#thinking about how good of a villain and story arch Luke had

[chiwhorei]

𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐞𝐬

paring: kenny ackerman x fem!reader

genre: apocalypse!au, smut, dark content, 18+ mdni [cross-posted to Ao3]

word count: 3k

overview: kenny *i-wouldn’t-fuck-you-if-it-was-the-end-of-the-world* ackerman; but it is and you do . . . and you’ll probably do it again. or, if you read beyond the cut and wind up in hell that is legally not my fault.

tags: dymph does sacrilege once again, post-apocalypse au, blood, violence, zombies (only mentions of gore nothing specific), somnophilia, noncon, dubcon, degradation, smoking, insertion, sloppy oral, big age gap aka kenny is a nasty old man and reader is a sweet little virgin.

a.notes: happy *fucking* easter. this is for the smut pile’s apocalypse collab so go give everyone’s pieces a read, everyone has worked so incredibly hard. this is dedicated to @pleasantanathema​, who was both my beta reader and emotional support while stringing this together. here’s to the old man fuckery, cheers.

hymn: the seven deadly virtues - camelot

But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. -Luke 21:36

                                      * * *

Wet.

A sticky kind of wet. Clinging on like thick clay, splattered across your neck— gore and sinew wrapped in a noose. Shades of decaying reds and browns are all you see these days. 

The seeping, molding kind of wet.

The smell is suffocating, the toll of death deep in your bones. You keep moving, you have to. One foot in front of the other, fingers fretting with the cross hanging between your collarbones. Counting your Hail Mary’s distracts from the ache in your soles and the burning feeling that you’re rotting away.

It was slow at first. The end of the world, the crashing, clattering end felt like a slow decent to hell. Pieces of the modern world falling away, the promise of tomorrow, the assurance of a cure. You refused to believe the dead could walk the earth until they were stumbling straight towards you. 

All of us, you think, are rotting away.

“Pick up the pace, kid. Are you trying to end up like the rest of those fuckers?” His voice rings from a few feet in front of you. The brush under your feet is dry, leaves crunching loudly with every weary step forward. 

Kenny always likes to remind you of your naïveté, insults about your rose tinted glasses barked crudely from around a cigarette. Your youth, your optimism, your beliefs-- useless traits in his opinion. What good is God in a world like this.

“Friends. They were our friends.” Your words come out in a whimper, the tone further irritating the man ahead of you.

He stops, turning around to catch your eyes, gaze piercing through the night like a knife. All that’s left of your composure is used to keep from crashing right into his chest.

“Ain’t no more room for friends in this world, baby doll,” a long pointer finger lifts your chin, the slightest touch still bruising, “thinkin’ like that is what’s going to get ya killed.”

Rose tinted glasses, cracked and splattered with blood, fall off and are lost to a world that no longer exists. Kenny let’s up and turns, pulling you farther into the thick brush. You could swear you feel the lenses as they splinter under your shoe.

                                      * * *

Kenny is a vile man. He knows his name isn’t on a reservation list at the Pearly Gates, he’s aware that a sinner lives on borrowed time. 

Nowadays, everyone is living on borrowed time. Even you.

You, he thinks, looking back to where you stumble over a tree branch, far to good for a world like this.

He can’t help but laugh, the absolute absurdity of his current situation. Escaping death by the skin of his teeth, watching any familiar faces burning in the remnants of a camp he couldn’t really call home. People that fought to the bone, melting or devoured or both.

And then there was you, standing in front of the flames, tears falling down the apples of your cheeks, stiff in shock and horror. He remembers the way your lips moved, mumbling a quiet prayer instead of trying to run. Stupid little thing.

It’s not the earth the meek inherit; it’s the dirt.

Was it pity that made Kenny pull you away from an infernal gravesite all those months ago? He’s never the hero of any story. No, it must have been something else.

Maybe it was the way you looked up with teary eyes, silently begging for help. Unwittingly making a deal with the devil. His teeth grind at the memory, the vision of how beautiful you look so completely helpless. 

Kenny leads and you follow, he hunts and you flitch at the sound of an arrow piercing flesh. The small squeak and proceeding thumb of meat as it hits the ground never fails to make you sick. When he’s not hunting for food, he’s hunting something else.

The sounds of death are all the same.

Some days you’re lucky, coming across abandoned hideouts or deserted cars. Snagging whatever hasn’t already been picked over; some ammo, the occasional can of peaches or pack of cigarettes. Kenny laughs dryly everytime, chucking the carton into his bag. Always the cigarettes, never the lighter. Most days, not so much.

Every night, you fall asleep to the flicker of a campfire, lulled by the steady sound of Kenny’s knife as it scrapes against a piece of wood. He’s always the last asleep. The woods are a dangerous place, the possibility of monsters circle at every moment. Under the veil of night, anything could happen. And it does.

He wipes his mouth, settling back into the harsh ground below him with a pleased hum. Your whimpers have settled back into a light snore. 

Kenny is a vile man, and you’re too concerned with the lifeless villain in the shadows that you forget about the one sitting on the other side of the fire.

Three months of waking up to aching limbs and misplaced panties can’t be a coincidence, can it?

                                      * * *

“Well ain’t this something.” Kenny pulls on the door, swinging it open with a loud creek. Your neck strains to look up at dark wood and steepled roof, the tall building hidden by dense forest, you two must be the first people to step inside in months. 

“A church.” You’d find comfort within these walls if you weren’t so positive that God had abandoned this world.

Statues of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph are empty behind their stone eyes, shadowed with an unsettling shade of red from the stained-glass windows. The moment is a time capsule, a vision of the congregation of saints bathed in blood.

A chill runs down your back, counting every vertebrae.

You push down the unsettling foreboding, focusing back on the instincts to survive instead of lingering on a religion that you can no longer make sense of.

“Hey kid, over here.” You pick up the pace, quickening footsteps away from holy symbolism and towards Kenny’s voice. You walk into the closest room off a dark hallway and find him leaning against the doorframe. The rooms are getting darker with the vanishing sun, but you make out shelves of cans and boxes, food, blankets, clothes.

“I bet they used this as a food pantry,” Your comment was probably an obvious assumption, but Kenny just hums in response, “there’s enough here to last up months.” 

Good samaritans in the first life are a saving grace is this one. Your cynicism lifts from heavy shoulders for just a moment. The lines between luck and divine intervention are fuzzy at best.

“I saw a well right outside too. Water’s probably cold as ice but it’s better than anything we’ve come across yet.” Kenny’s voice is even, but you swear he cracks a smile.

He was right, the water is cold enough to shatter your bones like ice. You shiver and chatter, teeth threatening to crack, but the feeling of being clean has you dumping bucket after bucket over your head. The grime and grit of your reality running down to seep into the grass below.

There’s no home to run to after the world ends, but water and food is more than you could imagine in recent months. Shuffling through boxes of donated clothes, you find a shirt big enough to sleep in. The fabric smells like moth-balls and dust, but the feeling of clean cotton against your skin is heavenly. 

You find Kenny in the clerical office, rummaging through the priests desk. The sun is replaced with a flight of candles, for the first time in forever, you don’t feel like death is standing right behind you.

“Would you look at that,” Kenny pulls a cigar from the desk, bringing it up to his nose for inspection, “Looks like father had his own little habit.”

Despite yourself, you laugh at his comment, rounding towards the large leather chair he’s settled into.

“Smoking kills you know.” You lean against the desk next to him. Your bare legs brush against his knee, the heat from your skin makes his mouth water.

“I think there’s more pressing concerns than tobacco, kid.”

There’s something different about tonight, even more than just the four walls and roof around you. There’s something about Kenny and the way his stare has followed you all night. You can feel a cord pulling taught, fraying in the middle before it snaps.

“Asshole.”

The plush of Kenny’s bottom lip is close enough to your cunt to be disastrous.  Friendly banter becomes laughing and swatting at his chest like a teenager. Communion wine and tension pulling you into him. The loneliness of this life becomes more apparent the closer he is to touching your skin. When did the man in front of you make your heart race so fast? 

Maybe you’ve always felt this way.

You feel it, the ghosts of last night, the night before. The ghosts of weeks or maybe even months. The familiarity of a touch you weren’t quite awake for. 

Ass arching off from where it sticks to the cherry wood, you want to feel it again. The laving of tongue and mouth against you. The devouring of your most intimate planes of skin, places no one else has ever touched before, places you were saving for your future husband.

The kiss as hot as hell.

“Awe, c’mon now,” His nose nudges against your clit, the movement pulling another cry from your throat to bounce against the high ceiling, “that’s not my name.”

“I’ve been tracing it into this precious cunt of yours every night,” each word is more unhinged than the last, no longer worried about the doe in his sights running away, “Do I need to spell it out for you again?”

There’s nowhere to run, pressed in between his canines.

Dreams of calloused fingers and a wandering mouth are now cementing as memories. The feeling of rough facial hair. The sounds of desperate moans and how they shake against you. 

The way his tongue curls like a signature. 

His mouth is flush against you again, sucking at your aching clit for only a moment before moving his attention to long lashes against your clenching hole.

“You must remember. You were moaning it so sweetly,” he nips at your puffy lips before drawing back. His chin is sheened in your arousal, slick refracting off the dimly lit space between you, flickering candles outline his features with a dance of orange shadows. Kenny’s eyes hold you captive, giving you one more chance to answer.

“What’s my name, kid?”

His tongue breaches you, a set of large, familiar hands keep your legs spread wide atop the desk. 

You remember— of course you do. You remember everything. The name stuck in your head like a broken record. The name you call for in a sleepy haze as your body is dragged into orgasm.

The name that’s spelled against you like a promise.

“K-Kenny please.”

That’s all that he needs, the only thing, if he’s being honest, that he’s ever needed.

“There’s my sweet little girl. Finally using your manners.” Two fingers come up to swipe against your pussy, stopping right before your clit and collecting slick to bring up to your eye line for inspection. You jump when the warm digits drag against your bottom lip, a silent prompt for your mouth to fall open.

Kenny sticks his fingers in, the intent to make you gag is clear but you take it. You’ll take anything he gives you. Your tongue swirls around the intrusion, running against each joint and suckling loudly. The sound is wet and lewd, the spit collecting at the corners of your mouth makes his head spin.

Your destruction, he decides, will be beautiful. 

Kenny’s fingers release with a wet pop. He runs callouses down from your cheek, over the curve of your tits and down your abdomen. Two fingers stop at your pubic bone to trace lightly against the skin in random patterns. 

“Your body is just as agreeable when you’re awake.” His words drip in sin, reminding you exactly how familiar he is with you. All of you.

Both thumbs come down to spread your lips, Kenny can’t help but take a moment-- just a beat-- to stare at your swollen, glossy clit and the quiver of your little hole. Your skin is soft, completely untouched by anyone else. He laid claim to almost every inch before you begged him to.

He sinks from the leather chair, kneeling in front of you. You’re the body and blood as far as a sinner like Kenny is concerned.

There’s a plea stuck in your throat. You want to beg him to slow down, it’s too much all at once, but you know if you cried out-- all you would do is beg him for more.

His tongue is long and flat against you, every swipe is punctuated with a growl. The rumbling from his chest is thrown against your clit like a current through cold water. Sharp, shocking, terrifying.

“Kenny, I- I want,” He sucks your throbbing clit into his mouth, rubbing the tip of his tongue against the hood. There’s no words in any language that make sense to you. There’s nothing but his name. 

“Kenny ah, I need, I don’t know how t—”

Your dangling over a fire, trying desperately to jerk away from the lick of the flames. 

“I know, kid, I know exactly what you need.” his breath is heavy and warm in fans across your skin. You're dripping down the sides of his face and onto the cleric’s desk. Kenny is covered in you, open mouthed kisses against the sweetest thing he’s ever had in his mouth. The tangy taste of your pussy mixing with the wine still on his tongue. 

If he spent forever between your thighs, it wouldn’t be nearly long enough.

“Such a sweet little thing, you’re insatiable.” All you can do is nod dumbly, eyes glazing over with a distinct look of teary submission. It’s so new to you, but grinding upwards and catching your clit against his chin seems like second nature.

The primal need for release is much stronger than any prayer of abstinence. 

“What would your little prayer circle think if they knew you spread your legs for a dirty old fucker like me?” Kenny coos against the apex of your thighs. His words knock on the hollow space behind your breastbone.

Your family and friends, the priest from St. Mary’s who baptized you, old man Jaeger from next door— all buried or burned to ash or so much worse.

Anyone you’ve ever loved is dead, maybe that’s why Kenny is still around.

There’s nothing that can hold you back anymore, the control you claw at slips from your fingers like watery silk. There’s no escaping the roughness of his stubble and an evil, serpent tongue.

“Kenny!”

You cum with a shattering cry, the sound ringing so loud in your ears you swear any enemy of the living in a 10 mile radius could hear you. In reality, what escapes is little more than a broken snivel. 

It hurts, muscles aching from the exertion of trying to keep from falling apart. Your body is a hairpin trigger, the comedown feels more like withdrawal.

“There’s my girl, my good little girl.” His voice is uncharacteristically soft, doting while you fall back to earth. It’s a strange feeling, you’ve never found comfort in Kenny before, he isn’t the shoulder you go to lean on. 

But tonight he’s the chin you buck into.

The aftershocks run across your naked skin, already missing the feeling of his touch as he settles back into the cracked leather chair. 

His cock presses into the denim confines uncomfortably, the ache can wait though. Whether this is his last night alive or has all the time in the world-- he’s going to savor the glistening prize nestled between your thighs. Kenny’s fingers find the cigar where it lies next to your knee, bringing it up to examine while you squirm at the cold night air against your wet cunt.

“No one will ever make you feel as good as I do,” both legs kick out, falling to dangle on either side of his knees in surprise as the cigar comes down to trace your outer lips. He presses the tuck inwards, pulling out slightly so you cry out. The harsh texture of the wrapper mixes with the most minimal of stimulation, causing tears to clump in your waterline. 

“Why don’t you think of a way to repay me, hmm?”

You push past the heaviness in your muscles, sitting up to meet his incredulous stare. Kenny sticks the cigar between his teeth, striking a match from the desk drawer to light the cap. The cigar is stale, cheap tobacco. But every drag now tastes like you.

“I- I could try to--” Words are left unspoken on your tongue, even now, the intonation is poison in your throat. 

You expect Kenny to laugh at your bashfulness, instead, two fingers come up to curl around the Rosary around your neck. He drags you forward, exhaling smoke into your parted, quivering lips. You try your best not to choke. 

He pulls the cigar away, ashing it carelessly on the floor.

“Use your words, kid, tell me what you want.” His words are sleazy but his voice is soft around the edges. Prompting you to shuffle onto his lap. His free hand rests in the small of your back to keep you steady.

“I want--” Fuck, your voice feels like it’ll fail, you take a moment to breathe, “I want you to fuck me, Kenny.” 

Your plea is rushed, so quick to hit his ears he almost misses it. There’s no hiding anymore, there’s nowhere else in this world but the private quarters of a long-dead clergy member. The space between you and Kenny is foggy and tense, only inches between lips.

There’s no more penance in this world, no more time to sit and atone for his sins with prayer. The soft, syrupy feeling of your cunt wrapping around his cock is a slice of heaven, cut out and stolen right from the sky. 

“I thought you’d never ask, doll face.” 

✞ all writing is dymphnasprose’s original content, please do not repost or modify. do no read my content as asmr.©️

#aot x reader #aot x reader smut #aot smut #kenny ackerman x reader #kenny ackerman smut #the smut pile: apocalypse #tw: somnophilia #tw: noncon #tw: dubcon #tw: blood #tw: sacrilegious #sin.somnophilia #sin.noncon #sin.dubcon #sin.blood #sin.sacrilege

[dehydratedpercy]

So, when I hear about the Prophecy of the Seven, I thought about Luke being the one "foe" that they would see on the Door of Death. I love Bob, and Damasen, but now I think that there was a Big Wasted oportunity.

Because while in Tartarus Percy starts to really understand Luke's view. And imagine him there?!

First. "Why" it's the question. It was his punishment? Please, Zeus wanted to send his family that wanted to form a democratic Olympus and he didn't because the one that helped him made him promise that he wouldn't.

Bringing Kronos? Free Pass to Tartarus. And Percy and Annabeth how would react? And Luke, would he want to help them o Gaia or Tartarus make him work for them?

But maybe not? He was actually in the Fields of Punishment, and as a Son of Hermes, the God That Can Do A Lot Of Stuff, like travel between other god's domains, he may manage to escape the Furies. And his dad the Messenger Divine Dude he may have heard some way that Annabeth and Percy were on Tartarus and he... jump to join. Three is better than Two, right?

So either the motive, we have Luke. In Tartarus. Along with Annabeth and Percy. Who are so done with their fate.

And how would that be? Luke as "Oh, the gods didn't respect their words? I'm so surprised" or "Mood. Let me help you save the world this time". Luke as "Goofy Ex Villain". And either he sacrifices himself, or manage to escape along them. Or try to betray them? A sort of Marvel's Loki? Who knows?

Who knows?!

I'm gonna just go ahead and assume you're talking about in canon, and not in PoR bc PoR Luke doesn't get a redemption arch.

But I've heard mention of this idea before and I really like it! Damen and Bob were okay, but they were very much disposable characters that were created just to serve a purpose, so it'd be interesting to see an alternate option.

I like the idea of Luke escaping the fields of punishment bc he's a willy son of Hermes-- maybe also, it's easier to escape if you literally escape to tartarus? So like, maybe his punishment included him walking near an entrance to tartarus or something (maybe he had the leaky bucket punishment) and he always looked at it and then one day he heard a rumor that Annabeth and Percy were down there and he was like oh worm??

