Also, rather than Annabeth and Grover just heading down in the elevator before learning there’s a monster, I do like Percy stepping in and sacrificing himself to let them get away. It shows his loyalty to his friends, and how he would rather fight a monster than let them die without reason.

Since the Arch is a temple and Athena had to give Echidna permission to enter, and she did so due to Annabeth’s impertinence, this REALLY helps with the shows current message of heroes and monsters and what those terms mean, but also just how the gods are like BAD. I think it’ll help make Luke’s reasoning for turning on the gods make SO much sense for new audience members.

Percy and Annabeth banter?? ADORABLE

TOTALLY CALLED THE WATER REACHING OUT TO REACH PERCY LMAO. I know RR said he had Percy jump into the river because he didn’t realize how far it was from the arch so this is like sort of a retcon but yea, it works. Percy can manipulate water we learned this with how he pushed Nancy into the fountain.

Things I didn’t:

I think Echidna breaking into the train ✨magically✨ was eh. She could have simply just been on the train like how in the book she was just simply in the elevator.

Speaking of Echidna, it would’ve been so cool to see a snake lady :’). They did it with Medusa and Alecto but I guess they spent their whole budget on that because no snake lady to be seen.

I know the Mist would be hiding it from mortals… but even in the book Grover is like wearing pants and a hat. If they spent less cgi on Grover they could’ve animated some other stuff I’m sure.

The choice to keep depicting Kronos as this wraith instead of a voice from a pit is interesting?? We are already not setting up for Kronos reveal (like there was no Kronos exposition in the museum in episode one which I though was weird). Also I’d say that they’re doing this because they want new audience members to believe Hades is the BBG or something, but if they wanted us to think that why not mention the Helm of Darkness? The Helm would definitely help allude to this wraith figure we see I think. Or show us the hellhound. I don’t know. Weird. I think there is a lot of missing information that is IMPORTANT to the story that shouldn’t have been left out.

Things I miss but it’s fine they’re not there

The trio just never lost their stuff, huh? Like…the bus didn’t explode. They didn’t have to return a poodle for money to a train to Denver. I understand this was all probably cut for time and money sake.

Wish we took the time in the arch for Annabeth to talk about wanting to be an architect.

In conclusion, I liked this episode and I am enjoying the series. But this means that the Lightning Thief Musical is still the most book accurate adaptation of Percy Jackson and that makes me lol

#percy series #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo tv spoilers #pjo tv #pjo tv show #pjo spoilers #pjo series

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cjbolan · 4 months

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Just finished watching Disney’s Percy Jackson. SOOOO much better than the movie!!!!….

1) CGI is kept to a merciful minimum, with plenty of cool practical effects and set design.

2) The few CGI scenes looks pretty realistic, one of the rare cases where barely-visible CGI actually makes the story better. Adds a layer of extra mystery. The Minotaur scene gave major Jurassic Park vibes.

3) The Camp Half Blood cabins are god-tier set design. Each one has a bold unique look , on the inside and outside. It reminded me of the different magical rooms from Encanto. You could easily tell just by looking which god each Cabin represents, without being told.

4) There’s a much greater sense of danger when the monsters look more real (again thanks to minimal CGI) and the kids in danger are much younger than the 17 year olds in the movie.

5) Percy’s godly abilities being much more ambiguous helps strengthen the author’s intended neurodivergence allegory. Is Percy really a demigod? Or is Percy just seeing things? And unlike the movie, we see his godly powers long BEFORE finding out he’s half god. Which means just like Percy, we’re also wondering what the heck is going on.

6) HUMOR. I actually laughed out loud. Especially during Episode 2.

7) Sally Jackson is a badass with a personality !!! Unlike movie Sally who sounds like she’s just reading her lines all in one take, Sally shows so much real emotion in every little tone and action. She’s not going through the motions, nor is she overacting. When she says she understands and cares about her son, she SHOWS that. Also a major badass in how she not only stood up to Gabe, but also helped defeat the Minotaur. Movie Sally’s “sacrifice” was just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This Sally truly sacrificed herself , by deliberately putting herself in danger as it’s the only way to keep her son alive. (Seriously this is how I want Mary Penelope Windsnap to be played too).

7) None of that rushed contrived enemies-to-lovers BS between Percy and Annabeth. This show cleverly subverts the trope. While Percy dislikes Annabeth, Annabeth likes and helps Percy but only for her own selfish reasons.

8) Gabe is a much more subtle asshole. He’s still an asshole, but no immediate threat to Percy or Sally so it’s easy to see why Sally stayed married to him. In the books she married him to keep Percy safe, but that’s hard to believe in the movie version when Gabe gets physical with Percy.

Will definitely stay tuned for more episodes.

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #Disney+#disney percy jackson #Rick riordan #review #pjo

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mstophattii · 7 months

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a silly little theory about TF2 and its team's !!

Sooo, i was playin some TF2 yesterday, and i stopped to think about somethin: "how the fuck are there multiple of the same mercs?", "how the fuck are there 2 soldiers, both being on opposing teams?", "why the fuck does my team have 8 spies?" well, i think i've figured it out !! So, lets get into it!

