#not the same but a lot of parallels personality wise

[samstarium]

girlies that are the same

#not the same but a lot of parallels personality wise #kakegurui #nge #mary saotome #asuka langley soryu

[lion-buddy]

this is so dumb but the initial reason i got attached to prim is bc their ears reminded me of asriel

#the more i looked at their design the more i just liked all of it but. yeah thats what started it #they also have that rainbow accent and the star attack and supreme gamma reminds me a lot of angel of death azzy #like. not to draw parallels again. but yeah personality wise they r not the same but then puka showed up and then. well. #tldr flowey prim azzy puka its the same characters to me but not

[alexiethymia]

Yor Briar, Yor, and Yor-san

I was reading an excellent post about the nuance in the original japanese and now I thought I’d take a crack at what this means for Loid (although other people have already made an excellent analysis on this).

Loid has only called her Yor Briar in the beginning and when he was suspecting her of playing him. But Fiona’s insistence on her full name, Yor Briar, and her notice of Loid’s seemingly stubborn refusal to use it seems to me that Loid had always previously referred to assets by their full name. It could also be pragmatic in that he knows Fiona wants the ‘role’ of his wife hence her stubborn insistence of using Yor’s maiden name, so he uses Yor-san to counter Fiona’s way of delegitimizing Yor’s role. But I don’t think Loid can sense the real reason for Fiona’s insistence, so while in his view Fiona may be acting unprofessionally, generally speaking, I think Loid would be the one acting unprofessionally in constantly using ‘Yor-san’ to refer to his ‘wife’ to his WISE colleagues especially if he didn’t use to do that before (which yeah it’s hard to imagine him addressing his other marks that way).

Although the audience knows that Fiona is acting far from being professional, with Loid’s limited knowledge of her feelings, wouldn’t she actually have a point in referring to Yor as YOR BRIAR in a working setting? Because isn’t that all she was supposed to be? An asset or a tool? And yet Loid seems annoyed by that and insists on humanizing her by calling her, Yor-san.

Now someone might say, that’s nothing to make a big deal about. It would have been a big deal had he referred to her as ‘just’ Yor without the honorific. Because using someone’s name without honorifics is supposed to connote a deeper sort of intimacy. But that’s the thing. It would have been a forced intimacy for show. ‘Yor’ is his mode of address when he’s putting on a show of being a loving husband, complete with that <fake> Loid Forger voice. Yor is what he calls her around her colleagues or his colleagues (Nightfall undercover as Fiona at the hospital) to present how they’re a completely ordinary, close and loving family. In a way, it’s a subtle cue to Yor as well that they’re in ‘family’ mode now or ‘husband-and-wife’ mode. Yor denotes her as being a mask.

Which is actually why Yor-san is perfect. If Yor Briar is her as an asset, Yor is her as a mask, then Yor-san is her as a partner. He’s used women to get to his goal before. The only thing different now is Anya and the fact that on some level he is also working together with Yor. Had he actually succeeded in his first honeytrap attempt with Yor when he thought she had fallen in love with him, I imagine that he might have started treating Yor the same way he did his other assets before. But thank goodness it didn’t succeed, and in my view, he ended up falling into the trap instead.

Yor-san is perfect because it parallels the way Yor calls him. It’s perfect because it conveys the perfect level of intimacy. They’re not actually a lovey-dovey couple as ‘Yor’ would imply, but unfortunately for Nightfall, she’s also not just ‘YOR BRIAR’ another tool to him. It’s perfect because it conveys respect which Loid has a healthy amount of for Yor. If he can help it, he doesn’t like using her. And Nightfall is right to be worried that this comfortable mode of address of Loid’s is bleeding over to Twilight as if to blur the two. Loid is supposed to be an entirely different person or character so what does it mean that Twilight also calls his wife the same way Loid does? ‘Yor-san’ and ‘Loid-san’ are partners in a lot of ways. Yor-san is whom he can let down his guard down around, and someone this perfectionist spy can ask help from and rely on.

So what about Yuri Briar? He doesn’t know the true nature of Yor and Loid’s arrangement. Shouldn’t he be calling her Yor in front of him to keep up the ruse? Again, I think part of it is pragmatic. He doesn’t want to further aggravate the siscon. But especially in light of Chapter 86 and Volume 10’s inner cover, I think (at least unconsciously) it’s because Yuri is family. I notice that Twilight hasn’t even kept up the Loid persona as much in front of Yuri anymore (which tbf can’t blame him cause how do you even react to Yuri) but it’s not as if Yuri is someone to be underestimated. Some way or the other, even if he doesn’t fully realize it, I think Twilight is starting to treat Yuri like how Yor treats him or at the very least he can’t treat him like any other enemy or bystander because he’s someone important to Yor. Which again as CH 86 would show, Fiona has already noticed, and Twilight himself is angry at himself about. I don’t think Twilight has realized any sort of feelings for Yor yet, but I guess to Fiona, his mode of address for her is and has always been telling.

It’s actually interesting to think that perhaps it’s when he’s calling her ‘Yor-san’ that he’s most like himself - like Loid, Twilight and the boy before there was Twilight all at once - with her.

#twiyor #spy x family #sxf #twilight #yor briar #loid forger #yor forger #anya forger #yuri briar #nightfall #it’s all so interesting #and subtle #since the english translations hardly cover the nuance #and if you can’t read japanese you would notice it only when watching the anime #just like the whole anya ania thing #well played well played #if not for nightfall reacting the audience might not have been cued in that it was something worth reacting to #twilight really is turning more and more into loid forger as the days pass #and I’m sure he’s panicking about it #but does he realize the deeper implications I wonder

[l-egionaire]

Just saw Kung Fu Panda 4. Here are some thoughts.

Plot was... okay. Nothing super special, but it was fine enough for the kind of story the movie was trying to tell. And there were some great imagery and animation moments. I honestly don't get all the complaints about the animation. I saw one thing on TV tropes say it'd because it's not something like Puss in Boots Two or The Bad Guys, but I'm honestly fine with it not being like those. I feel like if all animated movies used that style, people would just start to complain that they're all the same.

Zhen was fine as a character. Bit of the usual "thief with a heart of gold" type character, but while I do think her changing was a bit fast, I can get why it happens. Po's the first person to show her genuine kindness with little alterior motive, and combined with a later betrayl, I can see her motivation for becoming a better person. Her voice acting wasn't too bad, but I think it could've been better in some dramatic moments. Also, while the movie doesn't draw attention to it, I do think there's a lot of parallel that could be drawn between her and Po, not just with how they grew up but also in their parental figures. Not to mention, they ultimately aren't THAT different as characters. They're both goofy people but grew up being looked down on by others and seem to use humor or goofiness as a defense mechanism. Just that she uses snark whereas he uses his big happy personality.

I REALLY like Po in the movie. Not just because he's his usual big fun self, but because he's still just as, if not more competent as he was in the previous movies. A big issue I had with the How To Train Your Dragon franchise was how Hiccup seemed to keep being less competent or capable in the movies. But no. Po's still able to kick ass and is the skilled warrior he should be after three movies of fighting. And I do think his fear of losing his dragon warrior title is understandable since that HAS been a big part of his identity across all three movies. Some might say that it's odd he's so afraid of change since he became a teacher in the last movie, but that was just adding on to his the responsibilities he already had. I would say his arc of becoming a spiritual leader was neglected some by the end and could've used a bit more focus.

Po's dad's are great. At first, I thought their subplot was just a comedic b-plot, but I liked how they ended up getting their and providing Po emotional support. And again, while it's not given much focus, their relationship and how they encourage Po creates a nice parallel between Zhen and her parental figure.

The Chameleon as a villain isn't THAT interesting, but she's not terrible. Personality wise, she's okay, but nothing spectacular. I do think her backstory was interesting, and, like the past three villains, her backstory mirrors Po's in a way. Which I honestly kind of wished they'd focused on a little more. I think it would've given her more depth that she's hinted to have.

Yes, the Furious Five aren't in this move for 99 percent of it. But.....I think it works. Because the whole point of the movie is about Po and Zhen. Them building their trust and relationship to get to the point they are by the end of the movie. And having the Furious Five their might have made things feel overstuffed.

Ultimately, I think it's a good movie. Nothing AMAZING but it's good and It does pick up more in the second half. Overall I'd say this around a 7.5 out of ten if I had to describe it.

#Kung fu panda #King Fu Panda 4 #KFP 4 #po kung fu panda #zhen kfp #Movie review

[yumiayumu]

it’s interesting that some would want jinshi to be emperor and maomao to be empress when it’s been hinted multiple times that he doesn’t want to be and it’ll be the cause of his early demise. nothing wrong with wanting him as the emperor but i personally don’t see it as a good thing.

just a short rambling after reading the web novel and seeing the latest ln15 spoilers.

