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ironmandeficiency · 3 years

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I saw y'all discussing potential zodiac signs for Pascal's characters, what's your take on the major ones? I personally believe Marcus Pike is a cancer, Catfish's a pisces, Din's a virgo, Whiskey's an aries, Oberyn's either a leo or a libra, Ezra's a gemini or a sag, but I lean towards gemini. Javier's the poster child for Scorpio. Don't know about Maxwell Lord.

pedro character star signs

i’m so sorry it took so long, i was tweaking this so much bc i wanted to make sure i got it right! these are just what i think based on my astrology opinions, i hope you like it! 💕 i added their moon signs for flair bc i can. gonna tag a few friends i think may be interested, hope it’s not an inconvenience

max phillips: aries sun & moon. his ambition and charisma paired with the carefree attitude and optimism are an optimum fire sign duality and despite the fact i shouldn't, i love it so much. he has an inner child that he spoils with the riches of his conquests (good and bad) & gets emotional contentment when he succeeds in achieving his goals. knows what he wants & is quick to make those wants known. you never have to worry about where you stand with him because he will not hesitate to tell you.

javier peña: taurus sun with scorpio moon (the real guy is a taurus & i can see it but w heavy scorpio influence). he has his own structure and routine and will fight to the death to maintain it. very work oriented & does his best to rationalize his emotion-driven scorpio moon with his taurean logic, it's a tossup as to whether it works half the time. has a lot of emotional needs that aren't always met day to day & thats why he smokes and drinks and fucks. but don’t let anything make you doubt his love for you because the only thing stronger than his stubborn streak is his heart and its capacity to love you so damn much.

maxwell lord: libra sun with a sagittarius moon. the charisma? attractive and engaging af. oddly adept at chameleoning himself into whatever social group he's trying to vibe with. will draw eyes no matter what because so many people know him & if they don't already, they sure as hell want to. it takes him a while to learn to balance healthy relationships and his work life but when he does, you can visibly see how much healthier he is because of it. normally tends to his emotions in private but with help, he can start sharing a bit more. more optimistic than he sometimes should be but it could be worse

frankie morales: pisces sun with a cancer moon. his caring and sometimes cautious nature (with a twinge of homicidal tendencies) make him one that you don't just casually fuck with sexually or otherwise. catches feelings very easy & makes a lot of emotionally-driven decisions. these two water signs have a propensity towards codependence & defensiveness when hurt. is at his best when he feels loved and is supported by those he loves. emotions are always fluctuating and there’s some trouble with self-discipline (which is not the same as self-deprecation). because of this, he needs someone who can ground him

jack "whiskey" daniels: his swagger!! his charm!! his generosity!! the protectiveness over people he cares about!! this has the makings of a leo sun. this charismatic sun sign paired with his capricorn moon create a living example of the most balanced "work hard, play hard" you've ever seen. has a tendency to set high standards for himself and others & is a smidge more accepting when people fuck up, wanting to help them be better in the future. his emotions are often repressed in the name of responsibility but when he feels safe, he isn’t shy about them in the slightest. very confident in his skills & one of those that he’s the proudest of is his ability to cheer you up when you’re sad

din djarin: he is the most virgo virgo to ever virgo, a double whammy of it in both his sun & moon placements. very logical, disciplined, and tradition-oriented. knows how to bargain and budget, approaches problems with as little emotional attachment as he can (doesn't always work though), and is selfless af. needs something to keep him from being a worry wart bc otherwise he will spend every waking moment fretting over anything he can find. remarkably well-rounded & somehow the most emotionally stable

ezra: everything about this man radiates aquarius sun + gemini moon and you will never convinve me otherwise. he's just enough of an intellectual elitist (the big words and flowy shakespearian vocabulary) for it to border on unique and fun & annoying as fuck. every aquarian i've met has a quirk that sets them apart from everyone else & ezra's quirk (besides murder) is his vocabulary. it takes him a long time to learn to not talk over people on accident (sometimes he does on purpose just to be a bastard), but you can tell when he’s really trying to be conscious of it.

marcus moreno: now this man is what you call a pisces. a softie with a heart of gold that is constantly being underestimated, he has more power than most think. his silly and carefree nature detracts from the badassery he's capable of so it sometimes catches you off guard when he goes into Badass In Charge™️ mode but it’s there. his moon is also in pisces, which adds to his gentility and desire to be understood by his partner. this man just needs some love dammit, give it to him already!! his empathy makes him the Cool Dad™️ bc missy and literally any other kid get the vibe of “yeah this adult will actually listen to me and value my opinions”

dave: capricorn sun, aries moon. he thrives with people who can handle their own shit competency kink anyone? and doesn’t have patience with those who should know better. his standards are higher than a stoned giraffe, and is at his best in controlled environments. has a strong sense of self & a short list of people he would risk it all for. not as outwardly expressive but he does have a couple cues that you learn over time. also knows what he wants and is very meticulous in how he goes about getting it; there are very few places where he takes no for an answer. is a very good provider but don’t expect him to be mushy when you thank him for things he does for you.

