Tumgik
#laughable marvel real funny
mdhwrites · 11 months
Note
You are so right when you say that TOH always tries to separate itself as being different or better than other fantasy shows or kids' shows while not actually doing anything particularly special. Your blog is what made me realize that this aspect of TOH more than anything else is what frustrates me about it. Because honestly I don't need kids' cartoons to be amazing and groundbreaking. It's great when they are, I love Steven Universe which I think took way more risks than TOH did and was way more unique. But I also had a lot of fun with MLP which in the balance was a pretty generic kids' cartoon. I found it entertaining and comforting and I liked the characters, but it was a pretty simple show. But MLP also never really asked you to think it was anything else. It knew what it was, it was good at what it was, and you could take it or leave it. Meanwhile TOH simultaneously refuses to accept that it's fundamentally a pretty basic kids' fantasy narrative, while also refusing to take any real risks with its storytelling that would push it beyond being a basic kids' fantasy show. So there's a disconnect between what the show wants me to believe and what I'm actually seeing on screen. And that disconnect is the source of my frustration with the show. I do still think it's fun. But it frustrates me. And I like reading your blog because I feel like you've helped me put into words some of the reasons why. 🦎
So this strikes a cord with me that makes me want to ask a question back: When did a good story stop being enough for people? I'm going to go WAY left field for my example here. Like... Maybe ruin my credibility left field for this one but it's the one I always think of with this. Why were we all too good for the Emoji movie? I saw it WAY after it came out because my parents have On Demand and told me they liked it. So I was like "I mean, worse case scenario it's probably laughably bad. May as well try it while I'm living with them." And it's not a bad movie. Like at all. Is it better than TOH? Probably not but I don't know how much worse I'd consider it either in hindsight. It does a LOT with its gimmick, is pretty fun throughout the whole thing and actually has a good theme for the concept of emojis with the idea that... Yeah, one emoji is really hard to express complex feelings with and what succeeds at the end of the day is someone breaking their singular emotion into something grander than that. Their self expression mattered and their want for expression played into the grand problem that was going to get them all killed. Is it groundbreaking? God no. This concept isn't anything new, it's not done in a particularly special way, none of its twists are novel, even when done well, and its humor is nothing to write home about. It's got some good jokes, it's got some bad jokes. Overall though... It's just a solid, basic story told well. This is actually like 90% of the success of Hi-Fi Rush's story. That game has about as basic of a plot as you can get without devolving into "Save the princess" with only two real twists, neither of which are that huge, even if they're fun. However, that story takes its gimmicks and runs like hell with them and does a really good job of telling a story about a group of rebels coming together, growing and beating the bad guy. I would say the only 'brave' thing about is that the first two characters in the band of rebels are kind of assholes but lovable ones and that's hardly a risk when one of Marvel's most beloved series right now is Guardians of the Galaxy. But it works. It uses its tropes well, it's incredibly charming and the cast is incredibly likable. It also knows when to stop being funny for a moment of humanity, unlike Marvel movies, and gut punches you a couple times with the subtle but definitely there growth of the characters. Both of these, in the elements that work for them, because there are parts of the Emoji movie that are not good, have a common trait. It's actually the trait that most makes me think that I, as a writer, couldn't ever make something that truly feels like TOH. Sincerity. A lot of basic stories when told well shine through with their sincerity. It's part of why a remake of something can feel so much more lifeless going through the same plot beats because those small changes made to 'modernize' or have 'meta commentary' etc. like that (think the majority of Disney Live Action remakes) aren't sincere. They're calculated, smug and obnoxious oftentimes and not nearly as heartfelt as the original pieces' choices. Another example but not animated: John Wick. On paper, it's a bog standard revenge story. In practice, that movie is going so hard, committing so full force to EVERY creative decision it has and not blinking at anything that could even be considered silly, while recognizing when it's going for a silly tone, that it is my FAVORITE action movie. Period. And again, above anything else, sincerity to the tropes of John being this mythical figure, the fun of all the fights it can show, etc. like that is what sells that movie. God I wish I liked 2 or 3. What a fucking waste 3 was. In my opinion. So yeah, I agree. I don't know why TOH decided it had to be so smug and egotistical and what not about its tropes when sincerity is enough. ... ..............
Okay, I have to bring up the other side of this coin, partially because I'm writing this while building up to Crises Girlfriends' original release.
Sincerity is great. What the fuck is the marketing pitch for sincerity? I've been pushing the fact that Crises Girlfriends is from someone who actually has these issues, that it tries to handle depression and the like better than most media because it's kind of the marketing point. I'd MUCH rather just tell you "I think I did a great job with the characters, their development and their relationship" and just sell you on it being a good romance but... What makes it special versus any other romance title out there? I'm not actually even going to use TOH as my flip example for this. Yes, a LOT of people use TOH's subversive element to sell it, just like Warrior Nun's community only ever let me know it was gay, but I've got an even older example: Gravity Falls. It took me FOREVER to hear someone say literally anything about the characters in that show. Before then, all I heard about was the mystery. How amazing its little Easter Eggs were. And why not? I've seen a couple episodes. It's a pretty damn good, but not special, modern fantasy show that's taking after stuff like the Spiderwick Chronicles. So if a fan wants to tell me why I should watch it over, say, Randy Cunningham, why not go with the genre blend that is actually pretty different for a kid's cartoon. I feel like that's probably at least half the reason people kept calling TOH horror at one point and I'm happy that stopped.
With all of that said, there's still a difference. Gravity Falls' mystery doesn't actively mock the tropes it itself is using. It is genuinely enjoyable, even if you don't care about the mystery and the mystery is more than just a marketing gimmick. For Crises Girlfriends, I literally have chapters dedicated to teaching some of the lessons I've learned in therapy that have helped me and make sense for the characters in question to get better. You can call these gimmicks but it's more that the concept is being properly used. That's where TOH, and the Disney Live Action remakes frankly, fail. The marketing gimmick IS the substance. They want you to post on Twitter about how bold it is for Disney to be doing X. That it's not like other shows. That it's not like the old Disney movies or fantasy movies in general that you know. Which is frankly hilarious when people try to say TOH was shortened because it doesn't fit in with the Disney brand. Laughing at itself while actually being as corporate and bland as it's trying to claim it's not is an entire branch of Disney. People have been eating up since Frozen though.
This actually led to me commenting on Twitter a while back that if the 90s were the age of irony as I've been told, the 2010s, from Disney to Game of Thrones, etc. like that might be the age of subversion. Where the story be damned, so long as we can claim to be more clever than we actually are, that's what's important. So long as we do something the audience isn't expecting. And it started in earnest with Frozen because... I'm sorry that movie is good, perfectly fine popcorn, but not the god damned masterpiece that it was heralded as when it first came out and I feel like a lot of the narrative praise for it was specifically because it was mocking Disney narrative tropes. It did so well though that it sent ripples out though. Some are doing it smart, some are not. I bet Rise of the TMNT is the way it is because the team being actually good warriors that feel trained by a proper master is what's expected so leaning on the teenage side and them not being the best, but not bad, is subversive theoretically. Subversive in a way that is actually useful for new stories and ideas to be told though. It's a smart way of doing it. Meanwhile, TOH asks the bold question of "What if the pointless romantic subplot in most fantasy stories was gay?" And then puts it in a world where a gay romance will be treated the same way as a straight romance. The point is it's not clever. But it sure is good for making posts on Twitter, isn't it? Frankly, there are a lot of elements to TOH that I think are chosen partially for social media bait and a LOOOOOT of them have to do with Hexide. That is a different blog. And hey... If you want someone who's sincere... Well, here are my normal links because it's still my job. I just wish I could tell you a better pitch than my goal is to just make a good story. Before anything else, that's all I want to do.
I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!
I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.
And finally a Twitter you can follow too!
42 notes · View notes
“Thor: Love and Thunder” Promised Us Gay Valkyrie, So What Happened Here?
Marvel keeps getting away with this!
There was no excuse that in 2017, the morning after flirtation between Valkyrie and another woman was edited out before Ragnarok’s release or that the death of her supposed greatest love was left as a question mark, only to be clarified in a movie five years later.
There was no excuse that in 2018 a quietly queer flirtatious moment in Black Panther, reportedly between Okoye and Ayo, met the same erased fate. It was nearly laughable in 2019 when the first queer canon character finally came to the MCU, it was a glorified extra role in the early minutes of Avengers: Endgame (their 22nd film!) that could have easily been removed from the plot with no consequence.
Chloé Zhao’s Eternals in 2021 brought Marvel’s first same-sex kiss, which coincidentally could also be easily cut with no notice if necessary, Brian Tyree Henry’s excellent work as Phastos notwithstanding. 2021 also came with Loki coming out as bisexual, but in a single throwaway line during the third episode of his television show.
Earlier this year, in 2022, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’ America Chavez, a famously lesbian Latina superhero in the comics, had her queerness reduced to a small Pride pin on denim jacket and a less than 20 second scene with her lesbian mothers, which again — are you picking up the theme here? — could have been cut without changing anything in the script! Disney of course, did not cut it, and if they wanted a pat on the back for their “brave” choice, look at that — I’m fresh out of participation trophies.
Now we’re full circle back to Valkyrie, who’s big anticipated queer reckoning — after her first cutting room floor incident — was merely a mention of an off-camera and dead girlfriend. Here we are again.
We deserve more than this. If skipping a single scene is all it would take to erase someone’s queerness for an audience, then it is not enough. We deserve more than “blink-and-you-miss-it” representation, or to pretend that representation is good — when we know it’s not! — because we’re scared that if we ask major studios for more, it will be taken away altogether. We deserve real storytelling, not crumbs. Even among Gods of thunder, perhaps especially then.