So Luke jumps down to tartarus, bucket and all. He's still very much dead, but dead in a "fields of punishment" kind of way. This means he can't sleep, he can't eat, but he always can't exhaust himself (he's supposed to walk, carrying this heavy bucket, for all eternity, which means he'd be constantly tired but could never run out of steam). Let's say, more specifically, his punishment involves walking a long distance, past a pit of tartarus, dumping his bucket in the river Styx (or another river), which burns his hands and makes them raw, and then he has to walk back to where he came from and dump the water out, but by that point most of it had leaked out anyways. There's no way to keep the bucket from leaking, and his hands heal naturally, so every time he dumps his bucket in the river there is fresh pain from his hands burning again and again.

Which sucks. BUT. When he escapes into tartarus, he retains those traits, which means that he can't tire, he doesn't need food or sleep, and he heals automatically (though slowly). This would be a big advantage in tartarus.

I imagine him jumping down and saving Annabeth and Percy from a baddie at the exact right moment. They're fucked, they're injured and weaponless, the fight is not going well, and then the monster is about to make its kill shot when BAM! It's hit over the head with an enchanted celestial bronze-infuzed leaky bucket, and it dissolves into dust. And there's Luke.

Who's to say how Percy and Annabeth would react. I'm gonna go ahead and guess "poorly", because damn, they almost died and now here's fucking /Luke/. Maybe, they were told that Luke went to Elysium because he was a hero in the end, but the gods had actually lied, always intending to send him to the fields of punishment for betraying and trying to overthrow them (regardless of how he was manipulated into that choice, regardless of how he changed his mind and defeated Kronos in the end). So now Percy is feeling /really/ fucking betrayed, because shit man, the gods really are just liars and cheats and torturers.

I feel like this would naturally settle into a very of HoO that ends with the gods being overthrown as well. Which, imma be honest, its not my favorite version-- who would run the place? Will demigods die out? Will the current demigods absorb the old gods powers and rule like they did, eventually becoming more and more corrupt? I don't know. BUT, I feel like in this version of the story, Luke helps Annabeth and Percy through tartarus and his mere existence feeds into Percy's already-present anger at the gods and subsequent rejection of them. Luke dies at the doors of death, idk how, but somehow he is the sacrifice, and there's no coming back this time. His soul will be scattered in the wind, not going to the Underworld again, and in some ways its a tragedy because he deserved Elysium, and in some ways its good because he was never meant to stay in one place for all eternity, and now the willy son of Hermes is free for good.

So Luke's gone. Annabeth and Percy go up to the mortal world again. Grover is there (in this version, he'd be there instead of coach hedge), and he knows something is very very wrong, but Percy won't talk to him about it. Eventually Annabeth does, though, so Grover understands why Percy does what he does next.

Gaea rises in Greece, and Percy and the others fight her, and make it seem like they're just killing her. But, at the same time, they manage to connect all of the Olympian life forces to her, so when she goes down, they go down with her. The gods only realize too late. They are killed, and their power is transferred, making the 7 questers the New Olympians.

#not preserve or raze #canon #luke castellan #tartarus #doors of death #ask

[unexpectedreylo]

Yes, It’s Been Half A Decade Since TFA Was Released

Five years already?  Geez!

If you’ve been following my humble Tumblr blog since the beginning, you’ll know I was not truly a Reylo until I saw TLJ.  Before then, I was dealing with a movie that left me with a lot of mixed feelings.  Why?  I missed George Lucas for one thing.  He has an indelible style that few can match and few really cared about that universe and its characters as much as he did.  I was very unhappy to hear a month before TFA’s release that Disney tossed out his story and came up with something he didn’t really like very much (as later confirmed in Bob Iger’s memoir).  As a long-suffering prequels fan I didn’t like either the vaguely anti-prequel tone the pre-release hype took.  Whatever you do in life, don’t disrespect the man who created the GFFA. 

The post-release hype probably annoyed me even more.  Remember the doofuses screeching on t.v. that it was the best SW movie since TESB?  LOL.  (No, that would be ROTS and the only thing that came close since was TLJ.)  I hated that a movie I felt was flawed not only got passes from the media that really trashed Lucas and everybody who worked on the prequels, but also got lavish Best 10 lists and award nominations.  I was one bitter chickie for a while and later got a good laugh out of the backlash.

I thought it would be funny to post what I thought at the time, with added commentary:

Oh yes, the movie. My mother called it…it’s good, we all enjoyed it and were entertained, but Lucas’s touch is definitely missing. The romantic epic sweep of Eps I-VI, the goofy and whimsical touches, the feeling of being immersed in another galaxy, and Lucas’s gift for aesthetics aren’t there. The visuals don’t have that beauty and some of it is kinda ugly. The creature designs just aren’t as good. It’s not the kind of movie you watch dozens of times to catch little things. Even John Williams doesn’t have a knockout track like “Duel of the Fates” or “The Imperial March.” But it’s hard to think of how this was ever going to live up to any of it any more than I’d expect Suzanne Collins to write a Narnia book as good as C.S. Lewis. We lost those things when we lost Lucas.

I like the visuals a lot more now but TLJ’s cinematography rules the ST.  Still feel the same about creature design; I see better aliens and creatures on The Mandalorian.  One weird thing about the ST is how the filmmakers seemed to have avoided putting in anything at all that we’ve seen before.  No Jawas, no Togrutas, no Twi’leks, no Zabraks, no Quarren, etc.. Just Chewbacca and Admiral Ackbar.

The music didn't leave much an impression on me at the time but now I love “Rey’s Theme,” “Kylo Ren’s Theme,” and “March of the Resistance.”

As long as we’re on that note, I’ll get to the film’s flaws first. The movie has a lot of snappy, arch, and funny dialogue but you can tell the script was cranked out in a hurry. It lacks the careful structure of its predecessors and cribs a little too much from ANH. Poe disappears and you are led to believe he’s dead then he suddenly shows up healthy and hale with no explanation. Abrams’s first Star Trek film was riddled with unbelievable coincidences and unfortunately this movie has some of those too, such as when Han and Chewie just happen upon the Falcon in space. The film does very little to set up what’s going on and why, such as why the hell is the Republic fighting the same a-holes after all of these years. Abrams prefers instead to keep the action going instead of doing much exposition, which is pretty much what he did with the Trek films. Those little moments in Lucas’s Star Wars films don’t happen much here. Things must always be occurring, which dumps all of the responsibility for character development and world building on Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow. I have no idea why they decided to be all teasy-weasy with who Rey’s parents are instead of just telling us. (I suspect Luke is her father.)

LOL!   I guess the adoption by proxy thing at the very end of TROS proved me right or...did it?  Yes, my first assumption after seeing TFA was that Rey and Kylo Ren were cousins.

As for the rest of it, I still feel the same.  Rushed script, borrows too much from ANH, precious few explanations/set-up, not as good structure but still full of humor.

BB-8 is a charmer, Finn and Rey (who are so going to hook up) HA!  But remember I thought Rey and Kylo were cousins! have some charm and potential growth as characters, and it was great seeing our old crew again even if not under ideal circumstances. (Personally I would’ve preferred NOT to have broken up Han and Leia.) Hux had some mustache-twirling moments and Abrams was at least smart enough not to kill off him, Ren, or Snoke just yet. Finn and Poe have a good rapport (maybe they’re going to hook up).

Stormpilot definitely pinged the slash-dar.  It was completely unsurprising to find fans shipping them.

Abrams seemed to have avoided the mistake James Cameron made in “Avatar” when he killed off his most threatening villain while planning sequels. As you might have guessed, I was really shocked at Snoke’s death in TLJ.  I wasn’t expecting that until IX.  I was also really shocked at the casual, quick-get-rid-of-him ways both Hux and Ben were killed off in TROS.

The most compelling aspect of TFA for me was the Skywalker family drama, which made me wish it was more up front rather than a subplot. Ben Solo/Kylo Ren is a conflicted guy with a huge chip on his shoulder and it makes you wonder exactly what happened to him because I think he may have mental issues. Leia knows there’s still good in him but can a guy who commits patricide be saved? (RIP Han…I so knew this would happen because I figure it was the only way Ford would’ve done another film). Can his cousin/half-sister or whatever Rey save him? Would she want to? With Luke back in the picture and Artoo activated again, what will happen next? Even though they split up Han and Leia I liked the banter between them; it’s sad because they clearly still loved each other.

This is still true for me.  A few days after posting this it struck me just how nihilistic TFA was because I found Han and Leia’s split unnecessary (had Han gone out for Chinese food or on a mission for the Resistance instead of just being a loser smuggler, it wouldn’t have changed anything that happened in the film) and what I thought was Kylo’s certain fate to be a narrative bummer.  TLJ made me think they weren’t going on that direction only to be proven right in TROS (sadly).

I’ll dispense with the stupid Snoke is Plageuis theory and my dad wondering if Finn was Mace Windu’s lost son or something, though I’ll give him half a point for Finn turning out to be Force-sensitive after all.

I don’t know why people have said this takes them back to the ’70s because the film really is a 2015 movie made for an audience reared largely on the MCU, YA flicks, and other staples of contemporary geek culture. It is what it is and we aren’t going to get back the films of George Lucas and his influence. TFA might not be an awesome Star Wars movie but it is at least a good sci-fi action flick.

I still stand by most of this.  Time and TLJ made TFA a better movie in my eyes.

#tfa #star wars #sequel trilogy #reylo #kylo ren #ben solo #rey #jj abrams

[happymeishappylife]

DC CW Shows

I finally caught up on all the DC Universe shows. Quite an accomplishment for me considering I was 2 seasons behind. It feels good to finally get caught up to speed, but some of them are starting to feel like chores getting through them, rather than fun entertainment. A concern that gets amplified by the fact that the producers want to add on 2 more shows to the line up. So I felt like it was a good idea to breakdown my thoughts on each of the shows and what I liked/didn’t like. Plus then I will break down my thoughts on Crisis, because I have a lot of them. I’ll also rank these as I go as far as which ones I liked best, beginning with least to best. So let’s begin:

#7 - The Flash

I used to love this show so much. The first two seasons were a lot of fun and I loved all the characters so much. Thanks to the writing though, I can’t honestly say I don’t like this show much at all anymore and that’s kinda sad. Part of the reason is it became soooo angsty. Like the reason The Flash was great, was it was the antithesis to the angst on Arrow which made it so refreshing to watch. Now it’s like everyone must suffer some sort of pain over the tiniest things or worse, they become entrapped in characters and situations like its been haunting them for years when it only got introduced a couple episodes ago. At this point the only characters I care about are Caitlyn/Frost, Joe and Cecile West, Wally (when he’s on, which is like never), and Ralph. And that’s painful that Hartley won’t be returning to fill that role anymore because he was the only one who still could joke and laugh around like old Team Flash.

Season 5: Overall season 5 had a pretty solid storyline despite some of the angsty writing. After a while though I got pretty sick of fighting Chicada over and over again, especially Grace’s version. My one big pet peeve with it though was the relationship of Nora to Barry and Iris. I’m sorry. I can’t honestly picture any 20-30 something meeting their adult daughter and automatically assuming the role of an actual parent and treating her like a preteen. That always felt super weird and uncomfortable. Not to mention it happened almost automatically with little to no hang ups on ‘is this really our kid? Should we trust her?’ Plus then it created angst between Barry and Iris which I’m really over at this point in the series because their relationship was never my favorite to begin with.

Season 6: A hot mess. Granted, because of Crisis and Covid-19, the season probably didn’t get a fair chance to play out to it’s full potential. But cutting the season into two arcs didn’t do it any justice. Especially because instead of having character growth, I felt like a lot of the characters regressed. Take Barry for instance. The whole first part of the season is him prepping/training the team to take over for him after Crisis since he believes he is going to die. Only when he doesn’t, he assumes the role of leader still without actually leading. He stops telling his team members key details and putting aside the fact he killed the speed force, he stopped being a hero. The whole fight scene with Mirror-Iris, was so bizarre to watch. Yes, Barry would never hurt the real Iris, but she’s not and instead he just stands there and gets stabbed over and over, crying at the end that she’s not there. It’s really hard to watch.

#6 - Arrow

Arrow used to be in my top 3 slots as last I left it. The storylines were still on point. But leading up to Crisis and the show ending, there were some things that worked for me and some that didn’t. Still, kudos to the team for standing their ground and saying that we’ve told all we can tell, let’s put this show to bed and give it a close it deserves. It made the ending super emotional, but at the same time satisfying despite, Oliver’s death in the universe. My only complaint is the fact that the producers can’t put it fully to bed and now want to reboot Arrow all over again with Mia and the canaries. Don’t get me wrong watching strong women take more of the leading roles is awesome, but not to tell and retell the same storylines.

Season 7: The first half of the season when Oliver was in Iron Heights was not my favorite. Mainly because as it continues to develop it was like all the reasons he got put in Iron Heights to begin with no longer mattered. Diaz is still on the lose, he’s still playing his games in prison, and really what was the point? Now the second half of the season where we focus on his rehabilitation into society and working with the SCPD to track and take down his sister Emiko, was actually good. Too bad it got horribly overshadowed by a time travel flash-forward storyline to introduce and make us care about Mia.

Season 8: Obviously this season was the closeout season and the season leading up to Crisis. But I liked the way they treated it. They gave cameo spots and guest starring spots to former faces like Thea (she’s still freaking awesome), Tommy, Moira, and even Merlyn came back. My only complaint was that all of sudden we did have another time travel situation on our hands to meet our future kids. Thankfully I felt Arrow overall took that development better than the Flash, which since that was only a couple episodes and not a season, says something about the writing. Plus the post-Crisis pilot for the Green Arrow and Canaries felt a little out of place given everything that happened and a little insulting.

#5 - Supergirl

There’s parts of Supergirl I still absolutely love to pieces and the writing that are still doing it the justice that started the show by telling storylines of not only heroism, but commentary on today’s events to help push for progress. I love the whole cast of characters and think the acting has been great. My only complaint is with Season 5 and the fact that the show is beginning to find its tipping point of being less than stellar. I mean, I still enjoy it, but it’s beginning to show its where and tear so I’m worried what’s going to happen as it continues forward. Especially as it gets hyperfixated on Lex Luthor, who don’t get me wrong is a fabulous villain, but isn’t that Superman’s arch nemesis, not Supergirl’s?

Season 4: What a great commentary to tell throughout the season that parallels the feelings and conversations being had about immigration in our own world. I thought the idea of the Alien Amnesty Act squaring off against Ben Lockwood and his Agents of Liberty was not only great commentary but great story telling. I also loved that we got to introduce Nia Nall into the series because she’s fantastic and has become one of my favorite characters. I even love the twist reveal of how Ben Lockwood isn’t the enemy, it’s really Lex Luthor and his communist Supergirl clone. Plus Jon Crier plays an amazing Lex Luthor.

Season 5: Don’t get me wrong, the stakes and the storylines with Leviathan and Obsidian North, I do think are important and worth telling, but they detracted from the main storyline that developed at the end of last season which was Lena and Kara’s new relationship. Yes, it was still hit on and explored, but by far that was the storyline I was interested in seeing the most, not Ramah Khan or Virtual Reality horror stories. Also, while I like Lex, thanks to his antics during Crisis, the second half of the season felt hijacked and became this witch hunt. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to see what he and Lillian are doing, but I wish it played out more in the shadows and less of the actual screen time. I’m also glad Lena is back on Kara’s side again. But Brainy better not be dead! He’s one of my favorites even if his motives during this season were hard to watch.

#4 - Batwoman

I actually really, really, really liked Batwoman’s first season. Getting to know the badass that is Kate Kane and watch the horror’s of Gotham play out week to week was such a refreshing change of pace. After all, The Flash and Supergirl are undeniably heroes and must carry those burdens(?) as they fight for truth and justice. And Oliver was a vigilante, but while he took down drug lords, weapons dealers, etc. the stakes of being a vigilante in Star City is nothing compared to wearing the cape in Gotham. I loved the cast and seeing the stories play out of their past and how they connect to each other and also how some of them discover who Batwoman is, was fantastic. Even as creepy as Alice is, I enjoyed seeing the performance of the completely unhinged and psychotic villain take the stage to play out her twisted fantasies. I also appreciate the openness that Kate brought to being an out and proud lesbian, even revealing her super identity to a teenager to prove that it does get better and lesbians can be awesome is super freaking powerful. I even like that with the shortened season, it didn’t feel like we got robbed of an awesome storyline, but now we get to why this ranks fourth on my list instead of higher: Ruby Rose left the show and we get a whole new Batwoman. I get that this is out of the hands of the producers and the writers and I am super sad to see her go. But its hard not to feel like we lost a whole season of introduction and development to just reset and begin again. I’m not sure how they will handle it, but I do hope that a lot of the cast stays and stays in their roles. Especially Luke and Mary who are a great team. Mary is also like my all time, instant-favorite character because not only is she super wicked smart, but she has so much humanity in her so I hope she still continues on the show.

#3 - Stargirl

 Yes, yes, this show is still airing which is why I can’t speak to the overall season arc in finality yet, but I absolutely have been loving this first season. Again, what a refreshing new reality to step into and what a great new storyline to pursue. This rag-tag group of teenagers becoming the new Justice Society of America is a fun telling and already, the stakes of the Injustice Society are so high! Like I was expecting that it was going to be like the other shows where slowly by slowly we meet all the bad guys in different seasons, but instead it feels a little flipped since we don’t have all our new heroes on the stage yet. Still I love Courtney and her relationship with Pat as she discovers these secrets of his past and their new home of Blue Valley. I love her recruiting reasoning to bring Yolanda and Rick into this crazy plan and even her acceptance of Beth becoming the new Doctor Midnight. Plus, the show keeps surprising me because on one hand, giving these teenagers these powers to help them redeem their self esteem is a great storyline, which is why I was expecting them to force us to like Cindy since the beginning of that episode was leading up to maybe becoming friends with her, but no. Turns out she is the super bitch and super villain of the show and that’s kinda awesome. Also I like how because their teenagers, their secret identities aren’t really that secret, which makes it’s kinda fun, but also dangerous. We’ll see how the last 3 episodes play out, but I can’t wait.