oberyn martell: gemini sun & leo moon. he’s got more charisma than can fit in the ocean and sometimes it gets him into trouble. this man thrives on validation from loved ones. there is never a worry about not knowing what he’s feeling because oh boy is this man expressive. he’s a protector and a provider (and a gossip but don’t let him hear you say that). can and will cause a scene if there’s ample opportunity, he enjoys watching shit go down. will only interfere if it directly impacts him or someone he really cares about but otherwise will just pop the popcorn and pull up a seat. somehow has all the details of everything that ever happens but you learn to not question it.

pero tovar: scorpio sun (but specifically october scorpio) & aquarius moon. he’s highly rational when it comes to emotions but does have a temper. he’s observant af of his environment & the emotions of everyone around him, and chooses his actions carefully based on those. doesn’t confront his deeper emotions as often as he should bc it’s easier to default to Angy™️ and let the rest of the world come to their own assumptions. has no tolerance for lies and other bs, wants the truth and though it makes him seem power-hungry and manipulative, that’s not his intention. it’s just his way of looking for someone he can trust with the most intimate parts of him

marcus pike: this man? taurus sun, cancer moon. has a fear of abandonment that takes a while to quell but once it’s gone, he’s all in. he’s very empathetic and observant af, will know exactly what you need before you voice said need. will feel guilty for his baggage sometimes and the guilt will make him recluse for a short period until he’s reminded just how appreciated he is. does not play around when it comes to affection & is very eager to give and receive it whenever possible

my friends that i think might be interested: @scribbledghost @autumnleaves1991-blog @dyke--grayson @max--phillips @dindjarindiaries @pikemoreno @ohnopoe @pedropasscals @forever-rogue @engineeredfiction @bitchin-beskar

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erazonpo3 · 3 years

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WOWM

so What Once Was Mine came out and I read it.

My General Thoughts are that this book was something of a rollercoaster but in like a pop up carnival with dubious safety regulations and diseases in the DIY log flume water kind of way. I had some fun reading it but I also feel like I picked up a rash.

If you're like me and you enjoy picking a book apart for morsels of interesting concepts then you might enjoy it, if you think holy shit why the fuck is a literal real historical serial killer in this book I need to see this then you might enjoy it, if you care about engaging plots and character beats then you probably won't.

If you want to ask me anything specific go ahead, but otherwise for more in depth thoughts: spoilers ahead

Basic Summary of the Plot

Okay so here's the deal. The story has the framing device of two siblings in a cancer ward, where one tells the other a story. I'll get into that later, but that's how it starts. Our actual story starts with a pretty long prologue: We learn that the King & Queen got the Moonflower thinking it was the Sunflower, Rapunzel was born with silver hair, and then baby Rapunzel kills a maid who accidentally hurt her when brushing her hair.

Oh, by the way, Max is a human man named Justin Tregsburg. Yeah.

Anyway, the royal family puts out feelers for legit witches who can safely take care of Rapunzel because the baby is too dangerous, and Gothel shows up to take her away. Queen Arianna visits Rapunzel once (but is only allowed to watch through a peephole) and decides watching another woman raise her child is too painful and throws herself into restoring the kingdom's orphanages instead.

Now we're in the present. Rapunzel is nineteen and she wants to go and see the lanterns (a mourning tradition of the Dead princess in this story). She tries to argue with Gothel but gets shut down, and Gothel makes her kill a chicken to prove the point that she can't go outside because she's too dangerous. However we as the audience already know Gothel plans to sell Rapunzel off as a bride or a servant or a weapon to some other nobles, because she's evil.

Also by the way Gothel still has access to our Sundrop Flower and is using it to live forever that's just a thing that happens in the background.

When Gothel is gone Rapunzel watches as a man (Flynn) stores a satchel in a tree outside of her tower, and that motivates her to leave the tower for the first time. Then she goes back inside the tower with her prize of a crown, and a skink she found and named Pascal. Rapunezl and Gothel have another spat, and Rapunzel decides she will run off to see the lanterns and she will find Flynn and make him her guide.

She ends up at the Snuggly Duckling and she doesn't find Flynn but she does find Gina, a young career criminal girl looking to break the glass ceiling. Gina agrees to help her find Flynn. They find Flynn, and he agrees to help guide Rapunzel to see the floating lanterns for a split reward of the crown with Gina.

The Snuggly Duckling gets burned down by Countess Bathory (yes that Elizabeth Bathory) and the Pub Thugs are pissed about it and also they're helping Rapunzel even though she didn't sing the I've Got A Dream song don't worry about it. We learn that the nobles that wanted to buy Rapunzel are now hunting her down so she can go to auction.

