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natlacentral · 2 months

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Avatar: The Last Airbender showrunner breaks down biggest remixes and Koi-zilla

Albert Kim, showrunner of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, knew his new series would be subject to scrutiny, given the diehard fans who would no doubt pick apart every creative choice in what he calls more of a remix than a strict adaptation of Nickelodeon's beloved animated classic. Now that the show is finally out in the world after years of development, he welcomes it.

"It's also very nice to have so many people so invested and passionate about the story. I'd much rather have that than be ignored," Kim tells EW. "So being able to be in the forefront of something like that is pretty exciting. It can't please everyone, and as long as you understand that it's all fair game, I'm happy that fans are having debates and discussing these topics. I just want to wait for them to do it after seeing the show. And then I'm really excited to see what they talk about and what they like and don't like."

On that note, now that Avatar: The Last Airbender has premiered on Netflix, Kim breaks down some of the biggest live-action remixes.

The cost of Koi-zilla

Kim knew going into season 1 that they were going to pull off Koi-zilla — the moment when Aang (Gordon Cormier) channels the Ocean Spirit at the Northern Water Tribe and transforms into a giant koi creature made entirely of water. "It's funny to me that some fans out there thought we weren't going to do Koi-zilla," Kim says. "How can you tell the story without the Ocean Spirit creature?" But he notes it was both a practical and financial challenge.

"I knew we were going to do that ending, so we planned for that from the start of the season," he explains. "We planned on the sets that we were going to build, the VFX money that needed to be invested in that, the design of the creature, and making sure all the storylines organically led to that moment."

It did mean that he had to pick and choose what else he could pull off on the show with the remaining resources. "The Air Temple episode has an amazing battle in it, and I'm sure fans are going to go like, 'Why didn't you do that?' I wish I could, but it was going to be that or the Koi-zilla finale. So I had to make my choice there," he says.

Roku's Shrine was another example. "I love the sequence in original where they figured out how to crack the door," Kim recalls. "But when we got to that episode, we just didn't have the resources, frankly, both logistically and financially to be able to afford that on top of everything else we were doing in that episode."

Sorry, Flopsie

Among the Easter eggs in Avatar: The Last Airbender are two statues that appear in the background of King Bumi's (Utkarsh Ambudkar) castle in Omashu. They appear in the likeness of Flopsie, who was Bumi's pet goat gorilla in the animated show. "We never tried to make Flopsie," Kim says. "Flopsie is not really a character. He's a pet, so it wasn't a huge sacrifice to not have Flopsie."

Bumi's arc marks one of the bigger story remixes in the live-action version. The original saw the Earth Kingdom ruler put Aang through a series of tests, while keeping his true identity as his childhood friend under wraps as part of these trials. That information is revealed up front.

"We talked about it a lot in the writers' room, but at the same time, it didn't work for a number of reasons," Kim explains. "Bumi's point in the animated series is to show that the Avatar has to essentially face the unexpected, which we also get across in our episode, too. But what was more interesting to me were what was going on with the characters. Bumi is a character who was deeply wounded. He's hurt by the fact that his friend Aang wasn't there in his time of need. Aang, on the other hand, is burdened by the guilt that he wasn't there for his friend who needed him. That, to me, was much more interesting than the specific set of challenges that he had to go through. Bringing those characters to an emotional head was where we started from and then we built using the elements of the original story."

Spirits

The writers' room mapped out the season in blocks of two episodes: 1 and 2, the Omashu arc of 3 and 4, and the Northern Water Tribe setting of 7 and 8. That left 5 and 6 to kick off the Spirit World arc, except there were multiple re-weavings that ended up happening as a result.

Though initially more standalone in the animated original, the live-action series combines the storylines for Hei Bai, Koh, Roku's Shrine, and the Blue Spirit all into one overarching plot. Investigating the disappearing Earth Kingdom villagers leads the Aang gang to the Spirit World, where Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley) become trapped by the face stealer known as Koh (George Takei)... which then sends him to speak with Avatar Roku (C.S. Lee) at his temple in the Fire Nation for guidance...which then gets him captured by June (Arden Cho) and taken into Commander Zhao's (Ken Leung) custody...which then prompts Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) to free the Avatar under the guise of the Blue Spirit.

"It was challenging, but it wasn't any more so than the rest of the season," Kim says. "Because we knew we were going to get to the point where we saw the Agni Kai, there was a lot going on to set that up." The original series didn't fully show the proceeding events following the Agni Kai, the Fire Nation duel that saw Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) scar and exile Zuko from the kingdom, but the writers used those moments to further beef up Zuko's backstory.

"Also, that's the one episode in the season where essentially Sokka and Katara are not in it. So it became a big Aang and Zuko story," Kim continues. "When you looked at it that way, that meant including the Blue Spirit and then also including the Agni Kai and some new scenes like the one post Agni Kai when Ozai goes to Zuko and banishes him. So it's a little bit of maybe putting the puzzle pieces together and seeing where they all fall. Once you do that, certain things just logically fall into place."

Past lives

Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender plays more with the mythology than the original's freshman season did. Visiting each of the past Avatar's temples allows Aang to commune with them, and even allow them to take over his body, as in the case of Avatar Kyoshi. As a result, we get to meet both Kyoshi and Avatar Kuruk in addition to Avatar Roku much earlier in the timeline.

Kim says he spoke with original Avatar creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko before they departed the live-action project over unresolvable creative differences. But the writers' room also benefited from all the supplemental Avatar materials that were released in the past years, including the companion novels and comic books.

"A lot of that stuff about those Avatars came from the Kyoshi novels," he says. "One of the Kyoshi novels talks a lot about Avatar Kuruk, same with the character of Kyoshi. The Avatars were useful characters throughout the season because they were able to confront Aang and voice his various conflicts, both as incarnations of himself and as characters on their own. One of the things you see is in episode 2 when he first talks to Kyoshi. We drew upon elements of what happens when he meets Roku in the original series and gave it to Koshi because we needed that element early in our series, to see the power of the Avatar."

A topic he explored with DiMartino and Konietzko was why the Avatar is the only one who can bring balance to the world. "'He can master all four elements, but isn't that the same as having four different benders?' 'No, he's also got the Avatar State.' 'Well, what does that mean?' So in episode 2, we see the power of the Avatar," he says.

Cracking Sokka

Of all the characters translated to live action, Kim says Sokka was "a little less fleshed out" than the others.

"Katara had the trauma of her mother's death, which is also Sokka's mother, but you didn't see too much evidence of that with Sokka," Kim explains of the adaptation process. "Zuko obviously has the story with his father and the Agni Kai, and Aang has the burden of being the Avatar. Sokka is a little bit more of a blank canvas in that regard, so we built in more into his backstory, which is in the original, it's just a little subtler."

The writers decided to lean more into the absence of Sokka's father and the pressures of having to lead the Southern Water Tribe at such a young age, as well as his struggles being the only non-bender of Team Avatar. "What does that mean for a human being when everyone around you has these superpowers and you don't?" Kim says. "It's all there in the original, we just drew it to the fore a little more."

It also blended easily into the Princess Yue (Amber Midthunder) arc later on. "She's able to see through all of his bluster and all of his attempts at comedy, and sees this insecurity," Kim adds. "So that was great to play with."

The 41st Division

A change to the original story Kim is most proud of is the 41st Division of the Fire Nation's military. In the Netflix series, the troupe was meant to be sacrificial lambs to distract enemy forces, but Zuko urges his father to appoint them as his crew in exile. The reveal cements the soldiers' respect for the Fire Nation prince and becomes a mirror to the found family element of Team Avatar.

"It's a small change, but it is so impactful in its way because it really drives home the story of Zuko's arc," Kim says. "He cannot find the compassion and love that he wants from his father because what he sees as a weakness in himself is his compassion. Then he finds it in this family that he's built with his crew. The message of the whole series really is about the family we make for ourselves."

The hardest VFX shot

Oddly enough, Koi-zilla wasn't the most difficult visual effects sequence to pull off in Avatar: The Last Airbender; neither was the attack on the Southern Air Temple. That distinction falls to a rather small sequence involving water and an arrow.

In episode 3, Katara thwarts Jet's (Sebastian Amoruso) plot to assassinate the Mechanist (Danny Pudi) and King Bumi by hurling water at a flaming arrow. "That's one of the hardest waterbending shots in the show because it's just doing something that water really doesn't do," says Jabbar Raisani, an executive producer, director, and VFX supervisor on the show. "It's traveling a really long distance, it's going against gravity upwards, and we really struggled with it."

The VFX team experimented with the movement of liquid by throwing buckets of water in the air over and over until they had enough references they could pull from. "That was not literally put in, but that's the inspiration for how the water moves through space," Raisani adds.

#albert kim #natla #atla #article #entertainment weekly #jabbar raisani

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skelletors · 2 years

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MCYT as D&D Characters 1 - Tubbo

So, there has been a CRIMINAL lack of D&D content surrounding the MCYT community, so I have decided to throw my hat into the ring and go over how I would make various figures in the Minecraft community into D&D playable characters.

A few ground rules for this thing:

This will not be balanced and the builds may not be very good. This isn’t for the minmaxers (not that there's anything wrong with that), this is purely based on either stories these people have participated in or their overall persona on the internet

These characters will go up to level 20, but in no way do you have to play them to the max level to get all the mechanics that make up the character

There will be little to no homebrew in these builds, just for my own ease of use.

I will be using standard array for all of these characters (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) when determining the stats for these characters, also for my own ease of use.

Now, with those rules out of the way, let’s get this series kicked off with the person who started my hyperfixation on this concept, Tubbo!

Character Traits to Emulate:

Crafty and chaotic

Charismatic but naive

Goat lad

NUKES

Race, Class, Background, Stats

Race: Satyr (This is the closest thing we get to how Tubbo is depicted, and I think the trickster aspect of the Feywilde fits Tubbo’s character very well.)

Ability Score Increases: +2 Charisma, +1 Dexterity Ram: You can make an unarmed strike with your horns equal to 1d8 + Strength Mod bludgeoning damage. Reveler: Proficiency in Persuasion, Performance and one musical instrument Mirthful Leaps: You can add a d8 to your jump speed whenever you jump, even if it’s from a standing position.

Background: Soldier (While Tubbox is fantastic, this is more aligned with the child soldier aspects of his character, from fighting against Dream at the start of the server to the L’Manberg revolutionary war.) Proficiencies: Athletics, Intimidation, One gaming set (Chess), Land Vehicles

Class: Fighter 10, Bard 8, Artificer 2 (Hopefully the Fighter class is self-explanatory, child soldier and a pretty good fighter. Bard is from Tubbo’s time as president and his attempts to settle issues through diplomatic means before the whole butcher army arc. Artificer should also be self-explanatory, man made nukes so of course he’s gonna be a bit of a tinkerer.

Stats:

Strength: 14

Dexterity: 10 + 1 -> 11 (Racial Benefit)

Constitution: 12

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 8

Charisma: 13 + 2 -> 15 (Racial Benefit)

Level 1: Fighter

Fighting Style! One key way to flavor any fighter is through their fighting style, and I’m going to go with Interception. Essentially, if you’re nearby an enemy you can reduce some of the damage they’re dealing if you have a shield or some kind of weapon. I dunno, it just fits with his vibes.

Second Wind. Once per long rest, you can recover some amount of HP. Pretty damn good for a person who’s fighting a lot

Level 2: Fighter

Action Surge. The bee boy can attack more once per long/short rest.

Level 3: Fighter

SUBCLASS TIME BABY! And while there are many options for Fighter, I think that it’s best to stick with the classics

Champion Archetype! There’s no perfect fit, but I think Champion is good because of just how straightforward it is in concept.

Improved Critical! If you roll a natural 19 or 20, it counts as a critical hit!

Level 4: Fighter

Ability. Score. Improvement. You can either bump up one stat by two (or two by one) or take a feat. For this, since we’re still in fighter mode for Tubbo, we’re gonna bump his Str up by 1 and his Int up by one, leaving him with 15 and 16 respectively. He’s stronger, but he’s also smarter.

Level 5: Fighter

Extra Attack. You can take two attacks instead of one as one action.

Level 6: Fighter

ASI. For this, we’re gonna wanna add that to Str again, bumping it up to a 17.

Level 7: Bard

Jumping over to Bard now, you get a bunch of cool things from this class. Your spellcasting ability will be Charisma, so we’ll want to see about bumping that up soon

Bardic Inspiration! You get to inspire your comrades and give them a Bardic Inspiration die. Currently it’s at a d6 and you can do this as many times equal to your Charisma modifier

Level 8: Bard

Jack of All Trades. You can add half your proficiency bonus (Rounded down) to any skill you’re not already proficient in.

Song of Rest. During a short rest, if your allies are spending hit die to recover HP, they can recover extra HP. Currently, it’s a d6 worth of healing. Not amazing, but for someone who just wants to help even that d6 can go a long way

ASI. You already know, add 2 to Cha, bringing it up to a 17

Level 9: Fighter

Back to fighter, you get a cool Subclass feature!

Remarkable Athlete: You add half of your proficiency bonus rounded up to any Str, Dex or Con checks or related skills that you’re not already proficient in.

Level 10: Fighter

Nothing new here, but if you’d want to change your fighting style, you could. I won’t, but you could.

Level 11: Bard

What’s that time again? It’s Subclass time again! This time, we’re going with…

College of Swords! Now while Wilbur’s speech about how to get things done is through violence, I can’t help but feel like that rubbed off on Tubbo. Looking at you, Butcher Army.

