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#one of the only reasons to watch the episode!!!
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Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 重啟之極海聽雷/Reunion: The Sound of the Providence/The Lost Tomb Reboot/this thing has too many names
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Reunion (I'm just going to call it that) is a 2020 action drama about the most specialest little babygirl in the tomb-raiding world, his two husbands, and the cadre of assorted weirdos they pick up as they try to follow a set of directions left by a dead (?) man in the thunder.
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Imagine if someone showed you the Mandalorian, and you were like, gee, that was a neat little sci-fi one-shot! because you'd never heard of Star Wars. That was basically my experience watching this show, having no idea that the Lost Tomb franchise (DMBJ) was even a thing. Turns out that not only is there a whole big continuity out there with these characters, but that Reunion takes place a few years after the main story's resolution. Don't worry, though -- Reunion doesn't spoil you for that resolution. It doesn't spoil you for much, period. Look, DMBJ has a weird relationship to endings, okay?
I have written a more thorough where-to-start guide for DMBJ as a whole, so if you want to consider other entry points, well, that information is there for your consideration. Yet it is my opinion that this is the best entry into the overall franchise, and a fun thing to watch just in general, and I'm here to make my case for both of those.
The rest of this rec will assume that you have no familiarity with the DMBJ series. That's okay; you don't need any. All you need is to trust my five reasons you should watch this.
1. Old Man Yaoi
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As you begin this show, you are introduced to the Iron Triangle. That's them in the picture up there. Left to right, you have: Xiao Ge, magically tattooed immortal hottie who just got back from ten years in [scene missing]; Wu Xie, our protagonist, who's just a little guy and it's his birthday; and Wang Pangzi, the literal best.
(And yes, Wu Xie is in his 30s and Pangzi is in his 40s, which is not technically old man anything, but ... look, if you watch, you'll see why I think I'm justified in calling it that.)
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They are extremely married. They are a disaster trio of disasters so disastrous that no one else should ever be subjected to their chaos. They're going to make sure lots of people are, though, don't you worry about it. Sometimes those people even deserve it.
However, because the show (tragically!!) decides that Xiao Ge has somewhere else to be like 95% of the runtime, most of the relationship you get to see is between Wu Xie and Pangzi.
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I'm saying this now as an old gay nerd who just this year celebrated her 15th wedding anniversary: I have never, never felt so represented in media as I have watching Wu Xie and Pangzi interact. There's a little wake-up song they sing together near the end of the show, and it just ... it packs so much character development into thirty seconds. These boys have been living adjacent lives for so long that they've made up their own little shared songs about the mundanities of daily living. That is just what happens when you marry your best friend and then decide to get old and weird together. Ask me how I know.
Look, if you want to know whether this show is for you or not, watch to the end of the first episode, to the part where Pangzi flips over the table. If your heart is filled with joy (as it should be), keep going.
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Love makes a tomb-raiding syndicate family.
2. A fun-filled action-packed romp of nonsense!
If you're familiar with Hellblazer canon, this will make sense to you: Reunion is Dangerous Habits. If you're not familiar with Hellblazer canon, try it like this: Reunion is a terrible place to start because it plays on your extant affection for a character who gains a terrible status effect almost immediately. It's a also great place to start because it throws you right in the action with measurably high stakes and gives you a reason to build that affection very quickly.
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I'm also going to warn you right off the bat: The plot of this show got cut to ribbons by censors.
See, the DMBJ books, being books, are allowed to get away with supernatural shit! So you've got zombies and ghosts and curses and monsters and immortality and all your other standard ooky spooky semi-urban fantasy trappings. But the DMBJ adaptations, being live-action, are heavily regulated in their content. This is why, in the early Reunion episodes, our heroes are menaced by human-looking creatures that are actually ancient mannequins made of leather that are piloted, mecha-style, by evil clams. Because evil clams are more scientific than zombies. I guess.
So yeah, the plot of this book already had to get mangled into a more "science"-compliant shape even before it made it to filming. The real problem is that a whole lot more of it got cut after it was all filmed and put together. I have read an explanation of what the actual storyline was supposed to be, and yeah, if you know what you’re looking at, you can see (and hear) the scars where major elements got hacked out with a weed whacker.
Therefore: You cannot expect this plot to make sense.
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But that's okay! You're not here for the plot to make sense! You're here to watch some characters you love run around through ridiculous and sometimes beautiful labyrinths, trying to solve puzzles you're never given enough information to understand, all in search of the resolution to a mystery that had half its guts torn out before you got to see it -- and you are here to love it. If you have ever laughed and cheered your way through a Mission: Impossible film without pausing to care too much about the plot holes it’s dodging left and right, you are in the correct frame of mind to appreciate this. Just believe that whatever engaging nonsense the show tells you is correct for the time being and go with it.
You cannot watch DMBJ and care about the laws of physics. You simply cannot.
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Do not, however, let me give you the impression that the shoddy plotting is accompanied by equally shoddy performances. A major part of this show’s incredible watchability comes from how the cast is shockingly good. There are some serious heavy hitters among the actors. A major part of why this Wu Xie and Pangzi are my favorite together is the incredible chops both Zhu Yilong and Chen Minghao have, to say nothing of their real-life affection for one another. (See that scar on Wu Xie's neck? That scar is there because Zhu Yilong commits to the bit.) Effortlessly charming Mao Xiaotong turns potentially irritating wunderkind Bai Haotian into a perfect precious weirdo baby. Wu Erbai's entire second-season character arc could have been unintentionally comedic, but veteran of queer cinema Hu Jun sells even the undignified moments as relentlessly tragic. And of course Baron Chen absolutely kills it with...
3. This giant fucking loser
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This is Hei Xiazi. That's not his name, but it's close enough. Allow me to do a dramatic reenactment of my watching his first scene:
[camera pans over to him]
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me: Ugh, I recognize this kind of wannabe badass character design. I hate his type. He's self-important, hyper-masculine, and just a big jerk, and the show thinks he's soooo cool. Barf.
[thirty seconds later]
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me: Oh no. I was so wrong. I love him forever now.
This is because he is (as indicated above) a giant fucking loser. Yes, he's a good fighter who knows lots of things. He's also a wet potato chip of a man. Sure, he can get you into a headlock, but he can also annoy you into submission, and that's honestly more fun for him. My wife has used the phrase “Vash the Stampede-coded” to describe him. My wife is not wrong.
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And the kind of ridiculous thing is, being such a loser is what wraps back around to making him cool again. He's a loser because he just doesn't fucking care. His masculinity is the opposite of fragile. You tell him to wear a dress and makeup, he'll do it -- and sure, he'll complain, but only because he enjoys complaining. He has no dignity. He’s tits-out. He's gender. He's the worst and also the best.
Hei Xiazi is a major character in the other installations, to the point where he and his boyfriend (more on him later) even have their own movie. But of course, I did not know this on my first watch, so I kept expecting the show to explain his whole deal. It does not, but you don't really need it to. He sees better in the dark. He doesn't age. He's a thug for hire. There, that's all the bio you need.
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One of the things that makes him great is that he is the least sexually threatening person ever. Across all the properties he's in, he spends a fair amount of time with women -- sometimes in very close quarters -- and they are perfectly safe around him. I actually wrote a whole post about it once upon a time (warning for tiny spoilers for a series that isn't this one) wherein I claim that not only Xiazi but Reunion in general is the television equivalent of the shirt that says I RESPECT WOMEN SO MUCH I DON'T HAVE SEX WITH THEM.
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That said, this loser does get a sort-of romance plot here -- and honestly, I find it very cute! It's not even the only instance in this series of a bisexual guy in a long-term same-sex relationship getting a girlfriend, and I like that other one too! Look, the handle of my DMBJ sideblog is @katamaricule because I joked that Wu Xie treats polyamory like a katamari, and if you don't move fast enough, you're going to be rolled right up into his gay little cuddle puddle.
This is not a show for exclusive ships; this is a show for inclusive ships. The Jiumen Association is a polycule. You don't even have to know what the Jiumen Association is to know it's true.
4. The power of friendship
This show has a lot of characters.
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I'd say the supporting cast is divided into three categories: characters who have been in previous installments, characters who have not been in previous installments, and characters who probably should have been in previous installments (or at least mentioned) but who were only created for Reunion so we have to pretend like we've known about them all along.
There is no way to tell which is which -- which is part of my argument that this series makes a good entry point to the franchise.
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Take Huo Daofu. Huo Daofu is a brilliant doctor masquerading as a donut stand operator who treats Wu Xie with all the cold disdain of a man confronting the person who left him at the altar years ago. On the one hand, yes! We do know Huo Daofu from a previous series, and we've known he's both a doctor and a bitch. On the other hand, oh, we have no idea why he's like this about Wu Xie, and we probably never will. The show just treats it like it's for an excellent reason, and you know what, from what you know about Wu Xie, it probably is.