Gina takes them to her adopted mother's cottage. Gina's mother is a white witch, who goes by the name of Goodwife. She doesn't get an actual name she's just The Goodwife. Anyhow, the cottage is a magic safe space (for now) and Goodwife teaches Rapunzel that her hair isn't inherently evil and may not even be all that deadly! Rapunzel learns that her hair has other powers too, like the ability to turn skink Pascal into a sentient Chameleon. Yeah.

Also Goodwife tells Rapunzel she's the dead princess but this isn't like, an immediate call to action. Not a lot happens until we get this story's version of the Mother Knows Best Reprise where Gothel finds Rapunzel again but has to flee, but this Rapunzel has a bigger support network and isn't buying it. Flynn and Gina decide the safest course of action is to bring Rapunzel to the castle, but along the way she gets kidnapped by the Countess.

Gothel is pissed because she still wants the money for Rapunzel, so she rallies the armies of all the opposing bidders. Flynn and Gina convince Max the Man to send for his troops, and he joins them in going to the enemy castle. Flynn tries to sneak in, gets caught, and meanwhile there's a bloody battle out the front between the noble armies. Max jumps into the fray, Gina turns around and rallies the Pub Thugs.

Rapunzel uses her shrinking magic (!) to disappear half the castle and escape with Eugene, and the Pub Thugs arrive and basically end the battle. The Captain is dying but it's okay! Rapunzel turns him into a horse :) Also Rapunzel sees Gothel and tells her to fuck off.

The story ends with a tearful reunion between Rapunzel and her parents, Eugene and Gina are implied to be biological siblings, and things are good but of course in direct parallel to Cass Gina leaves at the end to become an adventurer. The end.

(There are a few other smaller plot beats, but you get the idea.)

MY THOTS

So here are my thoughts™.

Framing Device

I'll just state that I didn't like that the story was told via the vehicle of an older brother telling his 16 year old sister a different version of the Tangled Movie in a cancer ward. From what I've heard it also isn't normal for the Twisted Tales series to use a framing device for the AUs either.

I sympathise with the author's personal story, of course I do. That doesn't mean I'm stirred with compassion every time the flow of the story is interrupted to remind you to be sad because this is a story being told to a girl sick with cancer. It feels more than a little tragedy-porny rather than emotionally touching, and maybe that's because I'm too burnt out on real life tragedy to waste emotional energy on fictional cancer patients but we don't need to do Fault In Our Stars discourse again.

Real World References

This story goes heavy with Real World references. And another issue with the framing device as above is that you do feel like this is a story being told by someone namedropping every historical figure they know which makes it harder to get into the story.

There's like... a lot of references to Christianity, particularly in the prologue. There's a priest that thinks Rapunzel's hair is the work of the Devil or whatever. It's a lot. The Patriarchy is a thing. And that's not even getting into the Countess. I put it very succinctly in my notes so I'll paste it here:

I wish she’d just been an OC who could exist to chew scenery because the fact that she was a literal historical serial killer is super. Off putting. Like, she could have been an obvious reference to Bathory, but it feels like Miku Binder Hamilton levels of uncomfortable to me.

I miss Lady D.

Which basically sums up my problem with trying to take the setting of Tangled and put it somewhere in the Real World and somewhere on the Timeline. Who thought this was a good idea.

Misc. Thoughts

So, I used the five highlighter colours my ipad allows to organise my thoughts and organised them accordingly: Yellow for out of place IRL references, Blue for worldbuilding/character points that aren't plot relevant but still interesting, Pink for when something I find personally amusing happens, Purple for when the story feels like it's trying to 1-up the movie in some kind of way and Green for Heterosexual Nonsense. I'll touch on those last two in the Character sections but be prepared.

Also: for a book about giving Rapunzel killer hair, her hair isn't very dangerous. I wanted to see Rapunzel kill someone, and I'm disappointed that I didn't.

Characters

I'll do a deep dive into my thoughts about the characters before wrapping it up. I'm starting with Gina because she's honestly the easiest to get through.

Gina

Gina is a new character introduced for the story. She's a young woman trying to make it as a career criminal but keeps hitting that glass ceiling. So here's the down low, for all those who want to know: Gina is basically Cass, only not really. She's implied to be Eugene's biological sister, as previously mentioned, but you can imagine she's Cass the entire way through without breaking your immersion because if you imagined Cass if she were adopted by a Goodwitch rather than the Captain and had a looser, more wilderness survivor than trainee guard upbringing then you get Gina.

I liked Gina! I think she's fun as her own character too, and her best moments are when she's interacting with her mother Goody Goodwife, and she of course picks up a natural sibling rivalry with Eugene, but I was disappointed with how little she really bonded with Rapunzel because she needed to make room for Eugene and Rapunzel's romance.