> jinshi, especially after that scene on ln5 shows immense character growth in the latter volumes. in the latest ln, he’d rather let go of maomao than chain her to him when he (unwillingly) becomes emperor. previously, he proclaimed that he wanted her to be his wife and would get rid of any obstacles hence why he branded himself to the disappointment of the emperor and maomao. he was quite possessive and childish when he was young, far from the current jinshi now.

> same with maomao, she used to avoid trouble and involvement in the royal court but now she’s more outspoken about her thoughts and feelings. confident with her skills and quite assertive.

> there is this deep understanding between them and in the epilogue it’s clear that they both didn’t want him on the throne. they used to be evasive with their feelings and now they’re being straightforward with each other and that’s progress if you ask me. it’s subtle but they show their care through physical touch and company (it’s their love language!!)

> a lot of fans have noted that they parallel both of their parents’ failed relationships and i agree (don’t want to elaborate on this cuz it’ll be long)

> ah duo and the emperor (also maomao) know that jinshi will be a wise and kind emperor but this will cause him to die early. now that he’s doing the emperor’s work while he’s recovering, he was clearly overworked to the point where maomao has to take care of him. this is just a glimpse of what will happen to him once he ascends the throne and that’s not what ah duo wants for her only child, same with maomao. if he does become the next emperor, he needs maomao by his side to keep him in check and that’s another problem to face politically and emotionally. she’s willing to be by his side but at the expense of her freedom and jinshi doesn’t want to rob her of that.

tldr: jinshi becoming the emperor is not the happy ending we’re looking for. unless the author will give him a leeway like him becoming a regent until his siblings are of age or if maomao is the only consort he will have. and there’s still a long way to go tho because he still doesn’t know his real parents and if iirc there’s this faction who wants him on the throne. more content to consume lol.

#random ramblings #love the development of the characters and their relationship #the apothecary diaries #kusuriya no hitorigoto #jinshi #maomao #ah duo

[naazaif327]

I was thinking, last week’s episode and the ever-widening gap between Suvi and Ame’s ideologies reminded me of a quote from a different show:

This is a scene from Doctor Who where the Doctor is trying to rehabilitate one of his closest and oldest rivals after centuries of her evil, and her response to his attempts. Now, Suvi is Not evil, and Ame is not fundamentally all of the things listed in that quote above, but I really think there are some poignant parallels here in regards to the way the two friends see the world and their place in it.

Ame is a good person, and she wants to do good in the world. She is wise, and she has a strong intuition about things, leading her to make choices through feeling a lot of the time. And that’s wonderful, but there are flaws in going through the world that way. She feels trapped inside the Citadel, feels the walls closing in, and so following her intuition she disregards Suvi and Steel’s pleas for her to stay, to gather more information, she reaches for the fastest escape route to home, no matter how violent the consequences might be for wizards whose lives are (to her) expendable in this moment.

What might’ve happened to those workers if Eursulon hadn’t brought them back? How might the war be affected by the loss of this precious teleportation sand that was wasted because Ame had to use it to get to Toma? What if that sand was needed to turn the tide in a battle and Silver dies as a result? Does it matter? Does it matter to Ame? It certainly matters to Suvi.

After doing this, how do we think things will go in the future between the two of them? The Empire will likely see this as a terrorist attack. Even Steel might not be able to smooth this over, and I don’t even know that she’d want to at this point. Steel was a trusted friend of Grandma Ren’s, there were so many contacts and important people within the Citadel that are now cut off from Ame, relationships and favours and information networks that were decades in the making. How can you be the Witch of the World’s Heart, the arbiter of affairs between humans and spirits, if you don’t have a way in to the capital of one of the most powerful factions in Umora? Ame will need to act as a representative for humans in the future, the way she fought for the people of Port Talon in her conversation with Orima. She can’t be that arbiter if she loses all her connections to these places. She certainly can’t be that arbiter if she is violently attacked by another Rhuvian like Captain Emliss and doesn’t have the backing of the Empire behind her this time.

Ten or fifty episodes from now, if Ame asked Suvi to stand with her against the Empire, I could imagine that conversation going the same way as the scene from above, because right now from Suvi’s eyes, that’s probably exactly what Ame’s actions look like: vain, arrogant, naive. Suvi knows Ame didn’t just intentionally commit a terror attack against the Citadel this episode, she knows that Ame is a good person who wants to do good. But the alternative is just as troubling: that Ame knows exactly how this all looks, that she knows exactly how bad this is going to be for Suvi and the people she holds dear, and she did it anyways because she thinks she knows better.

#absolutely no hate towards any cast members btw #this is my opinion on the narrative alone #lol #worlds beyond number #wbn pod #wbn spoilers #twtwatwo #suvirin kedberiket #suvi the wizard #the wizard the witch and the wild one #the wizard sky #ame the witch #witch of Toma

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey raven, there gonna be a Crowley ssr card (im not joking)

[Referencing this post!]

RIP Cater 💀 Now he knows how Trey feels whenever his birthday gets overshadowed by Halloween event news…

It’s true what they say, boys (nb). Cope hard enough and your wishes and prayers for NPCs to become actual cards will become a reality… Happened with Rollo, now it’s happening with Crowley—and presumably other NRC Staff. (I wonder if Year 4 of JP anniversary will feature staff in the groovy with Grim??)

IT’S SO FUNNY THAT THEY MADE THE MOST USELESS STAFF MEMBER THE FIRST STAFF CARD 😭 I thought for sure they would “save the best for last” but I guess Crowley isn’t really “the best”, huh… BUT HEY, at least now we can chuck him into battles against OBs and make him be a responsible adult and actually work to earn his coin 💰

I hope we get vignettes and not just furniture for Crowley! It would be cool to have a short story that centers around him, even if it’s just him goofing around and being unproductive. I’ll happily take a day in the life of Crowley anytime!!

I have so many questions about how Crowley would work gameplay-wise?????? ?? ? ? ????? ?? ? I wonder if we’ll be able to make staff members attend class…? But that’s odd, isn’t it?? Why would teachers be studying? And what happens if there’s a situation where like. Crowley is a student but also Crowley crashed in for a Special Lesson segment? Double Crowley?!?!?!?! The Spiderman meme where they point at each other?? Or will staff not be able to attend lessons at all and you just have to feed them materials to level them up outside of class… (You know what, leeching off of resources that the students worked hard to farm is very in-character for Crowley, so if this is the case then I won’t be upset 😂) What about Duo Magic??? Will Crowley actually be able to combo with a student??? Or will it be with Grim or whatever staff card is coming next...?

His card art looks hella cool ✨ It’s really atmospheric but also has a bit of that unique Crowley flair if you notice where exactly he’s seated (on his own damn desk www) while posing so sassily. And is that the word RAVEN literally making up the teeth at the end of his key-like staff????? That’s so Crowley of him…

What I am slightly concerned about is…

***Spoilers for the full Crowley card illustration + book 7 main story below the cut!!!***

… Why is the composition of Malleus’s Dorm Uniform card and Crowley’s card kinda similar…

Malleus is clearly turned to the side, but the slight worm’s eye view is the same and the lighting is somewhat close (relatively dark)… and both of them are holding staves while sitting. Plus the timing of Crowley dropping mid-book 7… AND sharing elements in Malleus’s Masquerade (Crowley notoriously wears a mask) groovy of all things (similar angle, chandelier overhead)… With the fan theory of Crowley actually being Malleus’s missing dad at an all-time fever pitch in popularity, this has me a little worried (since I personally think the theory doesn’t have a lot of solid proof and leaves a lot to be explained in terms of his actions).

Maybe that’s me overthinking it, but TWST has been known to intentionally do parallel or mirrored designs before (though I’ll admit this instance isn’t as clear cut as previous instances). I’m just pointing out what I see and I’ll leave the final judgment up to you, dear readers! I’m sure the “Crowley is Malleus’s dad” theorists will be in a frenzy picking apart these details www

#twst #twisted wonderland #Malleus Draconia #Dire Crowley #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #spoilers #notes from the writing raven #question #Rollo Flamme #Grim #twst theory #twst theories #twisted wonderland theories #twisted wonderland theory #Cater Diamond #Trey Clover #Spiderman

[okkos-ferrum]

some alien stage design parallels

I am always captivated by alien stage's designs so here's me likely over thinking small design details between character parallels

Sua vs. Luka

These two are directly paralleled due to both their similar personalities (on the surface level) but opposing relationships with mizi. sua is mizi's universe, but luka manipulates mizi by imitiating a confession by sua during round 5

anyway here are some fun details in their official artwork designs

Both have white their dominant color, with black as a compliment, compared to ivan's all black, hyuna's various colors, ivan's grey and red, and mizi's multi-color hair. however while white/light colors are predominantly in luka's top half, masking the black underneath, sua's black hair frames her face at the top, while she is dressed in all white underneath

Sua's bow is at the front of her chest, meanwhile Luka has a ribbon tied to his back. They aren't the same thing, so it might be a stretch, but to me shows sua's more honest intentions with her affection to mizi, while luka is more duplicitous in his "kindness" to mizi

though contradictory but maybe a connection, sua has her hands gloved, meanwhile luka does not cover his hands at all.

