#like i can see people going 'oh i like this remake more than the original' about anyone but her

[ahli-stuff]

The Corinthian: more than an object but less than a human and a wretched reflection of his creator

My obsession with the Corinthian is so funny because at first it's like ok. Cool. He's this gay serial killer nightmare with creator issues who's turns out to be a charming antagonist while he's pitted against dream and going about his nefarious plans on screen. What's not to love?

But then there's the next layer of oh...he has preferences and quirks and interests, but he's not a person enough to be a human he's a tool.. that's why he gets unmade in the middle of the street by his lord!! That he had a couple millennia of history with!! Because it's easy.. Dream has the blueprints, therefore remaking the Corinthian and editing out these faulty design aspects is pragmatic. It's efficient. It's less effort and way less emotionally taxing that trying to wrangle in your rogue creation and trying coax them back into doing their job. A human makes a mistake, you correct and reprimand them and offer a better course of action. But if your wrench rusts, you throw it away and buy a new one. It doesn't matter if it's your prized or even your favorite wrench, if it's been rusted to the point of uselessness, you toss it.

And the Corinthian, the agonized wrench, can probably only think: "Did I really mean so little to you?"

I think it totally fucks with his mind. The fact that Dream refers to the Corinthian as his masterpiece and yet he is still lesser in every form of his being—his agency is lesser in every form.

But you can't really blame Dream, can you?

Dream treats the corinthans agency like he treats his own—unnegotiable. For him, it has always been perform your function or die.

Dream: We are, each of us, born with responsibilities. Even I am not free to choose to be other than what I am.

And the Corinthian, in his own eye teeths, has performed his prescribed duty perfectly without hesitation or fail for thousands of years as well and worn as a well used knife—but he knows he can do more, so he does. Because if his function is to chase and slaughter in the dreaming, what's to say can't do it in the waking too?

Besides, in the waking, he's realer. More combobulated. More valued. If you're a mirror for long enough you start to crave a look of your own.

And oh, even with the thrill of newfound freedom, he loves his lord. He's eager for to give to him—to share with him—everything that's ever been dreamed of. In the Corinthians long, long, life he has only ever had his purpose and his lord and for a while that was enough, but his expectations evolve, he changes.

And that's really what dooms him.

Over the course of The Sandman you can see that looking deeper into Dream's ideology "perform your function or die" reveals one of the true themes of the sandman which is "change yourself or die." The Corinthian, whether intentionally or unintentionally serves as a mirror to dreams own character arc and the way dream treats himself.

Like how people put facets of themselves in their original characters, I think that in the corinthian Dream put a version of his own insatiable hunger; to break every rule, to run freely, to enjoy hedonistically. In creating the Corinthian as a mirror Dream unknowingly reflected a distorted face of one of his own buried desires—and i think he couldn’t accept that.

The Corinthian even calls dream out for it at the serial convention (even though he's advocating for murder) he's also jabbing at Dream's unwillingness to show emotional vulnerability and the cage he's built around himself.

Corinthian: Or you might actually feel something.

The dream the Corinthian knows he always cared exceptionally little for humans save for a select few, so what remains is this. Dream might've cared for the Corinthian, but he would unmake him, his prized creation, not for any moral justice, not for a personal slight, but for his rules and nothing else.

For the corinthian, who has spent years upon years upon years with his lord, fighting in his wars, chasing after his approval, pouring every ounce of love and loyalty to him—it stings.

And then there's this scene.

Dream: You're right. This was my fault, not yours. I had so much hope for you. But I created you poorly then.

This is the Corinthian, knowing he is about to die, spilling his frustration and spite to his creator for maybe the first and last time and trying, desperately, to make dream understand that none of this is fair (it's never been, for either of them. It's been the function and nothing else for an eternity but they could be happy.)

This is Dream purposely misinterpreting the Corinthian in the way that is guaranteed to hurt the him the most. Dream, with a writer's indifference, reduces the Corinthian's complicated desperate desire for freedom, rebellion, and his creator's love to his typo. Like a character’s grievance towards their writer, like a man’s outrage towards their god, Dream decides not to deign the corinthian with even the right to call his treason his own. He will not even let him have that bit of agency. No, Dream made the Corinthian wrong.

And then Boyd Holbrook does a phenomenal piece of acting here—he knows how to play evil and charming so well but the Corinthian’s vulnerability is so starkly on display it feels like a knife.

And when you imagine he is about to burst into bloody tears and anguished final words, this is how it ends: they leave each other cruel and jagged, because the corinthian will not end pathetic and he will have the last word.

The Corinthian: I am only sorry I won’t be here to see Rose Walker do the same to you.

The first Corinthian never gets a happy ending.

I don’t think there’s any universe where he doesn’t bite more than he’s allowed to and there is no world where he can really be forgiven. As there is no universe where Morpheus Dream does not stubbornly tie himself to his function and hurt himself and those around him with his pride.

In objectification and the inability to change, they exist as wretched mirrors of each other: The first Corinthian, sick of his function and executed for abandoning it, and Dream, unendurably tired, taking his sister's hand in his when he can no longer bear to perform his duty.

#sandman spoilers #this is literally just me going on a long winded and poorly organized tangent 😭 #the sandman #the corinthian #dream of the endless #corintheus #character analysis #musings #long post

[frenchgremlim1808]

Why Midori is such a breath of fresh air or how to actually write a Villain.

So the awaited essay, the winner of the FrenchGremlin polls of laziness finally has come! It took some time but it’s finally over. If your choice didn’t get chosen that’s okay! I’ll repost a new poll with old and newer options. Please reblog this one i put a lot of time in it, it's like, five pages long over a silly goose. Also sorry for the grammar i sucks and i'm not native. So let’s begin:

(also here is the link to the video format)

So first let’s make things clear, What IS a villain?

“A villain is a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot.” That is why I do want to make a difference between a villain and an antagonist, an antagonist is a character who are a plot devices that creates obstruction to the protagonist. That means that a villain is forced to be an antagonist while an antagonist is not forced to be a villain. For example shin is an antagonist but not a villain, he is driven by selfish desires which are themselves fueled by fear anger and loss, he is the protagonist of his own story and is a sympathetic character despite it all, and Midori is just a bitch. Midori falls under multiple stereotypes of villains. Such as “the mastermind”, “evil incarnate” (lmao),”related to the protagonist” etc. Midori is evil, there is no denying in this, he is purely evil, and he doesn’t have a sad weepy backstory, he doesn’t feel empathy towards other, he is a despicable piece of shit who ruined so many lives. I won’t list everything but here is a list of his crimes, murder, assault, domestic abuse, grooming, verbal abuse, and torture, crimes against humanity lmao, stalking, violent crimes, and participation in a cult. And his worst crime is being a pussy bitch of course. So now that we have put the bases up let’s really begin.

Hollywood has a hate boner against villains and I hate them for that.

Recently Hollywood decided that pure evil bad guys is actually a bad thing, so now they decided to do stupid side story with them, to give them ”””depth””” since I guess how could we like those villains since they are bad. A great example of this is the Disney remakes which I loathe so much oh god I hate them. So first they did a maleficient it was okay honestly, then they did a freaking cruella movie where her mom gets killed by Dalmatians, that’s not a joke, in the peter and wendy movie that nobody saw they decided to have made the captain hook be a lost boy who was abandoned by the lost boys and peter, oh also they decided that PETER CUT HIS HANDS OFF AND LEFT HIM TO DIE BECAUSE HOOK WANTED TO SEE HIS FAMILY. They are going to do a freaking mufasa movie, in no time I can’t wait to have a Ursula movie where it’s discovered that ariel killed all of her family in cold blood or something’s. So you might say what’s the problem? I mean isn’t that supposed to make the story more interesting. No, no it doesn’t, because first they take all of the character personality traits and throw them in the bin, second they are supposed to be the vilain in a musical animated movies, I am not against complex villain, I love them, but by doing this, the original character doesn’t exist anymore. Just create original content with new interesting characters instead of doing stuff like this. Also it’s kind of funny than in all of those interpretation they take all the fun and sucks it out, what do I mean by fun, the gayness, Disney vilain are fun because they are camp, they are fabulous extravagant extra in all the ways possible, and that’s the reason we liked them. Not every character needs something super deep, like “my family was burned down at the stake and my dog was eaten by my ex”, sometimes we just like bad fun people, they are the story, and Hollywood hating them so bad just bothers me a lot. Also now the new thing is to not have a villain at all which can works in some narrative but not all of them, it gets boring after a while. In the past people were angry that villains are bland, but now I kind of miss it. While I will critique villains who have no purpose outside of being evil that’s dumb, like for example Voldemort is bland like white bread because his only motivation is being evil, but evil people do exist compared to what some Hollywood writers think, they should know. So that’s why I will put a difference between evil villains and villains whose only purpose is being evil; we loved Disney villains but they still had motivations, goals, reasons that to them a least were worth everything. World domination isn’t enough, why do you want world domination, what is the true reason deep in your heart, is it an inferiority complex, is it a savior complex fuelled by xenophobic beliefs.

That is how to write a pure evil villain, evil people exist all over the world, but I have never seen one who doesn’t have they own reasons to be so bad, it doesn’t excuse their actions nor really explains them. We do not want justifications we want explanations. If you are justifying evil behavior then do it, but don’t claim that it is a pure evil character. A pure evil character can be fun, can be interesting, he can be deep, it’s all about balancing all of their traits to truly make them greats. Which is why midori succeeds while current villains fail. Current stupid remake/spin off try to justify the behavior because they feel like this is what the audience wants, but it’s not what we need. So I will defend to the grave evil villains.

Creating an evil villain doesn’t make them boring guys.

Why the heck does big budget movies have either the blandest protagonist or the blandest villains sometimes both, like I said evil people do exist but comically evil character only works in satire not in a serious multiple millions of dollar movie. Example that boring ass avatar movie, the one with blue people, none of the characters are interesting the villain is one note. The lords of the rings also suffers from that, but I don’t care because the protagonist are so awesome that sauron being personality less doesn’t matter. Also sauron is more of a force of nature villains so it’s not the same. The recent kingsman movie has a bland one note villain, there is nothing entertaining, funny, about him he’s just evil, borrrrring. Every Disney remakes depiction of the characters are boring. I just feel bored out of my mind. Atla one of my favorite shows of all time has a main villain that’s kinda one note, Ozai, but he is actually intimidating guy, azula is the superior character, but I wouldn’t consider her a villain she is an antagonist though. I honestly don’t get why Hollywood thinks that just creating a character with no personality and whose only goals is to be evil is good.