THE CLONE THEORY SORTA SUCKS, ACTUALLY

look, i know clones can be cool, and they make sense in the world of TF2, but cmon, its kinda lame. But i got something better. There arent multiple of the same mercs in each team, or in opposing teams. Why? The game aint canon. I know this sounds wild, but i have proof. In the catch up comic, saxton hale himself refers to Team Fortress 2 as a dramatized version of the actual events of the gravel wars.

now, im not saying the mercs arent crazy or wacky, i do firmly believe they are indeed like that, but that means that shit like the unnarmed combat aint canon. And it also means that multiple of the same mercs dont necessarily exist, which means that it could be just our nine main boys fighting each other without like, 7 engineers on the same team. Alrighty, the clone theory's solved, right? Aw shit, it aint.

ABOUT THE TEAM SWAPS:

aw shit, the theory's over, right? Nuh uh. I have something that might explain it.

the mercs constantly switch teams.

i know, it sounds sorta nuts, BUT, i got a theory. RED and BLU constantly try to steal the other team's mercenaries. "the fuck you mean by that?" well, i sorta like to think that the RED mercs constantly receive letters from BLU saying that if they join BLU they'll get a salary three times bigger than the one that they get from RED. And the same thing applies for the mercs on BLU, but with letters coming from RED instead. So, we got that figured out, the mercs constantly switch teams because they want a higher salary.

Now lets address the elephant in the room, the "meet the team" trailers.

THE MEET THE TEAM VIDEOS ARE PROPAGANDA FOR THE PEOPLE OF BADWATER.

I mean, thats pretty much confirmed. Look at this:

but you may wonder: "then how the fuck does shit like meet the medic happen, cause like, yknow, that scene with a fucking horde of soldiers trynna kill medic and heavy" well, this may sound like a stretch, but since its propaganda, i believe engineer could have done some wacky shit to create shit like that. I've got 2 explanations:

explanation number 1: engineer did some wacky as fuck shenanigans to create those hordes of enemies.

as the title says, since engineer is a very, very, very smart little fella, he could've just done some wacky computer magic to create the soldiers present in meet the medic, and by wacky computer magic i mean he just edited the movie to include those soldiers with CGI or some shit like that. (i know tf2 happens in 1969, but if engineer can build a fucking teleporter then he can do CGI)

explanation number 2: ROBOTS !!!!!

this one is ten times more flawed than the first one, but since engi is a very smart little dwarf, he could've just built robots that would act and look like solly and would also try to kill medic and heavy.

THE RESPAWN ROOM:

so, this one is more up to your choice, but i do consider respawning canon. "how tho?" you might ask? I have 0 fucking clue, maybe some teleporter and australium shenanigans?? I dunno man. But thats up to ya!

THE END:

thank you so much for reading this! I spent like, an hour making this, and please forgive me for my shitty english, its not my first language. Please reblog (if you want, of course!), and if you have any criticism or questions just drop a comment talking about it and i'll try to answer it! thank you so much for reading!

#team fortress 2 #tf2 #team fortress #tf2 theory #tf2 headcannon #my fucking god im so damn tired #tf2 medic #tf2 engineer #tf2 heavy #tf2 comics

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stormywitcher · 3 months

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oh sweet lord that last episode has rendered me deceased. i am dead. i cannot FUNCTION

what a show. and what a way to end the first season! as a hardcore insane percy jackson stan till i die, here’s my thoughts if you would like them:

FIRST OF ALL. the whole show: loved it. very little to critique in my opinion! i know not everyone is happy with everything, but personally i think it’s one of the best adaptations i’ve ever seen. it’s mostly faithful to the books, and the changes that were made i think were improvements and made a lot of sense.

rick wrote the first percy jackson book so long ago, this show felt like his way of being able to go back and change bits and edit the story to something that’s even better. that’s how i see the show!

LETS TALK CAST: it was fuckin perfection okay, i will fight anyone on this point. walker as percy has changed my fuckin life. his little emotional eyes in every single scene, showing so much depth to all of the dialogue, and giving the best vibes. the humour, the desperation, the self sacrifice. he is PERCY and i am so incredibly in love.

as for annabeth and grover, PERFECTION ALSO. leah slayed annabeth so hard, the little eye brow quirks, the way she was able to portray annabeth as extremely smart and logical, but not heartless, and certainly not cold. she brought such a warmth to the character and i am obsessed.

aryan as grover is just chefs kiss. from the satyr walk, to the one liners, to the uneasiness and resilience grover has, aryan has it down. i just loved him and I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THE HIM FLOURISH IN THE (hopeful) NEXT SEASON!

the whole cast was amazing. i loved all the choices. it all just felt so right. from the cast, to the set, to the fights, to the cgi. i’m just in love okay.