Sua's sleeves are puffed out -- im no fashion person so idk if there is a name to them -- making her top heavy design-wise, while luka's sleeves have the extra frill for a more bottom heavy design.

speaking of which, the one-sided trail follows luka around, giving asymmetry to his design. It's pointed and dynamic, giving a sense of instability, and in luka's case, distrust. It's like a snake in how it follows him around. meanhwile, sua has perfect symmetry to her design, displaying how she was a relaible support for mizi.

Sua & Mizi

Obviously these two are built as strong contrasts. but while the subtler differences between sua and luka's similar designs are to depict their clear distinctions, mizi and sua's strong contrast is to instead show how they perfectly fit together ahhh i love them sm

from the get go, there are numerous differences, both to establish the contrast in their personality. Similar to luka, there is asymmetry in mizi's design through the gloves as well as the multi-color hair, while sua has a sharp bob and symmetrical clothing to show how sua is the calm to mizi's excitement

There's the obvious black to sua's pure white, another show of mizi's spirited nature in comparison. mizi's puffed skirt is a contrast to sua's puffed sleeves, sua's boots contrast to mizi's thigh highs, and mizi has a covered shoulder while sua's dress is an off shoulder dress. Hell, even their eye colors are complimentary colors on the color wheel (just realized luka also has yellow eyes haha). in every respect, these two characters share zero similar features which can tie them together. But it instead shows how they compliment each other as polar opposites!

in terms of the only connection i can pull, the gem mizi often is featured with is shown here at the center of her chest, the exact placement to sua's both. perhaps representing their love for each other being their centers???

Till vs. Ivan

The other major relationship ... the more tumultuous of the two -- also have the heavy contrast to link them together. but both share an intrstic desire of wishing to be with another they can never have, so there is a strong parallel there. in a lot of ways, it is similar to how contrast is played up between mizi and sua, with one being the refined, calmer one while the other is far more hot-headed

To get over the obvious, ivan's fitted trenchcoat is in all black while till is seen with a oversized white t-shirt. till's rebelliousness is seen through his lack of shoes or sleeves, showing both how open he is regarding his emotions as well as his lack of care for himself. meanwhile, ivan is knee high boots and gloves over his long sleeved coat, representing his closed off intentions/desires

ivan's collar (seen also in the flashbacks when they were kids) is symmetrical and close to his neck while till is always choosing an off shoulder look, the real collar (not a shirt collar, like ivan's) always a seperate piece on his neck. again, showing ivan's supposed submission to the system while till is blatant in his hositility against alien stage, only controlled through force.

however, while it can be pointed out till is primarily in white, he isn't and thats what is the contrast between the two. while ivan wears only one color, showing his undying devotion to till (whether that may be love or trying to let him go when going into round 6), till has his red underneath, which shows his split in motives.

till similarly wants to escape from alien stage, seen through round 3's flashback in him accepting ivan's escape. but due to it meaning leaving mizi, till has to reject ivan to return to the system he hates so much, all for mizi. from basic color psychology, red is the color of passion and temper, which is clear in how till makes decisions. he makes his hatred for alien stage known, but he is fueled by his desire for mizi to keep him from leaving.

Hyuna vs. Luka

last one just cuz these two now have a confirmation over what their relationship was (my guess: hyuna showed a very isolated luka some affection, luka grew obsessive and plotted to kill hyuna's brother to have her attention on him) with luka being alien stage's biggest success and complacent with the system, hyuna stands on the opposing side by taking hold of her own freedom, even if that comes at the cost of her safety

(side tangent: i really dont like hyuna's design here. like its the color placement between the top and bottom and the weird gradient of blue to muddy green to cool yellow. dont even get me started on those shoes ... hell she doesnt even her outspoken nature. ear them in her own music video. but im including it just since its official artwork and hypothetically what she preformed with)

honestly hyuna sticks out so much more compared to everyone just due to the abundance of colors in her design. She only has some black, but there are various hues used throughout her design. Just about all the official art work for the other character depicts them in outfits with some black or white, with luka the most apparent by the balance of both colors.

luka looks almost artficial in how he wears only whites and blacks. its only furthered by his blonde lashes -- the only character with such a trait -- and especially the blues at his fingertips. hyuna in contrast is the only brunette of the series, and colors like brown are often associated with more earthly tones, making her seem more human than luka.

hyuna, like till, has no sleeves, showing some part of her outspoken nature. but to me, what hyuna and luka both share is their strong asymmetry. Hyuna through her sleeveless (???) tank top and luka aforementioned trail thing. they are at such polar opposite ends taht it could almost fall into instability

anyway off to manifest round 6 ending with hyuna and mizi rescuing till and ivan and then luka randomly exploding on the spot :3 (its probably gonna kill off till or ivan)

apologies for any bad grammer im too lazy to revise this

#alien stage #vivinos #alien stage sua #alien stage luka #alien stage mizi #alien stage till #alien stage ivan #alnst #character rambles

[bumpkinspice0]

Parallels: chapter 1

Miguel O'Hara x Spider!FemReader

No use of y/n

Rating: Explict

Word Count: 2842

Summary: You never had a 'spidey sense,' as you came to learn from your time as part of Spider Society. You'd gotten along this far without it and were an excellent spider-woman regardless. Then you meet Miguel O'Hara and it awakens something in you. A strange buzzing in the back of your head. It doesn't stop whenever he's in sight, and you think he knows what's happening to you.

Something about Miguel draws you in. What made him so fucking special?

Warnings: Smuuut, Oral (Fem receiving-in a public place), Mentions of masturbation (like barely), horny at work, Miguel being feral, spider hormone connection?? IDK

Notes: This is my first time sharing anything I've written, I have no idea what I'm doing. I just started this blog an hour ago for this shit. I swear a lot, i guess. Please go easy on me... and enjoy, my beloveds.

AO3

Next chapter

___________________________________

Chapter 1

Spidey Sense

At first, joining Spider Society was overwhelming. How could it not be? But also— strangely relieving. There were more of you. Enough to fill a 200-story tower. After years of doing this on your own, you had a community to lean on. A community just like you.

As your life in the spider citadel went on it became more and more obvious that no two spider people were exactly the same. Powers or personality-wise— well, actually all of you seemed to be pretty quick-witted. Everyone’s abilities seemed to differ ever so slightly, you were no exception.

You never had what you came to learn as a ‘spidey sense.’ You had wall-crawling, strength, agility, all the seemingly usual stuff— but just not this apparent danger warning your fellow spider people had. Your powers seemed to make up for themselves in the end. Whatever you may have lost with this other sense, you more than made up for in other ways.

You didn’t have an internal security system, but your remaining senses were easily double that of any of your counterparts. On top of that your webs were completely organic. No awkward shooters or web fluid to constantly worry about. You win some, you lose some. 

Still, it fascinated you. The ability to sense danger. A literal sixth sense. Having constant spacial awareness sounded amazing after the embarrassing amount of random pigeons you’d hit while swinging through the city.

You asked around about it whenever powers came into the conversation. It was as casual as talking about the weather for all of you. They all described it the same. An unmistakable gut feeling. A tingling in the back of your head, a spiked heart rate, and suddenly you knew every small detail that was happening around you. If you were being honest, it sounded like the beginnings of a panic attack. Random adrenaline spikes throughout the day didn’t sound like the funnest ability to deal with. You’d never felt anything remotely like what they were describing. 

Well, until you met him.

Met was a strong word, actually. Miguel was a reclusive leader. You’d only met him a handful of times. Jess was the one to recruit you into the spider-league and Miguel was just this invisible entity you’d only heard about in passing. Everyone talked about him with such high regard and respect that you just kind of mimicked their attitude without really knowing anything about him. He built this place. He had to be incredible. 

The first time you saw the illusive Spider-Man 2099 was in a meeting. Jess wanted to get you into some teamwork missions and you reluctantly agreed. You and about a dozen other of your spider-comrades were to inspect an anomaly in universe whatever. Don’t interact with anything. Only observe. It was clearly a bullshit team-building exercise for all of you. No one here really knew much about being part of a team.

The air in the room changed when Miguel walked in. Everyone instantly hushed. He commanded the space with such little effort. He was addressing the room when he made eye contact with you and you immediately felt intimidated. Christ, he was huge… and handsome. Beyond his obvious leg-buckling good looks, there was something else his gaze did to you.

A strange tingling in the back of your head.

His gaze stayed on you longer than you’d have liked, his head tilting ever so slightly before pulling his attention back to the rest of the room. The buzzing in your head didn’t go away until he left. 