So back to midori for a second, here is my question, when midori was on screen did you ever feel bored? Never right! Because despite midori being an evil character he has an actual personality, he’s fun, you want to punch him in the balls. Because midori has other personality traits than evil, midori is petty, childish, extremely intelligent, controlling, a natural manipulator, he is a trickster, he doesn’t seem to get some social norms, he is narcissistic, easily angry, and fears death etc See how I counted a lot of traits, traits that in other character would works, midori has positive traits, and I think that is the best thing nankidai could have ever done, midori has traits that a regular person could have. Which is why if I put midori in any settings his character would work.

Example, instead of a death game the cast is under the sea to discover the insane wildlife and supernatural stuff happening, what would midori do in this situation? Well he would very passionate about finding all of what’s happening, he’ll do anything to find out, even sometime sacrificing others, not only will he try to find what’s happening, but he is also going to try to find a way to make this discovery favour him in the end. Or let’s imagine it’s a vampire situation, where a vampire attacks  the city, midori would try to stop it, not because he cares, but to experiment on them to get their biology and finds the real secret of immortality since he fears death.

Here is my second advice, after creating your character try to imagine them in another completely different situation, like normal life, or a fantasy world, ask yourself the question what would they do in that environment? If you can find a real complete explanation of their actions then yes your character has multiples dimensions if not try thinking about it again. Some example of questions I do want to point out are some like “if my character had all the power in the world what would they do first or”, “if my character had only a day left to live what would they do”

Why is Current media incapable of creating good threats like bruhhhh.

Okay so first of all let’s talk about stakes in a story, let’s say you are watching a slasher movie, slowly the cast gets slimmed down and people die in horrible ways, that should set stakes right ? Well if the villain is an absolute buffoon who makes the stupidest actions and decisions in the world, you wouldn’t feel intimidated at all because despite what the filmmaker might try to say the plot armor will NEVER make a character intimidating. It’s just like a detective character who just seems to know everything without a thought, well you won’t really fear the character failing. Worse is the the final girl, who is for some reason always escaping the slasher guy by pure luck every time, she is shown as incompetent but still she survives, which make the villain seem completely incapable so now you feel nothing.

To avoid this filmmaker often use techniques such has unpredictability, I mean good I mean good ones, for example instead of immediately seeing whose going to survive because the black guys always dies first and the virgin white woman is the last survivor, change the status quo, make us think that this character is obviously safe while they actually aren’t at all. Or actually make them menacing by SHOWING to the audience how horrible dangerous they can be. Which is why SHOW DON’T TELL is so important, telling us how dangerous someone can be only to see them get beaten to death at the end of the movie makes us feel nothing.

Midori felt like a impossible person to beat, he is smart, had twenty plans in advance, even in situation where the cast felt like they might have a chance he was always armed, just like the gun he promised to use or the rocket punch. When they felt like they were finally advancing, he put obstacle in their ways, such as the collar game or the moment he put the collar on explode mode for  ranmaru. The entire point in the murder game was to make time pass, it took a long time for the cast top realize that this whole time they were losing precious time not realizing that the dummies were the real problem. The characters that made you feel the most hopeless were the dummies, if you won by killing midori they would die, but if you lost you might lose people you love (keiji or gin). It felt hopeless because they were no solutions in the end. That creates tension so that creates stakes. If we were told how dangerous unpredictable sou was then it wouldn’t hit the same, we are shown that he is that terrible. There is a scene ingame where bbg shin ai tells us that midori tortured and like to destroy people. That’s exposition so TELL, but do you why it works, because we are SHOWN before his behavior. Midori felt unbeatable, so the fact that we were shown his weakness such has his petty behavior, hatred of minors, and fear of death, for the first time it feels like there is a chance that we might survive this. And still after he isn’t shown has an incompetent buffoon, he is one, but the narrative doesn’t show us that he is.

What is also consider is good to make the audience feel actual stakes is to first really develop well the main characters, how can we feel worry for a character if we don’t know them, the audience need to feels emotional connection to the main cast to actually care. You can use things such has moments where there is nothing special happening just character talking getting to know them. Make us feel why we need to care about them possibly losing, instead of being indifferent. Or I don’t know maybe make an entire spin off game where we get to have the cast talk to each other and seeing dynamics between character that died early to get them a chance to shine and make their death even more tragic, or even make mini episodes of characters who only got a single chapter to show off their characteristic, to get us to know them better? But that’s just a silly idea of course, wink, and wink.

My favorite thing about Midori is that he is actually pathetic, like really pathetic, but weirdly realistic?

Midori is the most pathetic character in the cast, yes more than shin, shin is leagues less pathetic. No I’m not saying that midori is not intimidating or scary, I would piss myself if I saw him. He’s a scary guy. But if you look at him more closely you can see that he is a baby brat in a big boy suit.

So let’s start by something clear, Sou Hiyori clearly displays antisocial behavior, or in common terms he is a psychopath/sociopath, this illness is very badly seen in medias, I am not saying that people who lacks empathy like him are inherently bad, he is, a lot of people with antisocial behavior actually suffers a lot and have a difficult life. Sou real issues is not his antisocial behavior, it’s his narcissism and god complex. Sou feels the need to HAVE CONTROL over others, he like the feeling of being in power, he sees the rest of the world has beneath him, toys for his pleasure. He says that he “really like humans” because despite it all he seems to put himself in a different categories than regular people, they are beneath him. When he loses control his calm and cool behavior disappears and we see his true face, a grown man who has throws a tantrum like a baby. One of the best representation of this is midori views on the cast:

Midori hates kanna, like no jokes he has beef with her, a fourteen years old, actually he has beef with a lot of people in the cast. Midori views emotional people has weak, people who are loving optimistic as beneath him and useless. He preferred when sara was cruel and horrible, that’s what he loved about her, he liked seeing her scary emotionless side. But Kanna, kanna is everything he hates. A crybaby who not only puts the group in harmony, is a source of hope in general, is the reason he near got to have closure with shin (killing him), he views kanna as “not fun shin”. We have many proofs for this, if you type the word kanna kizuchi he says this: “Poor Kanna'd weep! I think a more worthless name would be better for someone like me” He mocks her, but also himself (I’lll come back on this later), he calls her worthless. Also in the electric charge minigame, when he can choose who to shocks he chooses two people in particular, kanna who he hates and hinako who ruined his fun by giving the cast a chance in saving ranmaru. But he does also says mean spirited stuff to other people, qtaro and gin. He also says some sarcastic comments about nao and joe, saying that it’s such a shame that they died so young. But you might say why kanna especially? Because he is a petty baby who is jealous of kanna, Yes jealous, of kanna, a fourteen years old. Because he feels like she stole his hubby wubby shin away from him…. God I hate him. And you know what that make him a pathetic idiot, after the scene where kanna beats his ass, he’s all mad and like “uhh I’m going to pout I wanted you to cry like a lot, now I’m gonna cry”. An that’s actually god, because it humanize him, he wants need thoughts, he isn’t one note, and that’s the most important!

Sou is a villain but before that he is a character, a fully developed character, and THAT’S WHAT MAKE HIM GREAT, Sou works because he works realistically, I mean if you forget the robot part, it’s easy to imagine a narcissist man child who needs to feel in power towards other, so his main prey are young vulnerable people.Which leads me to my next point:

Sou is a failure like really, and we aren’t sad for him.

Sou failed everything he worked on, he failed to get the paper from alice, he failed whith shin since he had to leave earlier than he thought he would leave, because of his mistake he lost his position in the death game, then he failed to kill gin or keiji, and then he died like an idiot losing his cool and acting like a toddler. And he knows it that why he is a bit self-hating (he should be). And yet none of us feel any sympathy towards him, why? Because sou is one of the most despicable guy in existence. He is a disgusting pervert, sadistic asshole, and abusive narcissistic cunt who thinks he is better than everyone. From the bottom of my heart I hate him sooooo much he is literally the character I hate the most in existence. He abused shin, ruined keiji’s life, traumatized the entire cast, literally assaulted sara like he physically assaulted her. He mocked nao and joe and kugie life as useless. He is an obsessive jerk AND I HATE HIM. And you know what…… It’s good. Like I actually feel a lot of emotions when I think about him, he fuels me with anger and disgust, and if your characters can make me feel that much rage then you did it, you created an actual perfect character. Hiyori is such a shit person that I think about him a lot, writers shouldn’t be scared to make a character such hittable assholes, example bojack horseman in bojack horseman is the vilest man on earth and I love it, because I genuinely hate him. Just like I genuinely love kanna, like really I really love her, I in the same time despise midori so bad. We hate him because he is horrible to good people that WE KNOW AND CARE ABOUT, not random npcs. There is a lot of… disgusting implications in his story with shin that I will not talk about it makes me really uncomfortable right now. SO HERE IS A VERY TACKY TRANSITION TO TALK ABOUT WHY I HATE JUNKO FROM DANGANRONPA.

Junko is boring, that’s it, she is boring, not funny not interesting, she is a fetish, she is the biggest Mary sue on earth, she is a gross character made to make fun of people with disabilities and queer people. Her only traits is being crazy, that’s it. I wouldn’t call midori that crazy actually, he’s methodical calculated, and precise. Crazyness is a term for people who aren’t in control of their actions and delusional about reality, sou is not crazy, he knows what he is doing, he is in full control, while characters like shin should actually be consider crazy, like shin is actually crazy but sou isn’t.

Conclusion:

Sou is a breath of fresh air, because nankidai had the balls to write an actually interesting deep and threatening character AND make him a villain. He didn’t fall into the trap of making him have a sad backstory or good motives, sou is just selfish, that’s all he is. He make him a fun entertaining guy who you absolutely hates, he made him threatening and at the same time a complete doofus. He made him humane and pathetic.

But the thing that make me love nankidai the most is this

The fact that he actually killed him that takes courage as a writer to just end a character THAT WAY, which is why midori will never come back alive he is forever dead. And that take a lot of talents as a writer to just take one of the most important characters and just get him drilled to death in the anus, like dammn nankidai you are a savage. That fact alone makes him one of the best characters in game, I hate him as a person, but has a character he is a masterpiece.

Though Kanna could solo him

this was posted as a video on my blog this is mainly so people who don't want to stay there reading a 24 minute video of my stuttering can have a bit of quiet

#yttd #your turn to die #kimi ga shine #shin tsukimi #kanna kizuchi #sou hiyori #midori yttd #cna you tell i have no life #i spend a part of my short existence writing about fucking midori #yttd analysis #frenchgremlim polls of laziness

[tizeline]

Now that we're entering into 2024, I'm asking some artists and writers that I follow:

1) What is the one piece you're most proud of from this past year?