You get bonus proficiencies, but as a fighter these are already covered. But you can also use a sword you’re proficient in as a spellcasting focus! Nice!

You can choose between two fighting styles, dueling or two-weapon fighting. I’ll choose dueling, since there’s not a lot of dual-wielding on the DSMP. This gives you a nice +2 to damage rolls if you only have the weapon in your hands.

Blade Flourish. If you use one of your Bardic Inspiration die, you can do some pretty shit! And some pretty cool shit, too. You can add to your AC for a turn, add extra damage or even push someone away from you. Certainly good at that last one, at least.

OH BUT WE’RE NOT DONE FOLKS! Bards get a lot of stuff at third level, who knew? This time you get Expertise. You can get a few more proficiencies, just to be EVEN BETTER AT THINGS, as long as things are skills.

Level 12: Bard

It’s that time again. Ability. Score. Improvement. This time, we’re taking a feat. More specifically, the inspiring leader feat. You can give allies some temp hp equal to your level + your Cha modifier. And let me tell you, Tubbo’s actually super good at giving speeches, it’s really fun.

Level 13: Bard

Font of Inspiration. You regain all your Bardic Inspiration after a short rest now, not just a long rest!

Bardic Inspiration: 1d8

Level 14 Fighter

Indomitable. If you fail a saving throw, you can reroll it! But be warned, you MUST use the new roll. While Tubbo may not be renowned for his PvP skills, he certainly has that indomitable spirit in the DSMP storyline.

Level 15: Bard

Countercharm. If you keep talking, you can create a countercharm that prevents your allies from being charmed so long as they can hear you and you’re awake. Tubbo has not only been able to keep quite a few of his allies close, but he’s also made more friends through his charm.

Extra Attack. You get to attack more? Honestly, not sure how this’d work with your extra attack so maybe they’d cancel out, maybe you’d get to attack three times. Still, it is nice to have.

Level 16: Bard

ASI. Let’s bring up that Intelligence to a 17, you’ll see why soon.

Level 17: Artificer

We won’t be taking many levels in this, just enough to get the cool benefits.

Magical Tinkering. You can make tiny, nonmagical objects into magical ones with a handful of cool effects

Level 18: Artificer

Infuse Item. You can learn a handful of artificer infusions and put them into objects

While you won’t quite be making nukes at this point, these give you nice buffs to your spells that you might as well call them nukes with the firepower you’re packing.

Level 19: Bard

Last Ability Score Improvement. Take the Tough feat, significantly boosting your HP. Tubbo is very resilient and has gone through quite a lot of pain and suffering, so he’s probably bolstered his ability to take hits as well as his defenses.

Level 20: Fighter

Additional Fighting Style. This could go two ways, but I’m going defensive, giving you a slight buff to your AC. Again reflecting the bolstering of defenses after Doomsday with Snowchester’s walls and the making of nukes, all to keep himself safe.

And there we have it! The bee boy himself!

#im thinking of making more of these #if you have any requests let me know #dream smp dnd #mcyt #tubbo #dungeons and dragons

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sepyana · 8 months

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Jjba Stone Ocean Ep 23-32 Thoughts

Ep 23-24: Jailhouse Lock

Really mixed on Pucci's new design, the eyelashes look great but that hairstyle is atrocious.

You know, when Emporio said no one has ever managed to escape before, I thought it was strange. Jolyne already managed it once. How do the keep the stand users inside? Well, this is why.

Jailhouse Lock is definitely interesting, though it falls apart if you think about it for too long. The whole being able to perceive 3 people at a time part seems weird cuz they can perceive the environment just fine? No 3 limit or anything.

Overall I really like this arc but I don't really have much to say on it rn. I felt a bit bad for Gwess. I thought playing Kira's theme while Jolyne rewinds the movie she is watching again and again was a nice touch. Pucci's hat looks cool.

Ep 25-26: Bohemian Rhapsody

I was hoping for some interesting interactions between Anasui and Weather but we don't get much outside of "they care about each other".

The one issue I have with the concept of this episode is that it breaks what little immersion you have. Stories inside stories and all that.

What's with the seven goats story? Who is that even made for? I don't think I'll be reading that to my kids anytime soon.

The way they finished off the stand was pretty cool. Making their own character.

I'm pretty sure there is a part of the jjba fandom obsessed with Dio's kids like with La Squadra but I don't care for them. Ungalo is a bit interesting in the sense that his story is him speedrunning "former drug addict stops after finding their faith". I think it's interesting how this part handles religion. Especially with Pucci.

Ep 27: Sky High

I don't care sorry. This fight not that interesting. One thing I like is how Pucci rallies people for his cause just like Dio. But unlike Dio he doesn't have vampire hypnosis powers so it's just all himself.

Ep 28-29: Underworld

(I thought Underworld was the localized name for a second. I think Netherworld sounds cooler. Nether also means under too.)

I enjoy this arc a lot. The stand fight was great. In a way, it relates to time like Dio's The World.

I can't really give much specifics on why I like it. I thought the aesthetics were great. The outside is dark and stormy. The darkness makes it feel like we are still underground while the storm makes it feel like we are on the air. How these opposite scenarios are merged together is genuinely great.

Emporio sitting there like "Eh?" while Jolyne is yelling about being in a plane crash was really funny.

We haven't seen that Ermes could do something like that with the survivors before so the end feels a bit underwhelming. It's not something the viewer can think of on their own so It's like it comes out of nowhere.

Ep 30-32: Heavy Weather

Okay. This is the interesting part. Mostly Weather and Pucci though. Jolyne and Ermes side plot was nice and all but it's also pretty simple. I don't have much to say on that.

First of all, why did they animated Dio like that. He is under the table and you can only see his elf shoes and when he is gone there is a dust cloud like his some sort of cartoon character. And when he leaves he merges into the darkness in the goofiest way. He is like a fucked up elf of some kind. Very not Vampire-like.

Dio was looking for someone he could trust before he met Pucci. I do think he was contemplating if he could be the friend he is looking for so he is already test the waters by giving him the arrow. There is a very limited set of these so the fact that he just gives him one confirms that. I don't think he was expecting Pucci to be nice to him there. So he healed his foot to gain his trust and pay him back for his help, I guess you could say.

You really gotta appreciate how Dark Rebirth always plays when Dio shows up without fail. Not even when he shows up. He just gets mentioned once and his theme starts blasting.

Pucci and Weather's backstory is just a huge string of very unfortunate coincidences... is what I would say if this wasn't Jojo. Pucci devoted himself to Christianity because he thinks there must be a reason why he lived and his brother didn't. Later when everything else happens this just strengthens his belief. His obsession with fate. But the thing is, fate IS real in jjba. Which makes the message confusing if you think about it for too long. Let's just go through this from the start:

Pucci and Weather are twins to a wealthy family but Weather gets switched for a dead baby and lives is life as the only child of a poor mother.

Weather starts dating Perla, Pucci's and his sister. This is around the time when Weather's mother tells Pucci she stole the baby at the confessional. Now only Pucci knows that Perla is dating her brother.

Pucci doesn't tell Perla this because he wants to keep being a clergyman, along with his religious beliefs. He pays some thug who he doesn't know is part of the k** to break them up. He wants to have his cake and eat it too basically.

The next part doesn't really sit right with me, but I can't really tell why exactly.

What I wrote in this section initially was completely different, but I learned in the manga the thugs who lynch Weather are part of the k**, for some reason?? I can see why they removed that, you shouldn't just put topics like that into your story willy-nilly.

It's weird that Weather is actually mixed but it's so hard to tell that they lynch him because his adopted father is black. Both of his fathers just happen to be black. It's also goofy that there is this whole part about racism yet it affects your basically white characters more than it affects the black one.

The thing is Dragona and Jodio are also blood siblings (Dragona has the star birthmark, unless that's tattoo they should be blood related) and they look nothing alike too. That's fine but I think it'd be cool if Weather and Perla looked mixed. The story could resonate a bit better that way.

Pucci thinks he is at fault here. Yeah, he should have just said fuck it and tell Perla but he couldn't have known things would escalate like this.

I think his obsession with fate comes from this. It's a way to make sense of this whole situation. I also think he blames Weather for this in a sense. He thinks fate is at his side. He has gotten lucky a lot during the show. And he calls Weather a cursed man. He doesn't seem to think fate is something that can be changed (maybe the heaven plan relates to this in some way), so Weather's bad fate is the reason this whole thing happened, in his mind.

I wonder if Pucci is still keeping Perla's soul with him. She isn't a stand user so her memory disc contains her entire soul. Trapping her in a disc seem kind of cruel, no?

Weather's stand not letting him die reminds me of how Star Platinum instinctually protected Jotaro at the start of part 3. The difference is that Jotaro didn't actually want to die, even though no mentally well person would casually shoot themselves like that. Unfortunate for Weather his stand is unbelievably strong so he isn't killing himself anytime soon.

I love that Pucci casually drops that he is his brother and gives him absolutely zero time to process that. He doesn't get a chance to process that now either.

I think Pucci's change in personality is a bit too sudden. Even his voice changes drastically.

We are finally back in current day. You know, Anasui being worried for Jolyne might have meant something if we actually knew why he is obsessed with her.

I love love love the Pucci vs Weather fight. There are a few things like how Weather is still conscious despite loosing both of his legs but gore in jojo has always been over the top.

So the snails . are subliminal messages.. that make you think you are turning into a snail. Okay.

"Oops. Too late. Lol."

It makes the fight more interesting since Pucci is blind for all of it and has to use Anasui as his eyes at one point.

Anasui is useless for this entire fight, not that I mind. Not much he could have done as a snail anyway.

Weather knows if Pucci escapes he is dead anyway. Even if he could have lived he would still not dodge his attack. He has the same strong drive Ermes has. Not to mention Heavy Weather.

I don't think Pucci is being truthful when he says he didn't kill Weather at the prison because he wanted to "save him one day". He might be his younger brother but he doesn't know him. All he knows is that Weather is part of the reason why Perla is that and how he has destroyed his hometown. Someone else might have helped him in that situation but not Pucci. What he says when he takes Weather's memories makes it sound like this is some kind of punishment for him. He has to live all his life with half a soul and no memories. When Jotaro got back Star Platinum he was still in an awful state. Pucci might be saying this because he is still filled with emotion from what happened, if you choose to interpret it that way.

He might have just not killed Weather at the prison because he thought he didn't have to worry about him anymore. If Versus wasn't such a little bitch Weather would never get his memories. This is just what I think though, like everything I write. I might change my mind later.

"You do not realize your own evil. You are the worst kind of evil!" Oof. I mean, it's not wrong. At first I though Pucci was just trying to get others off his back when he said this heaven plan was for all of humanity or whatever. I'm starting to believe he actually thinks what he is doing is ultimately good. Not just for himself. At least he is trying to make himself believe that. That he isn't doing this plan for the sake of power. Power to understand fate, perhaps?

Weather dies, not that the story could have gone any other way. It's sad but it doesn't hit as hard F.F.'s death does, in my opinion. Mostly because we don't see Weather interact with the rest of the cast all that much, outside of Jolyne and Emporio... maybe. His relationship with Anasui is just "they don't like seeing each other hurt". And I don't remember the last time he talked to Ermes. Anasui says "He was one of the people who brought me back to life" but that doesn't tell much. We don't even know why Anasui hanged out with him in the first place. Now he has Jolyne as a reason why but before then? I dunno man I want for the story to do literary anything interesting with Anasui. What makes him tick, Araki? Tell me goddamit.

I went to jojowiki's Weather page to see if I missed any interactions between him and the cast but he doesn't have a relationships page. Oh well.

Ermes saying that Weather was their enemy now back at the hospital only to break down here was pretty sad though I'll admit.

Aannd done. Damn, I can see why people love Pucci so much :) I haven't seen a jojo villain have personal history with a main character like this since Part 1 Dio. They really are similar. Villains in jojo don't really have relationships. For Kira that works for his benefit but the rest? Ehhh...

I was going thru some of the comment while getting the images for this, trying to avoid spoilers and my god some of y'alls takes are just awful. I don't have the energy right now but damn.

#sepya watches jjba #↪ posts

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anxiouspotatorants · 3 years

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Whoopsy daisy I made a Shadow and Bone random thoughts post:

The costumes in this show are impeccable. I was drooling over all the keftas and the ball gowns in 1.05 and the crow outfits. Hell, even the winter-camo outfits that Mal, Mikhael and Dubrov wore in 1.04 were amazing.

Am I the only one who isn’t surprised by the kruge pronounciation? Because I thought it would sound like how English people say Scandinavian words and I wasn’t wrong.

Coming in to this show as someone who had only read the Six of Crows duology, I expected to at least tolerate Malina based on the trailer clips. I kid you not: less than five minutes into the very first episode they owned my ass. That might be a new record for me.

Seriously the friendship? The pining? The finding home in each other and being able to acknowledge their faults and apologize to each other? Both of them having massive “fight me” energy and protecting each other? Hugs?? Why am I surprised that I ship this?

Some of those scene transitions/flashback edits were so good! Like I know they repeated that meadow scene a lot throughout the season, but the cuts from kid-Mal looking at the rabbit to grown up Mal psyching himself up for the fist fight? Poetic cinema.