LUKE AT THE END HAD ME BAWLING. the tears in his eyes, the way he begged percy to join the cause, the hurt when he sees annabeth. FUCK ME I NEED A MOMENT OKAY.

the parallels that are being set up throughout the show for luke and percy are wonderful, i cannot wait to see how it continues. i thought it was just so cohesive and the characters feel so real.

i love how they have set it up for the next season! it’s like it’s ready to go, it’s RIGHT THERE and i want it it so bad so LETS GET MANIFESTING FOR ALL 5 SEASONS FRIENDS ITS TIME!!!

and i have to mention my love of percy/annabeth or percabeth. it’s not the whole point of the story i know, but it is something that is very special to me. i love my little sea boy and clever girlie together, and this show has set them up so beautifully. it’s given them time to have a friendship, to build trust, but also the little looks they give eachother, the pining that we can see will eventually build. IT MAKES MY FUCKIN HEART SING OKAY walker and leah slayed too hard on that front. they understood the assignment.

i could go on about this show and percy jackson in general forever. but i shall end this here because i feel like i need to go cry for a few hours lol.

in conclusion, and this will sound dramatic but i mean every word of this. this show fucking saved me right now. percy jackson is so incredibly important to me, it’s my biggest special interest, it’s shaped me for a decade, it’s my comfort, it’s my everything. i’m currently dealing with a tumour in my head at 22, and my mental health and life is crumbling around me, but this show and percy jackson and rick riordan has kept me here for the last 7 weeks and previously years before that. i owe my life to rick riordan. i will never be able to express my love for this enough.

okay okay, i’m done. see you later once i’ve rewatched the series 4374 times and have memorised every fucking word.

#mossy thoughts #percy jackson and the heroes of olympus #annabeth x percy #percy jackson spoilers #annabeth percy jackson #percy jackson disney+#and percy jackson #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson series #percy jackson show #rick riordan

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sirfrogsworth · 10 months

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Just got back from the movie. The theater was in the middle of this hipster village type deal. Trendy shops and a wine bar.

I walked into the Alamo Drafthouse and the people at the front just kinda looked at me as I walked by. I had my ticket ready on my phone, but no one scanned it or looked at it. I don't know if it is always like that, but maybe next time I should try not buying a ticket and see what happens.

The large format fancy theater was as far away from the entrance as possible. I should have brought my cane. But I made it okay. It was indeed large and fancy. The seats were very comfortable and had electric reclining. There was also a button to summon a waiter which felt very high tech. And he would duck down super low as he walked in front of everyone. He looked like a penguin scurrying along. I ordered a pizza and it showed up just in time for the movie. It was pretty tasty.

The video quality was fine. I honestly didn't see a huge difference with the 4K laser projector, but the large screen was nice. I might be spoiled by my fancy HDR, 2000 nit TV. Projection just can't do that.

The front audio was much better than the last theater. Very clear voices. But the bass was a little boomy. Unfortunately I think they calibrate the audio for when there are more people there. 100+ humans in a space add a lot of absorption and diffusion. But there were maybe 8 people total and there wasn't anything to suck up the bass.

The Atmos was not even noticeable except in one or two scenes. That was disappointing. Atmos was one of the main reasons I chose that theater. I don't know if they skipped getting a Dolby calibrator or something. The side speakers were audible, but the ceiling speakers never made themselves known. Not even in the thunderstorm scene.

The ceilings were extremely high, so I'm wondering if the speakers were just too far away. Inverse square law would dictate they would need a lot of power and volume to cover that distance. This is probably why Dolby officially certifies theaters and this wasn't one of them.

This is what a front speaker in a theater looks like. There are usually at least 3 of them. Bigger spaces might do an array of 6--all behind the screen.

That is 7 feet tall, 200 pounds, and takes 3000 watts of power.

And you'll usually have 3 of these dual 18" subwoofers.

These beasts require 4000 watts of power and are also 200 pounds.

A typical theater Atmos speaker is like this.

About 30 inches tall and handles 350 watts.

All of those speakers have to cover about the same distance. Meaning the ceiling speakers were at a major size and power disadvantage.

So I think the theater was too big and too tall for Atmos to work effectively. You probably have to trade off a big screen or good sound. I'm going to try an official Dolby theater next time to see the difference.

The movie itself was okay. Maybe a 6 out of 10. A few good laughs, some fun action, but the humor was very hit and miss.

Now, I'm not just saying this because they are a creep, but Ezra is just... a lot. They do their funny jokey thing and it gets old very fast. It was okay when they were a side character, but when they are leading a movie, it fizzles. And then there is a second Ezra in the movie and they do the funny jokey thing turned up to 11.

Way too much Ezra.

But then Michael Keaton enters and he's just fantastic. I got such a rush of nostalgia from the 1989 Batman. That was probably my favorite movie for a good 3 years. 8 year old me was so happy to see my first Batman again. They even forced him to do some super cringe fanservice lines--and he nailed them.

He was like, "I'm going to take this bullshit line and make it awesome. Because I'm the goddamn Batman."

And Sasha Calle as Supergirl was also excellent. Though she was very underutilized. But if they can keep her, I think she could be a fan favorite.

The big complaint about The Flash has been the CGI. And I would say 75% of the CGI was great. There was a reveal of the Batwing that looked stunning. Supergirl flying was great. The vehicles were great. All of the invisible effects like backgrounds and set extensions were flawless. There was a big car chase that looked decent. There were plenty of top notch VFX in this movie. And I think the artists should be proud of those.