2) What are some pieces that you would have liked more people to see? If you can include links, I'd love to go check them out!

3) What were your top three favorite pieces (art, comics, fics, etc) that someone else has made this past year?

(As always, no pressure to respond! Feel free to just ignore, or let me know if you'd rather I not send you these kinds of asks in the future.)

Oh this is fun! :D

1) The drawing I'm the most proud of this year is actually one I never ended up posting lmao, so I suppose this is the perfect reason to actually do that

I always feel a bit self-concious about posting non-fanart drawings cuz they don't tend to gain as much attention. Which, I am fully aware that there are more important things than clout! But I am a simple woman, I crave validation 😔 Anyway, I am still very happy about how this one turned out. I very much prefer drawing characters over enviroments, which led to me being way worse at drawing enviroments than characters, so I've been pushing myself for the last couple of years to get better at drawing backgrounds and surroundings. While I still definetily have a lot of room for improvement, this illustration here is the best I've done in drawing enviroments yet.

2) Again, original stuff don't tend to get as much attention (which I fully understand btw, I don't wanna make it seem like I'm complaining too much, I very much appreciate any and all support I get!!!!) but this post with some doodles of my OCs as well as this random drawing of some forest with a big stone head lying in it are a couple of posts I wouldn't mind if more people saw so..... the links are there if ya wanna have a look 👀

3) Oh man, I've seen so many awesome artpieces this year, i can't guarantee that these are my actual top 3 picks, but here are some that I could remember liking (and that I also managed to find lol) (also these are in no particular order

This GIF was the first piece of RotTMNT fanart I ever reblogged and it's still glued to my mind it's just great honestly.

Man I do not like Timothy in the 2012 TMNT series at all but MAN do I love the way pinetreevillain adapted the character for the Rise universe! He's made quite a few comics of Rise!Timothy and he made the character so extremely likable I just hdsjhgjakfga also Pine's artstyle is delicous yummy yum go check out his art now!

I really like those reanimation projects where a bunch of people collaborate and reanimate induvidual segments in their own style, and there was recently one of those released that was a remake of The Clothes Don't Make The Turtle episode from season two of RotTMNT and it's great! Go and watch it here!

#again i love this ask #great idea #tizel talk #tizel art #my art

[dangermousie]

A new poster for cdrama remake of one of my favorite kdramas, Flower of Evil, is out and oooh boy:

What the fuck is that even?

Compare to the posters for the Korean original:

And:

Or the Philippine remake - I don’t like the posters as much as the originals but they are still good:

And:

Both Korean and Philippine posters convey that this is an intense story about two people in an intense relationship.

The Chinese poster conveys…what? A study of middle aged people about to divorce out of ennui? A long discussion of Turner and Ayvazovsky sea landscapes? The vibe of it is utterly nothing to do with the story they are remaking in any fashion other than they all involve people.

Where is intensity? Tension? Love/desire/attraction? The freaking original is a hell of a love story in addition to dark suspense! There is no love or darkness or suspense or anything. If you see this poster and go “oh yeah this is about a policewoman who starts to suspect her beloved husband is a serial killer, but things turn out to be quite different than what they seem,” more power to you!

But then, let’s face it, I am still wondering how they can adapt 90% of the original narrative due to cdrama content restrictions. Maybe it WILL end up being a drama about a couple enjoying a seaside holiday as a last ditch divorce-avoidance measure, who knows.

All I know is we are not getting a scene like this:

And not just because this occurs right after she finds out he's married her under a false name and is a man wanted for murder for years. Go get it! She might put him away if he really did what he's accused of doing but not before taking him out for a spin one last time...and who can blame her?

#kdrama #cdrama #flower of evil #moon chae won #lee jun ki

[violet-moonstone]

i'm seeing too many complaints about astrid's live action casting and not enough about the idea that anyone other than jay baruchel can do hiccup justice

like im sorry, but if hiccup doesn't sound like the most awkward nerd-ass canadian on the planet, it simply is not hiccup. We saw in riders of berk and race to the edge that other voice actors could be replaced well enough (sometimes I actually liked the series version more - snotlout specifically) but hiccup?? hiccup IS jay baruchel. jay baruchel IS hiccup.

don't get me wrong - i genuinely hope it's good. I don't have high expectations because both dreamworks and disney have been consistently disappointing me for years now - but I really REALLY want it to be good. I want to enjoy it and squirm around in my theatre seat and cry at every emotional scene. I'm just really scared that they're going to try and recapture a magic that cannot be (and does not need to be) remade, especially not in the cynical manner so many remakes and sequels are being pumped out of late

edit: also there's little about the way astrid looks that has a huge impact on her character, and I think anyone with good acting skill would play her well.

best case scenario is that this is going to be a sandman/interview with the vampire/house of the dragon situation where people go "oh no woke," but then it's really good and people remember that having a black actor play a character who was originally white won't make it bad

worst case scenario is that the movie is bad - not because of diversity, but because of greed and lazy writing, and intellectually lazy/"im not a racist but..." type people will blame it on wokeness

man...I just really want another animated series with the original characters...or more comics...is that so much to ask???

#httyd #how to train your dragon #httyd live action

[ym-loreposting]

Portraits in Majora's Mask 3D

The 3DS remake of Majora's Mask gave the game a major graphical overhaul and added many details to the world of Termina. These include various portraits that give a bit more insight into the backstory of characters in the game, most notably the family running the Stock Pot Inn, the family of Clock Town's Mayor Dotour and the sisters living at Romani Ranch.

Stock Pot Inn Family

The family running the Stock Pot Inn in Clock Town consists of several members: Anju, her unnamed mother and her unnamed grandmother. The grandmother also mentions her son Tortus, who was Anju's father:

Oh, Tortus. Did you finish helping father? Then let mother read you a story.

Meanwhile, she also has a diary that belonged to her husband Gampy. In the original game, Tortus and Gampy remained unseen, but via the newly added portraits, it seems they have received designs. One shows a woman resembling Anju's grandmother in a wedding dress. Another shows the same couple with a baby, presumably Tortus.

We also see a portrait of an elderly man, presumably Gampy in his twilight years before his (implied) passing by the time of the main game.

We also get a shot of the whole family. It is clear that the woman in the wheelchair is Anju's grandmother, now a bit older than in previous pictures. It is harder to determine who the other people are, though below are my best guesses based on the assumption we are seeing all five members of the family here.

Besides this, we also get a picture of a younger mayor Dotour and what is presumably a child-aged Tortus. When talking to Anju's grandmother when wearing Kafei's Mask (Kafei being the son of Dotour), it becomes clear she knew Dotour well in the past as well:

Oh, Dotour... If they pick on you, you come tell teacher, OK?

As a neat aside, Dotour can also be seen holding a Keaton Mask, which is popular among youths in Clock Town. His son Kafei also owns such a mask and wears it during the game.

Finally, the portraits also reveal that Anju's grandmother owned a tiger in her later years. At first it was a small cub, but later on it is shown to have grown into a proper tiger. Her Hyrulean counterpart in Ocarina of Time also owns such a cub, though it appears the tiger in Termina has passed by the main game. Nonetheless, Anju's grandmother still has a tribute to the tiger on the back of her wheelchair.

Romani Ranch

A few paintings can also be found at Romani Ranch, though a few relevant ones can also be found at the Stock Pot Inn. It is namely mentioned that ranch owner Cremia and Anju are friends:

In town...I have a friend. Her name's Anju..

It is also suggested by Cremia's sister Romani that Cremia has a crush on Kafei, who is Anju's fiancée and supposed to marry her soon:

Romani knows... My sister, Cremia, has someone in town she likes... But that person is supposed to get married the day of the carnival. It's hard for my sister... Going into town...

These things are reflected in the portraits. In the Stock Pot Inn, a portrait of Cremia and Romani can be found. Meanwhile, in Cremia and Romani's house, a portrait of what looks to be a younger Anju, Kafei and Cremia can be seen.

A second picture from Cremia and Romani's house seems to show the two of them in front of the Milk Bar that their ranch supplies with Milk, albeit very faintly:

Lastly, the portraits contextualize a rather odd sidequest of Majora's Mask. During the game, strange ghostly aliens attack the ranch and try to steal its cows. The ghosts attack once every year and arrive in a glowing ball of light:

They... They come at night every year when the carnival gets closer. They come riding in a bright, shining ball, and many of them come down...to the barn...

However, the portraits suggest the ghosts may stalk the ranch more often than that. This is because both in the Stock Pot Inn and Cremia and Romani's house, pictures of UFOs can be seen.

#majora's mask 3d #legend of zelda #tloz #anju #dotour #romani #kafei #cremia

[rallamajoop]

The RE4 Remake and Luis Serra Navarro

I have a gazillion thoughts about the new RE4 remake, and a dozen different aspects I kind of want to talk about. But you’ve got to start somewhere, so let’s talk Luis.

I doubt it’d be controversial to call Luis “easily the most interesting new character introduced in this game.” We’ve got complex and questionable motivations, a bunch of plot-relevant backstory, and a bonus-serve of extra random details about his childhood – much of which is very easy to miss, and rewards you for paying attention. By the end of this game, I’m pretty sure I know more about Luis than I do about Leon, and I still have questions. He’s not just one of my favourite parts of this new game, he’s a perfectly little microcosm of all the ways the remake has reworked awkward aspects of the original – mostly for the better, but not without creating new problems in the process.

But to get into all that, let’s start back with the original Luis from 2004.

So, for context, I haven’t actually played the original RE4. Since getting into the franchise, I’ve been consuming past canon instalments mostly by the lazy strategy of watching cutscene compilations on youtube. I am fully aware of the important place RE4 has in gaming history, the way it defined 3rd-person-shooter over-the-shoulder-gaming (or, to use my preferred term, lookit-the-booty-shooty). I have watched Jacob Geller wax rhapsodic about multiple different versions of this game.

But for all that people remember about the original RE4, the plot rarely seems to be more than a footnote. And for my own money, all I can tell you is that either this is just not a gaming experience well-served being experienced through the youtube-only medium (hardly the stuff of serious critique), or me and the original RE4 just aren’t clicking somewhere. I’m all for campy horror (see everything I’ve ever written about the Hammer films just to begin with), but RE4’s sense of humour largely leaves me cold. And Luis is – again – a pretty good demonstration of the kind of record-scratch moments that made it so hard to get into.