What the hell was that?

“You alright?” Jess tapped your shoulder, bringing you back to reality. The rest of the room was dispersing into the portal. Clearly, you paid close attention to the debriefing you’d just sat through.

“Yep!” You answered just a little too loudly. “Just nerves, I guess. Let’s do this.” Your lead Spider-Woman gave a cheeky smile before leading you both into the portal.

That was the first time you’d noticed something weird.

You’d only see Miguel in passing or in crowded rooms with countless other spider people. It quickly became obvious that he was the cause of whatever was happening with you. No matter the situation, you still got that weird feeling whenever he was around. He’d always glance at you more than you’d like— but then again you did the same. As you climbed the ranks you worried you’d get stuck on missions with him. Luckily, he seemed to take his jobs solo. 

Still, ever the attentive leader he was, he soon was in every briefing you were. Every meeting and training— sitting on the other end of the room making your newfound spider sense scream in your head. It would start going off even before you entered the room. That’s how you’d know he’d be there— and your sense was right every time.

The last time you saw him, he didn’t take his eyes off you the entire time. 

 A massive projection table stood between you and him. Lyla was showing some random science behind whatever the latest threat to the universe at large was. You couldn’t care less about what she said while this brutish man bore into your soul— again. 

Your sense was going crazy this time. No one else ever seemed to notice, so why did he? You’d heard through the grapevine Miguel was one of the few other spider people that didn’t have a spider-sense. He wasn’t much like any of the other spiders, really. Yet, he seemed to know what was happening to you.

How could he not know, since he was clearly the cause.

Your growing adrenaline morphed into something you didn’t expect. Your cheeks immediately reddened when you felt a heat rising in your core— and a gush of arousal between your legs. You squeezed your legs together, leaning on the projection table for support. Then Miguel’s expression changed. His eyebrows furrowed. You saw his jaw and neck clench. If you didn’t know any better he looked disgusted.

It was fucking humiliating. 

This was your job. These were your colleagues. You were all discussing what you needed to do to keep the literal entire universe safe! And here you were, getting horny over nothing like some teenager. Pathetic.

And he surely knew exactly what was happening.

Miguel left the meeting in a huff and you ran your vibrator dead that night when you got home. 

From then on, you actively avoided him. Both out of shame and for your own sanity. Whatever this was, you didn’t wanna deal with it. Out of sight of a mind.

It was obvious no one else had this weird problem with him so there wasn’t anyone you could turn to. You’d rather die than explain this to Jess and half of your other members were fucking teenagers. You didn’t want to ask Lyla so she could have this in her memory banks for Miguel to just stumble across one day and promptly expel you from Spider society. You loved it here. You loved being part of something bigger than yourself. It's why you took up the mantel in the first place.

Yet, surrounded by the people who understand you most, you were alone in this. Trapped by some weird spider-power puberty. Could superpowers even go through puberty? It made as much sense as anything else in your life.

You were walking to the training room when that doomed buzz pinged in the back of your head. Turning the corner to the empty corridor was that dreaded, broad figure you’d been successfully avoiding for weeks now. He pauses when he sees you, just for a moment, before continuing on his path. Your spider sense hadn’t shown itself this entire time and now it was like a car alarm in your head. Still, you managed to walk on. You won’t let him have the satisfaction.   

He mumbled your name with a small nod when you passed each other, you did the same. Honestly, you were surprised he even knew your first name. You were nearly at the corner when you felt the tingling morph into what you were dreading. You bit your lip at the building erotic sensation between your legs. You’d had enough. 

After that last encounter, you started to wonder if this was something he was doing. How could you not? There was something in his animalistic eyes besides pure hunger. There was knowing. There was smugness. 

Yeah, he was definitely doing something. This was his fault.

“Stop it!” You turn to shout at him, now standing yards away from you. Your voice echoes down the empty hallway. He turns to look at you, a grimace on his face. “This isn’t funny. I don’t know what the hell your doing or why you’re doing it, but just stop it.” You say again, stepping toward him.

“What I’m doing?” he snarls, “What do you think I’m doing?”

“You’re fucking with me for fun,” You accuse him, “I thought it was me. I thought it was something I was doing because no one else had the same problem, but it only happens around you. So you’re the one doing something to me!”

“Only around me, hm?” he scoffs, stepping toward you. “I’m not doing anything,”

“Liar,” you bite, “This only happens around you. That only leaves one option. You’re doing it.”

A bloated silence follows. You see his shoulders drop, bringing his hand up to rub his eyes in annoyance. 

 “You really don’t know what’s happening either, do you?” That gives you pause. “The constant… buzzing.”

No fucking way.

He… felt it too. 

He’s standing directly in front of you now, his expression softened ever so slightly.

“I’m not like most of them, you know.” He starts, his voice a low rumble, “No spider-sense, talons for wall-crawling, venomous fangs… enhanced senses. You’re not exactly like the others either, are you?” his form dwarfs you, backing you into the closest wall.

“You don’t know anything about me,” You hiss. 

“I know everything about you,” He retorts, “It’s my job to know.”

“You… you really don’t know what’s happening to me. To…us.”

This all just got insanity more confusing. Well, it already was but this was just another layer onto the shitty cake. He could be lying, you think briefly. He could see how much he affects you and finds it funny. Though that nagging feeling in the back of your head says he’s telling the truth— and you believe it. 

“Not yet,” his arms cage you in. His eyes shift to that familiar deep red as he drags his gaze over you, “I was suspicious the first time, then it wouldn’t stop.”

“It’s awful.”

“The worst.”

Then, for the first time, you actually feel small under his gaze— other than in a literal sense. He’d been staring you down for over a month but now he was so damn close.

“What’s it feel like… for you?” He asks.

You think for a moment, trying to ignore the heat rising inside you, “It’s… it’s like climbing a roller coaster. Anticipation. Adrenaline. You know somethings coming.” 

Your heartbeat is pounding. 

“Mhmm,” he lowers his head, “What else?”

“It’s—“, you shy away from his gaze. 

“I know what else,” he leans down, lips brushing into your ear, “I’ve been able to smell you for days.” 

If this were any other man you’d have knocked him unconscious by now, but something about him speaking to you this way made your legs nearly give out.

You feel a sharp pressure against your thigh. You look down to see the single talon of his index finger pressed against you, hooked through the material of your suit. 

“Is this what you want?” He asks, his voice a low growl now, “This is what it’s screaming at you?”

You bite your lip, taking in a sharp inhale before you nod. 

He drags the claw up your thigh and across your stomach, slicing with precision cleanly through the material of your suit and underwear. Another rush of arousal runs through you. The fabric gives way easily and your core is left completely bare. He grabs your thighs.

“I wonder if you taste as good as you smell,” he hoists your legs over his shoulders as he kneels down to meet your waiting cunt. He holds you on top of him like you weigh nothing at all.

Superhuman strength and agility had several perks you always felt you never fully utilized.

His mouth engulfs you, licking a long stripe up your entrance before enveloping your clit. You gasp and grab his head with one hand and stick to the wall with the other. It wasn’t exactly stable, but that was the last thing on your mind. The king of spider-kind was eating you out in the middle of the citadel— and god was he good. 

You fight back your moans as best you can, anyone could walk by. Anyone could hear you. When he sucks down on you, you let a small scream slip.

“Cállate!” He hisses underneath you. Your eyes briefly meet his before he’s back on you. You barely remember your 3 years of high school Spanish, but the tone of his voice was clear. Be quiet.

You bit down on your hand. Your toes curled in your shoes. He was unraveling you bit by bit with his tongue. Consuming you like a starved man.

His mouth wasn’t the only thing wrecking you. That annoying buzz in your head had dulled into something different— something entirely new. The strange tingling simmered into a warm sensation, raising every hair on your body. Every time he’d touch you, it’d electrify you even more. Did he feel this way too, you wonder?

He wasn’t gentle. This wasn’t slow and sensual. He was fucking primal, wriggling and squirming underneath you as if to try to get more of you— to get you impossibly closer. He’d retracted his claws but his fingers squeezed you so tightly you knew there’d be bruises in the morning. The thought sent a new wave of wetness to your cunt. 

He moans into you, sending vibrations all through your body. He was whispering some sweet nothings you didn’t have the brain capacity to try and understand. Really he was telling you all you wanted to know— he was enjoying this too. Whether it was for some sick kicks or he just liked the control, you didn’t care. He was giving you some much-needed relief you didn’t know you had pent up— and it felt like this was the same for him.

Then he finally looks up at you, his eyes overtaken by that inhuman crimson red— animalistic and feral and wanting. You should be afraid of him. 

His tongue delves into your heat, his strong nose still nudging at your clit. You were getting close now— already? Yeah, you were way more pent-up than you thought. Both of your hands come down to his head, lacing your fingers through his dark hair.