Ultimately, in a movie that promises love to span each universe, nearly everyone finds some version of a love-filled ending, except the sole queer woman of color. Even Korg — yes, the cheerful Rock monster dude! — finds gay happiness to call his own. Funny how the Black bisexual woman can’t say the same, now isn’t it?
[Source]
165 notes · View notes
theknightlywolfe · 4 months
Text
Spoilery rambling thoughts on The Marvels under the cut
I am so happy we're getting Maria Rambeau content, even if it is mostly alt reality Maria. It would be interesting to see X-Men pulled into main Marvel by America going over to bring Monica back to her home universe. Which means does SABER know about America? They're well informed but she ended up with the wizards. I'm sure there's a file after the attack in New York in MoM but then to the rest of the world she would have disappeared. Or is that going to be the plot of Young Avengers 1, Kamala meeting a trained America and then going to get Monica back?
I know why Kamala goes to Kate (is that a new apartment Ms. Bishop? Smart) but while Kate no doubt knows there is a saviour of Jersey City, not that it is Kamala. Where was the power demonstration and how long does Kamala think she can run things with 1) Kate's penchant for ignoring orders and 2) the fact that she is a high school kid. Again, child soldiers much? And really at some point Kamala is going to blab about how she snuck the tablet in the chaos of the initial fight in her house. And while Kate would respect the guile it also would reveal that Kamala doesn't have the safety net/backing she implies.
Goose! Mama Goose! Do flerkens reproduce asexually or is there a male flerken she hooked up with while catching a ride on Carol's shoulder? Where are the babies? I can't imagine Goose being happy with being separated from them for long so quickly, but they are a menace in quantity and no way the crew will accept them on the SABER platform. Are they in Louisiana with Carol on the farm? Did they warn the neighbors?
Did they touch up Hailee's face to make it more angular? I had to do a double take when they showed her face because it looked off. Not oh she is losing the baby fat off, but like cgi off. I know I mentioned before that I hate her uniform because it is zero protection but I hate Kate's uniform because she might as well wear a t-shirt.
I thought Dar Benn was a good character. Completely wrong casting, but a good character. I just couldn't take the actress seriously and half the times the camera cut to her it just threw me out of the movie. Not that she is bad actress, honestly she didn't do much acting in the role and was emotionally written very one note so its not like she could show any range. But she tried to be menacing and it was laughable. And she had no presence, she was just there saying lines and swinging a reused prop. Maybe if Ronan hadn't been the only person with one of those battle hammers maybe I would accept it as a "universal weapon". If it is meant to convey rank, why did Ronan have it before the fall of Hala when he was taking orders from Yon Rogg?
Secret Invasion makes both more and less sense if this was supposed to be before it. It makes more sense for the Skrull presence on Earth but less sense for Fury's arc. It makes more sense if it is after for Fury's arc and it explains why Carol had to call King Valkyrie to get the Skrull survivors instead of Fury and why the Skrulls manning SABER in Spiderman FFH are now gone but also, why would anyone trust Fury after the very public fuck up in SI in the square and his very literal going rogue for the whole of it? Why do Carol and Monica never bring up him getting Talos killed? Or anyone warning Carol about the very real political shit storm relating to Skrulls on Earth? Why did they even bother making Secret Invasion if it so clearly doesn't fit in to their own storyline?
And really, how funny would it have been if they hadn't done SI with all its bullshit and at the end of the Kate scene Maria Hill walks in and is like "gimme that tablet back" and Kate and Kamala both go full fangirl.
Speaking of fangirls, I did like the nod of Monica acknowledging she not only knows Kamala write fanfic about her Aunty Carol but also that she had read some of it.
7 notes · View notes
superectojazzmage · 2 years
Text
So. Got back from Thor: Love and Thunder a while ago. Have… opinions.
THE GOOD
Christian Bale is fantastic as Gorr. Completely steals the show. Dominates every scene he’s in, delivers a powerful performance that is, frankly, too good for the movie. It’s like he’s in a completely different film then everyone else. That is also a negative more on that later.
Most of the acting is good in general. Chris Hemsworth continues to do Thor well, Natalie Portman is wonderful, Tessa Thompson sells her feelings, Russel Crowe manages to get some of the few genuine laughs, everyone is doing their best with what they were given.
Action scenes are very good. There aren’t enough of them, honestly, but what action scenes there are are pretty awesome.
The core story arc the film is built around is a great premise. This whole idea of Thor going on a spiritual journey of self-discovery while stopping Gorr’s deicide is a strong idea for a movie. Execution… is lacking, again more on that later.
Visuals are great. Yeah, it’s Marvel Studio’s usual overuse of CGI, but they DO manage to get the visual style and aesthetic of the proper Marvel Comics universe down really well. Eternity especially looked absolutely amazing just as he should.
Jane Foster with Thor’s powers was handled infinitely better then in the comics, not that it’s Jason Aaron’s crap run is a high bar to clear. She has an actual character arc, is genuinely likable, and they even had the balls to let her die and stay dead in Valhalla. Kudos.
The resolution of the story with Gorr’s daughter and all that was good. Powerful stuff, or it would’ve been in a better movie. Again, the idea was solid. Thor as a dad is good growth.
Soundtrack is nice. Hair metal and Marvel Thor go together like bread and butter.
THE BAD
Pacing is breakneck and godawful. Nothing has any room to breath. Everything is rushed. Everything meaningful or good or fun is crammed into little spaces to make room for the jokes. Speaking of…
The humor just does not work. There is far too much of it, disrupting and undermining the larger narrative, and most of it just does not land at all. It’s “self-aware” quippy humor at its most obnoxious and terribly executed. Some good gags here and there but drowned out by crap. Even good gags are dragged out and beaten to death; the fucking goats were funny the first two or three times and never again after that.
Tone is all over the fucking place. Christian Bale feels so much like he’s in a different movie it’s laughable and destroys any drama. It’s like a character from Schindler’s List stumbled into Animal House. Every somber moment is interrupted with cringeworthy gags. The “80s adventure movie” vibe is inspired and perfect for Thor, but not this specific story arc; perhaps if they had done something like Beta Ray Bill it would’ve worked better.
While the visuals are good in how they LOOK aesthetically, it’s also still Marvel Studios CGI-everywhere barf. Very little has weight. You can tell everyone is just standing around in green screens, no idea they’re even supposed to be reacting to.
Despite the good premise, the story is a mess. Clumsily executed on so many levels. The deck is constantly being stacked in Gorr’s favor with no attempt at nuance or counter-argument… but the film chickens out at last minute and refuses to commit, which is somehow almost more insulting and offensive then if it HAD gone all in with its “religion bad” undertones. Either throw the punch or don’t raise your hand at all.
Missed opportunities to do more abound. Like many of Marvel Studios’ work, there is no real effort to faithfully adapt stuff from the comics. Most characters are wasted as plot devices, especially Eternity. Arbitrary changes hurt the story. And again, the lack of depth and nuance is palatable; I thought they would go for “Jane gets sick but finds strength in faith and hope, while Gorr’s loss of faith and hope poisons him physically and spiritually” which would’ve been beautiful. But nope, “Gorr is right”.
Dialogue was terrible. In addition to all the awkward attempts at self-aware jokes, even serious dialogue struggled to sound right.
It feels like they couldn’t decide an audience. The premise, themes, violence, and risqué parts make you think they’re going for adults but on the whole it is very much a kids movie, in a bad way. Constant STUFF happening like jingling keys to entertain a kid which is probably what they were going for. Scared to ever get dark while having a paradoxically grim plot.
The representation and LGBT+ stuff is embarrassingly shallow and desperate “look at us aren’t we so progressive!” stuff. It’s all either done as a joke or in a quick, easily-edited out manner.
All in all… very disappointing, especially from Taika Waititi. Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Moon Knight made me think the MCU still had value. Love and Thunder and Ms. Marvel have disabused me of that notion, and even made me look back on those three with a more critical eye.
Saw someone muse that this may mark Waititi’s transition from “beloved indie darling” to “just another Hollywood insider” and yeah. I think so.
134 notes · View notes
vampacidic · 2 years
Note
SAGE *shakes you like a snowglobe, then sets you down and gives u a leetle kiss on the forehead /p* I HOPE YOU ARE MARVELOUS AND AMAZING AND WONDERFUL ON THIS FINE EVENING
i hope it is the evening for you orz
ANYWAY how's your day been???? been doing anything fun~? also. i wish to partake in poto. i feel like you recommended a place to start way back when i first asked but um. a refresher would be appreciated (´。• ω •。`)
HEHEHE HI LEO!!!! a little kiss... i will cherish it. huhuhu.... hehehe m doin okay... lot better than yesterday <- had a paranoia episode with varying degrees of rationale behind it (i am ok btw i just had a rough night) IT IS EVENING BTW dw. i am just a sleepy fella cause i go to bed at like 9pm (i am a grandma)
i've spent the day reading + editing my fic... m almost done with it...! finishing editing tomorrow probably and then i will. collapse. beta reader will receive it (hi dino). i made my pancakes you saw that fiasco. it was very fun though...!