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Consider also Jiang Zisuan. One of the show's principal antagonists, Jiang Zisuan turns out to be the brother of ... well, let's just say it's someone whose having a brother really should have come up before this. It has not come up. (And that's even before we get into the issue of his surname.) His stated identity as that person's brother is so bizarre that my favorite interpretation is that he isn't actually that person's brother -- all the flashbacks we see are just his delusions about a relationship he's completely invented. But there's no way you'd know how fucking weird this is on your first run.
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Then there's our friendly little support himbo, Kanjian, who shows up to all occasions with two tickets to the gun show and not a thought in that beautiful head. (His name just means "vest," which is par for the course when it comes to the author's naming conventions.) He was a lot more menacing in the last series (where they kept putting sleeves on him, geez), where most of what we learned about him is that you can loan him out to other tomb-raiding families. Now he's a golden retriever with great aim and a slingshot. It's an upgrade.
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The trick is, you cannot be surprised when someone shows up and the show treats them like you should know who they are, even when there's no possible way you could know who they are. I mean, for heaven's sake, Liu Sang arrives in the middle of an obvious beef with Pangzi, the origins of which are never satisfactorily explained, while also having a giant do-I-want-to-fuck-him-or-do-I-want-to-be-him crush on Xiao Ge, which is also never satisfactorily explained. Whatever, you just roll with it. He's got good hearing, a bad attitude, and questionable taste in idols. Now you're good to go.
(I should throw in a special note here that Liu Sang is many, many people's little meow meow, and not undeservedly. For a fuller explanation of why that is, please consult this other post I made.)
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Part of the fun of this big cast is the adorable interactions you get. All the characters have appropriately big personalities, and the show loves letting people you wouldn’t expect bounce off one another. It’s not your typical action-hero show where nothing happens without the protagonist in the room. There are lots of exciting combinations and tons of charming dynamics! Unlikely friendships form all over the place! Enemies become allies! Allies become friends! Friends become friends with other friends! Some friends become enemies again! You'll need a scoreboard to keep up!
This is not to say the show treats all its characters perfectly or equally -- one of the precious few main female characters doesn't even get a real name, for heaven's sake, and the less said about the brownface racism, the better. It is, at its heart, a dude show for dudes made in China, with all the troubling decision-making that implies. Where it does deserve credit, though, is in understanding that its supporting characters are actual people with personalities apart from their function in Wu Xie's narrative. Sometimes the show just asks "what if [random character A] and [random character B] had to interact?" and has fun considering the answer! Which is almost always a delight to watch, and sometimes even breaks your heart.
5. Amazing rewatch value!
And by this I mean the experience of watching this show is remarkably different once you have any understanding of the rest of the DMBJ universe.
For instance, there's a point where two characters are scuba-diving past some submerged coffins, and one character tells the other whose coffins they are. Working only on information Reunion has given you, you're like, oh, that's where they buried the guy who built this creepy place, that's a little weird. Once you recognize that name from other series, though, your reaction is far more, excuse me, they did WHAT to WHOSE corpses?
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Or another point where a character you've already met is on a train, and there's a handsome gentleman who just happens to be riding with her. He hands her his business card! Aw, that's sweet, he seems like a nice guy! Well, no, Xie Yuchen is not nice, but he is one of our allies, and he's Hei Xiazi's boyfriend, and a lot of what he's doing hits real different when you have a fuller grasp on why he's doing it and for whom. (Honestly, a major reason to watch Reunion first is so you're not fully and appropriately upset by how your black/pink gays merely have one teeny tiny scene together.)
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From the way the series treats the persistent absence of Wu Sanxing, Wu Xie's third uncle, I absolutely, 100% assumed that he was a completely new character to this installment of the series, an extremely long-lost relative that we've somehow conveniently managed to never talk about before now. So imagine my gobsmacked surprise when I went to watch a different series, set much earlier in the timeline, where the opening scene prominently features Wu Sanxing as an actual character in the present-day narrative! ...Well, sorta. Look, there's a lot of fuckery with his identity in earlier parts of the story, and fortunately you need to know none of it to understand Reunion. But when you do, it suddenly makes a lot more sense why Wu Xie talks about someone who was a major part of Wu Xie's adult life like he died when Wu Xie was nine.
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AND THE FLASHBACK SCENE WHERE A-NING GETS KILLED BY THE SNAKE, AND YOU'RE LIKE, OKAY, AND THEN YOU WATCH ULTIMATE NOTE AND IT WASN'T LIKE THAT AT ALL look, I know there are kinda reasons for this, different production companies and all, but seriously, what the fuck
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All of which to say is that the experience of watching Reunion the first time is, hey, this self-contained romp is a lot of fun! The experience of rewatching it after watching any of the other DMBJ installments is a transcendently wonderful head-clutching avalanche of one moment of recognition right after another.
And here's the thing: You will watch more. Reunion is a gateway drug. If you are interested enough to make it through all 62 episodes, you're going to be interested in watching more. Which is great. The English-speaking fandom needs more people. Come down into the tombs. It's great down here. We've got snakes and arguably unintentional homoeroticism. Join us. Join usssssssss
Are you ready for an aventure?
There are a couple different ways to watch the first half, but there's (weirdly) only one way to watch the second, so for both of them, I'm going to send you straight to iQiyi: Season 1 (32 episodes) and Season 2 (30 episodes).
And just so you’re ready when Reunion is done, here’s how you find the rest of the DMBJ series, in the absolutely non-chronological order in which I, personally, think you should watch them:
The Lost Tomb 2 (AsianCrush, YouTube)
Ultimate Note (iQiyi)
The Mystic Nine (iQiyi, Viki)
Sand Sea/Tomb of the Sea (Viki, WeTV, YouTube, also YouTube)
Also, there's a lot of movies and side series and other pieces that are worth seeing, and even a couple of full series I've left off the list, and you can just slot them in wherever. And maybe we'll get Tibetan Sea Flower someday? Look, hope springs eternal.
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They're so perfect. Perfect triangle. Perfect boys.
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merlinoutofcontext · 2 days
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literally no one asked me this but i think about it a lot. one of the big reasons i love merlin so much is it is one of the only shows i watched growing up where it was seemingly both normal and okay for men to cry. where men are usually disparaged for showing Emotion or their Tears, or called weak when they showcase them, merlin was crying basically every other episode. and he's said to be the most powerful man to walk to earth.
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ghouljams · 4 hours
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More fae!Gaz, he's so boyfriend, he's always there when you need him. Even if you didn't know he'd be there or that you'd need him! That's just how great he is!
You duck under an awning to escape the sudden downpour, already soaked to the bone. You look out at the pouring rain, tip your head to try and get a glimpse at how the clouds are moving, and sigh. You'll just have to wait it out. You wish you'd brought your umbrella.
The door beside you chimes, and there's the click fwump of an umbrella being opened. You glance at the man looking out at the rain, you recognize him. You've had a few conversations with him. Not friends, not even acquaintances, but not strangers either. What was his name again?
Something whispers through your mind, bounces and echoes: Gaz, Gaz, Gaz.
"Gaz?" You confirm. He turns to looks at you, and his eyes spark with recognition. He smiles and you smile back.
"Hey there sunshine," Gaz grins, his eyes drag over you, bounce across your chest and the way your soaked shirt clings to you, "gone for a swim?"
You laugh, shake your head and then shake it harder to try and get some of the water off it. You don't know how rain always feels so much colder and wetter than regular water, but you can feel it drip off you thickly. Gaz laughs, it sounds like chocolate. You don't- you don't know how to describe it. It's like chocolate. Rich and sweet, but dark with a hint of bitterness that makes you want to hear it again and again. You find yourself staring at him, pushing your hair off your forehead to stop the water from rolling down into your eyes. Already you've had to blink away the drops that settled on your lashes.
"Didn't bring my umbrella," you explain. Gaz nods, the cocks his head back towards the shop door.
"S'why I stopped in for one."
"Smart, don't know why I didn't think of that." You watch the rain fall for a moment, before you're struck with recollection. "We live in the same building right?" Gaz hums.
"You knocked on my door for a cuppa once." You nod and he shifts his grip on the umbrella, holding it between you. "You asking to share?"
"Could save me a few pounds," You're only half joking, stepping closer until your shoulder brushes his.
"What if I'm not headed for the tube?" You look up at Gaz, watch him cock a brow curiously. He never loses his smile. Something itches in the back of your mind, warning you against friendly strangers. Something else quiets it, pets the scared animal into submission with that soft echoing whisper: Gaz, Gaz, Gaz.
"Then you can just drop me off at the nearest station and be on your way," you reason. That seems to amuse him, something sparking in his eyes that lights up his smile. He's warm. Green. Natural. You can smell the dirt of a nearby flower pot, the dust of the city. Petrichor, your brain supplies. The smell of dust after rain.
Mentally you kick yourself. From a fucking Doctor Who episode ya numpty. Trying to sound poetic when you're just quoting a damn- and it's not even an episode you liked! Ugh.
Gaz taps your forehead, two gentle taps that make you blink. There's something familiar in the gesture, friendly in a way that's overly friendly for how close you aren't.
"Looked like you were getting lost in there," he says when you smack your hand against the tapped skin.