You can find a compilation of all Luis' cutscenes here, for reference. Like the remake, Leon first finds Luis tied up and gagged in a village house – apparently the only un-infected person in the vicinity. His first act on being un-gagged is to ask for a cigarette – a decent little character-moment. Luis claims to be a former cop from Madrid, who quit because he felt his work went unappreciated. Given Luis’ general demeanour, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn he was actually let go for taking bribes or something, but that’s more of a vibe. When Leon admits he was a cop back in Raccoon City, Luis claims he ‘might have seen a sample of the virus in a lab at the department’, and… hang on, Madrid PD has T-Virus samples lying around? The hell? Where’s this going?

But we don’t find out, because the conversation is interrupted, and Luis makes a break for it.

As in the remake, Luis’ next scene is to show up for the cabin siege scene, where he backs up Leon with a handgun. Cool, that tracks with the whole ‘former cop’ backstory.

Luis gets two further appearances, though the first mostly consists of him running up to say “I’ve got something for you guys! What… oh, shit, I must have dropped it,” and going away again, and it’s exactly as awkward as it sounds. But he does at least establish that the ‘something’ is a plagas-suppressant, as he knows Leon and Ashley are infected, and wants to help.

His final scene has him return with the suppressant, only to be stabbed in the back and killed by Saddler. As he lies dying, he admits he was really a researcher working for the Los Illuminados all along, only lately turned traitor – and we’ve officially hit our record-scratch moment.

So what was all that stuff about being a cop? Luis has good reason to lie about being a researcher, but ‘unemployed former cop’ is a heckuva cover story for a scientist, and what was that about Madrid PD having T-Virus samples? Luis-the-researcher might well have seen the virus somewhere, but why bring it up at all?

More than anything, these feel like leftover artifacts of a character who’s been substantially reworked somewhere in development, just without actually rewriting the start of the script to match. Luis’ story, like so much of this game, feels badly in need of a second draft.

Luis goes on to get something of an afterlife in collectable documents, and another scene in Ada’s DLC campaign. He’s still trying to get a plaga sample to her in this version, and he’s still responsible for the lab that cures Leon and Ashley of their infections. Ada's commentary on his character is interesting, and documents suggest he had a grandfather who used to hunt in the region, but he doesn’t get much more backstory.

Regardless, nearly 20 years later, Luis has finally got his second draft, and there’s a lot here that’s improved. (Have a new cutscene compilation link for reference.)

To begin with, any talk about being a cop is gone (an easy win). We find out he’s a researcher much earlier too – Leon is a lot less trusting of Luis this time, and calls in for a background check. He’s informed Luis used to work for Umbrella, and reacts as you’d expect. The cabin siege scene still goes off in similar fashion (though this time, Luis doesn’t feel it necessary to comment on Ashley’s tits the moment he meets her – another definite improvement).

This time though, Ashley starts coughing up blood immediately after they escape, and Luis’ offer to help remove the parasites happens right after the cabin siege, rather than being left for some awkward whoops-I-dropped-it moment later. The new scene actually finishes with the very same exchange (“Why are you helping us?”/ “It just makes me feel better”) – but this version, similarly, feels so much better. A+ revision work so far.

The remake also spells out Luis’ deal with Ada sooner too – her first proper scene in this version is her first contact with Luis. Again, Luis’ story ends in the castle with a stab in the back, and the stolen sample he was carrying being reclaimed by one of the villains (Krauser, this time, since Saddler apparently likes to delegate more in this version). But in between, things get a little odd.

Having already offered to help them, Luis contacts Leon by radio a couple of times during the castle chapters – firstly to say he’s waiting for Leon and Ashley in the courtyard. But Luis isn’t in the courtyard. His next message claims that he ran into trouble, and he’s had to retreat to the ballroom. But he’s not in the ballroom either. No further calls happen, nor does Leon react to his absence in either location.

Leon finally runs into him, apparently by chance, after being thrown down a hole and wandering for some time through tunnels deep under the castle. How did Luis end up down there too? No idea.

I’m glad he does though, because the following chapter you spend with Luis as your cabin-siege-style partner is a very good time. Though Leon is still distrustful and Luis still evasive, they exchange some great banter and generally make a good team. We encounter Luis’ love for Don Quixote, he admits he was working for Los Illuminados… and then Krauser stabs him, and Leon lights one last cigarette for him before he dies. It’s touching and very well done (not to mention dense with slashy subtext, if you want to take it that way).

Exploring Luis’ lab during the game’s final chapter adds some nice details too – equipment pilfered from Umbrella, an old photo with his colleagues, and naturally, text documents everywhere. But it’s his email logs with “A.W.” (Ada, obviously) that will most reward anyone paying attention – particularly the line you still remember the code phrase?

In this version, ‘got a smoke?’ is still almost the first thing Luis says to Leon. But you might notice it’s also the first thing he says to Ada. And this time, we’ve got a whole new explanation as to why.

Admittedly, the execution is still a bit lacking. Luis calls Ada by her first name just a few lines after using his ‘code phrase’, and seems to know her well enough not to need a code phrase, so what's going on here? If Luis knew Ada herself was going to meet him, why try his code phrase out on Leon? Alternately, if he suspected Ada might have sent someone like Leon instead of coming in person, how did he know it was her when they met? Maybe we could still have used another draft. But it’s a otherwise a fun little easter egg to recontextualise something from the original in a creative way.

Much more has been added to Luis’ backstory hidden in documents from the village. You can find photos of 'a boy with his grandfather', an old diary left behind by said grandfather – and if you’re paying really close attention, a label on another copy of that photo naming the pair ‘Navarro’ – Luis’ last name. You might also notice that the boy in the story has Luis’ fixation on Don Quixote (another character trait added by the remake).

But young Luis’ story ends in tragedy, the conclusion picked up elsewhere in the village elder’s records: the grandfather is bitten by a wolf, begins experiencing what seem to be known symptoms, and tells the village elder "you know what to do." The old man is killed, and his cabin and everything in it burned to the ground so the infection can’t spread.

Now, the idea the village has been quietly dealing with plaga-infected wolves for generations despite the fact that the plaga were supposedly sealed under the castle until recently has problems of its own, but that’s a bit beyond scope. The more relevant problem is the idea that Luis comes from the same village where all the action takes place – why? What does this add to the story? With Luis’ new Umbrella-Europe-backstory, making the village his birthplace seems like little more than meaningless coincidence, thrown in without anyone thinking it through.

But there is one intriguing possibility buried in the subtext of Luis’ story, and it’s an angle I’d love to see explored.

The village records end with the scene of a young Luis watching in silence as his childhood home burns to the ground, his only family still inside, then walking away, never to be seen again. Now, suppose that’s the very moment that inspired him to go into medical research, driven to understand infectious agents like the one that took his grandfather’s life, that the people he grew up with only knew to treat with medieval superstition. Suppose that’s what made him seek out shady employers like Umbrella, the only outfits with the interest and funding to delve into that area. The drive to find cures, to find proof that what happened to his grandfather didn’t have to be treated like a ritual witch-burning could’ve fuelled a lot of denial in Luis about where the funding was coming from. And after Umbrella’s collapse, you can only imagine how he might jump at the chance to work on the same parasites that had infected that wolf from so long ago.

If that was the intent, though (and damn do I want it to be), I honestly think it’s a little too buried in layers of subtext to carry. I can only hope maybe we’ll be seeing more of Luis in DLC to come – in Ada’s Separate Ways, if not his own – that might expand on those parts of his history a little more explicitly. Or at least cover what he was actually up to all that time he keeps messaging Leon from different parts of the castle (did he genuinely run into trouble? Was Ada pushing him to keep Leon moving for her own purposes? How did he wind up down in the mines?)

The notion of Luis as a village native still has its problems though. The house you find him in seems to be the same one he grew up in – it’s a cabin by the lake, his grandfather’s diary and photo is there, etc. Only those old village records spell out very clearly that that cabin burned to the ground as part of a major character moment. Which is it, game? You can’t have it both ways.

Even if we ignore that awkward ‘burned to the ground’ detail, are we to take it the ganados caught Luis in his old house and left him tied him up in his own cellar? Wouldn’t they move a prisoner like him? Speaking of which, was that one guy banging on the floor supposed to be hammering the hatch shut? Why? Was Luis being left down there to die? Don’t they still need to question him about that sample he stole? This stuff does not stand up to scrutiny.

And the idea of Luis as a native still doesn’t completely work for me, because shouldn’t there have been some clue in the way he talks about the place? Chief Mendez is a man Luis knew from his childhood – when Luis sees him coming in a cutscene, his reaction betrays no more familiarity than ‘not this guy’. In that cabin siege scene, surely there must be faces in that crowd he’s firing on that he recognises. And fuck, how do you come back to the place you grew up, find its residents reduced to zombie slaves, and think, “sure, I could work for these people…”?

I do realise expecting this level of humanity out of characters in a Resident Evil game might be a little much, but this stuff throws me. It builds the impression the Luis who grew up in the village is a character that exists only in text files, largely independent from the cutscene-Luis of the rest of the game. When you expect your audience to notice minor details like a surname on a photo in order to put together a main character’s backstory, you’re demanding they pay close attention. And once you’ve demanded that much investment, it’s worth keeping track of whether the cabin by the lake was supposed to be burned down or not, why Luis should be able to call Ada by name but treat Mendez like a stranger, and other such confusing detail. And Luis’ story is still positively logical and consistent compared to that of Chief Mendez himself, or anything much else in the game’s lore.

Luis is genuinely one of my favourite parts of the remake – he’s complicated, interesting, and fun. But trying to make sense of him could be a more rewarding experience. Many things are improved from the original, but for my money, they could still have stood to go for a third draft.

#Luis Serra Navarro #Resident Evil 4 #Resident Evil 4 Remake #Resident Evil #meta #character analysis

[bisexual-horror-fan]

Why Freddy Is A Child Killer And Nothing More.

SO! I am fucking sick and tired of seeing this shit over and over again so I think it is high time I make a post addressing this formally. Freddy Krueger is not a pedophile, child molester, kiddy toucher, or whatever the fuck you want to call it. 

You might be saying “Well Bex! I heard that originally Wes Craven-” Yup. Originally Wes Craven played around with the idea of it but it was cut early on and did not make it into the final script and nothing pertaining to that was ever shot either. 

Next you might say, “Oh but what about the 2010 remake? He was totally a fucking pedo in that!”

You are right in the 2010 remake he was! Okay. So. I am gonna say this next part loudly and clearly.  

Fuck the 2010 remake.