Rapunzel

Okay, here's our protagonist. There's a notable effort to make Rapunzel more active in her destiny and whatever, and sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't. I was worried they'd try to go full butt-kicking girlboss with her but I was pleasantly surprised that Rapunzel was pretty useless in most scenes, genuinely love to see it.

With a more intimate look into Rapunzel's psyche through the medium of prose, we see Rapunzel really questioning Gothel's behaviour even before she leaves the tower, and while I appreciate that she can develop her own cynicism I feel it starts unnecessarily early. This is my purple colour; the movie needs to be "fixed" by showing the readers that this Rapunzel is quicker to distrust Gothel. She's also quicker to hatch a plan to go outside of the tower on her own, and she makes a plan to make Flynn her guide for the lanterns even though he never stumbles upon her in the tower- and even though she has a perfectly rational reason not to trust him which is that he is a stranger and a Wanted Thief.

In the moments where it does work is when Rapunzel is surrounded by her new support network: Flynn, Goodwife and Gina, who encourage her to question Gothel's sincerity, and Rapunzel comes up with her own defences for Gothel so that she can poke through them herself.

I have some other thoughts about Rapunzel's hair and her powers, like how the story provides the interesting concept that her hair gets different powers with the different phases of the moon, but a lot of the powers are uhhh stupid and also I feel like it really robs the story of the whole gripping conflict of "Yes I'm Rapunzel Yes my hair kills people what of it".

In as far as just Rapunzel herself though, she still felt pretty in character nonetheless, and maybe that's all I can ask.

Flynn Rider / Eugene Fitzherbert

My boy I am so sorry. They neutered my boy.

Long story short: Eugene in this story is the sexy lamp. He contributes nothing to the plot except to be there for Rapunzel to drool over. And of course because he won't get any character development, he starts from the very beginning as a sweet soft boi with none of the Flynn Rider characterisation from the movie because we don't have time for that, he needs to be husband material stat.

His whole character is the colour green for Heterosexual Nonsense.

So, here's the problem. In the movie, there's not a lot of time for ~friendship~ between Rapunzel and Eugene because they kind of immediately see each other as a romantic prospect. And whatever, it's a movie and there's only so much time. But this book had the opportunity to take things a bit slower and instead chooses to make Rapunzel get jealous whenever Eugene and Gina interact and for her to be constantly wishing he was holding her hand.

Say what you will about Lost Lagoon, but it tells a good romance story just by virtue of not intending to be a romance story, because the author is trying to convey a strong bond between Rapunzel and Cassandra without using "and they kiss" as a cheatcode. What Once Was Mine says "he was a boy, she was a girl, could it be any more obvious?" and leaves it at that.

Now as for how this all pertains to Eugene's character? Well, it just robs him of any flavour. In the movie there's a clear distinction between Flynn and Eugene, when we learn Eugene's real name about halfway through. We see a clear difference between the Flynn we knew- kind of an asshole, wanated to drop Rapunzel off at the Snuggly Duckling and get rid of her- and Eugene, who is sincere and chooses Rapunzel as his New Dream in opposition to his Old Dream of living alone on an island with a bunch of money.

This version of Eugene is basically Eugene all the way through, because the plot doesn't really need Eugene there but he has to be there because it's a Tangled AU so there's no Rapunzel rescuing Flynn from the guards and healing his hand scene, he just loves her immediately and that's that. They have a little spat at one point but it's cleared up later and not because they actually communicate but because they kiss.

Rapunzel only learns Eugene's real name at the very end of the story, and gives a speech about how Eugene is the real him, but it's just so flat because 'Flynn' has been sincere this whole time? Anyway he does nothing of value for the entire story except be there for Rapunzel to lust after. Eugene I'm so sorry.

Gothel

Gothel's sort of the Big Bad and is characterised as an abusive asshole, the usual. I wish there were a bit more nuance to her character but then again in this story she's not just being passively evil- taking care of Rapunzel for selfish reasons but nevertheless maintaining the status quo- she's being actively evil in trying to sell Rapunzel off.

It's notably funny that Gothel sees the Countess Bathory and is like "what the fuck".

Anyway Gothel in this story also feels very weak in part because this Rapunzel is more critical and in part because this Rapunzel has a new support network. It's for that reason the Mother Knows Best Reprise scene doesn't really work, because the original has Gothel pit Rapunzel against Eugene, whereas she can't do that here so it remains a Gothel vs Rapunzel thing.

She gets a boring death as an epilogue addendum that someone rips out the Sundrop flower, which tbh? lame. It would be a lot more fun if it were open ended but I am also preferential to Rapunzel actually using her killer hair to kill someone. Please

Captain Justin Tregsburg

It's Max. He was a human but then he got turned into a horse. what the fuck you guys

#how did you spend your day

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darkpoisonouslove · 3 years

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Tangled: The Series Review

I just watched Tangled: The Series and I finished all three seasons in four days. TL:DR It’s good. It’s really, really good and I definitely recommend. This might be the best thing that has come out of Disney in the last decade or more. Now head under the cut for a more detailed look at the show and my thoughts on it.