OK POTO. personally i started with andrew lloyd webber's musical (specifically the 2006 movie. it's very accessible but in the nicest way possible the soundtrack is kinda laughably bad. when you are a musical movie and try to change the song so it has more dialogue...? also the guy you cast as. the phantom. cant sing. so he is just yelling all of his lines). there's a bunch of albums up on spotify but my personal favorite is the 1987 cast recording (here). it's very good i love it soooo much. there are a lot of bootlegs up online but if you want to do something more legal the 25th anniversary production of ALW's POTO got an official recording and it's a great show. oh it's so good leo Shakes You. it's available on dvd and you can buy it on like amazon (i got mine at barnes and noble). since poto is in public domain there's like 828372927372874 different books/musicals/etc based off of the original novel. personally? have not read a lot of them (read: none) but one of my favorite spin offs is the phantom of manhattan by frederick forsyth. not because it's good but because it's laughably bad. i enjoy it a lot. would not recommend it unless you reeeeally wanna go down the ALW pipeline. anyway
since the original novel (leroux) is in public domain it's online. bunch of different places (wikisource). it is originally a french novel so it is a TL. i will now tell you some history of the novel because i enjoy it. so the book is very Very loosely based on real life events. in the early 20th century the chandelier in the paris opera house fell (killed one and injured a couple more). so coupled with rumors of a ghost leroux was like hmmmm i will write a book about this. so it's a like. true crime fanfic basically? best way to put it? it was also published serially which explains some of the weird pacing things in the novel. one of the main appeals while it was published was like. it would introduce characters and you'd have to be like 'oh who is the one causing mischief in the theater? ohohoho?' which is kind of lost since the phantom is such a cultural icon now. it's also supposed to be horror but i uh. physically Can't read it as horror. so much of it feels like a really funny crack fic. it's very fun though. wild ride.
3 notes · View notes
rushmanatalie · 3 years
Text
natasha literally free falls off a building in a sky, has a fight mid air, and survives and i’m supposed to believe that she died tumbling off a stupid cliff on vormir?
268 notes · View notes
remythologise · 3 years
Note
Babes . . . . . drop the FATWS propaganda essay 👀
Hey anon, thanks for asking! My Falcon and Winter Soldier Is Propaganda Essay, summarised:
1) The Pentagon Funds Marvel
The thing we have to acknowledge just straight off the bat going in is that the American gov/military provides funding to Marvel and approves the choices made, especially for products such as Captain Marvel and TFATWS. Of course it does; and you see that from EPISODE ONE they are like - “wow look at these cool army people look at our heroes being allies with the military, look at Falcon’s cool sidekick!” (A DRONE.) So saying ‘this is propaganda’ is just a straight up fact to begin with. But HOW does that propaganda operate in the show, and what is it saying?
2) The ‘Flag Smashers’
THE FLAG SMASHERS??? Even with a basis in comics, the name alone kind of embodies the fact they’re blatant propaganda that make no sense in reality (you... can’t ‘smash’ a ‘flag’). Their ‘evil idea’ is ‘one world, one people’ or whatever like... God forbid the enemy of American nationalism: people who want a world without borders. GOOD LORD. This is, in my opinion, a very obvious representation of ‘Antifa’ as America sees it; young people with these ideas that Middle America fears is extremism. The jump from Karli having ideals we can support to killing people is totally just so that they could prove she’s evil! They just invented a guy as they do with Antifa. You can also see a lot of issues represented by this protest/terrorism group like BLM, immigration and ‘Marxist ideas infecting the youth’ and so on.
3) John Walker
In contrast to the Flag Smashers we have John Walker who basically represents the fascist/right-wing side of things. We have a misguided young War Veteran white boy who comes back and ‘fucks up’. He murders a guy. NOTABLY, he gets the good guy redemption arc after this while Karli dies, and we get a ‘oh but his heart is in the right place’ kind of vibe where Sam and Bucky give him the nod of acknowledgement for his heroism. We sort of get empathy from them for Karli too, but she goes too far to be redeemed. Bad optics here with the white boy vs. girl of colour too, but back to John- 
4) Public Image of American Democracy (Idealised)
John Walker, war hero, murders a ‘foreign terrorist’ in the street. He is then brought back to America and nearly COURT MARTIALLED. He is dishonourably discharged. This is SO LAUGHABLE it’s not funny. American police murder their own people in AMERICA and get away with it. It’s really obnoxious and false. In real life, do you think this man would be brought to court for murder when he killed someone considered a terrorist? No. America is not just. It does not work like this. But they want you to think it does, and this is why;
5) ‘Good’ vs ‘Bad’ Minority action
The crux of this WHOLE SERIES is the scene where Falcon shows up in his American Flag outfit and Karli says WHAT are you doing and Falcon says ‘I’m trying something new, you should too.’ It’s very much like, Malcom X vs. MLK. This is a message to the youth of America (particularly youth of colour); you can try to change things from within the system, like Falcon, or you can try and fight the system itself, like Karli. I’ll let you fill in the gaps on what TFATWS says about each option...
6) Insidious propaganda is the worst kind
I know it seems like a win that Falcon gets acknowledgement for Isaiah and so on but it REALLY puts bile in my mouth because as much as this pisses off white supremacists by makiing Captain America black, it’s hiding the real purpose of this franchise which is quite blatantly a) as I said above, trying to say ‘you can change things from within the system, don’t fight it’ and b) recruiting Americans, esp. black Americans, to the military. They are saying ‘we made mistakes in the past, but we acknowledge you now, so come join us.’ As with the trial though, THIS DOES NOT REFLECT REALITY. This is why it’s propaganda; because Falcon speaks to people and changes things like it’s nothing. Because the world and system is inherently ‘just’, it just has a few bad eggs. Because of all the imagery in the show. Because Karli dies, and Walker is sympathetic.
All of this is summarised better than I could by these tweets by @apriki...
Tumblr media Tumblr media
4K notes · View notes
iamnmbr3 · 3 years
Text
Another day. Another questionable interview from someone involved with the production. This time the Director (who to her credit at least is better than Mike Waldron in that she is able to say she likes Loki’s character whereas his interviews drip with open disdain and disrespect and he can’t even pretend otherwise). (x)
Kate Herron: But Loki doesn't have many friends, you know? He builds this friendship with Mobius across the second episode.
Here again we get out-of-universe confirmation that the narrative framing of Mobius in a positive light is intentional. Mobius is not Loki’s friend. He’s his captor and his torturer. Loki isn’t on equal footing with Mobius. They don’t even have a boss-employee relationship. LOKI WAS MOBIUS’S SLAVE until he escaped. He was being held against his will and coerced under threat of death to work for Mobius and his organization without compensation. That is slavery. And it’s not ok. 
Mobius also berated him by telling him that he is inherently evil and monstrous - the very things that drove him to suicide. Mobius is complicit in acts of torture, genocide, murder, privacy violation, and  police brutality and shows no signs of having any problem with it. He’s no more Loki’s friend than Thanos or the Black Order are. 
When has he ever treated Loki with dignity or respect? Even if we ignore all the horrific stuff, he’s just plain not nice to Loki. He constantly mocks and belittles him and never takes his side. That’s not a how a friend behaves!  That’s how a bully behaves! Where is the basis for this friendship??!!
Kate Herron: “And obviously, we're seeing it through Loki and Sylvie's POV. You know, neither of them are good or bad. A complete, pure good hero would probably join the queue and be like, "Well, hopefully we'll get on the train." But they're not those characters. They're going to try and get on it.”
They snuck onto a train??? That’s what she thinks a grey character is? That’s so dull! Loki was a complex and grey character. Larry (as I call the tv show character) and Sylvie...got on a train without a ticket. That’s laughable! That doesn’t make me think about complex morality or issues. And c’mon. All the heroic Avengers have done that level of rule breaking MANY times and they don’t lose their “pure good hero status.” Tony Stark constantly does things like that! I want Loki back. HE is a grey character. But I haven’t seen him in the show so far. Instead I get Larry the watered down clown. 
Kate Herron: “When Loki and Mobius are at Pompeii, for example, that's shown through Loki's POV, right? He's joyous and he cracked the case. Pompeii was horrific, but we're seeing it through his perspective and he's in a completely different headspace.”
You know a scene can have more than one emotion right? Like he could be happy about solving the case but also horrified at the destruction of Pompeii? Instead he is laughing at the people who are about to die horrifically and seems to have no compassion for them whatsoever. Sure people can headcanon reasons why he behaved that way (and more power to them. Fixing dumb canon is what fandom is all about!) but the narrative framing is to me pretty clearly lighthearted and the director confirms that intent. There seems to be no awareness that by having Loki behave so callously it makes him come across as incredibly cruel. Far more than he ever was in canon. 
In Thor 2011 Thor is laughing while slaughtering Jotnar (as is considered appropriate in his culture) but Loki isn’t. He kills when he has to but he doesn’t enjoy it, something that’s unusual for the culture he was raised in. This Pompeii scene could’ve been a great time to see Loki’s more compassionate side as he looks at the people who are going to die. We could’ve seen some real conflict from him. And it would’ve been a great moment to start introducing the concept that he’s more than just a simple villain to more casual viewers. Instead, although they think they’re “redeeming” Larry over the course of the show they’ve made him far worse and more villainous. I wish they had hired an experienced Director who also understands Loki - like Kenneth Brannaugh!!! - rather than a Director who has never headed up a major project before. Though even the best Director couldn’t fix the abysmal and ooc script and story Mike Waldron came up with. 
Kate Herron: “I think that's the thing that's really key for her is that she's a completely original character, completely born out of our writers, and that, for me, was exciting.” 
Remember when I said Sylvie is the favored OC? Called it. 
Kate Herron: “The train scene I love because Loki doesn't get many wins and it's nice to see him having a nice sing-song. He's just enjoying himself. Because I think that's such a funny way, as well, to show the difference between him and Sylvie is that she's on a mission. She's like, "We're going to get off this moon." And when she's offered a drink, she's like, "No, thank you."