Wes Craven has literally nothing to do with it. In fact they did not consult Wes on the remake at all and he expressed his displeasure over that fact as well! The remake is not fucking canon to me and many others due to that fact alone. The vast, vast majority of people you see on here, myself included, who love Freddy are talking about the OG 80s and New Nightmare Freddy played by Robert Englund.

Speaking of Robert Englund! He is very important to this conversation. Now why is that? Because he played the character for twenty years? Yes I think that does give him a good amount of say in this conversation. But more than that he literally made the character who is. After A Nightmare On Elm Street back in 1984, the first one, Robert asked for more money and better billing when ANOES 2 was going to happen, the studio said fuck that, the makeup is the most important part! And they recast him! 

They got two weeks into shooting before they realized how hard they fucked up and asked for Robert back, meeting his originally, extremely fair, especially considering his role, demands.

Freddy is not just saying bitch, it is not corny one liners and it is NOT just make up, there is a fuck ton more to him, there is depth and Robert? Clearly understands that to the point that the studio agreed no one else could play him in the original franchise’s run. So I think we can agree what Robert thinks about Freddy is clearly important, leading to my next point.

As for what Robert actually has to say on the matter, and I quote from this article published on Bloody Disgusting in 2015 of what he said when asked for his thoughts on this by some fans at comic con.                                       

“You can imagine Freddy to be anything you want,” Englund began. “My theory is the word “child killer”, there’s something darkly…darkly poetic about that. It’s a very frightening phrase. Child killer! That should be enough. And I think there’s something symbolic about being a child killer. He kills children because children are their future and there’s no place for Freddy in the future. And it’s revenge on the parents! It’s the most painful thing a parent can do is to lose a child before they die. I mean, I can’t imagine how anybody…how any adults or parents survive that, the death of a child. So that’s nasty enough!”

I mean that says it all to me. He has been asked on many occasions and I have seen him even refer to the idea of Freddy being a molester as “gilding the lily” basically, it is wholly unnecessary like a hat on a hat. Freddy being a child killer is enough. Wes thought so. Robert thinks so too.

And for me? That is more than enough. I hope this clears up shit for a lot of people.

#Freddy Krueger #slasher x reader #BHF vents #BHF thoughts #BHF speaks #I am so so so SO tired of seeing this shit parroted over and over again with NO thought to it #Freddy has not is not and never will be THAT alright?! #Freddy Krueger X Reader #Take it #Look at it #Internalize it #Did I make an almost 1K post going off about this? #YES I DID

[shuttershocky]

thoughts on snake eater remake

HAH. Konami won't even look at Metal Gear as anything more than gambling material after their incredibly public fallout with Kojima.

They locked the man and his team inside the Konami offices and security didn't allow them to go home until they finished Metal Gear Solid V, and THEN released MGSV unfinished anyway. It's like /the/ most infamous story of developer abuse in the history of video games. They're not about to—

Oh I think I'm going to cry.

Give me a bit.

Ok.

I looked and there's no word yet about how involved the original Metal Gear team is in this remake. I imagine that unless the chairman of Konami experienced a massive change of heart, there's no way they come crawling back to the original developers. The fact that they're still using the original recorded dialogue and story kinda sounds to me like a bunch of developers inside Konami finally managed to push the suits to save Metal Gear after seeing the online reaction to MGS3 Pachinko, but won't touch the story elements themselves because they want to keep it exactly as is without the original team working on it.

Anyway, the MGS3 Remake and the Metal Gear Solid collection being labeled Vol 1 can only be good news. More rereleases could be on the way.

PC versions means media preservation is in the bag (read: really easy to pirate, not dependent on emulators), and there's few other series I want preserved for future generations like I do Metal Gear. Most of the games are currently playable on emulators, but MGS4 is infamously difficult to play because it only came out on the PS3 and the Shadow Moses flashback of that game causes problems for PS3 emulators because, if I remember the technical issue right, MGS4 actually used the PS3's own PS1 emulator for that section. If MGS4 gets a proper rerelease on PC, then people can finally play it again without needing to get a 17 year old console.

God I hope MGS3D is fucking good I hope it's well optimized and looks good and plays well and keeps all the quirky things that made it Metal Gear if I fast forward my system clock by 2 weeks The End better fucking die of old age and I hope that the Konami execs that killed Metal Gear in the first place all get booted out because fuck them still for what they did.

Whoever in that company is fighting so hard to get Konami to produce real video games again instead of going all in on pachinko like they wanted to, you're my hero.

#STILL IN A DREEEAAAM #SNAKE EEEEEAAAAAAAAATTTEEEEEERRRRRRRR

[ispyspookymansion]

do you have any good horror movie recs that get overlooked because they have awful posters?

OH THIS IS A SPECTACULAR QUESTION LMAO. okay let me go take a look and see what i can say about this. its hard to say what makes a poster Awful but heres some i think are better movies than their posters let on. mostly my complaints with these posters are being too generic and not getting creative with their marketing for a good movie, or having weird effects ON their poster for no reason

and these are all picked from the default posters on letterboxd!

the girl with all the gifts (too generic, movie is not. looks bland and the emphasis on military makes it look like an action flick)

the dark (i kinda like this one actually but its not very eye catching. matches the film in its measured tone but is doing a disservice to getting viewers)

fright night (this is the remake. Watch the original first, but this is a great and fun remake to ME! the poster is so cheesy though i can see people assuming its ass)

impetigore (i dont know why they did this on her eyes. i think it looks. weird? and to me doesnt tie a ton to the tone and plot. its a good movie but the way this poster looks put me off it for a bit)

red eye (more of a thriller, but way more fun that this generic ass poster suggests)

pontypool (much like the dark, i GET why this one is so simple, but again, not gonna get people into what you’re selling if you dont give a tantalizing little bite for them to be hooked with)

#i generally like even the cheesy posters idk poster art is just so fun but heres a few #if you hate me for my takes here um thats okay…..i have a hard time thinking of Bad posters! #asks #anons #kora.txt

[juniperhillpatient]

Okay BEARING in mind please that I have a lot of thought out ATLA opinions (most of them can be found in the tag for my first rewatch) & also that i do not analyze smartly on first watches / read throughs of ANYTHING (examples include that on my first watch of Buffy I shipped Buffy/Xander & hated Dawn, on my first watch of ATLA I disliked Azula for a long time & didn’t care about Jet, on my first watch of Scream I wanted Dewey to be the killer because of Scary Movie. I could go on probably)

—- here are my initial reactions to ATLA LA as someone who’s been having fun watching (usually tipsy) & enjoying my faves in live action even if it’s badly written 😃

Pros:

Jet is hot

Uh… um. Uh… umm. That was my big one okay..

….

….

Oh! Oh! Suki is also hot.

….

…

I think Katara’s live action actress did a really nice job even if I don’t always love how she was written I could tell this girl put her heart into it

Same with Azula’s actress tbh. And Aang. Zuko & Iroh also. It took me a second to get used to this Iroh but acting wise ignoring the script Zuko & Iroh did good. (Sokka & Yue were only okay but they didn’t do bad by any means once I got used to them.)

Azula’s intro was super fun. I thought for a second they were even gonna do something fun with her & this whole ratting out the rebellion plot. Also the actress did good & there were a few parts that were well written like her early displays of insecurity & her beating the shit out of that trainer & shooting Zuko’s letter. There was promise until there wasn’t.

They didn’t do a bad job of combining some of the plots. “Masks” was the strongest for me. It did a nice job showcasing several plots & I really enjoyed the significance placed on Zuko valuing the lives of inexperienced soldiers. Everything just came together super well in that episode with the Koh plot & everything. Now that certain criticisms of the Omashu episodes (like Jet’s mischaracterization in hurting his own people) have been brought up to me I dislike those episodes more than on my first watch through but I still think the Freedom Fighters were fun to see. And if you don’t analyze it too hard the plot combinations are fun. Anyway why would you analyze this adaptation too hard?

Cons:

Why isn’t Azula scared of Ozai? I get it he’s forged her into the perfect weapon & she did what he technically wanted but she disrespected him publicly & he was fine? Okay.

Above mentioned explanation of why Jet wasn’t done right ^^ He shouldn’t be willing to hurt Earth Kingdom citizens. Even if it was fun to see his logic & the Jetara moments & I do think the actor did a good job (no I’m not just saying that ‘cause he’s hot. That helps though).

Katara didn’t have to struggle at all she’s just a #girlboss! Isn’t that great? #feminism!

Who’s this super serious kid who always puts the mission first & where’s my silly goofy guy who wants to go on endless side quests? The actor does decent but that’s just not Aang.

Discount Zhao 😭😂

I just -

Discount Zhao lmaoooo 😭

Overall: I had fun. I will repeat myself - this is like the Harry Potter movies or the Series of Unfortunate Events tv show or any other adaptation of something I loved in its original form that’s never going to get it quite right to me. I hated some things. I had fun with other parts. Mostly? It was just fun to see my faves in a new format. It’ll never ever live up to the original but I never in a million years wanted nor expected that. Quite frankly? I didn’t want this to be made at all. But since it is whether I wanted it or not? I’m glad it was at least entertaining & enjoyable to have fun with.

This was ALWAYS going to be an example of what I call the “Marvelification” of television. Nothing is nuanced everything is quippy everyone’s edges are dulled. I never expected anything else so I’m not even listing that as a con it’s just a given to me. Binge culture whole season releases & the endless remakes & reboots of streaming sites are the death of television. This is again just a given to me I don’t have much more to say about it right now (though I’m sure I do just not now).

The original ATLA will always mean everything to me & this was just a fun little adaptation. Like a fanfic. If it gets renewed? Sure I’ll have fun watching more. But if it doesn’t I truly don’t care. Anyway I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts eventually these are INITIAL reactions please don’t treat them like I signed this post in blood I’m just thinking out loud having just finished this show! That’s all for now lol

#rose watches atla la

[ape-apocalypse]

Road To The Kingdom - Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes Film

I remember seeing the trailers for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, shaking my head at yet another remake of a long-ago franchise. In 2011, we were hearing rumors of a new Spider-Man coming to replace Tobey Maguire and now I was looking at Harry, son of the Green Goblin, becoming a scientist and creating a drug to make apes smarter. On the other hand, Andy Serkis was getting a main role, more screen time than Gollum in Lord of the Rings, where I adored him and was eager to see him again. I was going in with some hesitation but decided to just turn my brain off for a summer action movie. 