#2 - Black Lightening

Talk about real gritty, dark, and powerful storytelling. I enjoyed the first season, but these last two have been a real punch in the gut in good ways and the writers have been outdoing themselves to provide heartfelt, real, honest emotions and discussions to the world of superheroes, compared to the other shows. And it’s hard, but the gruesome nature of the show also highlights some of the real struggles going on in the Freeland Community which of course highlights the issues in our own world around the Black Community. The whole spinal chord ripping scene will haunt me forever and not only because they keep replaying it, but because of how insane that was. The cast is also great and I love that at the end of Season 3, it’s not just a family of super heroes, but a group of powerful metas squaring off against the government and the most dangerous threat of all so far: Gravedigger. Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.

Season 2: Now that the whole family knows the stakes of what they have gotten themselves into with Tobias and revealing the girls have power, I love the way we got introduced to the ASA and the pod kids as a menial threat while still struggling to take down the perceived ‘bigger threat’ that is Tobias. Jennifer also having trouble coming to terms with her powers and how to use them I think was a great way to explore that not everyone wants to be a superhero, especially in antithesis to Nyssa who is a full on badass as Thunder and Blackbird. Watching Khalil’s story in this go from obedient lap dog to a runaway and finally a victim of Tobias’ violence was hard, but I felt was justified throughout and made him that character you want to root for, even when not everything he’s done has been great.

Season 3: What a harsh turn of direction. A full on occupation of Freeland, house arrest, killings on the street, and an underground railroad of metas or suspected metas completely changed the tune of this show. Watching each of the Peirces struggle to find out who the ASA is, what their doing, if their actions are justified and if the Marcovian threat was real was really fascinating to watch. The showdown with the Marcovians too with a whole team behind them was also a nice change of pace, even if their mission didn’t end the way they expected. I think the amplified stakes though of what happened and what’s to come will continue to develop into an incredible show, minus one now big problem I have, but I will detail that out below when we talk about Crisis.

#1 - Legends of Tomorrow

You can fight me, but Legends of Tomorrow is the best goddamn shown on this network for one simple fact: They don’t take themselves seriously. There is no real angst and because of that it makes the adventures so fun and so hilarious that its such a great break from all of the other shows. Plus, because they keep swapping new and old cast members into the show, it always feels new. Kinda that Doctor Who spirit, which I love. That and because there are hardly any rules to a time travelling group of heroes who don’t really want to be heroes, you get ridiculously themed episodes like Bollywood Musical or TV Crossovers. It is what makes the show a total blast.

Season 4: As the team gears up to track down magical creatures throughout history, you get the introduction of permanent team member, John Constantine who I freaking love for his cool, aloof character and yet sarcastic and sassy contrast to the sunshine and bro-squad that is Ray and Nate. I also love that the season not only was about capturing these magical creatures, but fully rehabilitating Norah Dhark into a good guy now accidentally turned fairy godmother. To be honest, I definitely did not see that one coming. I like that fighting the demon lord also helped transition the show from Season 4 to 5 to fight hell spawn creatures. Quite a leap from the original Legends concept, but again that’s what makes this show so fresh.

Season 5: Part of the other fun of Legends is getting to see old characters get reinvented. I loved the storyline with Charlie and her reveal to be Clothos, one of the 3 fate sisters and the reason the ancient loom got destroyed. I also loved Tala Ashe’s portrayal of Zari in a different timeline because the difference between tech-geek, super smart Zari and social influencer extraordinaire Zari were well done. Plus we got another awesome bro-squad member in Behrad who I hope sticks around for a while. The only bummer was saying goodbye to Ray Palmer. Ray has been one of my favorite characters in the Arrow-verse and seeing his exit was sad and partly because I think it could have been handled better. Like don’t get me wrong, seeing him have to get approval from Damian Dhark to marry Nora was entertaining and I’m glad he isn’t dead like Dr. Stein or Leonard Snart, but I just feel like the exit was a bit rushed. The good news is, it opens the door for Ray to return and I hope we get to seem in the future.

Alright...... To end this long spiel, let’s talk about Crisis on Infinite Earths and what that now means for all these shows. Because unfortunately.... it can’t be ignored. And I’m sorry to sound pessimistic, but to be honest, Crisis wasn’t my favorite story and was too hyped for the end result.

The only show who came out better for Crisis, in my opinion, was Arrow. Mainly because the story of Oliver’s last sacrifice to reboot the universe was the only one that made complete sense and doesn’t complicate the show after it happens. Granted it could be because it was used as the show’s exit, but still. I used to love crossover episodes and getting the whole team together, but now because there is soooo much going on in each show and such a large cast, these big multi-night and multi-universe shows just feel scattered because you are constantly hopping around and between each of the characters and all the individual storylines don’t matter. Like remember when Barry and Oliver would actually talk about what they were up against? Miss that. That and Oliver, Barry, and Kara stole the show even when it was other shows turn to shine. Like Kate was hardly in it, even in her own episode and the Legends weren’t in it at all. It was just Sara and Ray which was disappointing because as Crisis was their season opener, you missed a real chance to have the Legends save the day. Don’t get my wrong, there were some great moments during crisis and I liked the nod to past versions of the DC characters, including Brandon Routh getting to play Superman again, but overall it just made chaos for things that don’t make sense post-crisis.

Like yay, all our favorite heroes are in one place and created the justice league to help each other, but once Crisis is over, nope sorry, no one can be bothered to borrow a hero friend. Like that makes sense for some shows, Batwoman for instance isn’t that close to everyone and her storyline is so rooted in her own family drama, that ignoring the other supers made sense. The Flash’s stakes weren’t high enough to involve anyone else, so fine. And Legends of course travel through time and so aren’t around, fine. But Supergirl’s takedown of a longstanding secret group of people capable of bending Earth’s elements to create catastrophic events, isn’t enough to at least reach out to Cisco or Luke for help tracking them? That seems underwhelming. Plus where are the aliens in all the other cities now? Or the metas in National City? That’s a pet peeve, but more so because of the biggest twist in Crisis:

Pulling Black Lightening into the Arrowverse. Like the shows writers and producers, I think Black Lightening works better outside the Arrowverse which was the intent and goal from the get go. Pulling Jefferson Pierce’s family and world into the same Earth as all the other shows, no longer makes the shows storytelling as strong and maybe it was because this was a last minute decision, but there is just no justification post Crisis as to why they had to come in. I mean, The Flash and Black Lightening have metas related issues, you would think that alone would be a prime source of teaming up. Especially when Cisco goes out on a worldwide quest to document metas, you’re telling me skipped over Freeland? And where’s our favorite Kyrptonian to fight for truth, justice, and the American way as Freeland is being occupied by the ASA? Oh, what too busy going after Lex Luthor? Sorry, I’m not buying that Kara Danvers ignores racial injustice. Like I get that maybe it was a way to be able to use Black Lightening later in cross-over events, but the fallout from bringing them in this season with everything going on is a huge mistake in my opinion. And heck, having shows exist outside each other is probably a good thing. Too many and these crossover events don’t feel fun anymore, they just feel chaotic. I think I’m with the Legends on this one: the crossovers aren’t worth it anymore.

#cw dc universe #thoughts #reactions #legends of tomorrow #black lightening #stargirl #batwoman #supergirl #arrow #the flash #crisis on infinite earths

[aion-rsa]

Cruella: Does Every Villain Need a Sympathetic Origin Story?

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Clearly this isn’t your parents’ Cruella De Vil. This isn’t even your Cruella De Vil. However, there is something fiendishly charming about seeing Emma Stone charge into a ballroom and light her black and white dress on fire, revealing a chic red number beneath that would do Scarlett O’Hara proud. If fashion is a statement, Cruella is here to say the villain has just arrived!

Yet one can’t help but shake the certainty that by the time we actually learn the plot of Disney’s Cruella reimagining, Cruella will be in anything but black and white, or fiery red. Rather Cruella is obviously posturing to take a sideways approach to an old classic. But then again, that increasingly feels like the only direction these Hollywood redos know: the sympathetic origin story for an iconic villain.

To be clear, we’ve only gotten a glimpse of Stone as the new Cruella, and she looks absolutely fabulous in a black leather coat and cane, purring, “I’m only getting started, darling.” There’s a wildness about this interpretation befitting our current era where Harley Quinn is the hero of her own story, and Wade Wilson now leads a Disney franchise. Nevertheless, when I watch Cruella on the edge of tears in the trailer, barking defiantly that she is CRUELLA—and seemingly embracing an unfair reputation that other characters may be placing on her—a nagging question persists in the back of my head: Do we really need a sympathetic Cruella De Vil?

The trend of supervillains getting intellectual property-expanding sob stories is nothing new, be it at Disney or anywhere else in Hollywood. Maybe 25 years ago when folks liked their villains big and outlandish—think Glenn Close in Disney’s previous live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians—it was novel to see the antagonist become a tragic protagonist. But like everything else with modern blockbusters, that all changed a long, long time ago with something called Star Wars.

Back in 1977 when the original Star Wars movie was released, many audience members left the theater giddy about the world George Lucas created. In a galaxy far, far away, every pop fantasy of the mid-20th century—Wizards! Knights! Princesses! Samurai! World War II ace pilots!—was thrown into a massive cauldron that seamlessly blended these elements.

Luke Skywalker’s galaxy felt like a real place of exotic, lived-in locales, all of which captured that dirt-under-the-fingertips, tactile quality so rarely seen in fantasy stories. Sure the characters might be archetypes, but they came with histories which gave their fantasy space battles human density. Old Ben Kenobi fought in the Clone Wars with Luke’s father Anakin, who was “a gifted pilot.” But what exactly was a clone war? And why was there more than one of them? Also, what did a Jedi’s “more civilized age” look like for Luke’s papa?

For more than 20 years, no one knew the answer to those questions, which made them all the more intriguing, and the “lore” of this fantasy evermore mythic. Then came Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, the first modern blockbuster prequel devoted to filling in the gaps left by a beloved classic’s mysteries. That movie’s problems are numerous, but at its core the most persistent, lingering issue may still be the reveal that Darth Vader was once a blonde haired little boy with the emotional range of Beaver Cleaver. Of course everyone knew in the abstract sense Vader was once a child… but did they ever really want to see it?

Additionally, did anyone really want to learn Anakin Skywalker’s reason for turning to the Dark Side is because of a bratty streak that followed him into adulthood? Probably not.

Nonetheless, all three Star Wars prequels made massive amounts of money and rather than becoming cautionary tales of what happens when you attempt to explain away all the mysteries of a beloved character, they were the first steps toward a modern staple of media regurgitation where seemingly every mug, pug, and thug would get their own sympathetic redo.

Since then, we’ve learned on screen that Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis Venom, is really a well-intentioned bloke caught in a bad romance (with his alien space buddy), Batman’s arch-nemesis the Joker is really just a Travis Bickle clone with mommy issues, and Maleficent, the reigning empress of badassery in the Disney Villain canon, was really just a woman scorned by Sleeping Beauty’s toxic father. Even Hannibal Lecter became a victim in Hannibal Rising, and the Wicked Witch of the West starred in the most popular Broadway musical of all time… where it turns out she was the hero in a conspiracy with the Scarecrow to pull one over on Dorothy.

To be clear, some of these spinoffs and reimaginings work quite well. Even if I personally am a bit chagrined at Todd Phillips’ Joker being nominated for Best Picture, Joaquin Phoenix’s sad sack killer clown created the space for a riveting performance that reminded mainstream audiences that movies can still be for adults. In another comic book movie, Magneto’s heartbreaking backstory in the Holocaust was expanded in 2011’s X-Men: First Class, which made an already relatively complex supervillain just that much more compelling in Michael Fassbender’s hands.

Overall, however, this approach has left something to be desired. And to get back to Cruella, her remix as a misunderstood tragic heroine appears to owe most of all to Maleficent. In 2014, Disney made a killing when they cast movie star Angelina Jolie as their very best big bad, a character so evil in 1959’s Sleeping Beauty that she was willing to knockoff a princess simply because no one sent her a party invite. That’s cold. And it’s wickedly entertaining. Hence why Maleficent scared and captivated generations of children.

Some characters are just too good at being bad.

The marketing of Maleficent leaned into this with a melancholic cover of Sleeping Beauty’s Tchaikovsky-inspired theme song, “Once Upon a Dream.” Now in a minor key, the new version sung by Lana Del Rey promised a scarier, more menacing version of the story, which was then confirmed by Jolie’s wonderfully devilish laugh. The big bad was finally going to have her day at the ball.

But when the movie actually came out, we learned that Maleficent was an enchanted fairy who’d been wronged. In the end, she didn’t hate Elle Fanning’s Princess Aurora. In fact, she loved the little royal and tried to save her from the curse she herself cast in a fit of justified anger. Ultimately, the sorceress adopts Aurora as the daughter she never had after disposing of her now abusive father. That’s certainly an interpretation. I guess.

It also proved massively successful in the short term, opening at a staggering $175.5 million in its opening weekend worldwide, and grossing $758 million total. Those numbers also exclude merchandising and home video revenues. If you want to know why we’re getting the punk rock Cruella, look no further.

However, did a lot of folks really like Maleficent? It made all the money in the world based on that devious marketing campaign that promised a shocking tell-all about Disney’s closest approximation to Lucifer, but by the time a sequel limped into theater five years later, relatively few seemed to still care about the misunderstood, freedom fighting warrior fairy Jolie played. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil ostensibly continued the good fight but flopped at the box office with a cume of $491.7 million, barely more than half of what its predecessor made. (Don’t cry for Disney though, as Avengers: Endgame, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and remakes of Aladdin and The Lion King in the same year made Maleficent 2 look like a clerical error.)

What this whole sputtering franchise reminds us though is that some characters are better left bad, and the mystique of the unknown is an end unto itself. While I enjoyed Phoenix’s take on the Joker, there is little argument the character was even scarier with a PG-13 rating when he manifested out of thin air, like Beelzebub, in The Dark Knight. Or to take a step away from just villains, was Han Solo really any cooler when you learned how he got his name in Solo: A Star Wars Story? Or could you have gone your whole life without knowing thanks to The Hobbit movies that Gandalf and Galadriel were kind of, sort of, just maybe friends with benefits?

The allure of Cruella De Vil is right there in her name: She’s a cruel devil. How could she not be when her entire ambition in Disney’s classic 101 Dalmatians is to skin puppies for their fur coats? Finding out she used to fight the power before hoarding it may make a lot of money, but it doesn’t make her necessarily more compelling.

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[popculturebuffet]

X-Men Evolution Reviewcaps: Rogue Recruit

My series long look at X-Men Evolution rolls on as eveyrone’s favorite goth reworking of everyone’s faviorite southerner debuts. The X-Men and Mystique race to bring Rogue to her side after her powers accidently coma a boy. The X-Men try the usual compasion.. while Mystique just tries attempted murder and gaslighting while wearing a wolverine costume. Mother of the year! Meanwhile Kurt tries to get Kitty to likes him, Kitty does something profoundly stupid to prove Wolverine wrong that ends up proving him right, and Wolverine grumbles and is kind of an asshole. Well at least one of those is just an average tuesday for him. We’re going Rogue, Rogue, Rouuuuggeeee under the cut. 

Onto episode 3 though this time I did actually get around to watching a few in a row, so while i’m not MILES ahead of this episode, I do have a better sense of where things are going and where this falls in line with everything else. And this is a big one as it’s the debut of Rogue, easily one of the shows more popular characters from what I can tell and it’s no real suprise. In most incarnations Rogue is a huge fan faviorite, with a tragic but very useful and intresting power that makes for good stories.. and okay in the comics and carton she’s also fanservice incarnate, but that’s not exactly a factor here so moving on.  And here is no exception as naturally, with her goth apperance, and general moody outsider atittude, she was a huge hit with goths and emos one and all! And eveyrone really, it’s a good take despite being almost the oppsite of the angsty but still fesity and funloving 90′s version.. and the ironic part is BOTH are entirely accurate to the comics. And yes like the last time about to dive a bit into the comics.. but unlike the shiar thing this is throughly relevant to how the character is portrayed here and a neat history less for those not in the know, so buckle up. 

What’s intresting is both adapt the character.. just at vastly diffrent points. See most probably think of Rogue as she is now: Bubbly, Scrappy and able to throw a man into a mountain, if still understandably mopey about not being able to touch anyone, thoguh that issues come and gone a dozen times by now because comic books can’t resisit undoing things to meet fan expectations despite most dedicated fans wanting some fucking change once in a while. 