Plot

The plot is actually pretty simple and is a direct continuation of the storyline from Tangled: Before Ever After. Granted, there are a lot of elements that answer questions not only from that movie but also from the Tangled movie itself but they are introduced with a lot of time in between that lets you process and even get disengaged at a couple points.

Not gonna lie, the pacing can be pretty slow sometimes and you almost forget what the end goal of the journey is but that allows for a lot of character work to be done (which I will talk about in a sec). It doesn’t seem like it has enough plot for three seasons but they do end up filling it out. Sometimes it’s a little frustrating but it works about 98% of the time.

The finale of season 3 wasn’t overly hyped up by the set up so it didn’t feel anti-climatic like it so often happens when shows just oversell their final showdown in the build-up and then it’s just... eh. Here the emotion and suspense definitely felt proportional to the action you’re getting most of the time.

Characters

The characters were great! They build up on what we’ve seen from Rapunzel, Eugine and Cassandra in the two movies and gave a lot of screen time to side characters as well. Pascal gets two episodes that are centered on him and he gets his own arcs! He’s a chameleon! And you feel for him as an independent character and Rapunzel’s friend, not just her pet. There are a lot of moments where other citizens of Corona that aren’t part of the main focus of the show get attention as well to a point where the kingdom truly feels populated and the world comes alive off the screen. It’s truly moving to watch most of those stories develop.

A little complaint I have would be with Rapunzel’s parents. The focus on them wasn’t bad–not at all–it just wasn’t enough. To be fair, I was actually surprised that they even touched on them but when you truly examine how they did, it just isn’t enough. We get a look at the trauma of losing a child mostly through Rapunzel’s father who definitely got more screen time than her mother but, ultimately, neither of them feels well developed. You are just not sure who they are as people and it feels unsatisfying precisely because the show tried to focus on them. It just didn’t work out fully.

Other than that, most of the characters just work really well. They all get arcs and go through a lot of character development that makes you attached to them and you really get invested in the story which is great. I genuinely cried a couple of times because I was so touched.

Villains

The villains might just be my biggest issue with this series. They have some good minor villains, some cases that are engaging despite the frustration they breed and a couple of villains that are just frustrating in their execution. I’m going to break this down a little to express what I mean.

The main villain of the show is okay but is a little underwhelming. She’s not on screen until season 3 and the thing is that she feels a lot more menacing while she is just a presence that hangs over the main cast rather than she is when she is actually present. (Now this might spoil a little simply because there is no other way to word it) Her servants come off as more menacing than she does. The only time she’s truly pulling her weight is in the finale that I already mentioned was just the right amount of hyped up so that you don’t end up disappointed by it. I was pretty neutral about her and liked her more when she was just an incorporeal tale the heroes were hearing about.

There were several minor villains that worked great. They were the right amount of menacing and the show actually allowed itself to go into pretty dark territory with some of them. Most left lasting consequences for the main cast of heroes and were just all around perfect. The thing that I have an issue with is all (and those are several) the villains that switched over to the good side because it never felt executed correctly. It was either rushed or not well motivated. The writers of the show were making a point about how kindness can touch any kind of person but it still felt forced and not focused on enough. All of these cases would have benefited from a bit more time for the change to happen.

There are two villains in the series that are particularly frustrating when it comes to that because with them changing morality was like flipping a switch. With the first one both the good-to-bad and bad-to-good changes were just not motivated enough and were ramped up to eleven. It just leaves you thinking “You should go to sleep and then you’d calm down” but instead he ended up nearly getting dozens of people killed just because he couldn’t think to count to ten. And in the other case, the switch to the side of evil was definitely motivated in insecurities that were festering over time but the flip-flopping between good and evil was just really annoying and didn’t feel like it was grounded in particular thought or even emotion. It was just happening because the plot demanded it which was extremely jarring after two and a half seasons of a character driven show. And despite the clearly overtaking insecurities, watching this character make some of her choices is unbelievably frustrating because they just don’t make sense. No matter how hurt she is, she is just acting like she either is unable to think or like she doesn’t care about anyone but herself which clashes with the moments in which she is considering going back to the side of good. It is baffling and the worst point of the writing in any aspect.

Relationship Drama

Or rather the lack of anything I would describe as relationship drama aka unfounded jealousy and wild miscommunication that would take half a minute of intelligent conversation to be resolved. I was so pleasantly surprised by the way the relationship between Rapunzel and Eugine was handled. They are both supportive of each other and forgive mistakes. They talk about their feelings and resolve conflict whenever it arises. They trust each other even when it appears that the situation doesn’t warrant that. It is just a healthy relationship that is absolutely heart-warming and adorable to watch.