“Miguel,” You barely gasp out, “Miguel, I’m gonna—”

You don’t finish before it overtakes you. Your shaking legs crush his head while pure euphoric energy surges through you. Your face contorts into a silent scream, completely forgetting how to breathe for just a moment. It was raw. It was hungry and rushed, but it was perfect.

 He works you through it until your bones become jelly. He lowers you down onto his lap. The buzzing in your head is singing— and then it’s finally silent, washing over you like a warm wave. It was complete bliss.

Even straddling his lap, he still towers over you—crowding you in against the wall with his arms again. You’re both panting from the rush. Did you seriously just do that? Did he seriously just do that? 

“It… it stopped,” You finally say. “The buzzing.”

He grunts in response, which you can only interpret as me too. Running his thumb across his chin to gather your remaining arousal. Those red eyes never leave your face while he sucks the digit clean. You instantly feel another rush of heat at the sight. This fucking man.

You both turn to the sound of oncoming footsteps just around the corner. So much for heightened senses this time. You turn back to each other, both with the same question painted across your face. What the fuck do we do?

He’s the first to act, quickly typing something into his multiverse watch. A portal opens in the wall directly behind you. Without warning you fall into it, getting one last look at Miguel's smug face before it closes. Then— you're in your empty apartment. 

Your ears are ringing. Your heart is pounding. Too many thoughts are rushing through your head to even bother sorting out right now. As you sit there, shamefully bare in your most intimate area in the middle of your living room, you settle on one aspect of this entire fucked up situation to focus on.

That asshole ruined your last fucking suit. 

____________________________________

I don't know how to make a taglist.

Hope you liked it!!!

#miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara x you #miguel o'hara x spiderwoman!reader #fanfic #miguel o'hara fanfiction #across the spiderverse #atsv #miguel o'hara smut

[antianakin]

It's honestly really depressing as someone who likes Qui-Gon as a character to see fanon constantly reduce him to "enlightened maverick" or "arrogant asshole" and absolutely nothing in-between or combined. Qui-Gon can be SUCH an interesting character if people would just LET HIM be an interesting character.

Qui-Gon is also, in many ways, there to move the story forward and send us a few necessary messages and that's it. He's not the main character of anything, the story isn't ABOUT him at all. Qui-Gon is there to find Anakin and bring him together with Padme and Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon is there to foreshadow the destruction of the Jedi Order through his death at Maul's hands. Qui-Gon is there to parallel Obi-Wan's own death decades later, to pass the baton of the story on to the next generation. He shows us that the Jedi are not superhuman, they're not invincible, he's there to tell us about Anakin's prophecy and introduce the theme of choices.

If you're not looking at Qui-Gon as a character there to get across certain messages and as a catalyst for the rest of the story, you're probably missing the point of Qui-Gon and looking for things that quite simply aren't there to see. It's not that Lucas was such a terrible writer that Qui-Gon can only be distilled down to "enlightened maverick" or "arrogant asshole," it's that you're probably just missing what Qui-Gon's character is actually there to DO. Lucas allows Qui-Gon to be more stable as a character because he has to keep moving the story forward around all of the other characters who are growing and changing. Qui-Gon represents the Jedi as a whole throughout The Phantom Menace, he is our first true introduction to what the Jedi are like during this golden era when the Jedi are still doing fairly well. We know Obi-Wan and Yoda when they've both been in exile for ages and they're very old, and Obi-Wan in The Phantom Menace is still a student. So Qui-Gon is the first true Jedi Knight of the Republic in his prime that we ever get to see and know. He shows us their strength, their wisdom, their abilities, their compassion. And then he dies. Not because Qui-Gon did anything particularly wrong, but just because the Sith he was fighting managed to outmaneuver him.

So by looking at Qui-Gon as nothing more than an arrogant (sometimes abusive) monster or an enlightened maverick, you're sort-of just glancing over the whole point of Qui-Gon and reducing him to something less than what he's actually intended to be which is representative of the Jedi as a WHOLE. Lucas is all about poetry and rhyming, he likes creating parallels and patterns between his films. Qui-Gon dies as an homage and reference to Obi-Wan's own death because that's how the wise master archetype works in fantasy. Qui-Gon dies as a foreshadowing of the destruction of the Jedi that will occur in two more movies, a destruction we all know is coming because this is a prequel story. We're supposed to see what Obi-Wan will become in Qui-Gon and even what he will SURPASS in Qui-Gon, we're supposed to see the beginning of the end in his story. Qui-Gon, much like Palpatine in some ways, is a symbol more than he is a character.

What's funny is that NO ONE says the same about Obi-Wan in A New Hope, no one claims that Obi-Wan is so badly written because he fits into a very specific archetype that he is contradictory as a character. We all just recognize that Obi-Wan falls into that character trope and accept that for what it is. But people want to make Qui-Gon into something both more and less than the archetype he exists within, and it sort-of ruins him either way.

Qui-Gon isn't perfect, but he's also definitely right about a lot of things, he's wise and intuitive and compassionate, much like the Jedi are in general. Just because there are some things he does you could question a little, at least in his method if not his motivation, doesn't mean he's any less wise or compassionate as a person. And just because he IS right about a lot of things doesn't mean that he's meant to be right in CONTRADICTION to the rest of the Order or even just the Council itself.

People need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture with regards to Qui-Gon, look at the narrative role he actually plays and the parallels he presents with the rest of the films (the ones made by Lucas).

#star wars #qui-gon jinn #jedi #jedi council #jedi order #pro jedi #jedi council respected #jedi council appreciation #jedi order respected #jedi order appreciation

[giurochedadomani]

Anime Mihawk would vibe with live action zoro more than he did with anime zoro.

Live action Zoro’s just a bit more goth, refined (not by much) quieter (zoro wasn’t necessarily loud but he did yell a lot) and bitchy than his anime counterpart and I think Mihawk would really respect that. I think the comparisons will also be a lot more obvious personality wise kind of like shanks and luffy.

Sadly the same cannot be said for live action Mihawk and anime Zoro who I fear opla Mihawk would take one look at his raggedy shirt he’s worn for 3 weeks straight and roast him to death.

The thing is, I was pulled into the fandom by the opla, and I'm reading the manga, but I'm barely past arlong, so I'm not sure if I grasp the differences xD But the parallels and the contrasts between Mihawk and Zoro and Shanks and Luffy (And Mishanks and Zolu) have by entire heart.

Gonna drop this in the tag, just in case anyone wants to add to the discussion <3

#mishanks #zolu

[cursedalthoughts]

SHIPGIRL APPRECIATION DAY - Kearsarge

USS Kearsarge. Let's start this post strong: Kearsarge is single-handedly the most unique character in the game (for legal reasons, in my opinion). Her design should already let you know why, but if you aren't seeing why, I will explain.

This post will divert a little bit from the formula I established post-DoY post (the first I did). It will include very, very heavy use of headcanons that are in no way supported by the lore, but I think are neat.

Personality-wise, Kearsarge knows she is superior. She is better than those other shipgirls that have decades of experience. That's simply a fact to her, and since it's a fact; all her actions do not come as arrogant. She just does things - she disregards your orders if she thinks they're not very efficient, she organizes your documents in a way she finds to be perfect regardless of what you prefer, she charges by herself or stays behind depending on the situation.

On occasion, I neglect your will and prioritize the here and now on the battlefield. While you are the Commander, sometimes you have to let your soldiers handle things – the sooner you accept this, the better.

Her approach isn't necessarily wrong, either. Despite this, Kearsarge is a very reliable shipgirl. She is, indeed, strong - her twelve 406mm main guns are accurate and devastating by themselves, but she also has access to a squadron of five F8F Bearcat attack aircraft. Her firepower is incomparable among Eagle Union backliners.

However, her personality doesn't stay like this forever. When you as the player character get closer to her, you discover she's just autistic. She deeply cares about you, but is so expressive about her emotions and trains of thoughts, it's easy to think she's just a self-centered arrogant woman who speaks with a detached tone. She will not outright tell you she's in love with you, but she will make you some borscht! (I should point out Kearsarge is, originally, a ship commissioned by the Soviet Union, hence her Russian influence). That's her love language.

USS Kearsarge, steel version.

Design-wise, I adore how the artist YD managed to take one of the ugliest ships in World of Warships and turn her into such a beautiful, unique, one-of-a-kind shipgirls. An angel descending from the machine, a seraphim clad in steel and powered by steam. A herald from another timeline, where the Eagle Union necessitated the construction of Kearsarge. Her rigging divided symmetrically in half, her turrets and their support structure taking the shape of 4 wings of white metal, the faux wings and herself connected to a floating halo device to act as a mediator between the flesh and the steel. Her planes up in the air, a ghostly echo. Her arms stretched outwards, "fear not".