"Well throw down a rope then," you grumble. Your therapist is right you gotta start being more present. This is why you get caught in the rain, too busy day dreaming.
"How about I get you home first," Gaz jokes.
"Just to the station is fine," you tell him, hurrying to stay under the umbrella as he starts walking. Gaz shrugs, the umbrella shifts, and you press closer to avoid soaking your shoulder a second time.
"I'm going home anyway, may as well take you with me."
You roll your eyes. An alarm bell rings in the back of your mind, smothered by a thick magic that whispers to you: Gaz, Gaz, Gaz.
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sparkles-rule-4eva · 21 hours
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Alrighty! @number-one-shadisper-shipper and I binged the Knuckles series today, so time for thoughts! SPOILER ALERT.
I'll admit the show wasn't perfect. I've seen the negative reviews, and I kinda get where they come from. BUT! I did enjoy this show greatly! And I'm not here to complain. Time for some happy thoughts, y'all! 💙🤩
I think you need to have a love, not just tolerance, for the SCU in order to properly enjoy this show. I do have such, so I had a lot of fun with it.
There were definitely scenes from every episode that had me either squealing, laughing, crying, or flipping out. But my favorite was likely the first episode, because come on, we saw the Wachowski family! Most of them, anyway! While I missed Tom's presence, I was grateful for that comment from Maddie about him being "out of town," so he wasn't just gone for no reason.
The SECOND it showed our three space babies hanging out together in their room?! I SCREAMED. THE BOYS!!!!
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Tails sitting on his bed tinkering with one of his gizmos, Sonic rocking out to music with an air guitar, and Knuckles exercising from one of the ceiling planks. IT'S THEM!!! They're just hanging out, doing their thing, looking oh so much like brothers. And Sonic's narration at the beginning was GOLD. 🤣💙
Even though we didn't get enough of Maddie being a parent, we definitely got a nice chunk for it only lasting part of an episode. Maddie called Knuckles "one of our kids" (that had me SCREECHING). The angry mama vibes were GOLDEN. 🤣 The way she made breakfast for them, the "Boys, breakfast is ready!" I love the normalcy of it! Can't wait to see more in the future! (Her calling to them with "boys" is somehow just the sweetest thing and I'm melting.)
The poor mailman being like "I just wanna go home, man" 🤣
We were right, fellas, Knuckles had no idea what being grounded meant. 🤣 Although the way Sonic piped up with "Oh, I definitely know what it means," has me suspecting that Sonic himself has gotten grounded a decent amount before. 😂
Knuckles trying to talk back, and Maddie going, "ExCUSE ME?!" then just making those tiny, terrifying noises and Sonic being like "Bro don't mess with Mom when she's mad" (okay, he didn't say "mom" and that made me sad, but the mom vibes were 110% there so I'm here for it). 😂 And since Knuckles snuck out and later Wade said, several times, "Aren't you grounded?" seems to confirm that this entire show is basically what Knuckles does when he's grounded. 🤣 Although ... his comment about not being able to be grounded because he had no home made me very sad. 😭
I did not have an issue with so much Wade screentime! Sure, he isn't my favorite SCU character, but I love what this show did with him! I'd already seen his moments in the movies (like nearly shooting Robotnik in the face with an actual handgun). I like how they gave him actual family issues; a dad who abandoned him and his family, a realistic sister, a mom. Bad family memories. Awkward reunions. They could've made it a joke, but they didn't, and I greatly appreciate that. Especially since I've witnessed firsthand how painful family separations can be. 😔
All the emotional talks Wade and Knuckles had caught me off guard in the best way! The way they talked about their different family issues, the way they talked of betrayal from friends, and being left alone, hit way harder than I was prepared for. Especially that talk they had at the burger place in the middle of the night? Oof. Good talk right there.
Also, even though they took a "show don't tell" take with it, I loved how Knuckles relaxed more and more throughout the show. In the beginning, he couldn't rest, he couldn't sit back and have a genuine good time. But the more he hung out with Wade and his family, the more he learned. He learned about music and found "his jam" (that was literally amazing btw). He watched movies with Mrs. Whipple and ate snacks in the hotel room in Reno and watched more movies. He had his teenager moments of rolling his eyes and rebelling, but he was so well portrayed here, I loved it. I felt for him.
Despite the bizarre nature of the episode "Flames of Disaster," (we were cracking up so hard) I'm trying to glean bits of the truth of Knuckles's story from the crazy musical play that Pachacamac put on in Wade's dream. I mean, "Longclaw" and her tribe were there, and ... what the heck was that giant demon thing?! Iblis?! Does our Knuckles Wachowski have an actual history with freaking Iblis?!?! 😱🔥
I was deeply intrigued by the two main antagonists, especially at the implication that G.U.N. did seem to exist before the events of the first movie?! Did it exist, get disbanded after the Maria incident, then get reformed?! My brain is exploding. 🤯 I was even more shocked that they apparently died? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, the Wachowski kids don't seem to have much qualms about getting rid of the baddies for good as the game versions do. That was a terrifying phenomenon, what happened with the two rings. 🫣
And then the Buyer getting crushed by the giant glass ball 👀
Although in those last two episodes, I admit I was freaking out and legitimately near tears at Wade's seemingly having to "betray" Knuckles. Before the reveal that all was in good communication, all I could think was how relaxed Knuckles finally seemed, chilling in the hotel room, being excited about whatever Wade wanted to "show" him, questioning whether it was a song, him declaring that he was going to bring his favorite hat, 🥹 all I could think was of their previous discussions about betrayal from friends and family, and when Knuckles called Wade "my friend" right before the elevator doors closed, I just about sobbed. I was like "please, don't let him be betrayed, don't let him have come all this way and relaxed so much only to get 'betrayed' once again by someone he's come to consider a friend." 😭 We heaved a HUGE sigh of relief when it revealed he was aware of the trap the whole time. 😪
Maternal instincts went nuts when he got so badly hurt in that final battle 😭 I literally reached for the screen several times and was right back to almost weeping 🥲 And someone tell me I wasn't the only one noticing the parallel in that scene with Wade standing in front of his unconscious body the way Tom did with Sonic in the first movie. That, PLUS Knuckles's epic comeback, and his retrieval of his own power?!?! EPIC!!!!
The ending was abrupt, sure, but the pure joy on Knuckles's face after everything as he jumped up to high five Wade was just too sweet. 🥹
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So yes, even though I would have loved just a little more, a return to Green Hills, a reunion with Maddie, Sonic, and Tails, I adored this show. It was a wild ride, full of laughs, tears, excited screeching, etc. 💙💛❤️ I don't care what anyone says, nothing will make me hate it.
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bm-blog01 · 1 day
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Rumours and Speculations: Is this an explanation for Part 1 of Season 3? WARNING: SPOILERS
After the rumours and leaks earlier week, is the fandom right about why the production has taken the route with Kate and Anthony they have?
*spoilers from this week's leaks are below. DON'T read if you don't know them and don't want to be spoiled.
Last week a comprehensive review of episode 1 of the third season went up on Reddit, in this review the user mentioned that Kate and Anthony decide to leave London to continue their honeymoon, leaving Violet and Benedict in charge. Many are upset about this (rightly so) for a variety of reasons, but some suggested at the time it was a production decision in order to not have Kate and Anthony overshadow Polin. This view is one of many that were promoted as to why the production made the decision they did, but how accurate is it?
This comment below from Reddit, not from a Kanthony fan for the record, expresses a similar view.
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Of particular note is that this user clearly states that Kate and Anthony take things to the country so they don't outshine the new leads.
I find this a very interesting comment, specifically in the choice of word outshine. The implication is that if Kate and Anthony were to be in each of the Part 1 episodes (even for 5 minutes) then they have the potential to overshadow the leads and take attention away from them.
IF this is the reason that the writers/showrunner have made the decision to send Kate and Anthony away, then it provides the suggestion that perhaps the showrunner is not confident that the new leads are able to hold their own if the previous leads are still in the show.
This view presented by the Reddit user is actually very disrespectful to Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton, and if it is the reasoning by the production for Kate and Anthony not being in the majority of Part 1 it also shows a level of disrespect from them towards the leads as well.
A further thing to note, if this is the reasoning by the production, it may have backfired on them in a major way. If the idea was to lure Kate and Anthony fans in to watch through promotion, then have Kate and Anthony leave to give everyone the chance to get attached to Polin's story, then it has failed as Kate and Anthony fans are saying they will not watch since they will only be in one episode.
So what would have been better for the production, remove the couple that you think may outshine the leads, or keep them in with a disassociated (but quality) storyline? I would suggest the latter as that would ensure returning viewers, the former risks many not returning to watch at all - which many are threatening at the moment.
Finally, it is important to note that Penelope and Colin have been in Bridgerton since episode 1, viewers know them and have already formed their opinions, so there is less risk that Kate and Anthony will outshine them than if they were introducing a brand new character as the lead to the viewers.