WOW. I hate this SO much. So suddenly Sylvie gets to act more like Loki and Loki suddenly doesn’t know how to be subtle and is just a dumb clown messing everything up. C’mon! This is absolutely ridiculous. This is not Loki silvertongue. This is not the Loki who tried to diffuse the situation on Jotunheim and almost succeeded. This is not the Loki who was always a restraining voice in Thor’s ear. They’ve turned Sylvie into discount Loki without any depth or complexity or vulnerability and they’ve turned Loki into discount Thor ft. dumb clown! Absolutely outrageous. 
Kate Herron: “everything is not what it seems and even in our design, people have picked up on certain things. Like the way that they dress, or the posters and that there's something a bit more going on there.”
If the TVA actually turn out to be twist villains I will laugh SO hard; I’d say that twist is too dumb even for Marvel but...it’s really not! Like. Guys. If they’re gonna be TWIST villains you have to not have them do obviously villainous things on screen!!!! BECAUSE THEN IT’S NOT A TWIST!!!!
From the moment we meet them we see them commit acts of police brutality, murder, genocide, trial without due process, enslavement, privacy violation, and torture IN ORDER TO ELIMINATE FREE WILL. Like. They are literally the most evil organization in the MCU. Even Thanos can’t compare. So having them be revealed as villains will fall flat. Because the twist isn’t the audience learning new information or the main character learning it. It’s just the narrative suddenly acknowledging it and treating their atrocities seriously. So the twist is in the real world not the show. And it’ll make Larry look like an even bigger idiot than he already does if he’s suddenly like “Wait the people who tortured and enslaved me are evil?! What?!??!” (I stg if he has to fight miss minutes in the end like I joked about I will lose it).
Also. Why make it a twist?! When you treat the villains as a joke it robs the narrative of tension. Their acts of evil should’ve been acknowledged from the beginning in order to create sympathy for the protagonist and tension in the narrative as we watch him try to escape this situation! Smh. The only funny joke in this series is how badly the writing fails. 
195 notes · View notes
lucianalight · 3 years
Note
I'm reading an article on why the person doesn't like JoJo Rabbit and WOW does the ending quote sound familiar:
"Waititi—a talented, well-intentioned director—makes the mistake of thinking that by not taking Hitler seriously, we somehow diminish his power. That by rendering him into a dopey, insecure crybaby, we can expose the emptiness of his beliefs. That we can just… write it all off, and come up with a new ending. Jews, Nazis—we’re all human, right?"
And even a much older Jewish person reviewed it as well and had this to say:
"So when the opening credits of Jojo Rabbit played over archival footage of wide-eyed Nazis shouting with ecstasy in the streets to the tune of The Beatles' I Wanna Hold Your Hand (in German of course) I felt a bit sick."
"Footage of real Nazi rallies without any of the shouting was uncanny, to say the least, and nauseating. What Waititi wanted to accomplish, he accomplished. You want to sing along, you want to tap your feet to the familiar tune but to do so equates you with the countless people who followed Hitler's final solution and the murder of millions of Jews, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, Romani and others.
The screen version of Hitler, played by Waititi himself in terrible blue contact lenses as the imaginary friend of young Jojo, is exactly as a ten-year-old might imagine him: petulant and fickle. Not the man who inspired The Beatlemania-like fervour on crowded German streets.
We're meant to laugh at all the other Nazis, as we laugh at Charlie Chaplin, but they are a much bigger part of the Nazi machine than Waititi gives them credit for. I found myself chuckling out loud with the other 29 likely-gentile movie-goers at Sam Rockwell's expertly performed, drink-sodden commander.
But looking back on it, that rests uneasily in my stomach, especially given the character's arc and the ringing in my ears of the recent death-knell statement from one of the highest authorities in the US that 'there are very fine people on both sides' of white supremacy."
What I'm trying to point out is that tonka COULD be a great director, as long as there isn't source material. As long as he creates the world and characters, it would be fine but he keeps going after already made characters (Marvel, What We Do In The Shadows, JoJo Rabbit) and it just doesn't work.
Fine if he wants to take serious stuff and make them silly but there needs to be a line drawn
"Despite its nominal message about turning hate into love, Jojo Rabbit is a work that normalizes Nazis, and thus Nazism, and thus intolerance in general, by alternately saying that it either doesn’t exist, or is cute and amusing and powerless in the face of aw-shucks kiddie compassion. That makes it astoundingly wrong about WWII, about humanity, and also, of course, about today’s alt-right-infested climate upon which the film has been designed to comment. Putting it in the same company as the rest of this year’s Best Picture candidates—especially the epic The Irishman, the revealing Marriage Story, and the vivacious Little Women—is absurd"
This was such an interesting read. Thanks for sharing it with me. I haven’t seen the movie and therefore I can’t have an opinion about it. But as someone living under totalitarianism that is promoting a certain ideology, this is not the way I would want a movie to represent the hate and cruelty my people are experiencing. The brain washing, the propaganda, the othering, the sheer viciousness people are experiencing is much more complicated and serious than a bunch of idiots doing funny and nonsensical stuff. Their idiocy sometimes is laughable, but a laugh born out of helplessness to do anything else. Not the way you find Charlie Chaplin funny. Yes there needs to be a line drawn. The more I read about TW’s movies and humor, the more I get certain that they are really not for me.
177 notes · View notes
warwickroyals · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
GREENWOOD HALL, WOODBINE - LATE DECEMBER - 14:02
Beginning | Previous | Next
(Shelby) I asked you here so that we could speak face to face. I want you to see the impact of your actions in real-time, not through some magazine spread
Tumblr media
(Shelby) It really was the most stressful time of my life. I felt like no one could be trusted. I thought our phones were tapped, just constant paranoia
Tumblr media
(Shelby) And then for you to say that you're helping me. That is the greatest insult. How could you possibly believe you were doing anything but exploiting me?
Tumblr media
THE NEXT EVENING . . .
(???) You're here late
(Shebly) I wanted to make you aware of a new position that might interest you. Henry finally decided to establish our own royal household at Chester Palace. You know I've been pestering him to get on with it, well, he finally caved yesterday 
Tumblr media
(Shelby) That just shows the, the stupidity of what you did. It's heinous and a criminal offence and I still can't wrap my head around it
Tumblr media
(Shelby) Why are you smiling? What could possibly be so funny?
(Kathleen) Because what you're saying is purely laughable. You're in public relations, you're a smart woman, far smarter than Katheryn Belmont, at least. You exactly can wrap your head around what I did and why, which why you invited me here in the first place
Tumblr media
(Shelby) I know you're the editor-in-chief for Sparrow, a magazine for wealthy countryside house-wives with nothing but time to kill
(Kathleen) A magazine that you were on the cover, six-page editorial spread
(Shelby) A magazine that has been profiting off my personal life for months now
Tumblr media
(Kathleen) Profiting? You're already a commodity, darling, you were from the moment you married your husband. So long as the people of Sunderland pay for your existence you belong to them. Like a handbag or a new pair of high-heels, the only difference is your functionality is abstract, it varies from person to person. But the abstract is confusing, ambiguous. Parsing it requires nuance and thought, two things people hate doing. That is where I come in, I tell them what they're paying for, I weave the narrative. I answer that million-dollar question: who is Shelby Sykes?
Tumblr media
(Shelby) You know nothing about me, how can you possibly be the one to answer that?
(Kathleen) I'm writing for the people outside, not you. I'm selling them a product, and the same way a fast-food chain might exaggerate the taste and appearance of their fries and burgers, I exaggerate your lives because that's what people want to hear about: a princess. Not some PR firm manager. Headline: Duchess Shelby's Oh-So-Romantic Country-side Mansion. Paid for with your money, sure, but isn't the ballroom a marvel? With a nonexistent tennis court and sauna, too! Here's how your house can be just like hers! Read all about it for a one-month online subscription and be transported to a world of royalty. One big lie is a stretch, but seven little lies attached to the truth?
Tumblr media
(???) And why would I be interested in that?
(Shelby) A six-figure salary, your own office at one of the largest state residences in the world, and assistant and deputy-assistant. Excellent benefits and connections—
(???) Shel. Cut the shit. What's in it for me?
Tumblr media
(Shelby) So, I'm the product?
(Kathleen) Yes, and if you want to be liked, the public needs to know what you're selling them
(Shelby) I want to be likeable
(Kathleen) Well, Your Royal Highness, the truth is that people aren't likeable. At least not all the time but the truth—
(Shelby) Doesn't matter
Tumblr media
(Shelby) As I said, you're smart, you want more than to be liked, you want control, the very thing you can't have as a royal. My aunt, the Queen, pioneer of the modern royal woman, has set that standard. The do nothing, never explain, never complain type
(Kathleen) I have it on good authority that Her Majesty complained very much when she was a newlywed, as did Tatiana and Courtney and me . . . it's human nature to speak, to defend yourself
Tumblr media
(Kathleen) Yes, when Lady Irene Rothman married the heir to the Sunderland throne, the newspapers ate her alive. Her big hair and eccentric fashion, how girlish and spoiled she was . . . And then came along commoner Phyllis Grant with her wild glamour model past and oh so suddenly people were looking at Irene with rose-coloured glasses, they saw how she doted on children and the elderly. They saw her as a loving young wife and mother from a good family. Irene did need to do anything because the current media narrative suited her, it was now Phyllis's turn to complain
(Shelby) In PR one of the first things we do is scope out our client's competition. If we're repping a mediocre hotel chain we'd advertise them in comparison to awful ones, we won't even talk about the outstanding ones
Tumblr media
(Shelby) As I said, connections, big ones. And information. Now, tell me, what do you know of Princess Jaqueline?