The stuff that didn't work was mostly just because the situations were unrealistic or the art direction was poorly done or they just didn't spend enough time polishing the effect.

When they animated Micheal Keaton doing jumpy flippy ninja moves, it didn't sell perfectly. And the speed and power of the Kryptonions was not nearly as well done as in Man of Steel.

But I know why people said the CGI was terrible. Though I don't actually think it was the CGI that was bad. I'm pretty sure they just made a poor aesthetic choice. Flash goes into the Speedforce and they cleary wanted to make it trippy and otherworldly. I don't think they were going for photorealism. I think they intentionally wanted everything to be in the uncanny valley. Unfortunately the style they chose looked more like a video game.

They were trying to do a Dr. Strange type effect and it just didn't work. It ended up being more... Lawnmower Man.

The only truly terrible effects were CG renders of people they couldn't get to do proper cameos because they were fired or were dead. Usually you need a 3D scan to do a CG double and it's hard to do that on dead people. The best was Admiral Tarkin in Rogue One, but they spent months and months on that.

CG Henry Cavill was probably the worst effect in the entire film and I'm guessing that really pissed people off.

The Flash running also looked bad, but that was 100% because Ezra Miller runs like a goof.

I have no idea why they run like that, but it looks so dumb and ruins the speed effect. Like, if you took them out and put someone running normally into the effect, it would have looked super neat.

And the only other VFX that didn't quite work was these slow motion falling babies. They looked photorealistic, but something about animating a falling baby in slow motion did not look right. Again, I don't think this was bad CGI. I think it was just a visual that was impossible to make realistic.

I know that sounds like a lot of bad effects, but that was every bad effect out of 2000+ total. Maybe 15 shots out of those 2000 were memorably bad. But the bad shots are always the most memorable and I guess that is why you don't hear folks talking about all of the flawless ones.

If you do see this movie and you haven't heard Kevin Smith's Superman story, you definitely should watch that first. Because the best gag in the movie will go over your head otherwise.

Sooooo, yeah... that was my night at the movies. On the drive there I got to see the Arch and downtown and it was beautiful. And on the drive home, Google decided to take me through every spooky ass neighborhood in St. Louis at midnight.

FUN!

#long post

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cipheramnesia · 7 months

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At least half the fun of a good monster movie is seeing what the visual effects team cooked up from latex and plastic and slime. It's a given, we're all there a little bit to see something cool, and hopefully the rest of the movie isn't terrible, but as long as it's tolerable then a well made monster effect can make or break a film. Part of what we lost in the grab for cheap and exploitative CGI is that goopy, gruesome, stretchy, squirmy latex look of a proper movie monster. A good computer graphic monster, in the context of a video game where it's all computer generated, is excellent. But in a movie with physical people it's a let down. It's got no chemistry with the bioactors, and it really tanked the monster movie genre. I mean if you love a sharktopus or three headed land shark that's fine, but you know you're there for the humor of it, not the quality.

Because it's so easy to score a good movie with an average plot and a sexy monster, there's a long standing tradition of swiping the plots of better movies in pursuit of that monster magic. And if someone wants to make "The Thing, but in the ocean," I will not protest. Leviathan did it, and that worked out alright. Average plot, great monster, what more do you need. That's about the same which can be said for Harbinger Down. Nearly shot for shot copying The Thing at times, I can't be mad. In a time when most would have done a full CGI monster they seem to have gone mostly practical with a really nice pay off. It's weird, it's gross, it's covered in slime and spikes and wrinkly rubber folds. It literally just looks like someone made an aquatic themed version of The Thing. And I am here for it. I won't die on a hill for it, but if you're casting about wanting a cool movie monster, you could do a lot worse. It's honestly a couple casting choices and probably one final screenplay edit from being average but fun to something really good and interesting, but it's yet one more movie where you can tell who the survivor is by looking for the person who is the most youthful, conventionally attractive, thin, USAmerican, and white. Coulda pulled a really interesting movie off with a tiny bit more care for interesting details over generic ones but what the hell. At least the black characters don't die first, and there's more than one of them.

Throw it on, pop some popcorn, watch with some friends for the chills and thrills but don't make it your big Halloween spooktackular. Love it, or don't, the monster is worth 90 minutes out of the day and isn't that what we all came to see anyway?

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kajaono · 6 months

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Why Douglas leaving doesn't mean we will see a drop in quality

I see many people worrying that Douglas leaving will effect the quality of the show, in a negative way.

I would like to take Shadowhunters as an example. Here the showrunner changed after season 1. Todd Slavkin, who took over the psotion, then functioned as a showrunner, co-producer and writer. So i think it is fair we now pretend its kind of the same as a change of the director. One main role of a director is: "They collaborate with actors, read and develop scripts, and motivate the cast and crew to deliver their best performances. They also make critical decisions regarding set locations, budget management, and artistic execution."

This means the show can go downhill with a wrong director. Unmotivated crew, shit locations, rejected script, wrongly managed budget... or it can also have a positive impact.

In Shadowhunters Todd Slavkin sweet talked Freeform and Netflix to give the show 22 eps instead of 10 eps, and got rid of a lot of bad CGI, costumes and lightning.