I am especially thrilled about the fact that they brought up Rapunzel rejecting Eugine’s marriage proposal in Before Ever After and touched on how it would feel to a girl who’s spent her whole life confined to one place to be thinking of settling down (not ideal since in a way it implied that marriage is a trap or at least boring and would cut off your opportunity for adventure but at least they talked about it). And I am especially pleased that they gave the characters time to explore their relationship and also explored the idea of them being in one without being engaged. Really, the message that you can love someone and still not be ready to get engaged is valuable and not something I would expect from a story about a Disney princess.

Some more highlights to talk about and some minor spoilers (don’t read if you don’t want to know more) – they explore how Rapunzel inspires Eugine to be better but it isn’t framed as her being his only salvation. It is framed exactly as what it is – Eugine seeing Rapunzel’s kindness and deciding that he wants to be better for himself and for her, too. I really appreciated that. They also have this episode in which Rapunzel and Eugine have to play parents and I liked the way it was handled. It truly felt like they have the connection between them to support a family and raise children but they are not in a rush and that goes back to the idea that they don’t need to get engaged and married if they don’t feel ready even though they might appear ready.

Lore

I loved the lore of the series. There is a lot more we learn about Corona as well as Rapunzel and the abilities of her hair. There is more information about the world and the surroundings of both the characters and Corona as a kingdom. We get a great expansion of the fantasy element of the world as well as the history and politics of it and I was immersed in the way it made the story and the characters richer. The show is doing its own thing and it is following whatever has already been established about the world and building on it in order to make both the story more compelling and to answer questions that have been raised in the movies without being answered. It’s doing quite well on that front.

Originality

A lot of times I would think that we are going down the route of a certain trope but then they’d put a fresh spin on it or at least a new angle that isn’t usually brought up and made the story that much more engaging. The show dealt with some serious topics that I never would have expected from a Disney princess property. They actually explore Rapunzel grappling with the responsibility that will fall on her shoulders once she’s queen of Corona and it was done in a very realistic and honest–even raw–way. Definitely not something you think you’ll find in the show when you sit down to watch it. There were certainly some cliches and moments that I wish they could have subverted the tropes they were using, but overall, I was often surprised by the way they handled the matter they were writing about.

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel #eugene fitzherbert #review #thoughts

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scottpetersen · 2 years

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Why Rapunzel Would Be A Great White Lantern Part 3

Ok. Here is part 3 on why I think Rapunzel would be a great White Lantern. For those of you that don’t know, a White Lantern is someone who wields a ring that is the combination between 7 different colored lantern rings that give the wielder superpowers. They’re each powered by 7 different emotions respectively. Those emotions are willpower, fear, greed, rage, hope, compassion and love. Here on part 3, I’ll be explaining why Rapunzel fits into the 3 positive emotions of hope, love and compassion. Feel free to check out part 1 where I explain why Rapunzel fits into willpower and part 2 where I explain why Rapunzel into the 3 negative emotions of fear, greed and rage. Also, here in part 3, I’ll be using points throughout Tangled The Movie and Tangled The Series as evidence. Lastly, Spoiler Alert for Tangled The Movie and Tangled The Series. With that out of the way, let’s dive in.

First off, here’s the Blue Lantern ring which is powered by hope. As is typical with most Disney princesses, Rapunzel had a great amount of hope to fulfill her dream. Her dream was to see the floating lanterns the kingdom use to honor the lost princess up-close. She had this dream ever since she was a little kid. She was able maintain this hope growing up through various activities with her chameleon friend Pascal. Considering she was living with an emotionally abusive parental figure like Mother Gothel who refused to even let her go outside ever since she was a baby, that’s no small feat. However, it should be noted that I’m not saying hope alone was enough to get Rapunzel through Mother Gothel’s emotional abuse. This is where I’m gonna get a bit philosophical here. In my mind, hope is what gives us the stamina to endure our trauma but willpower is what gives us the strength to overcome it. Stamina, no matter how powerful, will only delay the inevitable without strength to support it. That also means that hope can only hold for so long without willpower to support it. This is demonstrated by the fact that a Blue Lantern ring is almost powerless without a Green Lantern ring powered by willpower nearby. The reason why I’m saying this is because in Tangled The Movie, after the Mother Knows Best musical number, Rapunzel was losing hope that she would ever be able to see the lanterns. It was only after she mustered up the willpower to knock out Flynn Rider that she was able to rekindle her hope in seeing those lanterns. It’s to remind everyone that while her hope is great, it still has its limits. Sorry if I drifted off topic there.

Moving on, when Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert (Flynn Rider’s real name) were about to see the lanterns, Rapunzel said she’s worried it won’t be what she dreamt it would be. “It will be,” replies Eugene. “And what if it is? What do I do then?,” asked Rapunzel. Eugene replied with, “Well, that’s the good part I guess. You get to find a new dream.” Rapunzel then responds with a smile. This tells me that Rapunzel has learned that even after living her dream, there’s still more to hope for. I believe that was demonstrated in the song ‘I See The Light’ when she finally lived out her dream of seeing the lanterns, she then discovered a new glimmer of hope in her love for Eugene.