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romancemedia · 2 days
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You Kill their Loves, You Face their Wrath
Since watching Rogue's rampage in the latest X-Men 97 episode over the loss of Gambit, it strongly reminded me of Miss Martian's grief when Superboy was believed to have been killed on Young Justice. I can't get enough of how much alike they are!
• Both were determined to seek vengeance against the person they held responsible and went on a VERY angry and grief-stricken rampage. Nothing was gonna stand in their way.
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• They each had a moment where they broke down in their siblings arms to grieve for their lost loves.
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• However, the one striking difference between the grief of these two women was when they finally confronted the men who were supposedly responsible... Rogue dropped Trask to his death while Miss Martian stopped herself from doing something she'd regret.
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Rogue and Miss Martian's Outcomes
Rogue's actions were shocking to the core. She wasn't gonna let anything stop her from seeking revenge for not just Gambit, but everyone who perished on Genosha and went after the very man who created the Sentinels in the first place. Although Trask confessed there were bigger players involved, including Mister Sinister, that didn't matter to Rogue. She was consumed with rage, grief and revenge. She didn't just lose Remy, but Magneto too. She lost 2 of the greatest loves of her life in a single day! And with that, all logic and reason goes out the window. Nothing anybody said or did was gonna stop her and now there's no telling how Rogue will come back from the dark path that now awaits her.
Miss Martian's actions prove just how far she's come in her journey. If this were the same Miss Martian from Season 2, she wouldn't have hesitated for a second to fry M'comm's mind and leave him catatonic, but she didn't. When Miss Martian confirmed that M'comm was NOT responsible for Superboy's death, she backed off and let him go. Miss Martian has been down this road before and if she mind blasted M'comm, it wouldn't her help or ease her grief. It would only be adding another sin to her conscience and repeating her past mistakes. She maybe in the same pain as Rogue, but her actions proved more than anything despite her desire for vengeance, she wanted justice for her beloved, Superboy.
The Support of Family
What's even more saddening about all this was Rogue had the support of all the X-Men who wanted to help get justice for Gambit and in spite of their support, Rogue still chose revenge. With Miss Martian, she was separated from her adoptive family; The Original Team when Superboy was killed and yet despite their absence, she still chose the right path and eagerly awaited to reunite with her loved ones to help her process her grief.
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Crushes Aren't Just for Kids
Pairing: Bruce Wayne x fem!JL!reader (Justice League Unlimited!Bruce)
Summary: When all adults are banished from earth, you join Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern in a unique fight to save the world. Along the way, some hidden feelings are revealed.
Warnings: spoilers/rewrite for Justice League Unlimited 1x3 "Kid's Stuff", fluff, mention of beheading, canon-level violence and action
Word Count: 3.1k+ words
A/N: I can't tell you how many times I've watched this show because Kevin Conroy's Batman in the DCAU tv shows is unmatched (and the kids who did the voice acting in this episode did phenomenally). I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think!🤍
Picture from Pinterest
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You are in a unique position for several reasons. Being one of the only human members of the Justice League, you find yourself pushing yourself to be the best you can and ensuring that you can keep up with your superpowered teammates. Plus, you are one of the only people who knew Bruce Wayne before you knew Batman, and no matter how much he denies it, you knew after one look that the man under the cowl was none other than your favorite billionaire. When you first arrived on the Watchtower with your fellow vigilante, you wondered if any of the superheroes (especially those who had unique mind powers) could tell that you wanted to be more than fellow crime fighters with Batman. If they did, no one said anything, so your secret crush has remained secret as it grows stronger.
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“Bats,” you warn as you duck away from Cheetah’s claws.
Bruce flips away from Deadshot’s line of fire before rushing up beside him. He punches under his jaw, and you watch as Deadshot lifts Bruce off the ground. Bruce throws a batarang, and you slide away from them as Deadshot falls to the floor.
“Guess that’s a wrap,” Green Lantern says. At Bruce’s look, he adds, “Sorry. Been hanging out with Flash too much.”
“I don’t see how that’s a bad thing,” you tease.
You look away from John and see three police officers entering the vault. A pink wave follows them inside, and your eyes widen when the officers disappear. Bruce pulls you to his side as John creates a forcefield with his ring, but it fails nearly as quickly as it appears.
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When you open your eyes on a floating rock, you’re still tucked against Bruce’s side. You step back quickly and look around. Dozens of rocks surround you and each holds numerous people; adults only, you notice.
“It was judgment day,” Copper exclaims, “and- and we got sent to the bad place. The bad place!”
“Where else were you expecting to go?” you ask sarcastically.
“Snap out of it, Copper!” Cheetah demands as she slaps him.
“Yeah, calm down,” John calls. “We’re probably just in another dimension.”
“I don’t see any children,” Bruce says.
“You would be the one to notice,” you murmur. “It’s not a bad thing,” you add when he directs his bat glare at you.
“That’s because a child is responsible,” a woman wearing a mask interjects as she hovers above you.
“Morgaine Le Fay,” Bruce greets, though he’s prepared to fight rather than exchange niceties and introductions.
“Great, magic,” you mutter as you fall in line between Bruce and Diana.
“I mean you no harm,” Morgaine assures. “My son Mordred has wrought this treachery. Banishing all adults to this shadow realm.”
“Do you think Flash is here?” you whisper to John.
“50/50,” he answers.
“After I spent millennia feeding him, bathing him, preparing him to be a king,” Morgaine continues. “Where did I go wrong?”
“You’re a sorceress. Can’t you just undo his spell?” Diana asks.
“No. He’s got the amulet of first magic. He’s too powerful. But if we all work together…”
“You want us to defeat your own son?” Bruce clarifies.
“So don’t trust me. Let him rule the world and all your children. Here we will stay. Forever.”
“But what can we do? We’re stuck here, aren’t we?” Diana says.
“Please don’t say-“ you begin.
“Not exactly,” Morgaine answers.
“That,” you finish as your shoulders slump.
“The spell only banishes adults.”
“I don’t like where this is going,” you and John say together.
“It’s the only way,” Morgaine says.
“We have to do it,” Clark announces.
John exhales deeply, and you step back to be at Bruce’s side again. Magic has never been your preferred battle, and as Morgaine directs her spell at you and everything turns green, you clutch Bruce’s cape in your hand.
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When you arrive in Mordred’s amusement park-turned-kingdom, you’re ready to leave. Being turned into a kid again wasn’t exactly on your superhero bingo card, and as a human, you don’t bring much to the fight anyway.
“I hope this is temporary,” Bruce complains.
You look over at him and feel butterflies in your stomach. Despite de-aging, you still have a crush on Bruce, but it hits harder and faster. You tear your eyes away from him and try to calm your racing heart. Each moment you live as a kid, you’ll start acting more like one.
“You sound weird,” Clark says. “Whoa. So do I.”
Diana looks between Clark and John before straightening her shoulders. She towers over them and smiles. “I kind of like this.”
“Why are you squinting?” you ask John.
Bruce, Clark, and Diana look over after you ask, and you drop your eyes to avoid looking at Bruce again.
“I wore glasses as a kid. Guess I need ‘em again,” John answers.
A pair of oversized green glasses appear on his face, and he jumps in surprise. They’re nothing like what adult John would create, and you stifle a laugh at the sight of them.
“I didn’t even try to make these!” he exclaims.
Clark laughs as Bruce says, “I hope not.”
You pat John’s back as he focuses on making nicer glasses. Once he’s ready and Clark compliments his new look, Diana reminds you that you’re supposed to be looking for Mordred.
“Bet the little punk’s in there,” Bruce says.
He points to the castle looming in the distance and begins running. You run behind him and watch as Diana, Clark, and John fly past you.
“It’s not a race,” Bruce grumbles.
He speeds up, but you keep your pace and make it to the castle all the same. Despite the earlier teasing about John’s glasses, none of you have mentioned any differences between the kid and adult versions of one another. You’re thankful, though, because reliving your childhood is not your favorite pastime. When you enter the castle, you stay behind Bruce as he stands beside Diana.
“The Justice Babies!” Mordred calls before laughing.
“What are you laughing at, precious?” Bruce asks.
“Precious?” you repeat.
“You,” Mordred answers. “Mother sent you, didn’t she?”
“Maybe she wanted a chance to have a normal kid,” you taunt.
“She shouldn’t send a boy to do a man’s job,” Mordred tells Bruce.
He grabs the amulet, and you watch as a young boy’s toys come to life. They grow until they’re giant, and you stumble backward before running for cover. When Clark flies into one of them and is knocked to the floor, you begin questioning if it was truly a good idea to become kids to fight a boy with powerful magic.
“Bruce, batarang,” you request.
He hands you one before running toward Mordred. You wait for one of the toys to run toward you before sliding between its legs.
“I’ll make a laser cannon. No, a missile launcher,” John says above you. “Oh! Oh, I know.”
“Just pick something!” you and Bruce yell together.
You dig the batarang into the back of the toy’s leg and roll to the side as it collapses to the ground before disappearing. Bruce and John take one out, while Clark disables the other with his laser vision.