Costumes:

Swords:

You get my point.

You may say: But GO is already perfect. How could a new director make it even better?" Well I also don't think they will, but they can add their own vision to it. That doesn't mean it has to be bad. Just different.

But will we like those changes?

Well... i can not answer this question, but remeber that the course of season 3 is already set. Jesus 2.0, Zombies (?), Supreme Arc Angel Aziraphael, a garden, the cottage. And Neil is still head writer. There will be no sudden changes. They will also not cast a homophobic asshole... hey, maybe they will cast a queer person who can add their own queer accents to the story?

This show is openly queer, they will not cast someone who is against a queer version of the show.

Yes this person will handle the budget differently, they will connect with DT, MS and Neil differently, but why does that has to be bad thing? Douglas vision was amazing and I am sad he left, but there are many amazing directors out there. And just because they join later, doesn't mean they do not understand the story. See Todd, we had an amazing time with him. He even published a BTS book about his time and how friendly the fandom welcomed him. In the end he intergrated a lot of fan wishes into the show and was really open to critique of the queer community.

Why can't we have the same for GO? Why does everything has to be bad? I know we have trust issues, and i can totally understand that not knowing who will come next is scaring, but just this times I wnat you all to focus on the positive things. We are also still talking about Prime. They don't want to blow this up either.

And Neil and Terry were always so protective of GO. they made sure that only someone who understood their vision was allowed to adapt GO into a show/movie and rejected multiple offeres who felt untrue to the story. You think Neil suddenly agrees to give the story away to someone who doesn't respect it and wants to change it to something bad... more Tom Cruise like? (little joke)

And we already had a change in tone and lightning of the show.

Many liked it, some hated it. But nevertheless, it worked.

The only thing I want is that Neil does not take over Douglas position now. This show is a two person story. Terry and Neil, Douglas and Neil, Azi and Crowley.

TL.DR: The husbands are in no danger. A director change will influence the show but why does that have to be a bad thing? Neil is as protective of the show as we are. He will not suddenly give it away to someone who wants to make drastic changes or who rejects all of his script ideas.

#good omens #douglas mackinnon #ineffable husbands #good omens season 3

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doberbutts · 1 year

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Okay well I watched the first episode of Blood Origin and honestly my thoughts are:

I just don't understand why people are so resistant to changes/new plotlines/some lore breaking of *recent* franchises but gobble it up when it's older. People telling an untold portion of a common tale is well established in storytelling culture. The first example that springs to mind is Lancelot, who straight up does not exist in original Authorian legend and was a FRENCH invention when the myth spread. Nowadays, most casual enjoyers of King Author stuff don't bat an eye to Lancelot's presence. Lancelot, who comes to mind, because Sapkowski writes said Lancelot to be in love with Ciri, and we're totally cool with *that* but not with changes to Sapkowski's work.

It's really telling that there's such a bigoted negative reaction to this because honestly? The black people so far have been BLACK black, darker than me, darker than even my black family sometimes. I'm enjoying seeing melanin in fantasy don't mind me. And the hair on the sisters is excellent, I'm liking the costuming, and I *really* like Eile.

The accents are kind of all over the place. Both as individual characters but also as the actors themselves. Sometimes Fjall goes from generic American accent to some form of fake Irish to ????european???? and back and it's distracting and weird. HOWEVER I do like the Irish and Welsh accents in high born kingdoms, because too often those accents are for commoners and poverty only, and this sort of turns the trope on its head.

I'm not sure how much I like the pan-Asian vibe I'm getting from some of the props and architecture. Some things look vaguely Chinese while others solidly Arabic while others a weird fusion of Indian and Korean and it's just odd to me. At first I thought it was because of clan structures but then I saw that it's just sort of everywhere. I have 0% Asian in me so I'm not really a good authority to speak on it but it's a weird vibe, a little Orientalist to my eyes. I'll freely admit that I like the aesthetic since I was raised pretty pan-African but I recognize that most continentally grouped cultures don't love that and it's mainly the black diaspora that's embraced it because we don't really have much of a choice.

I STILL feel that doing away with this short-season "but the episodes are an hour long!" nonsense would help pacing so much. Literally every time I thought the episode was going to come to an end, it's been roughly at the 20-25 min mark, which a standard TV episode would have been ANYWAY. So there's not really much point to having this be 4 hour-long episodes when it could be done better as 12-15 20 minute episodes... which would be the eqivilant of a short season while 24-32 is a more "standard" season (instead of 8 hour-long episodes). It gives you more time to flesh the characters and plotlines out while also allowing you the chance to trim some of the long-and-boring content people get tired of watching.

I really do feel bitter that the witcher tags continue to be people making racist and misogynistic memes instead of a fandom happily discussing a pretty strong first episode that introduced a billion fantasy characters of color. It really sucks that black people in fantasy is received so poorly when my inner 10 year old is happy to see people who look more like me having fun with the genre. I long for the day when I can exist in a fandom space and happily discuss my favorite black characters without having to justify their existence every 2 seconds.