The Darkling was horrible and I love it. He wasn’t a carbon copy villain, nor did his complexity redeem him. He was a perfectly complex and understandable monster and I am living for it. I have not been so happy to despise a character in ages and I genuinely bow in gratitude to both the writers and Ben Barnes, because I finally got to enjoy watching a character I did not for one second root for ( #writevillainswellagain)

Look I already loved Jesper in the book but his on-screen translation elevated him from a fave to the fave. I was worried that they would push him into a comedic relief-role, but he got to keep both his heart, his depth, and his humour. Kit Young did an amazing job bringing what was already a great character on page to an even greater character on screen and I once again applaud.

Am I a bit bitter that the casting had some interesting choices for certain roles (aka hiring light skin and mid-size actors for explicitly darker skin and plus-size roles)? Kind of. Do I think there are important discussions worth having about this? Yup. Do I also think that every actor hired for Shadow and Bone did an amazing job and deserve zero hate and massive amounts of love? Also yes.

I had Alexei for one episode and one episode only, and I still miss that poor sucker. This show did a surprisingly good job with making me care about a massive amount of characters considering the screen time they had and the amount of episodes this season had. Good job.

For some reason I expected Inej to be a lot more brooding based on how I perceived her in the books but I love what Amita Suman did with her. Her translation completely recontextualised everything I remember from the books and just brought this truly fresh character to life. Assassin with a conscience indeed.

Also I did love the Kaz we got in this season but I can barely contain myself as I wait for season 2 to be made and for a certain flashback to take place because that moment in the book was visceral and it stayed with me for a long time and I knew before the show announcement that this flashback could become a television moment.

Speaking of Kaz the crows were so chaotic and messy and I’m here for it. Their interactions with each other and their improvised back-up plans were everything. I somehow didn’t expect the crows to become the comedic relief of the season but it honestly makes so much sense.

A couple episodes in I still didn’t get the Zoya hype (remember I haven’t read the books) but was a massive Genya fan. By the end of the season I was like “oh both of these girls are getting redemption arcs and I am here for it”.

Speaking of redemption I still don’t like Matthias. I’m sorry but I just don’t. I get that he is important to many and that they like his relationship with Nina, but I just don’t have the patience for him and feel like Nina can do better. I still want him to get a redemption... but maybe not through a romance with the grisha woman he repeatedly slutshames, is bigoted towards and chokes at least once (twice if that SoC scene from book 1 happens). That being said this is just how I see him, so feel what ever you feel about him and ship to your heart’s content!

Alina’s journey through this season made complete sense to me. It hurt to see certain things, but they were necessary in my eyes. Seeing her go from this essentially insecure but brave girl to a manipulated pawn to an even stronger and more self reliant girl in spite of everything was amazing. It did feel like a well-written hero’s journey and I’m looking forward to seeing where she goes next.

Apparently a lot of book-readers don’t like Mal (and I am not here to change anyone’s mind about that) but the Mal I saw on the show was amazing. I actually kind of wish we had seen more of who he was outside of his relationship to Alina (f.ex. other flashbacks than the meadow, maybe something about any of his missions while separated from Alina pre-show), but I also loved what we got of him with Alina. We still got to see a guy who was brave, stubborn, flirtatious, a bit judgemental but with a strong sense of humour, and a lot of loyalty (to Alina but also to his friends). I can hardly wait to see what’s next for him.

Milo the goat. Where do I even begin. Not only did we get that Jesper-scene, but their farewell actually became a Chekhov’s gun for Mal in 1.07? Milo is the true hero of the season.

Speaking of 1.07 I loved the tent scene between Alina and the Darkling. She both got to be realistic about her feelings for the Darkling and stand up for herself and for others and call him out. The way I interpret the Darkling, he is the kind of villain who creates a saviour narrative around himself but cares more about power than anything else. He’ll say he’s doing everything to protect his people but is the first to kill the very people he claims to love. And Alina’s tent-speech really hammered that in for me.

I adore Baghra. Is she morally dubious? Yes. Was she incredibly mean to Alina during training to the point where it might have been excessive? Yes. Did she not take any of the Darkling’s bullshit and act as the proper mentor for Alina when the Darkling had said that he was going to train her? Yes. Am I kind of a Baghra stan now? I mean maybe.

The antler-collar was so evil and gross but from a visually narrative stand point it was perfect.

Also I still have no idea who David is but I want redemption for him too. Honestly I feel like half the supporting cast is gearing up for redemption arcs next season and I am excited for most of them.

Nina’s reaction when she hears Kaz on the boat? Priceless. Actually the whole boat scene from when she goes up on deck again to the cut back to the fold was priceless.

That being said the final scene had me even more ready for season 2.

Jesper kind of gave me messy period-fantasy James Bond? Does that make sense?

And Mal kind of gave me Lois Lane energy? As in he’s the mortal love interest that many assume is the hero/heroine’s weakness but actually functions as their emotional strength and inspiration? Am I reaching here or am I getting somewhere?

Mikhael and Dubrov. What a duo. Absolute madlads.

Also I’d like to see more Nadia if that is possible? Because the few scenes we had of her had me intrigued but then she sort of disappeared? Is she going to be important or was she just more of a temporary supporting character?

I entered this show a casual Six of Crows fan with mild interest in Kanej and I finished this season a mess. A mess who ships Kanej and Malina and Genya with that David guy even though they had about 30 seconds of screentime together and Zoya with redemption and Jesper with main-character status (hey we’re not getting Wylan until season 2 at least) and kind of those two Ravkan army guys and Nina with anyone else and Matthias with a better redemption storyline and the Darkling with karma! Also, a mess with a whole new set of comfort characters!

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thesebookishdelights · 3 years

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ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS: Simon Snow trilogy wrapped! (review)

Hi, there! It took me a while to finish this post, as I could talk about it for... a long time (not necessarily a good thing), but I got it! I like praise, so if anyone wants to tell me I did a good job... Also, I might edit this post later on. I don’t remember anything else I’d like to add, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I did after posting. My brain does not obey me. Anyways, off to it! By the way, I won’t give this book a real rating.

While this is a review on Any Way the Wind Blows, I intend on analysing some points of the overall series too. The book starts where Wayward Son left off, the end of the road trip, Simon and Baz having problems in their relationship, Penelope helping Shepard with his curse... and the whole situation of the NowNext vampires. Rainbow Rowell only seems to remember the first part. That leaves us with the second book of the series ignored almost completely, with the exception of Simon and Baz’s feelings as well as Shepard’s existence.

Don’t get me wrong, aspects of the book are mentioned, but never in a truly important way. Lamb, the Vampire King, is mentioned by Simon, but only focusing on his and Baz’s relationship, never about the fact that there are a bunch of vampires (supposedly ‘evil’) in the U.S. but I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? I could count on one hand the times the NowNext vampires were mentioned (like, literally, this isn’t an exaggeration, I looked up ‘NowNext’ on the e-book and only got five results), all of them either being one of them considering telling someone else about it, then not following through with it, or dismissing it as a concern for Lamb. Which makes the plot of Wayward Son completely useless for the trilogy. Now, that wouldn’t matter as much if everything else had been properly developed, but we definitely can’t say that.

We are introduced to a brand new, poorly developed villain, Smith-Smith Richards, whose character arc is as ridiculous as his name. He’s one of the fake Chosen Ones that started appearing after the events of Carry On (and the only one to be mentioned and/or defeated, for that matter). It becomes clear that presenting as Simon Snow-ish is part of his brand, especially when Baz describes him as looking like the Netflix adaptation version of Simon, and that he was raised and guided by his uncle, who’s just... there. I don’t think it would’ve been hard to make him manipulating Smith-Smith into believing he’s the prophetic savior of the Magickal World, which would not only make both of their characters more interesting, but it could also serve as a parallel of Simon’s relationship with the Mage. Richards also has some special powers such as increasing a mage’s magic for a limited amount of time, but taking it away afterwards, as well as making someone immune from spells. It’s worth saying those aren’t skills that are usual in the Magickal World, or else there wouldn’t be so much confusion and shock from people (specially Baz and Penny, who would definitely have heard of something like this before), but we get no explanation on why or how Richard has them.

Then, we have the Salisbury’s. We, as readers, already know Lucy and Davy are Simon’s parents, making Ruth his grandmother. It’s noticeable that Rowell builds up to that discovery, by making Simon get along with Ruth instantly, him thinking about Lucy a lot etc. It makes us excited to read the part where they actually figure it out, to know how Simon would deal with that, him dealing with the fact that he’s the Mage’s son and the fact that, technically, he killed his father. I suppose that’s the point, but actually getting to that part was incredibly underwhelming. The way they discovered about Simon—being able to lift a family sword—hadn’t been mentioned or hinted at before. One would’ve expected Simon, who’s particularly interested in swords as it’s mentioned many times throughout the series, to notice a freaking Excalibur at the Salisbury’s place before.

And speaking of noticing things: when it’s finally revealed that Simon is Lucy’s son and the Mage’s heir, Baz pointed out the uncanny similarities between his boyfriend and the deceased Watford principal. “Those narrow eyes. That tilt of his head. I thought... I thought he’d learned it. Was imitating it.” + “Merlin, Simon, you even look like him.” (Any Way the Wind Blows, chapter 86) Simon was the Mage’s protégé for years and I assume the Magickal authorities knew that he was the one to inherit all of his money and personal belongings, but no one, in the whole British Magickal community, thought about them being related? I refuse to believe there were no conspiracy theorist teachers at Watford or that Mitali or even the Pitch’s alongside everyone who was against the Mage didn’t at least check to know if there was something behind those characteristics. Baz literally said (chapter 88), “I think it’s undeniable. I’d cast ‘Flesh and blood’ on them, but it would bounce right off of Snow (...)”, so there is a spell for that. Plus, we didn’t even have one whole chapter of Simon dealing with this information! The chapters (no more than five, out of ninety-one) were divided between Simon, Baz and Lady Ruth’s POVs. He’s the main character, so one would think he’d get more development.

Another point that felt rushed was the romance. While Simon and Baz’s relationship wasn’t, as it’s been a topic Rowell has explored for three books (we’re not counting Fangirl here, as their ‘participation’ on it was minor and their personalities weren’t as consistent as in the trilogy. Not that it is that consistent there), the others just felt like she wanted everyone to finish the trilogy with a pair. I’ll start with Shepard and Penny. There were fans who liked them together before Any Way the Wind Blows, but it wasn’t hinted at—it was more like a fandom thing. I personally like them as a couple, but it could have had development and, maybe, foreshadowing in Wayward Son. I mean, they did fight monsters during a huge part of a road trip together.

The next one I’ll talk about is Agatha and Niamh. I love them, don’t get me wrong. Actually, it’s precisely because I love them that I wish they’d gotten a better treatment. Niamh wasn’t introduced before Any Way the Wind Blows. I get why she wasn’t introduced in Carry On—it was interesting to see a character who wasn’t caught up in Simon and Baz’s drama during the school years—but a hint of her existence could’ve been left in Wayward Son. Agatha is an important character on it, and a mention of her father training an aspiring veterinary could’ve fit somewhere, as a hint, maybe. (Also, Lucy, the dog, being absolutely forgotten during this book when a lot of Agatha’s time is spent in a veterinary clinic...) Besides, we could get the vibes from them, but after they kissed, there was barely any content. We didn’t get them calling each other ‘girlfriend’ (or if they even like that label at this point), or the aftermath of the kiss, or a POV from Niamh. Or Niamh appearing the epilogue? If Agatha was taking care of the goats, I’m sure Niamh would have a part in that too. Still on Agatha’s character, but not on Niamh’s, it felt like Rainbow Rowell was setting up for aromantic and asexual Agatha, specially because of this quote: “It was like she'd pulled the feeling right out of my heart. I could have kissed her. (I still wish sometimes that I wanted to.) (That would feel like an answer to... the question of me. Then I could say, 'Oh, thats who I am. That's why I've been so confused.')” (Wayward Son, chapter 4).

And I was leaving the best (I need to be sure everyone knows I mean this sarcastically) of the romance topic for the end: Fiona and Nicodemus. It’s just... so forced and undeveloped. Not even because, to me, they’re both gay as hell. There was just... such a lack of development! I don’t think we had any interaction between the both of them before Any Way the Wind Blows. There was no foreshadowing or why would Fiona, a vampire hunter from a family of vampire hunters, would marry... a vampire! I’d already find it weird to see fanfiction of them as a crackship, but it’s canon?! Like, canon as in they’re going to get married and use Fiona and Natasha’s mother’s ring? Seriously, nothing will take from me that this is a lavender marriage (as I’ve already discussed with my best friend, which inspired this post of theirs.)

I’d also like to speak about a topic that’d been hinted throughout the series, especially post-Carry On, which is the criticism towards the Magickal Community in the U.K.. That criticism is very much embodied in Shepard’s character. It’s explicitly said that the British mages have some kind of supremacy towards other supernatural beings, such as vampires for example, gatekeeping literal magic. Up until relatively recently, mages with weak links with magic couldn’t attend Watford (and that’s a major plot point in the final book) and there’s a denial towards any other kind of magic except the ones that are part of their craft. Even within the Magickal community itself, there are more important families that are more likely to succeed, like Natasha receiving criticism for marrying Malcolm, as a Pitch. It felt pointless not to tackle the issues you’ve set up yourself in your own universe. Penelope has very strict morals related to magickal law and beliefs, something that she could’ve deconstructed, especially considering Shepard, her love interest, symbolises that. Another point related to that is, the trilogy is very clearly heavily inspired by Harry Potter, where many of those points are very clear (e.g. wizard supremacy in relation to other species, such as werewolves and domestic elves and the status quo that makes some traditionally magical families more influential than others, like the Malfoy’s vs. the Weasley’s), so it’s not an easily forgettable concept.