When you hear Bruce grunting and see him dangling from his cape in the grip of the last toy, you gasp and run toward him. Diana beats you there and catches him.
“You okay, tough guy?” she asks.
“Let go. I’m fine,” Bruce demands as he struggles to get out of her hold.
His shoulders drop and his cape surrounds him as he sulks. You don’t ask the same question Diana had but thank him for the batarang as he passes.
“That’s not fair,” Mordred complains.
“Get him!” Bruce calls.
You run behind Diana and aren’t surprised when you’re all encased in ice. Mordred is powerful, and you and your fellow “Justice Babies” seem to be forgetting that. When you fall into a dungeon and are freed from the ice, you scoot toward Bruce. One of the cells opens, and red eyes glow within. You clutch Bruce’s cape and watch as a small demon walks out.
“Etrigan?” Bruce asks.
He steps away from you, and his cape slips through your fingers. You stay behind John’s forcefield as Diana lifts Bruce out of the way of Etrigan’s flame. Diana has been closer to Bruce during this mission than usual, and the butterflies in your stomach start causing more pain than happiness as you wonder if they’ve been hiding feelings for one another in the Watchtower, too.
“Don’t hurt him!” Bruce yells as Clark pulls Etrigan away from you and John.
Etrigan bites Clark’s arm, and he calls, “Tell him that!”
“C’mere,” you tell Etrigan. You crouch to the floor and pull him into your arms. “Stop!”
He calms down, and Diana helps Bruce up as Etrigan cries. You look at Bruce and shrug.
“He’s just a baby,” Diana says.
“And he needs more than a hug,” John adds, waving his hand in front of his nose.
“Now, that is a job for Superman,” Bruce says.
Bruce takes Etrigan from your arms and passes him to Clark. When Bruce takes your hand to lead you out of the dungeon, you nearly trip over your own feet. You’ve never been more ready to grow up before, you think.
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Mordred’s new kingdom is comprised mostly of children doing what they were never allowed to do before. When you walk through the paths surrounding what used to be the center of the park, you are surrounded by children doing dangerous stunts and breaking rules.
“You two, knock that off!” Clark demands when he sees two boys playing with wooden swords.
“What are you gonna do? You’re just a kid,” they taunt.
Clark shoots a laser between them and answers, “I’m the kid with laser beams coming out of his eyes.”
“That’s just gonna scare them,” you interject before they run away screaming. “You can’t threaten kids the same way you threaten criminals.”
“Then what do we do?” John asks.
“Tattle,” Diana answers. She flies to an elevated area and yells, “That’s enough!”
Everyone freezes, and you find yourself reaching for Bruce.
“You can’t tell us what to do! You’re not our mom!” someone replies.
“No, but I promise you we will find all of your moms and I’m gonna tell!” Diana answers.
“Well, what should we do?”
“Go outside and wait for your parents. Now!” Diana demands with a hand on her hip.
“Man, your girlfriend sure is bossy,” John tells Bruce.
“Shut up,” he replies before leaving John’s side.
Those butterflies in your stomach become dead weight. You stall behind John, but he turns to look at you.
“You like Bruce,” he accuses.
“What? No!” you answer too quickly. “We’re friends.”
“Mmhmm.”
John gestures for you to come with him, and you follow Bruce together. You know that John knows more than he ever lets on, and if anyone found out about your crush, you suppose you should be glad that it’s the one who can keep a secret. Better him than Wally.
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“He’s almost asleep,” Diana whispers as you look into Mordred’s hideout. “We can take him.”
“I’ll make a lawnmower and chew him up,” John suggests.
“A lawnmower?” you repeat incredulously. “Why?”
“I say we get that amulet away from him first,” Bruce says. “We’ll split up and sneak behind him. Then Lantern can do his thing. But no mowers.”
“Why?” John questions.
“Because it’s stupid,” Clark answers.
“He’ll hear it, too,” you whisper with much more kindness than Clark.
“I guess I’ll go with Clark,” Diana says. “Unless I should go with you,” she tells Bruce.
“Whatever,” Bruce answers.
John sees your eyes drop and says, “Clark can go alone. I’ll go with Diana.”
You appreciate it but shake your head because you don’t want to be left alone with Bruce.
“Whatever,” Bruce repeats.
“Go,” John whispers.
You lead Bruce around the side of the cave, and John shakes his head as he watches you go.
“What’s with them?” Clark asks.
“Really?” Diana questions.
“Man, for somebody with fifty different kinds of vision you are so blind,” John responds.
“What?”
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“Is that a claw?” you ask Bruce as John tries to get the amulet.
“Unfortunately,” he answers.
He may be young, but his sarcasm hasn’t changed a bit. You lean against him when John’s claw wavers before disappearing. The amulet falls to Mordred’s chest, and Bruce moves you carefully as he calls, “Get the amulet!”
You join Bruce, Diana, Clark, and John in a failing attempt to hold Mordred down and take the amulet. He uses his magic to grow and throws Bruce and Diana off of him before standing. A young girl is standing nearby, and you take her hand to lead her to safety as the others fight Mordred.
“Bats!” you yell, just as you had as an adult this morning.
Bruce looks back and sees the living gargoyle chasing him and John and directs John toward a small bridge.
“Close the door!” you yell as Bruce enters the castle.
Diana closes and locks the door behind him, and you listen to John come up with complicated plans to stop Mordred as Bruce thinks.
“Forget it!” Bruce calls after John mentions giant handcuffs. “We’ve got to focus on…” Bruce’s eyes lock with yours and he says, “Never mind what I just said. We’ll take care of everything else. Lantern, you go crazy.”
“What are you going to do?” you ask.
“It’s time for all of us to grow up,” Bruce answers.
He takes your hand before running toward another area of the kingdom. Your butterflies begin reviving, and you wonder if anything will be the same after this.
“Go!” he yells to Clark.
Clark pulls the amulet from Mordred’s neck while he’s distracted by John before tossing it to Bruce.
“This is the most dangerous game of keep away I’ve ever played,” you yell as you take the amulet from Bruce and run it to Diana. Diana throws it to Etrigan, and you flinch when he bites into it. The wave of purple magic that escapes it is unsettling, but you don’t take your eyes off Mordred.
“I already absorbed too much of the amulet’s power,” Mordred says as he stands.
He uses his magic to suspend all of you, and Etrigan, upside down in the air. He pulls a sword from a nearby stone, and it turns purple before reappearing as a curved blade.
“I’ll take care of my kingly duty myself,” he declares.
“Is he really going to behead us in an amusement park?” you ask with your arms crossed over your chest.
“I’m scared,” the girl you helped earlier says. “I want my mommy.”
Mordred lowers his blade to say, “You don’t need a mommy. You’re better off without one. Trust me.”
“Ooh, mommy issues,” John muses. “Those ain’t easy.”
The girl begins crying and Clark taunts, “Some king.”
“I’m not impressed,” Diana agrees.
“What’d you expect? He’s a boy doing a man’s job,” Bruce finishes.
“You don’t know what it’s like being stuck as a kid,” Mordred says.
“Since you’ve had all that power, you could have been a man anytime you wanted. I think you’re too chicken to grow up.”
“Yep, big chicken. That’s what you are,” John agrees, flapping his arms like wings. “Bock, bock.”
“Face it, precious,” Bruce continues. “You like being a little mama’s boy.”
“I’ll show you!” Mordred yells. “I’ll show you all.”
“Sure, you will,” you agree with an eye roll.
“And when I am a true kind, I’ll start with the human!” Mordred adds, pointing to you.
Bruce looks at you, but you keep your eyes on Mordred as he spreads his arms and is surrounded by purple ribbons of magic. Etrigan claps as Mordred’s spell spreads, and he reappears as a man.
“I’m older than you now,” Mordred says as he turns to face you.
The magic released his spell, and you catch yourself as you fall from the air.
“You sure are,” Bruce says.
Mordred disappears, banished by his own spell. As an adult, he couldn’t stay, and now you can only wait until Morgaine does her part. Bruce steps to your side and you turn your face toward him.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“Yes,” you answer just before Morgaine appears.
“A bargain is a bargain,” she says as she waves her hand before you.
The spell is lifted, and you are an adult again in only a second. You hadn’t prepared for the change in size however and are pressed against Bruce’s chest with the sudden growth. He makes no move to get space from you, though.
“Mommy,” Etrigan coos at Diana.
She drops him and steps back. You chuckle at the scene and Diana looks at you with furrowed brows before smiling and rolling her eyes.
Morgaine opens a portal, and Bruce places a hand on your hip as he steps around you.
“Wait,” he calls. “What happened to Mordred?”
“My spell gave him eternal youth but now that he’s broken it all he has is eternal life,” she answers.
“Circumstances aside, it was kind of enjoyable to be a kid again,” Diana says.
You walk to Bruce’s side and watch the happy reunions of children with their parents.
“I’m sorry,” you offer softly.
“For what?” he asks.
“You just- you didn’t get to be a kid like the rest of us.”
“Perhaps Diana was right. It wasn’t completely unenjoyable.”