I was surprised with how much I enjoyed Rise. Many fans seem to put this as their least favorite of the reboot trilogy. I can understand why; it doesn't have nearly as much action as Dawn or War and runs at a slower pace. But what it did have was fantastic character building in Caesar, which is needed in this trilogy. I would not be as engaged with these movies if I didn't love Caesar. Seeing him start as a little baby with his human family living a carefree youth, and then grow into a mature ape questioning his place in the world really filled out his character. He could have easily just been a random lab chimp who got smarter but I think the slow-build really fleshes him out. You empathize with him when he protects James Franco's father to the point of biting a neighbor. The human world completely turns on him and Caesar is forced to realize his true nature as an ape. 

Andy Serkis is truly allowed to shine in this role. Gollum was fun and had the two different sides to play with but there is such a powerful subtlety to this performance. Though Caesar can sign, it's mostly not translated into subtitles; only in two conversations with Maurice does the audience get a translation. The majority of the film and Caesar's story is carried out entirely through his expressions, gestures, and body language. Look at the tall confident walk he has when directing Rocket to give cookies to the other apes. The heartbreak I felt as Caesar's expression falls when his human family says he can't go home. The wordless fury when Buck the gorilla sacrifices himself on the bridge to bring down the helicopter and save the escaping apes. Even when the story can get bogged down a bit in the constant science explanations, I immediately perk up when the focus switches back to Caesar and can soak in the incredible performance of Andy Serkis.

Rise is much less action filled than its sequel films because it has to cover a lot as set up for the apocalypse to come. That set up is good, but again the science is a lot and can be a bore. However I think the pay off works. The horror of a simple graphic of the Earth, where one line splits and becomes many more, spreading across the planet, was very effective for me. I've heard people who didn't like that the apocalypse that destroys the human race is done in the credits, that it feels more like an afterthought. But for me, I think it was a powerful hook. Halfway through watching the film for the first time, I'd forgotten that this was Rise of the PLANET of the Apes. So I was excited for Caesar and his apes to escape, just happy that they'd gotten their freedom. Then the sick pilot and the spreading sickness animation hit me like a ton of bricks like "Oh shit, I forgot the humans have to die for the ape world to happen!" This probably didn't happen for everyone, especially those familiar with the original movies, but I liked the ending, undercutting the triumph of the apes with the doom of humanity.

Other than Will and his father Charles, the rest of the human cast is mostly forgettable, servicing the story where needed. Tom Felton of Harry Potter fame is a bit fun in his over-the-top hatred of the apes. When he gets to say the iconic "get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape", my movie theater laughed at how forced the line felt, which I'm sure was not the intention. The weirdness of the line was swallowed up by the excitement of Caesar speaking for the first time and leading the apes out of the shelter, but I still remember the laughter of the audience when rewatching this movie. 

Overall, I think it's a great start to the series. Not the most exciting of the films, definitely dragged down by a lot of science exposition and unremarkable human characters, but a good intro to the world, setting up the apocalypse and making you root for a bunch of apes over the humans. You probably could jump directly into Dawn and War if you wanted, just knowing that humanity was wiped out by an illness that made apes smarter and Caesar is the leader, but I think getting to know Caesar makes it worth a watch before the more exciting films.

(Note that this is the only movie in this trilogy that does not have a novelization, likely because it was the first film and they didn't know how well the trilogy would do. It's a shame because I would have loved to read the thoughts of Caesar finding his place among both humans and apes.)

Intro / Next

#rise of the planet of the apes #planet of the apes #pota #kingdom of the planet of the apes #caesar #andy serkis #dawn of the planet of the apes #war for the planet of the apes #war of the planet of the apes #mine #reboot pota #maurice #koba

[sapphire-weapon]

I love how unlike in the original game, Leon is actually angry at Ada. In the original not only does he seem unaffected by the fact that she's still alive, he doesn't even care that she used and betrayed him. I like how Leon now acts indifferent and distrustful of her, and now Ada is the one trying to get his attention.

Another thing that stood out to me was that Ada tried to convince Leon to let Ashley die twice, and I love her disappointed expression when Leon ignored her both times lol.

I'm happy that Capcom is rewriting their canon, and I really hope they scrap Aeon if they plan on remaking RE 6. Ada is still basically treating Leon like a dog and that's disgusting and I don't understand how some people think the Aeon is a "beautiful, romantic relationship".

Their meeting in OG is so weird because it almost feels like that's not actually the first time that they've seen each other between RE2 and RE4. I don't think that that's actually the case -- but, at the very least, Leon seems to have gotten confirmation a long time ago that Ada was actually still alive. ("So it is true. You, working with Wesker.") So, it does make sense that he's not super shocked or otherwise emotionally affected to see her.

I don't think that it's fair to say that he doesn't care that she betrayed him, though. He's definitely wary of her throughout the game ("Why are you here? Why'd you show up like this?" / "Maybe it's about time you told me the reason why you're here."), and he's right to be because -- duh, Wesker.

But, he's not overly worried about it because Ada also gave him a declaration of love and a genuine, dying kiss in OG RE2, so OG Leon has no reason to believe that Ada's going to do anything to actively hurt him or fuck him over, even if she is working with Wesker.

Remake canon is a whole different beast.

Ada never professed feelings in RE2make, and the kiss she gave him in that version of the story was disingenuous and outwardly manipulative. He might not have realized it at the time, but I'm sure he definitely saw it in hindsight. And Leon doesn't have the intel about Wesker going into RE4make, either, so he has absolutely no idea what she's been up to in the last six years. He has every reason to be way more suspicious and uncertain of her motives than he was in OG.

For all intents and purposes, I would argue that Remake canon killed Aeon in RE2make, when Leon points a gun at her and tells her that he never trusted her. OG Leon would have never, because, arguably, OG Ada never deserved it.

Like, I really don't think it's fair to say that OG Ada treated OG Leon like a dog. OG Ada was honest with Leon in ways that Remake Ada never, ever was. OG Ada was also kinder and softer in a lot of different ways that Remake Ada isn't -- and, OG Ada has only ever been on Leon's side. No matter which way the tides turned, Ada always kept her lot thrown in with Leon and never went back on it.

Remake Ada does not do that -- at least, not in a way that he can see. Remake Ada actually does manipulate Remake Leon in the way that people perceive her as always having done in OG (but she actually didn't).

Like, is Aeon stupid and poorly written and badly executed in OG? Oh, absolutely. That's why we're having this conversation to begin with. It's so poorly executed that people can't even agree on what the fuck actually happened between them. But... it is internally consistent, if you pull back and look at it as a complete picture.

This might be a weird pedantic, overly nuanced thing I'm about to say but, like.

I feel like Ada's use of Leon in OG was done from a place of respect, if that makes sense? She knew how smart and capable he was, and she respected that about him, so she looked at him from the perspective of "we'll work together on shit as a team, but I just can't/won't tell him the full extent of what I'm actually doing." And Leon kind of understood that and was grateful for her help, because she continuously gave him reasons to trust her. So, his response was, "We'll work together on shit as a team, and if I don't ask her what she's doing, we can stay a team."

Remake Ada's use of Leon is a lot more malicious. She doesn't respect him; she wants something from him. Remake Ada's use/manipulation of Leon feels more like her looking at him and going "You know, I could probably get something out of him if I play my cards right." It's like that old Chris Rock bit where he talks about how girls don't fuck him just because they want to fuck him; they look at him and go "You know, if I fuck Chris Rock, I bet I could get him to pay my Visa bill."

I feel like that has the opportunity to change, though? Because it does seem like Ada has a genuine change of heart in the post-credits scene of RE4make. The question now is if Remake Leon would actually accept that change of heart or not.

Personally, I don't think that he will -- I think he wants to, just like he wanted to trust her in RE2make. But, ultimately, he didn't trust her. And I think he won't accept her change of heart, either, simply because she's given him absolutely no reason to.

And I think Remake canon could be setting up to turn Ada into a far more tragic character. Without Leon's support and without a plan already set in place when she betrays Wesker, I don't think that this is going to end well for her. She might become the type of character who learned the lesson too late and now can't be saved.

Which... like... sucks. But at the same time is really fucking awesome, because literally no one in the RE universe ever faces real, actual, tangible consequences for their actions. Most of that fucking cast should be dead or turned or both by now. And while it sucks that Ada might end up the sacrificial lamb for this, she's also the best candidate for being the first one to go through it -- because, if Capcom can pull it off with Ada, they're coming for Chris next. Because no one needs to face consequences more than that motherfucker.

And that's gonna be a whole fuckin thing, man.

#resident evil #resident evil 4 #resident evil 2 #ada wong #leon kennedy

[ihavedonenothingright]

So thus far into TOTK (I haven't finished the game, but I got the instruction to go beat the final boss), it really does seem like TOTK and BOTW are completely separate lore-wise from most every other game in the series except for maybe Skyward Sword. Zelda travels all the way back to Hyrule's "founding," which she is fairly familiar with, and there's a comment one of the researchers makes about mentions of a "Zelda" in the ancient past confirming that perhaps the name doesn't originate from their princess. He's unaware it's the same Zelda, which means naming every princess of Hyrule "Zelda" is not a thing. This Zelda is, as far as she knows, the first (though that doesn't eliminate the chance others existed).

This (and some other stuff) leads me to believe that the founding of Hyrule in TOTK takes place after all the old games. I highly doubt that all historical records of the name Zelda would have completely disappeared between the ancient past of TOTK and TOTK's present if that space was occupied by all the other games. And that is ignoring the weird time stuff and the required presence of two Ganondorfs simultaneously. On top of that, Sonia, the only Hylian we see much of in the past, resembles Skyward Sword's Impa more than Zelda and Gaepora. We don't know for sure that that Zelda founded Hyrule, but the reincarnated spirit of Hylia is blood-related. So I'm solidly shunting aside the idea that this is the first founding of Hyrule.

Now because the name Zelda has apparently been forgotten, even by TOTK's ancient past (Rauru and Sonia don't exactly go "Oh! Zelda! That's a famous name"), and no one seems aware that Hyrule existed before, I'm going to say that pre (or post...) the arrival of the Zonai, Hyrule goes through something like a Dark Age. Their history is no longer preserved and retold like in older games, and so eventually, you end up in a place where there is no Hyrule, and no one knows about the Triforce and the cycle. But that's really odd, right? Like, scarily odd. How do you forget the Triforce exists? It's the big war-causer in Hyrule's history, this thing that grants you the power to completely remake the world. And no knowledge of Zelda or Link or Ganon? No knowledge of the epic cycle? Clearly Zelda is still inheriting the memories of her prior reincarnations since she recognizes the name "Ganondorf" in a flashback, so what gives?