(???) Outside of what you've told me? Not much
(Shelby) That will change soon enough, you should enjoy the holidays while you can. You'll have lots of work come January
Tumblr media
(Kathleen) I want you to know that I'm in, but first you need to find a narrative that suits you, tell me all about it. I'm all ears. Or the people can decide for you and you can continue crying behind closed doors about it until the day you die. I don't really care, I'll still be writing either way, Your Royal Highness
22 notes · View notes
spaceorphan18 · 3 years
Text
Marvel Movie Nights: Fant4stic
Tumblr media
It’s always worrisome when a movie’s trying to be artsy with its title.  
I knew what I was getting myself into when I saw that the Rotten Tomatoes score for this film is 9%.  And, I mean, is it really as bad as that Punisher film or any of those other early Marvel entries? No, not really.  But now that we’re into the mid-2010s, when the MCU is going at full speed, and superhero films are doing great things with storytelling, so the fact that this film is so pathetically bland as a film is just not acceptable.  
It’s just a sad excuse for a film in general.  
Technically - it has a lot going for it.  The film looks good.  The cinematography is clean.  The CGI holds up really well.  The score is doing its damnedest to prove this is an epic film.  Even the acting isn’t that bad.  But it just goes to show you that you can be as technically proficient as you can - but if you story doesn’t work, you don’t have film.  
 And the writing is really the downfall here.  
The story... doesn’t feel like an actual story.  It feels like a collection of scenes that happen because certain things in the story are supposed to happen.  There’s no flow.  There’s no conflict/resolution.  There’s no arc for the story or for any of the characters.  Things just happen without any kind of tension or, let’s be real, logic.  The characters don’t even talk or behave like actual humans.  
And I know, which is often the case with these truly terrible films, that there were a ton of problems behind the scenes.  The director, I guess, was pushed off the film and the studio took over, which is never a good thing.  But still, I think the most egregious thing about this film is that it just fails at capturing the essence of who the Fantastic Four even are.  The original films are still worse films, but they at least understand their characters. 
This film plays like a badly written edgy, high school AU fanfic.  *sigh* No one asked for this.  This film swings so far the opposite way of the original film’s campiness that it becomes laughable how dark and gritty they’re trying to be.  
Miles Teller plays Mr. Fantastic - who is now an edgy and awkward teenager, who manages to figure out teleportation at age ten, but can barely have a coherent conversation with another person.  Teller does an adequate job, but de-aging these characters to literal kids does the story a disservice.  I want mad scientist Reed Richards! He’s supposed to be a character who is larger than life -- an equal and sometimes superior to Professor X, Tony Stark, and Doctor Strange.  His ethics are often questionable! This film does really nothing -- he’s a catalyst for the story to function and really nothing more.  
Kate Mara plays the Invisible Woman.  And true to her character, she’s mostly invisible to the story.  The Fantastic Four, in general, has always had the problem that Sue’s main character trait is that she’s a woman.  But that isn’t even played up here.  She’s merely obligatory wall paper.  
As a side note - there are slight hints at the Reed/Sue romance, and the actors had way more chemistry than Jessica Alba and the dude who played the original Reed, but the writing of their scenes was so ridiculously bad that it squandered that natural chemistry. 
Jamie Bell plays The Thing.  There are sparks of an interesting story going on with Reed and Ben’s friendship, but it never gets very far.  And while Bell does a perfectly fine job, and The Thing CGI worked pretty well for me, I kept getting distracted thinking that Bell looks like an older Tom Holland.  Which is kind of funny knowing that the actor is most famous for his role in the film Billy Elliott - the same role Tom Holland was noted for on stage.  
Michael B. Jordan plays The Human Torch, and is by far the best one of the bunch.  He’s given a spark (pun intended) of personality - as cliché as it is.  But it’s somewhat painful to watch such a good actor struggle with such subpar material.  
And then there’s Toby Kobbell as Dr. Doom.  I about laughed out loud when he was introduced as the ultimately emo, punk teenage Dr. Doom.  Why? Why, why why? I have nothing against the actor - but this interpretation of Dr. Doom fails as much as the original one.  And, not helping, is the awkward CGI, which looks fine, but is so not what Dr. Doom looks like that it’s distracting.  I want my larger than life, ridiculous diva Dr. Doom.  C’mon people.  
And there we are.  The only other thing I really want to mention is, despite the polished look of the film, the action sequences fall incredibly flat.  There aren’t even that many of them, but they’re kind of sad, non-set pieces of the film.  I suppose I’m so used to the last half hour of these films being slug fests that having about five minutes of action, where the films suffers from not being able to use these varying powers in a creative way, seems somewhat deflating.  
Final Verdict: This film is utterly forgettable garbage.  I really hope the MCU is able to breathe some life into these characters - or at least gets a writer who has read the damn comics. 
Next-Up: Well, things are going to get livelier again with Deadpool.  
6 notes · View notes
scarlet--wiccan · 3 years
Note
your ideal billy/teddy duo comic (plot, character designs, artists and writers involved etc)
One thing that I've always wanted to see is a comic about Billy and/or Teddy that was produced entirely by mlm creators. Vecchio, Robles and Gracia are all gay artists who've worked with the characters on recent titles, and I'm eager to see more from them. While none of these artists have ever shown the characters in a way that exactly suits my wants, they've each demonstrated a clear personal vision of who Billy and Teddy are that I can respect. I find that Vecchio and Robles, as illustrators, both articulate a gay sensibility in their designs and are able to represent a range of gay identities and expressions with not only dignity, but real love, which is frustratingly hard to come by. Oh, also, Kevin Wada covers, because duh.
Writers are a little bit more difficult for me. I love Anthony Oliviera and I know that he's got a lot of ideas for the characters, so I'd be delighted to see anything that he might pitch. Vecchio also does write, and his creator-owned series, Sereno, is an urban superhero story in a modern fantasy setting-- something he describes as Batman Beyond meets Sailor Moon. Based on that, I think he'd do a great job telling a story about a witch and shapeshifter from New York. I know that Sina doesn't work for Marvel anymore, but I've always wished he could've done Billy and Teddy in a sweet little rom-com miniseries, or even just a single issue special. He's particularly good at writing tender, funny, and just unapologetically gay characters who signal authentic elements of our culture and community without making them cheap or laughable. That is a quality which I find essential for Billy and Teddy, and it's part of why I want more mlm creators to work with them.
If you had asked me this question last year, I would have had an easier time pitching ideas for these characters. I'm eager to see what the future holds for them, but "rulers of an interplanetary nation" was never part of my vision for how Billy and Teddy would be spending their early twenties. I did have this idea for an ongoing series about their "college years", wherein Billy would be studying magic with Wanda and Agatha, and Teddy would work part time with Carol or Alpha Flight while attending community college or learning a trade, like piercing or tattoo artistry. The idea was that they'd often spend time apart, as they'd each be focusing on their own careers and having individual storylines, but they'd always come home to each other at the end of the day and lend each other support, in ways both mundane and super-heroic.
I used to imagine that they'd stay in that nice apartment Sunspot got them, which would act as sort of a crash pad/base of operations for a revolving cast of their friends. They could convert one of the rooms into a magical sanctum for Billy, and another into a study room or art studio for Teddy. Tommy, America, Kate, or whoever could crash on their sofa whenever they're in town or need to do a team-up. Wanda could help Billy ward the apartment so that he and America are the only ones who can portal in and out, but then Loki would find a way to get around the wards and cause trouble, and there'd be a whole dramatic reunion. The whole idea could easily be adapted as a Young Avengers ongoing if you widened the focus from the main couple and treated it as an ensemble piece with individually chunked plot-arcs, much like the original series.
Unfortunately, that idea no longer holds as much water as I'd like because, for one thing, they lost that apartment and never explained why-- it seems like it was passively retconned out in between New Avengers and Death's Head. More importantly, they now live in space, with Teddy being a busy ruler of an interstellar Alliance, and Billy his prince-consort.
I would still like to explore the idea of them pursuing separate goals and working in separate fields while never being truly apart. Empyre introduced a clever plot device wherein Billy is now able to sense Teddy's location and teleport to him instantly, no matter the distance, which, I assume, works in reverse as well. This feat of magic is made possible by their marriage, which binds them symbolically and draws on the power of their love. They can go anywhere and do anything on their own, and still be together again at a moments' notice, which is super romantic and also affords them more flexibility than most superhero couples. I would still pitch a series about Billy doing magic work on Earth while Teddy does diplomacy in space, and one can always warp to the other when they need backup fighting a bad guy. They could even switch back and forth between staying on Teddy's throne-ship, and getting cozy at Billy's little Manhattan apartment when they want to get away from it all.
I guess my final answer is that I want the two of them to be fully realized, individual characters whose love is illustrated through mutual support rather than, like, being glued to each other's hips. The things that I want to see Billy doing are very far removed from the things that I want to see Teddy doing. Superhero characters tend to lose momentum when you marry them off, and superhero couples tend to fizzle when you keep them apart, but Billy and Teddy's unique strength is that they're never truly apart, and their relationship never seems to lose steam-- they've been a pair from the start, and... they're a little obsessed with each other.
The Billy story that I most want to see right now is a full Maximoff team-up. It could go in one of two directions: A) a quest to uncover Natalya's history and finally vanquish the Emerald Warlock, in which they're waylaid by Doom and other magic villains from their past, while teaming up with their magical friends around the world-- basically a sequel to Scarlet Witch; or, B) a showdown with Krakoa and a resolution of their relationship with Erik, which, best case scenario, partially reverses the Axis retcon and proves once and for all that the Maximoffs are mutants. If we got a longer series, we could actually do both plots-- they learn something about Natalya which leads them back to Erik, and the two arcs become a larger story.