But that’s due to years and years of character development: When Chris Claremont first intorduced her, in an avengers annual no less.. she was a villain, a member of her adopted mother Mystique’s brotherhood of evil mutants, and unlike here, we’ll get into that, she was a fully willing member at first, gleefuly following her mama’s orders to drain the powers of one of Mystique’s most hated enemy: Carol Danvers, aka Ms Marvel and the future Captain Marvel. Yeah this one takes some explination for you non-comic fans, and even some of you comic fans who might not get how one of the more iconic x-men villians has personal beef with Carol.... granted i’m pretty sure half the marvel unvierse has personal beef with Carol in present day after Civil War II, especially tony for murdering him, but story for another time.  It’s actually pretty simple: Chris Claremont was writer of x-men for a decade and easily the most important x-men writer period who created a ton of iconic and well loved characters and shaped Cyclops, Charles Xavier and Magneto into the characters fans know and love among others. And around the same time as his x-men run’s early years in the late 70′s, he was writer of Ms Marvel, and took Carol from a half hearted girl counterpart to the first Captain Marvel with a wonky two identties gimmick, into the asskicker and feminist icon we know today. As such Mystique debuted there and when that book ended, Claremont slided her over to the x-men and the rest is history. And this wasn’t an isolated incident: Sabertooth, aka wolverine’s arch enemy and one of hte more famous mutant baddies, debuted in, of all comic books, iron fist, with Claremont bringing him back years and years later as part of the mutant massacreing Marauders, while Misty Knight and Coleen Wing were breifly supporting characters in x-men inbetween Iron Fist’s cancelation and Iron Fist becoming bros for life with Luke Cage and forming the heroes for hire, bringing the two along as supporting characters in the process. It’s a process writers have contiuned to this day; Bringing a character from other unrelated comics in to keep them out of comic book limbo and one i’m in favor of: as long as their writing the character well and they fit why not.  And like her momma Rogue DIDN’T debut in the pages of X-Men, but in Avengers Annual #10. And no Chris wasn’t writing avengers, though it wasn’t really unusual for another writer to hop in for one annual to pinch hit for the regular writer for whatever reason, with Chris Claremont being one of the few who wrote every annual himself for his run on X-Men. What was is he did so for one reason and one only: To get justice for Carol Danvers after a recent story had screwed her over BAD. Two things before we start: If you haven’t heard of this debacle, my apologizes and rape and abuse trigger warning. If you want to skip this portion of the review just ctrl f HIGHER FASTER FURTHER MORE and you can move right on past this clusterfuck and the aftermath. Anyways in Avengers 200, Carol gave birth via terribly contrived mystical pregnancy to Marcus, son of avengers foe and sometimes ally immortus and creepy asshole. Marcus is revaled to have brainwashed carol into loving him , and making love to him so yeah he raped her physically and mentally and the story ends iwth the “Happy ending” of him whisking carol away with him to his limbo dimension while everyone else is fine with it despite him admitting to using the “subtle manipulations of his machines” to make her love him. So yeah, he kidnapped carol to his limbo dimension, mind controlled her, had his way with her, had her give birth to him so he could come to earth then took her back with him.. and not ONE avenger raced a hand, shield, repulsor or hammer, and yes the big three avengers were very much present for this debacle and very much cuplable. IT’s a throughly disgusting hideous story i’ve only see played out thanks to Linkara, long time comics reviewer and all around sweet guy, reviewing it, though with the panels show to show yes all of this is there, and have no intrest in EVER reaading this vile piece of garbage. If your still curious or after just hearing about it want to see it torn to shreds, here’s the review for you. 

It’s terrible for a variety of other reasons. Naturally Chris, who’d put a LOT of time into building up carol and like any creator who sees their character throughly dragged through the mud, was PISSSSSED.. and so were fans who rightly rioted at the issue, so editorial was more than happy to let one of thier biggest draws  right the ship and also allowed him to take Carol back home to the x-men with him. As for how that happened, after Rogue stole her powers, Carol fell in a river and was rescued by her best friend and fellow Chris Claremont alumnis Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, who brought her to the x-men since she was a friend of theirs, where charles fixed her mind, though Carol was left with no emotoins attached to most of her memoreis. When the avengers, after scrapping with the brotherhood in some neat bouts, came to visit their friend.. Carol instead laid into them for letting Marcus take her, poitned out just how fucked up it was as well as how, and this actually happend, the avengers downplayed her concerns and tried to get her to connect with her demon spawn instead of worrying about her while others made jokes. Basically just one long page of chris claremont unloading on the issue and Carol unloading on her former friends before staying with her new ones. And to the issues credit the rest of the team. .takes it, is utterly devistated to realize what they’d done, and reflects on if they can ever make up for it or if they even deserve forgivness. She would eventually, mostly because people wanted to forget this story after that for good reason, but it’s still a damn cathartic moment.  HIGHER FASTER FURTHER MORE.. so yeah Carol was now with the x-men, who did end up meeting Rogue during a mission to wipe themselves from goverment records for good reason. And to his credit Chris not only used Carol’s lack of emotions tied to her memories for good drama but gave carol a huge power upgrade as binary, if your curious as to where her glowy headed distctrugion of an entire starfleet in her solo film came from. So okay after about a paragraph not really involving her we get into why this is so important to rogue’s character; Rogue now had Carol’s personality and memories trapped in her head and her mind was blurring between them, something this episode would use, and was falling apart as a result and with her moms Mystique and Destiny unable to help a despearate scared and repetnant Rogue went to her last hope for help saving her sanity and her soul: The X-Men. The X-Men, having both fought her and bonded heavily with her victim, naturally were less than pleased about this, and Colossus outright attacked Rogue before charles stopped him, not unresonably given the circumstances. However after talking with her and realizing both how badly she needed her help and how genuinely she wanted to change, going from a brat in love with her own power to a scared young woman terrified of what she’d done and what she was becoming, decided to roll her into the x-men. And everyone revolted: Carol was understadanbly piss and famously punched Rogue into orbit, while the rest of the x-men threatned to walk. Charles however refused to back down and gave one of his finest speech and one of the characters best moments:

To me this is Charles Xavier, a man who will accept and try to help anyone, regardless of their past, because it’s the right thing.. because they deserve a chance and he will GIVE IT TO THEM. It’s a powerful and well done moment and the x-men relucntantly take her in as a result, eventually seeing her as family as she proved herself.  So yeah  THAT is why I took so long to get here and went through ALL of this: Because this series adapts this period in it’s own unique way, taking out Rogue’s outright villiany mind, but leaving in her being a moodier, more closed off person who is constantly afraid of once again stealing someone’s very soul. She still has her confidence, as idd the comics version, it’s just tempered by a wall she puts up between her and everyone else that wasn’t as present by the time the 90′s series adapted her. And there are other bits i’ll get to as we go and in future episodes, I just felt this story was important as it colors Rogue’s journey here, hence me taking a good portion of the review to dive into it and even then I have more bits to give as we go. So with all this exposition that’s probably lost ya’s out of the way, this is Rogue Recurit. Pitter Patter.  We open in the mighty Missisipi, neighbor to my home state of missouri and home of the deep fried shoe. No wait that’s connecticut my mistake. We meet our unfriendly neighborhood goth moping outside, not really enjoying the dance and probably only having gone because her mom told her not to.. Destiny not Myistque mind. More on that in a minute. She’s being watched by two guys: Cody, who if you know your x-men lore you know this never ends well for him, and his friend uh.. let me check my noootes (Checks wiki while shuffling papers to simulate notes) Ty. Turns out Cody’s been starring at Rogue all week but dosen’t even know her name which to be fair, minus the muscles and being on the football team, is pretty much me in high school and is just as pathetic in 2000 as it would be from 2007-2010. I mean if I just went for it I PROBABLY would’ve been shot down, and the one time I did I indeed was, but at least I would of went for it and maybe learned more about women and not been such a dipstick for the next decade.... “sigh”

Point is Cody awkwardly asks Rogue to dance but like most cool kids, including the kind I hung out with in high school and tended to crush on, she’s there to look COOOOL and mope a bit.. and again tell her mom she can’t tell her what to dooooo. But Cody’s awkwardness and sincerty gets her to say why not, he means well.. a little pity dance can’t hurt. So they dance and then Ty causes this entire episode, yes really, by shoving Cody into her because they happen to be dancing seperatley because Cody’s a goddman gentleman ya maroon, and is respecting her personal space, and IS actually hitting it off as she seems to be enjoying herself. Had he not done that, he at least MIGHT have gottne a kiss before what happens next.. during the fall he accidently touches her skin, which had been mostly covered up and goes into a Coma while Rogue is now stuck in a stupor wondering who she is. Yeah as I omniously hinted at Cody is the guy in every version of Rogue’s origin story,  including I assume the 2000′s one where until doing some research i.e. going to wikipedia then letterboxd to find out if his name was given, who she has her first kiss with.. and thus the poor sap who first gets hit with her absorbtion power and traumtizes her. And here it’s no exception. Cue the opening credits. Which despite this setting up the slow arc of Rogue joining htem.. has Rogue in an x-men uniform with the team. Not that the arc is particuarlly subtle about hiding it, we’ll get there but still.  After the credits Ty is wondering what she did to him.. even though she barely moved when he fell on her, and Ty shoved Cody into him, and for all we know Cody just went into shock. He also easily could’ve fell on an epi pen or something.. I mean she could’ve stabbed him wiht one but that’s more of a candian thing than a southern thing. 

So Ty, who while understandably given Mutants aren’t public and Rogue herself had no idea still casued this by shoving Cody into her without thinking about if either had any medical conditions or if Rogue you know WANTED to phsyically touch him that soon, and yes diffrent standards and all but even 2000 this was stupid, decides to mess up things further when Rogue tries to run and tries to block the way. Now granted I get it on some level: For all he knows Rogue drugged his best friend and she needs to be there anyway to answer the police.. but counter arguments 1) She may have a record (She dosen’t) and while not having DONE anything may get brought up on charges anyway.  2) If she DID drug cody with a needle of something WHO SAYS SHE DOSEN’T HAVE MORE AND CAN’T JUST STAB YOUR DUMB ASS 3) she’s got a VERY distinctinve haircut with a white streak, wears a very specific outfit she probably son’t have time to change out of , and everyone there saw her. YOu can tell the police what she looks like. They will find her.  No instead she tries blocking her and she football tackles him.. because Cody is a footballer because this show, much like Tommy Wiseau, weirdly loves football. though unlike the room most instances it comes up, the first episode, cody being one here, and a future episode where the objective is to get the ball from your opposing x-man, all make some sense versus “Let’s go put on tuxes and play football because that’s what friends do huhhhhh?”. But yeah THIS is why I brought up Rogue’s past: becuase this episode heavily uses the part where she had Carol’s memories.. and would occasionally get messed up between who she was, with one issue having her lapse into being carol to rescue her ex from capture, which he dosen’t take well for obvious reasons. This episode uses something similar with Rogue’s brain a bit fried from taking in cody and thus not being sure where she ends and he begins, which is a very intresting idea and was a cool wya to go about having her powers activate. I mean sure it’s the second time in two episodes a mutant’s powers have traumatically awkaned. but both were distinct and interesting and it’s a staple of x-men stories to have this sort of thing happen. 

Meanwhile Rogue’s caretaker Destiny, who we flashed to a bit during the awakening of her powers, calls Mystque. I mentioned her ealrlier in jokes but for those unaware both here and in the comics Destiny is a pre cog, although sh’es an elderly woman in the comics, or rather was having died decades ago in real life, meaning she can see the fuuuuttureeeeee. And thus she saw what was about to happen but couldn’t prevent it. Mysitque is apparently railing her out on the other end over it.. and not in the fun way they usuallly do. And that’’s not crude ininsiuation.. in the comics.. Chris Claremont wrote them as a gay couple and only didn’t explicltly say anything because Jim Shooter was a homophobic moron, even if he had the common sense to stop the kitty and colossus thing because dear god why was that a thing, chaste or not dear god why. The point is Chris fully meant both as lesbians though Mysitque became bisexual under other writers, and the two finally kissed on panel, in flashback last year and Msique wanting her revivied, the x-men can come back from the dead now in comics and Xavier and Magneto refusing for complicated reasons I won’t go into here, and Desitny herself knowing they might not and telling her to burn Krakoa to the ground if she dosen’t get to come back is a major bubbling plot point that got set up earlier this year. So yeah I fully see them as a couple here. ANd yes mistue was with her even as an old lady, it’s really sweet and misty is also immortal so they’ve been together a long time. Also fun fact you probably dind’t need to know: Chris Claremont FULLY inteded to have it turn out the two were Nightcrawler’s biological parents. Mistque is a shapeshifter and can become a man after all.. I like to think that’s what happened here since thankfully the show decided NOT to go with the “kurt’s dad is a demon” explination from around the same time.. and yes that’s a thing and yes it’s fucking stupid and only ever worked under jason aaron who made Kurt’s dad into a pirate who raided heaven and lead to the x-men pirating up alongside a about to come back from the dead nightcrawler to kick his ass. And yes much like the misqute shapeshifting a dick to make a child being shopped around, this actually happened. Comics are awesome sometimes and I genuinely wish Destiny was kurt’s mom. Also yeah spoilers Mystique is nightcrawler’s mom here as usual, including possibly in the movies but it’s kept vauge in both timelines. 

Destiny explains that while she kept Rogue’s powers under wraps, giving her a phony skin condition and having her wear skin covering clothes, she couldn’t keep her away from teenage things forever and figured she’d be fine.. she was wrong but hey her precontion isn’t something she can control and she can still see the fucking future, so it’s not like it’s a bad trade off. Myistque is of course coming to collect her but Destiny warns her that, naturally, the x-men are going to be there soon. 

Speaking of the X-Men, Wolverine is breaking into the x-men mansion in a ninja costume while storm tries to thrwart hm. Yes there is actual context to this and he is a trained ninja so this fits.. yes really he apparentlyt rained with ninjas as part of his backstory and later had a samurai sword fight iwth his girlfriends dick of a dad twice and has had many since then since even with his claws the image of wolverine wielding a sword is fucking awesome. He crawls through the vents but Storm freezes them and he’s forced to enter the danger room and then tears some machines apart because chuck stops him because APPARENTLY their expesnive.. even though he can afford to buy his teenage son a sports car and himself a fucking rolls, so no Chuck I don’t see why Logan would assume you can’t afford to buy more death machines. 

Scott rightly asks what the hell their supposed to learn from one of their teachers putting on his ninja robes and trying to sneak into his own house while another teacher tries to murder him. And yeah with enoguh episodes I can fully say my assement was accurate, and not only that this scott has a bit of a temper at times, being a bit quicker to fly off the handle while also having a clear sarcastic streak, something his comics counterpart would thankfully soon pick up and that’s come back in full under jonathan hickman:

It’s.. a long story.. a bunch of racist genocidal scientests decided to inject themselves with devolving serum to protect their project from the x-men.. okay maybe not that long a story. BUt I LIKE that this scott is flawed, but not enoguh to make him unlikeable just enough to round him out: He’s charming, empathetic and a tactical genius.. but he can also be hot headed, sarcastic and impulsive. I’ts a nice ballance that dosen’t prevent him from being likeable or useful to the team, but keeps him intresting and gives him room to grow.  What I really am liking about the series so far is the team is fairly fleshed out.. except Jean and Storm unforuntantley as Storm really hasn’t gotten enough screne time to shine like her comics counterpart and Jean is just sort of “popular girl type a who’s sweet to everyone, but also still badass”. She’s still better than the 90′s cartoon, as she can actually do stuff more often and is a vital member of the team, and has mor eof a personality, but I hope we get more to her as we go. But otherwise the characters are layerd, flawed but likeable, and enjoyable to watch, and it helps with these earlier more awkard episodes, papering over the weaker aspects with strong character. 

Anyways Logan explains why they did all this: both to show the kids how to infiltrate big complexes, which given most x-missions are “investgate a base of some sort wher eno good is coming of anything”, case in point the mission in the picture above, it’s a valid and useful skill, and to test the mansion’s security, suggesting since the vents are crawlable to electrify them and add poision gas. Storm objects to the poision gas part as well.. their only enimies besides mystique are two teenagers who while dicks don’t really deserve to choke to death. Wolverine’ relucntantly agreers.. he’ll get em next security update. Next timeee.  Kitty meanwhile wonders if anyone else is freaked out and just gets blank stares.. a great gag and a great bit of character as she just joined and had a fairly normal life before all this. Kurt assures her she’ll get used to it, but his telporting over and offering popcorn fails to impress her and she nopes out of there, though Jean reassures him chicks will dig the fuzzy eventually. This is a nice nod to the comics where , with Kurt being the only non-human passing x-man, Kitty was afraid of him for some time, but slowly came around going from being horrified to him to defending him to evelangenlical lunatic reverend stryker, he was a preacher in the comics but no less vile or murder happy, telling him that kurt was one of the noblest souls she ever met after he angrily lambasted him as not in god’s will because you know, he looks like a demon.. and apparently is half of one but let’s ignore that bollocks shall we? Here i’ts more he’s coming on a bit strong on top of that, but it still works reconfigured like that.  Anyways enough teen romance, to me my x-men as Charles needs the full team for a mission and it’s the first time we’ve HAD a full team mission which makes sense: Episode one only had two active x-men and one who just joined and episode 2 only needed a smaller team for both subplots so we split the team minus storm in half. Here we have our first full mission: To find Rogue as Xavier believes she’s a danger to herself and others.. which isn’t exactly wrong when her power can abosrb at a touch and she has two entirely diffrent minds overlaping in her head. I do questoin however going in full combat gear, as they do. Bringing it, no sweat what if someone shows up to attack them, their apparently aware of the brotherhood as of next episode... which makes little sense but whatever. But when they land they go out in full superhero gear which not only ends up playing into myistques hands , more on that in a bit but makes htem look super supscious. And this could just be wanting more costume action early on which would be fine.. if the previous episode hadn’t had jean in plain clothes to talk to kitty, because yeah most people freaked out about their powers probably wouldn’t assume the best of someone in tactical gear iwth a big x on their costume! Gah. I”m glad I went ahead simply to know the x-men do get smarter.. a little. 