He turns toward you, and his arm is pressed to your shoulder.
“You’re telling me the big, bad bat had a little bit of fun?” you tease.
“You never talk about your childhood,” he deflects. “So, I’m sorry if this brought up bad memories.”
“Just dead butterflies,” you answer.
Bruce glares at you, but it’s the one unique to when he’s reading you.
“Is that why Lantern sent us off alone together?”
You look down as you nod.
“My butterflies are alive and well, and happy to wait for you,” Bruce murmurs.
“Butterflies or bats?” you ask.
“Should we be having this conversation in an amusement park?”
“You’re right. Let’s go to Metropolis and make the cover of the Daily Planet so Clark has to write all about it.”
Bruce sighs, but he takes your hand as he leads you outside the amusement park. He presses a button on his utility belt and the Batmobile pulls up a moment later.
“Bruce,” you say once you’re inside. “You were a really cute kid.”
“You were really bad at eye contact,” Bruce counters. “Or was that just with me?”
“I guess crushes aren’t just for kids,” you muse.
“Maybe Diana will stop pestering me to ask you out now.”
You nod as you watch the road before you. It takes a moment, but you finally understand what Bruce just said.
“What?”
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starbird06 · 13 hours
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tw// Discussion of Pro-Israel propaganda and the genocide in Palestine
Okay... as a Sonic fan, I cannot recommend the Knuckles series. Sure, the plot's not good... but there's a much more disturbing reason: The Pro-Israel propaganda (Especially Episode 3). In the episode, we meet Wade's (Knuckles' friend) family, and they (particularly the mother) make a big deal about being from Israel... they go really far with it. If it was just them being Jewish/it was only the religious traditions, that would be different. However, it is pointed out that the mother is from Israel, and the episode REALLY paints the country in a positive light. Considering the genocide Israel is committing in Palestine at the moment... it is clear why this is problematic. In addition, they also compare Knuckles'/the Echidna Tribe backstory to Jewish culture (and even make a Holocaust joke) which is so wrong for so many reasons. As a whole, the episode made me very uncomfortable the whole time. I am having a hard time processing the fact one of my favorite series did something like this. Sonic the Hedgehog characters, especially someone like Knuckles, would NEVER support a genocide... they're always supposed to defend those who can't help themselves. Yet this episode... seeing Knuckles connect with a person from Israel who's portrayed as innocent/inspiring... it feels REALLY messed up to me. Also, Paramount delayed this series from late 2023 to early 2024... which makes me worried that this could've had something to do with it. Either way, please do not watch the Knuckles series. Especially without pirating. Free Palestine.
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eliasdrid · 1 day
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you keep putting these tokusatsu shows on my dash for months and I have less than zero context what they're about. what's the cliffnotes version to get me interested in whatever these odd looking robots or perhaps creatures are doing?
Alright I'll try my best but it might get long.
To me, the most appealing thing about them is that the suits are very much suits, they often try to use practical effects where they can and there's a lot of neat choreographed fights. There's also often sci-fi elements (which I'm a fan of). Each season of each show seems to be made with love and passion for the genre* too and I've read/seen a few interviews which support this. There's also some very talented actors and it's amazing to watch them play pretend the colorful plastic weapons are real and can hurt you (they really sell it to you if you can suspend your disbelief a little and have some fun).
*edited - I wrote labor of love but forgot it is a specific thing and might not apply very well here?
Anyway. I'll give you the basics. The three big tokusatsu shows you may often see around are: Kamen Rider and Super Sentai (both from Toei) and Ultraman (from Tsuburaya).
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Screenshots from: Kamen Rider OOO (2010), Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger (2021) and Ultraman Blazar (2023)
There's others! like Dogengers (screenshot below) - but I'll try to focus on those three.
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In general these shows are aimed at young audiences so you have to watch with that in mind. Also, like any superhero show, they will want to sell you merch (figures, toys, plushies, etc).
Another important thing to know is that the seasons of these shows are usually self contained, and each have their own theme, so you can pick any season that catches your eye to check out with no previous knowledge. There are crossovers events (movies and especials) and anniversary seasons which will explore and/or showcase previous content too! I personally really enjoyed Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger (2021) which is a 45th Anniversary Sentai season and I had watched only two other sentais before it.
Now, some differences! so you can tell the shows apart and also know what you will potentially have in store if you decide to watch any. I'll put a read more because this is getting long 👍
Kamen Rider and Super Sentai air all year long, for this reason, seasons usually have 45-50 episodes. All the Ultraman shows I've watched have 25 episodes per season. Meanwhile Dogengers has kept a 12 episodes per season formula so far. Spin offs, specials and reboots have no defined number of episodes (to my knowledge).
I feel like I should mention that (especially in the case of 45-50 episodes shows) the episodes might feel a bit off sometimes? Be aware there's often release schedules with toylines involved* From what I've noticed this usually happens past the mid-season point the closer you get to finale territory. My guess is that, generally at that point, the writing team (or writer) was trying to do things they forgot to properly set up before, tie loose ends and/or finish arcs quickly. *Sometimes other things affect production, like COVID or an actor suddenly not being able to continue with their role.
All shows value The Power Of Love and Friendship and usually feature a team of heroes (or allies) fighting against an enemy faction. There's also, almost always, some sort of transformation device involved and in all these shows the heroes must collect some season-themed item to get power ups. The key difference between each show will be how they decide to play with these things.
Super Sentai is what Power Rangers is based on. If that tells you nothing: there's a team of heroes ("rangers"), color coded suits that are generally not too complex in design and one giant mech vs. giant monster fight per episode (on average). I've not seen too much Sentai so that's all I got for you.
Kamen Rider gives its heroes more complex suit designs and (usually) multiple forms (ascending in strength/skill). Kamen Rider's signature elements are probably: the drivers (belts), the henshins (transformation scenes) and the fact that they often have motorbikes (they gotta ride something).
Ultraman has more of a shared universe between seasons situation going on than the previous two so there's recurring lore. I won't explain that lore to keep this as short as possible. Either there's a host-alien situation (to varying degrees) or the protagonist has the ability to transform. In this show there's always an almost guaranteed Titular Ultraman vs. giant monster fight per episode.
More visuals that might help you tell them apart:
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Screenshots from Ohsama Sentai King Ohger (2023)
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Screenshots from Kamen Rider Ryuki (2002), Kamen Rider Den-O (2007), Kamen Rider OOO (2010), Kamen Rider Build (2017)
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Screenshots from Ultraman Orb (2016), Ultraman Geed (2017) and Ultraman Blazar (2023)
I hope this was helpful! sorry it got long!
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osbcrne · 20 hours
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Hannigram and Verger Family analysis
TW: MARGOT AND WILL'S STOMACH SCARS MENTIONED AND IMAGES (underneith the cut)
HOLY SHIT YALL IM BACK WITH ANOTHER REALIZATION
so i just realized that wills "c section esque" scar he got from hannibal in mizumono might actually look that way for a reason
it could be symbolic to a hysterectomy because hannibal took their child away, and had to give Will scar somehow. And i mean, will technichally is the mother, he killed abigail's father placing her in his custody- hannibal only helped with it. Just how the criminals in season 1 (angelmaker, georgia madchen, abel gideon, etc) and their crime scenes were DIRECTLY paralleled to the progression of wills encephalitis and the state of his mental well being, Margot getting a hysterectomy from mason basically directly parallels will getting abigail taken from him.
Also, Margot choosing to have sex with Will specifically, and the child coming into their lives and then almost immediately being taken away (BY HANNIBALS DOING) forshadows abigail coming back and then almost immediately after, her death. Will empathized with margot (WHO HE KNEW WAS GAY, or at least hannibal did, it was stated in the script but was cut from the final product) about the lack of a child, which is literally the only reason had sex with her (he thought about the stag man the whole time anyway...)
This one specific conversation in the episode Tome-Wan is very important. Will says to hannibal, "you're fostering codependency. isn't that what you did to abigail? got her to take a life so she would owe you hers?" That's exactly what hannibal is doing to margot- trying to get her to kill mason so she would owe herself to hannibal. it also connects abigail and margot in a way.
continuing the conversation, will says "i bond with abigail, you take her away. i bond with barely more than the idea of a child, you take it away... you don't want me to have anything in my life that's not you." Hannibal, knowing very well the consequences, told mason about margot's plans and had the child taken forcibly away from her.
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Hannibal also directly took abigail away from will, by cutting her throat in front of him. both of these things ended with a scar, margot's from the hysterectomy, will's from hannibal's knife, but it looks oddly familiar to margot's. Also remember, right before wills and margot got together, the two of them compared scars. (MORE ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT)
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Also i know this is kind of a strange comparison considering mason and his intentions, but in the episode Naka-Choko, this exchange happens:
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margot is unable to kill mason because despite all the horrible things he does to her, deep down she still loves him and can't bring herself to do it. who does this sound like to you? yep- Hannibal and Will. Now bviously hannibal and will's love is very different from the verger's, but it's still a parallel
i can't believe i didn't realize it before but there's a LOT LOT LOT of parallels between hannigram and the vergers. one of them being they all were with alana (minus mason) 😭
thank you to a post by this user on tiktok for helping me realize this (idk why it won't let me link)
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anyway, happy c2e2!! take cool pics w/ mads and hugh! i'll be watching the live stream of the panel tomorrow!