The Teddy story that I most want to see is a Guardians-esque space romp with political elements featuring Teddy, Xavin and Noh-Varr as, like, a sexy-alien-boys version of the Gullwings from Final Fantasy X. Does that make sense? I don't have a great grasp on the political landscape of Marvel Space so it's a little hard for me to come up with details, but I know that the status quo has been totally upended, so there are going to be different factions and movements springing up, and likely no shortage of villains and space monsters rearing their heads when the dust of the war has fully settled. Teddy's a monarch now, but he's also been set up as this Arthurian hero-king, so I think there's still room for him to go on adventures and fight his own battles with his magic sword and, maybe, a crew of loyal space knights.
Having said aaaallll of that, I would absolutely die for a full-on fantasy adventure story with Billy and Teddy. I mean, Teddy's a king with a magic sword and his husband is a super-powerful witch. It's gotta happen. I'd actually be into them having a rematch with Mother, who is a pretty adaptable villain, in that her abilities and motives will differ depending on how she's been summoned. I'd also really like them to have a chance to go up against Sequoia directly, and on more even grounds. Quoi is such a great enemy for them because they represent the same generation of Avengers babies, and, actually, Quoi's origins are directly tied to Billy's-- their respective parents had a double wedding together. Sequoia and Teddy's arcs in Empyre paralleled and contrasted each other beautifully, but the two characters had no meaningful interactions. I want to see thems as arch rivals, and maybe, begrudgingly.... friends? Plus, I love that they're both alien princes who live in sci-fi stories, but whose aesthetics and powers are pure fantasy-- Quoi's a dryad wizard and Teddy is King Arthur, if King Arthur was a gay anthropomorphic dragon.
Anyways, that's my Wiccan+Hulkling pitch. The first arc is Billy and Teddy facing off against Sequoia in a magic forest that he's grown on his new planet, only to find out that they've been set up by Mother.
In the second arc, the three of them grudgingly team up against Mother while hashing out their shared backstories and giving Quoi, who's literally never had peers to relate to, a chance to fully come to grips with the way he was conditioned and manipulated by his father. Instead of conjuring dead parents, Mother seems to be able to summon dead children, which makes her particularly dangerous around the Cotati, Kree and Skrull, who've just emerged from a war and have countless recent dead.
In the third arc, Mother has freed R'kll and they've set their sights on Earth. Billy heads out with America and Tommy to ask Loki for advice on defeating her, while Teddy brings Sequoia before the Avengers as his charge in order to ensure that Quoi receives provisional immunity.
Loki is able to provide insight on how Mother might have been summoned and what the parameters might be for breaking the spell that's tethering her to Earth-616. It turns out that Mother is essentially holding Anelle's soul hostage and has been appearing to R'kll in her form. Mother's hold, at this point, has spread to the entire Alliance, and Teddy will have to defeat her or else she'll use it to destroy Earth and decimate his nation in the process.
Teddy recruits Wanda to help face Mother down. (side note, I'm desperate to see more of their relationship as in-laws.) Wanda agrees to work with Sequoia but insists on calling Mantis and making them talk.
The final showdown is the three boys, plus Wanda and Mantis, against Mother, R'kll, and an army of dead alien soldiers. Mantis and Wanda are able to pull Anelle's soul from Mother's grasp, but this doesn't banish her-- Mother's true anchor was R'kll, who'd been carrying Anelle's ghost in her heart ever since the destruction of Tarnax.
R'kll believes that she's always acted in the best interest of her nation, and she thought that bringing back Teddy's mother would finally make him see her way. Anelle and Teddy have a tearful reunion, but he admits that the only mother he's really mourned was the woman who raised him.
Wanda, Mantis, and Anelle, as a trio of mothers united with their lost sons, are able to reverse and seal Mother's power, which was based on lost children. They are not able to banish her, however, until R'kll steps forward and sacrifices herself, believing now that the best she can do for her nation is to rid the Alliance of the curse she brought upon it.
R'kll and Anelle begin to dissipate, but R'kll's sacrifice has called forth the spirit of Mrs. Altman, who is finally granted some closure and dignity in death by getting a chance to see how far Teddy's come and the peace that he's built in her memory.
Lots of crying! I made this sad. I'm sorry.
38 notes · View notes
master-sass-blast · 4 years
Text
The Reception Fic
(Look, I know the title sucks. Let’s just ignore that, okay? Okay.)
Summary: Yours and Piotr’s wedding reception.
Pairing(s): Piotr Rasputin x Reader.
Rating: G. Ignore the swear words. Thank you.
Set after “Price Well Worth Paying.”
Taglist: @marvel-is-perfection, @chromecutie, @super-darkcloudstudent, @girl-obsessed-with-things, @nebulous-leo
The concept of a “magical” wedding had always seemed laughable to you, even after you’d met Piotr. First, the people using the phrase were often Pintrest-style bloggers and wedding planners trying to sell their websites that probably drank too much caffeine, and second, you’d been up close to enough real magic by now that you knew all too well that magic usually contained more blood and death than seemed appropriate for the average wedding.
But now you’re married to Piotr –married, til death do us part and everything—and you finally get what everyone’s been saying. It’s absolutely magical.
And, honestly, it isn’t the decorations, even though they do make everything look beautiful. It isn’t your dress, either, though you love it and love wearing it and love the way Piotr teared up when he saw you in it for the first time. It isn’t the location, or the weather, or the food either, though they all help contribute to making the day absolutely perfect.
It’s Piotr and that you love him and he loves you –and, to a slightly lesser degree, the people who are standing as witnesses and helping the two of you celebrate your love for each other.
You grin up at Piotr when your two’s first married kiss as a couple ends and mouth the words “I love you” at him.
He smiles, blue eyes sparkling, and mouths them back to you.
Yeah, it’s magical, alright.
***
There’s a short break between the ceremony and the reception so the necessary tables and chairs can be set up and so that Aiden and his team can take pictures of you and Piotr, your wedding party, and your families. They take advantage of the gardens and grounds attached to Xavier’s property, and have the lot of you in various positions and pairings to get a full spread of pictures to remember the day with.
(Most of them focus on you and Piotr, though some notable highlights include one of you and Wade messing around with sparklers, one where you and Piotr make goofy faces at the camera, and one of Nikolai adjusting Piotr’s tie.)
You grin up at Piotr as you head back towards the house for the reception. “Ready to party, baby?”
He grins back down at you and squeezes your hand in his. “With you? Always.”
***
The reception is kicked off with a toast to you and Piotr, accompanied with a shot of extremely bitter vodka for each of you as per the Russian tradition.
Piotr knocks his like a champ while everyone else chants “Gorko!” (or “Bitter!” for those who can’t get a hang of Russian.)
You, however, get maybe half a sip in your mouth before you gag and spit it out. You let out a scream of disgust while several people laugh and quickly set your shot glass aside. “Oh, hell no! Ew!”
Piotr chuckles as he sets his glass down. “Myshka, you have to drink—”
“No! Shut up and kiss me so I can eat something to get that taste out of my mouth!”
Everyone laughs, then claps, when Piotr dips his head to press his lips against yours.
***
Speeches and other toasts are given while everyone eats –courtesy of the open mic, which you managed to sneak in under Piotr’s radar for “things that might cause trouble.”
Wade and Ellie give their “man of honor” and “best lady” speeches; they both wind up taking the route to talk about how long it got took for the two of you to get together in the first place and how nauseatingly in love the two of you are on a day-to-day basis –and Wade manages to keep his speech mostly clean, to boot. All in all, it’s easily classified as a win.
And then they open the mic up to anyone who wants to tell funny anecdotes about the two of you, and you laugh as you watch Piotr drop his face into his hands.
Several people have a go of it, including Russell, Kitty, and Kurt, one of Piotr’s closer friends. Between your propensity for mischief and the occasional dichotomy between Piotr’s mannerisms and his willingness to entertain your ideas, there’s no shortage of funny stories that leave everyone in stitches from laughing so hard by the time it’s all sudden done.
The surprising highlight of the night, though, is Mikhail. You swear you see Piotr’s eyelid twitch when his older brother takes the microphone in hand, but then he launches into a speech about a time Piotr had saved a nearly drowned litter of kittens on their family farm as a kid, transitions that into his brother’s evident dedication to the things he cares about and loves and how he’s seen that same dedication in his commitment to you, and clinches it with a joke about “for all that you love cats, I am not certain how you wind up with mouse” before congratulation the two of you on your marriage and wishing you both well.
You find yourself wiping away a few tears while Piotr gets up and hugs his brother.
Yeah, it’s magical.
***
Piotr’s lips press against the top of your head as the two of you sway back and forth. “Your dancing skills have improved immensely, moya lyubov’.”
You beam up at him. “I know! I haven’t even stepped on your toes once—”
Piotr winces as you catch his foot with the heel of your shoe and jerks his foot out of the way.
“Dammit!” You press your forehead against his chest as he chuckles and rubs his hand up and down your back. “Sorry!”
“It is alright, myshka,” he reassures you. “It would not be us if there was not at least one mishap.”
You giggle and nod. “Yeah, that’s true. I love you.”
He grins and dips his head to kiss you. “And I love you, myshka.”
***
The reception, all in all, is a lot of fun. Everyone enjoys the food, swapping stories and conversation, and just about everyone joins in for a rousing group dance rendition of the “Cha Cha Slide” that is –as the kids say—absolutely lit.