Anyways, that stupidity aside on the jet Kurt is flying for the first time with Scott proud of his skill saying he’ll be an ace.. and taking it back when Kurt starts driving with his feet.. even though to me that’s just as impressive as while he has that classic arms behind the head relaxed pose, he is still paying attention, has his feet on ten and two and, and it’s a fact that I forget sometimes: His feet are just as, or at least, almost as good at gripping as his hands. It’s why he can wall crawl like spiderman. Their llike gorilla feet but better. So yeah that joke dosen’t really land.  Meanwhile it’s time for what an older man thinks two teenage girls talk about.. and I just noticed looking at the credits this episode is written by Simon Furman, one of the more renowed transformers creators and write of the UK comics and later the US comics, as well as the first few mini series and one shots for the first idw continuity.. granted the latter is a bit infamous for what he did to arcee, which I both don’t know enough about and don’t have enough time to get into here, nor have I read enough of his work to gush, but I sitll felt it worth mentioning. ANd it’s not uncommmon for comic book writers to write for animation: Greg Weisman started in comics before moving to animation with Captain Atom’s post-crisis solo series, Dwayne McDuffie had a rather sizeable career in comics as a writer and editor and returned to writing comics in the 2000′s for a stint, and Marv Wolfman helped make the treatment for beast machines, while Peter David’s done scattered episodes of various shows, most memorably for me Ben 10. So not a HUGELY uncommmon thing but still worth noting.  Anyways legend or no, he still makes the rest of this scene awkward as Kitty fawns over scott, Jean ends up agreeing and in annoying fit of jealously kurt ports to the roof to do .. some sort of stunt to impress kitty and end sup having to come back in due to wind resitance, teleproting on her by accident and pissing her off. It’s not a terrible scene, as it shows some vunerablity in kurt and furhters the jean scott love triangle but in revisiting it it just feels a tad awkardly put in there, especially since so far kitty having a crush on scott goes nowhere and love triangle wise it’s more Jean, Scott and Rogue.. more on that next time. Wolverine mutters about kids in annoyance.. so for the first and probably last time in my existance I feel the exact same as wolverine for one shining moment. 

Mysitque arrives and is angry at her wife for letting their daughter get away, Irene reitrates the dance thing.. you get it. Luckily having a precog for a wife is handy for more than timing your orgasms to happen at the same time, and Irene knows she’s going to Cody’s hosue which she thinks is her own and that’s where we see her next. Now while this episodes quality is mixed... I do like this element of Rogue torn between two identites not sure which is her.. it’s thorughly intresting and hasn’t been used enough in adaptations, though the 90′s series did do a good job with it’s own take of having Carol and Rogue fight for Rogue’s body. 

At any rate wolverine attacks.. wow jesus wolvie I know you don’t like kids but this is a bit far.... at least go back home and take it out on duncan if you need to murder a teenager sheesh. Of course it’s actually mysitque whose trying to make her afraid of the x-men, shifting into storm next. It’s not a terrible tactic.. it has specific faults i’m saving for the end, but in the short term using the x-men in costume to scare her, then having Irene show up and tell her their mutant hunters.. it’s not bad. It also nicely back fries when the x-men arrive, charles unable to pointpoint her due to her brain being scramble, and end up going down the alleyway with Wolvie in tow causing her to book it. 

Kurt, whose really on the ball outside of the plane stunt this episode, comes up with a better plan than “Chase the frightened teenager around missiipi and hope it works” and realizes since she’s clearlys cared of logan, even if they don’t know why he can try talking to her while in inducer form. Logan relucntantly agrees but tells kurt to keep an the rookie, i.e. kitty which pisses her off. Remember this for a second from now. 

So Kurt.. actually succeeds in calming her down, pointing out he like her was once freaked out, that being diffrent is okay etc, usual line but it works.. then ... yeah that second from now is now now as Kitty decides “she dosen’t look so tough” AND TACKLES ROGUE. Who they know has the power to absorb things by touch even if she’s mostly covered, and who was about to turn to their side. Just because Logan, it turns out CORRECTLY, insulted her. Just.. jesus this is bad writing.. Kitty isn’t this obnoxious or usless later on and while she could sometimes fuck up in the comics..it was less noticable since she was the ONLY teenager, and still once fried a demon with a jet engine. Here? She hasn’t done any of that so she just comes off as a dumbass brought on a mission too soon who causes her friend to not long after this get his powers absorbed by rogue.. though weirdly she dosen’t get his blue skin, which annoys me a bit but whatever. Animation budgets. Point is kitty lost their target and got kurt comaed.  Kitty paniced realizes she can reach the professor telepathically, and we do get a great gag of her doing so too loud, while Logan grumbles about not going with them.. which is a godo point.. why didn’t he just.. you know take the costume off. even if she panicked if she learned who he was later, they would at least have her on the plane and could easily knock her out gently, especially logan since he recovers fast and would the instant his healing factor came back, and then deal with her panic and her fear of them they didn’t know about back home versus here. He didn't even have to come with her just hang towards the back in plainclothes. Instead his telling Kitty she sucks caused her to prove that assessment accurate. So Charles goes to help while Storm, Cyclops and Jean continue the search They find her and Jean shows her empathy again, and I have to admit the character really isn’t that bad in moments like this.. the only reason I ragged on her coming to kitty last time is she made the rookie mistake of telling Kitty about her telepathy, which, while better sooner than later, was done so clumsily it backfired. Here.. she genuinely and softly talks to Rogue, and offers her a communicator which looks like a neuralizer for some reason.. seriously why not just hide it in a compact or a watch or something Chuck? But that aside i’ts a nice moment.. that storm accidently ruins by showing up and terrifying her away. Yeah that’s PART of my problem with the episode right there is jwhile it changes up setting and what not it’s still just “The x-men find Rogue , get her calm, then she runs when one of the x-men mystique traumatized her with shows up”. It just gets old fast despite some clever switches here and there. 

Thankfully we’re at the climax and since Mystique saw all that she shifts into Cyclops.. and up until now I haven’t mentioned this but it becomes a glaring issue here: Mystique’s dialouge when shapeshifted when coming up is basically variations of I’M GOING TO KILL YOU. Which not only is a bit dull, as she apparnelty knows the x-men and at least could make them sound like evil versions of the people we know but also REALLY dumb... again i’m saving this for the end of the episode because it all comes together with her endgame for Rogue, but even if you haven’t watched the show given what’s happened with Toad and Avalanche you can probably guess. But yeah while watching I WAS going to lambast her for not using Jean.. but she’s actually clever here, using Scott who Rogue hasn’t met to unerve her already, then shifting into Jean to take back the chance she offered. IT scares Rogue out who naturlaly books from Jean. 

Rogue then touches storm.. and Cyclops promintently craps himself as he realizes “Oh shit an already scared and psonically scrambled teenager just got an omega mutant’s levels power but with none of the experince and 80 times the angst”. So yeah Rogue’s powers spin out of control in what’s a great sequence and she hit sa transformer but ends up running. Xavier decideds to call this one a wash, and can’t find her anymore anyway as Cody has faded and decide she has to come willingly. Kurt reawakens to Kitty’s delight. Yay that mildly annoying subplot is done.  We end at the school and this is what i’ve been building towards folks: Myistque enrolls Rogue in the school, comersrates on magneto on a job well done and Rogue looks at her commincator. And now for the reason I was a bit patient on this: Mystique’s plan is really shortsighted and dumb. Now pretending to be the x-men, that works.. but her impersinations are so shallow, ESPECIALLY for an experinced shapeshifter that the minute Rogue gets to know any of the x-men, her entire facade will start to crumble. Or if she touches one of them and gets their memories.. which never happens even when she borrows one of their powers next time but hey. Instead of making the x-men seem like gaslighting manipulators she makes them seem like petty murderous villians.. when 5 minutes with Scott or jean or just watching either will cure that. And sure as we see next time she TRIES keeping her from talking to them for too long.. but as we also see school projects happen and she can’t control EVERYTHING without raising some red flags with her faculity. She’s principal, if a teacher’s supscious she’s abusing a student she brought in, they hopefully won’t hesitate to call someone to look into it and as a shapeshifter running a dodgy mutant milita made up of students you brought in that’s the last thing you fucking want. It’s really not even a remote surpise this only lasts three episodes before she turns, and makes me question why do this arc if it’s going to be so half assed? In the comics Myistque was not only a master planner, even getting her team jobs as goverment enforcers when she realized being anti-human terrorists in a very racist climate was just going to get them all killed, but she also CARED about Rogue and her using empathy and kidness on TOP of the manipulation would make Rogue trusting her so much make more sense than “Well it’s you or the attempted murderers”. It’s just really fucking sloppy and to it’s credit Wolverine and the X-Men ended up doing this sort of plotline 80 times better, with Rogue being a villian for a while AFTER the x-men had broken up, left her with nothing, and things had only gotten worse for mutants.. and I think bein ga double agent, it’s been a while, but her reasons for turning there feel natural in comparison to this. The x-men aren’t much smarter as they only connect the dots that maybe it’s a shapeshifter, a shapeshfiter I belive xavier, storm and wolverine alread know about and coul’dve told the students. Gah. 

Final Thoughts:  This episode isn’t very good and in reviewing it I really realized it when it took me 4 or so diffrent sessions to finish this thing. While it has good parts, like a lot of ROgue’s stuff, the danger room break in, it’s held back by stupid decisions, a stupid villian plot, and a waste of great POTETIAL stories for a half assed one from a writer who clearly can do better and a show that will soon enough. Glad to finally be done with this one.. I might not come back to evolution for a second, but when I do I promise it won’t take this long. 

Next Time on X-Men: Evolution: Blob debuts, crushes on jean to an obssesive and quickly very stalkery degree and also nearly murders duncan with a locker... so he’s clealry a mixed bag. Meanwhile Scott and Rogue get paried up on assigment and Paul wears out his welcome Like this if you enjoyed it, I have other x-men evolution reviews in the x-men tag on my blog, as well as other animation goodness, and if ther’es an episode of another x-men show, including the gifted and legion as i have hulu, or marvel show in general you’d like me to cover just drop me a pm to comission it for a reasonable fee. ANd until next time, courage. 

#x-men evolution #reviews #x-men #rogue #anna marie #rogue recruit #scott summers #cyclone #jean grey #wolverine #logan #kurt wagner #nightcrawler #kitty pryde #shadowcat #charles xavier #x #mystique #destiny #mystique x destiny #animation

[c4tto626]

star wars the rise of skywalker — spoilers below!

disclaimer i guess, this might only be semi-coherent cause it usually takes me a few days to fully work through a new movie in my head, but i wanted to share my first impressions and thoughts anyways!

ok so i’m gonna start with the good (the bad below the cut): this movie definitely had things i absolutely loved! it looked amazing! it had great characters! cool planets! aliens! starships! the force! lightsaber fights! you know, all the things that i love about star wars. the colourful, beautiful festival on that desert planet, those thousands of ships coming out of hyperspace to help the rebels in their fight, the voices of familiar jedi speaking to rey, the main trio finally going on their quest together, the ominous ruins of the death star, the return to the abandoned skywalker home where everything began, rey taking the skywalker name to honour luke and leia... those kinds of moments filled my heart with joy!! that’s what i’m here for!!!

sadly... much of the rest of the movie just felt... rushed. it felt incomplete and at the same time as if they tried to cram three stories worth of material into one movie. i don’t mind fast-paced action, but there were so many moments where i would’ve loved for this movie to slow down a bit, to let the viewer take in what’s happening, to let the characters talk with each other! like, i love star wars for this fascinating universe it has created and i want nothing more than to know more about it! i want to see more than short glimpses of the alien worlds and their inhabitants that the good guys are fighting for! i want these characters to bond and interact with each other on-screen instead of so much being implied or happening off-screen!

this sequels trilogy had so much potential for amazing stories and it’s sad that most of them never came to be. force-sensitive finn is made real but beyond a few moments of ‘sensing’ something that’s it. especially after leia’s lightsaber is found why was finn never given the chance to train alongside rey? there’s a whole company of ex-stormtroopers that defected just like finn but beyond one single speaking character and like two conversations it’s never mentioned again. c2po briefly loses his memory which, sure, gave us some funny jokes, but it barely adds anything to the story and when his memories are restored by r2d2 no one even seems to remember the whole thing anymore.

and like, don’t even get me started on the blatant racism, the misogyny, and of course the big pile of garbage that was the whole rey/kylo thing. like. wow. so poe randomly has a background as a drug smuggler now? also there’s a random woman he’s apparently romantically involved with or... something? a woman who very much intends to kill them but then rey beats up her companions and suddenly it’s all fine? who the fuck knows? kylo ren gets his redemption (which, fine, whatever, i wasn’t really invested either way, tho i like redemption through death as a trope) but then there’s a random kiss?? for whatever fucking reason??? like... what was even the point?

also, palpatine? FUCKING HATED THAT. instead of coming up with something new, something interesting, they’re giving us the same villain from like the previous six (or rather, eight) movies and three tv shows? REALLY?! originality is dead, huh? killing palpatine and saving his son was anakin skywalker’s final triumph, his redemption... and we’re just gonna go ‘oh actually he failed at that lol’ like... wow. what rubbish. there’s literally a whole galaxy of material to play with and they really kept giving us the same villain, just with ever bigger and badder weapons. FUCKING YAWN. how easy it would’ve been to come up with a new interesting villain who somehow found out about rey’s relation to palpatine and decided to try and use that for their own gain. (but also rey palpatine is absolute bullshit and i will die on the rey kenobi hill thank you.)

i could keep ranting but honestly i’m just... sad that this grand, fascinating universe of scifi and fantasy gets treated like this. star wars has so much potential! so much that i would love to see and explore! there’s a reason the animated tv shows are some of my favourite star wars material, because they explore a lot of smaller stories and have fun filler episodes that give me a glimpse into this galaxy that goes beyond the grand, over-arching plot. in fact, all those little things give me a reason to CARE about the big plot, the big threat! but instead we get writers and producers who seem to think that all it takes is coming up with an even bigger threat than the previous one, combined with impressive cgi and cinematography, to carry a whole movie. and don’t get me wrong, i absolutely love it when a movie is visually stunning! but there’s just nothing that’s more important than a solid plot and good characters, and the rise of skywalker simply left me... disappointed.

there are so many interesting stories that could’ve been told in the aftermath of the defeat of palpatine’s empire at the end of return of the jedi, but instead we essentially got... palpatine’s empire 2: electric boogaloo. yawn.

in the end it’s just a movie, and i have my imagination to pick out the things i liked and make something different out of them in my head, but these same problems (bad plot, shallow characters, etc) keep showing up in more and more movies and franchises lately, and it’s just really sad that modern entertainment has become just a tool to make more and more money for a few greedy, ignorant people, instead of connecting us all as human beings with exciting and emotionally engaging stories that represent all of us and help us learn and grow as a society.

#swspoilers #rise of skywalker #really all i'm gonna say about the bad parts of the movie #this blog is my happy place so i'm gonna go and enjoy the things i liked

[greatghuleh]

so, the Crisis event got me interested in Batwoman. 

Caught all up with her show. I’m not sure how I entirely feel about it.  I like aspects of it but some others bother me.  

Firstly, the big bad, solid... love her as a villain.  Weird that like EVERYTHING seems to revolve around her in almost every episode.  There are kind of baddies of the week but... barely.  This kind of show and this kind of hero I think it suits having a strong baddie of the week with the even stronger over arching baddie story line. And having the main hero just keep going to her hideout and chit chatting ( i get it... sort of) while she’s literally kidnapping and killing people was hard to keep swallowing. 

Kate Kane. Absolutely head over heels for her in Crisis. Went into this show like “YES, I’m ready!”  but like... i’m on the fence after watching Batwoman. I love me a jerk hero/anti-hero.  And she fits a lot of that bill. But also, she’s like “I have to let people in and have friends” But at the same time literally is a shitass to Luke, blind to anything related to him.  And he’s the only guy who knows who she is and doesn’t want to fuck her over??  

And I’m having trouble dealing with Kate’s whole deal with Sophie.  I feel like Kate keeps utterly disregarding all of Sophie’s reasonings and hardships in her life. She keeps standing on the “I did it so obviously you can too.” Ignoring the differences in their statuses in life.  And even when called out on it continues to argue that those things are not an issue. Even tho the woman she loves was and is telling her those were the major issues. 

I guess that’s the point, the conflict.  Sophie feels she had to do what she did in order to not fuck up her ENTIRE life.  Kate feels she was betrayed. And that because Kate had the family and status to fall back on so her standing up for being discriminated against didn’t ruin her life so why should it have ruined Sophie’s?  big privilege brain there.

and gawd, i feel like Kate is so cold to her step-sister. and its not all the “she can’t know my identity” misunderstandings. The I have to be kind of a jerk to keep her at distance stuff. She like just... isn’t that great to her. For very little reasoning. Because they’re not... blood related???? I guess.  

Also, it was super weird that Sophie and her husband were literally sedated by a guy wearing human skin to look like their boss, knowing that the villain was about to kill people and they come out of their sedation not having real urgency to do much but instead stop to having conversations about if Sophie loves Kate or him and its like... I get it but also that convo could have happened at a different time if you didn’t want your characters to look like doorknobs. 

I feel like the show has tons of potential with what they have and what they’ve set up.  I also feel like a good portion of it has been fairly sloppy.  I do like a lot of the acting and I actually love most of the support characters. 

#batwoman thoughts

[starwarsopinion]

‘Star Wars Fatigue’

Before we begin, I would like to say that this is my opinion! It is NOT my intention to insult or, in any way, hurt anybody’s feelings, but alas, it’s impossible for everyone to agree on everything. Somebody’s bound to get their knickers in a twist. So, I’m just going to apologize in advance to everyone who find the following displeasing.

As you may know, there has been a lot of talk about the so called ‘Star Wars fatigue’. I personally don’t find it surprising. Ever since Disney purchased Lucasfilm in October 30, 2012 (for $4.05 billion, mind you), the Star Wars franchise has gone downhill. One would expect Disney to treat such a beloved franchise with love and respect. But we fans don’t always get what we want, now do we?