The series also had a lot of inconsistencies. The one I’ve seen talked about more often is Simon and Agatha’s... intimacy status, let’s call it that. Simon’s whole thing in the first book was that he struggled controlling his magic when experiencing intense emotions, which makes it hard to believe that he managed to have sex withount an... accident. Besides that, though, there’s this quote, “She (...) presses a kiss into my temple. No one has ever kissed me there. No one has ever kissed me anywhere but on my mouth” (Carry On, Chapter 27), but in Any Way the Wind Blows, when Simon’s about to have his wings cut, Agatha says, “It’s a strange feeling to look at someone’s chest and know it’s nothing to do with you anymore, but still to remember kissing every inch.” (Chapter 14)

So, we have established that Rainbow Rowell’s work, both character and plot driven, is flawed. “But we got the characters interacting for the closure of the series, at least!” Well... we got interactions between the canon romantic relationships, yeah. But besides that, we didn’t get much. There were no interactions between Agatha and Penny, or Shepard with Simon and Baz. Or Penny and her mother figuring stuff out. Or literally anyone with a therapist. And not gonna lie, the interaction we got between Baz and Dev was underwhelming, to say the least. Niall is nowhere to be seen, too.

Rainbow Rowell’s writing is beautiful: she writes poetic lines that make the book seem perfect at first glance, if you don’t think about it for too long. Her words are very shiny, but once you get use to that light and see what’s behind them, what’s between one shiny quote and another, it has so many flaws and plot holes that it reads like a first draft. There are many concepts in there that are genuinely good: the rest of the trilogy focused on the protagonist dealing with the trauma of being a child soldier instead of being entirely an adventure, Simon being unlabelled, a fake Chosen One that gives mages fake hope... Those are all good ideas, but so poorly explored that, despite being an entire book/trilogy, it still feels like a writing pitch or something among those lines.

I felt iffy about other things during my reading of the series, but they aren’t exactly plot points, so I’ll just list them below:

Mitali, Penny’s mom, including ‘discovering your bisexuality’ as a mid-life crisis thing

As I’ve seen people talking about biphobia/bi erasure in the books, I’ll be including this post that features both unlabelled and bisexual individuals talking about the topic (it isn’t my place, as a lesbian, to talk about this, that’s why I decided not to do so.)

Romanticising of Baz’s suicide (a.k.a. chapter 61) in the first book. If you’re not in a good place mentally, like I was when I first read Carry On, I hope you know that a kiss or romance doesn’t help any mental illness you or others might have. Don’t let anyone use your guilt to manipulate you. Paraphrasing Alice Oseman in their graphic novel Heartstopper, love can’t cure a mental illness.

Any Way the Wind Blows was... very horny. I can’t point out how this makes the book bad exactly, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed. One of Rainbow Rowell’s strongest skills is that her quotes, when loose, are good. They tend to be poetic and just beautiful, overall. But in the... explicit scenes, these skills were barely used, and I felt like I was reading NSFW tweets off of someone’s private account on Twitter. Besides, the first two books of the series weren’t written like that, so the change was very sudden.

The older people could’ve been more explored. Penelope and Mitali’s relationship and how similar the both of them are compared to each other, Daphne and Professor Bunce’s insecurities and why they believed in Smith-Smith, Fiona, Nico, and Ebb... Also, the Mage and Lucy. We could’ve had more on them, y’know.

The pop culture references. They made the book read even more like Twitter’s feed. Honestly, if I wanted to read prompts and nice ship content alongside memes from Twitter with some horny thoughts sprinkled all around, I would’ve opened the Twitter app. Or Tumblr, Instagram, whatever.

The POV switching felt lazy to me at times. It’s nice to know how different characters are experiencing that situation, yes, but sometimes, like during the discovery that Simon is a Salisbury, it read as if Rowell wanted to create tension, but couldn’t think of any other way to do it except the switching around.

Narrative wise, I think Simon and Baz should’ve spent more time broken up.

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a-skirmish-of-wit-and-lit · 2 years

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Book Review: The Runaway Duchess by Joanna Lowell

An earthy, humbling romance. Flower pun intended! Lavinia Yardley, a young woman desperate to desert her lecherous, old goat of a husband before the marriage is consummated, is mistaken for a renown botanist named Mrs. Muriel Pendrake when she steps aside at a train station to collect herself and figure out her next move. Instead of setting the record straight, however, she sees an opportunity for escape. And she takes it. Pretending to be someone she isn't. As she and her companion, Neal Tramayne, travel across Cornwall with the intent to dig up plant specimens, discuss a manuscript, converse in Latin, and walk until their ankles blister, it isn't long before he begins to notice something is amiss, for Lavinia seems to know much more about being a socialite than she does about being a scientist. What follows is a slow unwinding of the truth (sometimes a little too slow) and a discovery that priorities, as well as people, can change given the right environment. Having not previously read The Duke Undone, I expected this to be more of a romp. Instead, it ended up being more serious and toppling. (But in a good way!) Since Lavinia has been a pretty and pampered mean-girl for much of her life, it takes time to warm to her and become sympathetic to her plight, which is rooted in the corset strings her family and society at large have been twisting behind her back for years to preen her into the perfect marriageable commodity. That said, what I liked about this book was its ability to humanize her as a character. The author did a good job of ironing out her off-putting faults and giving them context. Neal was also an intriguing character, if a bit daft. He was loyal and intelligent, plus he listened. I will admit that it made me a bit nutty that it took him so long to put 2 and 2 together when it came to Lavinia's true identity, though. You'd think a scientific fella such as he was would've been writing down hypothesis after hypothesis and clamoring to set up as many experimental groups as possible until he figured it out, but for the most part he seemed more willing than not to go with the flow. I don't know, perhaps he was afraid to rock the boat too much? Neal and Lavinia's romance toddled along well enough as well. Their chemistry was prosaic in spots, most obviously at the outset, but it gained steam and dimension the longer the plot rolled on. I liked the juxtaposition of them sometimes bringing out the best in each other, other times the worst. It gave their dynamic a lovely toiled earth quality. Despite being a little protracted in the beginning, I thought this was cute overall. Witty. Fans of Evie Dunmore and Martha Waters will find much to enjoy in it. Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

3/5 stars

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#ashlee bree's book reviews #the runaway duchess #joanna lowell #arcs #historical fiction #historical romance #romance #recs: ashlee approved!#read november 2021 #coming january 2022 #boobklr #book reviews

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wedreamedlove · 3 years

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MLQC Men Headcanon Notes

Now that I’ve spent more time with these men (it’s getting close to 2 years!) I wanted to share the general thoughts, themes, motifs, etc. that I keep in mind when I’m writing their character.

This is 1000% headcanon territory, so feel free to take what’s useful and ignore what’s not LOL but I’d also love to see people add in their own “character reference cheat sheet” to this!

(I’m especially curious because, due to being of Asian diaspora, I write best in English but my understanding of the characters come from CN/JP text). Incidentally, if anyone feels ANY of this when reading my fics, then that’s all I could ever ask for LOL.

LI ZEYAN

He is Capricorn² and, while the game doesn’t make explicit mentions to this, I associate the element earth with him because of this. He’s described with attributes like being steady, calm, and always in control. He is the epitome of an immovable boulder and things revolve around him, not the other way around. I like to draw on imagery of unbending steel and/or the stable ground.

Meanwhile, like the goat of his astrological sign, every step he takes to climb to his goal is assured. He doesn’t do anything spontaneous or without thought, so if he does lose control and act without thinking then it has to be a momentuous occasion. Basically, it’s really important to me that if I write a loss of control, then it’s likely to be the centerpiece.

Keeping in mind that his Evol is time control, I also like to try and subtly weave an atmosphere of how everything happens at his pace. Winter being his season only adds onto this because the world stills when it’s covered in snow; everything becomes muted, hushed, and slowed in this season.

The chemistry in his romance arc is how his pace and control gets disturbed, but he adapts quickly and learns to go along with these moments of whimsy. Or more like that’s his character development and how love changes him.

His canon (spirit) animal is the cat and lion. Felines go along very well with the emperor or noble archetypes he has in all his AU cards, because cats are stereotyped as being independent and haughty animals. He’s not big on PDA or excessive skinship, but he’s not disagreeable to them either. Too much stimulation and, like a cat, he’ll probably show exasperation. Ignore him for too long though and he’ll come to share his presence with you.

For me, his love is shown through quiet acts of service that don’t have any attention drawn to them. Him just being in the same room or giving his attention is how he emotes his love.

He’s quite low-key in his normal life so he doesn’t seem like someone who gets confused over commoner things, but there are also moments where he spends an enormous amount of money without blinking. If life can be made easier with money then why not, right?

Keywords: Calm. Steady. Earth. Immovable. Control. Exasperated Affection. Time. Cats. Literal Capricorn. Winter. Mature.

ZHOU QILUO

First thing that comes to mind is the sun and heat. Fire is his element and so I go for stereotypical imagery like flares of passion and burning bright. He switches expressions and moods at the drop of a hat and he’s a mood maker to the extreme, but there’s no hiding the way he shines with his love for his love.

However, because he’s also Helios, it’s really important for me to play around with dualities and explore the other side of this positive imagery. So, just like how the sun can bring warmth and life, it’s also a deadly laser something that can hurt people by blinding them or setting fires. It’s also fun to remember that the moon only has light from the sun’s reflection.

Game-wise, I believe Helios has been described with cold and ice imagery but, because I try to keep that imagery for Li Zeyan, what I like to consider instead is that extremely cold things can “burn” you too. Frostbite can also be called ice burn.

The sky is repeated imagery for Luoluo too, because of his eyes, but I’ll admit I’m still uncertain about how to interpret this for his character. Generally, the sky represents freedom but...? How I approach this is that the sky doesn’t discriminate and protects everyone below it (echoing his quote about how he protects the light in the dark).

On this note about the sky being welcoming, I view Luoluo’s love as one that accepts his love no matter what they’re like and he grows together with them (unlike the two adults, Li Zeyan and Xu Mo).

However, again, it’s super important to remember his duality and just because he’s a playful mood maker doesn’t mean he’s not able to switch into a serious and mature mode. He keeps his innocence and warm heart despite the darkness he’s seen and understands.

His canon animal is the bear which also makes me tilt my head. I can only see this as how bears are seen as both cuddly and cute, but also fierce and protective. He was also given a stag but... no one uses that LOL.

Keywords: Fire. Passion. Playful. Innocent. Little Sun! But Moon. Spring. Sacrifice. Darkness. Sky. Mischievous. Mood Maker.

BAI QI

Every single cell in his body is attuned to his love. You ever lose your phone and then, for the rest of the day, you feel as if you’re missing an important piece of yourself and you have intrusive thoughts wondering where it is? That’s him. You ever see something so cute you experience cute aggression and don’t know what to do with yourself? That’s him. You know those dogs that strain at their leashes on the streets because they want to go and greet you? That’s him.

It’s all about the yearning.

I know, I know, I wrote essays about how he can survive without his love and how he’s someone who carries both love and a greater justice BUT let’s not kid ourselves that he doesn’t revolve around his love like Jupiter around the sun.

Anyway, so the game shoves wind descriptions down our throats. It’s literally another vehicle for him to emote his love and, to be honest, I don’t do much with it other than use it for that. I talked about it extensively in my character essays, but I suppose I play with the irony of how he’s only free because he has a home can return to. [Loneliness SR Wind and Care Call] “Because I have a place for my heart, I can fly anywhere.”

I don’t believe the game emphasizes this any more than it does with the other men, but I try to always have a point of contact between Bai Qi and his love because, again, the yearning and vibrating with All That Love. He’s such a physical character (military archetype) that I also want to emphasize that in writing.

In addition, I’m all about him being the most feral of the men. Heck, his canon animal is the wolf which is great for both its stereotypical and non-stereotypical meanings, such as being a lone wolf and ferocious animal but also a pack animal that can’t survive on its own and needs a pack. Meanwhile, NW717 is described in-game as a monster.

Look, one of his signature descriptions in the game is resting his chin on or against his love’s head and nuzzling them. I’m not baselessly trying to push my kink I swear.

So, like how Bai Qi said in [Light Bath SSR: Tenderness Call] that maybe he only shows his gentleness towards select people (his love and mother), he’ll give the person he loves all the warmth of his being but, oh boy, I see him as being a beast who will remember his true nature upon being chained; the “chain” of love gives him the reassurance he needs to be truly free... in all its meanings.

Keywords: Ginkgo. Summer. Primal. Wind. Love is love is love. 3-Point Contact. Wolf. Yearning. Vitality. Justice. Freedom. Physical. Restraint.

XU MO

First, given how vocal I am about Elex’s changes, this is probably going to be the most drastically different section out of everyone vs. their English version.

Soft. Light. Gentle. Kind. Gossamery. Feathery. Ethereal. Faint. Whenever I write him, do I literally open up a thesaurus to find synonyms for gentle, light, and soft? Yup! LOL.

Fun fact, in CN and JP the word for “smile” and “laugh” is the same character and so sometimes there is ambiguity when translating if there’s no clear markers. The writers definitely had a word in mind when they wrote the scene, but unfortunately we don’t have the ability to check with them at every use and so sometimes it does come to subjective interpretation.