In the event Parallel Superimposition the commander visits a simulation based on the anomalous data from the hull of Anchorage. We learnt a lot about Anchorage, Dr. Aoste, Dr. Anzeel, and the Type-II hulls. We also learnt Bon Homme Richard exists in this simulation. Now, I believe this realm to be strictly speaking a simulation - not a real universe. However, when the event ended; TB had managed to gather enough information on Yorktown II, Northampton II, Hornet II, Hammann II and Langley II. Laffey II, as much as she made an appearance, couldn't be studied. I am guessing the same goes for Bon Homme. Who is to say Kearsarge doesn't come from this simulation? Or that she comes from a universe that parallels this simulation?

Hopefully I shouldn't have to point the obvious similarities between Anchorage's rigging and Kearsarge's rigging. Anchorage is like a cherub accompanying the cyber-divine orchestra of Kearsarge's guns and planes.

-------

THIS WOMAN WILL NOT LEAVE MY MIND I HAVE SO MUCH BRAINROT FOR KEARSARGE

hopefully it's entertaining to read and y'all can see why i like her.

#azur lane #shipgirl appreciation day #uss kearsarge

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 1

Propaganda Under Cut

Mel Medarda

she is the richest woman in piltover who left her family because she didn't agree with the way they did things (conquering and murdering). she sponsors jayce and viktor, and courts jayce, which makes people upset because, you know, jayvik. she and viktor are CANONICALLY parallels with much of their imagery mirroring the other's and they are literally the same height. and people are so weird and misogynist and racist about her. they argue she is manipulating jayce and doesn't actually love him. i am cognitively disabled and cannot explain things well, but, she is so fucking shouldered

Black woman who has a romantic arc with one of the main characters Jayce. Jayce has a best friend called Viktor and their relationship is pretty important plot wise, shown as a direct contrast to his relationship with Mel even though only one is canonically sexual/romantic. So naturally fandom as the transformative safe haven it is villainized Mel horribly coming up with theories about how instead of being a complex morally grey character she's actually evil and just wants to seduce Jayce for Evil Reasons. Since they couldn't use her as a supportive female friend with no personality, others just ignored her existence entirely or acted like Jayce would ditch her for Viktor. Majority of m/m shippers will reduce her down to her relationship with Jayce and an obstacle in the way of JayVik, ironically writing her as a far worse and less complex version of the character we get on screen. The misogyny reeks and combined with the racism? It's a pretty bad case. Only slightly mitigated due to the fact that the main characters of the show are women (and the lead is a lesbian) so thankfully the male focus of fandom is lessened as opposed to filling almost every inch. Still awful to try and search for good Mel content, godspeed girlies with taste.

She's one of the most interesting characters on the show, a rich politician, smart and beautiful and has a really complicated and intriguing relationship with the city's golden boy inventor. unfortunately golden boy has a sickly twink science partner so she gets sidetracked SO BAD

Juno

She's honestly a way deeper character than people give her credit for, her arc is that of acceptance and being true to your heart despite what society thinks of you. Oh yeah and for the record she doesn't stand in the way of Lougosi because of her crush on Legoshi because I honestly think that she was more in love with the idea of being in a same species relationship than she was with Legoshi himself. I'm talking about the part where she falls for Louis and struggles with the knowledge that if she actually pursues him she's gonna be seen as a freak and never reach the social status she strives for. There's a lot to discuss with her character arc but NOOOO let's all just laugh at how she gets no bitches because Beastars fans see Juno as a joke. (I'm not mad I'm not mad it's fine it's fine)

shes cool but she doesnt have good chemistry with her canon love interest and therefore the fandom chalks her up to having no personality whatsoever. they see her as either an obstacle or a sex object basically

Done dirty by the writers and fandom alike

#poll #round 1 #mel medarda #mel arcane #arcane #arcane netflix #juno beastars #beastars

[imagitory]

Review: Wish (2023) [SPOILERS]

Evening, everyone! Tonight my mother and I went to go see Disney's most recent film, Wish, which fortunately came to theaters in my area right before its formal American release date. I'd been very curious to see how this tribute to Disney's last 100 years of filmmaking would turn out, and now that I've seen it...well, I have to be honest, I was a little disappointed. I want to be very clear both that I was going into this with a rather sunny outlook and that there are things I really liked in this film...but overall, it felt like a lot of the good ideas it had were only half-baked, and I found myself -- forgive me -- "wishing for something more" than what we got.

For a more comprehensive deep-dive...a cut!

The Good!

+The single best element in this film for me was Chris Pine's performance as our villain, Magnifico. There are definitely some things I can critique about Magnifico's overall storyline and "character arc" further down, but Chris was clearly having a grand old time being an egotistical, sassy jerkwad, and it totally showed. Even in his villain song This is The Thanks I Get?, which just screamed "passive-aggressive abusive parent," you can hear how much fun Chris was having in the studio, recording it. I just about always enjoyed when Magnifico was on screen, and I actually did really like the idea that a lot of his villainy is rooted in him being obsessed with control over everyone and everything. In a weird way, Magnifico's turn to the Dark Side parallels Anakin Skywalker's in the sense that he lost so much in the past that he's determined to never lose anything important to him again -- especially the power he's accrued to make himself feel strong, after having felt so powerless. I find that very interesting, and I kind of wish that aspect was really highlighted more in the story, but we'll talk about that later.

+Asha was a likable enough heroine, even if I found her to be a lot like a two-way fusion of Mulan and Anna placed in a vaguely Snow-White-ish role in her clearly Seven-Dwarf-inspired friend group. Ariana DeBose portrayed her rather well, both acting and singing-wise. I also liked the "social justice" bent to Asha's character where she wants better things not just for herself and her family, but also Rosas overall -- in the French translation of her main song "This Wish," they even push this further by having Asha wish "to see the world happy again someday." We haven't seen a heroine really express this kind of desire for a positive change in the world since Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and that's cool! Plus representation in mainstream media for previously underrepresented groups is always nice. ^.^

+As much as I don't think they all got enough focus as individuals, I liked Asha's friend group! Especially the fact that it is a friend group made up of people that are around the same age as our protagonist, which -- let's be honest -- isn't that common for Disney heroines. Often with "sidekick groups," you're more likely to have situations like Cinderella with the mice (who are more like cutesy sidekicks than equals) or Snow White with the Dwarfs (who are all quite a bit older than our heroine)...so a friend group made up of peers with their own personalities and motivations was kind of fun.

+The setting of Rosas itself could be pretty. I liked a lot of the Mediterranean-inspired architecture, especially inside Magnifico's tower.

+The combination of 3D and 2D-esque animation was also interesting! It really served to give the film its own distinctive visual style that sets it apart from other Disney projects, which I always appreciate.

+Star was...cute. Obviously just designed to sell plushies and definitely reminded me way too much of Kirby, but cute enough. I do think it's kind of cool that they're never gendered at all in the entire movie, because it'd be silly to think of a sweet little androgynous ball of stardust as being specifically male or female.

+I liked the idea of Simon "betraying" Asha, only to be turned into a pawn by Magnifico in the process, but not being treated unsympathetically by the story for it. Didn't love the full execution of the idea, but hey, that's what the negative section is for.

+The idea of everyone finding the power inside of themselves to stand up against Magnifico (because they're "all stars," and presumably all have the magic needed to make their wishes come true) was a little predictable, but still sweet. I have problems with how the film wrote it (which we'll get to), but the idea itself was wholesome and fitting.

+I like several of the songs, just on their own -- I added This Wish and Knowing What I Know Now on my ITunes as soon as I first heard them prior to the film's release, and now I've added At All Costs too: it's a really pretty duet! (Gorgeous work, Chris and Ariana!) I'll leave my praise here, though, because sadly the soundtrack is going to get a lot of discussion in the less positive section.

The Not-So-Good...

+This film being "Disney's 100th anniversary film" really got in the way of this movie telling a compelling and unique story sometimes. The whole movie really twisted itself into a pretzel trying to check off all the usual Disney tropes, and there were points that certain choices made the story seem incredibly stilted. For instance, one common Disney trope is a dead parent, so of course Asha has lost her father -- but we learn so little about him and he ends up playing such a small role in Asha's arc and story that it seems like an unnecessary detail. Asha's grandfather honestly plays more of a role in Asha's motivation throughout most of the film, so it would've made just as much sense to have Asha's grandfather be the one who believed in stars having power, rather than her father. Another example is the concept of the cute animal sidekick who's just there to make jokes -- as much as Valentino the goat didn't annoy me personally, he added just about nothing of value to the story whatsoever aside from comic relief, in contrast to other funny sidekicks like Sebastian from The Little Mermaid or Olaf from Frozen, who also serve a plot purpose and have a developed relationship with the protagonists. Then there's Asha being cut from the same "naive, awkward, wide-eyed idealist" cloth as many of our Disney Revival heroines like Anna, Rapunzel, and up to a certain point even Mirabel are; Star being in a similar vein to cutesy, innocent sidekicks like Pua, Crikee, and Baymax while Valentino is more akin to sassier, comic ones like Mushu and Sisu; her friends literally being based on the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White; our heroine getting a pretty standard "I Want" song and the villain getting his own solo number that doesn't really take any risks...oh yes, and we mustn't forget the trope of the Storybook opening, which (I'm sorry) I know was supposed to be a reference to Snow White, Cinderella, and Enchanted, but just gave me Shrek vibes the entire time. I was waiting for Shrek to rip out the page and use it for toilet paper any minute. It just felt a lot of the time like the movie was very paint-by-numbers, rather than throwing in much that was surprising or different.