Now, some might argue that Star Wars was already ruined by the prequels. I say that’s bullshit! I was but a little girl when I first saw all the movies, prequels first and then the originals. And I absolutely love all six movies! My favourite one as a little girl was the Phantom Menace. I know that might sound crazy to some, but as a little girl, I could really relate to young Anakin. Also, I found (still do) Qui-Gon Jinn so calming and great mentor! He has such a beautiful voice. It was perfect casting, and while we’re on topic of perfect casting, let’s take a look at a couple of other great casting choices: Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu are freaking perfect! I honestly can’t imagine anyone else playing these characters!

These characters, along with an infinite list of others, made a huge impact on me. They were well-written, relatable, lovable, and what’s more, the main villain was someone you could actually hate with every fiber of your body and soul. I don’t thinks there’s a single fan out there who wouldn’t love to throw Palpatine/Darth Sidious off a tall building. (Of course, I may be wrong.)

Now that I’m almost 21, I’ve fallen in love with these movies, and the franchise, even more. That is, until Disney came and fucked it all up for me. I don’t hate the new movies. I just don’t like them. They don’t feel like Star Wars. They feel like feminist propaganda, because let’s face it, there is a clear agenda behind practically all Hollywood movies these days, Captain Marvel for one, but I’m not going to talk about that. wanting and supporting female and LGBT+ rights is fine, but please, for the love of all that is good and pure, DON’T FORCE IT IN TO MOVIES!!

Marketing a leading female character as a ‘strong, independent female’ is downright obnoxious! These are strong words, but it’s my opinion, as a woman! Some people have been wrongly accusing men for outright female-hatred. I’m not saying that there isn’t men in the world who hate women, because there are, just like there are women who hate men. I’m saying that most men don’t hate women and have absolutely no problem with female characters, whether in leading role or a supporting role or as a random background character.

People like me who have a problem with today’s film-industry, specifically with how female role’s are being marketed, are not bad people. Some have said that if Alien had been released today, Sigourney Weaver as Ripley would have sparked out same kind of negative reviews as, say Captain Marvel and Rey. This is not true simply because Ripley had not been portrayed, at any point, as a ‘strong female character’. And that’s why she is an iconic character. Even I know her even though I’ve never actually seen the whole movie.

My point is, people would be much happier, more open-minded if we weren’t told beforehand how and what to think of a character. Let us make up our own minds! Rey was marketed over and over again as a ‘strong female character’ and that’s what I expected to see in the movie, but when I saw The Force Awakens, I was brutally disappointed. Instead of a character I could relate to, I was given a mere shadow of what she could have been. I find Rey incredibly annoying. Of course, there are a lot of issues with the new movies, but this would get out of hand if I started to write about that as well...

I brought up the ‘Star Wars fatigue’ and as Mark Hamill himself has said, yes it is possible it exists. The conversation of the topic was fueled by Solo’s bad performance in the box-office, which, in my opinion, is due to the hate The Last Jedi got. I don’t hate the Last Jedi, but I certainly don’t like it. I hate what they did to the character of Luke Skywalker! It’s not right, fit or proper! As for the Solo, I actually kind of liked it. Sure, it has some issues as well, but compared to Force Awakens, Last Jedi and Rogue One, it was pretty damn good.

Cinemablend made a poll about ‘Star Wars fatigue’, and by the time I answered it, the results were as follows:

44% said that they aren’t as excited about the franchise as they used to be, whereas 33% said they are still excited about the future of Star Wars. 23% (that includes me) said they have mixed feelings and 2% said ‘other’. Now, I have mixed feelings because I still love Star Wars and I’m kind of excited to see the new movies, but at the same time I’m terrified. What if it gets worse? Rogue One is, in my opinion, the worst Star Wars movie ever made. I had been wondering for so long how the Rebels got the schematics of the Death Star, and that’s what Disney came up with?! What the hell?! It was garbage and garbage won’t do! Again, I know that many enjoyed that movie, no offence intended. This is my opinion that I’m entitled to have!

So yeah, I’m not as excited as I used to be about Star Wars, but man was I hyped when they saved the Clone Wars! Though that was clearly a political stunt to get some of the fan base back and excited on something that so many love.

I have one final point that I’d like to share with you:

Disney’s Star Wars: Episode VIII.V - All The Projects Blown Away Like Alderaan.

LucasArts was working on Star Wars Force Unleashed III video-game and what did Disney do? On April 2013 Disney shut down LucasArts, fired several of its employees and canceled several of its projects. So, no Force Unleashed III, no ending for the Starkiller’s story-arch, no amazing video-game what so ever. This sucks because I really liked those games. I want to know what happens to Rahm Kota, Starkiller, etc. But I’ll never get my answer. Because the games, the comics, the whole Star Wars Expanded Universe, or Legends, is no longer canon. Disney just picks bits and pieces and makes their own stuff.

And these are some of the reasons I have felt ‘Star Wars fatigue’and why I think Disney Ruined Star Wars. This has been a long rant. But I just wanted to get this off my chest. As we can establish, the phenomenon that is known as ‘Star Wars fatigue’ is quite real and Disney really needs to take it in account.

Hope you guys enjoyed this, sorry if I offended anyone and may the Force be with you! :)

@madamrogers 

#star wars #sw #clone wars #sw clone wars #last jedi #force awakens #phantom menace #star wars essays #obi-wan kenobi #qui-gon jinn #mace windu #rey #palpatine #darth sidious #death star #disney #lucasfilm #lucasarts #force unleashed #luke skywalker #alien #sigourney weaver #ripley #mark hamill #solo #rogue one #marvel #captain marvel #anakin skywalker #starkiller

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

I am genuinely concerned that comic book youtubers are going to create a GamerGate situation where there are extremists who poison the mass perception of people who criticise comic books or certain decisions in general.

 Like I have genuine problems with Amadeus Cho and Jane Foster being Hulk and Thor and I think Riri Williams and Miles Morales are bad characters (the latter being especially saddening because, unlike Riri, he had a strong initial concept powering him). I think Sam as Captain America was creatively problematic and that Marvel have been pulling the replacement hero thing for social/political reasons (and probably not sincere ones at that) as opposed to genuine creative ones. Similarly I think the America book is a lame super hero comic book and Gabby Rivera isn’t a strong super hero comic book writer. Similarly I think Marvel’s modern editors and assistant editors really do tend to suck at their jobs right now.

 But my rationales for all of those things honestly don’t have much crossover with certain Youtube comic book commentators (I’m sure you’ve all seen the kind) and I actually disagree and believe in a lot of other types of characters and directions cut from the same kinds of cloths as those above examples.

 I think Ice Man being gay made a certain amount of sense with his history and if you did have to pick a classical character to reveal as in the closet he was one of the best choices for it. We are in a position where Bobby could legitimately be given a strong romantic storyline and an iconic (for him, not necessarily within Marvel as a whole) love interest. I mean before Bendis had Jean out Bobby who honestly knew or cared who Bobby’s (comic book, not movie) love interests were? Hardly anybody aside from hardcore X-Men fans and most of them would argue Polaris was really the big one for Bobby. But at the same time most of them shipped Polaris with Havok anyway so what did that matter?

  I’ve said numerous times before Kamala Khan is the best new superhero character to come out of Marvel in the last 20 years. My problems with her series stem from the decompression alongside the fact that I don’t think her villain pool has been managed as well as it needs to be to enable her to last long term.

 Carol becoming Captain Marvel is something I find profoundly organic and logical, a brilliant stroke of character development that makes use of an iconic title by giving it to an iconic character who truly has claim to it. Look to me Carol’s outfit is always going to be the Ms Marvel outfit she wore for decades but at the same time to me Carol’s codename will always be Warbird, not Ms Marvel or Captain Marvel. I’m just from that generation.

 I think the general idea of temporarily having a black person become Captain America is interesting and understand the logic of making it Sam but at the same time I think the book never fulfilled it’s potential and ultimately Issiah Bradely or even Patriot would’ve been a much more interesting choice. But at the end of the day I cannot accept the creative bankruptcy of replacing Steve for the THIRD time and doing it the SECOND time in less than 10 years.

 I like Jane Foster’s Thor outfit, there are moments and aspects to her stories I find interesting but the way the series went about it overly denigrated the real Thor (and yes I will call him the real Thor, it is literally his name and he is supposed to be the actual figure from Norse mythology). I mean he was literally called out as ‘unworthy’ and the reason for his unworthiness made no sense at all. He realizes the Gods are assholes so he loses his worthiness. That isn’t how the hammer works, it’s just a binary ‘you are worthy or you are not’. Conviction in your personal beliefs doesn’t matter or else countless bad guys would be able to lift the hammer too. Additionally there were times where he narrative divulged into cheap, shallow in-universe attempts to ‘comment’ on the backlash against the concept. The Absorbing Man was at least somewhat exaggerating the complaints over a female Thor and at least dabbling in strawman arguments whilst Titania’s solidarity with Foster because she was stepping into the role of a man was utter out of character nonsense considering Titania’s arch nemesis is SHE Hulk. Jane consequently knocking out someone who’d surrendered was also ill considered. And I also cannot get over how we’ve been here before. Beta Ray Bill and Thunderstrike are testament to that. Once again creative bankruptcy.

 I’ve spoken countless times before how I think Miles had a good concept and still has potential but he’s been mismanaged and currently sucks shit as a character and how Marvel and certain fans and certain media outlets building him up as the best thing since sliced bread (or at least as great as Peter Parker) is profoundly unearned.

 I think the quality of editing at Marvel has clearly gone down hill but unless there really is some weird ass super Secret Empire conspiracy wherein Marvel went hardcore into hiring people because of their gender regardless of their qualifications, I don’t think the reason for that decline in quality is due to some (but far from all) of the editors and assistant editors being women. Frankly Steve Wacker is/was a major editorial player for awhile and his only legitimate qualification for being a Spider-Man editor was he could get the product on the shelves on time. The editing present in that product and their overall quality was shit 99% of the time. The guy lacked sufficient knowledge, passion or understanding of the character to really edit Spider-Man properly. This is a guy who was an amateur stand up comedian before entering comic books and has to my knowledge zero writing experience so why the fuck he was qualified to edit anything is beyond me. Maybe the new slew of editors and assistant editors are the same bunch of unqualified morons but I don’t think that’s got much to do with their sex or gender. After all Ann Nocenti was a solid X-Men editor and Molly Lazer edited Spider-Girl which was obviously a brilliant book. And shit Jeanette Kahn was President and EIC of DC comics for over 20 years and MOST of the stuff under her tenure was baller as shit. John Byrne Superman. Frank Miller Batman. Perez Wonder Woman. Wolfman Titans. DeMatteis/Giffin JLI. Kyle Rayner Green Lantern. Vertigo. Milestone. Watchmen. Frankly she oversaw what was maybe the single best EIC tenure for DC EVER in terms of quality.

  I gave up reading Coates’ BP run because I found it dull but I think T’Challa SHOULD have a book along with Blade, Luke Cage, Shang Chi and Jessica Jones.

I think the America Chaves series was problematic as a superhero story but the times where it does focus on the normal life stuff are generally good.

I was very impressed by Spider-Gwen when she debuted and looked forward to her ongoing, even defended her debut issue until I realized the critics were ont he money and it sucked and continues to suck to this day. It’s a profoundly shallow book but it could have been great and I supported it initially hoping it would be great.

I felt the Chelsea Cain Mockingbird series had moments of poor research, mischaracterisation and disingenuousness. I am specifically talking about how in issue #3 (I think) Cain uses Bobbi as a mouthpiece to criticise the lack of female representation within superhero comics. Okay cool. But she did it by essentially pretending that there never were any in the Marvel universe, that they got no respect in-universe and that Bobbi herself was at most a teenager growing up inspired by those male heroes whom she could never be like because she was male. Except there were female heroes, they did get in-universe respect (maybe not as much as was deserved but it wasn’t like people forgot they existed) and Bobbi is clearly too old to have grown up with any of the heroes other than the WWII guys like the Invaders. 

Similarly her retconning of the Phantom Rider thing in her final issue fixed one problem but did so utterly illogically whilst opening up multiple other problems. Look I’d also retcon the Hell out of Phantom Rider gaslighting and raping Mockingbird if given the chance I hate that plotline. But Cain retconned it by just having Mockingbird say that the stuff we have clear on the page evidence of didn’t actually happen. She was saying the colour blue is the colour red and always had been but it wasn’t. And Cain’s new spin on that Phantom Rider thing essentially threw Hawkeye under the bus by making him profoundly insecure and an asshole, because he’d rather believe his wife was raped rather than she cheated on him. Not to mention if Cain’s story is to be believed Mockingbird let the man she was sleeping with die for exactly no reason. There were other times during Cain’s run where I felt she was mischaracterizing some people or else was being too on the nose about stuff. 

But there were other times I thought the series was really funny, really action packed, i generally loved the pacing and I felt when it did cut more realistic (like the first issue when Bobbi is having a health check up) or in issue #3 when it was discussing the psychology of a sixth grade girl (even though said girl’s story had insufficient resolution, like did she go to jail or what?) it was incredibly refreshing. Truth be told a lot of the stuff in that series writing wise becomes easier to understand when you realize it’s partially a zany comedy and not really taking itself too seriously nor is it asking you to do the same, which is starkly different to say Spider-Gwen’s approach wherein it is playing stuff seriously but there is arbitrarily zany shit thrown in for the sake of it.

 I think Laura becoming Logan’s successor makes sense but it doesn’t mean it’s okay to just axe off Logan because he’s broken. FIX him and then down the line replace him. Laura’s book as is frankly just...an okay X-23 book with a new costume. I never cared for Laura outside of X-Men Evolution or the Logan movie (where she was more endearing) anyway.

 I didn’t agree with the female exclusive screenings of the Wonder Woman film but I also felt Zeus’s involvement in her origin was an unacceptable compromising of the specific feminist ideas and messages Wonder Woman was supposed to represent. I felt the same way about Azzarello’s run on the character which is where the Zeus origin came from and was happy Greg Rucka tried to fix that in his 2016 run.

 I’ve said before a poc actor playing Peter Parker is fine and dandy in my book and I was very open to Zendaya possibly playing Mary Jane (until I saw the movie...ugh...). My only concerns were in a significant way having the characters change to reflect the realities of them now being poc.

 I’ve suggested some basic ideas on how to maybe get more representation in Marvel and DC, including for queer, Trans and mentally ill characters and as I’ve seen it I’ve called shit out I found to be racist, sexist, homophobic, etc, e.g. I was disgusted by Civil War II killing off Rhodey and called out the way Cindy Moon was initially handled by Slott. And my frequent lambasting of MJ’s depiction under Slott (especially in Superior #2) should I hope by this point go without saying.

 So yeah my views don’t line up with those of Diversity and Comics but nor do they line up with those of ComicsAlliance and their hordes either. But because of people like the former people like the latter are going to broadbrush label and demonize people like me. People who might SEEM like we agree with guys like D&C but actually we’re coming at it from a very different angle and we don’t actually agree with their rationales 99% of the time.

 But in the times we live in right now nuance is apparently as dead as Batman’s parents.

 Frankly as I get older I guess I see myself socially/politically speaking being more of a moderate when it comes to comic books...and right now that feels like a profoundly lonely place to be.

#Marvel #marvel comics #DC #DC Comics #diversity and comics #Spider-Man #Peter Parker #Miles Morales #Ultimate Spider-Man #MCU #marvel cinematic universe #dceu #dc extended universe #Wonder Woman 2017 #Wonder Woman movie #War Machine #james rhodes #Carol Danvers #kamala khan #Ms Marvel #Jenette kahn #Steve Wacker #Anne Nocenti #Superman #Batman #Wonder Woman #Titans #Teen Titans #Ice Man #Bobby Drake

[mellamojoey]

Favorite Movies of 2017

John Wick 2:

While never seeing the first, I walked into John Wick expecting it to be what I saw in the trailers and it exceeded my expectations. Not only is it a great story but it is amazingly shot with great set pieces. The scene with all the mirrors towards the end. Oh Damn. One of the best sequences I’ve seen in a film this entire year.

Logan:

X-Men movies recently haven’t been that great in my opinion. Days of Future Past I enjoyed a lot, didn’t see Apocalypse but heard it wasn’t that great. Logan brings us something we don’t see in comic book films, a death. Logan is the perfect ending to one of the best comic book hero portrayals we will ever see. The dark, gritty Wolverine which is Old Man Logan was a great story to end the Hugh Jackman era of Wolverine. 

Wonder Woman:

Origin films are never great. After being introduced to Wonder Woman in Batman V Superman, I was intrigued to see how she will do in her own film. She delivered. While being one of the best comic book movies of the year, it was one of the best films of the year. Gal Gadot is great as Wonder Woman and knowing more about the character, that made BVS somewhat watchable, is always a good thing. She was my favorite part of Justice League and I’m excited to see the future of Wonder Woman in the unknown future of the DCEU.

Big Sick:

The Big Sick is my movie of the year. After being a fan of Kumail from Silicon Valley, I was very excited to see this film that he and his wife wrote about how they met. In a movie that I expected to be a comedy based on the actor's cast, I cried a lot. Such a beautiful story and the ending will have you leaving the theatre happy crying which only happens to me after Disney movies. 

Baby Driver:

When you talk about the use of music in film, Baby Driver has to be in that conversation. The use of the soundtrack being the base of the film is phenomenal. The scene where they list the stars of the movie, the music is synced up with environmental pieces and that blew me away. The car chase, in the beginning, was well put together and the character Baby had a great backstory and a great conclusion. 

Spider-Man:

When you think of a franchise that really needed to get their reboot to work, Spider-Man is top of the list. After seeing 2 rebooted versions of Spider-Man in the past decade, I’m excited about Tom Holland. He looks like a high schooler, he has the charm that Peter Parker has and is just a phenomenal Spider-Man. His inclusion in Civil War was well put together and Homecoming gave us the inside look of what Peter Parker does while waiting for his next mission that DOESN’T include Uncle Ben. 