There is also more than enough cake for everyone, which makes you happy beyond compare.
You also toss your bouquet during the reception, which is subsequently caught by an elated Kitty.
(The garter toss goes far less smoothly. You’re not sure who’s face is redder through the whole process, yours or Piotr’s, and Mikhail and Wade don’t stop making various inappropriate comments through the whole things –but what really tops it off is that, somehow, the garter winds up getting tossed straight into Alex’s face.
Fortunately, she –and everyone else—laugh about it, even if Piotr does bury his face against your legs at having accidentally launched your garter at his mother’s face.)
But, eventually, the festivities do come to a close. Grant and his servers pack up, as do Aiden and his team, and the guests head back into the mansion while you and Piotr stroll towards your new home, hand in hand.
“Hey,” you say as the two of you walk along the path that cuts through the trees to your new home in the early evening light. “We’re married.”
Piotr giggles and smiles down at you. “We are.”
“And we have our own home.”
“That we do.”
“So… when do you want to start the ‘marital consummation’ bit of all this?”
Piotr snorts and shakes his head. “Did you have something specific in mind?”
“I mean…” You make a small show of looking all around you. “There’s no one else here right now.”
Piotr rolls his eyes good naturedly and shakes his head. “Nyet.”
“I thought you liked having sex with me.”
He sighs, longsuffering, and tugs your hand. “Come on, myshka.”
You giggle to yourself and resume walking again.
Waiting for you on the front porch of your house, though, is your uncle. He looks a little tired –if the bags under his eyes are anything to go by, at least—but he still smiles when he sees the two of you.
“I didn’t think I would see you today!” you exclaim as you break away from Piotr to give your uncle a hug.
“I wasn’t sure if I was gonna see you, either. I’m glad I did, though.” He gives you a misty-eyed grin when he steps back. “You look beautiful, punk.” He pulls a few envelopes out of his inner jacket pocket and hands them to Piotr. “I can’t stay long, but –honeymoon information and plane tickets. Figured you two would want them.”
Piotr accepts them with a nod and a quiet “thank you.”
“I know you can’t stay, but I think there’s still some cake and stuff left,” you offer, gesturing in the direction of the mansion. “Everyone’s pretty well cleared out to do their own thing, so I don’t think anyone would see you.”
Your uncle smiles sadly. “I actually have to clear out now, punk. I wasn’t kidding when I said I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it. I just… wanted to see you. Today’s important.”
“Yeah,” you say, equally as sad. “Okay.”
He pulls you into another hug and kisses the top of your head. “Love you, punk.”
“Love you, too.”
Piotr puts an arm around you as your uncle gets a running start and takes off. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” you reassure your husband –husband, he’s your husband now—as you carefully dab at a few tears. “Just emotional.” You take a deep breath and steady yourself emotionally, then smile up at him. “Ready to go inside?”
Piotr smiles back. “Konechno.”
And then he sweeps you off your feet and into his arms, bridal-style.
How appropriate.
You laugh and loop your arms around his neck as he carries you up the front porch steps—
And then the front door swings open and Mikhail steps out of your house.
“Ublyudok!” Piotr hisses, tightening his grip on you so he doesn’t wind up accidentally dropping you. “What are you doing?”
“Relax, malen'kiy brat,” Mikhail says nonchalantly. “I just came to give this.” He hands you a plastic coffee grounds container with a label that says “motorcycle repair fund” taped to the front of it. “You’re welcome.”
Piotr eyes his brother suspiciously. “What about bike?”
Mikhail shrugs, grinning smugly. “Not broken.”
Piotr sighs and shakes his head. “Well, thank you.”
“Yeah,” you agree as you screw off the top and peek in. “Whoa, that’s a lot of cash!”
Piotr frowns as he peers down at the jar. “I did not give that much.”
“Community fund,” Mikhail explains with a wink. He nods towards you. “Get lady something nice on honeymoon, da?”
Piotr’s expression finally softens as he smiles at you. “That sounds like plan.”
“Thought you would agree. Now, if you two will excuse, I hear cake calling my name.”
You shake your head as he teleports out of view. “Still not used to that.”
“You are not only one.”
You chuckle, then look up at your husband. “Shall we, Mr. Rasputin?”
Piotr grins and resumes carrying you inside your new home. “We shall, Mrs. Rasputin.”
57 notes · View notes
marvelvsmarvel · 5 years
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Not all heroes wear capes and not all Asians do martial arts but nearly all Asian Americans have been assumed to know martial arts at one point in their lives yet they also did see men like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen as their heroes. In this essay I will... I actually will share the social representative impact of Shang Chi in the MCU while giving an education on Asian action stars in Hollywood.
Shang Chi is literally Bruce Lee who was and forever will be the greatest martial artist of all time. His films in the 70’s heralded an Asian hero that had never before been seen in America who had no powers and yet was greater than any man including the best of white America as in at the time Chuck Norris (again displayed on the big screen). He was funny, clever, handsome, and got the girl in film while in real life it was quite the same where even white women chased him. Asians praised him but naturally his fame brought a stereotype that all Asians knew martial arts. The adoration he received like anything else brought a lot of hate as well and his early death still remains controversial. Enter the Dragon, Fist of Fury, and especially Game of Death with the yellow track suit and boss level fight scenes of differentiated martial artists are still major inspirations behind every martial arts film or even individual fight scenes and parodies. Bruce himself with the nunchucks, the sounds he makes while fighting, the dancing style in place, taking off his shirt before a fight, etc is the #ICON of martial arts imagery. Without a doubt Shang Chi is no Bruce but his inclusion in the MCU is sure to inspire another generation of Asian Americans. Though he may not have powers and is a simply a stereotypical asian martial artist if Bruce were alive today, having him in the MCU wouldn’t seem laughable or a mortal among titans. It would seem appropriate and he’d very well be the baddest of them all.
Not to be overlooked, Bruce’s passing left a huge deafening void for asian Americans but was to be met by others. Jackie Chan recently became an Academy Award Winner for his many years commitment as an action movie star with his big Hollywood splash spanning from the early 90s to as recent as 2017 but he has always been ever funny and lovable beyond the fight scenes. Jet Li did most of his damage in Hollywood in the early 2000s. Unlike Jackie who’s much entertaining “drunken” fighting style made use of anything as a weapon or could fight and defend from any angle, Jet Li’s quickness and striking (not to mention last name for those that didn’t see the spelling or ignorance) drew strong comparisons to Bruce but make no mistake that like Bruce, Jet Li also portrayed a superior fighter over different ethnicities in his films including a face off with Jason Statham. Ironically Statham was rumored to have turned down the role for Bullseye in the Marvel Netflix Daredevil series and went on to criticize superhero films that because of all the special effects “his grandma could do it .” To that he’s not entirely wrong special effects like CGI and motion capture can literally create entire fight scenes without any real actors. But the difference is in the real and Donnie Yen is a real example of that. His recent appearance in Rogue One was huge for him and the movie by re-igniting his fame in America with a new generation as well as introducing martial arts to the galaxy far far away and giving the film a much different dynamic that no Jedi could have done.
In conclusion... The MCU does a lot when it comes to their fight scenes to give a very natural yet bigger than life feel before any effects are even worked in and yet none of the cast are even trained fighters and Simu Liu will not be an exception given the role. In reality because of all the special effects we may never see these genuine martial arts masters grace the silver screen again in favor for models or honestly better actors and I feel like that’s a shame. But even if Simu were to gain a deep knowledge and skill in the arts he will never be Bruce or Jackie or Jet or Donnie though he will be portrayed as their better. He’ll become the new icon of martial arts imagery and will be hero to many more generations of Asian Americans to come. And sure little asian boys will be teased by being referred to as Shang Chi but many of them will wear that with pride and maybe some might even try to learn an art form. The stereotype is still heavy and even Donnie couldn’t escape in being in outer space! Asians can box (Manny Pacqiao) or wrestle not just martial arts. Asians are attractive (Daniel Henney), suave, and cool not just brainy, funny, or foreign. So while I am excited about Shang Chi and his impact I’ll say it again... Not all heroes wear capes and not all Asians know martial arts but nearly all the asian Americans that will see Simu as Shang Chi will see themselves in him and will see him as their own hero. This is important and this is good and it honors those who went before him but it should also be a launch point into more and different asian representation.
142 notes · View notes
winteriron-trash · 5 years
Note
Was reading your post and yeah, Endgame Thor’s character is super fatphobic and I’m tired of people being like “Why don’t you like him now he’s fat?!” My issue isn’t with that, it’s how it’s represented in the film
Exactly.
Like, I’ve got all the big dyke energy, I don’t give half a shit about whether or not Hemsworth looks sexy in the movies. I don’t care who looks like what. Anyone who thinks the fatphobia is coming from the fans is seriously looking at all this the wrong way.
After Infinity War completely fucked over Thor’s character, at least Endgame was able to acknowledge that Thor would’ve been hit pretty hard by a loss like that. (even if I think they went about it the wrong way, at least they acknowledged it?)
Like, it is perfectly realistic/feasible for Thor to sink into that kind of depression. And he did show all the hallmarks of being extremely depressed. He was isolating, drinking, gaining weight, had a loss of motivation, etc. And that makes sense, I don’t have a thing against Thor being depressed. He literally lost everything and then lost again against Thanos. Twice, really.
So for that to be a supposedly funny recurring theme of Endgame is such bullshit. Thor’s entire family just fucking died, why are we focusing on him gaining some weight and being drunk? Like, it’s not something to make fun of and demeans those suffering from similar body issues through mental illness. It’s a real thing, not a laughable moment of a movie.