For me, Xu Mo is characterized by a lot of quietness. Game-wise, there are enormous usages of silence and descriptions of emotional fluctuations in his eyes so Significant Silences and Looks are a major thing with him and in my writing for him, which is why I always choose “smile” over “laugh” if there is any ambiguity in the line (I believe Elex leans towards chuckles).

On a similar note, the game also gives him a gigantic serving of descriptions that only ever use the word for “light, slight, faint, soft, gentle” in JP and CN. It gives him a very floaty and dreamy feeling, even if he’s doing something physical. So, it’s important for me to keep a similar atmosphere when writing and make everything feel as if it has to be shared in a whisper.

A bonus here is that it doesn’t require much to turn this ethereal feeling into a melancholic one, so you get that dash of angst that layers over everything. Leave a few things unknown here and there, incomplete actions, eyes that get averted and Boom. Angst.

Shifting gears, but if my imagery of Bai Qi’s love is like a tense, vibrating, and restrained chain of yearning then Xu Mo’s love is like a flood barely being held back by a dam. Knowledge of the quantity and weight behind the dam is terrifying, but it’s safe to be submerged inside it. Much like Luoluo and Helios, Xu Mo also has a dangerous duality in Ares and so I also like to play with this imagery.

So, on this point, I like to preserve an underlying sense of darkness (all-consuming possessiveness, etc.) and envision that he also wishes to stain his love in his colors, like a drop of ink on white paper and how it seeps into every fiber of the paper until the whole thing is saturated with him.

Incidentally, I’m reminded that—whenever possible and natural—I want to exclusively use water imagery with Xu Mo. The game supports this too! He is described with extensive water imagery and so I try to use water metaphors, analogies, and similes.

I try to make sure every sense is present, but I feel like the game emphasizes (especially with the red thread of fate imagery) that Xu Mo and his love are connected at a soul-deep level and so I always keep in mind a mental, emotional, and spiritual aspect.

Lastly, his canon animal is the fox (we ignore the black goat LOL) so contrasting his elegant, scholarly, and gentleman’s air with a black belly, teasing, and mischievous air is also important! Sexual but with, you know, class.

Keywords: Butterflies. Monochrome. Artist. Red Thread. Autumn. Melancholy. Water. Soft. Gentle. Light. Faint. Dreams. Spiritual. Fox.

LING XIAO

I’m getting more comfortable with him, but he’s still shrouded in so much mystery. If every one of the other men treat their loves with gentleness though Ling Xiao is definitely one who isn’t afraid of roughhousing. He’ll act first and then ask for forgiveness afterward, if needed.

But I like to keep in mind that, for all his roughness, he’s still a good kid at heart and when he saw MC’s skirt rising up when he tried to pull her over the fence he immediately stopped. So, a bit of a bully but without any humiliation.

Intelligent, strong, and dangerous but hiding all of that beneath a devil-may-care attitude and someone who does things on a whim. I don’t know what to do much with his canon animal being the shark except to attach it vaguely to this point and think that, as an apex predator of the sea, it does things at its own pace (somehow, it gives me the image that he likes to bite... but, uh, that’s probably just me LOL).

Keywords: Mercurial. Lightning. Sarcasm. Physical.

#love and producer #mlqc #mr love queen's choice #mlqc gavin #mlqc victor #mlqc lucien #mlqc kiro #mlqc bai qi #mlqc li zeyan #mlqc xu mo #mlqc zhou qiluo #love and produc(ing) meta

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sambergscott · 3 years

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notes from the palm springs commentary !! 🏝

i know not everyone has access to hulu and i know i'd be gutted if i couldn’t watch it too so bc i'm lucky enough to have an american friend who let me use her hulu account i thought i'd share the commentary with you all on here <3

- their first bit of commentary is “there’s a title” (cristin) and “there’s a goat” (andy)... 10/10 anaylsis thanks guys

- andy joked that they talked about waiting for an earthquake but decided they didn’t have the budget to wait that long (he said the glowing lights at the end were real tho 🙄)

- andy: “we’re gonna start off pretty racy” djfdjfkdjgh

- “for all those kids out there, the b99 fans, you probably don’t wanna watch this”.... but andy,, we absolutely Do

- andy was cristin’s least favourite person in the movie

- nyles spread eagle on the bed was in the script not an acting choice

- according to andy there were 700,000 bugs just hatched where they filmed the wedding scenes that they had to edit out in post (also it was suuuuuper cold and cristin was shivering)

- ANDY CALLED HIMSELF A BUTT UGLY WEIRDO. NO SIR. U ARE THE FURTHEST THING FROM THAT.

- the dance move when he clapped his hands over his head “lightly hurt his schlong”

- they had 20-30 options for orchid explosion by fournier, cristin pitched some too that she “does not remember!” (she said that very cute)

- they talk about how great june squibb is and how andy is impressed that she wasn’t complaining about the cold/shooting at 5am/the fact that they improved a lil bit. “she doesn’t not give a what”

- during the make out scene on the rock cristin goes “ohhh ~spicy~”

- they also had to have a snake wrangler come out before they shot that scene and he was like “uhh i think it’s good?”

- andy was excited about having to get shot by an arrow when he was reading the script (it was also the moment they realised this movie was zanier than first thought)

- the cave was the same place they shot the old batman movies

- they started working on palm springs on november 9th 2016…. hence the wedding date

- cristin said they did about 30 takes (at least) of her opening her eyes/sitting up.. basically the entire first half of the first day shooting she spent doing the same thing

- “i just think you’re the coolest cristin, way to go man!” “you too andy!”

- the beer is fictional and has a meaning behind it.. the tortoise is to do with a myth about the universe or smth

- andy wants someone to make the beer fr

- “so here is cristin in the desert pretending to be hot” “he means physically” “TEMPERATURE HOT… i have no opinions on her appearance”

- they wanted to skip past the set-up-y parts to avoid it being too groundhog day and add diff dynamics and comedic elements that come from that

- according to andy, nyles has been in the loop an “insanely long time” (cristin and andy like that you don’t know the exact number of years bc however many years it’s been nothing has changed for nyles)

- cristin’s fondest memories were spending days in that dusty ass car together (i too would like to be that girl in his car)

- “i like your hat” “of course you do” was improved by andy and jk

- andy said jk is a “national treash”

- andy loved shooting the montage w jk (and he thinks that montage + the scene at the end is why jk signed up to do ps)

- “i went full butt” - andy samberg, 2021

- HE HAS A STUNT DOUBLE CALLED SETH WHO HAS A SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER BUTT THAN HIM (but andy’s butt was funnier so they went with his)

- the very last shot of the movie was nyles getting the handjob in the car

- max or other andy i can’t remember who talked for a while about how talented our andy is. can’t wait for that oscar nom!!!!!

- if andy were in a time loop he’d try to catch up on shows for a few years (and then try and leave)

- cristin is horrified that he’d choose to watch all of MASH to get him through a time loop

- cristin LOVED filming all the deaths

- andy said that their dance scene in the denim jacket replaces every iconic dance scene ever like fame/dirty dancing/etc etc and he’s right

- he dropped her in that scene bc his arms are “weak and floppy like a baby calf”

- the tattoo moment was the only fully improved scene

- they REALLY wanted it in the movie

- cristin insisted on the hook hand and eye patch and they obliged and she said she kept the hook hand and put it on her mantle and andy was like “prove it prove it prove it prove it prooooooove it”

- she did Indeed prove it

- orange in the movie significies intimacy and that whole montage is coloured orange to show them falling in love

- they loved shooting the tent scene

- the first night they filmed it there was a sandstorm and rain and they had to hide under a tarp and they came back the next night and they were able to get looser with it bc it was the last day of shooting and they’d basically done the whole thing the night before

- the dinosaurs bit was a “symbolic moment between the characters - they are 2 people who don’t believe they can be loved so they’re feeling something impossible and therefore they should see something impossible”

- the wake-ups were like an acting exercise in a way bc each wake up was diff emotionally based on where they were in the loop

- nyles finally cares about something (her) for the first time in maybe hundreds of years and he immediately gets slapped down :(((

- “suck my dick officer bitch” was cristin’s ad lib!!! (if anyone makes a montage of her life’s work she would like it to either begin or end w suck my dick officer bitch, andy said why not both)

- “for some reason i rolled up one of my sleeves [after nyles woke up after their fight] and then we couldn’t get out of it so that was a lesson! it was a terrible choice”

- andy loves the overhead pool shot

- everytime andy watches the confrontation at the wedding he feels terrible for tala, we love an empathetic king

- re: roy’s arc andy talks about how important it is to relish what you’ve got and it was v v v v sweet

- everyone laughed so hard in the arrow/garbage bin scene

- apparently tyler’s shirtlessness in the shower was distracting for people in early tests and they had to tone it back w colour correction 💀

- cristin was like “did that happen when i had to take my shirt off?” and andy was like “uh huh yeah”

- the goat was on set for a couple of days + apparently cristin would talk to it in between takes 🥺🥺🥺 can she get any cuter

- max talked about how they lucky they were to get andy and cristin and how the movie wouldn’t have worked without them, they were so on the same wavelength and there was an early meeting where nobody else could get a word in bc they were talking so much

- nobody was in it for the paycheck, “it was for the love, and dare i say it, for the art” <3

- they took 3-4 nights to shoot the entire wedding, andy can Not stress enough how much they were rushing

- they haven’t busted out any bloopers yet bc they used pretty much every frame they could/reused them in different places

- cristin doesn’t want to know if nana knows bc the mystery of it is what makes the movie so great!

- andy said there’s no definitive answer to a lot of stuff bc a lot of the people working on the movie had diff opinions

- the french song w the slo mo bit of sarah in the bar was cristin’s choice

- andy is v confused why people think spuds is nyles’ dad,, he’s just tricking him into getting a ride and andy’s sorry to everyone who thought it was real

- cristin liked that the payoff at the end felt like payoff while still staying true to who nyles and sarah are and not just super romantic bc “it’s a romcom!” [andy said throwing his arms in the air]

- cloudbursting was andy’s idea from the very first meeting about the movie but we been knew

- andy: “here’s the ending! nobody knows what it means!”

- the family at the end was the producer’s family, they drove a very long way to do that 2 second scene lol

- andy and cristin were swaying to when the morning comes at the end 🥺

- andy clapped and shouted “WELL PRODUCED” when his/tli’s credit came up hahaha

#palm springs #andy samberg #cristin milioti #shoutout to caroline honestly #what an icon

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pineapple-lover-boy · 3 years

Text

Cursed Child Could’ve Been Better and Here’s Why:

Part 1?

Hate the Cursed Child. The play is a good play on its own but it doesn’t match up with Harry Potter as much as it should’ve, we all know this. But I want to present some ideas on why Delphini COULD have been the coolest villain ever and how she could work (plus a few extra improvements over all):

Main point against her is that Voldy couldn’t have children cause he split his soul. How about this: he could have children, but they end up having a fractured soul as well. They are sickly beings.

With the live potion conception, or as I like to call it “Merope r@ping Tom Riddle”: because of the love potion conception Voldy couldn’t feel love. That could work for Delphi too except to a less degree because she was most likely made from consent (Bellatrix would obviously say HELL YES and she definitely couldn’t sneak one on Voldy). She could still not understand love but she can kind of feel platonic/familial love, again, still not being able to understand it which can cause her to become overwhelmed and set up some sympathetic and angsty scenes for her

Voldy would never do the do, ever: Maybe not, but let’s remember that this is just fanfiction from two guys that JK signed off on. I could see him having a kid on the rarest occasion though. Having children only builds his future empire and if he still hasn’t won the wizarding world by the time they can do decent magic he’s at least got himself a new recruit. Plus we know and he knows that he’s strong, his magic is strong. Bellatrix’s magic is strong. This guy is basically magical H1tler so he is probably down for some experimentation between two very powerful wizards. And having a baby while in the middle of a war isn’t that far off. Literally every person in Harry’s year was born during a year when Voldy was obviously winning. And to have a child during the war as a safe goat isn’t a bad idea for someone like Voldy. Yes he is prideful and thinks that no one can defeat him but it was only a few years after he came back. Harry still defeated him as a baby through powers unknown to him. He may think he’s the best but there had to be at least one seed of doubt in his mind.

“What about the story? It’s trash, and Delphi only makes it worse!” I hear you say. Well here are some improvements I’ve thought of:

1. No time turners. JK specifically destroyed them for plot hole reasons. Cursed Child is a plot hole in itself while using them

2. Have it center around Delphi rebuilding her fathers empire instead of trying to bring him back. If Delphi is anything like her father then she’s smart enough to know that time travel only complicates things

3. Because of the live thing I mentioned before, have Delphi have some feelings. Yes her father couldn’t live and her mother was crazy, go off of that. Have her find out how dysfunctional they both were and have her ask herself “if they were so insane and failed, is it really smart for me to be doing this?” Have her feel something towards Albus and Scorpius, a sisterly feeling towards them. Have them convince her in the end that what she’s doing is wrong and have her completely brake down. Make her a relatable human being that just wants to make her parents proud because that was the only reason for her to be brought to that Earth.

4. Make it a book. Listen, having it as a play is fine but having it as a book first I feel fleshes out that characters more and then when we really know them we could have a play. Most plays are based off of books or movies because they want to see the characters break down in song or have the conversations in front of them but if you want to make the Harry Potter fans happy than please make it a book first. It doesn’t even need to be a series.