Thor: 

If you ask many Marvel fans what the worst franchise is, a good amount of them would say Thor. The first Thor, followed by Thor: The Dark World, were ok films. They aren’t must-see movies for people to understand the Avengers. Thor Ragnorak took the boring Thor franchise and poured some of the Guardians mojo inside it and it worked. People might say that it was almost too funny but when did that become a bad thing? It was a great movie with a good moving plot not only for Thor but also for Loki (who is always a fan favorite.) This is a must-see movie for your friend that wants to catch up before Infinity War arrives in May. (Holy crap that’s soon)

CoCo:

I have this thing when I don’t see much press for Disney movies, I assume they won’t do great and it won’t be good. I felt that with Frozen, I was proven wrong. Not only by the box office numbers and the widespread of it in Disney parks, but as a Cast Member at the Disney Store where we would get an Else ornament in stock, get a call from a guest about it, and have that guest be in front of me 15 minutes later purchasing said ornament. 

Coco followed this by not having much press before it released. I finally got around to seeing it and it was amazing. The animation style gets better and better each time Disney and Pixar release a film. The story was fantastic of the young boy going against his families warnings and pursuing music. Him finding out that his idol wasn’t the person he thought it was, is something we often in Disney films but this time it was unexpected. The music is amazing as well. Coco is near the top of my list of animated Disney films. 

Honorable Mention: 

Beauty and the Beast:

I enjoyed the film. It wasn’t amazing. The opening scene was a little odd to me, I prefer the stained glass or the storybook approach. The Be Our Guest sequence was the best part of the film. The choreography and the CGI made it a spectacle that I would expect from the song. I still prefer the animated version.

Guardians 2:

Carrying on from what was the biggest surprise which was Guardians 1, the sequel picks right up with the humor that we love. The mystery of Quill’s father was finally revealed and Ego was a great character with a good story arch. Having Quill possibly go be bad with Ego was interesting and I wish that it lasted longer but it was bound to end with Ego being a one-off villain. The introduction of Mantis was fantastic. I love that character and I’m excited to see how she effects the Guardians and other heroes in Infinity War. 

Kingsman 2:

More of the same. I always love the gadgets they show off. I liked the idea of having Kingsman type groups around the country and having them interact was great. The fight scenes were well choreographed and put together. Didn’t throw any curveballs at me or surprise me in any way which was kind of disappointing. 

Last Jedi:

I enjoyed the movie. It wasn’t the spectacle that was The Force Awakens and it didn’t have to be. This film ended a lot of things that I didn’t want to be ended. Luke Skywalker dying at the end was ok. I thought he would be more of the Yoda in the Rey/Luke friendship but having Yoda pop up saying that Rey is ready to go and has always been was underwhelming. Rose was an ok character. Finn was underused. Poe I enjoyed, I liked seeing him go against the purple-haired lady. I really think they should’ve killed off Leia in that floating scene because that scene was just unneeded. I would’ve liked to see a Snoke backstory. He was basically a Marvel villain. That Kylo Ren/ Rey fighting scene was FUCKING INSANE. The best part of the movie. The movie had a lot of low moments, I would say the first hour probably. But when the movie had high moments, they were really great. I am really interested to see how they finish off this trilogy because, besides a big Kylo / Rey faceoff, I don’t know what else they could do. Maybe the Knights of Ren?

Lego Batman:

Great humor that I expected but it just seemed extra funny because it was Batman. Will Arnett is great as Batman (never thought I’d say that.) The opening scene where they list all the explosives on the plane and end it by saying Two Best Friends, has me dying each time I watch it. 

Still Have To See: 

Blade Runner:

I’m really into Sci-Fi movies and this looked really interesting to me. But after not watching the first Blade Runner, I felt I wasn’t ready to see 2049. When it comes out on Blu-Ray I will definitely pick it up and watch both movies.

Get Out:

All I heard was great things about this movie. Never got around to watching it. I have purchased it so I’m just waiting for a lazy day where I can catch up on the movies I didn’t see. 

Disaster Artist:

Always a fan of Seth Rogen and James Franco. This movie looks fantastic. I haven’t seen The Room (which this is based on) but I have a good idea of what made the movie so infamous. I will probably be seeing this soon.

Greatest Showman:

I will be seeing this in theatres soon. I am a huge fan of musicals. Hugh Jackman is a great actor and seeing Zac Efron return to musicals is great

#greatest showman #disaster artist #the room #get out #blade runner #lego batman #star wars #spiderman #thor #guardians of the galaxy #the big sick #john wick #wonder woman #baby driver #coco #beauty and the beast #films #movies

[murphysannie]

@achilleanragnor‘s sh love fest day 10: familial love

title: a shoebox of photographs with sepia-tone loving

relationship: luke/jocelyn, luke & clary, clary & simon

tw: food ment

[read on ao3]

It takes Luke approximately a half an hour longer to put the tent up than it should do, and rather than making herself useful Jocelyn just parks her butt on a log and laughs at him. He lifts an eyebrow at her second snort, turning to her with a deliberately put-out expression on his face.

"Did you wanna help?" he asks.

Jocelyn grins at him and flings her hand out to gesture to the kids. "Sorry, got my hands full with the two of them. They're running riot."

Luke glances over at where Clary and Simon are kneeling by a newly overturned log, chattering excitedly about the mini beasts they found hiding there. Clary's peering at something Simon has in his open palm, their heads so close together Luke wouldn't be surprised if one of them ended up getting bumped.

"Riot. Right," Luke repeats flatly.

"Besides," Jocelyn says, quirking an eyebrow, "I'm quite enjoying the view."

If Luke flexes his arms a little in his T-shirt at her words, no one has to know.

Jocelyn laughs again and springs up from the log, volunteering that she's going to find some firewood. Luke's smiling as he turns back to wrestle with the tent. How hard can it be, really? He's a werewolf, he shouldn't be defeated by a few sheets of material and some sticks.

They've set up camp in a little clearing in the woods, with enough space for the tent and some chairs and a little camping stove Jocelyn's neighbour had lent them. By the time Jocelyn gets back, Luke's won the tent-battle and is unfurling their sleeping bags inside it.

"Nice work," Jocelyn says, squeezing Luke's arm.

"I'm a man of many talents," Luke says, and he catches the way Jocelyn wiggles her eyebrows at him as she crouches down to smooth out the sleeping bags.

They fry steak for dinner over the campfire, Luke insisting that everyone has some salad on the side. He cuts Clary and Simon's tomatoes in half, then arranges them with some cucumber sticks into a smiley face. Simon grabs a handful of grated carrot and splonks it on top of the salad face on Clary's plate, claiming it now looks like her, and Clary looks mildly offended for a moment before she's laughing.

It's good to see the kids so happy and carefree, getting a childhood Luke and Jocelyn were never granted themselves. Even with everything they've been through to get here, Luke wouldn't change it for the world. He looks across to Jocelyn, finds she's already reaching her hand out for his, and smiles at her. Her eyes are bright in the light of the fire.

"You gotta eat your salads, guys," Jocelyn says, clearing her throat, "or no dessert."

"I can't eat Clary," Simon points out sadly, his finger circling in the air over where he's added a salad-Clary to his own plate.

"It's okay," Clary tells him kindly. "I'll forgive you. That's what friends are for."

Simon beams at her and pushes his glasses up his nose before happily munching on some carrot. Luke can't help but smile, catching Jocelyn's eye.

Once they've finished their food Jocelyn ums and ahs and loudly debates with Luke about whether they should be allowed dessert. Clary turns to Luke with big puppy eyes. Simon's beside her, nodding along, brown eyes wide behind his glasses.

"Please, Luke," Simon says.

"Please, Dad," Clary adds, and Luke's momentarily speechless, heart expanding and overcome with emotion.

He swallows the lump in his throat - how did he ever end up so lucky as to get this? - and reaches over to ruffle their hair.

"Sure thing, kiddo," he tells her. "How could I say 'no' to you?"

Jocelyn whips out the marshmallow packet to Clary and Simon's cheers, and once Luke's got the fire roaring they take it in turns to help the children roast marshmallows. Clary gets the hang of it pretty quickly, having the knack to get them gooey but not burnt. She informs them all primly that turning the skewer is just like holding a paint brush. A few of Simon's get a bit burnt, his concentration wandering as he holds them over the fire, more focussed on telling them excitedly about The Incredibles.

Luke can feel the tension draining from his body; his hellish week at work feels far away, like his whole world is the three people in front of him. In a way, it is - since his family disowned him, something that still bullets him through with pain now, he's made his own family, found his own people.

Simon's still on his movie story, though somewhere along the way it seems to have got entwined with a tale his sister told him about real life superheroes and villains in New York. It's almost so cliché, sitting round a campfire, swapping stories - though Luke reckons there're tales in his and Jocelyn's past that are closer to villains almost destroying the world than he ever wants Clary and Simon to have to experience - that Luke is ready to join in and go with it, but then he notices Clary's expression.

"I don't think I like that story," she says, crossing over to Luke and resting a hand on his knee. She looks up at him.

Luke sweeps a strand of red hair behind her ear. "Don't worry," he tells her. "Your Mom and I will always be here to keep you safe."

"Promise?" Clary asks, arching an eyebrow. She looks so serious in the firelight.

"Promise," Luke confirms. Clary smiles at this, the turns and plucks another marshmallow from the bag and spears it with her skewer. She holds it over the fire as Simon enthusiastically continues his story despite Jocelyn's efforts to calm him a little.

"He swoops down and bang!" Simon yells, jumping off his chair. Clary squeals and the marshmallow stick goes flying up in the air. As if in slow motion, Luke can see it happening, but he's too slow to stop it. The stick bounces off Clary's head and sticks there, the gooey sugar holding it in place.

To Clary's credit, she doesn't cry, she just looks a little perturbed and tries to pull it out. But that does nothing, and then her panic begins to set in. Simon, for his part, looks guilt-ridden, suddenly up in front of Clary and fussing at her, apologising.

"Luke," Jocelyn says calmly, "could you find the penknife in my bag, please?"

"Knife?" Clary squeaks.

Simon looks a bit sick. "Please don't cut all of Clary's hair off, Jocelyn," he says.

Jocelyn smiles reassuringly. "I won't, honey," she says. "Just the part that has marshmallow in it."

Clary only allows her mother to trim her hair if she can sit on Luke's lap. Simon holds her hand, telling her it will be alright, and Luke has a fleeting thought that they're all being entirely ridiculous, making such a big deal out of this. But this is his life now, and as he meets Jocelyn's eye, he knows he wouldn't have it any other way.

They make it through the rest of the night without any more marshmallow-related mishaps, and before long the kids are falling asleep where they're sitting. Jocelyn and Luke half-carry, half-walk the children into the tent, settling them down inside the sleeping bags. Once they're firmly asleep, Luke and Jocelyn head back outside.

"Thank you," Jocelyn says quietly, resting her head against Luke's shoulder. Luke tilts his head to lean against hers. "You do so much for us. I just want you to know that I appreciate you."

"I do," Luke says. "We do it for each other."

Jocelyn pulls away then and smiles at him. Luke presses a kiss to her temple and then wraps her in his arms. She sighs happily and tugs him closer. The two of them sit wrapped up in each other by the dying light of the campfire, lost in the moment.

It's only when they've trudged back to their car the next day and Clary catches sight of herself in the wing mirror that she starts whimpering. Simon helps Jocelyn load the trunk while Luke tries to calm Clary, and he manages to get her into the car. She blinks at him dolefully as he helps her put her seatbelt on, tears spilling over her lashes.

"I don't wanna look like a boy, Luke," she cries. "Mommy cut all my hair off when I told her not to!"

Simon starts clambering up into the backseat of the car and Jocelyn helps him put his seatbelt on. Luke nudges Clary with his elbow to get her attention again.

"She cut a tiny bit off, Clary," he tells her gently, "which was the best thing to do." Clary isn't mollified and her bottom lip begins to push out into a pout, which Luke knows will end in a real meltdown soon. "Listen to me, kiddo: no matter what you look like, you're still beautiful to me," he tells her. She bites her lip. "And I will always love you."

Clary stares at him for a moment and he holds her gaze, and then she nods slowly. "I will always love you," she says, and man, if Luke didn't have to drive home he probably would have melted right there and then. "Whatever you look like. Even when you're old."

Luke smiles. "Watch it," he says, poking her playfully. She grins at him, eyes less watery. He leans in. "D'you want to know a secret?" he asks. She nods eagerly. "Everyone else here will always love you too."

Jocelyn nods. "It's true," she says. Beside Clary, Simon is nodding ferociously too.

Crisis averted, Luke and Jocelyn get in the car. Jocelyn squeezes Luke's thigh as they set off, mouthing thank you, and he smiles at her.

Luke looks at Clary and Simon in the rearview mirror.

"Who wants to play a game?" he asks, and cheers resound in the car in reply.

Simon goes first, and soon they're all giggling as Luke drives them home.

#shlovefest #shheartandsoulwriters #i didn't know how to end it don't judge me #ch: luke #ch: jocelyn #ch: clary #ch: simon #s: lucelyn #my fics #food ment //

[markormoviegoer]

Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi

I don't understand people who go into a movie wanting it to be bad. Why would you even bother spending money on something if you're looking to hate it? Why can't people just go in open-minded and just watch what is put before you? I understand that if the characters suck, it has poor acting, major plot holes, or if it's just boring you're not going to like it. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about going to see a movie based on something you love and care about while actively trying to pick out reasons throughout the film to hate it. I have a friend that does this without him even realizing it. He's a big comic book fan, we saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on opening night and he came out spewing nothing but negativity while saying how much better Suicide Squad was. After I put myself through the abomination called Suicide Squad I wanted to slap him. I'm put in this mind set once more because I saw Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi and once more he hated it. In his words he “hated 80% of it” and went on a rant about all the things he hated and they were all so petty. These movies will never have the same effect on you now as they did when you were a child. It's not fair to compare them to something you saw when you were in such a different place. Think back then to when you had first watched a Star Wars movie compared to now. As someone who didn't really grow up on Star Wars, I watched it but I never went crazy for it, I am really enjoying where they're going with the new movies. But when you talk to most Star Wars fans they have strong disdain for it. It's incredibly baffling.

This was the first Star Wars film written and directed by Rian Johnson, who was recently given the reins for a whole new trilogy based on the reception of this film, which should say enough by itself. J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy produced it, music by John Williams and cinematography by Steve Yedlin. I mention all these names because they deserve all the recognition they get. The cast is insane as you would expect. I'll just mention the ten of the most recognizable names. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Benicio Del Toro and Laura Dern. A few of them had some really good performances while others were just OK. You can't expect everyone to steal the show. That should work for the run down of that stuff.

With this being such a new movie there will be a few spoilers but I will mark them with bold so that you can avoid them if you choose. The basic plot continues the story established in the first with the rebellion on the run from the first order. Rey (Daisy Ridley) is now on the island with Luke (Mark Hamill), Finn (John Boyega) is still healing, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) continues trying to live up to his hero Darth Vader and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) struggles to keep the rebellion held together. So here come the spoilers. I will make another bold point once they're done. The plot of Rey trying to convince Luke to train her was really nice. Luke is afraid that he will fail once more and she will fall to the dark side. He's still reeling from what he both did to Kylo Ren and what Kylo Ren is doing now. That brings about a lot of conflict between the two where Rey even begins to doubt Luke because of a connection she has to Kylo Ren. But that is just a small portion. When looking at the First Order you have Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) manipulating whatever he could, General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) is still a conniving worm who has a way to track ships through light speed which was really cool. That brought about a plot where Finn and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) try to slip onto the main ship to destroy the machine that allows them to do that. This is probably the weakest sub-story. Sadly it felt like something they threw in just to give Finn some more screen time. Even worse, this is the only time that Benicio Del Toro showed up. They could have cut this plot line out and easily worked around it. The only reason I can see why it stands is so that they could have Finn and Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) face off but that could have easily been explained another way. I'll stop with any spoilers now. As a whole, apart from the Finn and Rose plot, I felt invested in all of them. It ended in a fairly weak way as I'm not really sure what is left for me to care about though. A whole bunch of critical characters died which leaves me very interested to see where they go from here.

The actors played a great part in making me invested in the story as well. The Star Wars series was never really known for its acting. In the original trilogy the best performances came from already established actors such as Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, and James Earl Jones. While the newcomers played their parts well but never really stood out, apart from Harrison Ford. This time around nearly all of the actors had great performances. The actors who stood out the most to me were Mark Hamill, Domhnall Gleeson, Adam Driver, and Oscar Isaac. Mark Hamill pulled off the best performance of his career here. Luke at this point in the series is a broken man. His biggest failure is now helping to take down everything he has worked for. He's incredibly hesitant to take Rey on as a student because he's afraid that she will turn to the dark side as well. On top of all that he's lost all faith he had in the force and the way of the Jedi. His story follows his acceptance of his failure and revitalization in his beliefs in the ways of the force. It was easily the most interesting character arch I remember seeing in a Star Wars movie and Mark Hamill pulled it off wonderfully. General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) is an absolute snivelling worm. He is conniving, easy to anger, and will do whatever he has to do to achieve his goals. Every time he was on screen I was enamoured by his performance. He looked horrible, acted worse, and he was everything I want for a villain in a space opera. Adam Driver was able to flesh out Kylo Ren much more then in The Force Awakens and actually made him a very interesting character. His constant desire to be like Darth Vader pushes him to do terrible things and when he's reminded that he could never be what Darth Vader was, he snaps and it's great. He's evolved from a pitiful, angsty man-child to a proper threat. The interactions he has with Rey are fascinating to watch and he plays them very well. There were times were I was questioning his motives and ended up being caught off guard with what happened. I eagerly wait to see what he does next, both in episode nine and with his career. The last actor I want to look at is Oscar Isaac. I'm a sucker for him since I first saw him in Sucker Punch and Drive so Poe Dameron is one of my favourite characters. He's brash and headstrong but over the course of the movie he has to learn that he can't rush into everything when they have so few supplies and rebels left. I enjoyed his transition and thought that Oscar Isaac is really doing a good job of portraying Poe. Once more it was another movie where it had a very strong cast bringing the world to life right before my eyes.