+This isn't even touching all of the pointless meta references to other Disney movies. Asha wearing the Fairy Godmother's cloak and getting a wand like hers at the end -- the mushrooms crowing "we love crazy!" the way Hans did in Love is an Open Door -- Asha riding the reindeer the way Kristoff did in Frozen 2 -- Magnifico using green smoke hands a la Ursula -- the ending with those obvious Wendy and Peter Pan look-alikes, come on, really??? That was just painful.

+As much as Magnifico was an awesome idea for a character and Chris Pine's performance was beyond entertaining, the movie did not always write him as well as they could've. From the very start, we see this guy is an egotistical control freak -- obsessed with his own image, incredibly hard-to-please, arrogant, vain, desperate for attention and unwavering praise and adoration from all of his subjects, and determined to keep an iron grip on everyone else's wishes because of the power it gives him. He's ALREADY a terrible person, from the start -- and yet the film tries to introduce this dark magic book that gets no explanation or backstory whatsoever and has no real characterization or presence, so it leaves no real impact on the audience corrupting him and making him a bad person, when it didn't need to! Magnifico was already the villain this film needed! Just let him fall head-first into madness without the book prompting anything! Even if Magnifico "lost everything" in the past, that doesn't make him a good person, if he takes everyone's wishes away from them and hoards them all to himself, only to grant a few now and again when it would make him look good.

+This above point actually leads nicely into one change I really, really wish the film had been ballsy enough to make -- have Asha already be Magnifico's apprentice, not trying to become it at the start of the story. Give our villain and hero a real relationship, with history that started before the events of this film! Asha lost her father at the age of 12...how interesting would it have been -- whether to make Magnifico more of an anti-villain or show how manipulative he really is -- if he'd tried to fill that fatherly role for our main character and twist her to serve his ends? What if At All Costs was rewritten to be about Magnifico not just being determined to hold onto all of the kingdom's wishes, but also this apprentice he sees as an extension of him and his legacy, while Asha is determined to protect this Star she's accidentally summoned and the suppressed wish of hers it represents? This change would've made Asha's break with Magnifico so much more powerful for both of them -- it would've both justified Magnifico's descent into madness and given Asha more reason to feel like it was her responsibility to stop Magnifico. You even could've then played more with Asha's relationship with Queen Amaya too, in this kind of a scenario.

+Oh yeah, and on that note, Queen Amaya. OOH, this really annoyed me -- okay. So this woman is supposed to be a good guy, in this story. But as I touched on earlier, Magnifico was already a pretty awful person, hoarding people's wishes away in order to make himself powerful. Was Amaya truly so blind to that? Did she truly never question anything, ever? But no, really, she only turns on Magnifico after he starts using the dark magic book and actively threatens her. Only that makes her turn from him, and it's pretty damn immediate. Now okay, I hear you saying, it's like Amaya sings in Knowing What I Know Now, right? "The good in him, I've watched it melt // I was blinded by the love I felt"? Excuse me, lady -- but Magnifico wasn't a good person, before. He was just playing a part so as to stay powerful and adored by the masses. And if the story wants to claim otherwise, and act like that dark magic book was responsible for Magnifico going bad, then why would our Queen decide to keep him locked up in his staff's crystal forever? If the book was responsible, then Magnifico would be the Frodo or Golum to the book's One Ring -- he'd be a victim, in such a scenario: one in need of help and pity, not punishment. So either Amaya is a selfish person who only cared about her husband's mistreatment of others when it affected her, or she's a needlessly cruel person who decides to punish her husband for a vice that anyone could fall prey to. Either way, I don't want this woman ruling anyone! Make this woman a straight-up villain, same as her husband, and have the whole monarchy come crashing down after she and Magnifico both go down in flames! VIVE LA RESISTANCE! (Playing into my idea with Asha being Magnifico's apprentice all along, maybe there could even be a twist on the Evil Stepmother trope with Amaya, where she's jealous of how much Magnifico has tried to groom Asha as his apprentice, rather than spending time and/or starting a family with her or something.)

+As I touched on earlier, there wasn't even close to enough time to develop all of these characters properly. Since our heroine and friends are most similar to Snow White and her friends the Seven Dwarfs, let's compare cast size. Snow White is 83 minutes long and has a cast of ten (Snow, the Prince, the Queen, and the Dwarfs) -- Wish is 95 minutes long and has a cast of fourteen (Asha, Magnifico, Star, Valentino, Amaya, Asha's mum and grandpa, and our seven Friends). This results in us getting the vague idea that "Grumpy" role Gabo is sweet on our "Bashful" role Bazeema, but no time to develop their relationship or give it any kind of conclusion; the others saying "Sneezy" role Safi apparently loves the castle chickens with no sympathetic explanation why, to the point that he gets super excited about a chicken growing to a giant size for no real reason; "Doc" role Dahlia having a crush on Magnifico that is then dropped immediately after Asha turns against him; oldest kid and "Sleepy" role Simon feeling incomplete without the dream he gave Magnifico and "betraying" Asha as a result in an attempt to get it back, only to get stabbed in the back by Magnifico, and then have no time for a proper redemption after he's unhypnotized; Asha's grandfather turning on a dime about whether or not he wants to know what his wish was if Magnifico thought it was dangerous; Magnifico getting some justification in his backstory for his bad behavior, but Amaya's backstory being a complete black hole before she married Magnifico when you'd think it'd explain all the more why she stuck with him so long; and Asha's mum having her wish crushed to dust by Magnifico and then given back without us EVER LEARNING WHAT IT EVEN WAS IN THE FIRST PLACE, even after we see just about everyone else's wishes as soon as somebody picks it up and Asha's mum's wish gets picked up multiple times!! Come on, if you're going to set up NOT showing it, you may as well have a pay-off for it!! At least give us some moment where Asha's mum hugs her in relief and acknowledges that her daughter was her wish! That would've been a nice "aww" moment for everyone!

+Okay, I said I was going to talk about my problem with the songs, so here goes. As I said before, I listened to the soundtrack before watching the movie, and even when I did, I could immediately sense a problem: these songs did not tell me much of anything about the movie, just on their own. Welcome to Rosas, which is pretty much just an exposition dump about the kingdom and how Magnifico founded it, didn't really paint a picture of our setting or characters much at all, the way opening songs like Belle or The Family Madrigal do. This Wish, although pretty, was something I could hear just as easily on the radio -- it didn't feel as tied or necessary to understanding our heroine the way something like Part of That World does. I'm a Star, quite frankly, felt like a lot of inspirational word salad, rather than anything particularly memorable or revelatory -- why else wouldn't it even be worthy of a musical salute in the reprise, where Asha remembers that she and everyone else are stars during the climax? Even after reading summaries of the plot and spoilers from the storybook for this film, I could not figure out for the life of me how At All Costs would fit organically into such a story, being sung by our villain and hero. It wasn't until I saw the film that I saw how the filmmakers decided to fit it in and honestly...the song didn't help tell that particular scene at all. It's a really pretty song and I like it a lot -- but it lacked any of the irony or contrast that kind of a scene that introduces the difference in focus between our hero and villain required. If the scene itself is needed to understand what's supposed to be going on while the song is playing, then the song is not effectively telling the story and is therefore unnecessary. There wasn't even a particularly Spanish or Mediterranean flair to the soundtrack to help set the stage, aside from the occasional flourish of castanets -- instead it sounded very contemporary, which I guess is appropriate, since it was largely written by pop composers rather than any musical theater talent.

+There were also points where the songs felt the urge to shove in a bunch of extra words just because, rather than have the words flow well and really mean something. I'm a Star is most guilty of this, of course, but even in This is the Thanks I Get?, we hear Magnifico gripe that "I let you live here for free and I don't even charge you rent" -- mate, THAT MEANS THE SAME THING! If you live somewhere for free, then you are NOT paying rent!

+Knowing What I Know Now is a bop and I like it (aside from Amaya's stupidity), but I'm sorry, all I can think when I hear it is "This is clearly trying to be Ready as I'll Ever Be from Tangled the Animated Series, but that song blows this out of the water." However fun the song can be, it would've been so much stronger if it actually addressed the contrast between the characters and revved us up for a big final battle, instead of it just being our eight underdeveloped characters psyching each other up.