This leads me to the Star Sapphire ring which is powered by love. Throughout Tangled The Movie, she slowly built up a love for Eugene that blossomed in the song ‘I See The Light’. It wasn’t love at first sight. It was love that developed as they were learning to trust each other more and more. When they first met, Rapunzel did not hesitate to knock him out with a frying pan. But later on, they began to trust each other with their personal secrets such as why Rapunzel was hidden in a tower and why Eugene adopted the name Flynn Rider. This level of patience was also demonstrated throughout Tangled The Series leading to when they finally got married.

There’s also 2 episodes in Tangled The Series that show how much Rapunzel loves Eugene when paired together. Those episodes are ‘Beyond the Walls of Corona’ and ‘The Eye of Pincosta’. ‘Beyond the Walls of Corona’ is an episode where Eugene is being forced to marry his ex fiancé Stalyan in exchange for an anti venom to save his friend Lance Strongbow who has been poisoned by a venomous spider and will die if he isn’t cured soon. Rapunzel and her friends later arrived to rescue Eugene. During the fight, Rapunzel was showing that she was very jealous of Stalyan when the 2 of them were pretty much playing a game of human tug-of-war over Eugene. Later on in the season during the episode ‘The Eye of Pincosta’, Rapunzel had to team up with Stalyan in order to recover the Eye of Pincosta for the town of Pincosta so its sheriff doesn’t sentence him to a lifetime of servitude in the copper mines. There he would be forced to dig day and night without rest, food or light. During their team-up, Rapunzel was fully willing to work with Stalyan if it meant saving Eugene. When taking Rapunzel’s jealousy towards in ‘Beyond the Walks of Corona’ into account, she put her love before her jealousy. This is why I think Rapunzel is worthy of the Star Sapphire ring.

Finally, we’re at the Indigo Lantern ring which is powered by compassion. To me, Rapunzel has demonstrated she has plenty of compassion in her heart several times. There was her sympathy to the Bar Thugs in Tangled The Movie, her finally keeping her promise to Varian in ‘Rapunzel’s Return’ and freeing his father from his amber prison while she acknowledged that she was the one who let him down, etc. However, I think her real test of compassion came in the form of Cassandra. Her relationship with Cassandra got pretty rocky especially throughout season 2 of Tangled The Series because of Rapunzel’s innocently insensitive refusal to listen to Cassandra’s advice and innocently insensitivity to her struggle for recognition. For example, in ‘Freebird’, Rapunzel refused to listen to Cassandra’s suspicions about a duo named Mother and Father. They used magic tea to turn them to birds. They claimed that they would give them the magic eggs to turn Rapunzel and Cassandra back into humans willingly and that they meant no harm. They also told them that the tea will later on “birdbrain” them and make them think like birds. But Rapunzel insisted to Cassandra that they take the opportunity to have fun flying through the air. When they came back, Mother and Father had them trapped and revealed that they were gonna make them a part of their bird collection which consisted of other people who were turned into birds previously. After being called out for being selfish, Rapunzel used the last egg to save Cassandra and got herself birdbrained. She took responsibility for her mistake and sacrificed herself to make up for it. Side Note: Cassandra was still able to find a way to turn Rapunzel back afterwards but you get the idea.

But even that wasn’t enough. Cassandra later betrayed Rapunzel and went rogue. Rapunzel was still making the same mistake. During the episode ‘Once a Handmaiden’, Cassandra was trying to burry the hatchet with Rapunzel while in disguise in magic cloak. During a play at the time, Cassandra was playing the part of Rapunzel and Rapunzel was playing the part of Cassandra. Both of them were telling each other how the other was in the wrong and they both accepted and agreed with each others’ point of view. Rapunzel was taking responsibility for Cassandra.

In the series finale, ‘Plus Est En Vous’, Rapunzel and Cassandra had a heart to heart. Rapunzel later allowed Cassandra to live her own life away from Corona and away from Rapunzel’s shadow. Rapunzel realized in order for Cassandra to live her own life, she had to let her go. Overall, these are the reasons why she’s a perfect fit for the Indigo Lantern Ring of Compassion.

Well, that’s all for this post. See you all next time.

Thanks for reading.

#tangled the movie #tangled the series #rapunzel #white lantern #blue lantern #indigo tribe #star sapphire #spoilers

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acuppellarp · 6 years

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Welcome (again) to A Cup-pella, Dillyn! We’re excited to have you and Willow Matsui in the game! Please go through the checklist to make sure you’re ready to go and send in your account within the next 24 hours.