It seems awfully convenient that no one knows about the Triforce, especially since there's evidence Zelda carries it. The symbol shows up when she uses her sealing powers, and it's definitely still associated with the royal family's crest. Now the second part is really weird since we're at a second founding of Hyrule and no one seems to know what it is. But just focusing on Zelda's powers: for the Triforce to be the source of them, that would have to mean it somehow ended up in Zelda's bloodline. How would it do that?

They mention that she seems to have inherited Rauru's light power and Sonia's time power (which implies they had kids, I know people are skeptical and I am too, but it seems like they did). So, does Rauru's power also derive from the Triforce? Did she get it from him?

Well if he did have it, founding a Hyrule where no one remembers the Triforce, the cycle, or old Hyrule would be much easier.

There's a lot of problems with this theory: namely, Rauru isn't technically dead (I think) until the beginning of TOTK, so wouldn't the Triforce have stayed with him that entire time if he had it? But there's also evidence in the games that the Triforce is a one-use kind of thing, so I can see him getting one shot with it and then passing it along via bloodline like a lot of Zeldas have done with the Triforce of Wisdom. Something about Rauru strikes me as very sinister, and some other people have done a really good job looking at that in more detail (check out @golvio and @betterbemeta's posts), but yeah the vibe of Rauru's inner circle and his Hyrule overall is strange. The representatives of all four races (though we never see the Sheikah in the past, so we can't verify what's going on with them at this point; they might not be Hylians yet) cover their faces with these large, clearly Zonai masks to signal their fealty to Rauru. Practically, they serve the same purpose as the champions' blue clothes, but it's so much more uncomfortable. They don't have faces! They aren't individuals! The only people in the past whose faces we see (who aren't Sonia, Rauru, Zelda, or Mineru because even the ancient Hylians in Rauru's employ wear masks) is Ganondorf and some of his Gerudo. Rauru, Sonia, and the royal line get to walk uncovered, but everyone else depicted as loyal and righteous is faceless.

So I would hazard that the reason BOTW and TOTK are so cut off from the other games lore-wise is not just distance, but because Rauru, when he came down to become king, used the Triforce to completely reforge Hyrule in his own image. It's possible he was told to do this by Hylia, and sent down by the gods as a representative of theirs, but I think it's also possible he was sent for another job (fixing the chaos that is the three way timeline split) and chose to stay and set himself up as a king. He doesn't seem to have been a particularly notable figure among the Zonai; Mineru notes how well he's done for himself on the surface which leads me to believe he had far less power where he came from. Whether or not his intentions were benevolent is a "who knows?" sort of question. Maybe they were! But I think Rauru is a good case for the idea that Ganondorf's reincarnation cycle isn't some cosmic punishment, but rather a natural reaction of balance. Rauru builds all his shrines of light, doesn't appoint a Sage of Shadow (no Sage of Shadow is weird, right? I'm not the only one), forces hegemony on Hyrule, and in the process of trying to make a completely clean society, births an opposite of chaos to his order. TOTK Ganondorf is a little obscure in terms of motive, but in his first few cutscenes in the past, he's fairly composed. He wants Hyrule to bow at his feet; he wants to humiliate Rauru. All the comments he makes towards him are pointed. This is a Ganondorf who resents the idea of becoming another faceless mask. Eventually he morphs into a being of pure chaos, perhaps in response to Rauru's more frantic attempts at control. But if the objective was balance, Hyrule does end up there: by the time of BOTW, the races that were faceless under Rauru seem to be mostly independent. Zelda doesn't exactly force the champions into their divine beasts, and their positions aren't predestined or divine in nature like the sages.

And this isn't even touching on the Sheikah (though their forced assimilation into Hylians might be completely separate from Rauru) and the idea that the Rito, Gorons, Zora, and Gerudo exist solely to aide Link and Zelda. There is a lot of stuff in this game that is absolutely fascinating (and a little frightening) from a world perspective. Most of it isn't new to Zelda either, just more explicit.

(Also I've seen some people say that the masks might've been because Nintendo was lazy with the modeling, but regardless, it's fair to analyze a work as it exists and leave the creators' intents out of the picture.)

#totk spoilers #totk #loz #tears of the kingdom #“It's not that deep” shhh. I am a tiger and this is my meat-stuffed enrichment toy #I have proofread very little of this so if it doesn't make sense... sorry (?) #it made sense in my head #I have Zelda brainrot again in so many directions #the whole “and the destiny of our people was made clear” stuff is giving me MAJOR Sheikah flashbacks #The Sheikah were the original divinely created servants of the goddess #Everyone else used to be sorta chilling (with terms and conditions)

[possessionisamyth]

If you don't mind, could you elaborate on how Ada is inconsistent?

It's less about how she's inconsistent, and more about how various writers treat her role in the overall narrative of the series. For a non existent attempt at brevity, I will not be talking about how she's handled in the remakes or any of the alternate raccoon city focused games. 1998 RE2 only!

So in the original RE2, Ada is a woman who's looking for her boyfriend who is a researcher at Umbrella. She was actually dating the man to get information on/a sample of the G-Virus, and whether or not her concern was sincere for this man is debatable as she plays it up. It's a useful truth that functions as a genuine cover story. After finding out the dude's dead, she seduces Leon so he'll follow her around like a lost puppy. (He's super whiny puppy but that was entertaining to watch). Plus when she doesn't shoot to kill to get the G-Virus sample from Leon, it turns out her affection for him is real. Whether this is her working from the rebound after figuring out her current boyfriend is dead is also debatable. I can only speculate that she might have been. Ada isn't heartless. Fake dating someone for months meant there had to be some chemistry as she could've picked literally any umbrella scientist to date to get to the same result. When we look at the epilogue scene from RE3, we see she is changed by her experience.

She's not the same woman anymore. Or at least she doesn't think she is. She wasn't so much a femme fatale in the first RE2 as much as she was a mercenary/spy playing her cards right until the smoke cleared.

And then we get Resident Evil 4.

In RE4, they hammer that femme fatale persona in HARD. She's sexy. She's teasing. She's always in the right place at the right time. She doesn't get hurt and comes out on top. Ashley's existence delays the damsel role she would be tossed in so Leon can save her, but doesn't prevent it. The time she spent between 1998 and 2004 was her building this persona to put emotional walls and distance up so she can better do her job. Hell, due to the great reception the game got, this version of Ada is who gets left in the hands of every future writer who has/wants to handle her. Yet, Leon being there in RE4 puts a few splinters in this persona. Wesker's kill order for Leon absolutely cracks it. Leon may be experiencing his own personal hell, but so! is! Ada! Wong! She doesn't have to do shit. She doesn't have to save Leon. She doesn't have to kill him. She can honestly just do her job and get out, but she hasn't changed. She's just gotten really fucking good at lying to herself. So we once again see her putting everything on the line for Leon, and risking her own neck so he can get out. And this is great! And you want to see more.

And then we get RE:Damnation.

Why was she there? Look. Look at me. I love Ada. She's my wife. Why was she in the Eastern Slav Republic pretending to work for the BSAA? Oh, to collect a sample of las plagas! Wait. Wasn't she in the village where there was a fuck ton of them before this event? Why wouldn't Wesker have that already? Oh no, she needs the special plagas that let's people control lickers for a limited period of time before the parasite develops and the host become one of those twisty head zombies. Ah. A failed plagas then? She wants a failed plagas? Well, she would've had a much easier time just stealing that from the rebellion. It then would've made her running into Leon a more natural outcome. They started that movie putting Ashley in the proverbial trunk to eliminate that romantic venue and brought in Ada to go "hey! remember! leon likes her! nobody else! we promise!". They're not risking anything for each other. Ada isn't doing what she has been doing the last two stories, and it's off. The femme fatale stuff is happening, but you can cut her out and lose nothing from the movie other than a cat fight. You can't do the same thing in RE4. You can't do the same thing in RE2!

And then we get Resident Evil 6.

I enjoyed watching the Ada storyline in the game despite all the strange mechanic choices they made with the game's play style. Up until this point in the games, her and Leon keep risking their lives and/or job credibility for each other. That's what they do regardless if people view their relationship as platonic or romantic.

This game with Ada's story was a great opportunity to show how she's also wearing a mask she's built up over the years. The one that gets cracked in RE4 with Leon's mere appearance and a genuine concern for his safety. The thing is in RE6, she's kind of all over the place. We first see her doppleganger not knowing it's a different woman, and every fan is up in arms about how reasonably OOC the act is. And they're right. Next we see the real Ada, and she seems just as natural as she was in RE4. We just assume it's an outfit change until she starts investigating. Then she goes from mercenary/spy to playing superhero.

The one thing I like about the resident evil games, is that when 2 characters are supposed to be on equal ground, they'll often save each other the same amount of times. They meet in the middle, and there's something sweet about it. In RE6, Ada is constantly covering Leon's ass the closer we get to the end. Leon gets to save her with that final Simmon's confrontation. We are not counting Leon protecting fake Ada from Chris because it wasn't her. RE6 was trying so hard to make the real Ada likable by having her go out of her way to do good for everyone as a sharp contrast to doppleganger Ada's actions. However, they lost some of what makes Ada so complex with these narrative decisions.

It's nice we get to see her hurt and anger by taking out doppleganger Ada's final experiment before it hatches, but that's the end of the game! We don't get a little epilogue scene of what she's doing or how she feels like everyone else gets! They say "oh yeah, she's fine, she has more work now. Nothing's changed." When we get to see the result of hurt like we did in RE2, or the knowledge she'll gladly disobey orders for her own peace of mind in RE4.

This was a lot of words to say RE2 and RE4 remember Ada's more than just a femme fatale, whilst later appearances in the series forget this.

The remakes for now don't do that. In the remakes, we know from the get go she's looking out for herself first, and other people come second. Leon ranks a little higher on this list than everyone else, and I'm very eager to see the depiction expanded on if we get a remake Separate Ways DLC.

EDIT: Oop, just realized she was constantly covering Leon's ass in RE4 too based on the OG separate ways. Ignore that one segment, but the rest still stands!

#resident evil #re #ada wong #aris asks #ask me to talk about my faves and you will get an essay #heh nothing personal kid #re analysis

[synergysilhouette]

Remaking Miraculous Ladybug (Season 1)

Oh, boy! Here I go again. Hello, all! I'm a Miraculous Ladybug fan, though my interest in the show has waned over the years due to it's writing. The film adaptation renewed interest for me, and it made me want to rewrite the series--similar to how I rewrote X-Men: Evolution (which I recommend you check out the posts for). Originally I was just gonna make a broad overview of the changes I'd make, but I decided to make it like XME and remake every episode...Yeah, I've got my work cut out for me. Some of these changes are influenced by fans' (not just me) opinions of the show while others are influenced by my own personal thoughts and opinions. As such, in this season, there's a lot of filler, so I'm actually removing some episodes that I don't feel add much to the overall show, possibly taking anything worthwhile and adding to it a different episode. I was gonna make this more PG-13, but I decided not to in the end. I hope you still enjoy it! Please forgive me if I forget/omit any important details due to a lapse in memory of translation changes, as I usually watch the English dub. Sorry in advance!