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You should write beast wars, can I have some silly predacon headcanons?
I should absolutely write beast wars. Silly Predacon headcanons coming up
-Megatron talks battle strategy with his rubber duck all the time. He considers it his most trusted advisor because it's never said anything stupid and never tried to kill him. Honestly, he's tempted to think of the little dude as his only real friend.
-Speaking of Megatron, the man is a WHORE for a good bath bomb. Lush addiction, 100%. He has a whole hidden stock of bath bombs, bath salts, scented oils, candles, decorative soaps, scented metal polish and flower petals specifically for spoiling himself when he feels like hes completely surrounded by idiots. Which is often. Has he ever tried to eat one of the decorative soaps that look like baked goods? It doesn't count if it's the t rex hand.
-the reason skorponok occasionally reverts into caveman speak for some episodes is the writers couldn't figure out what to do with him he knows talking like that pisses off tarantulas and he thinks his annoyance is funny even though literally nobody else is amused by the bit.
-skorponok actually kind of misses dinobot because he made his job a lot easier. Constantly pitching ideas, suggesting battle strategies, pointing out flaws in plans. He was useful, even if he seemed to hate skorponok. He doesn't really know how to be a good second in command anymore because a crucial part of the dynamic is missing and he just can't adapt.
-waspinator is perfectly capable of speaking in normal grammar and not in the third person but he's been doing it since he joined in with Megatron and at this point he thinks he's in too deep to knock it off. He thinks it makes him sound cuter because it's actually an evolution of internet uwu speak. Memes get weirdly translated from earth to Cybertron and back.
-waspinator is actually really good at baking but he'll get blasted to bits a thousand times over before he lets anyone other than terrorsaur know because none of his other coworkers deserve to try his cupcakes (and also because he doesn't want to get "promoted" to kitchen slave). Dinobot knew, but he didn't snitch. Wasp never found out that Dinobot would occasionally snag a brownie, he always thought he just counted wrong.
-Terrorsaur is not above attempting to seduce a maximal but all his flirting attempts go horribly awry. If they don't outright reject him they just have no idea what he's getting at bc Predacon flirting is usually a lot different than maximal flirting so everyone thinks he's just kind of being a dick like usual. Dinobot knows exactly what is happening and ranges anywhere from amused to disgusted by the cross-faction fling attempts. The flying weasel clearly has no principles.
-Every couple weeks or so wasp and terrorsaur will get together to watch terrible movies over a bottle of highgrade and it always devolves into bitching about megatron. They tried inviting tarantulas a few times but he'd always make things Weird by bringing in slashers with really good special effects and proceeding to gush about how tasty the gore looks.
-Tarantulas knows what just about every living species in the known galaxy tastes like, organic, mechanical and everything in between. If it's made contact with Cybertron, chances are he's he's tried their flesh (or lack thereof). If it's at all possible, he wants to find out enough about the Vok to figure out how to capture, kill and eat one.
-Tarantulas also thinks rampage is a total poser when it comes to cannibalism. He doesn't even look like he's having fun with it. Barely any torturing or teasing beforehand, only dramatic monologues about fear and anguish. Bah! Amateur...
-Blackarachnia has a trash tv addiction. She doesn't know WHY the Darksyde's datatrax has every season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and like 30 TLC produced shows, but she refuses to stop watching them. Tarantulas fucking hates it. She does not care and if he complains she will turn the volume higher.
-Blackarachnia has incredibly mixed feelings on the story Cinderella. On the one hand, it gives her a degree of hope. A girl reduced to a work slave for terrible people that gets to escape and live it up with a guy that lives her? Great conceptually, but she only got to get out of it because she was a good person and nice to everyone. Blackarachnia? Not quite so disgustingly sweet. She's a bad girl through and through. And evidently bad people don't get to escape bad situations. Oh well. She can always try to fake it til she makes it.
-Inferno has always secretly hoped that when the war is over, his Queen Megatron will settle down with him and repopulate the colony together. He has wildly saccharine domestic daydreams of being with his giant beloved lizardy queen and their 3000+ kids. He has accidentally let this slip around Megatron once, who proceeded to pointedly ignore what he just said.
-Terrorsaur and Blackarachnia got Inferno to watch Drag Race but upon hearing the contestants being called queen, he took it a bit too literally and interpreted the show as the sad, underwhelming way human queens settle disputes between their colonies instead of just fighting the proper way. Lame.
-Quickstrike is so so very sad he can't play video games. He wants to play GTA and cause excessive and wanton death and destruction, but his fucked up hands cannot hold the controller. He forsakes Primus for building him the way he did. He keeps trying to get tarantulas to make him a usable controller but he gets brushed off every time.
-Quickstrike has attempted to ride inferno in his beast mode into battle. It did not end well but for about a solid 18 seconds it looked metal as hell.
-Rampage actually really likes depth charge and wants to be friends sooooo bad but he doesn't know how to handle that in a healthy way so he keeps trying to get his attention by playing up the cannibalism thing and hoping they fight again. Honestly he just kind of likes depth charge holding him, even if it's in a chokehold.
-After losing transmutate, Rampage projected a lot of his grief onto waspinator, which lead to a very strange period of time on the ship where rampage would get very cuddly and protective of wasp, who was incredibly terrified of what would happen if he shoved the crab off. Usually accompanied by Rampage being Incredibly Sad.
-every month the preds have a game night. Usually a board game or card game with Megatron's house rules. Said house rules are specifically designed to make a fight break out for his amusement. These game nights typically end with at least three people in the r-chamber and somebody missing at least one limb.
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sophfandoms53 · 18 hours
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Finished the Knuckles Show and uhhhhhhhhhh it’s certainly a show.
There’s good stuff buried in every episode especially where Knuckles is concerned. They set up a very interesting arc for him and just didn’t really explore much with it. After the first episode Knuckles is shoved to the side CONSTANTLY and is made the B plot more often than he should be as the TITULAR character.
Every criticism that said Wade takes over the show is correct.
After episode 1, Wade takes over every A plot and Knuckles is only ever in the B plot that has either minimal time focused on him or he’s just straight up not around (episode 4 is the worst offender here but it’s an issue from eps2-6). They actively write Knuckles out of the plot constantly and it’s very frustrating.
If you like Wade and enjoy his personal journey about his family then this’ll be fine. I, for one, thought it was interesting on its own but 100% it has no reason to be here in a SONIC MOVIE KNUCKLES spin off show. This is not Knuckles’ show. It’s Wade’s and that’s the biggest let down.
Knuckles IS there but that’s it, he’s just THERE.
And it sucks because Movie!Knuckles himself is very well crafted and very entertaining and engaging to watch. The show is at its strongest when it’s about Knuckles and spending time with him. Episode 1 is the only episode that it feels like what it was advertised as - the Knuckles show.
Sonic, Tails, and Maddie only show up for the first episode and never come back. Which is wild because part of the plot is Maddie has grounded Knuckles and he sneaks out but there’s never any consequences shown once he gets home nor do we see how anyone reacted once they noticed Knuckles is gone. These three are just abandoned after episode 1.
Tails has like 6 or 7 lines, my boy deserves sm better LMAOO
A big highlight, however, I LOVED Sonic in this one episode. The way you can see and FEEL how he’s grown from movie to movie and in this first episode is very well done. He’s truly becoming the Sonic I know and when he and Knuckles had their conversation on the roof where he tries to help Knuckles see the beauty in Green Hills, his home - that entire scene was PURE Sonic’s golden heart on display. He does still have his jokes that remind you Ben Schwartz is his actor and that he’s a silly kid but he IS still Sonic at his core and I loved that. It made me very sad we didn’t get to see more of him but I appreciated seeing Sonic handled this way. It makes me very eager to see how movie 3 goes about him considering everything Shadow brings to the table and how different of a threat he’s gonna be for Sonic.
Episode 2 is alright but GOOD LORD episodes 3-5 are such a waste of time. There’s good sprinkled in them in isolation but as full blown episodes, a waste. You can skip most of what’s happened and be fine.
The big climax fight in the finale just HAPPENS. The plot armor literally comes bursting through the wall and yanks Knuckles out of the plot for way too long and we only get TRUE and INCREDIBLE Movie Knuckles action (his fire fists which were insane btw) in the last 5 minutes and it only lasted like 2 of those 5 minutes.
Overall, it’s not entirely unwatchable but it’s not worth a majority of people’s time. You don’t need this for movie 3 so if you wanna skip it - I’d recommend that. If you really watch though, I’d only say watch the first episode and the finale and just google the context for what’s in between bc eps 2-5 are total slogs after a while.
If you like silly dumb fun - this is the show for you. But it’s not the show many Sonic fans may have wanted or expected.