OC INFO Name + pronouns: Dillyn + She | Her Age: Twenty-Five Timezone: Eastern Time Zone Ships: Willow/Mickey, Willow/Chemistry Anti-Ships:Willow/Forced

IC INFO Full Name: Willow Mei Matsui Face Claim: Hayley Kiyoko Age/Birthday: January 3rd, 1994 Occupation: Artist/Videographer + ACup Barista Personality: Mellow, Self-Destructive, Outspoken, Artistic, Impulsive Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada

Bio:

Willow was born to her birth parents Sunny Matsui and William Hung on January 3rd 1993 in a Las Vegas, Nevada at Sunrise Hospital. That was the last contact she ever had with them. She knew next to nothing about them, except that they were both 15 and had decided to give her up to the state, under the influence of strict parents and a full life ahead of them that had no room for a baby.

They left her with a life full of questions and a necklace of a willow tree. A necklace that she never took off. She didn’t exactly know why but the silver piece of jewelry brought her comfort. Willow hadn’t always been so at peace with herself, on the contrary actually.

Growing up in the system was a constant battle both internally and externally for a young Willow. She was a problem child so to speak. Never following rules, sneaking out to explore the city and running away more times than she could recall. She found herself searching for a place where she felt she belonged. A place that wasn’t stuffed with unwanted children and misfits alike. She was self destructive, even as a young child, getting in fights, arguing with authority figures and falling into fits of frustrated anger. She was quick to get physical with anyone she felt didn’t understand her.

This only intensified during her teenage years. She barely ever attended school, and if she did, she’d simply hang out with her group of friends behind the bleachers. Smoking weed, and drinking beer brought by someone’s cool uncle or older brother. She was 15 and headed down a road of darkness. One that she welcomed with open arms as it filled the void in her life, or so she thought.

The more exposure she got, the further down that road she traveled. Parties, every weekend, fake ID’s to get into clubs and of the IDs didn’t work She’s using her body. She’ sleep with the bouncer, or bartender, or anyone else that would give her the luxuries of girls that were older and, well, legal so to speak. This lifestyle lead her to what would be her life’s downfall. Drugs. Cocaine, Ecstasy, Methadone, Pill, and whatever else she could get her hands on. Her life was no longer her own. She was a prisoner to a toxic lifestyle. This went on for years; she worked shitty jobs and was constantly getting fired from basic retail positions, she didn’t care. She was content with crashing on couches and getting high. It was her normal.

That is until she fell in with the wrong crowd, things got out of control and she was falling full speed to rock bottom. She hit rock bottom or what she thought to be rock bottom at 20 when she overdosed and a friend found her unconscious on the bathroom floor. She was rushed to the same hospital she was born and almost died. Her life was a mess and she needed a change. She allowed herself to be checked into a rehab facility, where she spent 120 days learning to be free from her past.

Fast forward she’s now 3 years sober. And an aspiring artist. She dabbles in a little bit of everything, but she lives to draw and paint. She took it up while in rehab and fell in love with the craft, and she’s really good at it. It keeps her grounded and distracted, she has no desire to go back to the person she once was.

Pets: Willow has a Chameleon named Pascal, he’s very friendly and lives in a tall glass terrarium, and loves to be handled-that’s pretty much it lol. He’s a simple guy with simple needs.

Relationships:

Mackenzie “Mickey” Mitchell: Willow doesn’t know what it is about Mickey, but the girl makes her heart hammer in her chest. She’s sweet and honest and has a fire about her that is extremely attractive. Willow has never been with a woman, but the female body has always intrigued her, especially Mickeys. The two have been flirting back and forth for months now. She’s definitely into Mickey, but she has no idea if Mickey is into her, though the good morning text and pet names kind of hint that there is more to the duo than just sexual tension:

Anaya Sharma: Willow isn’t good with expressing herself or dealing with emotion. It’s easier for her to simply bottle things up, or maybe tag the side of a building. But there are those rare times when Willow is feeling vulnerable and the first person she wants to talk to is Anaya. The two met in an art class and instantly connected on a deeper level. Willow doesn’t have any family so have Anaya to be a support system means a lot tonher.

Alexandra “Alex” Gallagher: Whether it’s a smoke session, a night out when she’s feeling reckless, or a ride or die ready to fight side by side at any given moment, Willow knows she can count on Alex. The girl is truly one of her favorite people, and definitely one of her closest friends.

EXTRA INFO [ This is for the masterlist, but also a fun little way to get to know your character! ] Twitter name/twitter URL/description: willowmei/wilowmei/Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what she is.

Five latest tweets: @ Going to the craft store to buy new brushes, and that’s it! #SelfControl @ Yep, spent $167.46 on shit I don’t need at the craft store. #NeverFails @ Brushing coffee grounds off my tits when I take my bra off…eryday. @ How soon is too soon to ask for nudes? Asking for a friend @ Yeah, some days are just harder than others to make the right fucking decisions.

#accepted

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