5. Let Harry be a loving father. Seriously. How could they mess this up? He was an abused child by his only guardians after his parents died. There’s no way in hell he’s gonna say something bad and then not immediately take it back. It’s ok to make him have mistakes and misunderstandings as a parent, after all they’re probably still suffering tons of trauma after 19 years, but to not have him feel sorry right at that moment is an insult to Harry and what he went through.

6. Keep Draco’s redemption arc. It was actually good. Probably the best thing in the play.

7. Show how the world is crumbling under Delphi’s destruction. Don’t go to alternate realities to show it, cause we know that they haven’t happened yet and can be fixed. It creates more tension because how is this going to be fixed? They’ve probably just finished making everything alright in the wizarding world and now it all goes to shit again. Show the desperation in the characters. Their want to get things right again. Not just some “oh no this is terrible! We have to fix it!” Type of stuff. That’s why a book is the best format, you can show these tiny details.

8. Stop the queer baiting.

9. Show how the older characters are still suffering from their trauma, in different degrees, and how they deal with that while taking care of children. Show them trying not to have ptsd flashbacks or panic attacks in front of their children, show it actually happening.

10. Don’t have Rose be a total asshole. Have her be a bit wary around Scorpius but ultimately trusting him because she trusts her cousins decision. Have have be the new Golden trip but in their own ways. Mesh the original trios ways into their own: Albus has the brave leader (like Harry), Scorpius as the heart but has still got plenty of brain (mesh of Ron and hermione), and have Rose be another strong and brave leader while also being a bit of the heart too. (Which can cause some tension between her and Albus cause they both want to lead). Also mesh some of the other characters too. Scorpius can be like Neville, unsure of himself and how brave he can be but having a moment of confidence where he knows he’s capable. Have Albus be be as open minded and spirited as Luna, let him have moments where people look at him weird for some less than logical ideas but him not caring. Have Rose be as competitive and fiery as her aunt, Ginny, don’t make her be snobbish but let her have a temper that makes people say “wow!” instead of rolling their eyes in annoyance. However these characters are portrayed, let them be similar to the multitude of trios in the second generation, but different enough that they are their own people.

That’s all I have for now. Please tell me any other ideas or critiques, I know there is a lot more. I genuinely think that they could’ve had the character of Delphini and made it work but they just made her a Great Value version of her father who uses unconventional methods of getting him back. I honestly loved the character of Delphini when I first read the script and I still do, she just needs to be fleshed out more and have a better story. Also having her be sick as a part of being birthed from a guy that had barely any soul could be and interesting plot point too. Her being unsure coupled with the fact that it’s hard for her to even live normally could contribute to the fact that she can’t keep on fighting anymore. Anyways, thanks for reading this, I know it’s long. And please tell me your thoughts!

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papers4me · 3 years

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When Stories Changes Colors

Often authors start their stories based on certain themes & genres, then they later move away from some of them as the stories deepen & reach climax. So, once you reach the conclusion, the story has become something else entirely different from how it started.

That’s called story-telling. The longer you tell the story, the different it becomes. However, this change helps the story move away from the basic introduction of its characters, plot & world-building into the exploration of meaningful themes leading to the story’s vision. The overall vision is the reason why the story was essentially created. Doing that is not a necessity, but it sets complex stories apart from simple ones. It is very important that while you can change themes & even genres within your story, you need to effectively wrap things up in the conclusion. Not necessarily bringing back what you have long moved from, but holding the story together using the vision. This is the thing that can’t change. You started the story for a reason & this reason should conclude it. Themes & genres are tools you need to reach your destination.

For example: (with spoilers)

-Fruits Basket anime started as simple, basic, direct, short “lesson the day” episodes in season 1 & moved to exploring traumatic themes, character depth, ugly truths, & emotional turmoil in season 3. While Fruits Basket isnt the best example due to the anime’s favoring quick over-dramatic presentation of trauma over deep character depth & consistency of quality in season 3, the later still does the job of reaching the heart & conveying the message of “welcoming growth & accepting change”. Story-wise, there is no comparison between seasons 1 & 3. They look so different that it feels rewarding. Season 3 holds what fruits basket is in its core, a story abt accepting human weakness & moving on in life, leaving behind the small simple lessons of its early episodes.

-Attack on Titans is a an example succeeding brilliantly to change colors then failing miserably "tie” the colors in the final step. we can compare the first season to season 4 (firs part) & you’ll feel you’re watching/reading a different story! in a good way! the last good way. Now the final arc in the manga does a good job of ruining this as it attempts to return back to the beginning to story that has long moved from what it was initially. Calling back sth that has long been abandoned isn’t parallel, it’s contradiction & the plot will strat having holes bigger & bigger as the conclusion comes. AOT’s plot has become sth way bigger than a group of “ united avengers” can defeat to save the day & the story has become is too deep & complex to have one big giant baddie that must be defeated for peace. You can’t start simple, go complex as hell, then finish as simple as “snow white & the 7 dwarfs defeating the Evil Queen”. Isyama had the ending decided for so long as he claimed more than once, so what went wrong is the road reaching to it. If what we have in the final arc is the vision from the beginning, then the story should have been tailored to suit it. The story-telling reaching before the final arc is one of the most complicated, complex & deep plot exploration with various character depths (minus the protagonist or antagonist or whatever u wanna call him), but the final arc itself failed to contain all this with its basic one-sided battle & no color suited it, so it revered back to trying to parallel the beginning bringing back as much parallel as possible from every character & scene in its early stages.

-Game Of Thrones is an example of unnecessary intentional change of colors. Unlike the above examples, GOT started complex & complicated from the get go. You get introduced to tons characters thro their dialogue & interactions. The story’s themes & world-building involve magic, mystical world & politics. These three are the core of the story, moving away from them creates a story that is a kind to soap opera of repeated short dialogues & unnecessary drama. The show producers wanted to minimize the unique “magic “ aspect of the story to change its colors to appeal to the masses “like mothers & sport players” or sth. The problem is GOT’s color is what gained popularity & changed the masses view abt watching fantasy stories. For example, stories abt vampires & mermaid have their own audience & the majority of viewers won’t tune to watch them as they might deem them too “ fantasy”. But GOAT seasons 1 & 2 with the magic world gained immense flowing from viewers who normally skip such genres. These ppl have already accepted the “magic” of GOT as part of what the story is & were expecting to see a pay off in the final season. However the producers decisions to move away from “magic” meant killing off what was the build up from season 1. The White Walkers were destroyed with one stab thro a single character’s body. With one stab, you end what you sacrificed seasons, plots & characters to establish. The politics itself was simplified immensely as long built, established with foreshadowing political rivals simply “bent da knee due to love love”. Others wanted elephants & died under a brick. Villains who once were the core of the story with their complexity such as Tywin & little finger, or their madness such as Joffery & Ramsey were changed into whatever the show’s Euron Greyjoy was. a simple& basic villain with not much plot value.

So, good story-telling requires a well-established structure with thought off vision & an overall perspective of what the story needs to become from the beginning. Writing itself is a nonlinear process, so writers will either go above their own structure or under it, especially in stories that are published/aired while written. However, if the decisions is made to start publishing or airing before the whole process of writing is over, then there is bigger responsibility on the writing team to review each chapter/ episode while keeping in mind where it’s going & what’s expressing. Nothing is more disappointing than seeing a great written story loose its colors instead of just changing to new better colors or showcasing more hidden ones.

#story-writing #story-telling #Fruits Basket #attack on titan #game of thrones #changing colors #themes #bored paper

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beebrainedstudios · 3 years

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if you ever have the time for it i am DYING to see what your holland playlist would look like!

Well, in that case...

Here’s Heavy Is The Head, an ADSOM Holland Vosijk playlist for all your bitter Antari needs! This playlist is long, but that’s because it’s specially formulated to have songs suited to different points in Holland’s life, and they appear in order so you can listen to specific events at your pleasure! So anon/anyone else looking, if you’ll indulge me, here’s a list of all the songs used, some with notes describing their place here;

First, general thoughts. I wanted this playlist to have plenty of dark ambient moments, but also several harsh and defiant ones, too; Holland is not as much of a sad character to me as he is angry, and a lot of his power and drive comes from a place of vengeance, wrath, and righteous justice. So, there’s a lot of rock, folk, and indie pop here. I tried to include all types of music to suit different tastes too, since I’m fairly diverse with my music choices. All that said-

Disclaimer: Some of these songs have profanity/swearing in them. As well, some of them have dark themes, undertones, and implications, so know that ahead of time. It’s a Holland playlist- I don’t feel like there’s anything here that’s darker than canon, but it’s still something any potential listeners should know. Consider this your warning.

Part 1- A Darker Shade Of Magic

Hollow (Cloudeater)

“I stay empty, I feel the hunger…”

Look Away (The Dear Hunter)

“And don’t you misjudge what I’m capable of, if I’m heir to a broken will…”

Wrath of Man (Chris Benstead)

(No lyrics, just the creeping sense of a vengeful creature stalking you. If anyone’s seen this movie, you’ll get the tone it sets.)

Paul Newman vs The Demons- Avett Brothers

“You may have to drag me away from my demons, kicking and screaming…”

Oleander (Mother Mother)

“I”ll be unclean, I’ll be obscene, you’ll be the rest…”

(Holland from the perspective of the Danes, specifically Athos.)

The Wolf (Phildel)

“The wishes I’ve made are too vicious to tell…”

Pain (Three Days Grace)

“Cause I’d rather feel pain than nothing at all..”

(Here half as a callback to an old joke and half because Holland is not immune to an edgy rock phase.)

Black Eyes (Radical Face)

“My heart will be blacker than your eyes when I’m through with you..”

Arsonist’s Lullaby (Hozier)

“On all the ashes in my wake…”

(Holland, willing or no, is still canonly an arsonist. Also, Hozier.)

P.O.L.I.T.I.C.S. (MISSIO)

“This friendship is worse than, P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S…”

(One of the most diametric differences between Holland and Kell is their views on each other’s kingdoms.)

In The Air Tonight (Natalie Taylor)

“If you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand…”

Blood On My Name (The Brothers Bright)

“Nowhere to run, nowhere to run, nowhere to run…”

(Mood for the beginning of the final Holland vs. Kell fight in ADSOM)

One Way Or Another (Until The Ribbon Breaks)

“And if the lights are all down…”

(End of the fight, Holland’s death #1, and his fall into Black London)

Part 2- A Gathering of Shadows

Bleeding White (Avett Brothers)

“I’m bleeding gold in the streets, but there’s no one to see, because the kingdom is empty…”

(Holland’s king now.)

Kings (Tribe Society)

“I’ll take my throne, lay it on a mountain, and make myself a king…”

When They Come For Me (Linkin Park)

“And it seems ugly, but it can get worse…”

Me And Mine (The Brothers Bright)

“I will burn your kingdom down, if you try to conquer me and mine…”

(Holland making some foreign relations plans.)

Feeling Good (Michael Buble)

“It’s a new dawn, a new day, a new life…”

Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing (Set It Off)

“Tell me how you’re sleeping easy, how you’re only thinking of yourself…”

(Holland’s revenge arc starts.)

Choke (IDKHBTFM)

“I wouldn’t hesitate, to smile while you suffocate…”

Roman Empire (MISSIO)

“You’re an empire, the darkest of empires…”

(Holland’s view of Red London.)

My Name (Charlie Winston)

“I won't apologize for the mess that you're in, I'm gonna hide my eyes from your crimson sin…”

Liver Lungs Spleen Heart (Chris Benstead)

(Again, no lyrics, but this is the mood when Holland’s plan really starts coming into effect.)

Have It Out (Mother Mother)

“But what is he good for, if he’s just a spectator of war, I have it in for, have it in for, have it in for…”

(Holland and Kell’s “conversation” at the end of AGOS + Holland’s grudge against Kell in general.)

The Yawning Grave (Lord Huron)

“Darkness brings evil things, oh the reckoning begins…”

(The tables turn on Holland.)

Burn Him Down (Kitsch Club)

“This Woodsy’s been worn one too many a time…”

(For context, this song is about burning the suit of a retired Forest Service mascot, which in a twisted way is parallel to Osaron possessing Holland. In short, destroy the old guy because he’s damaged and worn- AKA Holland.)

Part 3- A Conjuring Of Light

The Waking Nightmare (Frankenstein World Premiere Recording)

“I’m here in the waking nightmare, and every moment tastes of death…”

Four Walls/The Ballad of Perry Smith (Bastille)

“Now we’re faced with two wrongs, I don’t know, no I don’t know…”

(Holland facing his imminent execution.)

Bring Me To Life (Evanescence)

“Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul- don't let me die here…”

(How could I not include this?)

Sin Triangle (Sidney Gish)

“I've got to work on my face now, I'm wearing shades when it's dark out, but don't you worry I'm just being cool, like everybody else around this school…”

(Holland while on the boat/observing the rest of the group.)

I’m So Sorry (Imagine Dragons)

“You’ll never know the top ‘till you get too low…”

Human (Rag’n’Bone Man)

“I’m only human, that’s all it takes, don’t put the blame on me…”

Sing To Me (MISSIO)

“Sing to me 'cause I can't hear myself, through the loudness of my own hurts…”

I Will Not Bow (Breaking Benjamin)

“And I am not proud, cold-blooded, fake, I will shut the world away…”

(The final battle with Osaron.)