Ladybug & Cat Noir (Origins-Part 1)--In my remake, the way Marinette and Adrien get their Miraculous is similar to the film version instead of how the show does it, along with Adrien already being a student at the school. While Chat Noir isn't as reckless, he still keeps his light-heartedness and quips, often using his many skills as Adrien to help Ladybug with battling villains. I'd also want more equality for the cat and ladybug miraculous; in this case, if only the ladybug miraculous can purify an akuma, than only the cat miraculous can destroy the akumatized object. Sounds fair, right? Otherwise everything plays out the same. Along with this, I'd like to think their outfits are a bit more detailed; Chat Noir's black outfit is complimented with green designs, and his hair is the same color as Cat Walker's (to avoid suspicion), and Ladybug's hair has red streaks, with it later being joked about by Gabriel that she copied Nathalie.

2. Stoneheart (Origins-Part 2)--Gabriel is shown to be more sympathetic towards Adrien, explaining that he stopped Adrien's homeschooling as a result of Gabriel becoming emotionally detached following Emelie's death. The Ladyblog is more investigative, with Alya wanting to unmask Ladybug. It's revealed that Chloe bullied Ivan because he was nice to Sabrina, and Chloe fears Sabrina leaving her for "utterly ridiculous losers." It's also revealed that Sabrina is an Agreste fan herself (both of Gabriel and Adrien), and Chloe assumes she's brownnosing, but encourages it this time.

3. Stormy Weather--Abandons all stalkerish elements, and Chat Noir is the one to break the parasol with his cataclysm instead of using it on the billboard. I'd also probably put more depth on akumatizations from here on out so that only people with truly angry/sad/envious etc. emotions can be akumatized rather than simply saying to ignore/get rid of negative feelings. Perhaps Aurore had wanted to be a weather girl for a long time and the poll results were closer, causing her to be even more upset that she lost. Otherwise everything plays out the same.

4. The Evillustrator--Lady Wifi being in Marinette's dream is discarded, since production-wise, her episode occurs after this one. When Nathaniel is sent to the principal's office, Marinette realizes that despite sharing classes together for some time, she's just now noticing him. Sabrina, trying to emulate Chloe, jokes at how ironic it is, given that Nathaniel has a crush on her similar to Marinette's crush on Adrien. This makes Marinette feel guilty about not paying attention to Nathaniel, as well as losing hope that Adrien would see her as more than a friend. It's revealed by Sabrina that Chloe is actually good at schoolwork when she was younger, but when her mother left, so did her interests in academics, resulting in relying on Sabrina. Chloe begins to tell off Marinette and threatens to disown Sabrina if she doesn't do what Chloe tells her to, but Adrien overhears and gives Chloe a similar ultimatum of being nicer or he'd stop being friends with her. Sabrina later begs him not to do that, and he feels guilty that he phrased it like he was trying to control her like she controls Sabrina. The Sabrina and Chloe argument doesn't happen here, with Marinette and Chloe arguing instead while Sabrina does all the work, making Marinette feel guilty about putting her own feelings before the group's. It's also revealed that part of the reason Chloe made fun of Nathaniel was because she was worried Nathaniel would be seen as Ladybug's #1 fan instead of her if she saw his work. Chat Noir doesn't flirt with Marinette, acting like Adrien. The Evillustrator more compassionate with Marinette. As the Evillustrator and Chat Noir battle, Marinette wonders if she could be akumatized from unrequited love. When he deakumatizes, Marinette decides that combined with their shared artistic talents and inspired by his passion, asks Nathaniel if he wants to go out sometime, to which he accepts. When Adrien tries to ask Marinette about her time with Chat Noir, she states that he was polite, but when she tells him the reason she's going on a date with Nathaniel, Adrien decides that he needs to be more passionate to win Ladybug's heart.

5. Lady Wifi--Alya doesn't really believe that Chloe is Ladybug, instead suspecting Nathalie (or surmising that she's Nathalie's daughter), but believes that Chloe may be the link to finding out who Ladybug is, given that Chloe upsets enough people that they become akumatized and want to find her, resulting in protection from Ladybug and Chat Noir. While stalking Chloe for any signs of akuma-inducing events, she gets caught and is still suspended. Chloe, once again threatened by another "Ladybug superfan," manipulates Alya into converting her curiosity of Ladybug into frustration, blaming her for getting suspended, making Alya want to expose her. Once akumatized, she goes after Chloe anyway, stating that she pretty much has the heroes on speedial at this point (as well as Lady WiFi's), and embarasses her and Sabrina dressing up as Ladybug and Chat Noir. Most of the episode plays out the same, though Chat Noir narrowly prevents Alya from finding out Ladybug's identity, telling her that Ladybug is someone who doesn't go to the school. Deciding to trust him, Alya decides to turn her attention away from school suspects, and Marinette vows to tell her someday. Everything else is the same.

6. Princess Fragrance--Marinette has to turn down a date with Nathaniel for Tikki instead of Adrien in this version. Sabrina reads Rose's note, stating that she has a crush of her own and wants to know how to tell them, then destroys it. Chloe doesn't try to flirt with Ali, being more interested in Adrien, but tries to steer Sabrina his way, reasoning that anyone she crushed on wouldn't be good enough for her (Chloe), and Ali was a good way to trade up. Nathaniel tries to reason with Princess Fragrance, saying that what she's doing was the wrong way to get someone to want to be with her, but she ignores him, saying that it worked out for him in the end. Due to Chat Noir's cat sensitivity when it comes to smell, he grows irritated by the fragrance rather than brainwashed by it, helping Ladybug defeat Princess Fragrance. Ali is rattled by Rose's akumatization, and she apologizes for trying to make him love her, and he says that they can just be friends for now.

7. Dark Cupid--Includes the flashback from "Derision," and any Adrien-related romance subplot is removed since Marinette is with Nathaniel. Kim tells Chloe that he's had a crush on her since their bonded over "pranking" Marinette, which inspires Chloe to have him prank Alya, still not over the events of "Lady WiFi." Chloe inquires about who Sabrina's crush is, but she states that Chloe wouldn't be able to guess. Kim becomes akumatized after Alya avoids his prank and Chloe rejects him, giving him a vendetta against Alya. Pretty much everything else is the same.

8. Pixelator--Luka is formally introduced, and it's shown that he and Juleka (who ARE twins) are Jagged Stone's children. Pixelator instead vows to use them to get revenge on Jagged Stone. The sunglasses subplot and the hat designing contest from "Mr. Pigeon" are conflated here, given that I'm not a fan of MP, with Marinette giving Jagged Stone a whole new look, which takes inspiration from Pixelator. Luka and Adrien bond as he distracts Chloe long enough to let him transform (which Luka sees). At the concert, Kitty Section makes their debut appearance, though the costumes are more professional and Rose and Ivan are not part of the group. It's also noted that Nathaniel was asked to do the concept art for Jagged Stone's next album.

9. The Bubbler--Nathaniel and Marinette team up to make a poster of Adrien and his friends (signed by all of them), along with Marinette's scarf. While Chloe forgets a gift for Adrien, Sabrina gives one to him from both of them. Nino and Chloe are permitted to go to Adrien's mansion, but after being rudely treated by Chloe and Adrien lashing out at him (following an upsetting conversation with Gabriel) and causing him to be akumatized. More emphasis is put on Adrien's few friends, especially since Nino is realizing how severe Adrien's situation is. Gabriel also doesn't take credit for the sweater, instead tailoring a custom outfit that happens to go with it. Elements of "Simon Says" also occur here to focus on Adrien and Gabriel's dynamic.

10. Rogercop--It plays out essentially the same, except giving more focus to Sabrina as she becomes angry with Chloe for trying to get her fired, though Chloe lies and claims the bracelet she was missing was one that Sabrina gave her and that it meant a lot to her. More hints to Sabrina's mystery crush is dropped, though not explicitly stated. Some of Roger's akumatization is also due to Alya being critical of the officers being unable to defend the city against akumatized villains, thus creating a more stressful environment that could lead to more akumatizations.

11. Gamer--Almost identical, though Chloe is the cause of Max's akumatization rather than Marinette, given that Marinette is with Nathaniel, and Nino reveals his crush on Alya, Luka is also revealed to be a good gamer, taking Chloe's place.

12. The Puppeteer--plays out the same.

13. Reflekta--plays out mostly the same, but puts more emphasis on Luka and Juleka's sibling relationship and hints at a romance between Juleka and Rose.

14. Antibug--It's revealed that Sabrina had a crush on Adrien as well, and Chloe angrily humiliates her in front of the whole school, as well as denouncing their friendship making her wish she was invisible. Most of this plays out the same, with possibly some references to self-harm, making Chloe regret her cruelty towards Sabrina, and Adrien secretly gives her a kiss on the cheek, telling her that he hopes she doesn't disappear (though stating that he didn't see her as anything more than a friend).

15. Kung Food--It's explained that Marinette knows conversational Mandarin, but Adrien helps her with any complexities, and more emphasis is put on her Chinese heritage and history rather than it being done so quickly. Chloe is genuinely ignorant of Asian cultures, something Adrien corrects her on and she implements, as she does personal insults, not broad, racially insensitive ones. Here, Nathaniel and Marinette share the soup with her uncle, with Nathaniel happy to learn more about his girlfriend's ancestors' culture. Everything else is the same.

16. Volpina--It's revealed that the fox miraculous Lila has is the real deal, albeit stolen, and she uses these powers to make her lies and disguises legitimate. Adrien also suspects his father of being a superhero fan and investigates the Miraculous book. Ladybug flies off the handle at Lila, this time for making unflattering lies about Ladybug. She also uses her powers to make it seem as though Adrien and Marinette have been dating behind Nathaniel's back, causing them to break up (as Marinette can't disprove Lila's illusion), resulting in them having to defeat the Illustrator as well. In the end, Lila despises Ladybug and Nathaniel despises Marinette. Lila also learns of Adrien's warning to Chloe in "Evillustrator," and since she hasn't adhered to it, makes an illusion of Adrien that severs his friendship with Chloe.

Lemme know what you thoughts! I may revise this before I do season 2.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #chat noir #chloe bourgeois #hawk moth #volpina