+The idea of everyone being stars was a lovely idea, but the execution of Asha remembering this fact and using it to defeat Magnifico was terribly handled. First off, there was no revelatory phrase or action that prompted Asha to remember this fact, so her suddenly saying that "they're all stars" came out of nowhere. Second, even putting aside that there'd be no way any of her friends could hear Asha from all the way up on the tower if they're stuck in the courtyard below, there's no reason I can see for Asha's friends or family to know what the hell she was even TALKING about. They weren't there when the I'm a Star number happened! And the way that number made it seem, just based on the visuals, it looked like the "star" power came from a person's dream, since it's the same glow that returns to Asha's grandfather when he gets his dream back, but most of the town's dreams have been already yanked out by Magnifico at this point! I think the idea is that since everyone is a star, even with that big piece of them and the power accompanying it taken out, they still have enough stardust inside of them to be powerful enough to chase their heart's desires...but yeah, I'm sorry, for all the word salad I'm a Star threw around, this world-building aspect was really not made clear, and because of that and the lack of a proper callback to this plot turn, the climax didn't hit as strong as it should've.

Overall, this film felt a lot like a batch of unbaked chocolate chip cookies that someone decided to throw a bunch of brightly colored sprinkles on top of, just because they could. A lot of ideas just don't feel like they were fully developed, and there was a lot tossed in that didn't contribute to the overall taste or bring the disparate elements together in a cohesive whole, instead feeling more like a distraction than anything of actual substance. That doesn't mean I couldn't eat it -- I like eating cookie dough as much as the next person -- but that doesn't mean it felt like a complete, finished product worthy of great praise. Instead I'm left looking at the wasted potential and wishing the movie had carved out its own path more, one distinctive to itself, rather than just be a mashup of previous Disney concepts and tropes. I won't act like there's nothing to like here, nor that it's completely lacking in heart: I actually would love to see fandom for this movie re-imagine it in ways that could've improved the story and characters, because there were SO many good ideas here...but for me personally, this movie left me colder than it should've and -- like Asha after meeting Magnifico -- a bit disappointed.

So I make this wish...to have Disney make a film better than this.

Overall Grade: C-

#disney #disney wish #wish (2023) #wish #wish spoilers #spoilers #review #analysis #oh boy here i go

[sukunasbabygirl]

I think something that needs to be understood is that Wittebane fans understand that the brothers and Evelyn aren’t the main characters of the show, we understand the true focus is on characters like Luz, Eda, King, the Hexsquad etc, I mean I love those characters just as much.

The reason I’m personally frustrated, and many other enjoyers of the wittelore are as well, is because it was genuinely built up. We weren’t fixated on small crumbs, we were fixated on an entire story that was relevant to the world of the isles today and the characters today, we were fixated on something that made the antagonist both irredeemable yet human. Which, sidenote, I’ve made a few posts before on why it’s important that we have more villains who are both humanised yet irredeemable and why I loved Philip for that, so you can imagine how he was treated in the finale bothered me quite a bit, I digress however.

In Thanks to Them especially there were set ups that we never really got answers for, and there is a difference between show not tell and… show half of it but not the rest, which feels like what they did. We don’t actually know how Caleb found his way to the isles, or why there were clues to find the Titan blood, or how Philip got there afterward, being as he seemed to have arrived later than Caleb but had no idea in TTT where the Titan blood was. These all feel like questions that could be given very quick answers too.

They hinted at Philip’s guilt multiple times but never really went anywhere with it, and with how the finale played out, it would be better if they just didn’t show it at all. And I have so many feelings about how his death played out but I’m struggling to word them all right now, I know it was the intent to humiliate him and that’s fine, but the way it was executed was such a jarring tonal flip and to me at least, narratively, didn’t feel all that satisfying in the long run?

Also the fact that it’s confirmed now that the Titan was looking out for Luz… does bother me a lot, considering the early themes of the show. The fact they were just two humans who made their choices, and Luz looked to the sky and saw the light and Philip didn’t, it made them so interesting as foil characters, especially as Philip believed the isles was hiding the glyphs from him. But that was the thing, it wasn’t, at least not originally.

Back to the Wittebanes though, you can absolutely leave most of their story vague and told through portraits while also addressing the stuff that probably should be known, and honestly I feel like removing the Collector would allow this. I don’t hate the Collector, when he was originally introduced I found them fascinating as a character, for both his parallels to Philip and to Luz, but in the end, he didn’t exactly add much narrative or theme-wise to the story, which wouldn’t be a problem if these weren’t the final episodes, and he honestly felt under-utilised. Also there’s so many little confusing contradictions with their character. I feel like he could have been written to tie in with the wittelore and also remain a foil to Luz which would have worked well, but in the end it came off as very messy and the storylines didn’t really connect, which is a bit of a problem for a finale.

I know the show was cancelled and cut short, but the Collector we know was a decision made after they found this out, so it feels like we may have gotten more wittelore originally, which would have kept the story and themes cohesive. I think I’m starting to repeat myself now, and I’ve gone off on a bit of an unrelated tangent. I just have so many thoughts and nowhere to put them, and this episode really didn’t feel like The Owl House to me, it just lacked that same emotional flare that focused more on character and story beats in big fights than the shock value or enormity.

I wasn’t so keen on For the Future after rewatching and I think a lot of the arguably wasted screen time during that episode, causing a lack of proper set up for this episode, definitely affected things.

I love this show and I always will, and if you enjoyed the episode then I am so glad you did, these are just my own personal, very complicated feelings on things.

#toh critical #the owl house critical #toh #the owl house #toh criticism #hopefully most people have the critical tags blocked I don’t wish to make people feel negatively if they enjoyed it and don’t feel the same #toh spoilers

[jaydencoolguy]

George's Relationship with his Father

I have some thoughts about the relationship George McFly has with his dad, Arthur McFly. I'll put it under a cut because it's gonna get long. And I mean long.

Okay, while watching a playthrough of the BTTF game I noticed that George says this:

"Hey, sometimes you gotta go out on a limb for the ones you love, right? I wish MY dad had understood that."

I'm like, "Woah, what? What's his relationship with his father like???" So I head over to the wiki and find THIS:

"Here we see that Arthur is about as wimpy and spineless as George since he gives his son many pathetic reasons not to attend such as college being hard and his grades that he received in school. He even tells George that he will never succeed in life with his current grades and such which could be the primary reason why George becomes a pushover in the original 1985."

Furthermore, he's described to be "a dead ringer for 1955 George in looks, voice, and personality."

Obviously George doesn't (or didn't, since he's implied to be dead) have a very good relationship with his father. But what's really interesting about this is the fact that they're practically the same personality-wise. (They're both pathetic, pushovers, doormats, etc.) Do you think that George sort of resents himself for acting the way he does (or did, in the case of the new timeline)? Because he hurt others the way his dad hurt him, since his actions reflect his father's? God, that's sad to think about.

You would think, in the case of the original 1985, that he would actively try to stray away from being like his father, but obviously, he failed. This is true to real life generational trauma, in which you swear you will never end up like your parents, but you do anyway because the way they treat you and act sticks with you. Yeah, you get the point right?

George's dreams got shot down by his father, and in the original 1985, he didn't have the courage to stand up for himself. Arthur never stood up for him either; and George ends up just like him, albeit more passive... at least he lets Marty do whatever he wants for the most part. Speaking of which, I think Marty serves as an interesting parallel to George's relationship with Arthur, since Marty actually gains a lot of courage and confidence due to the fact that his father is a pushover. George loses more of his sense of self worth because of his dad, since he never believed in or helped him. As a result, he never tries to achieve his dreams and remains unmotivated.

Now let's switch gears to the new 1985. Because of Marty's help, George gains the courage to stand up to his bullies and thus, becomes a more confident person. He gets motivated to do better. I'd like to think that because of this, George also stands up to his dad as well, becoming more successful in the process. I think that he sort of wanted to stick it to his dad, to prove that he can be successful and that he could do anything he set his mind to. This probably pushes George to work harder, which ultimately pays off as seen in the ending of Back to the Future 1. He had achieved his dream as a writer and had a better life overall. However, it seems that George's success hadn't changed his father one bit, as seen in the clip I included above. Even though George ended up happier and wealthier, it didn't mend his relationship with his dad. I don't think Arthur is necessarily a bad person, but he could've definitely been a better father.

This is an almost tragic part of George's character, even in the fixed timeline. It demonstrates how you could be similar, yet so different from your parents. How the way they treat you impacts the way you act, depending on your circumstances and the way you view yourself. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this worthless ramble!!!

#Hopefully this turns some gears... if you ever make anything based off my ideas I'd love to see! #Feel free to add onto this post too!! #back to the future #bttf #bttf the game #back to the future the game #george mcfly #arthur mcfly #marty mcfly #bttf analysis #writing #jayden speaks #jaydens postings