Oof that CGI is pretty rough though. Which surprises me because the S2 CGI was not this rough so idk what happened here. That monster in the first episode is, uh, bad. And the background in the weird magicky place is also pretty, uh, bad.

I don't understand why the first witcher being an elf would piss Geralt off except maybe because that means Jaskier knows more about witchers than Geralt does? All of Geralt's iterations- the books, the games, the show, the comics- are pretty chill with elves as long as they're pretty chill with him. He only pursues certain elves and elf-blooded mixed race people when they pose a direct threat to him or his loved ones. Same as humans. So I don't really get that line at all unless, as said, it was more a "wow Geralt's gunna be pissed that I know this story and he doesn't"

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lavie234 · 10 months

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Tlm Hate Train Recap and Highlights

Tw: Racism

In 2019, Singer Halle Bailey is announced to play Ariel in the Disney live-action. This caused mass hysteria on the internet making the phrase “Not my Ariel” a trending topic. Individuals were crying, destroying their VHS tapes and DVDs of the animated “Little Mermaid” in retaliation.

Came up with different disputes as to why a fictional half-human half-fish couldn’t possibly be a black person. Black people can't exist in the little mermaid due to it being a Danish tale and there are no black people in Denmark (allegedly). Stating that this is the worst thing that has ever happened to them in their lives…

~Plague 2020-2023~

It's 2023 and content of the “Little Mermaid” is now dropping. For certain trailers people:

Deep faked using AI Art to make Ariel white while using Halle’s Ariel singing voice.

Stated the movie would promote “Animal Abuse” due to Ariel playing with flounder’s fins in an advertisement. Backing the rhetoric up with the hyperrealistic CGi could confuse kids as if they can swim and survive over 200 ft in the ocean to reach the type of fish flounder is just to play with it.

Claiming the movie is too dark, even though the trailer was showing the scene where it was nighttime in a cave.

Mad at the Ginger-Erasure although the Live action Ariel possessed hair akin to strawberry blond which is a natural color humans can have compared to the animated version you can only get from bleach and a box.

~Movie came out~

Complained over the fact that there was no slavery or Ariel being bombarded as a slave even though Ariel is not a human to begin with and slavery was not a concept in the original source material.

Mad that Ursula called Ariel’s song a “Siren Song,” and said that was a bad influence on kids even though Ursula was the one to use Ariel’s voice as an evil siren’s song to lure the prince and not the other way around like in the…original.

Complaining that Halle’s version of “Part of your world,” is a disgrace to Howard Ashman because *fixes glasses* she sang the song too well and that ruined the meaning.

Claimed that the actress playing Vanessa (Jessica Alexander) should have been Ariel only to get blocked by the actress in return.

Claimed that the actress playing Vanessa carried the film in her 5 minutes of screen time, or that she sang better than Ariel although Halle sang for both herself and Vanessa due to it being her stolen voice used for evil.

Called Halle’s Ariel disrespectful and horrible for kids to see because she did not ask permission before entering the Prince’s study or to touch his things as if her voice was not stolen by a sea witch 10 minutes prior in the film.

30+, childless, single, unemployed adults deep faking the new preschool Ariel show on Disney Junior to be white. Stating that this little show is ruining their childhoods knowing they will never watch an episode of it a day in their lives.

Sadly, using “Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kracken” main villain as a vessel to hate on Halle’s Ariel (she looked like animated Ariel) even though they would never step foot into a screening of this film.

Review bombing a movie they’ve never seen so badly that Google had to change the reviewing system altogether.

Goal posting the profits of the “Little Mermaid’s” box office, continuously stating that the movie did not break even and “flopped,” but continued to raise the money limit because the movie broke their original price statements. They claimed the movie needed 300m to break even then 400m and then 540m now they are stating the movie needed 700-800m to break even. When asked what exactly made the movie a “flop” could not elaborate or explain how the movie is not a success.

Most annoyingly, using the children in their lives to shield their own racism…ahem…” criticism” towards the movie saying that their kid wanted the og Ariel only to find out that the kid loved the live-action and was being used to fuel the hate train.

And last but not least, mutilating, changing, and disrespecting Halle Bailey’s features from her eyes down to her toes. Calling her a monster, alien, and beast. Making racist caricatures and blackface drawings to mock her role. Making colorist comments about her skin tone, calling it dirty, contaminating, and disgusting. Calling her natural hair ugly and so much more making me so happy that little kids (especially little black kids) never had to witness people picking apart someone’s race over a fish movie.

The Little Mermaid has been through a lot, and in my opinion, one of the worst worldwide hate campaigns I’ve ever seen. Although there was so much vitriol, it was lovely to see people from critics to children fall in love with this fairytale all over again and love Ariel regardless of what she may look like. If I missed anything I’m sorry.

#tlm cast #tlm 2023 #the little mermaid 2023 #tw racism #little mermaid 2023 #Disney #disney little mermaid #halle is ariel #halle bailey #tlm #princess ariel #Ariel #the little mermaid live action

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best-movie-ever-tournament · 8 months

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The Wizard of Oz:

The tale of a young girl and her little dog who winds up in a fantasy land, meeting all sorts of wild and unlikely friends along the way to getting back home. This film is a classic for a reason. The music, the characters, the production, everything is so spot-on perfect and has become such an engrained part of cinema that I almost think people can take it for granted sometimes. I love this film and the fact that it is 100% sincere in it's passion for creating a fantasy world. Not a single ironic or mean bone in this whole film, it's committed to embracing the joy that can come from cinema.