Up The Wolves (The Mountain Goats)

“It’s gonna take you people years to recover from all of the damage…”

(Holland’s sacrifice.)

Part 4- Backstory/Life Flashing Before His Eyes

Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise (Avett Brothers)

“And there was a kid with a head full of doubt, so I’ll scream ‘till I die and the last of those bad thoughts are finally out…”

(Holland’s grand destiny.)

A Dustland Fairytale (The Killers)

“Is there still magic in the midnight sun, or did you leave it back in sixty-one, in the cadence of a young man’s eyes…”

(Holland as the Someday King.)

Borderland (John Marc McMillan)

“Help me Holy Lord, I see the light of Heaven’s porch, but so many of us are born here outside your chain-link fence…”

(Holland growing up and meeting Vortalis.)

Poor George (James Supercave)

“Poor George, poor George, he never learned how to stop…”

(Vortalis’ reign and subsequent death.)

I Knew You Once (Hollie Allen)

“Yes, I knew you once, and it was nice…”

(Holland’s past relationships and how he misses them.)

Bohemian Rhapsody (Panic! At The Disco)

“Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters…”

(Holland’s entire life flashing before his eyes, riddled with pain, power, and a refusal to submit.)

Part 5- The End

Kettering (The Antlers)

“And I didn’t believe them when they told me that there was no saving you…”

(Kell and Holland preparing to leave for White London, with Kell wishing things could be different and Holland wishing they had been.)

Never Been Alive (Avett Brothers)

“I’ve never been alive, like I am now…”

Numb (MARINA)

“And I’ll light up the sky, stars that burn the brightest fall so fast and pass you by, cough like empty lighters…”

(Holland’s final death- the end.)

Congrats to everyone who read this far- this is my first playlist, so I may have gone a bit overboard. Please enjoy, and let me know if there’s any other ADSOM characters I should do one of these for!

#adsom #a darker shade of magic #shades of magic #adsom playlist #holland vosijk #white london #profanity warning

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recurring-polynya · 3 years

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As we all know, I am Perpetually Rewatching Bleach, and I hit the Reigai Arc a while ago, but I didn’t feel like recapping it, because recaps are a ton of work and I am Tired, but Bleach 333 might be the Bleachiest episode in all of Bleach, so I had to.

In the immortal words of Gideon the Ninth: “Things were happening too much.”

So, this is pretty deep into the arc-- all the lieutenants are in the World of the Living and all the (real) captains are in Soul Society, Nozomi has just unlocked her zanpakutou, and Reigai Zaraki and Byakuya showed up to start shit.

At the end of the last episode, all the lieutenants put their reiatsu in Nozomi’s sword (why does some variation of this happen every filler arc??) and she blew up Zaraki and Byakuya. The episode opens with Renji muttering “Did we get ‘em?” which is really how every episode should open. It looks like they successfully KO’d Zaraki, but Reigai Byakuya survived, and he proceeds to take out all the lieutenants with a single Soren Sokatsui.

This seems bad, but then, the Captain Commander shows up out of nowhere and sets Reigai Byakuya on fire. Yes. Really.

Ichigo and Rukia get Yamamoto up to date, but the best part of this scene is that Renji is just...lying there in the middle of it, like a sleepy boi.

All of sudden, more Reigai show up, and there’s a split screen reaction shot, but... it’s just of the unconscious lieutenants. Friends, I literally screamed. They made this episode just for me. We’re also going to start counting SSRS’s, because this episode has... a lot of them.

I also want to point out the Ichigo, Nozomi and Kon seem to be entirely uninjured; Rukia, Chad and Uryuu are able to get themselves up, Renji is Hanging In There, and all the other lieutenants are toast. I am pretty sure this Says Something About the Lieutenant Class.

Oh God, there is so much Peak Renij Dialogue in this episode.

At this point, Renji attempts to sit up, and falls down again.Good hustle, buddy, you tried.

Somewhere around here, my husband got up to let the dog out and he said, “pause it if anything good happens.” I had to pause it almost immediately because Reigai Ukitake and Kyouraku showed up and then this happened:

There’s like 4 minutes straight of releasing, literally everything is on fire, and after being told to stay back like 5 times, Nozomi jumps into battle and we get split screen reaction shot #2.

Nozomi attacks Kyouraku and Ichigo goes after Ukitake. Yamamoto literally grumbles “Those darn kids...” and then Unohana comes out of nowhere and casts four different binding in a row on Yamamoto while an electric bass guitar plays. I say this all the time, but this is exactly how I would fight if I were a shinigami fighting another shinigami: just bind the fuck out of them and then attack them while they’re down. This scene was incredibly gratifying to me, Unohana is the GOAT.

How’s Renji doing?

Keep working at it, you’re doing great, pal.

The true purpose of filler arcs is more fights for characters that we didn’t get to see fight enough, and this episode delivers with some excellent Kyouraku and Ukitake throw-downs. Whoops, here’s reaction shot #3:

Because his spiritual energy has been on its last legs this whole arc, Ichigo is supposed to use his powers very carefully, for example, not going to bankai or using Getsugas, except when he can’t think of anything else, which is constantly. #4.

Did I mention that Fake Ukitake and Fake Kyouraku are Very Real Husbands this episode? Because they are.

We cut back to Rukia and Renji (still prone) and Kon. Kon is Big Sad because he can’t help. I have no love for Kon, but I respect this great compliment he lays on Rukia after she punches him.

Rukia and Renji decide they gotta go help and-- and Renji is UP! The man is up!

Except that Yamamoto abruptly busts out of his wards and Rukia has to breathlessly gasp “What is this reiatsu?” as per her contract.

SHIT FAM the real Unohana is here and she’s got Dramatic Singers! Fake Unohana is literally about to pee herself and so would you if you say this coming for you:

Wards still be exploding, Obligatory Renji Protects Rukia (and Kon) Shot!

Split Screen Reaction Shot #5: Karakura Kids Edition

Then, um this happened.

AHEM.

This was my favorite SSRS in the episode because it was kinda high concept. Rukia starts talking in the left panel, but you can still see her arm moving the middle panel. Didn’t they do this in Pacific Rim, with the heads-up displays? Or maybe that was Voltron. I don’t care, I love this shit.

Anyway, when Renji picks up the dialogue, BAM, he takes over the middle.

The fireball has done nothing to the Reigai, so we get a walking-thru-flames drama shot that ends with... yet another SSRS.

They start to attack Yamamoto who is 1000% ready to throw down, but then Kageroza shows up and declares that he will be taking on the old man himself.

Ichigo gets real concerned that Kageroza will use Yamamoto’s power against him (Yamamoto is like, ‘whatever’). Nozomi volunteers to act like a decoy, and Kageroza does his villainous laugh, “you’ll never steal my spiritual pressure-- NANI??” It turns out Nozomi already charged her sword up with the Head Captain’s spiritual pressure when Kageroza...was...checking his phone? I do not know how me missed this sneaky, sneaky maneuver:

I guess he didn’t see anything because they were behind Ichigo’s back. Sure. Fine. Whatever.

Anyway, it’s not enough, so Yamamoto attacks. That’s not enough, so Ichigo unleashes his final Getsuga (not, like, the Final Getsuga, just like, the last one he has. Very confusing naming scheme here.)

Does this count as another SSRS? It doesn’t do the BAM/BAM/BAM, so maybe Rukia/Renji/Kon have been in split screen mode this entire time, and it’s just a revisit. Whatever, I’m gonna count it. We’re up to 8.

Ichigo is now spent. He mumbles “Did I get ‘im?” and then falls out of the sky.

“I NEED RENJI TO CATCH HIM,” I scream, while my husband winces and pinches the bridge of his nose. “GET UP, RENJI!” I yell. “YOU CAN DO IT.”

He’s thinkin’ about it!

Oh, no, Ichigo, did not, in fact, “get ‘im.” Kageroza appears to have survived, which I guess justifies a SSRS #9.

Look at Renji’s face. He’s ready. He’s goin’.

And he’s off!!!! I LOVE THIS MAN.

UGH, we have to sit through Kageroza explaining how he survived the attack by absorbing Nozomi’s attack and Ichigo’s Getsuga who cares who cares who cares, get to the good stuff--

yaaaasssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Kageroza is powering up his attack, we’re gonna get the “To Be Continued..” any second, but NO there is STILL TIME FOR ONE MORE!

Ten. TEN. This episode is only 22 minutes long and they managed to fit in 10 split screen reaction shots. I suspect this may be the record.

This entire episode was just split screen reactions shots, people powering up, shots of my OTP, and Renji catching Ichigo and then cradling him lovingly. Perfect episode. 1000/10.

#bleach filler #reigai arc #the reason i don't get angrier about renji throwing himself in front of rukia all the time #is that he is obviously a tank #and she is a wizard #he's got like 900 HP and she's got 3 #but she's better at dealing damage #even when he's beat to hell he's still got more HP than her #his primary functions are absorbing damage and catching people #let a man do his job #y'know the art was really good this episode #everyone just feeling cute today #except for reigai byakuya #who is on fire

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tumblezwei · 4 years

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Why Kyoko Mogami is the GOAT

And why y’all are SLEEPING ON HER

Spoilers for Skip Beat, but honestly idk how much of the story I’m gonna get into for this since I’m flying by the seat of my pants. Still, read at your own risk.

Also this is LONG lmao

Kyoko Mogami is a 16 year old middle school drop-out that works two jobs day and night in order to pay rent for the Tokyo apartment that she lives in all by herself 6 days out of the week. Going into the first chapter, there are three things immediately clear about her.

1. She’s cheerful, kind, and also kind of batshit insane. From the first moment we meet her, her personality is throwing itself at our faces and refusing to calm down. (apologies for the bad quality images, I work with what I have)

2. She loves Sho Fuwa, her childhood friend and rising rock-star that asked Kyoko to come with him to Tokyo after middle school graduation to support his career

3. Nothing matters to her as long as Sho is happy. Sure, she laments that her love for girly dresses, cosmetics, and fairy tale princesses will never amount to anything since all of her money is going toward paying the rent on her and Sho’s apartment, but that’s fine. As long as her precious Sho is happy, so is she.

And, as you’d expect, things go to shit pretty quickly afterwards. During one her off days from her night job, Kyoko decides to visit Sho at his recording studio with dinner. After sneaking in past the hoards of squealing teenage girls waiting outside to catch a glimpse of him, she overhears him talking to his manager.

“I’m the heir to a prominent Japanese inn, do you think I’ve ever cooked or cleaned all by myself?” She hears.

“That’s awful,” the manager replies, “you make it sound as if you brought her just to be your maid.”

“She’s basically been my maid since I was a kid, or else I wouldn’t have brought her along with me. It’s not like I forced her, I asked her a question and gave her the choice. It’s only natural that she’d work her butt off to support me.”

And he just keeps going. Once he’s made enough to live independently, he’ll send her back. How dare his parents try to set him up with a plain-looking girl like her. She doesn’t even wear make-up!

As images of flash in Kyoko’s mind of standing in front of make-up stores with no money to buy anything, she takes Sho’s words just as well as one might expect. By unleashing the box of tucked away emotions she’s held in her chest and swearing to take revenge on Sho for using her and throwing her away like this.

. I failed to mention this at the start, but the beginning of the chapter introduces us to the most important piece of symbolism in Kyoko’s character development: Pandora’s box.

For Kyoko’s entire life, she’s held this box inside herself. In myth, once this box was opened, all of the evil of the world is unleashed, never to be put back inside. So for Kyoko, the metaphor is quite apt. Hearing Sho’s words unlocks the box and unleashes a kind of anger that not even Kyoko knew she was capable of, a kind of determination and vengeance that has her dyeing her hair and staking outside of a talent manager’s house for days on end to whittle down his willpower and give her a chance to audition at Sho’s rival talent agency, LME. Every time she hears his name, or sees his picture, she’s filled with myopic sense of rage that no one can calm her down from.

Her sole mission in life is to get revenge on Sho Fuwa, a sentiment that finds her at odds with LME’s top actor, Ren Tsuruga, who sees her one-sided quest for vengeance as an insult to people who truly love acting. But as if Kyoko cares, she needs to get revenge!

I’m gonna drop the pseudo-narration for a bit because I actually need to skip over a fair bit of plot to get to what I think makes Kyoko incredibly compelling, outside of being the funniest female character in existence. We’re going to jump forward in time to Kyoko’s first acting gig. Well, not so much an gig as much as it is a competition. She’s been tasked to play the role of a dignified inn keeper that’s serving tea to the main male character. After having broken her ankle and been challenged by the real lead actress, this is her first shot to prove she has the talent to make it in the acting industry. So in order to immerse herself in the role, she utilizes her experience of being trained by Sho’s mother to take care of the inn that his family owned. It’s here that we finally understand that Kyoko giving up her life back home for Sho wasn’t just a spur of the moment decision brought about by infatuation. It was something she’d been doing for her entire life. Everything she knows how to do, every skill she’s obtained, has been because of Sho. And this is the moment that she realizes that fact too. (the first image is from after the scene is done, wherein Kyoko cannot snap herself out of her character due to the lessons she was taught as a child, despite her sitting position making her broken ankle unbearably painful).

Even her righteous fury at being left in the dust is focused solely on Sho fucking Fuwa. Is there anything that she has than can be attributed to her own success? Does she have any skills that can’t be traced back to trying to make Sho happy? Who is Kyoko Mogami? Is she worth anything without Sho?