I think it’s just another instance of Marvel being so blind with how their media affects real life. They want the woke points of a fat Thor under the guise of body positivity, but they have to make it the butt of the whole joke. 
And of course the instant it’s time to jump into the fighting, Thor’s whole depressive state is instantly kicked aside and he’s ready to go with that same happy go lucky attitude from before. And his body is… really completely ignored and shot around when they get to the fight scenes. 
It’s all utter bullshit and just another reason why Endgame was a fucking disaster.
64 notes · View notes
ospreyarcher · 5 years
Text
More Honeytrap
Previously on Honeytrap: Honeytrap introduction There’s only one bed!/Huddling for warmth Gennady goes to Daniel’s childhood home for Christmas Gunshot wound with hurt/comfort and stoicism Daniel gets drunk as a skunk and kisses Gennady
This week in Honeytrap, we’re going back to Gennady’s first POV scene in the book, where he contemplates the honey trap mission that he has been given. It does not fill him with joy.
Content warnings for implied/referenced sexual assault, workplace sexual harassment, general consent issues, drinking (let me just blanket content warn for the whole book on this one. Everyone is going to drink a lot), the generally distressing nature of totalitarian dictatorships.
***
After Daniel left, Gennady lit his cigarette and sat for a while, watching the lowering dusk as he smoked. As a matter of fact, Daniel’s drinking habits – or non-drinking habits, more precisely – seemed liable to undermine Gennady’s mission.  
Oh, not his official mission: not the investigation into the assassination attempt on Khrushchev, not that anyone expected that to turn up much of anything anyway. “Now listen, Gennady, it’s obvious what actually happened,” Stepan Pavlovich had said. “Clearly the Americans tried to assassinate our Nikita Sergeyevich but failed through poor marksmanship, and now they’re trying to cover it up.’
Gennady did not think this was at all the obvious explanation – surely the Americans weren’t that sanguine about their chances of winning a thermonuclear war? – but it was his experience that a few decades with the intelligence services turned people’s brains to paranoid mush, so he said, “Of course, sir.”
“The only reason they’ve agreed to allow a Soviet officer on the case because they want a chance to become better acquainted with our working methods,” Stepan Pavlovich went on, exasperated. “Really, this whole idea is – ” He paused for a long moment, then said, “Well, it’s the Chairman’s idea. It’s a brilliant opportunity for us to gather some more intelligence about the FBI’s methods, as I’m sure he foresaw. See if you can’t find out anything about their secret military installations. Of course that’s mostly farther west, but still, it’s worth seeing if there is anything your American partner won’t take you to see.”
“My American partner,” echoed Gennady, his soul expanding. His American partner: Ilf to his Petrov. (Gennady had read Ilf and Petrov’s travelogue One-Storied America approximately five thousand times since he was eight.) They would drive for days on the beautiful smooth American highways, listening to American radio and stopping at diners for coffee and doughnuts, and Gennady could get to know a real American and see what they were really like once you got past the fake smiles.  
But these dreams lasted only until Gennady got back to his own office, where Arkady was pacing the floor in fury over Gennady’s reassignment. “Stepan Pavlovich is trying to undermine me again,” he fumed. “A joint Soviet-American investigation? He’s trying to frame us all as American spies, I know it. He’s always poaching my best people right when I need them!”
This was the first time Gennady had heard that Arkady placed any particular value on him at all.
“Well, if Stepan Pavlovich is going to try to undermine me, then the least I can do is take advantage of this opportunity to secure a new source – something that will give me an edge over him. Honey trap the American agent for me, Gennady.”
Gennady’s hopes for the trip collapsed. He did not want to go from being pawed by Arkady to being pawed (and probably worse) by an American.
But. But. “Wouldn’t it be better to send a woman?” Gennady asked.
Arkady waved an impatient hand. “It will be fine. All men want to fuck younger men.”
Gennady shifted in his chair. He had learned that Arkady’s pronouncements, no matter how absurd, where impervious to direct attack, yet he felt he ought to temper Arkady’s expectations somehow. “I’m not sure…”
“Listen,” Arkady interrupted. “I can see why you’re worried, Gennady, it would be better if you were younger and prettier. But after all, you don’t look nearly as old as you are – that baby face.”
He reached across the desk, cupping Gennady’s cheek in his hand, and turned his face from side to side. “Make sure you shave. And get an American suit. As for the rest, you’re a naturally seductive person, Gennady, it will be all right.”
He gave Gennady’s face a quick double pat, hard enough that it was almost a slap.
So Gennady went home and got drunk and sulked, because in the first place you couldn’t imagine Ilf blackmailing Petrov, theirs was one of the great friendships of literary history and they would never betray each other. And in the second place, if the American behaved like Arkady, it would spoil this trip which had been the dream of his life since he first marveled at Ilf and Petrov’s photographs.
He could just see it, they would be driving down a black tarmac highway, with the trees arched over it and the sunlight dappling through just like the photograph – and the American would grope him over the gear shaft. He would drag Gennady into bizarre perverted capitalist sex practices. He would probably sodomize him with a Coke bottle. Unfair, unfair.  
Then the drunkenness began to ebb and Gennady realized that it was all more likely to go wrong in the opposite direction: it might be impossible to seduce the American. How did you seduce a man, anyway? All Gennady had ever done was exist in Arkady’s general vicinity, and in any case Arkady had shifted his attentions instantly when Nikolai – younger and prettier – got assigned to the department.
Gennady stumbled into the bathroom to vomit. Then he opened the window to stick his head out into the early October air. By Moscow standards October in DC was hardly cool, but it cleared his head, at which point the obvious solution presented itself.
Drunkenness.
Get a man drunk enough and he would do anything: piss icicles into snow banks in negative forty degree weather, brawl with traffic cops, kiss other men. Just look at Alyosha, Gennady’s cousin Oksana’s husband, who lived with them sometimes until Oksana got fed up with him and kicked him out. Then Oksana would leave too, going back to her mother’s room in another kommunalka, or staying with a friend so Alyosha wouldn’t know where to find her.
Inevitably Alyosha would come to the door, falling down drunk and crying about Oksana, Oksana, how could he live without Oksana, falling on Gennady’s neck and sobbing into his shoulder and kissing the side of his face as Gennady explained that Oksana had gone away, and no, he didn’t know where, and “Get off me, you oaf, I don’t even look like her.”
“You taste like her,” Alyosha said once.
“Everyone tastes like eau de cologne when that’s what you’ve been drinking!”
When Grandfather was home, Gennady would pin Alyosha down and sit on him till he went to sleep. If Grandfather was elsewhere, and Alyosha had brought something drinkable  (“I draw the line at furniture polish, Alyoshka”), Gennady would drink with him and let Alyosha jerk him off, because why not? After all, Gennady didn’t get to see his girlfriend Galya often, and a hand was a hand was a hand; and it kept Alyosha from wandering back out into the night and maybe drowning in two inches of filthy water in the gutter.  
So, anyway, although Arkady had probably overstated the case with all men want to fuck other men, most men would at least fuck around with other men if they were drunk enough. All Gennady had to do was wait for Special Agent Daniel Hawthorne to get bombed, then sit on his lap and let nature take care of the rest. None of this groping over the gear shaft or Coke bottle business. It didn’t have to be awful. It didn’t have to be like Arkady at all.
Whatever else happened, this assignment had gotten him away from Arkady. Maybe permanently. Stepan Pavlovich had dangled the possibility of a promotion into his department.
And now Gennady was on the road, which was just as wonderful as Ilf and Petrov’s photographs, miles of smooth tarmac and friendly attendants at all the gas stations, who were happy to give you road maps and discuss directions to any place nearby. (You could tell this was a nation that had not suffered a land war in nearly a hundred years.)
And Hawthorne wasn’t a bad travel companion. Certainly not the Arkady type. Of course the man had faults: too serious about his work perhaps, impatient for results, certainly too straightforward. The attempt to gather blackmail with the strip club suggestion had been laughable, although in a way Gennady was glad that the American was trying to gather blackmail on him as well. It evened things up somehow.
And really he wasn’t as stupid as the strip club ploy would suggest. In fact, Gennady suspected the strip club was only an opening gambit designed to put Gennady’s guard down in its incompetence, and really Hawthorne meant to talk him into slandering the Soviet Union. Devious, but clever, you had to admit. The strategy played to his strengths: he was likeable, good-looking, funny, easy to talk to. Just look at the way he got the witnesses talking, just by seeming so interested in what they had to say.
Gennady didn’t really want to blackmail him.
Not that it mattered much, given that Hawthorne didn’t drink. Oh, a beer with dinner sometimes, but beer was barely even alcohol, it didn’t count. No true drinker would turn down a flask just because he didn’t happen to like the drink – when it was schnapps, which was meant for human consumption, no furniture polish!
Well, after all, that solved the Ilf-and-Petrov problem, didn’t it? If Hawthorne never got drunk enough to honey trap, then Gennady would never be in any position to betray him. Unfortunate, of course (Gennady imagined explaining this to Arkady), but after all, it would blow the whole mission to push the seduction angle too hard, and the most important thing was to find out who tried to shoot our dear Nikita Sergeyevich, wasn’t that true, Arkady Anatolyevich?
That would be altogether the best solution. Except it didn’t seem likely they would find the shooter – and if they didn’t, there’d be no promotion out of Arkady’s department. So, so, so.
So he’d just wait and see. Perhaps the knot would untie itself one way or the other. And in the meantime, he had already seen more of America than he had ever expected to see.
***
Drop me a comment or a few bucks on Ko-Fi!
7 notes · View notes