It's famous for its segueing from black and white to colour when Dorothy enters Oz, but honestly? I think it deserves a place in the tournament based solely on the fantastic look of the flying monkeys. Absolutely iconic, so much more terrifying than anything they could do with CGI today.

Some like it hot:

These two musicians accidentally get involved with the mafia, I think they witness a murder but my memory is foggy, they then need to escape but the only way they can do so is by joining a women's orchestra. So they dress up like women. One forms a relationship with a girl played by Marilyn Monroe whilst technically still in disguise as a girl and the other forms a relationship with a man who is intent on marrying him. The film ends with the latter man taking off his disguise in a bid to convince the man that fell in love with him that their relationship won't work (despite having feelings for him), it essentially goes "you can't marry me because I'm a man!" To which the other responded "nobody's perfect'. Its just a really sweet movie especially for the subject matter and time period, it makes me very happy.

#tournament poll #some like it hot #the wizard of oz

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smash-64 · 5 months

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2023 Game of the Year Countdown #10 The Legend of Dragoon Sony PlayStation, 2000

I’ve known about this game for so long that I’m always surprised when people have never heard of it. Yet, it’s a JRPG and that wasn’t a genre I enjoyed for an extremely long time. As such, once I became a fan of the genre, I told myself I had to play it at some point.

One of the most striking aspects about the game is the combination of the 3D models and the gorgeous background renders. Look at these!

The backgrounds are just beautiful, but the 3D models look funky and I don’t think they mesh well. A few of the closeups we get look downright bad, and I don’t remember feeling this way at all when I played Chrono Cross for the first time. Perhaps it’s since many of the Chrono Cross backgrounds appeared more impressionist in nature, and were therefore a bit lower resolution? That could reduce the stark contrast between the rough 3D models and the backgrounds. Since Legend of Dragoon has such beautiful backgrounds, generally in a higher resolution, that contrast was more defined. Luckily, graphics mean very little to me, generally speaking. So I don’t really see this as more than a quirk of the PS1 era. Perhaps even a little charming.

As with many games of the era, the pre-rendered CGI cutscenes can feel awkward when included, but are no less cool now than they were then. I mean, look at how pretty Rose is in her high res form!

I found combat to be fairly standard for a PS1 game, but that’s actually exactly what I wanted. Music too. The story, however, was a bit lackluster. I sometimes needed a refresher to remember what was going on, and some of the twists felt predictable and/or lame. I was not a fan of the ending, either. And the voice acting is fairly bad. But that’s kind of just what comes with the territory of playing a PS1 era JRPG.

I did really appreciate one of the quotes from the game, however. And was happy to see @lunarmageart's pins of the quote! “Revenge generates nothing” is such a great quote, as revenge really is a useless and pointless act. It’s something I try to live by, honestly. You will never gain anything by enacting revenge on someone. Except in Mario Kart, of course. Shoutout to the Estelle Bright one, too.

Overall, if you want a quintessential PS1 JRPG experience, there might be better choices out there (*cough* Chrono Cross!), but The Legend of Dragoon will scratch that itch.

#game of the year #goty #countdown #playstation #legend of dragoon #dart #rose

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seraphsfire · 2 years

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things i did and didn’t like about rings of power (so you don’t have to watch it)

disclaimer: if you do want to watch it for whatever reason, please don’t pay for it, find a way to pirate it, don’t give jeff bezos any of your money. If you did really like it i totally respect that, i hope you enjoy it, these are just my personal opinions.

things i did like:

the worldbuilding and set design is gorgeous, on par with the movies and i’d tentatively say the cgi is better than the hobbit trilogy. If that’s the kind of thing you’re interested in, i’d say it’s worth a watch. However, you’d probably waste less time by googling screenshots

the dwarves are DELIGHTFUL. they’re a little different than Hobbit movie or Lotr dwarves, but they feel like Tolkien dwarves and they have a ton of personality and charisma. Disa is gorgeous and hilarious. And while she doesn’t have a beard, she does have sideburns that you couldn’t really see in the promo pics of her. (the dwarves don’t show up until episode 2 tho). They were probably my favorite part of the show so far.

The girl they cast to play Nori is super adorable and cute. The actors in general for the hobbits are very charming even if they look horrifically stinky and filthy.

Morfydd clark doesn’t exactly feel or look like galadriel, but she does feel like an elf (unlike all the other elves in this show). If you forget she’s supposed to be galadriel she’s cool to watch even though the elves in this show are, in general, absurd. She’s clearly a good actor even though you can tell the directing on her part wasn’t great, there’s a lot of Very Dramatic squinting and Staring on her part and she has some ridiculous lines.