Even if the cast wasn't as strong as it was the cinematography and music created a beautiful atmosphere together. John Williams was on point with his music as always. Just hearing the music alone threw me head first into the world from the opening credit sprawl. Combining that with the wide and epic shots, I was completely immersed in the world before me. The battles had me on the edge of my seats and I loved it. It was a beautiful movie both visually and audibly. The sound effects and CGI were crisp and clear to only add to the immersion. The creatures, landscape, space scenes, and battles looked great. I'm not really sure what else I expected though.

If you've been following what I've been putting out you should realize that I'm going to recommend this movie. It is exactly what I want in a big movie like this, that is I want it to be an experience. I was drawn into the world, I cared about the characters, and any complaints I had about the movie are small and passable. The more I think about it the more I realize how much I enjoyed it. I will be seeing it again myself at some point, it's just a matter of when I can squeeze it in with Christmas coming so close. I'm perfectly OK with Star Wars being part of my pre-Christmas tradition every year as long as they maintain some level of quality. Rogue One was a disappointment in my eyes but now I look forward to Solo in May of 2018. My final thought is this: People need to stop wanting to see the same things over and over again and accept that things change. Life moves on and grows. If it didn't, it would be boring. If you want Star Wars to remain the same, just keep watching the original trilogy and let other people enjoy the new ones.

#star wars #the last jedi #kylo ren #rey #Luke Skywalker #Episode 8 #disney

[dracox-serdriel]

Daredevil + Bullseye and Season 3

Okay, so, it’s only a matter of time before Bullseye shows up on Daredevil. Bullseye can use virtually anything as a projectile. (Some thoughts on Season 3 possibilities.)

Under the cut for spoilers for the comics and all episodes of Daredevil and Defenders. (Also, some spoilers for events in Iron Fist.)

Bullseye is Bad News for Love One of the reasons I’m not hoping for a romantic relationship for Karen and Matt any time soon is because Bullseye will likely turn up on Daredevil in Season 3. In the comics, Bullseye kills Elektra (who is resurrected) and, later, Karen Page (who isn’t resurrected).

Of course, prior to that, Karen leaves NYC (and Matt) to become an actor, only to descend into addiction, eventually being so desperate as to sell Daredevil’s identity to support her drug habit. I don’t really see the Karen Page of the show doing any of this. She’s found her calling as an investigative reporter, which means she’s not likely to go off in search of some other career, regardless of what events transpire in her romantic life.

Bullseye also goes after Milla Donavan (Matt’s girlfriend - and later in the comics - wife).

Basically, Bullseye is a recurring villain, and one of his recurring themes is him attempting to kill/killing Daredevil’s significant others. (Though, arguably, his reason for killing Elektra isn’t Daredevil.)

Which means when Bullseye turns up, it’s very likely that he will kill (or nearly kill), whoever winds up being Matt’s current love interest.

Here’s the thing: According to the mythos of the Hand’s resurrections, individuals will spontaneously resurrect so long as they retain their heads. (This is what happened to Harold Meachum after his son stabbed him to death and left him in a lake.)

Bullseye doesn’t have a habit of decapitation. He’s a sharpshooter, but he also stabs/bludgeons as the need arises. That being said, there’s really no way for Bullseye to find out that Elektra will spontaneously resurrect so long as he head remains attached. Which means if Elektra is Matt’s love interest/girlfriend/partner-in-beating-the-crap-out-of-criminals-at-night AND Bullseye turns up, he will probably kill her. But he won’t know to cut off her head, so her death with (again) be temporary.

While that would be awesome in its own right (especially because there’s no reason Matt would know about the spontaneous resurrection thing, which means he’ll feel her loss... again), I think it’ll read/play as a cop-out. No matter how compelling her (temporary) loss might be, I think the audience will be tired/wary of that same story line.

I suppose the show might change up Bullseye’s character so he winds up killing mostly by head-shots. (Or maybe, if he does wind up kill Elektra, it will somehow be by decapitation...) But she’s already had her iconic Bullseye death, albeit at the hands of Nobu. So that doesn’t seem likely.

What is likely, however, is that when Bullseye turns up, he will injure/maim/kill Daredevil’s current love interest. And I really don’t want Karen to go out that way.

Born Again/Wilson Fisk There have been numerous comments on Daredevil Season 3 adapting some part of the Born Again story line, which includes Kingpin/Wilson Fisk discovering Daredevil’s real identity and going after Matt Murdock. You can imagine that this doesn’t end well for Matt... for example, he gets disbarred and becomes homeless.

But that story line requires Kingpin discovering that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. Though we saw Fisk’s interest peeked near the end of Season 2 after Matt’s visit to the prison, it’s a far cry from Fisk knowing (as in, with 100% certainty) that Murdock is Daredevil. It’s likely that part of Season 3 will be Fisk’s agents trying to confirm Daredevil’s identity. Whether or not Fisk is still in prison.

So, how does this happen?

The people who know Daredevil’s identity:

Karen Page

Foggy Nelson

Claire Temple/The Night Nurse

Frank Castle/The Punisher

Elektra Natchios

Stick (deceased)

Murakami (deceased? former Finger of the Hand)

Madam Gao (deceased? former Finger of the Hand)

Jessica Jones

Luke Cage

Danny Rand (possibly also Coleen Wing)

Nobody on this list seems likely to sell Matt’s identity to Kingpin, with the exception of Murakami and Madam Gao, who might be dead (though, as Fingers of the Hand who didn’t die on screen via decapitation, I decided they should remain on the list). I think it’s fair to say that however Wilson Fisk finds Daredevil’s identity, it won’t be due to betrayal/someone talking. 

Heck, maybe Fisk will say “Matt Murdock disappears after a building falls on Daredevil...” BOOM! Identity confirmed!

Personally, I think that Matt’s identity will be “revealed” in Season 3, only to be promptly protected. We’ve already seen that Danny Rand is ready to step in and be Daredevil. As a semi-famous dude, he’ll need to cover his face. This almost certainly means he’ll be donning the Daredevil suit (or an adaptation of it).

This opens the story to a favorite/common masked vigilante trope: the “I can’t bilocate” defense.

Simply, Matt gets brought in for questioning RE: being Daredevil, and while he’s in custody, Daredevil is kicking ass on the other side of Hell’s kitchen. The fact that it is easy to medically verify his complete blindness will likely push the cops to free him--after all, him being Daredevil is a hard-sell to begin with. The fact that Daredevil is active while he’s in custody will make their case too weak to argue.

BONUS: Though I doubt it’ll happen,  I’d really like to see Matt and Danny on important business (as Matt Murdock, lawyer and Danny Rand, CEO) when breaking news of Daredevil doing stuff happens. The mental image of them acknowledging one another and either silently wondering or whispering, “WHO THE HELL IS THAT?!” amuses me immensely.

Wilson Fisk’s Death While he has numerous “deaths” in the comics against various foes, including the prison being bombed, I think Wilson Fisk will either be killed by Elektra or, more likely, by Frank Castle/The Punisher. (The promise Frank made to Fisk in prison seemed too real to be a generic “I’ll shot you if I see you again” thing.)

Arguably, Elektra would have more reason to go after Fisk (regardless of whether she’s with Matthew/Daredevil in Season 3), because he will be out for Daredevil’s blood upon his return. I suppose if Karen died on Fisk’s orders, this would give Frank all the reason in the universe to go after Fisk. But again, I don’t want Karen to die, so... maybe Frank bumps into him while in NYC? Or maybe he feels responsible for Murdock’s identity being revealed because he’d “helped” Fisk in prison.

Will Fisk’s death happen in Season 3? I don’t know. But I think it would be interesting to have the Born Again arch which Daredevil thinking that he can save himself by putting Fisk away again--only to find that all his problem still exist after Fisk is dead and gone--would be a good way to adapt the (seriously depressing) story line and giving Daredevil/Matt Murdock that extra bit of challenge.

It’s also entirely possible that the show will take a different route. That Fisk will go after Daredevil with everything he has... leaving Vanessa / their son (who doesn’t exist on the show yet, but I’m assuming) vulnerable to his own enemies, who abduct them and use them as leverage over Kingpin. Daredevil saves Vanessa and the child (because they’re innocent and because... he’s Daredevil, damnit), ultimately leaving Kingpin in his debt. Either Kingpin leaves with his family or he returns to prison... either way, he lives and leaves crime behind.

That’d make a solid redemption arc that supports Daredevil’s worldview of not-killing-bad-people.

#daredevil #daredevil season 3 #daredevil season 3 predictions #bullseye #kingpin #random thoughts

[gokinjeespot]

Monday, January 16, 2017

 We had a beautiful sunny weekend here in Ottawa and the Rideau Canal Skateway opened for the first time this winter. I went for a walk in the sun and then finished up the first volume of the two volume Strangers in Paradise Omnibus by Terry Moore which my partner Chris let me borrow. I read the story as floppies but it was very nice to re-read the story about the volcanic relationship between Francine and Katchoo again. I highly recommend any comic book that Terry does.

 Scarlet Witch #14 - James Robinson (writer) Shawn Crystal (art) Chris Brunner (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Wanda's journey along the Witch's Road finally comes to an end with the expected result of witchcraft being cured. It's neat that Shawn's art pays homage to Steve Ditko's Doctor Strange dimensional vistas but why is Agatha Harkness young looking now?

 Unworthy Thor #3 - Jason Aaron (writer) Kim Jacinto & Olivier Coipel (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The Collector's hammer is being sought by many. The Odinson wants it and so does Thanos. My money is on U-Thor and his companions getting their hands on it in the end.

 Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows #3 - Gerry Conway (writer) Ryan Stegman (art) Sonia Oback (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This issue features Anna May Parker in and out of costume. Gerry must watch a lot of Nickelodeon to make his kids sound so authentic. Annie is young, foolish and hot-headed which makes for some interesting situations. This is a fun book that I think more fans should be reading.

 Justice League/Power Rangers #1 - Tom Taylor (writer) Stephen Byrne (art & colours) Deron Bennett (letters). I don't read either of these teams' comic books but I like Tom's writing so I picked this up to see what he could do with these characters. I have no clue what the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are about but they seem like a decent bunch. The story is pretty basic with an accidental interdimensional hop including a super villain. If you like the Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle team up you'll enjoy this too.

 Moonshine #4 - Brian Azzarello (writer) Eduardo Risso (art & colours) Jared H. Fletcher (letters). If the creature doesn't make you howl then Tempest will by the time you get to the end of this issue. I did not see that coming.

 Daredevil #15 - Charles Soule (writer) Goran Sudzuka (art) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Here's something else I did not see coming. We have the return of one of Daredevil's arch enemies back from the dead. At least I think they died. It's hard to keep track.

 Action Comics #971 - Dan Jurgens (writer) Stephen Segovia (pencils) Art Thibert (inks) Arif Prianto (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). The trial of Lex Luthor takes a surprising turn and he and Superman are still not home free. Meanwhile back home, Lois and Jon are caught in a place where they shouldn't be by Clark Kent. It's going to be fun to see how mom and son explain their trespass.

 Groo: Fray of the Gods #4 - Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier (writers) Sergio Aragones (art) Tom Luth (colours) Stan Sakai (letters). It's always distracting whenever the Minstrel appears in a Groo comic book because of the ever changing end of his instrument. This mini ends with much dining and fraying for Groo but the gods don't actually fight throughout this story. Oh well, what do you expect from a Groo comic?

 Uncanny Avengers #19 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Pepe Larraz with Rodrigo Zayas (art) Dono Sanchez Almara (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Looks like the Red Skull has this team in his complete control but there is one hero left to come to the rescue. It's Gerry's homeboy Deadpool. Wade can't do it all alone so it's team up time. I like who he rustles up to help save the day.

 Wonder Woman #14 - Greg Rucka (writer) Nicola Scott (art) Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colours) Jodi Wynne (letters). This issue concludes "Year One" with a battle between Diana and Ares the God of War. One must suspend belief that Diana can fly all around the world carry Steve Trevor to stop the poison gas from being deployed. Maybe she got help from Santa Claus. I felt a little let down by Greg with that miracle move, but otherwise this story has been pretty good. Good enough for me to keep reading now that the first two storylines have ended.

 Red Sonja #1 - Amy Chu (writer) Carlos Gomez (art) Mohan (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). I hope you read the twenty-five cent #0 or you will be wondering how Sonja ends up in modern Manhattan. Amy solves the problem of Sonja speaking ancient Hyrkanian by introducing a handsome young police officer who sort of understands the language. This is quite similar to the Rebirth Wonder Woman book but different enough that a long time fan  like me still finds it worth reading.

 Occupy Avengers #3 - David F. Walker (writer) Carlos Pacheco (pencils) Rafael Fonteriz (inks) Sonia Oback with Wil Quintana (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). I'm not a fan of the title. I think comic book buyers have Avengers fatigue and would be more likely to buy this book if it was called Marvel Team-Up starring Hawkeye. I am enjoying it so far and would recommend it. Here we have Hawkeye and Red Wolf getting help from Nighthawk and his sidekick Deadly Nightshade to track down some shady cybernetics in Chicago. There are some surprise appearances at the end of this issue but they do make sense when you consider the evidence that Hawkeye brings to the search. Next issue should have some wahoo fun.

 Detective Comics #948 - James Tynion IV & Marguerite Bennett (writers) Ben Oliver (art) Marilyn Patrizio (letters). Batwoman Begins part one. This is a good primer to read before Kate's own book hits the racks next month. I hope DC doesn't screw it up again.

 Dr. Strange/The Punisher: Magic Bullets #2 - John Barber (writer) Jason Muhr (storyboards) Andrea Broccardo & Dominike "Domo" Stanton (art) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). I like Stephen and Frank and thought that the two of them teaming up would be fun but this story is turning into an unbelievable magical mystery tour with bad art. Shoot me now.

 Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #12 - Robert Venditti (writer) Ethan Van Sciver (art) Jason Wright (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). Green and Yellow Lantern Corps combine to crush the Orange Corp. Larfleeze even helps. Ethan draws the best aliens.

 Jessica Jones #4 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Michael Gaydos (art) Matt Hollingsworth (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The meeting with Captain Marvel explains a lot and made me decide to stick with this. I really hope Luke and Jessica's marriage doesn't suffer from what Jess has to do.

 Totally Awesome Hulk #14 - Greg Pak (writer) German Peralta (art) Jay David Ramos & Dono Sanchez Almara (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The two part team up with Jeremy Lin ends, thank Thor. This one is great for the kiddies but I found it to be a bit silly.

 Ms. Marvel #14 - G. Willow Wilson (writer) Takeshi Miyazawa (art) Ian Herring (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The World of Battlecraft fight to start off this issue was fun. Now that Bruno's gone (I miss him), Kamala has to figure out stuff on her own. Someone is stalking her but we don't know if he's good or evil. I'm guessing evil since he looks like the Green Goblin.

 Spider-Man/Deadpool #13 - Joe Kelly (writer) Ed McGuinness (pencils) Mark Morales, John Dell & Ed McGuinness (inks) Jason Keith (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). It's an adventure in Weirdworld as the two heroes recover from their fight with Itsy Bitsy. I really like Joe's version of Wade with the soupcon of humanity.

 Guardians of the Galaxy #16 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Valerio Schiti (art) Richard Isanove (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This issue is one long poem featuring everyone's favourite sentient one phrase tree. He is Groot. Some of the verses made my brain cringe however. I hope this isn't the last issue that Brian writes because I would hate to see his run end on a dissatisfying note.

 Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #4 - Joshua Williamson (writer) Fernando Pasarin (pencils) Matt Ryan (inks) Alex Sinclair with Jeremiah Skipper (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Max Lord and his team of super villains break into Belle Reve Penitentiary to get the thing that he needs to take over the world. We haven't seen this artefact since that special cover from 1992. I wish I can remember how they beat that bad guy 25 years ago then I wouldn't have to read the last 2 issues of this mini.

 Inhumans vs. X-Men 2 - Jeff Lemire & Charles Soule (writers) Leinil Francis Yu (pencils) Gerry Alanguilan (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). This war of the genetically enhanced seems to be contrived given what the Mutants' objective is in attacking Attilan, the home of the Inhumans. They couldn't just ask? I'm reading this because I love Leinil's art and it's still pretty exciting. Plus you never know what shocking "deaths" will claim the life of  some characters.

 Mighty Thor #15 - Jason Aaron (writer) Russell Dauterman (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The Asgard/Shi'Ar War starts here. Don't know why the Shi'Ar are all up in arms but I'm sure we'll find out. Russell is back drawing the whole issue and that makes me very happy. Judging from the cover the Unworthy Thor could be involved and that makes me excited.

 Spider-Man #12 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Sara Pichelli (art) Gaetano Carlucci (inking assist) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). It's interdimensional adventure time. Miles goes to another dimension to rescue his dad. There he meets Spider-Gwen as depicted on the cover. The kissy face must come later because this issue is all set up. This story crosses over with Spider-Gwen #16 and I like Miles so much that I will actually read that issue to see what happens next.

 All-New Wolverine #16 - Tom Taylor (writer) Nik Virella (art) Michael Garland (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Laura's current predicament in Madripoor seems simple and boring until you get to the last page and BOOM, someone comes out of left field. Things just got less boring.