I’m not angry or anything like many people have been. It’s not worth getting angry over. I’m moreso just disappointed because I can see a good show about Knuckles hidden in there. They just opted to give more time into Wade for whatever reason.
Just an overall let down imo.
Knuckles deserved better❤️
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deathmetalunicorn1 · 3 days
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How would the ROR cast react to watching the tv show Bluey?
-Watches every episode, eyes glued to the TV, will get very upset if you try to talk to them during the show. Do not mess with their Bluey time. Openly cries at the episodes.
            -Zerofuku, Goll, Loki, Eve, and Anubis
-Dragged to watch Bluey with the ones above, watches it with them, and while at first, they weren’t into the show, over time they grew to appreciate it and enjoy it as well, but may deny it.
            -Buddha, Brunnhilde, Hercules, Jack, Adam, Shiva, and Ares
-Saw it only in passing but stopped to watch it, mainly because there was a group watching it, and he couldn’t help but see how involved the show was. It’s very educational, but in a way that children can understand, and shows both kids’ and adults’ perspectives. If it’s on they will watch it, but then continues afterwards. May deny that he watches it.
            -Hades, Zeus, Nikola, Apollo, Kojiro, and Raiden
-Doesn’t watch it, for one reason or another. May be a secret closet fan, but nobody knows.
            -Beelzebub, Poseidon, Leonidas, Lu Bu, Thor, and Odin
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How do you think Alastor will react to the realization that it is actually possible for Sinners to be redeemed if and/or when word of Pentious's ascension gets back to the Hotel? He seemed sincere in his desire to watch demons struggle and fail to better themselves when he first hired himself into the position of facility manager, but since S1 it seems more likely he's really only there to get his hooks into Charlie and doesn't actually care if the Hotel succeeds or fails as long as he gets what he wants out of the princess.
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"The world's a stage, and a stage is a world of entertainment" -Alastor
Hello my pal,
Pilot Alastor does seem more motivated by his whims and wanting entertainment. (I mean, if you have to all eternity...Things get mundane...) But with Amazon picking up the show, he clearly has more motives beside being at the hotel for funsies. I'm sure, he always meant to have a lot of plot around him before Amazon but we actually get content and episodes to feed us.
Side note: I love both versions of Alastor. But I like pilot slightly more. I think his voice is more fitting for the transatlantic radio host voice (no offence of the current one at all. He doing great and probably done a better job on delivery...I mean that Fuck you was perfect.) Also, I really miss Alastor boots/hoofs click clacking around the hotel when he walked. I wish they kept that sound effect.
I think his reaction would really depend on who he contracted to and what his real hidden objective is with the hotel. Like...is he chained to Lilith and he not there for the hotel but to protect and help Charlie?
Or is he there to make sure the hotel fails to prevent an uprising, and forcing Heavens hand?
Is he placed there to get close and keep on eye on things and trick Charlie?
Is he there to make sure it succeeds so Heaven foundations begin to crumble and plants seeds of doubt amongst other things.
Overall, I think Alastor believe redemption was a loss cause. Even, if he was told my his contractor that it was possible he always doubted it. He made his point in the pilot. Paraphrase: Sinners are past redemption. Their chance was the life they lived before, the punishment of their actions is Hell. I think Alastor truly believes that. Or at least wants it to be that way. We know Alastor was a serial killer with a weird moral code and killed people who deserved it. I think Alastor would hate the idea that his victims has a chance for a place in Heaven if he hadn't double dead them already. Alastor knows how terrible people can be...hes one of them. I think the idea sinners like him having a chance to share a space with his mother in heaven puts a foul taste in his mouth.
So when its proven Redemption is possible. I think he will be quite stunned and shocked. He'll act ecstatic for show and probably his generally happy for Charlie achieving her dream. But depending the reason why he there and how he owns him, he going to be strongly conflicted.
Possible panic/nervous if he failed his objective and had to deal with the person who owns his soul, as they will be very displeased with him because of that fact. Perhaps worried, because it furthers his master's objective *CoughCough Roo CoughCough* Which is something he personally against, but doesnt have a say in the matter. Or maybe he just painfully conflicted as he knows the playing field is nearly completed on being set up and the time to betray Charlie and the others is rapidly approaching. -He grew attached to them and he faltering on the idea to betray (destroy?) them. Panics as years of planning and effort to fulfilling his masters objective that would release him from his deal once completed...only to hesitate because of some fond feelings for naive weaklings? Afraid to incur his master wrath and lost of freedom if he failed because he was swayed by his pathetic feelings. Or maybe hes excited because his part of the deal is over...but still feel conflicted as it would place the hotel and its people in a bad and dangerous position.
This is why Alastor is such a fun character. He a wild card. He can go in any direction...Hell, he can go in all directions. He can rationally plan and think one way, his feelings going screw that and head in another direction, fulfilling his obligations as overlord and hotelier in another direction, and his chained soul can just flip off all the former force them to go in the direction directed by the master holding the chain.
I believe despite Alastor disbelieving in redemption in the beginning, or maybe slightly oppose it. He is slowly warming up (but still not even room temperature) to the idea as his fondness grows to the residents of the hotel. He observes how the residence became better. How some (Angel) gone through enough in Hell that perhaps his sins he committed in his short life has been overpaid. Eternity is long and can be harsh...as some sinners may already sin once to be damned for all of eternity.
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Care to share some Janice thesopranos takes?
well im only up to season 3 but when she was first introduced i thought she was an interesting character with obvious ulterior motives much like every single man around her and then over time it became clear to me that the writers or at least some of them were actually intending for me to view her as ceaselessly uniquely and unrepentently self-centred rude petulant greedy etc. like i watched the episode with livia's funeral last night and it's insane the entire engine of this show is that we are invested in tony's psychology and his relationship with his mother is a huge part of that and yet! janice having been mistreated and disfavoured is constantly played as like her trying to steal tony's moment or drag up petty bullshit or make everything about herself when no one else cares. honestly very irritating to me justice 4 janice i think "wronged daughter who's out for her inheritance" could have been so much more interesting if they gave her half the consideration they do every single man in tonys orbit. also for like half a season they were really leaning on her doing orientalism but they never really had anything of substance to say about or with that, it was basically just supposed to make us think she's cringe. which she is but cant we do something more interesting with that. like we get so much about how the male characters view their own ethnic identity and how it informs their sense of belonging in the world again "italian american staking personal identity on shallow idea of The East" is certainly a concept to explore but in this writers room it is just an addition to their list of reasons janice sucks
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nottapossum · 2 days
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you think husk would watch supernanny for some parent tips only to get super invested in Jo absolutley slamming on the parents and being like "you go tell em, Jo!" as she tells a parent that they're awful rasing kids
Haha 😆
To be honest, I could definitely see Husk watching it for that reason at first, but continuing to watch it purely for entertainment purposes and less the advice.
Personally, I like watching the show on occasion, but I'm not the biggest fan of the authoritative parenting style. Just my personal opinion.
I can see him using some of her methods from time to time, but most of it wouldn't really work with Angel.
It would just make the spider feel bad.
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Though I definitely see Husk being stricter than say- Charlie or Cherri. I don't think Angel would benefit from being ignored when he's crying or when he's put in a time out. And Husk wouldn't be that cruel.
Every kiddo is different, and though some kids would be fine with most of her techniques but Angel responds better with positive reinforcement and strict boundaries.
He doesn't let Angel just get away with everything. There's still discipline. He just focuses more on helping Angel learn boundaries and healing his inner child than teaching him to be a "perfect kid."
He doesn't want Angel to think that he needs to make Husk happy or else he gets in trouble. He wants Angel to learn that he is loved no matter what he does and teach him to work on being his best self for himself, not for anyone else.
Long rant. I apologize.
⚠️Warning: Talking about drinking alcohol⚠️
Okay- here's the fun stuff:
He would definitely criticize the parents in the show and cheer on Jo like it's some type of sports channel.
Lol and Angel, when he's big, can join in and help cheer her on.
♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧
Angel: "What'cha watchin?"
Husk: "Supernanny."
Angel, laughing. "What are you, are thirty year old mom?"
*Couple drinks later*
Angel: *watching with Husk* "Tisk tisk, wow. Didn't stick to the new routine, Jo's gonna be maaad when she gets back."
*Jo pausing the clip.*
Husk: "Now you're in for it, Debbie."
♤♡◇♧
Husk: "This is just lazy parenting"
Supernanny: "You're just being lazy."
Husk: "That's what I'm saying!"
♤♡◇♧
Angel: "This family doesn't need a super nanny. They need a super CPS person to come in."
Husk *Sighs* "Can't fix everyone, Jo. Sometimes, you just gotta accept that."
♤♡◇♧
Angel, gasps: "My parents should have been on this show!"
Husk: "My parents wouldn't have stayed sober enough to watch an episode, let alone be in one."
Angel, handing Husk another bottle.
Husk, takes it: "Thanks."
Angel: "Yup."
@todayimfour @ask-dusty-boy @trophyxtissues2 @abby5577 @im-not-paying-my-taxes
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