I actually really like the guy playing elrond. He also does feel like an elf and although he looks like a fancy hobbit, he’s the only one in the show i feel like is trying to be the character from the books he was cast as. If they did better stuff with his makeup and hair he could really be great. Idk maybe season 2 they’ll give him better hair or some Fenty diamond veil.

the elves’ (regular) costumes actually look a lot better on screen than they do in promo pics. Not super elfy, but enough of a fancy king-arthur feel for me to give it a pass. Much better than house of the dragon costumes (so far) or most of the non-important costumes in game of thrones.

things i didn’t like:

hoo boy.

i Mean i could go on and on about what the HELL were they thinking with the elves. Maybe not all the elves in the hobbit movies or lotr looked super elfy themselves (craig parker ily but you do look like A Dad) but the nasty looking short hair?

neo-n@zi style undercuts?

If they were going to do short hair they could have tried something. Idk. more romantic looking? or like cherub curls or soft floaty waves? there is so much hairspray in those elves’ hair. The ears are massive, thick and ugly looking. Their Token Diverse Elf guy is, other than galadriel’s brother, the only sort of unusual looking one to be passably cast as an elf but either he is a very bad actor or he was Very badly directed. His lines are awful. He’s supposed to be in love with this human chick but there is nothing about how they met, why they like each other, what they have in common, anything. No chemistry whatsoever. He’s also got a very stupid, plastic-looking costume.

Also. They cast maybe the strangest oatmeal faced dudes they could find in britain as elves. What is this

The elves armor is very stupid looking. Plain plate armor that is a matte grey for some reason, which i assume was to give it a softer look but really just ended up looking like it was spray painted, same with the chain mail they have under the armor.

so much of this show had me going “wait, WHAT? why is that happening?” i knew this was mostly made up and wouldn’t have a lot directly from the silm or appendicies, but just trying to understand it narratively was baffling. They reference all these things they never explain.

Galadriel talks about all the people she lost that the orcs / morgoth took from her but all you get is a seconds long scene of her looking at her dead brother. None of these other multitudes of people she’s lost are mentioned. A lot of stuff happens like this, just some character being like “oh this happened so thats why i have Emotional Damage,” and just moving on without any explanation. No chance to really get to know the characters, apart from a little bit with galadriel and she has very little backstory other than being Full of Need For Revenge.

WHY ARE THE HOBBITS SO DIRTY. WHY.

they clearly know how to live off the land and build things, they’re not anywhere far away from water, but they are just COVERED with dirt and their hair is matted and absolutely nasty, their clothes are stained with sweat, their teeth are super yellow. they all look disgusting and i have no clue why. All the hobbits having an irish accent and there being a decent number of brown people among them unlike the elves or humans but them looking so gross feels Bad like a microaggression. but like i said in another post since I’m white and also not irish i feel like this isn’t something that’s my place to break down and discuss. The whole time they looked so gross that i was just cringing. They do act like hobbits tho.

Just random plot threads and scenes that were so bizarre and cliche that they didn’t need to put in when there’s So much more interesting things to pull from in the appendicies. Sauron apparently leaves this Mark everywhere that looks like a trident and the elves just DON’T KNOW what it means.

why is sauron marking his victims like a serial killer? Why are there orcs poisoning cattle? why the hell did bronwyn’s son find that orc sword / morgoth’s sword / sauron’s sword or whatever? These are plot threads that are obviously put in there to make it supposedly interesting, but they’re all overused tropes from other stuff that afaik aren’t related to/established by anything that happens in silm or lotr, while they could have used so many other interesting things from the text instead. It feels VERY geared towards like, 8-12 year olds, but way too slow for them. Some things they rushed through, while other scenes, especially dialogue scenes with the humans, just dragged on without really giving any interesting information or character development.

there was this whole scene with galadriel escaping a sea monster for some reason which didn’t make sense, i don’t see why we could have seen more of her backstory instead, but i mean peter jackson did that kind of thing pretty often in lotr and the hobbit so whatever. It wasn’t actually even that interesting of a fight and they didn’t even show more than a fin either which was kind of disappointing.

galadriel being a Girlboss full of Revenge. I guess there’s ways to do that that i could have believed but it’s just So dramatic i just kept grimacing the whole time. Since she’s the main character pretty much, this doesn’t help. Opening with her as a very dour looking child building a boat out of paper was a really strange choice.

the “diversity” being all talk and no substance. Wild to me that amazon went to all that trouble to toot their own horn about diversity and piss off the racists and then didn’t actually bother. Yeah there’s brown hobbits, and a few brown dwarves. Galadriel’s company that she commands is 100% white and male. I saw maybe one east asian person. The border guards where the love struck elf guy works are all men. The dwarves with speaking roles are men other than Disa.

it’s bizarre, it’s all over the place, the lines sound like generic fantasy rpg #28, only a couple of them were actually taken from the text, it’s a sausage fest, the elves suck. The dwarves are cool and the one thing that really feels like Tolkien in the whole show. The worldbuilding is pretty. The music is kind of nice but not really noticeable. It has very little resemblance to anything middle-earthy, it’s very juvenile, and very boring. anyway. That’s about it.

#long post #rings of power spoilers #rings of power #and i mean there's always the chance that it'll get better... but i mean. does that ever happen with shows like this

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