And I want to make this clear right now, because I know the term “shoujo” makes people hesitate. THIS is what Skip Beat is about. Kyoko’s journey to find out who she is, and with every new role she takes on and with every experience she gains, she becomes just a little closer to finding out who she is and what she wants for herself.

We watch as her love for acting slowly eclipses her thirst for revenge. A few arcs after this moment, she is contacted about a job to act in a music PV with none other than Sho himself. In the beginning, she accepts the job in order to prove to Sho that she’s climbing the ladder and catching up to him, but her performance suffers whenever she thinks about her revenge. And what saves her isn’t even putting aside her revenge, but prioritizing her own feelings above it. She wants to act! She wants to put on a good performance! So she needs to put aside those feelings of anger and draw from her past experiences to create a character that leaves Sho in the dust.

I’m gonna bet y’all are wondering about the romance, though. Because this is a shoujo, and of course it has romance. But hey, guess what? That romance is equally compelling and is an integral part to Kyoko’s character too. In the first....5 or so arcs, Ren Tsuruga ‘s relationship with Kyoko crawls it’s way out of the it’s rocky beginnings, and he slowly becomes a mentor figure to Kyoko. He’s her superior in acting, and she looks to him often for support and guidance when she’s struggling to perform a role or having difficulty with her fellow actors. To Kyoko, Ren is the goal, his level of acting is what she aspires to be, so she can stand on equal footing with him. Before there’s even a whiff of romance between them, there develops a solid bond of trust and support. And once the romance starts. Hoo boy.

To fully understand why it’s taken 12 years irl for a confession scene to finally take place, we need to bring back the metaphor of Pandora’s box. Because not everything escaped Pandora’s box when it was opened. Pandora was able to shut the box just in time for one thing to stay locked inside: hope. In the myth, this is a good thing, while negative and vile emotions run free, hope still exists within people to become better. But for Kyoko, the box isn’t a safe place, it’s a repressed place. She spent her entire life locking away the negative emotions she felt, placing a smile on her face and hoping for Sho’s happiness. And when those emotions are set lose, she locks the box back up, sealing something else inside. Her hope, her confidence in anything having to do with love.

It’s not just that Kyoko isn’t in love anymore, she feels as if she can’t be in love anymore, that she’s entirely incapable of it. The idea of falling in love with someone else terrifies her. What if she goes back to the way she was before? An empty shell that exists for other people and not herself. The box has been sealed tightly again, and by God this time she’s not going to let anything open it. And like, I don’t want to spoil much in this, as contradictory as that sounds. Because the scene where she realizes she loves Ren? One of the best fucking scenes in any romance manga ever.

And. God. I haven’t even touched on her mom. Kyoko’s desire for love, that became so warped under Sho and so desolate after his betrayal, can all stem back to Saena Mogami. A woman who, no matter what Kyoko did, rejected any affection that her child tried to give, and gave none in return. “Even a mother can hate her own child.” We get bits and pieces of what Kyoko’s mother was like, and the environment that a very young Kyoko was raised in before her mother left her in the care of Sho’s parents. And eventually we realize that Kyoko isn’t afraid of her love being rejected twice, but a third time.

Like, y’all, I’m not good at these kind of essays. I keep wanting to go off on tangents, nothing is ever focused, I spend to much time just reading the manga instead of writing this fucking post. But please believe me when I tell you that Kyoko Mogamis character development is like none other. She’s truly at the top of her genre and it’s an actual crime that she’s so underrated.

I HAVEN’T EVEN TALKED ABOUT KANAE, THE WEISS TO HER RUBY, THE TSUNDERE TO HER GENKI

Before Kyoko gets even a single arc with Ren, she gets two with Kanae. The first with Kanae as a central figure, and the second where Kanae is her support. She’s the one that gives Kyoko the eureka moment she needs to pull of her performance with Sho. They are one of the most developed and deep friendships in shoujo that I’ve ever seen AND Y’ALL NEED TO STOP SLEEPING ON IT. LOOK AT THESE TWO

And don’t take this poorly assembled post at face value, I’ve left out a lot of shit. Starting with how fucking funny this manga is. Kyoko’s special talent for her LME audition is peeling vegetables, there’s a running gag where Ren asks for her advice while she’s in a giant chicken costume, unaware that it’s her, the president of LME is an eccentric millionaire that likes to dress up in different themed costumes every day and loves throwing extravagant parties, Kyoko’s hobby is making voodoo dolls and talks to a miniature Ren doll whenever she needs encouragement or advice.

And it’s all packaged alongside some of the most compelling character development I’ve ever seen (for both Kyoko and Ren), and some absolutely heartbreaking drama. You will never know true pain until “I don’t have a daughter.”

Read this, ya’ll. You won’t regret it.

#I'm not going back over this because I KNOW it's not coherent but FUCK IT #skip beat #rambling #long post

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fantomcomics · 2 years

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What's Out This Week? 1/26

SAGA'S BACK CONGRATS Y'ALL WE MADE IT

Saga #55 - Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

At long last, Hazel and her star-crossed family are finally back and here to kick off a NEW STORY ARC! So, where the hell have they been? As thanks for fans' endless patience, the SAGA team is proud to return with a double-length issue-44 pages of story for the regular $2.99 price point-without variant covers or gimmicky renumbering. Just more pulse-pounding adventure, heart-wrenching character drama, and gloriously graphic sex and violence, as SAGA begins the second half the series and the most epic chapter yet!

All Guts No Glory #1 (of 3) - Ralph Tedesco & Guillermo Fajardo

Unbeknownst to the general population, there are highly trained military teams who bravely protect us from dozens of species of monsters that we don't know exist! And then there are the guys who clean it all up... Craig and Jimmy are those guys. And while Craig has accepted his lot in life, Jimmy, on the other hand, desperately wishes to one day become an elite monster hunter himself. But when Craig and Jimmy stumble onto a charming vampire named Sara, they'll be forced to decide if they should risk everything to help save her soul.

Cowboy Bebop #1 - Dan Watters & Lamar Mathurin

BASED ON THE NEW NETFLIX LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATION OF THE ORIGINAL ANIME! An original story set in the year 2171. The bounty hunter crew of the spaceship Bebop chase an ex-gang member who holds a vest which gives the wearer unlimited luck.

Double Vol 1 - Ayako Noda

Yuujin Kamoshima and Takara Takarada are fellow actors in the same theater troupe who live next door to one another, with similar day to day lives. Though they aren't exactly close friends, when Yuujin is cast as Takara's double, he sees first hand his extraordinary acting skills and is blown away. From that moment on, he's determined to help him succeed and support him in his dream of becoming a world renowned actor, even if Yuujin has to be in his shadow. But as the acting world begins to take notice, that's easier said than done.

Duel #1 - Curtiss Martins & Alex Cormack

Are you ready to duel? In the first issue we meet an FBI Agent tasked with investigating the mysterious deep website Duel.global, which pits its growing number of subscribers against each other in real life, in a race to stop a high schooler who has challenged the site's highest ranked dueler in a match to the death.

Usagi Yojimbo: Lone Goat & Kid #1 - Stan Sakai & David Petersen

Presented in all-new color, the next series of classic Usagi reprints focuses on a series of important short stories from the early days of the ronin rabbit's adventures! In this first issue, "Frost and Fire", Usagi is tasked with retrieving a slain samurai's swords-if he can solve an impossible moral quandary first!

What (besides Saga, obvs) are you snagging this week, Fantomites?

#What's Out This Week?#wotw #comic books #comics #comic #comic book #Saga #Usagi Yojimbo #Cowboy Bebop #Duel #Double #No Guts No Glory

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hedgehogcryptid · 3 years

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More Naruto rants

So, I’ve (stupidly, just now) realized that the reason I’m so fixated on Zabuza’s arc is because I got to see it like three times on TV before my country had enough spanish dub chapters to get on with the rest of the plot. So I got atached, is the one that gets me more nostalgic, and it’s the one I remember best. I also got time to properly process it before the more cult-ish bullshit started. And I thought the rest of the series would go a bit like that arc with, you know, ninja mercenaries who work for money in a world that sees them as tools but where they have their own ambitions and reasons and goals of a more or less normal human scale. The part where Gato arrives and the antagonism between Zabuza and Kakashi instantly ends when money is no longer on the table shaped a lot of my expectations for the future of the series (that I couldn’t articulate back when I was twelve, so I’m doing it now).

For starters, Gato is a fucking civilian. A rich fuck who does business and buys killers-for-hire. That’s how the system suposedly works. Where do the civilians go after the chunin exams? Where do the jobs go? Where does the money come from without them? I expected to see Naruto, with his newly decided path, clash with the system he lives in. I expected his elders (with the exception of Iruka and Kakashi) to try and coax him into the “right” path. Something along the lines of “I understand your feelings but that’s what must be done to keep the village running”. And Naruto finding ways to circunvent his orders, to find the loopholes that let him get away with it. Even if it’s just “I got the important thing done, what do you care if I didn’t kill those people?“. I didnt want to see him spare a genocidal megalomaniac but a fellow ninja who’s doing his own side of the job. Wouldn’t “If you kill my friends I’ll kill you, but if you’re done trying not only will I leave you go but I’ll defend you against my partners” be a lot more interesting and give nice posibilities for the future? Would the spared person take advantage of his kindness and fuck him over? Would they apreciate the gesture and start thinking that things can change? Would they “pay it forward” and spare someone that didn’t necesarily need to be killed? And if they did fuck him over despite his kindness, how would naruto justify his actions to his superiors? Would he be conflicted about his choices or would he be steadfast in his beliefs regardless of other people’s actions?

But with the way canon progresses after that first set up Naruto is not changing the system, he’s getting privileges. He can do what he wants because people in power like him. Veteran shinobi would have reason to hate him (”this upstart rookie gets to decide to go chasing an enemy of the state to save him while I have to bust my ass in bloody trenches to make ends meet?”)

I know the talk-no-jutsu is a joke but it’s somewhat accurate. He’s all talk. He never risked getting consecuences for his chosen path, mostly because Kishimoto made a good job making us forget we were watching mercenaries. If the world building wasn’t all kinds of wonky then at some point Naruto’s choices would’ve put him at odds with the people in power, and I don’t just mean the obviously corrupt ones. But Naruto wormed his way into their hearts for some reason and because of that they made exceptions for him, but no one is shown making significant changes to the context they live in. And about that context: they start by saying “shinobi are tools“, and sure, that’s true. But in the first arc they are tools for the people in power, who are not the five kages. The people in power are the people with money and the people who rule the countries. The Kages are just the top brass of the military, who get paid by the people in power. But later, shinobi start being tools for other shinobi with more grandiose ideas and the civilians pretty much disapear unless it’s to fill the background in cities. Their power structures lose all significance and relevance.

And because Naruto is never faced with the posibility of actual, structural, systemic concecuences to his own person then his choices lose a lot of weight. He spares the genocidal megalomaniac, the dude resurrects everyone and then dies. Everything works in the end. And no one gets on Naruto’s case about how you can’t expect all your enemies to die for you. In a military world that doesn’t make much sense, no matter how well everything worked out. The situation would be a lot more interesting if Nagato hadn’t died, and instead left to keep taking care of his war-ravaged homeland. If the super strong enemy we didn’t even defeated walks away, can we really trust he won’t have another change of heart? He seems plenty fickle, after all (he resurrected on a whim all the people he sprent the last couple hours killing. That sounds fucked up). And Naruto would have to defend him, because no way in hell will I believe that everyone in konoha would decide to let a threat of that level be. Not with the word of a sixteen year old pseudo-rebel as the only guarantee.

I wanted to see Naruto garnering support from his peers. Some would be easier than others. Hinata was on his corner from the get go. With the right conversation he’d get Neji too. Rock Lee is a ball of sunshine who’s been belittled more or less constantly, he’d be all up for it too. Sakura comes from a civilian background (if I’m not mistaken) so she is somewhat shocked at the way the world works. She didn’t get it drilled into her the same way others did. It wouldn’t be easy for her, and with some help and prompting she’d be okay with changing it.

And Sasuke. You wouldn’t even need to change his storyline too much, just get rid of the part where Kaguya had a hand in the destiny of the world, in planting misleading information. Get rid of the suposed reincarnation cycle that takes away the importance of personal choices. Basically, get rid of all the alien subplot. You’re still left with a boy who’s been wronged in all posible ways by his countrymen and government. You don’t need Kaguya’s bullshit scheme to make the shit in Konoha look horrible. They do that on their own.

You’d get Naruto finding out about Danzo (who’s covered in stolen eyes from fellow villagers, WTF) and Root, about the Uchiha masacre. He’d get angry on Sasuke’s behalf, and Sai’s, and Zabuza’s even (killing your friends as a test? Naruto knows that doesn’t lead anywhere good). And wheter Sasuke had left the village or not they would be both in the same side for this. If Naruto had been convincing people of the inherent corruption of the system then that would become an all out rebellion and upheaval of the government (instead of the assassination of one dubious character).

That would tie in with the renegade thing (are they “missing-nin” in english?). How many of them are labelled criminals for doing terrible things and how many are because of disagreements with their governments? How many are turned into scape-goats and then exiled? How many people who do terrible things keep living as respected members of their communities just because their interests align with the interests of those in power?

......and I’ve run out of steam but, long story short, I’ve always felt cheated at the what if’s

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